Headphone Actor (9 page)

Putting the controller on the desk as I asked this, the girl answered shyly, “…. In a way.”

Did this mean that that jersey boy, with that strong hand, had come to the Culture Festival with a girl!? The flames of my fury started to fire up, but with how apologetic the girl seemed, my emotions were dampened.

“I see …. Well, it’s fine. He was strong, and it’s also been a while since I had that much fun. But, you should warn him about his attitude, y’know!? He’ll never make it in the real world like that.”

I huffed, and the girl sighed with a forced smile.

“That’s … true. He’s not very good with people, or well, better put, he can be self-centered sometimes … I’ll be sure to warn him later. I really am so sorry ….”

“N-no, you shouldn’t have to apologize …. Well, I’m sure he has a lot going on at that age. It’ll be fine as long you have a proper talk with him.”

“Yes, I’ll do so. Ah, oh no, I’ve been left behind! I’m sorry, but I’ll also be excusing myself here, since I have to go and meet my father after this, as well …”

Bowing her head, the girl left the room in a hurry.

With the prize gone, customers gradually began to leave, and the people that were my fans said, “We apologize for intruding,” and quickly left the room.

Watching this as I remained sitting in the chair, the clock soon displayed the ending time of the Culture Festival; 4:00.

I heard an announcement coming from the speakers in the hallway: “Thank you for waiting, the event has come to a close. Each class, please follow the instructions given by the Executive Committee and begin cleaning up.”

As I heard that, my exhaustion suddenly hit me. Honestly, I’d wound up being involved in so many unexpected things today, and even gone through ridiculous shock, but once it was all over, it was actually pretty fun.

Also, it’d be nice if the fact that I was “Ene” didn’t spread around anymore than it had, and eventually faded from everyone’s memories …..

As I thought about these things, I waited for Haruka’s return.

He’d worked hard today too, so maybe I should reward him just this once.

Right, maybe I should treat him to something to eat on our way home ….. No, that was no good. If I spent my measly pocket money on that guy, it would all disappear in an instant. What if we split the bill …. No, we should just pay for our own portions. Yeah, that would be best.

Come to think of it, there was still a lot left over from the food money that Sensei had given us.

It would be a good idea to use it before he asked us to give it back.

With my cheek leaning on the teacher’s desk, I silently fiddled with the controller and waited for fifteen minutes.

….. Haruka still wasn’t back.

Even though he’d only gone to hand over the prize, he was taking way too long.

Where on earth could he be lazing around?

The ticking of the clock rang out in the room …. After the booths had closed, each class had to clean up and leave the school by 5:00.

Of course, we also had to do so, but it would take a lot of time for two people to do everything.

“That guy …. Don’t tell me he’s trying to skip out.”

—No, he’s the last one to do something like that. It was obvious that I’d send him flying the next day if he did, and more importantly, he was more earnest than anyone.

But, that’s what made it strange that he still wasn’t back by now.

As I thought about the possibility of him lazing around somewhere, I suddenly had a very bad feeling.

What if he’d had an attack while running to catch up?

I remembered hearing that Haruka’s illness was so serious that it was endangering to his life.

But because of his usual behavior and personality, it didn’t seem like that in the slightest, so I had never worried about his illness at all.

However, he’d been staying up late for the past few days, run the booth with me for most of the day, and after that, gone running out of here.

As I thought about it more, my bad feeling got even worse, and my heartbeat quickened.

I jumped up from the desk, making a loud noise as I knocked over the chair.

But, I didn’t care about that.

Right now, Haruka might have collapsed somewhere.

He could be in pain, without anyone realizing.

As I thought of that, I felt an agonizing sensation.

I wish I’d realized it sooner. He was such a weak person.

Even so, I hadn’t been worried at all, and kept on pushing him recklessly.

“Haruka …..!”

Facing the door, I opened it in one pull ….! Just as I was about to dash out with the momentum, my body—flew straight into the person standing in front of me.

“Uwaaah!!”

“Kyaaah!!”

Crashing into them, I was thrown back into the classroom, and fell down hard on my bottom. As I cried out from the pain running though my waist, I raised my head, and saw a familiar boy, collapsed with dizzy eyes in the hallway.

“H-Haruka!?”

“Owowoww, that’s dangerous ….. What’s wrong, Takane …..? Why’re you in such a rush ….?”

“—Idiot ….!! I-I was worried …..”

Feeling both relieved and also concerned that I’d knocked him over, I stood up, and headed towards him as if about to hug him.

—But, when I noticed the sauce around Haruka’s mouth, as well as the packs of various food scattered around him from the impact of being run into, those feelings converted into a feeling of wanting to kick him.

“….. What do you think you’re doing?”

