God's Blessings on this IRL Streamer!

by BoringBone

Kazuma is a NEET who spends all his time playing games and watching anime. When he's not playing games, he watches his favorite streamer, Aqua. By coincidence, he meets Aqua IRL and it turns out they go to the same school. What business does she want with a NEET like Kazuma? She wants to scam him into doing her homework (contains sexual situations and gratuitous shipping).

3. Volume 3: Title Is Too Long

Volume 3: My Normie Life Is Wonderful As I Expected

Chapter 1: A Duo Stream For This Normie Couple!

Part 1

A few days after Aqua exposed our relationship to everybody, even including the internet, we made plans to go to Aqua's house after school.

Since I was going to my girlfriend's house for the first time, and since she lived alone, I was nervous.

She also somehow convinced me to do a couple stream with her.

"Why are you fidgeting around like that, Kazuma?"

"How could I not be stressed out about this?"

"It's not like I'm forcing you. You can back out and let me handle the flame and hate alone if you want."

She chuckled when she saw me slump my shoulders in defeat. She said,

"So, did you buy a disguise like I told you?"

I nodded and took out a random mask I bought from a cosplay store the other day.

It was a white and black mask, both colors split in halves.

"What's with that creepy mask?"

Aqua didn't seem to like the mask very much.

"I don't know, I just grabbed whatever random mask I could find."

"Couldn't you get a cuter one?! This one is really creepy!"

I didn't know why she was so adverse to it, but it was the only mask I had on me, so she had to accept it.

Like I observed the other day, Aqua's apartment was one of the more expensive, uptown ones.

She took out a card, held it up in front of a panel, and glass doors opened to let us in.

We went through a clean lobby decorated with peace lilies resting inside a caramel colored glass vase. The vase was on top of a polished dark wood coffee table that was surrounded by two white, tuxedo arm leather couches, connecting into a mirror reversed 'L'.

Usually, most apartment lobbies just had a dirty couch and a side table with an outdated phone book on it.

We went up to the elevator. Aqua's place was on the sixth floor.

Aqua's place was surprisingly minimalistic and tasteful. There was a dark olive twill couch in the living room facing a 50 inch TV. Semi-sheer white curtains gave the place natural lighting, making it unnecessary to turn the lights on even in the mid-afternoon. At the balcony, you get a view of the surrounding buildings, the parts that were glass and metal reflecting twinkles of diurnal starlight.

You only see hints of the real Aqua when you step away from the living room and head inside her bedroom.

It was a mess. There were energy drinks on the floor, and a clear plastic garbage bag left at the side. Her bed sheets were loose, exposing the naked flesh of her mattress. There were all kinds of anime posters hung up on the walls. Taking up most of the room was a PC, microphone set-up and lighting equipment.

"I remember this place looking cleaner when I saw it from streams."

"I only show one corner of the room."

"Yeah, the only clean corner. You're cleaning this mess."

Aqua complained the whole time while I forced her to clean up her own mess.

I stepped on something soft and looked down to see a pair of light blue panties.

I surreptitiously took it and stuffed it inside my pocket.

While she was cleaning up, I looked at her PC set-up. Since she always showed off about her set-up, I wanted to see exactly what she was running.

"Hoh? Are you interested in this beast?"

Aqua said, seeing me look at her set-up.

"Yeah. What graphics card are you running?"

"I forgot. I'm not good at that tech stuff. I just asked the guy at the store what the best machine was and bought it."

I wasn't getting a good feeling about this.

I asked Aqua to let me see her specs.

I went to device manager and looked at her graphics card model.

"What the hell is a Noobvidia RTSEX 390?"

I stared blankly at this graphics card model I've never heard of.

The fans were already getting loud just from me running device manager.

Her PC sounds like 3 90 year olds having sex.

"Aqua, next time you're looking for an upgrade, just ask me and I'll help you."

"I appreciate the offer, but Kazuma, why are you looking at me with eyes of pity?"

No wonder why her stream still lags even with all the upgrades she has.

Part 2

After a quick study session, and an even quicker make out session, it was time for the dreaded stream.

My heart was already beating while Aqua changed into her streaming costume.

I didn't have much to prepare outside of purchasing a mask, so I spent that time thinking about everything that could go wrong.

I was used to being on the other end of the screen, safely hiding under my anime profile picture and edgy username.

But now, I was the one who'd face the ridicule of anonymous otakus.

I would become a punching bag for sexually frustrated, undiagnosed mental illness ridden otakus, who are looking for someone to publicly crucify, in order to vent out their mishandled stress and unresolved childhood traumas.

"Alright, I'm done!"

My heart lurched in my chest when Aqua came out in her costume.

She was wearing the blue wig, blue contacts and the blue idol-esque dress she wore for her streams.

She also started using the hair ornament I got her as a prop, tying her hair up in a loop.

This was the first time I personally saw Aqua wearing her streamer costume.

"You like this look, Kazuma?"

She smirked, doing a little spin for me.

Her skirt was so short. I wondered if she was wearing panties under it or not.

I also remembered the stolen panties in my pocket.

"Let's just say that this version of Aqua has helped me through many lonely nights."

"Forget I asked."

She gave a grossed out look, before going over to her PC. I sat down on the extra chair she brought in, a simple wooden chair from her kitchen.

"It's not too late to back out, right?"

I said, while I started going into cold sweats.

"Way too late, buddy. I already announced it on all my SNS platforms. If you don't show, my fans will think that I made you up to get publicity, or that you chickened out. Either way, I'm screwed."

"Don't make it seem like this is my fault! You're the one who dragged me into this!"

I grabbed the little ribbon in front of her dress and started shaking her.

"Stop shaking me! Just relax, Kazuma! It's not that big of a deal! Just have fun!"

This was my first time on a stream, and it will be in front of thousands of people, most of whom all want me to die a horrible death.

And she was telling me to just have fun.

"So, what do you want me to call you during the stream? I can't exactly call you by name."

She said, tilting her head.

"I don't know."

"How about 'bae' or 'honey'?"

"You really want your fans to crucify me, huh?"

Going all full normie and lovey-dovey on them will make them lose it.

"How about 'K-kun', then?"

"I guess that's normal enough."

"Alright, so for our schedule, first thing we should do on stream is smash."

"What?!"

I nearly fell out of my seat.

Did she intend to film an amateur porno?!

I didn't want to lose my virginity in front of thousands of otakus beating their meat to my first time!

"You know, Super Smash Bros."

"Oh, right."

Since I was in such a panicked state, I couldn't think straight and thought about something else.

"Then we can answer some marshmallow questions."

"Most of them are gonna be death threats."

"Nah, there's some good ones. I picked them out beforehand, don't worry."

I imagined Aqua looking through all the death threats and hate mail just to pick out the good questions from her fans.

She was dedicated to making her real fans happy.

It was actually admirable.

"Then we can end the stream with some karaoke!"

"I don't think I can handle singing in front of thousands of people."

"You just need to back me up and I'll do most of the heavy lifting, alright?"

Her confident attitude helped me shake out of my jitters, somewhat.

After a short wait, Aqua told me that it was time to start the stream.

We both looked at the pre-stream lobby. It was ridden with bots spamming death threats and otakus promising horrible things to Aqua.

I started to get queasy again, seeing the pure negativity in the chat.

Seeing all this from her own fans, I started to get worried about Aqua.

But her expression didn't change. In fact, she looked even more determined and focused than before.

Maybe I ended up dating someone who was actually really amazing?

While I was thinking this, Aqua started a countdown.

"Alright, I'm starting the stream in 3… 2… 1…"

I saw myself appear on the live feed.

Behind the mask, I looked somewhat mysterious. Since my face was hidden, I could be a handsome guy for all they knew.

Maybe the initial reception wouldn't have been so bad if they knew that I wasn't some handsome guy under the mask.

"There's that fucker! Who is he?! I bet he's a model or something! I'll fucking kill him!"

"...His silhouette and figure kind of reminds me of this new male idol from an up-and-coming group. Let's stir up drama in that male idol's fanbase and make his fangirls flame him."

"Show your face, you ikemen motherfucker! You think that just because you won the genetic lottery, you can go around cucking unfortunate guys like us, huh?! Give me back my beloved Aqua-chan! Give me back my oshi, or I swear to god and anime that I will kill myself!"

"There's a new streamer called Eris and she's way better than this whore Aqua. Check out her streams, guys. She's so pure and wholesome and she will never betray you!"

"Aqua-chan, check your DMs. I sent you pictures of all the cuts I made on my arm. If you want me to stop cutting myself, then break up with that bastard. If you don't respond within 24 hours, I will slit my own throat."

"You filthy little cunt, you prostitute, you whore. You bitch. I'm gonna fuck you, bitch! I'm gonna fucking rape you, and I'm not even gonna regret it! I'm gonna fucking rape that pussy of yours!"

"I just wanna talk, and conversate, 'cause I usually just stalk you and masturbate. And I finally got the courage to ask you on a date, just say yes. Let the future fall into place, cunt."

I actually felt like throwing up after reading these comments.

Meanwhile, Aqua just rolled her eyes.

"At least be original. Most of these are just copypastas."

There should be a limit on how obliviously optimistic a human being can be.

Part 3

"Konbaqua! Blessings to my lovely listeners! As promised, I brought my boyfriend to the stream tonight! This is K-kun! Say hi to everyone, K-kun!"

"...H-Hi."

"They can't hear you if you're so quiet, K-kun!"

"Hi…"

"Still can't hear you!"

"I said hi, didn't I?! Ah…"

I got annoyed by Aqua and accidentally yelled.

"That's more like it! So, K-kun, how do you feel being on my stream for the first time?"

"...It's kind of weird since I'm used to watching from the other end."

"Yeah, the fans might not know this, but K-kun was one of the original fans! Aren't you guys glad that my boyfriend is a superfan of mine?"

I almost wanted to say that I was a top donor before, but I didn't want to voluntarily doxx myself.

"So what if he's a fan?! Take off your mask! If you're plain looking like us, we might forgive you!"

"So you're an Aqua fan? Name all her stream titles."

"Is he trying to relate to us? Pathetic. A real fan wouldn't take Aqua away from everyone!"

The reception from the fans was still cold.

"Alright, so the plan is to play some Super Smash Bros first. Are you guys ready to watch me kick K-kun's butt?!"

Strangely enough, Aqua and I had never played any games together before.

She set-up her Switch so she could stream it, then handed me a controller.

Then I proceeded to kick her ass.

"W-What?! Why the hell are you so good?! You must be cheating!"

Aqua was a sore loser and kept demanding a rematch. She lost all of them.

"You're 1,000 years too early to face me."

"Damn it! As expected of this NEET who does nothing but play games all day!"

