When I returned home I saw my sister was on her phone, laughing at something. Naruko was wearing a tight-fitting pair of jeans with her legs crossed in her usual position, sunk deeply into the sofa. Her shirt was baggy enough to hide her hands inside.
"Eh? Seriously!? What's up with that? So in the end, she dumped him? Heeh, really ahaha, I would have never guessed."
What is she laughing about?
"Yeah… yeah… alright, see you tomorrow." My sister finished her sentence in an overly sweet voice, and cut off the phone call.
I went to grab a drink from the refrigerator, a pinging sound signaled that she had gotten an email. It seemed that right after she had cut off her phone call, an email had been sent to my sister's cell phone.
"Ugh." The moment Naruko read her mail, she made an ugly face. Next, she began to click her tongue moodily in rapid succession, and after pushing a few buttons on her cell phone, she put the receiver to her ear. It seemed that she was calling the person who had sent her the email. "Are you serious!? Go die! I can't believe this! I already told you I don't want to!"
As always, she was arrogantly spitting out insults she was probably talking to Rias right now.
"Tch… alright, alright! You don't have to say it so many times! But in exchange, stop it with that gross otaku clothing! Frankly, it's annoying!"
I took out a canned coffee, and filled my mouth with the drink. After drinking the espresso dry, I passed by the front of the sofa, when Naruko cut off her phone call.
"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh dammiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit!" She moaned out with a strange voice and hugged her head… what was going on…?
"You're being noisy. What's gotten you annoyed this time?"
"Huh?" Irritated, she glared at me.
"Yeah, yeah, it has nothing to do with me, I know."
The minute I had put my hand around the doorknob in an attempt to leave the room, with almost deliberate timing, she raised her voice. "Bro…"
"What?"
"You want to know the reason I'm angry, right? Come sit with me," Naruko thinned her lips, and began to talk. "Yesterday… Well, I was hanging out with those people. They invited me, so there was no helping it, and then that shitty cat was five minutes late."
She was short-tempered, wasn't she? She really didn't have to get so worked up over five minutes… as I was thinking this, Naruko added a surprising statement. "Even though I had been waiting there ever since an hour before the meeting time! Isn't that terrible!?"
An hour before!? How much were you looking forward to that meeting…? It's like this was a first date or something. The usual you would find no issue with going to a meeting like this late.
"Could it be that's what made you angry?"
"That's just one thing! But after that…"
After all the members had gathered, in order to go window shopping, they entered into Yodobashi Camera. Well, that was almost something a girl would do… wasn't it? They looked at cell phones, looked at computers, were bowled over by the huge televisions in the video game department, watched a demo movie (it was from some game titled super smash something…) after browsing the shop from one end to the other, they played around with a new Gashapon machine. Gashapon, huh? That has a nostalgic ring to it. I used to like those things too, during elementary school.
"And the only one who couldn't get the secret prize was me! Can you believe that!?"
"Don't tell me that is what you're angry about."
"No, it isn't. But I kept on playing until I got one! Hmph, don't underestimate magazine models."
To think that a teen model who had dressed herself readily in Shibuya fashion was there grasping a huge number of hundred yen coins, intensely playing Gashapon… and at the Yodobashi in Akiba? That must have been a pretty bizarre spectacle.
To put it simply, Naruko had her wages from her modeling job, so she had no shortage of funds for use in her hobby. That's probably what she meant to express when she said "Don't underestimate magazine models." So, after spending a ton of money and successfully obtaining the secret prize or whatever, Naruko was guided by Riss next to 'Star Kebab', and ate a kebab sandwich.
"My friend was working there… the shop is famous in Akiba, I hear."
"And?"
Naruko… when exactly are you planning on telling me why you got angry? How much longer will I have to continue to listen to your 'Akihabara stroll report'? I mean, come on, you're really bad at explaining things! Why did you have to start all the way from the beginning!? I don't need to know about how you met up with the others and how you played Gashapon. Cut to the chase.
After that, I had to hear about her trip to Messe Sanoh and Sofmap, and how she put in a reservation for a game. This was something I had wanted to ask the previous time I was dragged along to Akihabara, but why is it that otaku in Akihabara basically seemed to plot their course to go from game shop to game shop to game shop to game shop? It wasn't a clothing shop, so why would it matter which store you bought the games from?
Verbatim the English greeting message they have on their site about the Akiba Tourist Info Center on the first floor because it is so hilarious: "In this center, event tour plan for foreigners and guides it to the hoped place. We will recommend to foreign countries as a base for the transmission of information in Akihabara, that you can happily spend the culture and the tradition of Japan." Happily spend the culture indeed. And also…
"Why do you have to go all the way to Akiba to reserve the game? Can't you just buy it at a local store?"
"Depending on the store, you get different special reservation extras with your pre-order. Telephone cards and such."
By the way, the reason they had gone together to reserve these games was because they could then exchange the extras between each other later, sort of like a trade. For example, if three people bought two games at the three stores Messe Sanoh, Sofmap, and Akibaoo, they could get three different special extras for each game. Later, by mutual agreement, they would decide how to divide those amongst themselves.
All I could really say was that there was a lot I didn't understand. I guess goods for their favorite games were something they really would go that far to collect… Some people would even buy complete sets of these goods at auction, so I guess my sister was within relatively normal limits just trading for her items. I already said this before, but the games and goods my sister collected were stored in the hidden space behind her bookcase. A while ago, I caught a glimpse of one part of my sister's collection… It was an outrageous lineup, and in the depths of that storage space, an even more menacing set of goods lay in wait. It was scary.