While rubbing my waist in pain, I stopped right in front of Haruka and asked this while looking down at him.

“Eh? Well, since the booths are closing, I thought I’d go and get the leftover food before it’s all thrown out! Ah, hey, look at how much there is! We can have a party today! Isn’t that great!?”

….. My anger was quickly starting to build up.

I felt my clenched fists and both my cheeks heat up. Ahh, I was such a big idiot for worrying over this guy for even a second.

“……… Takane? Are you angry or something?”

The moment Haruka asked this, I brought my first down on his head.

Right at that timing, an announcement was made throughout the school about the MVP of today’s booths, and apparently, it had been our booth.

However, because the announcement had been drowned out by my shouting and Haruka’s cries of agony, the two of us didn’t find out about this until several days later.

——

Translation Notes:

*chuunibyou = “Middle School 2nd Year Syndrome”. In this case, Takane is afraid Haruka might think she’s really disillusioned and takes everything about the game and her avatar too seriously.

*Onee-san = “Big Sister”. Common for kids to call older strangers this, even when not actually related.

HEADPHONE ACTOR PART THREE

(translated by Miss-Simplicity
)

There was no longer anyone else around me. 
Blocked by buildings, the sunset that had previously been hidden could be seen very well from this place. 
The light that dyed the world crimson red, I thought it to look almost like a fire that consumed everything. 
Dashing up the steep slope, breath faint, I reached the top of the hill. 
The owner of the voice in the headphones that led me here muttered something, but because I was fully concentrating on catching my breath, I couldn’t understand what was said. 
It was most likely already the time to say that everything was over. No, perhaps it already had been. 
However, upon arriving at the top of the hill, there was nothing there. 
To be more precise, there was only a huge wall that projected a huge sky. 
"…. This isn’t right." 
I felt a great sense of discomfort at something not being there, although I couldn’t remember what that was. 
My quickened breath slowly returned to its normal rhythm. 
Gradually, the meaning behind this sense of discomfort became clear. 
—-It wasn’t that something wasn’t here. 
"He" wasn’t here. 
"Even though I thought I’d finally be able to tell him ….." 
Those words came out from my mouth unconsciously. 
My extended shadow became thinner. 
Dusk had already ended. 
「
…. As I thought, it was already … too late. Even though here— even though this place was the only place to tell him …..!
」
Hearing those words from the headphones, even though I couldn’t remember, they seemed to speak for what was in my heart. 
「
In the end, it was all over! Everything …. all of it— ….!!
」
——Just give up already. 
I can’t meet with “him” anymore. 
I know that already. 
「
If it’s … this kind of world, it’s better to just——!
」
Don’t say something like that. 
Although I didn’t make it, 
at the very end, I— 

——realized my own feelings. 
When I turned around at that time, the town was already entering its final moments. 
From beyond the collapsed sky, I muttered my last words to the girl. 
"….. I’m sorry …. Takane."

I gazed out at the burnt wreckage of the program in my fading consciousness.  
The words that came from the headphones were words more than enough to invite me back into sleep.

YUUKEI YESTERDAY
PART THREE

(translated by Miss-Simplicity
)

A midsummer day.

Outside of the window was a bright, blue sky. In the far-off distance, huge cumulonimbus clouds could be seen.

“…. It’s no use, I don’t get this at all ….”

In the classroom, a furious summer course was unfolding.

Haruka was breezing through the piles of worksheets in front of him, but as for me, I was barely getting through this tough battle as I decoded each question.

Quite some time had passed since that Culture Festival, and we had become second year students in high school.

Although, as usual, the only students in this class were Haruka and I, and unfortunately, the homeroom teacher was still Tateyama-sensei.

As we became second year students, the material gradually became more difficult, and as for me, who honestly wasn’t very smart, my score averages continued to drop.

“Huh? Takane, your hand stopped moving again. Do you want me to show you how to do it one more time?”

Haruka had already done nearly twice as much as I had, and earlier, I’d tasted the humiliation of having him teach me the problems that I just couldn’t understand at all.

“Sh-shut up! I’m almost done solving it, so be quiet!”

Even as I said this and went back to concentrating on my worksheet, I barely understood what I’d written down.

Even though it was math, there was English as well, and rather than answering, it was writing out formulas; it was a mess.

“Ahaha, sorry, sorry. That’s true, there’s no point if you can’t do it yourself when possible! Good luck!”

Haruka struck a guts pose, and returned to working smoothly on his own work.

Damn it …. Couldn’t he have stayed with me for a little while longer?

This was bad. At this rate, I’d be the only one left behind in the classroom again.

Whenever Haruka finished his problems, he always asked me, “Want me to help?”

He was probably just purely trying to cooperate, but if I kept allowing him to do so, all my dignity would disappear.

