Headphone Actor (8 page)

As I voiced that complaint and was about to pull my head back inside, I caught sight of someone by the front door on the left side of the hallway.

Even though there hadn’t been a soul around earlier, I now saw three men wearing the exact same clothes.

They wore camouflage pants, bandanas, and goggles, as if they’d just dropped by here on their way home from a survival game.

“Wh-what’s with those people ….? Some kind of costume? But they seem like normal customers, so could those be their normal clothes …?”

But if those were normal clothes, that kind of style was a little overdoing it. It’s be more acceptable if it were a costume, since I could see something that looked like a transceiver on the shoulder strap of the rucksack they were carrying on their backs.

“What’s wrong, Takane?”

“Um, yeah …. There’s some suspicious-looking people …. Should we call a teacher or something?”

“Suspicious people? W-wait, let me see.”

Haruka said this, stuck out his head above mine, and stared down the hall.

“See? They look kind of suspicious, right? That’s obviously not the kind of clothes you’d come here in ….”

“I wonder about that. It might be that kind of style, you know? The military fashion type.”

The fact that Haruka said “style” was what shocked me. Surprisingly, did this guy know a lot about that kind of stuff ….?

If that was the case, what I’d called “suspicious” earlier might actually be the “latest style” …. And if so, would that make me the one that’s actually old-fashioned?

“W-well yeah, I see it around a lot lately …. That kind of clothing is popular in, like … Tokyo? Or something like that ….”

There was no choice but to just go with it. For now, I’d try praising them a bit. But more than anything, I didn’t want it to seem like these guys knew more about trends than I did.

“Wow, really?! I had no idea about that …. As expected of Takane!”

Haruka’s bright smile pierced my heart. If I really thought about it, there was no way that a guy who was fine with being half-naked knew anything about fashion sense.

Having dug a grave with my useless vanity, I stuttered out a, “Y-yeah, I guess ….” which further increased my guilty conscience.

“Excuse me, but may we please ask something of you?”

“Huh?”

Hearing an unexpected voice, I lifted my head and saw that the military group from earlier was standing there.

While I’d been so engrossed in that silly conversation with Haruka, they’d come up so close that it was shocking.

“E-eek!! Y-yes, of course! What is it!”

Looking at them from up close, this group seemed incredibly intimidating.

Although at first I’d thought it was three men in inappropriate dress for school, for some reason, their numbers had now increased to six.

“Uwah!”

Haruka didn’t seem to have noticed either, and after leaning back in surprise, he hid behind me. So pathetic.

“We apologize for startling you. Actually, we’re looking for a booth. We heard about a famous ‘shooting game’ at this Culture Festival that was accepting challengers …”

“I-I see …. Eh!? Ah, umm, well, that …. probably means us …”

I was surprised that these guys were good, courteous young men, but I was even more surprised that they were looking for our booth.

The men in front of me also started buzzing in surprise.

“O-ohh, so it was here! S-speaking of which, the person that will be the opponent is ….?”

Almost as if this was to determine if this was the shooting booth they were seeking or not, they asked me this question, treating me like their superior officer.

“Eh? U-uhh …. That … would be me?”

Not know what this group was after, I put some distance between us, and replied with only my eye peeking out from the crack in the door.

And as I did, the group cheered out, “Ohhhhhhhh!!”

For some reason, the young man speaking at the head of the group started bursting into tears. D-don’t tell this, this reaction is …. I had a bad feeling …..

“F-forgive my rudeness …! Then, this would mean that you are LightningDancerEne-sama, correct …..!? It’s such an honor to finally—”

Hearing up until this point, I slammed the door shut with a bang!

Just as I thought. They were my fans from the online game.

Judging from their appearance, they were probably participants from the tournament.

If I’d known that earlier, I could have just lied about this being the shooting booth as well as about the opponent being me! How stupid could I get!?

But, how did they know …..? No, it was simple.

The first customer, the sullen man, must have posted online something like, “LightningDancerEne is holding a 2P shooting game! Gamers in the area should check it out! It’s so worth it!”

That was the only way I could imagine the information might have leaked. I should have warned those guys earlier when I had the chance.

“T-Takane …. Who were those people earlier ….?”

“Eh? Ah, yeah, it’s nothing! They already left!”

Although I said this to the concerned-looking Haruka with a sweaty smile, immediately after, we heard severe knocking from the door behind me, accompanied by the painful cries of the men, going, “Please!! Allow me to compete against you just once!!” “Please!! Please!!”

Ahh, who was the one that suggested we do a shooting game, anyway? No, it was me. If I’d known it’d turn out like this, it would have been a thousand times better to have just gone with the maid café.

Judging by the gradually increasing noise of the voices from outside, it probably meant that even more “soldiers” had come due to that information leak.

“…. Oh, what does it even matter anymore.”

Muttering this, I opened the door and saw that the soldiers had already increased by more than ten people. The moment I appeared, the cries turned to low cheers.

I threw the door open all the way and shouted, “I am Ene!! I’ll challenge all of you one by one, so those who wish to die, come forth!!”

Behind me, I heard Haruka say, “Ene …. So cool …..!” in admiration, and this time, the flowing tears were a signal of the end of my youth.

                                                                                        *

…… It’d been about two hours since then.

The inside of the classroom was filled with an audience, and there were even crowds of people outside.

After playing against several veterans, and as such, having created the “New Dancer Legend,” my tears of shame had long since dried up.

“…. She’s won again!! This makes the 45
^th
 
consecutive victory!!”

The cheers rose up once more, and as the challenger cried tears of honor, he paid words of tribute to me, and then left his seat.