Naruko's story had still not come to an end. "And then… we were pretty tired, so we went to a Mister Donut's and chatted."
I was pretty tired Naruko, so could you please get to the point soon? I had enough dealing with Weiss at school today and now I have to deal with you too. As I listened to her tedious story, Naruko finally seemed to say something that struck at the heart of the matter.
"And then, I started arguing with that shitty cat. She said that Azutan was 'after all, just a stupid's anime, right?' and made fun of it."
Again? How many times have you gotten into an argument with her because of that!? You haven't gotten tired of that at all!?
"And then, of course, I had to get angry, right? I said it… 'I bought and tried watching that Moonlight Fantasy anime DVD you said was interesting, but it was just a mix of embarrassing edgy speech and stereotypical wish fulfilling Isekai anime with disgusting protagonists with superiority complexes. It wasn't fun at all,' I said."
First off, I have no idea what you're talking about. Are you really speaking Japanese? Well, for now, I do understand that because you wanted to bash the show, you bought the DVD and scanned it over. You'd go that far just to win a verbal argument? You're tenacious, aren't you? Well, I suppose she might also have wanted to create more common ground between her and her friend.
"And then, she told me, 'Well I haven't spent even a fraction of a cent on something like Magi Magi Magical Azura,' and she hasn't seen the DVDs. Even though I had bought every volume of Moonlight Fantasy too! It seems that she had seen a bit of it when Rias taped the TV broadcast and put it on her PSP… but that's not the true Azutan! There's no way the full splendor of that work can be displayed on such a small screen! Watch the DVD version on a big screen please! Right!? Did you hear what I said, you shitty cat!?"
"Urgh… !? Why are you wringing my neck!? It's not me you're angry at!"
Did she want to kill me!? Shaking off my sister's hand, I grasped at my neck and breathed heavily. Ugh… but I finally knew what was going on. Even though she had bought and watched all the DVD volumes of a series that she had been recommended by someone, that someone didn't do the same for her, so she got angry. Not every high schooler just overflows with money like you, you know. Try to understand at least that much.
Having gotten excessively worked up and having tried to strangle me, Naruko placed a hand on her cheek and sighed heavily. "And then, when we started arguing, Rias stopped us. 'Come on, you two… calm down please,' she told us."
This was also what always had happened. Rias, the otaku community leader, was very tolerant and considerate, and each and every time, stood between Naruko and Blake as a sort of buffer zone. Listening further to Naruko's story, it seemed that afterwards, this type of exchange happened:
"Mhmm, at any rate… examining both your arguments… It seems that both Blake-chan and Naruru-chan had decided from the very start that each other's favorite anime was boring. Of course, every person has their own preferences in terms of what they like or don't like. But in your case, the issue is that you put your preconceptions and prejudices first, and that makes it difficult for you to enjoy it, right? If you watch it thinking it's boring from the start, then no matter what you're going to end up being bored. So…" Rias clapped her hands together. "How about we hold a Magi Magi Magical Azura and Moonlight Fantasy appreciation event soon?"
It was in order to remove the preconceptions and prejudices they had towards each other's favorite work, and be able to deepen their mutual understanding. In an appropriate time and place they could both agree on, they could watch each other's anime while the other person provided commentary… It seemed to be that kind of plan.
"And after that, feel free to have another discussion about the works."
And so, that was the judgment passed down by Rias. What a supremely otaku-like way of thinking. Would anyone normally go this far just for the sake of anime? I guess that's what makes them otaku. And I know that saying things like "it's just anime" was taboo.
Rias made the following proposition next:
"And if we do this, I want to do it at Naruru-chan's house."
"Huh!? Why my house!?"
At Naruko's objection, both Blake and Rias responded in their own ways.
"Well… my place is pretty far away, so…"
"In any case, I don't have a big screen TV at my house to play the DVDs with. And also, I have little sisters at home, so I can't bring home a gross otaku and Ms. Super Trendy over here."
This Blake… those were really words that could get on people's nerves… I don't know what she means by Ms. Super Trendy, but to think that there was someone who could face Naruko head on in a verbal argument… the world was a big place, wasn't it? Well, of course, Naruko took issue with their statements.
"My mother is home too! If people like you came over it would be trouble!"
"Hm? But didn't you earlier say yourself that for the time being, your mother isn't in the house on Thursdays, so you watch anime on the television in your living room?"
"Ugh… isn't that convenient that you remembered that little detail…"
That's how it was. After I learned Naruko's secret, she's been watching anime on the big screen in the living room when our mother wasn't home. Before that, she would watch when nobody was at home. She had said herself "watch Azutan on a big screen!" so she was pretty much cornered at this point.
"Both Blake-chan and myself also want to take a look at what the home of our beloved Naruru-chan looks like… and it is also the best environment for us to hold an appreciation event, so won't you please consider it? Ah, and also, if you would like, as a present, I will bring one of the signed comics Naruru-chan wants."
"J-just do what you want!"
It seemed her objections had been overridden. She had taken the bait.
"And that's why."
Having finished listening to Naruko's story, I responded with a curt "Uh-huh…" After all, it had nothing to do with me. And also, for me, it's not like my sister's friends coming over to play was something to make a fuss over. At any rate, I was going out next Thursday to practice my bass with Ruby anyways, so I wouldn't be home. So they would be coming over… hm, if Naruko and Blake got together, they would probably get into another heated argument, which was a bit worrisome. Well, Rias was also coming, so they should be alright. That's what I thought, without a care in the world.