Overloaded With Attributes Chapter 25
The Detour
After a short homeroom, I tossed my tablet in my bag, and I was ready to go. My phone was already blowing up with a flood of "Let's go home together" messages from Shouko-san. ...This... This is too much... The sheer "intensity" is enough to give me burns. Ignoring her seems like it would be... scary... later, so I was planning to just meet her at the gate...
"(...Going home?)"
"...Is she... communicating directly with my brain?!"
For some reason, the tiny, elementary-school-sized girl was standing right in front of me, arms crossed. No, wait, she's not an elementary schooler, she's my classmate. Her name was...
"Tiara-chan... right?"
"(...Tiara is Tiara. Correct.)"
She's tiny, expressionless, with sharp cat-like eyes and... pudding-colored hair. She's got a lot of character, but her main trait has to be how quiet she is.
"Um... why are you two having a conversation with just your eyes?" Atena asked, confused.
"I don't have that kind of psychic power," I shot back. Atena tilted her head. Man, she's cute.
"So, Tiara-chan, what's up?"
"(...Going home?)"
"...Is this a 'time-loop' story? Yeah, I'm going home. What else?" I mean, what else would you do on the first day of school?
"(...Then, let's make a detour.)"
"A detour?"
"(...Tiara wants to go to karaoke.)"
"Karaoke, huh..." Come to think of it, I haven't been in over ten years. They didn't have karaoke in the isekai. ...I mean, I did a lot of singing when I was a traveling merchant, but...
"Um... Hiesu-san... right? She... isn't making a sound. Her mouth isn't even moving. So how are you two having a full conversation?"
"Huh? She's talking, isn't she?" ...Just... really, really quietly.
"I can't hear a single thing. What is this? Are you two communicating on some special frequency?"
"(...Fufu. You reacted during self-introductions, so I thought 'maybe'... ...As I suspected... 'Kashiwagi-sama' can hear Tiara's voice. ...This... must be fate...)"
"Uh, I don't think it's that big of a deal..."
"Well then, shall we go, Kashiwagi-sama?"
"Gah—! ...Oh, it's just you, Akashi-san. Please, please stop standing directly behind me without making a sound or giving off any presence."
"If you are the light, I am the shadow. If you are the sun, I am the shade. In other words, I am the 'woman in the shadows'... the 'woman you can use'... Therefore, it is only natural for me to be behind you."
"That makes less than zero sense... Also... that 'Kashiwagi-sama' thing... It's a little... Can't you just call me by my name, like a normal classmate?"
"(...Got it. I'll call you Yuu-kun from now on.)"
"Very well. Then I shall call you Yuugiri-kun. ...And you, of course, may call me Shizuka."
"O-Okay..." That's not what I meant. Wait... this "horror girl," Akashi-san... wasn't she terrified of me this morning? Why is she being so... friendly... all of a sudden? This is... 'split-personality' level of creepy.
(Hey, Atena... Akashi-san... she prostrated herself in front of me on the way to school. What's she normally like?)
(What the hell happened between you two?! ...Let's see, Akashi-san... She's... 'not good with people.' Or maybe 'hates people.' ...Hmm. 'A solipsist'? Yeah, that's it.)
(I see. So, in short: she's a weirdo.)
(...I think... she'd really rather not be called that by you.)
An invitation from a classmate—a female classmate... There was no way I could say "No." I felt bad for Shouko-san, but I shot her a quick message: "Gonna make a small detour, be home a bit late." ...And my phone rang 0.3 seconds later.
"Kashiwagi-sama. A 'detour'? What exactly is the 'objec'—I mean... 'purpose' of this detour?"
"Uh, 'purpose'? It's just... you know... a 'getting-to-know-you' thing..."
"And this 'thing'... it involves... 'wom'... 'females'... does it not? And your destination? If they are, by chance, luring you to a 'scenic overlook,' I can 'snip'—'process'—them from here."
...She definitely almost said "snipe," didn't she?! And "processing" them doesn't sound much better!
"W-We're just going to karaoke! There's no danger at all!"
"Karaoke... Karaoke... with the 'opposite sex'... An 'event' I... myself... have never... No. If that is what you desire, Kashiwagi-sama, I will make every effort to... support... your mission. Yes... You have... two options."
"This really isn't that big of a deal..."
"Option one. I will mobilize GENE and have every karaoke establishment in the vicinity 'booked solid'."
She's going all out! She's actually going all out just to stop me!
"And your second option... is to entrust all 'arrangements' to me. This is, of course... purely a measure to ensure your safety. For the record."
Yeah, right! Your 'I-can't-let-you-have-fun-without-me' grudge is leaking everywhere*!* ...Still, dragging a bunch of innocent GENE employees into this seems wrong. I'll just... let her handle it.
We waited for about 3 minutes. A map pinged on my phone. We followed it... ...and arrived at... not a "karaoke box"... but a "karaoke building." Shouko-san was already there to greet us at the entrance... which was nice, but...
"This isn't karaoke, this is a hotel..."
A lobby that was sparkling with crystals. Concierge staff in crisp uniforms, moving with sharp, five-star-hotel efficiency. This is... fundamentally different... from the "karaoke" I know.
"No way, this is insane! How much does this cost?!" ...was my internal monologue. But my three classmates? Completely unfazed. Eh? In this world... is "karaoke"... this luxurious by default? This is a "bourgeois" hobby!
It wasn't just the lobby. The elevator, the hallways, the room... everything was high-class. The luxury is just... inflating... what is this?
"There is also a private jacuzzi on the roof, if you are so inclined."
"Why does a karaoke place have a jacuzzi?!"
This... this isn't just "a little weird"... this makes no sense.
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