"Oi?! What are you saying?! I'm not a NEET anymore?!"

"...I admit. He's good at games. Real gamers recognize real gamers."

"Nah, he just looks good because he's facing Aqua-chan. We don't exactly watch her for her gaming skills."

"Is he really a former NEET? I don't buy it."

After beating up Aqua some more, she got tired of Smash.

"Alright, let's move on from that. Let's answer some marshmallows next."

Still bitter from her consecutive losses, Aqua moved on to the next segment of the program.

She brought up the first question to the screen and read it out,

"Dear Aqua and boyfriend-san. Can you tell us how you two met? Hm… Do you wanna answer this one, K-kun?"

"I don't know. Am I allowed to answer honestly?"

"I have nothing to hide!"

If I were Aqua, I wouldn't want to expose her scam operation to her fans, though.

"Aqua and I go to the same school. She came to my place to ask me to do her homework for her, because she was too lazy. She paid me at the start, but eventually we just started studying together. Somehow, we started going out a few months after that."

I didn't want to tell the complete truth, so I told a more appealing version of it.

"...Somehow, I can actually see Aqua-chan doing that."

"Damn it. Why him? Why couldn't it have been me?"

"The fact that it's a wholesome story makes me want to kill myself even more, because it didn't happen to me."

Aqua picked out the next question.

"'Hello Aqua-chan and boyfriend-kun! What did you do on your first date? I'd like to hear the details!' Thank you for the marshmallow! I'll answer this one. We had a movie date on Christmas Eve for our first date. Well, we weren't really dating at that point, but it was still a date, anyway. As for our first date as an official couple… Does this stream count?"

Aqua giggled and hugged my arm.

"So that's why you weren't streaming on Christmas Eve?! I should have known!"

"She's hugging him! Stop! Stop this NTR!"

"They haven't had a date yet as a couple? What the hell is this retard doing?"

It just occurred to me that I hadn't asked Aqua out on a date yet after becoming a couple.

We were too busy making out at my place after school.

"Next question… 'This question is for boyfriend-san. What do you like the most about Aqua-chan?' Oh! Good question! I'm excited to hear this, K-kun!"

Aqua said, looking at me expectantly.

I couldn't help but blush.

"I like the fact that I'm always finding new things to like about her."

Aqua blinked, then blushed as well.

"...That was smooth."

"Give the man props. He's a natural gigolo."

"I guess that's how he sweet talked Aqua-chan into dating him, huh? I hate charming bastards like this guy."

Was it really that good of a line, or were these otakus just easy to impress because they didn't have an ounce of charm in their bodies?

But Aqua responded well to it and hugged my arm tighter. She said,

"Hehe… That was an unexpectedly nice response! I thought you'd somehow make a joke out of it or something!"

"I also like how she's easy to please."

"You asshole! You can't just say a nice thing and leave it at that, can you?!"

She drew back and started poking my cheek.

"...The fact that they actually have good chemistry makes this hurt even more."

"I can't bring myself to be angry anymore. Maybe we should just wish her the best."

"I swear to god I'll kill myself if you don't break up with this bastard, Aqua-chan. Please, just tell us this is all a joke. Wake me up from this nightmare."

After answering more marshmallows, Aqua announced that it was time for karaoke.

"Let's sing some songs, alright?"

This was the part I was dreading the most.

There were 20,000 live viewers watching.

That's about the size of a sold-out stadium.

I felt faint when Aqua handed me the microphone.

She didn't even seem bothered by the fact that she was singing in front of thousands of people.

It's like she was born to entertain.

"Alright, with the first duet, let's sing Kogarashi Sentiment from the Monogatari series!"

I stood up with Aqua and held my microphone.

Part 4

"You were great, Kazuma!"

Aqua said, when the stream finally ended.

I felt immediately exhausted. I went to her bed and collapsed.

I stared at the roof in a daze.

"How do you do that on a nightly basis?"

"Well, it's a bit stressful at the start but you get used to it."

I didn't think that I could ever get used to that kind of pressure.

Aqua climbed on the bed and suddenly straddled me, sitting on my lap.

She was still wearing her costume. Realizing that the Aqua I fapped to so many times was sitting on my lap made me get an instant hard on.

Aqua smirked when she felt my stiff erection poking her butt.

"So? How many times?"

She said, while placing her hands on my chest.

"What do you mean?"

"How many times did you jerk off to me before we met?"

"That's personal information!"

"You might get a reward if you answer truthfully?"

Just when I was wondering what this reward was, she moved her hips and I felt my erection graze against her soft ass.

I couldn't help but grunt when I felt a wave of pleasure course through me.

"So? How many times?"

"Pretty much everytime you streamed."

She giggled, but it wasn't in a teasing way. She seemed genuinely happy.

"I even have that video of you bouncing on an exercise ball saved up."

"Huh?! But I deleted the archives!"

"I recorded it."

"Wow… You're such a perv."

I couldn't really deny it!

Going against a streamer's wishes and saving a lewd clip of them is unforgivable!

"You liked me bouncing around on that ball, huh?

"Yeah."

Her hands that were on my chest drifted down to my waist. She started moving her hips again, bouncing on my lap.

"How about we recreate that scene, but instead of the ball, I'll bounce on you?"

She reached up to tuck a strand of blue hair behind her ear, while she moved her hips up and down, making her ass bounce and rub against my erection.

I let out a groan. I felt her soft ass and hips grind against me.

Her fans would actually hunt me down if they knew Aqua was recreating that infamous exercise ball moment with me, while she was wearing her streamer costume.

Aqua was making a show out of it, bouncing up and down, Her chest was bouncing as well, even under her clothing.

"You like this?"

She said, while smiling and enjoying my reactions.

"Of course I do."

"It's kinda like I'm giving my fan some special service. Maybe we should use this costume from time to time. I got some other cosplay we can try, too."

Maybe those guys had a point.

What the hell did I do to deserve this girlfriend?

I'd wanna kill me too if I was from the outside looking in.

I started moving along with Aqua, thrusting up when she moved down on me, grinding my erection into that fleshy ass of hers.

The bed was creaking along to our clumsy movements.

Aqua and I had made out a lot, but in terms of finding release, I always did it alone in my room, after she left.

We weren't at a stage yet where I could ask Aqua to help push me over the edge.

But at this moment, it felt like we were breaking through that stage.

I looked up at Aqua and said,

"Aqua, I need to cum."

She nodded and smiled.

"It's fine. Go ahead whenever you want. I'll help you get there."

She moved faster, bucking her hips and ass down against me.

The bed creaked louder, as I desperately thrusted upwards against her soft ass.

"Aqua…!"

"Kazuma… Cum for me…"

Her seductive, husky tone sent me over the edge.

I grabbed her waist and thrusted up as she closed her thighs against the bulge in my pants.

I felt a different, puffy sensation rubbing against my bulge.

I couldn't stop myself from moaning as I made a mess in my pants.

After shooting out three hard loads that made my body tense and release with each shot, I fell back on the bed, panting for breath.

Aqua giggled and leaned down to kiss me.

We kissed for a few minutes, until I decided that I couldn't tolerate the icky feeling in my pants anymore.

It was a good thing I had my uniform to change into, since I changed into a different set of clothes while we were streaming.

I checked the pants and saw that it was a sticky mess inside. I stashed it into the plastic bag Aqua gave me.

I took a shower to clean the stickiness away before changing into my uniform.

When I came out, I saw that Aqua had changed as well. She wasn't wearing her wig and contacts anymore, and she had changed into blue pajamas.

"Did it feel good?"

She asked, brushing her long hair while looking at my reflection in her bedside mirror.

"Yeah. It was messy, though."

"We'll have to find a better way to get you off next time, then."

I got semi-hard while thinking about the possibilities.

Before I was tempted to go for another round, I decided to leave.

As she saw me off from the lobby, Aqua gave me a goodnight kiss and said,

"Thanks for doing the stream with me, Kazuma. It means a lot."

It was only in that moment that she allowed me to see how scared she was about the whole thing.

But the worried look on her face disappeared quickly, replaced by her usual confident smile.

"No worries. If you need help again, I'm there for you.

"Great! How do you feel about another one next week? We can make this a weekly thing!"

I was already getting dragged into the next one.

Chapter 2: Blessing This Streamer With An Adorable Kouhai!

Part 1

It's amazing how short lived most controversies are on the internet.

After one week, most of the death threats disappeared.

Only the most passionate incels were still sending death threats.

Even 2chins got bored and moved onto another controversy to spend their precious time on. An idol got caught going to a restaurant with a guy and 2chins was losing their mind over it. I felt bad for that idol, but at the same time, I was relieved that everyone forgot about Aqua's drama because of that incident.

A lot of Aqua's original otaku fans stopped watching. A lot of them moved to a new streamer named Eris.

However, there were still a lot of Aqua's core fans that remained, as well as a new influx of fans who came during the controversy.

Aqua actually ended up with more new viewers than she lost.

She still wasn't happy that the new streamer, Eris, was taking her old followers, though.

It was the weekend and I decided to take Aqua out on a proper date. We started the date off by meeting up at a cafe. Aqua was wearing a light blue blouse with lace around the collar and a pale pink skirt that went above her knees. She completed the outfit with a dark gray purse and a cute beaded bracelet.

I took a long moment to admire the sight of my girlfriend in her date clothes.

Instead of enjoying the date, though, Aqua was only focused on Eris the whole time.

"That hussy! She owes her popularity to me! She was just a no-name until she poached all those followers from me! I mean, as a junior in the business who took all my followers, don't you think that she should have contacted me by now and thanked me for helping her boost her career?! I mean, did you see those boobs? I bet she stuffs them. Maybe I should start a new trend… #ErisPadsHerChest!"

When I didn't answer, Aqua glared at me.

"You're not even paying attention."

"You're jealous because of some newbie, right?"

"Jealous?! That's not it at all?! I mean, look at her, she's not even that pretty?!"

She took out her phone and showed me a picture of Eris.

She was wearing a nun habit cosplay, as well as a white wig and what I assumed to be blue contact lenses. My eyes were drawn to her chest. She looked like an orthodox main heroine in an eroge.

I didn't want to tell Aqua that she was just my type.

"Well?! I'm prettier, right?!"

"Yes, honey. You're prettier than her."

I said the typical line a boyfriend would say to appease their jealous girlfriend.

Aqua received a notification on her phone.

"Hold on, I'm getting an email from the Mico Mico douga staff… What?!"

She cried out, while glaring at her phone.

I told her to calm down, since people were staring at us.

"What is it this time?"

"They took me off the Mico Mico douga live stream concert! It's an event where prominent singers are featured!"

Since Aqua was a top streamer and utaite, I thought that she would be a shoe in for the event. I said,

"Did they give a reason why?"