That’s why today, just as usual, I drove him off by saying, “I want to do it on my own, so hurry up and go home!”

Ahh …. What was I even doing? My valuable summer vacation was being wasted because of my bad grades and strange pride.

My initial plans had been to prepare for the upcoming game tournament by doing a self-training camp in my room, but I never would have dreamed that I’d be losing time over something like this.

“Haah, what do I do? I feel like I’m completely out of practice …. And I haven’t logged in for two days, either. Maybe I should just give up this time …”

I complained as my dropped my cheek on top of the worksheets. At the same time, Haruka muttered, “Done,” and started gathering up his papers that had all the answers filled in.

“Eh!? Haruka, you’re finished!? Eh, wait, you’re leaving already!?”

In my surprise at him finishing so quickly, the words that came out of my mouth sounded like I’d be lonely if he went home. I started to correct myself, but Haruka didn’t pay any attention to me, and put his bag on top of the desk.

“Ah …. W-well, you can leave if you want. Just go home and stuff yourself silly. I’ll be fine working here on my own.”

I’d ended up overdoing the excuse. As I crossed my arms, however, Haruka glanced sideways at me and said “Eh? But I’m not leaving,” and took out a laptop from his bag.

It slowly started up, and once it did, he entered his password in the login screen with a familiar speed. Once logged in, along with the game’s title screen, a character with white hair and a black collar, named “Konoha,” was displayed.

“Wh-whaaat!? Just what are you thinking!? Are you going to start playing here!? Right next to me!?”

“Yeah! Since the tournament is soon, and if I play right next to you, then you’ll want to play too and finish your work faster, right?”

“No, I’m going to get distractedddd ahhhhhh I can’t take it anymore!! I wanna play too!! Give it to me!”

“Uwaah! Y-you can’t!! You have to finish your work, first!”

That’s right; the game that Haruka had started playing was the one that I participated in tournaments for.

Ever since that Culture Festival, Haruka had gained knowledge he was better off not knowing, and started playing this online game.

At first, I’d thought he’d be sure to grow bored of it right away, but he soon got hooked, and quickly became really good at it.

He’d become a rather famous player in the game, and was so skilled that he was one of the winning candidates for the next tournament.

….. The start of all this leads back to the night of the Culture Festival.

           
*

“…. Well, somehow or other, that’s the Culture Festival. It was fun in the end, wasn’t it?”

“Honestly, there’s too many things that’ll become trauma for me, though ….. Ah! This xiaolongbao tastes so good~”

“Mwut Takwame’s mwas mweary amwazing tohway.”

“Haruka, that’s gross! Swallow first before you talk! And Sensei, you’re taking advantage of the situation and drinking too much!! How many is that already!?”

Tateyama-sensei, Haruka, and I had gone out to eat dinner to celebrate the festival ending.

In the end, Haruka had eaten up all the food he’d received at an alarming pace, and after the two of us rushed to clean everything up, we’d somehow managed to wrap up the Culture Festival.

While cleaning, I’d kicked Haruka every time he called me “Ene,” but he didn’t seem to understand at all why I was angry at him. It was so irritating.

Afterwards, almost as if he’d been waiting for the right moment, Tateyama had appeared, trying to look cool by saying things like, “A hero always arrives late …..” Just as I’d done with Haruka, I kicked him mercilessly and made him take us out to dinner as an apology for being late.

“But you know~ It was really cool~ What was it called again? ‘Phantom Waltz—Holy Nightmare— ’? When Ene was taking down enemies one after another ….!”

“I told you to never say that name ever again!! Aaaah ….. this is the worst …..”

Because the Chinese restaurant I’d chosen to come to was a distance away from the school, there weren’t any other students from the same Culture Festival.

I put my elbow down on the table in a space that wasn’t crowded by stacked plates and covered my face in agony with my palm.

“Hahaha! So you were given away in the end, huh! Well, it’s not such a bad thing, so don’t let it bother you—Ene, that hurts!”

I punched Tateyama’s upper arm and let out a large sigh.

In order to drown out my sorrows, I drank the orange juice that was in front of me all in one go.

“That’s right, there’s no reason to hide it! But, you know, the name ‘Ene’ is using the first and last letters from ‘Enomoto Takane’, right?”

“Y-yeah …. It does … And what of it?”

“Eh? Oh, no, I just thought it was interesting. Like, a name that’s not actually your real name is so cool~ I want something like that, too!”

Haruka muttered this while finishing up the last dish (How many servings had he even eaten today?) and waiting restlessly for the next one.

But, without knowing the state of his stomach now, or if it was starting to hurt, it was weird that his eating pace still hadn’t slowed down.

