A corner of a cafe. Kirari, sipping sweet coffee and opening a book, was concentrating as if she couldnât see me.
âWait a minute. Iâll finish reading this in about 10 minutes.â
Ten minutes had passed since she said that. I was staring at her reading a book with an illustration of a beautiful blonde woman with big b*****s, a so-called light novel.
Come to think of it, when I played with her (Part II), she had blonde hair and wore azure-colored contacts. She looked like a degraded version of me, which I found endearing, but now she has brown hair and no contacts.
Now that she wears glasses, I can no longer say that she is a degraded version of me. Thatâs a shame.
âI was thinking about something unimportant, when Kirari closed the book.
âPhew, that was funny! Sorry, Mary ⦠No, Mea-chan? Or do you prefer Ali-chan? Itâs kinda, kinda cold to call you that.â
Oops. I wonder if itâs okay to be so friendly with me?
I canât imagine being defenseless in front of such a black-hearted character.
Well, itâs good that you are easy to handle.
âHave it your wayâªâ¦ my mom used to call me âAllieâ!â
This was before she had an affair and my father left her.
Looking back, she was a bad wife, but a good mother. She loved me and took good care of me.
When I think about it, I regret a little bit that I had urged my father to take revenge on her by exposing the affair. Well, that was a lie.
âEh? Doesnât Allie-chan sound subtle enough? I guess so⦠Then how about Parker-chan?â
âNo, can you stop calling me that?â
The unexpected designation unintentionally brings out the bare bones of my mind.
ââ¦Eh?â
For a moment, Kirariâs eyes shook in confusion.
It must be because of the change in my attitude.
⦠Oops. I should not have done that.
I wanted to stop using the last name â the part that is my last name â because it only gives me a bad image of myself.
My father has a soft spot for me, but at the same time he hates me because of my resemblance to my mother.
Yes, in other words, there are quite a few memories that I canât talk about, so I wish she would be more careful.
âNihihihi. Parker is a first name in Japan, right? Thatâs stranger behavior, you knowâ.â
However, it was not convenient for me to show my true self.
I immediately returned to my original character of âthe sunny blonde big-b*****ed Onee-sanâ, and smiled.
Then Kirariâs cheeks relaxed in relief.
âOh, thatâs right! Iâm sorry, Iâm sorry, Iâll call you Mea-chan then. Itâs not very funny, but itâs the way I feel most comfortable.â
âOkay⪠The way Kirari likes it is the way I like it the most!â
âNyahaha. You say the nicest things, donât you?â
Okay, communication was good.
It was smooth sailing, except for the fact that I suddenly felt like dying when I objectively looked at myself having a stupid conversation like this. If I were to talk about it in an American way, would I say it was all green? No, maybe Iâve seen too many movies.
âI wonder what Kirari was reading?â
I made her a little nervous earlier. I want to loosen her guard a bit more, so I try to chat with her further.
I asked her about the light novels she has, thinking it would be a good conversation starter, and she responded more than I expected.
âThis? Itâs a lovey-dovey love comedy in which a transfer student, a beautiful blonde girl, loves the main character just as the title says, and it is very interesting!â
She told me with a nice smile.
I guess she really likes light novels, but the contents⦠overlap a little too much with my own, and it hurts my heart.
âHmm-hmm? By the way, is that book successful?â
âHuh? Unfortunately, I heard it was discontinued after two volumes.â
â⦠Wasnât she good enough to be a heroine?â
The heroine of that work is just like me.
The blonde, big-b*****ed heroine who was a transfer student is nothing more than a colorful character.
I guess she was too insignificant to be a main heroine.
For example, she could be a childhood friend of the protagonist.
Or the protagonist and his bride-to-be.
Or someone the protagonist longs to be with.
Without that kind of added value, a character of color may not be the main focus.
â¦No, thatâs enough.
Iâve given up on being a heroine.
I canât be part of the story, Iâm just a losing character.
So I decided to stay out of the story and work in the shadows as a creator.
Now that weâve had this conversation, Kirariâs guard should be down.
I think itâs time to get down to business.