"Those cowards said that they had to drop me from the roster due to recent controversies! I guess they don't want bots and spammers during the live stream. They don't have any balls at all! Why would they try to appease those otakus?!"

Maybe because those otakus provide a lot of money to the website, I thought.

"That's it. I'm going to deal with her!"

"You just got out of a controversy and now you're gonna start even more drama with a junior streamer?"

"I need to assert myself as a top streamer and senpai! If I let some newbie walk all over me, then I'll never get any respect!"

She was talking as if she was a veteran streamer even though she was also relatively new.

"What are you planning to do?"

"I'm going to gain her trust. I'll congratulate her on SNS, then DM her for a collab. Once the collab stream goes well, I'll bring up the possibility of an off-stream collab. Then when that moment comes, I'll expose the fact that she's padding her chest!"

There was a blue gleam in her eyes as she explained that petty plan to me.

"So you're going to gain this poor girl's trust and backstab her?"

"Essentially, yes."

"What makes you think she'll even agree to a collab? Her fans won't let her do anything with you. They want to protect her purity."

"What are you implying by that?! Are you implying that she's pure while I'm not?!"

I shrugged and sipped my iced coffee.

"My own boyfriend is turning against me. Don't tell me you'll betray me, too?! Are you going to leave me for this Eris hussy?!"

"She's out of my league. I'm not even gonna try."

"And you're saying that I'm in your league, huh?! Let me set this straight, Kazuma! You're extremely lucky to be dating a high-spec girl like me! Get it?!"

Our first official date ended up devolving into the usual bickering match.

We also got kicked out of the cafe.

Part 2

After the weekend was over, I was going through the motions in class, trying to get through the Monday lethargy. While I was taking it easy, Aqua was a bundle of energy as she slammed my classroom's door open during lunch break. With a commanding air about her, she stomped over to my desk, grabbed my hand and pulled me out to the courtyard.

She took us to our usual bench underneath the tree. The weather was nice out, but it was a bit warmer than usual. It was the middle of spring, with the unobscured sun out and the wind only seeming to amplify its heat. I took a seat on the bench, feeling a tinge of warmth on it.

I was about to bring out my bento when Aqua stood in front of me with her hands on her hips. She had an exuberant smile on and said,

"Kazuma, I did it! That hussy fell for it!"

"Huh?"

I looked up at her, wondering what she was talking about.

"I'm talking about that hussy, Eris!"

She was still going on about Eris.

I sighed, remembering our failed date. Aqua didn't even seem to register how she ruined our date with all her Eris talk. She wouldn't shut up about Eris.

Did my girlfriend have a crush on this girl? I thought about this while wondering why she was so obsessed with this new streamer.

I nodded for her to go on as I took out my chopsticks. I ate a piece of tamagoyaki as Aqua went on. She said,

"I started DMing that girl and she believed all of the lies I told her!"

"What kind of lies?"

"I told her that I thought she had a talent for streaming and that she deserves to take my spot in the stream concert. Of course, I don't mean any of it!"

My girlfriend is quite despicable, I thought.

"Tell me you're actually not serious about ruining this poor girl's career."

"Trust me, Kazuma. I have an instinct for these kinds of things. Guys like you fall for the clean, pure act she puts on, but I know better."

Maybe she's just projecting, I thought.

Since Aqua was the type who put on an act in school and on her streams, she thought that this upstart was doing the same thing. I said,

"Even if that's true, if you expose her on stream, you'll get yourself into another controversy. Your reputation will plummet if people think that you're starting drama just for the clout."

"I'm doing it for a noble cause! Exposing these thots and greedy e-girls is my obligation as a citizen of the internet! If I have the ability to expose these talentless leeches, then I will do it!"

"Even if she's lying or whatever, what if this Eris girl is actually an innocent girl who doesn't deserve to be manipulated and exposed? I mean, it's not like it's a crime to wear breast pads."

I didn't mind even if she was wearing them.

"If it turns out that's the case, then she'll learn her lesson about lying about her breast size to lure in those simps!"

"It's not like you're completely telling the truth, either. You actually think that your streaming costume is completely accurate? You put on a bunch of makeup and wear wigs and contact lenses. If we consider her hypothetical breast pads as part of her streaming costume, then what's wrong with that? Cosplayers wear pads and push up bras all the time."

"T-That's different! If a cosplayer wears pads, they're just trying to stay true to the character they're portraying! But if a streamer wears pads, then they're just trying to get more money out of simps who don't know any better!"

"I think those simps will give their money regardless of breast size."

For comparison sake, that Vtuber named Megumin was getting really popular, even more popular than Eris, but Aqua wasn't complaining about her. Technically, Vtubers play a fictional character for the purpose of selling a fantasy to their fans, and that was what Aqua was accusing Eris of doing.

"Kazuma, if there was a male streamer who got popular because he was using all kinds of camera tricks, filters and other dirty means to make himself look handsome, how would you react?"

"I'd want to expose his dirty, conniving ass… Ah."

So it was like that.

Rather than suffering from a petty case of jealousy, Aqua only wanted to be on the side of justice.

"Alright… I'm convinced."

"Great! So you'll help me?!"

"You do realize that if I'm found to be complicit in a plot to expose a girl's breast pads, I'll go to jail, right? You're on your own."

"Wow. You're so supportive. Whatever, I'll do this on my own!"

Since Aqua didn't understand, I set the record straight for her. I said,

"You know, Aqua, instead of getting distracted with things like this, how about we talk about your last quiz score?"

"Erp!"

Aqua glanced away when I brought up her academic performance. She said,

"I'm thinking that quizzes and stuff don't really matter if I get decent scores in the exams again."

"If you can't get a high score on a quiz, how do you expect to perform well on an exam?"

She tried to scoot away but I grabbed her wrist.

"We're spending an extra hour studying until you improve your quiz results."

"Mean?! So mean! Why are you like this, Kazuma?! Are you still cranky because I got us kicked out of that cafe?!"

I got even more pissed off when she brought that up. I was trying to hold it in, but I was really disappointed that our first date had to end like that.

"It was our first proper date and you just had to ruin it with all that Eris talk! Have some shame!"

"You said you weren't mad about it, but I guess your true emotions are coming out, huh?! Alright, let's address this, then!"

Some guys came by and saw us fighting.

They smiled and said,

"Yes! They're already fighting! I knew it wouldn't last long!"

"That Satou is too cocky! Does he really think a girl like Mizuhara-san will stay with him long-term?"

"Once they break up, I'm making my move."

These vultures were waiting for any opening they could get.

Still, they did have a point.

No matter how I looked at it, Aqua was way out of my league. If I wasn't careful, she could dump me at any time and look for a better guy. It didn't feel good to think about myself like this, but I had to be honest. I never wanted to let Aqua know I was having these kinds of thoughts, but I couldn't help it.

Once they were gone, I said to Aqua,

"I guess I can forgive you this time. There's more opportunities for other dates."

"You finally come to your senses, huh? Besides, if you want to blame anyone for our ruined date, you should blame that hussy Eris for ruining my mood!"

Eris was really living rent free in her head, huh?

Part 3

On the night of Aqua's collab stream with Eris, I watched the stream on my PC.

There were 30k viewers watching.

The hate messages died down recently, but they returned when Aqua announced that she was doing a collab with Eris.

"Keep your filthy whore hands away from Eris-chan!"

"Don't corrupt our pure, seiso idol!"

"You'll taint my innocent Eris with your sluttiness! Begone thot!"

The gatekeepers were going all out.

They probably believed that idols didn't pee or poo.

After a few minutes of waiting, Aqua and Eris went live.

Aqua's feed was showing on the bottom left of the screen, while Eris's was at the bottom right.

"Konbaqua! Blessings to my lovely listeners! It's your goddess of water, Aqua! Today I'm joined by my kouhai! Say hi to everyone, my kouhai!"

She made sure to keep emphasizing 'kouhai'.

"KonbanErisuuu~! I'm the goddess of luck, Eris! May fortune smile on you!"

"Tch…"

"E-Eh?"

"Ah, nothing! So, everyone, today Eris and I are doing a collab stream! We're playing some Clubhouse 51! Isn't that exciting?!"

"Yes! I'm looking forward to doing this with you, Aqua-senpai!"

"...Right. So, let's get this started!"

I could tell that Aqua was already getting annoyed by Eris.

As the stream went on, it was clear that Aqua picked the wrong game.

Clubhouse 51 has a bunch of classic board games and parlor games adapted for the Switch.

From Chess, to Connect 4, to Darts, there were a lot of games to choose from.

Whenever Aqua challenged Eris to a game that relied on chance, like Blackjack or Poker, Eris always ended up winning through luck.

However, Aqua was good at parlor games that relied more on skill, like darts and bowling.

Eris looked like she was there to have fun, but Aqua was going all out in trying to beat her.

"Yay! I won! I guess that leaves us tied!"

After an hour and a half of playing, their scores were tied.

"...I guess we'll need a tie breaker, then."

"Aqua-senpai, how about we end it off on a tied score? It's just for fun, right?"

"Hah?! What do you mean just for fun?! Eris, if you want to make it in this business, you need to be ruthless! Don't give your competitors any special favors, got it?!"

"Ehh?! That's a bit…"

"I'll teach you this lesson now! Let's play tennis!"

"...A-Alright."

Forced to go along with Aqua's whims, Eris faced Aqua in tennis.

Since it was a skill and timing based game, Aqua ended up winning.

"Yes! I did it! Take that, you upstart! K-kun, are you watching?!"

Don't drag me into this!

"Congratulations, senpai! I think this is a good time to give you the news!"

"Hm? What are you talking about?"

Eris took out her phone and showed it to the camera.

"You see, when I heard that senpai was taken out of the roster for the annual Mico Mico douga concert stream, I thought that it was really unfair! After all, senpai is a streamer that I look up to and took inspiration from! I started a petition among the other performers and sent it to the concert producers, and it seems they changed their mind! You're back in the roster, senpai!"

Aqua went up to her screen, giving us an unflattering view of her crazed face.

"This better not be a fake DM to prank me, you upstart!"

"I promise you it's not!"

"Eh? Aww, you're so sweet, my kouhai! Doing all this for me? You're so precious~!"

Aqua's smile wasn't quite reaching her eyes, but she had to play nice since Eris did her a huge favor.

Also, her whole rant about not doing your competitors any favors was making her look like a total hypocrite, since she was happily accepting a favor. From a rookie streamer, no less.

"I'm glad I was able to give you the good news during our first collab! I'm looking forward to working with you in the future, senpai!"

"Likewise!"

When the stream ended, I immediately got a call from Aqua.

