Chapter 72 - Dark History?
"So I really look that much like your ex-girlfriend?"
"......"
A sensation almost like dizziness washed over me.
That Angelica... what kind of conversations does she have with other people when I'm not around?
She seems to get along well with Ayako-chan, but she fabricated some "ideal male-female relationship she thought up" to Tanaka, and when Rio's the one she's talking to, this is the result.
Apparently, she blabbed all about my past.
It's not like I told her to keep quiet, so I'm not angry about it.
Having a loose tongue or exaggerating stories a bit is pretty common for girls, right?
It'd be endless if I got worked up over every little thing.
Even Elsa, who was on the quieter side, pulled all sorts of things during the first few months we started going out.
She went around telling everyone about my sleeping habits and foods I hated, exaggerated my annual income to three thousand gold coins and earned the resentment of her female friends—she was terribly carried away, it was just...
【Forget that.】
Just as I was reminiscing about Elsa's nostalgic yet comical girlhood, a system message suddenly floated up.
It usually only displays businesslike text, but this message was incredibly emotional.
【Please, forget it.】
The rectangular window was trembling slightly. From Elsa's perspective, that recollection just now seems to be dark history.
Alright, I'm not a demon either. I'll seal away that memory now.
After making a firm vow in my internal monologue, I turned my eyes to Rio.
"I see."
My gaze met her triumphant eyes.
An expression that left a drop of childishness on her sharp, beautiful features.
She really does look exactly like Elsa from back when she was spreading my personal information around.
She had a somewhat alluring smile on her lips, and when she makes a face like that, the resemblance is even stronger.
"I guess I understand a lot of things now, like what happened in the bathroom. Am I really that similar to this Elsa person?"
"...So what if you are?"
"Hmm~?" Rio hummed, pressing closer. The image was that of a black cat that had found a mouse.
Meaning, the one about to be hunted now is me.
"You sometimes look at me with really sad eyes, right? Did she dump you? Hey, she dumped you, didn't she? You're nursing a broken heart, aren't you?"
Grinning, she poked me with her elbow.
She looks like she's really enjoying this.
Why do girls like stories about male-female relationships this much? It's an eternal mystery.
"Anyway, at least let me get changed."
I turned my back, as if to escape Rio's eyes.
I pulled on my shirt at twice my usual speed, slipped my arms into my jersey, and pulled up the zipper.
I don't know if it's a women's L size or a men's M size, but the length was just right.
However, around the shoulders and chest, there's clearly not enough fabric. It's stretched tight.
Even though I'm average height, I'm overly muscular, so this happens no matter what brand of clothes I choose.
But if I borrowed something from King Leo to fit my chest size, the sleeves would be too long.
It's a troublesome body type.
"Elsa-san was the same age as you, Nakamoto-san, right? So she'd be almost thirty by now."
"So what?"
"Don't you want a younger girlfriend who looks just like your ex? I happen to be free right now, you know?"
I turned around while adjusting the zipper's position.
"You seem to have only heard part of the story. Elsa isn't an ex-girlfriend."
"What's that? Don't tell me she was just a female friend?"
"No. She was more than that. She was practically my common-law wife."
"...Uh."
"And also, I wasn't dumped. We were separated by death."
Don't tease me too much about Elsa, I told her, putting a slightly serious tone into my voice.
"Ah... I'm sorry. I had no idea."
"Don't worry about it. It'd be one thing if you knew the circumstances and did it, but you didn't mean any harm. By the way, where's the hair dryer?"
"The living room..."
"Then let's head back... What's with that gloomy face? From now on, you're the bait to lure in goblins, so brace yourself. I'll protect you with everything I've got, but there's always a one-in-a-million chance."
I smiled, trying my best to make my voice as gentle as possible.
But this seemed to have the opposite effect, as Rio turned pale and started trembling.
"...Did that just mean, 'A rude brat like you can just become goblin feed'...?"
"How on earth do you interpret it that way?"
"Because, Nakamoto-san, your smile is the scariest thing..."
"Why?"
I don't think I have a particularly mean look, and I feel like I have zero intimidation factor.
Setting aside everything from the neck down, I pride myself on my face having close to zero intensity.
"...You're definitely angry, aren't you... Yeah, of course you are, if someone makes fun of you about your dead lover..."
"I'm telling you, I really don't mind."
What am I supposed to do?
Girls these days are strong-willed, but at the same time, they're incredibly fragile.
Maybe when a material increases in hardness, it loses its flexibility and becomes bad at deflecting impacts.
This kind of precarious hardness is something I felt from young men in the other world.
But in modern Japan, I often feel it from young women. In a country where gender roles have become neutralized, perhaps this kind of reversal phenomenon occurs.
I placed my hand on Rio's head and patted it gently.
It's embarrassing even as I do it, but I've already learned from Angelica and Ayako-chan that this is very effective.
Two underage samples...
What kind of data am I collecting from, seriously?
Bound by regret and self-reproach, I looked into Rio's eyes and spoke.
"I'm not going to dislike you over something like this. Seriously. When Elsa's name is brought up, it just makes me remember the past and feel sad. It's a different emotion from anger."
"...I'm sorry..."
"Don't get teary-eyed!? I mean, you know, I actually have a lot of fun talking to you? It's a fact that you're my type looks-wise, and I don't mind that you're attached to me, so I'm not going to just push you away that easily."
What am I even saying right now?
Fresh out of the bath, I'm stroking a girl's head while whispering that I like her appearance.
Isn't this completely absurd?
Rio's gradually turning red, too.
She's spacing out.
Just as I was thinking, 'Angelica would definitely misunderstand this if she saw it,' she showed up without disappointing my expectations.
That's right, this is the fate the stars have in store for me.
I'll be caught up in slapstick chaos my whole life.
"F-Father..."
Angelica's mouth opened and closed wordlessly, her eyes wide.
She was holding a hair dryer in her hand, looking like she was about to drop it at any moment.
She must have come to dry my hair.
And as a result, she saw something she didn't need to see and ended up playing out a scene straight from a lover's spat.
"...I-It's because I revealed the smell of your pillow, isn't it? So Father is switching over to Rio-san..."
"You two are both incredibly exhausting!"
I sat cross-legged in the living room, bathed in the hot air of the hair dryer.
"So, you see, I just wanted to tell her that Father isn't just some dull old man, but is actually an amazing person."
By the way, the one drying my hair is Angelica.
Hair dryer in her right hand, comb in her left.
In that state, she leaned forward, pressing her chest against the back of my head with a squish.
She's probably doing it on purpose.
When Angelica tries to get on my good side, she goes all out, using her femininity without a moment's hesitation.
It's almost refreshing, really.
"Um, and so. Father also had a beautiful lover named Elsa-san, and he was a high-spec Hero with an annual income of about three thousand gold coins, so I was trying to follow up by saying that a slightly smelly pillow is no problem at all. It's not like I was talking about Father's past for no reason..."
"Alright, alright, I get it already."
Or rather, the way she exaggerates stories is just like Elsa.
Feeling somewhat drained, I listened to Angelica's excuses.
All I did was give her a single warning: "Don't go blabbing about Elsa to people," and this is what I get.
She's so flustered it's pitiful to watch, desperately trying to butter me up.
When she's this considerate, it's actually harder on me.
I feel like I'm praying for the atmosphere to change soon.
And so, I was the one to bring up a different topic.
"Once this is done, I'm dispelling the barrier right away..."