Chapter 15. A Signature for Future Fans
The atmosphere at the dining table made Xander a little tense.
He sat upright in his seat, cradling a cup of hot tea, taking a sip now and then.
When he had just met up with Seele and the others, it genuinely gave him a scare.
He hadn't expected that even if the world was different, these people would still gather together and become friends again.
Maybe that was what fate had arranged, he sighed in his heart.
And Kiana and Sirin had actually become real sisters.
That was truly peculiar.
Only, for some reason, this pair of sisters seemed to have developed a strangely intense interest in him.
From the moment of self-introductions, the questions started pouring in.
Even after they got to the restaurant, the two little mouths, full of curiosity, never stopped.
In the restaurant, they seized the seats on his left and right.
Their boisterous chatter swirled around his ears.
By now they had already asked from his high-school life all the way to where he was born.
If this kept up, it felt like even his ancestors eight generations back would be investigated.
To field all those questions, he wore himself out and burned through plenty of brain cells.
"Alright, alright, Kiana, don't go too far.
Since you've met, you're all friends now.
There's plenty of time in the future, so no need to rush."
Seeing Xander's increasingly pained expression, Raiden Mei quickly held Kiana and Sirin back to smooth things over.
Since Mei had spoken, Kiana and Sirin could only purse their lips, a bit dissatisfied, and stop talking.
That finally let Xander breathe a sigh of relief, and at once he cast a resentful look at Seele—exactly like the look Seele had just tossed at Bronya.
Seele's eyes darted around and she simply didn't dare meet the gaze of her brother whom she'd just thrown under the bus.
Bronya, for her part, was a total agent of chaos.
Not only had she not helped, she'd even added fuel to the fire.
"We already ordered from the menu earlier.
Mr. Masato, please see whether it suits your taste and whether there's anything you avoid.
Don't be polite—just tell us freely."
After keeping Kiana and Sirin in check, Mei smiled and handed him the menu.
"No problem.
My tastes are about the same as Seele's and Bronya's.
Also, you don't need to be so formal with me.
Since you're Seele and Bronya's friend, I'll just call you Mei, and you can call me Xander, or Ah Xander.
'Mr.' and such aren't necessary—it sounds awkward."
He skimmed it and, seeing no issue, passed the menu back.
His tone was gentle, and he was quite grateful to Mei for getting him out of that bind just now.
"Right, right.
We're all friends here.
Mei, you're actually the stiffest one~"
Kiana, ever the social butterfly, patted Xander's shoulder and grinned as she spoke to Mei.
"Am I?
Then it's my problem.
In that case, I'll call you Xander."
"Mm, Mei."
Here in the Far East, only people with a particularly close relationship call each other by given names.
But Mei understood clearly that, at this table, she alone was local to the Far East.
The others didn't care much about given-name address, so she didn't mind either.
"What about me, what about me~?"
Seeing Xander address Mei, Kiana immediately pointed at herself, brimming with excitement.
"Kiana."
"Hee~ Hi, Ah Xander~"
Being called by name seemed to make her very happy.
Kiana replied with a cheerful chuckle.
Seeing that, Sirin also grew eager.
"Ahem, ahem."
She coughed twice first to draw everyone's attention, then flicked her eyes toward Xander.
Her brilliant violet hair swayed and shimmered under the lights.
"If you call me by my name too, I can give you an autograph~"
"Sirin?"
"Mm-hm~"
Hearing she hadn't been left out, Sirin nodded in satisfaction.
She then took paper and pen out of her handbag and, with practiced ease, wrote a string of cute cursive letters on a card.
"Um, the autograph isn't necessary.
No need to trouble yourself."
Not quite understanding Sirin's move, Xander spoke with a hint of puzzlement.
Click.
Sirin's writing hand froze.
She lifted her head with a face full of confusion and said in disbelief, "You don't know me?"
"?"
Xander was even more confused.
Looking at the suddenly wide eyes and perked-up ears all around, he responded as tactfully as he could, "This might sound a bit rude, but, Sirin, why do you assume I would know you?"
"....."
"Pff—hahahahahahahahahaha!!!!!!!!!!"
Silence briefly blanketed the room.
Then Kiana was the first to lose it, bursting into uproarious laughter.
Sirin's tender, fair little face flushed red in an instant.
Her hands trembled, tears welled in her eyes, and she stared at him, full of shame and anger.
Next, Mei, Bronya, and Seele all failed to hold back their own laughter one after another—just not as unrestrained as Kiana.
"Um, did I say something wrong?"
Even someone with very low emotional intelligence would realize from this scene that he'd said something off.
But he really didn't know Sirin.
He couldn't exactly say, I knew you in my previous life, could he?
"If you think it's rude, then just shut up—aaah!!!"
Sirin clapped her hands over her burning face.
She felt she had no dignity left.
"Hahaha… It's fine.
It's just that a certain conceited show-off finally got a lesson."
Kiana propped one hand on his shoulder, laughing so hard she couldn't straighten up.
Truly sisters—first on the scene to mock.
"B-brother, let Seele explain it to you."
Seele had laughed for a while too.
But seeing her brother so bewildered, she couldn't help saying, "Sirin is a very famous game streamer.
On the streaming app under Schicksal, she has a million fans.
So when she learned you make games, Sirin probably assumed you'd know her~"
"Uwaaah—Seele, stop."
The more Seele said, the more Sirin wanted the earth to swallow her whole.
Xander quickly understood what Seele meant.
He looked at Sirin with some apology and said, "Sorry, sorry.
I rarely watch streams, so I'm not very familiar with that scene."
Aside from sometimes checking out Elysia's streams, the rest of the time he was either with Seele or making games.
He basically had no spare time.
To learn the latest about games, rather than watching streamers, it was better to get hands-on himself.
The young lady had been smooth-sailing for a long time.
Making such a gaffe in front of friends all at once, she was probably on the brink of shutting down.
Seeing this made Xander both amused and a little soft-hearted.
So he leaned a bit closer to Sirin.
"So then, Sirin, would you mind giving that autograph to your future fan?"
He reached out and picked up the autograph Sirin had set on the table, smiling as he spoke to her.
"Eh?"
The sudden turn made Sirin lift her head in a daze.
Her reddened eyes were still clouded with confusion, as if she hadn't yet processed his words.
As dark-as-ink pupils reflected in Sirin's eyes, there wasn't a trace of mockery in them—only the gentleness of rippling water.
Very quickly, Sirin whipped around, as if she didn't dare meet Xander's gaze again, and stammered, "S-since you put it that way, then I'll give it to you.
A-after all, a fan…"
"Hiss~"
At that moment, Kiana suddenly drew in a sharp breath.
Hands clasped, she bowed solemnly to Xander.
"Master Xander!"
"?"
"Master, please teach me how to chase girls!"
"???"
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