"Did you see that, Kazuma?! That bitch totally set me up! Now I'm in her debt and she's going to hold it over my head!"

I held the phone away from my ear, since she was yelling too much.

"Or maybe she's just a kind-hearted girl who wanted to help you out."

"You're so naive! I bet that girl is mocking me right now! Grrr! I'll make her pay someday!"

"I don't get it. I thought that you were mad at her because she took your spot on the roster. Now that you have it back, what are you so mad for?"

"...Hah? How would you feel if you got fired from your job, but your handsome coworker sweet talked the female boss and got her to hire you back?"

"I see! You truly are on the side of justice!"

Somehow, Aqua got me to see it her way again.

I still didn't mind if Eris padded her chest, though.

Part 4

On the next weekend, we went on our second date. With Aqua's head free from thoughts of her rival, Eris, she could concentrate on our date.

I met up with Aqua in the city. This time, she was wearing a denim jacket over a white blouse, a checkered skirt, black leather oxford shoes and a silver purse. I was skeptical about our second date, since the last one didn't go well at all, but seeing her dressed up again lifted all my worries away.

Our first stop was a fruit parlor.

I'd never been to one of these places before, but Aqua was interested.

This was a unique fruit parlor, since it was attached to a yoga studio.

The owner explained that he runs the fruit parlor and his wife runs the yoga studio.

Since it was a joint business, they offer discounts and deals for both places.

"You can get an energizing fruit smoothie here before doing some yoga at my wife's place! Then you can treat yourself to some fruit parfait after you're done!"

I felt like people would just gain more calories treating themselves after every workout, though.

It was a rather insidious business plan, if you think about it.

"Look, Kazuma! They offer couples yoga here!"

Aqua got another pain in the ass idea in her head.

I didn't want to be the kind of boyfriend that gets dragged around to things like couples yoga and all that. I said,

"This strawberry parfait here looks delicious!"

"You're right, it does!"

Thankfully, it was easy to distract her.

Aqua ordered a strawberry parfait, while I ordered a mango parfait.

Since it was a fruit parlor that was trying to promote a healthy image, the parfaits didn't have the usual abundance of treats that family restaurant parfaits had. Instead of ice cream, pocky sticks and sponge cakes, this fruit parlor mostly used low-fat whipped cream and a frozen sorbet along with lots of fresh fruits.

We shared our parfaits, with Aqua trying some of my mangoes and sharing her strawberries with me.

"These fruits are really good?! So juicy!"

Aqua said, smiling as she bit into a whipped cream and sorbet covered strawberry.

After we enjoyed our parfaits, the next stop was the aquarium.

"Hm? You seem really happy, Kazuma."

Aqua said, when we got our tickets.

"Going to the aquarium with your girlfriend is the ultimate normie experience. I should post about this on 2chins and get the incels all riled up."

"You find happiness in the most twisted means, Kazuma."

I didn't want to hear that from the girl who was enthusiastically planning a rookie streamer's downfall.

Aqua was more energetic than usual in the aquarium. She ran around and traced her hands on the cool glass, admiring the radiant blue of the water.

"I chose the streaming name Aqua because I really like water, did you know that?"

She said, while she was watching a school of clownfish dart over her head in a fiery torrent of orange and white, leaving a comet trail of foamy bubbles behind them.

"Is that so?"

"That's so. I don't know, I feel really calm when seeing any body of water, especially when it's deep and blue. Did you know that 80% of the ocean is still undiscovered? Who knows what kinda mysterious things live down there."

"Maybe it's better we don't know. Things tend to get uglier the more you go deeper into the ocean."

"Maybe there's a certain kind of beauty in not knowing."

She smiled, then turned to me. She leaned over and whispered into my ear,

"Would it be less mysterious and beautiful if I let you see everything?"

I thought about it and said,

"Even if I see all the ugly parts and all the pretty parts, I'd still prefer if I found someone who trusted me enough to show me their true selves."

We went through the other exhibits while I was lost in my thoughts. Afterwards, we checked out a scheduled beluga whale show.

We were sitting in the splash zone, so we got a little bit wet, even if we were wearing the raincoats they gave us.

Aqua wanted to buy some beluga whale plushies from the gift shop. They were 3,000 yen, which was a total rip off, but I wanted to look cool and bought them for her.

After the visit to the aquarium, we went to a family restaurant for some dinner.

They were having a sale on parfaits, but I didn't want another one after we started the date off at the fruit parlor.

I ordered a katsudon while Aqua got some curry rice.

While we were eating, we saw some kids running around. Their mother was scolding them, but the father was just laughing at their antics.

One of them went up to us and saw Aqua. His eyes went wide.

"There's a pretty nee-san with a boring looking nii-san. Is this the compensated dating I saw on the news?"

His mother had enough and dragged him by his ear to the table, but not after bowing profusely and apologizing to us.

"Haha! You see that, Kazuma! You should treat me better since that's how the world sees us!"

"If I actually start worshiping you like some simp, I'd doubt you would have actually ended up liking me."

"Fair point. I like how you know how to fight back and banter with me. Actually, your quips can get really mean and hurtful, so I wish you'd treat me better!"

It was only our second real date, but sometimes it felt like we've been dating for years.

There was this sense of comfort between us that I couldn't really explain.

I didn't know if this was due to Aqua's easy going nature, or if there was some special chemistry between us that allowed this to happen.

Some people are just compatible and they end up meeting each other, through a lucky twist of fate.

Or maybe, you only start to find people you're compatible with once you develop a clear and honest image of yourself.

Aqua was honest to a fault, and I was so full of faults that it honestly hurts to admit it.

I guess there's a connection that can be made with just that.

I used to think that it was impossible for people to have a real, honest romantic relationship, but that wasn't really the case.

If romance is nothing more than a pernicious fantasy, then love is the immutable essence of the truth remaining.

After we finished our meal, Aqua asked me if I wanted to come over to her place.

Of course, I said yes.

Part 5

I found myself on Aqua's bed again, making out with her.

She was on top of me, straddling me, legs wrapped around my waist, while I sat up and fondled her chest through her blouse. The denim jacket she had on was slung over her computer chair.

Her silky black hair was dangling and brushing against my shoulders. Her hands cupped my cheeks while our lips were locked.

She pulled away to give us a moment of reprieve. I caught my breath, letting out hot exhales. She smiled while she breathed, letting out a chuckle followed by a gasp of breath. Laughing and panting wasn't a good combination.

I leaned in to rejoin our lips, but she held a hand out to my chest.

"I wanna try something."

She pulled back and reached for the hem of her blouse, pulling it over her head. She wore a light blue lingerie bra underneath. My hands went to her exposed tummy, feeling her firm waist and abdomen. They went up to her bra, tracing the outline of her chest.

"Go on and take it off. It unhooks from the front."

"Seriously?"

"What, you prefer ones that unhook from the back? It's easier from the front, you know?"

"No, I mean, you're letting me see your chest?"

She just smirked at me and laughed. She nodded after she had a good laugh.

"Of course I do, silly."

I gulped and reached for her bra.

I fiddled around and felt tiny hooks connecting the bra together. I unhooked them and watched the bra fall apart.

I saw Aqua's breasts pop out of the bra, springing out.

They were perky and had the perfect shape and size. Not too big, not too small. Her nipples were a light pink.

"You just gonna stare?"

I reached out with my hands and cupped them, just like I did through her clothes. I felt her smooth skin and the elastic resistance of her supple breasts. I kneaded the soft flesh, letting my fingers sink into them.

She let out a moan when my hand brushed against her nipples. I moved my hands over and used my thumb to delicately rub circles around the hardening buds, making moan even more.

I felt her grinding against my thigh. I felt a damp slickness through her panties.

"Want me to rub it?"

I said, my hand touching the hem of her skirt.

She eagerly nodded. I didn't know how far she wanted me to go, but I also knew that she was very horny and she wanted me to bring her to climax. I lifted her skirt and saw the blue panties underneath. She spread her legs. I rubbed over her panties, feeling the shape of her pussy underneath it.

She gasped. I testingly slipped my fingers inside her panties and I felt her damp folds directly. I felt a thrill go up my spine when I touched her pussy for the first time. I gently rubbed the folds of skin I felt, the outer and inner folds seeming to twitch when I touched them.

I felt a stiff and swollen part, her clitoris. I gently brush a finger against it. Aqua arched her back and her hold on my face tightened. I switched between rubbing her folds and brushing against her clit.

With my other hand still on her chest, I alternated between cupping a breast and playing with her nipples.

I didn't think that I was doing much, but Aqua suddenly tensed up.

I felt her folds twitching and convulsing with my fingers.

She let out a sharp squeal that transformed into husky, guttural moans of pleasure.

I felt a rush of pride, joy and arousal after realizing that I made my girlfriend climax.

When she settled down, she hungrily kissed me and pushed me down.

She parted from the kiss and I saw her looking at me with a dazed, dreamy look.

Without a word, she sat up. I moved to follow her, but a hand went to my chest and eased me down. Her hands moved to my belt and she worked to undo it. Realizing what she wanted to do, I took a deep breath and pulled her pillow under my head, as I watched her pull my belt off and work on my zipper.

She tugged my jeans down, then my boxers. My cock sprung out. Aqua stared at it for a while, as if she were trying to memorize the sight of my cock.

She reached out and held it gently, wrapping her fingers around it. I shivered, feeling her soft hand. Having someone else touch it was a sensation I always tried to imagine, but it was a different matter actually feeling it.

She ran her fingers up the length of my shaft, lightly stroking it. Her thumb would brush up against my glans, making me squirm when she made contact.

She sat on my lap while stroking my cock. She made quite a sight, with her skirt still on, her tits out. She tightened her grip and I groaned in pleasure. It was almost too much.

My cock was at its hardest. It felt hot and almost uncomfortably stiff. Aqua's hand started speeding up, jerking me off at a pace that made me moan and squirm even more.

"Keep going. I'm almost there."

I said, watching her pumping her hand up and down.

The movement of her hand was making her perky breasts jiggle at times.

The feeling of Aqua's hand jerking me off, the sight of her naked chest, the arousal of recieving my first handjob, it all culminated in the surge of lust I felt that was begging to find release.

I moaned as I let out four hot spurts of semen. I had never seen my semen travel that far. They were flying up, and they hit Aqua, the white fluid landing on her exposed chest and tummy. The sight of my semen tainting her skin made me release an extra two shots that fell around her hand.

I fell back on the bed after realizing I had lifted my hips and ass while shooting my load. A fresh wave of sweat covered me as I panted for breath.

Aqua smiled and got up to dry herself off.

She handed me a box of tissues and I wiped myself up. She said,

"I'm gonna change my panties. They're soaked. Actually, I'm gonna take a shower. You can take one too afterwards."