“Then, how about this? Something related to ‘LightningDancer,’ too—no, wait!! I’m sorry, lower your fist!!”

I silenced Tateyama-sensei with intimidation, who kept on saying unnecessary things. It would soon be 8:00 PM, but since tomorrow was a day-off, we still had plenty of time.

“A handle name is something you come up with your own, so just back off, both of you. It’s embarrassing ….”

Before Haruka ate them all, I took some of the chili shrimp onto my own plate and answered their harassing questions while complaining.

“Maybe I should think of something, too! Since my name’s ‘Kokonose Haruka’ …. Something like ‘Konoha’!”

“Yeah, yeah, isn’t that good enough? Nice to meet you, Konoha-kun.”

I replied half-heartedly just to shut him up, but Haruka was happier than I expected, and was strangely fired up, “Ohhh! As I thought, this is pretty good ….! I’ll go with this next time!”

           
*

—And that’s how it had come to this.

“B-but it’s not fair that you’re playing so much!! Getting better all on your own … Even though I really want to play right now!”

“That’s your own fault, Takane~ I finished all my work already, after all. Once you’re finished, we can play together, so work hard, okay?”

It was obvious to anyone that what Haruka said was reasonable, but I could only make excuses like a little kid, going, “But …” “Oh, come on ….”

And also, I realized anew the difference between me, who had bad grades because of laziness, and Haruka, who wouldn’t need summer courses since he actually focused on his studies.

That’s right, Haruka hadn’t come to summer courses because of bad grades. Judging by the speed that he solved problems, just that alone probably made him the top in the class.

His behavior in class was, of course, excellent, and he didn’t need any kind of guidance. However, where Haruka was lacking in were the very important “attendance days.”

In December of last year, Tateyama-sensei and I have been invited to the Christmas party that Haruka had planned all on his own.

Since it was also his birthday, I remember going out of my way to buy a present to surprise him.

With my meager allowance, I did my best to save up enough money, and although it was heartbreaking to use up the savings I’d finally managed to build up, I somehow cheered up by imagining how happy Haruka would be to receive my present.

—But, on the day of the party, Haruka had an attack and collapsed.

Fortunately, because he’d been rushed to the hospital right away, it hadn’t been too serious.

At that time, Tateyama-sensei and I had been in the middle of rushing to make about five serving’s worth of food, but even so, Haruka became hospitalized from that day on.

He was discharged after a week, at the end of winter break, and was well enough to come to school afterwards, but a month later, he had another attack.

This time, his condition wasn’t getting better, and he couldn’t leave the ward for about a month.

But rather than worrying about his own health, Haruka worried about the online game he’d been addicted to at the time and kept saying to me, “Once I get out, I have to get practicing.”

After that, the two of us were able to advance to the next grade level, but Haruka’s health weakened, and even when it wasn’t so bad that he had to be hospitalized, he was often absent from class.

And so, currently, he was making up for his insufficient attendance by taking summer courses.

Haruka didn’t complain, and instead said, “If I’m taking them with Takane, it’s actually fun,” but I wondered how he really felt.

—I … couldn’t understand him very well.

“Ah, there’s a new weapon! Is it because the tournament’s coming up? Hmm, ‘wonder if I should buy it~ ….”

Haruka was staring excitedly at the display screen, and I couldn’t feel even the slightest sign of depression from him.

No, if I thought about it, I’d never seen him become depressed at all.

Even when I was his only classmate, or when our class was the only one that had to sit out and watch the athletic meet he’d been looking forward to, or even when he’d been hospitalized and couldn’t come to school; he smiled.

And always, 
always
, I got mad at Haruka’s smile, was appalled by it …. And also, I was captivated by it.

“Hey, Haruka …”

“Eh? What is it? Oh, w-wait just a second, okay? The battle’s just started!”

Without taking his eyes away from the screen, Haruka desperately waged the battle.

The way he played the game while muttering to himself was almost like an innocent kid.

…. But, he really was a carefree guy. Actually, couldn’t he have just finished slower so that he could keep me company for a while longer?

I sighed, and stared at my worksheet again, but because of the shooting sounds right next to me, I honestly couldn’t concentrate at all.

What was that about “finishing faster”? Wasn’t this having the complete opposite effect by distracting me?

I glared at him, hoping to drive him away, but as usual, he wasn’t paying attention to me at all, and my anger quickly faded away.

Having lost all motivation to do my work,  I rested my chin in my hand and rolled my mechanical pencil around, and suddenly, I thought of a good idea. Sitting up, I reached into my bag on the side of the desk and took out my headphones.

….. If I put this on and put on a brusque attitude, then he might become impatient and stop playing the game.

When people immerse themselves in their own world and other people around them start doing something, they can’t help but feel very lonely. It would be the same for this guy.