Volume 1 - CH 9

Posted on March 3, 2022by Soafp

Translator: Soafp

The night of the day I promised to do GPEX with Aoyama.

Usually, I play games or study. Sometimes I even lie down and read. Normally, I should be studying for my midterm exam, but I didn’t feel like it today.

The girl is still playing GPEX, I see.

I was surprised to discover that Aoyama was still playing GPEX. I thought she quit the game when she lost her relationship with me.

Well, that’s not the point.

While we were apart, I didn’t feel the urge to play it, but once I got into it, I was struck by a mysterious syndrome that made me want to play it again. This was especially true for FPS games, and the conversation made me want to play them again.

Unable to resist, I booted up my computer and started GPEX.

The update took an inordinately long time, so I decided to gather information from the videos in the meantime. I had been away from the game completely for a while, so apparently there were new characters, guns, and so on.

When I opened the video site, I remembered the distributor that Mahiro had recommended to me.

“It was [Ami Aomi], right?”

The person he recommended was a high school girl who was streaming GPEX.

The name “high school girl” is a self-proclaimed name, and whether it is true or not is unknown. It’s not clear if she’s telling the truth or not, as some of the distributors gather viewers by name or age.

The reason why Mahiro started GPEX is because of her. He just happened to see her and fell in love with her game and delivery. He liked her voice and personality, and she was a good player, so he became a fan.

There was a live steam going on, so I took a peek.

[“Hoyaa, I’ll be playing GPEX again today.”]

She didn’t show her face. She’s not a Vtuber, but a person who simply broadcasts with her voice.

[“All right, best regards to all my teammates. “]

[“I think my aim is better today.”]

[“Uwaa, we’re gonna be surrounded if we don’t get out of here.”]

[“Hold on while I revive you.”]

Her skills were superb.

I wasn’t expecting to be as good as I was told she was, but she was much better than she used to be. Her movements were smooth.

The number of viewers was around 2,000. Every time she gets close to winning, the number of people she’s interacting with goes up, and at the moment it reaches 3,000. Despite the fact that she doesn’t show her face, isn’t a Vtuber, and isn’t a professional gamer, she is very popular.

The secret to her popularity is her way of talking.

[“Are you in a bad mood?　Actually, one of my friends got a boyfriend. She broke her promise to me.”]

[“I’ve been into cooking lately, and my dad was moved to tears when he ate my cooking.”]

[“I feel sleepy in class. The teacher’s voice is like a sutra.”]

(TL: Sacred scriptures that contain the teachings of the Buddha are known as sutras.)

[“I know, I know. I remember when I was in elementary school. The boys who came to school in their swimsuits and forgot their pants because of the swimming pool. Actually, I’ve done that too. I was so nervous.”]

Most of the chit-chat was about what happened at school. It was mostly about friends and classes. From the content of their conversations, it seemed that she wasn’t lying about being a high school girl. The secret to its popularity is its realism, and many of the comments are from male viewers.

I tilt my head.

Her voice sounded familiar to me.

She reminds me of that girl, especially when she says “I” (Boku) in first person.

No, no, that’s impossible, right?

How could such a miracle be possible? I don’t think she was the type of person who would have been able to distribute anything, and I don’t think she had the knowledge to do so.

Suddenly, I looked at the account name.

In GPEX, the account name is displayed in the lower left corner.

The account name was written as [UMINEKO1223].

“…… Seriously?”

This was the account of Umi Aoyama.

As for the origin of the account, “UMI” is simply the name of Umi Aoyama. The following “NEKO” means cat person, and the last “1223” is because she was born on December 23.

How do I know this?

Because it’s an account that I once created together with her.

I was confused.

I was surprised that she had become a streamer, and I was also surprised that she was still using that account.

Just as I was surprised, the GPEX update was over. I was slightly touched to be connected to the game for the first time in a long time.

The account I was originally using was called [syoutainu1119]. I created this account using the exact same system as Aoyama’s: name, pet, and birthday. The fact that the name is in lowercase is of no particular significance.

I logged in and checked my friends.

There was [UMINEKO1223]. She was online.

I thought for sure she would have deleted me.

That was when it happened.

[“Eh, is this real?”]

Aomi’s voice rang out in the background.

–Whoa, what’s going on all of a sudden?

–Is there a problem?

–Possibility of pro-Hula.

The comment section panicked.

[“Uhm, ……sorry for the sudden noise.”]