"Alright."

After Aqua took a shower, I took my turn.

Aqua was in her pajamas when I came out.

"That felt really good."

She said, smiling.

"Yeah. I mean, making out and stuff feels good and all, but that was something else."

"Hey, do you think we should start buying some condoms?"

I let out a croak, but Aqua had a serious face when she asked that.

"That's probably a good idea."

With the way things were escalating, it was better to be prepared than not.

It was getting late out, so I got ready to go.

Aqua saw me out the door. We shared a goodnight kiss.

"The date was fun, Kazuma. I enjoyed it."

"See what happens when you don't cause a scene and get us kicked out of cafes?"

"...You're still gonna hold that against me, huh?"

We shared a laugh, then I waved to her and went back home.

When I got home, my parents and Kazuto were waiting for me.

"Nii-san… You climbed the stairs of adulthood, didn't you?!"

"At least tell me you used protection!"

"Mizuhara-chan doesn't deserve the fate of getting pregnant by a deadbeat like you!"

Can I get a new family, please?

Chapter 3: Blessing These Tired Students With a Spring Break!

Part 1

It was March and Aqua was crying about her senpai graduating.

I didn't have any senpai, so the somber mood that afflicted my girlfriend, and most of the other students, largely eluded me.

What was most important was that it was officially the end of the first year.

In April, the new wave of first years would come in and we'd be senpai to them.

"Fuu… Time sure moves fast, huh?"

"You only showed up at the tail end of the semester, what the hell are you talking about?"

Aqua said, getting angry that I was acting as if I suffered through the first year of High School along with her.

"Forget about that. Let us embrace the new semester as second years, Aqua. Ah, but before that, we do have our spring break."

That managed to get Aqua's attention.

"Yosh! We gotta do an outing, you realize that, right?"

Spring breaks means an outing, huh?

For my new normie self, that was the natural conclusion.

Before, I would have used my spring break to play games all day in my room and do nothing else.

Having a girlfriend really changes things.

"Oh? The couple is already planning an outing?"

While Aqua and I were chatting in the courtyard, Aqua's friends, led by Mea-chan, came up to join us.

"You girls are free to join!"

Aqua said, making me stare at her.

I was hoping for a romantic outing with just the two of us.

Ever since Aqua suggested that we should buy some condoms, I had been looking for opportunities to use them. As of yet, the emergency condom I carried around in my wallet hadn't seen any use.

"Oh? We're not intruding?"

"Nope! The more the merrier I always say!"

This idiot girlfriend of mine just can't catch a clue.

"Alright! That sounds fun! How about an outing in the mountains, then? We can find a camping site. Won't that be fun?"

Mea-chan said enthusiastically.

"Oh! That sounds good!"

Now it was too awkward for me to say that I wanted to go to the beach with Aqua and see her in a sexy swimsuit.

My plans of ogling Aqua in a swimsuit during the day and trying out those condoms at night were vanishing before my eyes.

I mustered up my will for a final effort to preserve my fantasy.

"The mountains, huh? Instead of camping, won't it be more fun to go to the beach?"

"Eh? But going to the beach is more of a summer thing, right?"

I got shut down.

I couldn't really say anything back without sounding desperate.

"Oh? What are you girls talking about?"

Mitsurugi and some of the guys from my class approached us. I tried to scare them off with my glare, but they either didn't notice or they weren't intimidated at all. .

"We're talking about going camping for spring break! Mitsu-kun, wanna come?"

"E-Eh? W-With Mizuhara-san?! Sure, I'd love to come!"

This handsome guy was making his intentions too obvious.

Even though he knew I was dating Aqua, he still had feelings for her.

I coughed and placed my arm around Aqua's waist, pulling her in.

"Ah, well I guess we can let the sausages in!"

"Hah?! What'd you call us, Satou?!"

"This cocky bastard has been pissing me off ever since he came back!"

My reputation with the guys was still not that good.

"So who's gonna be the outing leader?"

Mea-chan said, looking around.

Aqua pointed at me.

"Shouldn't Kazuma do it?"

I didn't understand why she was putting my name in the ballot, without my permission no less. I tried to express with my eyes how much I didn't want to do this, but Aqua just kept on obliviously smiling.

"Hm? Is Satou-kun experienced in this kind of stuff?"

"Yeah, he's always bragging about how he's used to leading people and handling logistics and stuff."

"Oh, wow, does he have some kind of leadership role in his part-time job, or something?"

"I wouldn't call it a part-time job, but I guess that's close enough?"

It really wasn't.

Aqua was talking about how I used to run an MMO guild, but the others were getting the wrong idea.

"Let's leave it up to Satou-kun, then!"

Somehow, I was given all the work to do.

"This is gonna be a lotta fun!"

"Out in the woods with no parental supervision… Woohoo!"

"Maybe we're gonna get lucky?!"

The guys started saying all kinds of pitiful things while the girls were still listening to them.

While all this was going on, I noticed Mitsurugi staring at Aqua with a dreamy look on his face.

Part 2

Since all the planning was left up to me, I decided I might as well do a good job of it.

I researched all of the camping grounds near the area and called them to ask about the questions I had. I knew for a fact that there weren't any real survivalists among us, so I made sure to ask if there were proper bathrooms and showers available, as well as utilities like electricity and water.

Since they wanted to go to a campsite near the mountains, there were three places that fit the criteria. After pouring through the ratings and customer reviews, I picked one, one of the many camping grounds in Nagano, near the Hida mountains.

It had bathrooms, showers, free electricity, picnic tables, firepits, and even included a small convenience store and gift shop. I knew that we needed all these things because there were girls with us, and I didn't want to hear them complain if I went to a place that was minimalistic when it came to amenities.

I also didn't count on the other guys to be legit campers.

The one thing I didn't look for was Wi-Fi. Aqua would probably complain if I picked a place with internet and brought my gaming laptop there to play games all day.

After I selected the place, I posted on the group chat to tell them how much money they'd have to pay for the camping ground fees. I also gave them a list of things they needed to bring.

"Whoa, Satou is actually really dependable?!"

"He got all of this done in one day!"

"As expected of our leader!"

If I didn't do all this stuff, I bet they would have procrastinated on the preparation and ended up canceling the entire event at the last minute.

Maybe they were even counting on the whole plan to fall apart.

I wouldn't put it past normies to make vague plans for a trip, without actually intending to go on one in the first place.

Since I did all the work for them, it was impossible to see if they were planning to drop out initially, though.

Everyone sent me their share of the fees digitally. Once I had enough funds, I finalized the booking.

The next thing I had to do was dig up my old camping gear.

"What are you doing, nii-san?"

Kazuto said, as he watched me dig things up from our storage closet. There were dusty bins and miscellaneous garbage piled up in there. I wouldn't call my parents hoarders, exactly, but they did have a propensity to keep a lot of useless things in our storage closet.

"I'm looking for our old camping gear. I'm going on a camping trip with friends."

"I don't know if I should be proud that you're not a NEET anymore, or if I should be mad that you're becoming such a successful normie."

"Trust me, the last thing I wanna do to spend my spring break is hang out with a bunch of normies I barely know. I mean, it's one thing if it was just Mizuhara and the girls, but there's gonna be a bunch of sausages, too."

"Oh, you guys are planning on bringing sausages to eat?"

"No, I meant dudes."

"Why are you referring to your male classmates as 'sausages'?"

Kazuto found the terminology strange.

I called them sausages because I didn't even want to acknowledge their existence. They were just cockblockers who were denying me from spending a sexy summer with Aqua.

I wouldn't have minded so much if Aqua's friends came along, but the inclusion of the sausages ruined the whole thing.

"And there's one sausage in particular I need to watch out for."

"Stop calling them sausages already. And what do you mean by that, nii-san?"

"There's this handsome sausage who is in love with Mizuhara."

"I see. Well, it was good while it lasted. Just be happy that you got the chance of a lifetime, nii-san, but all good things must end."

He said, patting my shoulder.

"Why are you acting like Mizuhara broke up with me already?!"

"If a handsome sausage… I mean, a handsome guy asks her out, she'll immediately dump you, right?"

"She wouldn't do that!"

"Sigh… Listen, nii-san, if you were dating an average looking girl and a girl like Mizuhara-nee suddenly asked you out, who would you go for?"

I couldn't deny the fact that I'd dump the average looking girl and go for Aqua.

"That's not a fair example!"

"Of course it is. If it's like that for guys, why wouldn't it be the same for girls? Face it, nii-san, that's just how the world works. I mean personality and smarts and stuff plays a factor in attraction, too, but there's a lot of people out there who are good looking while having a good personality, too. In comparison, nii-san is average in the looks department and has a rotten personality, on top of that. The only thing that led to you dating Mizuhara-nee is circumstance and that godly luck of yours."

If Aqua never had problems with her grades and came up with that stupid idea of hers to get me to do her homework, I would have never gotten the chance to get close to her.

If I never watched Aqua as a streamer, if I never spilled tea on her shirt and caught her wearing it live, our relationship would have probably stayed with me doing her homework for her for money.

I felt a knot in my stomach, realizing that Kazuto was right. I couldn't find any reason why Aqua would want to date me, outside of the weird set of coincidences we found ourselves in. If I didn't have the luck of a harem protagonist in some shitty Light Novel, there was no way that a beautiful, popular girl like her would even pay any attention to me in any other circumstance.

Just how strong was our relationship, really?

I felt like we were having a lot of fun since we started dating, but there was no guarantee that it would stay like that forever.

Relationships start and end all the time. There was nothing more brittle than highschool romance.

What if Aqua got swept up in the mood once Mitsurugi confessed to her?

Out in the mountains, with just a bunch of hormonal teenagers, it was a volatile setting where anything could happen.

If that bastard Mitsurugi picked the right time and mood, Aqua might just fall in love with his good looks and wonder why she went out with a scrub like me in the first place.

"I gotta do something!"

I pushed past Kazuto and called Aqua's number.

After a few rings, I got through to her phone.

"Hello? Is this Satou-kun?"

It was Mitsurugi's voice on the other end.

"What are you doing answering Mizuhara's phone?! Where are you two right now, the love hotel?! Are you giving it to her right now?! Damn you, you freaking sausage! At least tell me that you put a sausage casing on!"

"...Satou-kun, I have no idea what you're talking about."

I took a deep breath, calming my nerves before I said any more weird stuff.

"Why do you have her phone?"

"A bunch of us who don't have any camping equipment went out to buy some. We're at a family restaurant right now. Mizuhara-san is in the bathroom and she left her phone. When her phone rang, I saw that you were calling, so I answered it. You can come here if you want. I'll give you the address."

I heard Mea-chan and Aqua's friends chatting in the background.

