arc1 · 015-ch15

Episode 15: Admiration

Side: Soramine Umi

Since I'd bought what I wanted, we headed to the meeting place to rejoin Takako's group. On the way there, everyone stopped at the electronics section.

"Hyakka Ryouran's stream has set a new record for daily total page views."

On the other side of a large TV on display, a female announcer was introducing an explorer party called Hyakka Ryouran. I don't really understand it, but apparently they're a popular explorer party right now.

Before I knew it, the three boys were staring at it intently. Come to think of it, these three said they wanted to become explorers when they entered middle school.

Honestly, only Onii-chan uses the computer, I'm too busy to watch much TV, and I don't even have a smartphone... Anyway, not much information reaches me, so I don't really know much about explorers.

But I couldn't help but stop too. That's because a familiar face appeared on the TV screen.

"Huh? Is that Himehana-chan?"

Yes, the person shown in a close-up on TV was Himehana-chan, Onii-chan's childhood friend who came to our house yesterday.

"Himehana-chan? You know Himehana-sama, Umi?"

The one who reacted to my murmur was Takashi, who was closest to me. Why is he calling her Himehana-sama?

"Um, she's more of an acquaintance, or rather, she came to my house yesterday..."

Technically she's Onii-chan's childhood friend, but for some reason I felt hesitant to say that, so I just mentioned she came to our house yesterday.

"What!? Himehana-sama came to your house!? What do you mean by that!?"

Ah, Takashi. If you speak that loudly...

"Huh? What what? That girl knows Himehana-san from Hyakka Ryouran?"

"For real!? Knowing Himehana-sama personally, maybe I should go say hi..."

"Acquainted with Himehana-chan!? Me too me too, I wanna be friends gehehe."

See, people around us are starting to look.

"Hey, don't shout! Come on, let's go!"

Noticing the situation, Satsuki quickly told the three boys to leave the area. I also hurried away from that spot.

▽▽▽

"Good grief, don't go shouting about Himehana-san coming to your house in a place like that!"

Thanks to quickly leaving that spot, nobody came up to talk to us. I'm grateful for Satsuki's quick thinking. For now, we entered a family restaurant we'd designated as a meeting point and waited for Takako's group.

"Sorry. I just admire Himehana-sama so much, I couldn't help it..."

Takashi, sitting across from me, bowed his head apologetically. But since it wasn't intentional, there's nothing to be done.

"You surprised me a little, but nobody followed us, so it's fine."

I tried to put in a word to smooth things over.

"Still, are you really acquainted with Himehana-san?"

Rei, who had been silent until now, also seemed interested, wearing an unusually serious expression. Hayato next to him is staring at me too.

"Well, of course I know her face, but technically she's my Onii-chan's childhood friend."

Since they asked so seriously, I told them the truth. Then the three of them wore extremely envious expressions before starting to whisper among themselves.

"Hey, Umi. That, well... Um, do you think you could ask your brother to get us Himehana-sama's autograph?"

Wondering what the three of them were whispering about, they were discussing that. I thought a bit before answering Takashi's question.

"I won't know unless I ask, but maybe I could get one."

My one sentence got the three of them really excited.

"Hey, Umi~. I'd love Kaoru-sama's autograph~"

While I was watching those three with an exasperated look, even Satsuki started saying she wanted an autograph. But while I do know Himehana-chan, what about autographs from the other members?

"Why do you all want autographs so much?"

This question kicked off an appeal time where the three boys plus Satsuki all jumped in to explain just how amazing Hyakka Ryouran is.

They'd go on about how Himehana-sama fights like she's dancing, or how Kaoru-sama is so composed and cool. When I tried to say I don't really get it, Rei shoved his smartphone in my face saying "Then watch this!"

What appeared on the screen was four women defeating monsters like a scene from a movie. Using swords, spears, and magic to defeat enemies, just like in an anime I saw long ago. They were cooler than I could have imagined, and I couldn't help but be captivated.

"It's like a movie..."

"Right!? But this isn't amazing because Hyakka Ryouran is amazing—it's because the cameraman is amazing! Once you've seen this, you can't watch other streaming videos anymore!"

Rei responded to my murmur with an enthusiastic explanation. What a convenient commentator he is. That said, apparently not all dungeon streams are made this well. When I tried watching another stream, it was true that they were all filmed from far away and it was even hard to identify faces.

"We finally reunited! Why didn't anyone reply to our messages!?"

While we were absorbed in the dungeon streaming videos, Takako's group finally arrived. Her two lackeys were going "fugh" and "screech," seeming angry about something.

"Ah, sorry sorry. We had a little trouble."

When Takashi, the cause of that trouble, apologized, Takako and her group immediately cheered up. Honestly, they're so easy to read.

"So, what was Umi looking at? I'm quite sure you don't have a smartphone."

Takako added unnecessary information even when just asking what I was looking at, which irritated me, but I answered with an adult response.

"I was watching a video of a party called Hyakka Ryouran. I borrowed Rei's smartphone."

"Did you know, Takako? Umi's brother is an acquaintance of Himehana-sama!"

Following my explanation, Hayato added even more unnecessary information. Why are you being so smug about it!? This is why elementary school boys are called childish!

"Huh!? C-cough. It's not like I'm jealous of Umi knowing anyone!"

Even while saying that, Takako was a little flustered. I'll pretend I didn't hear that weird voice she let out.

"That's why we were asking Umi if she could get Himehana-sama's autograph for us."

"I was just saying I'd love Kaoru-sama's autograph~"

I wanted to end this conversation already, but Takashi and Satsuki started saying unnecessary things again.

"P-please wait just a moment. Don't tell me you can actually get Kureha-oneesama's autograph?"

Oh, I thought she was going to say something tough again, but it was different. Could it be that Takako is a fan of someone named Kureha?

"I won't know unless I ask Onii-chan. More importantly, since we're already at the family restaurant, let's eat."

It would bother the restaurant if we kept chatting without ordering. Everyone seemed to agree with this, and Takako's group also sat down and started ordering their favorite things. But in the end, the whole meal was all about Hyakka Ryouran, so thanks to that, I became quite knowledgeable about Hyakka Ryouran in just one day.