With all the challengers being gamers, and not at all like normal customers, it was difficult to tell that this strange scene was a booth at a School Culture Festival.

“Ene, can you keep going!? There’s still about ten minutes until it’s over, so do your best until the very end!”

Crouching on the right side of my seat, Haruka had somehow come to call me “Ene,” and continued to cheer me on like he was my coach.

“Yeah, it’ll be over soon …. Although, it’s already all over for me …. Fufufu …..”

I leaned back and muttered deliriously. Starting tomorrow, there would probably be rumors about me going around school.

Maybe I should just walk around with a name tag that says “Ene.”

Just as I was thinking about this and had reached a selfless zen-like state, a new challenger came to the seat.

Up until now, all the challengers were bulky-looking men, but this time, it was a young boy wearing a red jersey, and around the same height as the two parka-wearing kids that had been the second customers.

Just as I sat up in surprise, Haruka tapped my shoulder from beside me.

“Ene …. I’m sorry to say this just when you’re getting all fired up, but I think it’s about time that we let someone win. I know it might be hard, but do you think you could lose to him ….?”

Haruka said this in a very hesitant voice. Just how much longer was he going to keep on misunderstanding? It wasn’t like I was getting fired up or anything at all.

But, it 
was
 
true that it might be a good time to lose here.

Well, it was a little hard for my pride to lose to a guy younger than me, but this was a “service” decided before the game.

And it was better than losing to one of those gamers, anyway ….

For the sake of this event being a success, I couldn’t betray myself here. Seeing as how it was the last customer, as well, I forced a smile on for the first time in a while.

“You’re the next challenger, right? Nice to meet you! Do you know the rules, or should I explain them to you just once?”

I managed to speak in a splendid “Cute Onee-san Voice.” If it was a boy of this age, it was possible that he might end up falling for me in some puppy-dog crush. —I was such a sinful woman.

“….. You may be taking advantage of being no.2 in the nationals right now, but from I can see, you’re no big deal. Your judgment is sloppy, and so are your movements. Just looking at you irritates me.”

Contrary to what I’d imagined, the jersey-wearing boy muttered this without even making eye contact.

“Eh ….? Ah, sorry, Onee-san here didn’t quite hear you, so …..”

I must have just heard wrong. There was no way that such a cute boy had said those sharp words.

“I said, ‘You’re weak.’ Just hurry up and start the game. I don’t care what difficulty you make it.”

—I heard something snap inside my head. After hearing it the second time, there was no mistake. He was calling me “weak.”

A mere kid was making fun of my play style. 
My
 
play style that was worshipped as being like a “Dancer.”

“Wh-why you …. Calling me weak …. Are you trying to say you’ll win against me!?”

“Yeah, I’ll win. I’ll definitely win. Because you’re weak.”

I’d had enough. The blood vessels in my head seemed about to burst because of the how much my blood was boiling right now.

But because he was younger than me, I couldn’t lash out at him.

Yes, all I had to do was win, against this weakling that did nothing but talk big. I would personally teach him how the world worked; that there were winners and there were losers.

“O-oh, is that so now~ ….! I see, I see ….!  So you’re fine with having a match with me at the highest difficult, right? I DEFINITELY won’t lose though!?”

The controller I was holding starting making cracking noises from how hard I was gripping it.

Beside me, Haruka quietly said, “Wait, Takane, you’re supposed to lose to him!” but that voice no longer reached my ears.

—This was a battle where my pride was at stake.

Right now, there was no other way but to crush this jersey boy and protect my pride.

“Fine. If you win, I’ll listen to whatever you say. And if you lose, what will you do?”

As he said this, the boy looked at me for the first time. His sharp and somehow melancholy eyes gave off a cold pressure, almost as if looking right through me.

“I-If I lose, then I’ll listen to anything you say! I’ll become your servant and even call you ‘Master’ if you want me to! I definitely won’t lose!”

“Oh really. You really are boring, after all. Whatever, let’s just start.”

The boy said and faced the display screen again.

Even without looking at a mirror, I already knew that my face was bright red from being so worked up.

I’ll knock him down …..! This guy’s the only one I’ll definitely knock down!

Taking one deep breath, I selected the “extra” difficult and pressed the start button.

“I’ll make you regret making a fool out of me ….!”

With the decisive match finally begun, enemies appeared on the screen.

In the end, I had scored my personal best today. I was certain that I had played very well, and had been completely focused.

However, when the results screen showed up, the word “LOSE,” spelling my defeat, were shown.

And on the boy’s screen was the word “WIN” in gold, and furthermore, below that …. it showed the word “PERFECT!!” in red lettering.

“You’re …. kidding ……”

Unable to grasp the situation even now, the boy simply said to me, “It’s a bother, so you can forget about that promise,” and left the classroom.

Haruka hurriedly stood up to give him the specimen prize.

“Ah …. I’ll go give this to him! Ene, you were really cool up until the end! Good work!”

I wasn’t able to give any kind of reply to Haruka’s words, either.

I’d been made a fool of by someone younger than me, bluffed to that extent, and still lost.

All around me, a discussion had started: “She lost on purpose!” “No, but looking by the points, that’s the highest today! Which means that Ene lost!?” However, I didn’t care about that at all.

—It was so frustrating. That was all I felt as I was unable to let go of the controller, even now.

“U-um …. I apologize that my friend said such rude things ….”

The one that unexpectedly spoke to me was girl with semi-long hair.

Even though it wasn’t so cold today, for some reason she was wearing a red muffler, and gave off a very frail vibe.

“….. Are you … a friend of that guy from earlier?”