I sighed in relief.

"...No, it's fine, just tell her I called."

"Satou-kun, before you hang up, can I say something?"

"What is it, you damn sausage?"

"...Why do you keep calling me a sausage? Anyway, Satou-kun, I want to give you some fair warning… I fully intend to make Mizuhara-san mine by the end of this trip. Let's have a fair battle."

With that, he hung up.

I started stomping around while holding my head.

"Nooo! I'm gonna get cucked! I don't like NTR! This can't be happening!"

I suddenly sympathized just a little bit with Aqua's former fans.

Part 3

"Huh? What are you talking about, Kazuma? What do you mean you want to cancel the camping trip?"

The next day, on the first day of the spring break, I asked Aqua out on an impromptu date.

We met up in that fruit parlor she seemed to like. We ordered parfaits, Aqua ordering strawberry and banana while I went with melon. The mix of green and orange honeydew melons were cut into appealing, bite sized spheres. They were a bit pricey, but the sweet and juicy taste was more than worth it. The way the melon juice mixed in with the whipped cream, with crystal sprinklings of frozen melon sorbet underneath it all, created a simple but refreshing layer of flavor profiles in my mouth.

Aqua was wearing a loose t-shirt that showed off her shoulders and a black tank top underneath. Since the weather was getting hotter, she went with a short skirt and open toe sandals. It was a casual and very revealing outfit, and I didn't like the way guys looked at her exposed skin.

The air conditioning in the fruit parlor was refreshing after being outside in the spring weather. Aqua sighed in contentment as stretched her legs underneath the table, letting the chill lower her body temperature. She was scooping up a strawberry covered in cream, when I told her that I wanted to cancel the camping trip. I said,

"Don't you wanna spend spring break with just the two of us?"

"There's 11 days of spring break, and the camping trip is only gonna be for four days or so. We'll have more than enough time for the two of us."

"I just want to use as much time as possible for my pretty, beautiful Aqua-chan~!"

"...This version of Kazuma is kinda creepy."

I ended up creeping her out.

"I-Is there anything Aqua wants to do?! I got some money from my parents for staying in school until the semester break! I can totally spoil Aqua!"

"Seriously, Kazuma, what's this about?! I'm not used to this subservient kind of Kazuma!"

I couldn't just say that I was worried she'd leave me for a more handsome guy. That would just make me look needy and paranoid.

"Nothing! It's a boyfriend's job to please his girlfriend, right?"

"Just tell me what's wrong already."

I took a deep breath and said,

"I'm kinda worried about the camping trip…"

"Kazuma, it's fine if you want to bring your laptop and play video games. I'll just play with Mea-chan and Mitsurugi-kun and the others."

She assumed that I was getting anxious about not being able to play video games during the trip.

Her image of me as a NEET was a permanent fixture in her mind.

"Wait, you're saying that you'll let me play video games while you have fun with Mitsurugi?!"

I needed to ask permission from my girlfriend's boyfriend in order to play vidya games?!

"...That's a weird way to put it, but I know you're not an outdoors person, so it's fine!"

Since there was no point trying to get this through Aqua's dense head, I had to take matters into my own hands.

…

…

After my date with Aqua, we split ways and I called up Mea-chan to meet me at her cafe. It was her favorite cafe and we often hung out there after school with the others. She liked the cafe because she thought that the waiters were cute. She claimed that the eye candy and the sweets that the cafe was famous for made for a very pleasant experience. I wondered how she'd react if I took her to a butler themed cafe in akihabara.

She was wearing a cute sundress and a pink luxury brand purse. She had her hair done up in her preferred twintail style and tied them up with pink ribbons. She found me on the table where I was waiting for her and cheerily came over with a hop in her step.

"You finally broke up with Mizuhara-san? Yay~! This is my chance!"

"Who said I broke up with her?!"

"You're asking me out on a date right now, aren't you?"

"No way!"

Even though we had gotten closer recently, I never invited her to go out with just the two of us. We were usually always in a group, and I never hung out with Mea-chan in the past without Aqua present.

"Don't worry, I'm just teasing you. So, what's up? You said you wanted my advice?"

She held up her phone and showed me my own text. I didn't realize that my text sounded so desperate and paranoid. After making Mea-chan promise not to show that to anyone else, I said,

"I need you to do something for me on the trip."

"You want me to spy on Mitsurugi-kun?"

"How'd you know?!"

She rolled her eyes and leaned towards me with narrowed eyes. She rested her chin on her hands and said,

"It's not exactly a secret that he still likes her. This camping trip is his best chance to strike. It's not like you and Mizuhara-san have dated for such a long time yet. Once you two hit a significant milestone, like, your 6 month anniversary, then it's pretty much over for him."

"What's so important about the 6 month anniversary? What happens?"

"It's when a lot of couples decide to have their first time together, right?"

"Is that true?!"

"Yeah, so if you two haven't done it yet, then that 6 month anniversary is probably when you'll end up doing it. It'll be too late for anyone to get in between you two by then. Right now, Mitsurugi-kun has the opportunity to get closer with Mizuhara-san on this camping trip and steal her away from you."

I clenched my teeth. I said,

"So, what are the chances that he's successful?"

"I mean, I see how you and Mizuhara-san get along, and I know your good points, too. That's why I have a crush on you, so I don't think his chances are as high as other people might think."

She said it so easily, that she still had a crush on me. I couldn't help but blush. I had crushes on other girls before, but having girls crush on me was only a recent development. If there was a girl who had a crush on me during middle school, then I was probably too dense to realize, or she was some shy girl who never mustered up the courage to confess.

"Between me and Mitsurugi, who would you rather date?"

I said, trying to boost my own confidence since I knew she had a crush on me. It was a scummy thing to do, but I really needed some encouragement.

"If I have the option, I'd pick Mitsurugi-kun."

She gave me an answer I didn't see coming.

"You traitor! I thought you said you like me?!"

"It's not like we're going out. And plus, he's better looking. I would aim for him right now if he wasn't so obsessed with Mizuhara-san."

"You'll pick him just because he's better looking?! How shallow!"

"It's not like we're adults looking for marriage partners. You're probably a better choice down the road, Satou-kun. You're oddly reliable when it counts and you're fun to be with. You'll make a good husband, for sure, but when you're young and looking for someone to date, of course you can afford to be a bit superficial. It's all just for fun, after all. Who you choose to date in High School won't matter later on in life. I mean, you'd rather date a really hot girl than an average looking girl, or even an ugly one, if you have a choice, right?"

Just like Kazuto, she brought up the reality about a person's looks. There was no sugarcoating it or getting around it. Anyone who talks about how this bias is unfair would go out with a supermodel in a heartbeat, but that will never happen, so their hypocrisy will never be exposed.

There's a reason why most celebrities, idols and actors, are attractive people. People gravitate towards attractive people like they're living works of art. Sure, talent and skill can still get you far in the entertainment industry, but unattractive celebrities either play the villain role, the sidekick or the comedic relief. They almost always never get the main lead role.

Even anime characters are drawn in impossibly attractive ways. Name one anime protagonist that is designed to be genuinely ugly. If you're one of those pretentious elitists, you probably know a handful of those types of characters from obscure, serious works from the 80's that nobody in the mainstream audience knows or cares about.

Even the anti-social type characters in anime, who are supposed to be friendless loners, are still designed to be conventionally attractive. The artists give them one or two supposedly unattractive qualities, like bags under their eyes or 'dead fish eyes', whatever that means, but those characters still end up with an appealing design, otherwise the show will never sell.

It didn't make any sense why those types of characters were considered loners and outcasts, in the first place. Point me to an actual loner in real life that looked like one of those supposed loners in anime. Those live action drama adaptations always cast some pretty boy actor to play the loner MC, and the audience is supposed to believe that they don't have friends or can't get a girlfriend in the show, even when the actor somehow looks even prettier than some of the girls. Meanwhile, in real life, that same actor is banging half the female cast and is secretly dating an idol.

Mea-chan went on to say,

"The point is that even if the chances are low, attractive people still have a shot. And if Mitsurugi-kun plays his cards properly, and you don't, then depending on what Mizuhara-san looks for in a boyfriend, then you might go home without a girlfriend, Satou-kun."

"No! If I lose to that ikemen bastard, I'll actually die?!"

"Fear not! You need a spy, right? I can work as a spy!"

"...I'm counting on you, Mea-chan!"

And with that, Mea-chan agreed to spy on the enemy for me.

I had to foot the bill for the treats she ordered in the cafe, though.

Part 4

It was the day of the camping trip.

We met up at the train station, carrying our luggage and supplies.

I packed light in the clothes department, but I also had a separate bag for dried food.

I was assigned to bring dried food, Aqua was assigned to bring cooking supplies, Mea-chan was assigned to bring other types of food, so we wouldn't get tired of dried food, while all the other miscellaneous items we might need like board games, frisbees and other forms of entertainment were taken care of by the others.

"Yo, party peeps! Are you ready for our trip to the mountains without adult supervision?!"

One of the sausages started saying outrageous things right off the bat.

"This is a camping trip, not an extended mixer out in the wilds."

Aqua said, glaring at the sausage, who deflated at her words.

You should be saying that to Mitsurugi who is giving you googly eyes right now, Aqua, I thought.

I went through a final check of our belongings before we went on the train.

The train ride wasn't too long, one of the factors I took into account while planning the trip.

The worst part about any trip is the long way home once it's over. You're tired and a bit homesick, and any kind of good memory you made on the trip during the long commute home is ruined because of that. I made sure to eliminate this kind of travel stress altogether. Once this camping trip was over, I wanted to go straight home into the waiting embrace of my PC.

I was sitting next to Aqua. That interloper Mitsurugi somehow found his way into the seats in front of us. My spy, Mea-chan, managed to secure a seat next to Mitsurugi.

We were playing card games while the group next to us, a mix of Aqua's friends and the sausages, looked like they were having a mixer, despite Aqua's warning to them.

Compared to their party mood, the mood in our place was awkward and suffocating.

Aqua was oblivious to it all, despite being the sole cause of this stifling atmosphere.

I distracted myself by looking out the train. The buildings started to disappear, giving way to the countryside. I saw stretches of farmland, before seeing the mountain range in the distance. The weather was clear and the skies were cloudless above the magnificent Hida mountains. The skies were a bright blue, making for a beautiful backdrop against the snow peaked mountains. Even during spring, there was a crown of frost on top of the titanic protrusions of land.

After the train ride was over, we got some directions from the staff at the train station. The camping ground was only a ten minute walk away from a bus stop. We took the bus there, then pulled our luggage to the camping grounds. As we neared the grounds, we got a closer look at the surrounding mountain range and the highlands the grounds were located in.

"Oh! Look at this beautiful place!"