Thank God. I was in a hurry to see if she noticed that I logged in at the right time, but it doesn’t seem to be the case.

There’ s no doubt about it. The other party is a popular streamer. There must be an infinite number of friends. The only reason I still was her friend was because she forgot to delete me.

[“Hey, can I send message to my friends in game?”]

–No, you can’t.

–If you want to be friends, why don’t you invite him?

–Oh, I feel someone coming.

[“Invite a friend. Got it.”]

Immediately after, an invitation was sent to the game screen. The other party is [UMINEKO1223].

[“Maybe he’ll come. Or rather, I want him to come. I want him to come so badly that I sent an invite to my friend. I want to meet him so badly. I mean, I haven’t seen him log in in a while. I’m glad he’s okay.”]

“……”

What the hell is she doing?

It’s not possible for her to contact me, considering her past behavior.

When I ignored the invitations, I kept getting invitations over and over again. It was like she was harassing me.

This is not good. I quit the game first.

[“Oh, …… I see.”]

I heard a sullen voice from the stream.

The sad voice made me feel bad and I closed the stream.

Umi Aoyama’s behavior was a mystery to me.

What was she thinking when she sent me the invitation to play the game? I’m sure there’s no other reason for us to play the game together. But it’s too late for that. It’s been two years since I last played the game.

I spent some time in a hazy state. Before I knew it, it was midnight. I tried to study to shake off the distractions, but I couldn’t concentrate.

I couldn’t seem to sleep, so I started up my computer again.

I opened Discordo.

Discordo is a software that runs on your phone or computer. You can make video calls, voice calls, and chat. I used to play GPEX with this software while talking to Aoyama.

It’s been about two years since I logged in.

When I logged in, there was a friend section, and I found Umi Aoyama. She hadn’t been deleted her either. As expected, it was late at night, so she was offline.

We always kept in touch via chat before starting a call. We usually greeted each other in chat, chatted and complained, and then played the game.

–I’m hurt. I’m such an idiot, aren’t I?

–I passed the entrance exam to Tenkain. I studied really hard.

–I graduated from junior high school. How about you?

–When I entered high school, I realized what they were doing. I feel awful.

What is this?

There were one-sided posts from Aoyama in the chat section.

When I went back and looked at the logs, there were posts every day. There was no reply from me. No wonder. I hadn’t logged in since the second year of junior high school, so there was no way I could reply.

Could I be mistaken for someone else?

I thought about that for a moment, but changed my mind when I saw the latest chat section.

–You’re logged in to GPEX, right? If you’re looking at Discordo, please contact me.

–I’ll be waiting forever.

–Please. Please respond.

This was the latest chat I had a few hours ago.

She knows I’ve just logged into GPEX. That’s why this chat is directed at me.

Eh. This is scary.

Our relationship should have ended a long time ago. You betrayed me and put me in the hospital. There’s nothing to talk about now that you’ve contacted me.

I’m going back through the logs.

–I’ll meet you at the usual time.

–All right, we’re gonna win again today.

–That was a close one. I’ll get my revenge tomorrow.

–Club activities got me in a funk. Let’s head to the battlefield to relieve the stress.

–I’m sorry. I can’t be with you for a while.

This is the last log I’ve logged in. I replied, “Got it,” and then I didn’t log in for two years.

From here on, the chat section was blank for a while.

Then, about half a year later, it was the day. The date was right after I changed schools.

——I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry.

“…… Hiiee.”

There was a line of apologies.

It wasn’t just once. Every day, there were words of apology written. I couldn’t help but be taken aback by the words that seemed to fill the entire page.

How did this happen?

At the end of the second year of junior high school, I was often absent and withdrawn. When I went to school, I went to the nurse’s office, so I didn’t get any information.

What happened to my sudden transformation?

There were no more toys to torment me, so there was no stress relief. So she tried to get me to come back, or something.

It might be too paranoid, but if I get carried away and reply, there might be a terrible reprisal later on.

“…… Okay, I’ll pretend I didn’t see that.”

I can’ t know what I don’ t know even if I think about it. If I get involved, I’ll probably end up in trouble.

I was about to close Discordo.

“Tsu, logging in this late at night is bad for your beauty and health. You idiot!”

I hurriedly logged out. I wonder. Maybe she saw me because of the timing. If so, that’s not good.

I didn’t have the courage to check again, so I went back to bed in a haze. The mystery only deepened.

…… Needless to say, I didn’t sleep at all that day.