As we entered the grounds, we saw a clear river and even a wide field of vibrant green grass to play in. There were kids running around and adults taking pictures of the beautiful Northern Japanese Alps. Thanks to the proximity of the mountains, the area was very windy and the grass was caressed by the fast winds, creating a sweeping tide of viridescent blades that tickled your ankles.

The sausages got all excited and stomped their feet in the river and ran across the field, seemingly all in the span of one second. By the time we reached the area we rented, they were already tired from running around so much.

While they were lazing around, I went ahead and started setting up the large tent I brought. We brought two tents, one for the guys and one for the girls. I brought the guys' tent and one of Aqua's friends brought the girls' tent. If I had it my way, I would have gotten a separate tent for just me and Aqua, but we had limited space, since I didn't want to waste too much money renting a wide area just for our small group.

By the way, there were 4 girls and 4 guys in our group. It really did kind of seem like a mixer.

While I was setting up the tent, Mitsurugi came and joined me. I said,

"I don't need your help."

"Now, now, let's get along."

He said, while giving me a cordial smile.

"You just declared war a few days ago, didn't you? Why act all chummy now?"

"Just because we're fighting over the same girl, doesn't mean that we can't be civilized about it."

"All's fair in love and war."

"Girls hate guys who are jealous brutes."

The other two sausages caught their breaths and helped us finish up the tent. The girls finished setting theirs up around the same time as us.

"So, what now?"

After we put our stuff away into the tent, we looked at each other and wondered what we should do next. They were finally realizing that camping trips are essentially just people with nothing else better to do volunteering to live as a homeless person.

"I don't know, I guess we can toss a frisbee on the field?"

"Oh! That's fun! Yeah, let's do that! You don't get many chances to do that!"

Have they never heard of a damn park before?

After half an hour of tossing a frisbee around, we got bored.

Actually, tossing a frisbee gets boring after the first five minutes.

It gets tiring playing with people who can't catch or throw. My back started hurting from having to pick up a frisbee that fell before my feet.

It got to the point where people were already apologizing before the frisbee left their hands, because they knew that the other person wouldn't be able to catch their errant throws.

After we got bored of that, we moved back to the campsite.

"Leader-san! Please tell us what we can do on a camping trip!"

They quickly turned to me for answers.

"Why ask me?"

"You're the event organizer, right? Surely you have something planned for the trip?"

My job was to handle the logistics of getting us there. Why were they making it seem like I was in charge of planning stuff to amuse ourselves for four days, too? I quickly thought of something to do. Looking around, I saw an equipment rental shack. I said,

"We can rent some fishing rods and fish at the river."

"Oh, that sounds fun!"

Just like with the frisbee, it was fun for about four minutes.

We stood around the river and stared at it, waiting to catch fish, but since we were newbies, we didn't get any to bite.

If you want a damn fish, just go to the market.

Better yet, you can buy a delicious one in a restaurant.

If camping trips build character, then homeless people must be the pinnacle of humanity.

Aqua was surprisingly good at fishing, though. She caught four fish.

We went back to our campsite and started a fire, cooking the fish she caught.

"This is fun! It kind of feels like we're surviving out there in the wilds, free from the conveniences of technology and modern society…"

Aqua's friend got interrupted by a plane that flew overhead.

Part 5

While everyone was eating, I thought about our trip agenda.

I did a bit of research about what outdoors normies do during a camping trip. I did see this coming, after all. However, what I saw on the internet made me irrationally angry at the pretentiousness of it all. I saw activities like scavenger hunts, identifying local wildlife and sketching the surroundings.

I want to personally strangle the people who spend their precious vacation time unironically doing those things. Hopefully, they can reincarnate in the next life into people who actually know how to spend their time in a meaningful way. I almost punched my monitor when I saw one woman's camping blog talking about how she likes to decorate mason jars with different pretty rocks and flowers she finds in the wild.

Do they actually find real enjoyment doing these things, or are they just in love with the idea that doing these things makes them quirky and unique in some way? Or is my brain so addled by quick-fix entertainment that it boggles my mind when there are people who enjoy such a slow-paced lifestyle?

If you want to live as a monk, then why don't you commit to doing it. Shave your head bald and live up in the mountains. Don't collect pretty rocks at some campsite for a few days and come back to your normal life, posting about your stupid trip on the internet.

"I don't know why, but there's this palpable aura of misplaced anger coming out of this tent. Oh, it's just you, Kazuma."

Aqua said, as she entered the guys' tent and saw me planning out activities for the trip.

"I'm thinking about how much I hate camping trips right now."

"Having internet withdrawals already?"

She said, smirking. She looked over my shoulder and saw what I was writing.

"Kazuma, you say you don't like camping trips, but it seems like you're spending a lot of effort into making this one memorable, aren't you?"

"What are you on about?"

"I mean, if you really hated camping trips so much, you would have just waited until everyone got bored. Then you would have suggested 'why don't we leave early'? Instead, you're making a schedule of fun things to do. It seems like a part of you wants to see the appeal in camping trips."

"I just don't want them to blame me if this trip ends up being a waste of our spring break."

"If you say so. I'm looking forward to what you have planned for us!"

She leaned down and gave me a kiss on the cheek, before running back out with the others.

There she goes again, getting the wrong idea, I thought.

I went back to work on the schedule.

Once I was done, I headed out and saw everybody chatting while they cooked the last of the fish.

"Oh! Here he is! We were saving this fish for you, Satou!"

They grabbed me a plate and handed me my portion of the freshly cooked fish. They handed me some soy sauce to dip it in.

I didn't want to admit it, but freshly caught river fish was better than anything I had in a restaurant. The hot, charred skin and the juicy flesh melted in my mouth. The soy sauce was a nice compliment, but you could eat the fish without adding anything to it.

"Hm? What's that paper you have there, Satou?"

One of the sausages pointed at the schedule.

"Oh, right. I made a list of things we can do."

"Eh? We were just joking around. You really made one?"

If I knew they were just joking around, I wouldn't have bothered. Normies sure are mysterious creatures.

They took the paper and read through the contents.

"Oh! This seems fun! So we'll be playing a bunch of games in girl versus guy groups. Whichever group has the most points from winning by the end of the trip gets to give the losers a punishment game when we get back, huh?!"

"You're a genius, Satou!"

The guys got excited about the punishment game part.

I had the idea while watching them play frisbee. Based on my own experience in gaming, the best motivator for anyone is competition. As soon as the words 'winner' and 'loser' come up, most people will be motivated to win, and that competitive spirit makes any event fun.

"It's like sports day, but we get to camp out and there aren't any adults around to tell us what to do! This is gonna be fun!"

"Why don't we start with the first game, then?"

The first game on the list is dodgeball.

The sausage who was in charge of bringing sports equipment brought out a volleyball.

We divided ourselves among the guy and girl groups. The guys got into a huddle and the sausages said,

"Fellas. Needless to say, we must win."

"We got a member of the soccer club with us, so we'll win this easily!"

"What does soccer have to do with dodgeball? It's not like I'll be kicking anything."

Mitsurugi said, skeptical about the faith the two sausages had in him.

We made some boundaries on the grass using our shoes. We went bare feet, since the grass was soft and nice to the touch, anyway. Since we only had one ball, we played the version of dodgeball where each team takes turns playing defense and offense.

The defending group plays in the middle, while the attacking group surrounds them from the top and bottom side. If the defending group gets hit, they're out. If they catch the ball, they can bring back a player that got out.

We lost the coin toss, so we had to be in the defending group first.

"Hohhh!"

"Gack!"

Aqua's arm strength made one of the sausages fall flat on his ass.

Aqua made quick work of us, bringing us down like we were bowling pins. They took us down in 5 minutes. Whoever lasts longer on defense wins, so we were in trouble.

"Don't give up, guys! We still have a chance!"

"Yosh!"

While we were attacking, we actually did a good job taking the three other girls, including Mea-chan, out first.

"We still have two minutes left to take out Mizuhara-san!"

"Heh… You think you can take me out that easily?"

Aqua caught the ball that was aimed at her legs.

She brought in Mea-chan.

However, Mea-chan was quickly taken out.

Mitusurgi aimed it at Aqua's legs again, but Aqua caught the ball with one hand somehow.

She brought back Mea-chan again.

Mea-chan caught on to the fact that Aqua will keep bringing her back in. She used her body to shield their ace, Aqua, as they stalled for time.

They easily surpassed our five minute mark this way. We played for a few more rounds, but the girls ended up winning the first points of our competition.

"Good job, Mizuhara-san!"

"The guys no doubt have some kind of perverted punishment game for us, so we must win!"

Their desire to avoid a perverted fate was stronger than the sausages' desire to do perverted things to them.

Part 6

After the dodgeball event, it was starting to get dark. We started to cook dinner. I brought out the curry, while Mea-chan brought out the instant rice. Dinner was unexpectedly good, even though we were just eating instant food.

"So good! I don't know why, but the food tastes better when you're camping!"

I had to agree. Even though I ate instant curry all the time, especially back when I was a NEET, it never tasted as good as it did while we were around a campfire.

While wondering about this mysterious phenomenon, I found myself easily chatting with the group while eating. This sense of companionship while eating outside near the campfire, I found it quite pleasant. Eating under the stars, away from any light pollution, it was an experience I would have never had if I just stayed at home for the entirety of the break.

After we were done with dinner, Aqua brought out a ukulele. She started singing some songs by request. Soon, we were singing along with her.

"Eh? Satou is actually pretty good at singing?"

Since the sausages couldn't hold a note to save their lives, they were impressed by my singing.

I went to karaoke a bunch with the girls, and even had several livestream duets with Aqua, I became a decent singer from all that practice.

"Yeah, he's pretty good isn't he? He's even better when he sings a duet with Mizuhara-san! Oh, why don't you two do a duet now?"

Mea-chan said, egging us on.

"Ah, we don't need to force them…"

Of course, Mitsurugi didn't want to see any of that.

"...Alright, let's do it, Aqua!"

I took this chance to show off my relationship to Mitsurugi.

"Oh! It's rare for you to be this enthusiastic!"

We sang a duet version of 'Genesis of Aquarion' while Aqua softly played the ukulele. The others enjoyed it but Mitsurugi was frowning the entire time.

The boys were made to wash the dirty dishes and pots since we lost the dodgeball game. We prepared for bed after heading to the shower rooms to clean up the sweat we accumulated throughout the day. In the tent, the sausages were talking excitedly about our first day of camping. The talk naturally shifted to the topic of girls.

"So… Who do you guys have your eyes set on?"

"Obviously, Mizuhara-san is taken… So I'm aiming for Mea-chan!"

"Ohh! Good luck! I don't think she's seeing anyone right now!"

She told me that she's going after me and potentially Mitsurugi, though. Good luck, Sausage #1.

"What about you, Mitsurugi-kun? Um… You still hung up on Mizuhara-san?"

They broached the topic delicately, since I was still there.

Mitsurugi chuckled and said,

"I'm planning to confess during this trip."

"Ehh?!"

They looked between Mitsurugi and me.

"Oi, isn't this the part where you guys beat Mitsurugi up for breaking the guy code? You don't steal each other's girlfriends! Attack him, now!"

I said, commanding the sausages to beat up Mitsurugi for me.

"S-Satou is right, Mitsurugi-kun! Hitting on another guy's girl like that. So not cool!"

"If I didn't like you as a friend more than Satou, I'd beat the shit out of you, Mitsurugi-kun!"

What's with this favoritism?! Kick his ass already, you worthless sausages!

"...If I do manage to steal Mizuhara-san away from Satou, I give him full permission to beat me half to death, how about that? I won't file charges no matter how serious the injury is. You guys can be the witness to me agreeing to this."

"Eh? Are you serious, Mitsurugi-kun?"

"Dead serious. I know I'm in the wrong here, moving on a classmate's girl like this, but I won't stop."

He turned to me and he didn't show any semblance that he was joking around.

"...Forget about beating you half to death. I'll kill you myself!"

"Oi, Satou, calm down!"

"Damn it! We should have brought more tents!"

The sausages had to hold me back before I could strangle Mitsurugi.

Once they got me to calm down, the other two sausages started asking me about Aqua.

"So, how did you two start dating, anyway?"

"Yeah, tell us!"

I got annoyed by their constant pestering, but I saw this as an opportunity to discourage Mitsurugi.

"Heh. You really wanna know? Well, we started off fooling around even before we started dating. You know, making out and stuff."

"Mizuhara-san looks like an innocent girl, but she does things like that?!"

"Yup. She's freakier than she looks. We started off fooling around while watching a porno that she rented out, too."

"Eh?! A-Are all girls dirty minded like this?!"

"They're even more perverted than guys sometimes."

Obviously, I was omitting a lot of important details, like Aqua accidentally renting that porno, but I wanted to annoy Mitsurugi. My plan was working. I could see that he was clearly pissed off about me talking about my lovey dovey life with Aqua.

"S-So how far have you two gone? Did you guys do it yet? Did you see her naked yet?"

"I haven't seen her fully naked yet, but she did show me her tits. She lets me touch them, too. She also jerks me off sometimes."

"...H-He's a god amongst men!"

"Satou-sama, can I worship you?!"

The sausages were impressed by my feats.

Mitsurugi chuckled when he heard my story.

"Hah. From what I've heard, it seems that your relationship with Mizuhara-san is based on lust. You two started fooling around, and eventually dated. That means that you managed to take advantage of Mizuhara-san's curiosity and desire to experiment with her sexuality. Such a relationship is probably one of convenience. That means I still have a chance to capture her heart."

"W-What?!"

I was the one who got provoked instead. Mitsurugi saw me faltering and went on the attack.

"It's true. If she was really sure that you're the right one for her, wouldn't she have offered her first time to you by now?"

"E-Erm… We already bought a pack of condoms in case something happens!"

"That's just due diligence, right? The fact that you two already have condoms but you haven't done anything means that she hasn't fully trusted you yet!"

"W-What would you know?! You're talking as if you already had sex!"

"I had a girlfriend in my last year of middle school and I was fortunate enough to receive her first time. We had a mutual break up since we went to different schools, but we still keep in touch. I know what I'm talking about!"

I thought that I was the most experienced one here but this ikemen was leagues beyond me.

The other sausages went to Mitsurugi and started worshiping him instead.

I started getting worried about losing Aqua all over again.

Part 7

We spent the rest of the trip playing games, eating by the campfire, trying to fish in the river, and enjoying the natural beauty of the mountains. After playing all day and moving around more than I was used to, I immediately fell asleep as soon as I rested my head on a pillow. I always woke up the next day feeling refreshed and ready to do it all over again.

As for the games we played, we played tag, volleyball, badminton, card games, board games, using every kind of entertainment we brought. On the last day of the trip, our scores were tied.

"Come on, boys! We can't afford to lose this one!"

"Let's give it our best!"

The two sausages were fired up. They really wanted to give a lewd punishment game to the girls.

The last game was simpler than the others.

We brought along some marshmallows to toast at the campfire. We used the leftovers to play the Chubby Bunny challenge. The goal of this game is to stuff the most amount of marshmallows in your mouth.

We started the challenge, stuffing marshmallows until we looked like hamsters. Mea-chan already dropped out after stuffing four marshmallows into her mouth. She started recording the rest of us with her phone after she spit out the marshmallows.

The sausages and the other girls eventually dropped out, leaving just me, Aqua and Mitsurugi. Mitsurugi took a look at Aqua with her hamster cheeks and dropped out after almost choking. I guess he got overwhelmed by her cuteness.

It was between me and Aqua for the final round.

"Come on, Satou! Win it for us guys!"

I turned around and saw Aqua's face.

"Pffft!"

I couldn't help but laugh at her stupid looking face.

"The winner is Mizuhara-san!"

"Oi! Kazuma! I'm happy that I won, but I'm pissed off that you're laughing so much!"

"What an idiotic face! Hahaha!"

The guys ended up losing because I couldn't hold in my laughter.

"You failed us, Satou!"

"You ruined our once in a lifetime chance!"

"...You failures dropped out earlier than me. I don't wanna hear any complaints."

The girls rolled their eyes at the sausages' complaints. Mea-chan said,

"What were you guys trying to do to us, anyway?"

"We wanted the girls to swim in the river with just your t-shirts and shorts on."

"Pervs!"

They wanted a wet t-shirt and no-bra, no-pan paradise, huh?

Good taste.

"It's a good thing we won, then! As for your punishment…"

The punishment the girls had for us was pretty mundane. They tasked us with cleaning up and taking all the tents girls relaxed and had fun while they left all the clean up to us.

"This sucks. We miss out on the wet t-shirt event, and we have to do all the grunt work."

"Why'd you choose such a stupid game, Kazuma! You should have picked a game that would favor us guys!"

While I was putting away the tent poles, I said,

"My bad. Since you guys talk so much, I thought you'd have big mouths."

"You're such a prick!"

The sausages started blaming me again. Once we were done cleaning up, we walked around the camping grounds one more time. After one last tour around the grounds, they said that they wanted to check out the gift shop. I thought that I might as well get some souvenirs for my parents and Kazuto, so I got some fridge magnets and knick knacks.

While I was distracted with shopping, Mea-chan came up to us and said,

"...Satou-kun, it seems like Mitsurugi-kun is making his move."

My spy came to deliver this troubling news.

"Where are they?!"

"Last I saw them, Mitsurugi-kun took Mizuhara-san to the river. He's surely going to confess to her there."

I dropped the knick knacks I was looking at and ran out of the store. The others followed, running behind me. I said,

"Buzz off! I don't need an audience!"

"You need emotional support!"

"You'll need us to console you when you get ditched!"

"I'm coming along to laugh at you!"

These traitors…!

We dashed to the river, just in time to see Mitsurugi and Aqua facing each other, with the beautiful backdrop of the river behind them. It was a clear day with no clouds. The river was sparkling from the sunlight, the river minerals appearing like crystalline droplets of the sun.

"Mizuhara-san, I've always liked you! Please go out with me!"

"Ehh?!"

He was able to say it.

I saw Aqua's face. She was shocked, but a blush was starting to form.

"You bastard!"

I ran up to them and jumped, aiming to tackle Mitsurugi.

I tripped along the way and ended up bumping into Aqua.

"Ah…"

We fell into the river. The ice cold mountain river filled up my shirt like it was a water balloon, but it deflated when I came into contact with Aqua's body. My back was exposed to the air outside, while Aqua was fully submerged in the water. On our mutual baptism, with our foreheads connected to each other, we laid on a mattress of pebbles and rocks. A surge of bubbles came out from her mouth as she tried to say my name. We heard the muffled voices of the others, as the flowing river tried to push us east.

I stood up, letting Aqua get out. She spit out the water on my face.

"What's your problem, Kazuma?!"

I grabbed her shoulders and looked into her eyes.

"I love you! I love you so much it hurts! I don't care if you make fun of me for saying this, I'm casting my pride away! I really, really love you!"

I went in for a kiss, her voice muffled by my lips.

I could hear the girls squealing and swooning at the sight, while the guys started letting out grunts of annoyance. I ignored them and tried to express all my feelings towards Aqua.

If it wasn't for her, I would still be stuck in my room, playing video games all day. I wouldn't have gone back to school and experienced going to karaoke with a bunch of girls after school. I wouldn't have gone on a camping trip with classmates.

All the affection, the pleasure, the busy days and restful nights, all the things that made me feel alive again, those moments were all centered around this girl.

Whether it was luck, circumstance or lust that brought us together, I didn't care.

I sincerely wanted to build something special with this girl.

Even if she got on my nerves sometimes.

When we separated, Aqua stared at me, then gave me that smug grin of hers.

"Kazuma loves me, huh?"

I blushed, knowing that she'd hold this over me forever.

"...Yeah."

"Say it again."

I glanced at Mitsurugi. If I wanted to keep the competition away, I needed to make it clear.

"I love you, idiot!"

The other campers started to gather around to look at the commotion. This was the most embarrassing moment of my life.

"What a coincidence! I love you, too, Kazuma!"

She was definitely having fun torturing me like this. I said,

"Is that so?"

"That's so."

Once we got up from the river, Aqua went up to Mitsurugi and bowed to him.

"I'm sorry, but I can't return your feelings. I'm already seeing someone."

Mitsurugi let out a weak smile.

"I'm sorry for the inconvenience. To the both of you."

He held his hand out to me. I sighed and shook it.

All's fair in love and war, but girls hate guys who are jealous brutes.

…

…

Since the incident ended on amicable terms, the train ride back home wasn't all that awkward.

Mitsurugi sat with the others, while Mea-chan and one of Aqua's friends sat with us.

"It's a good thing that worked out for you, Satou-kun."

Mea-chan said, smirking at me.

Aqua was sleeping on my shoulder, while cuddling my arm.

"It gave me a scare, though. Do you think Mizuhara would have accepted the confession if I didn't tackle her into the river?"

Both of the girls laughed. Mea-chan said,

"Nah. It's clear to us now that this girl is head over heels in love with you."

"You two have something special. If you play your cards right, we might end up attending your wedding in the future."

I never really thought that far ahead into our relationship, but after I properly expressed my feelings, I found that it was easier to think about our future. Something like marriage was still a far away prospect, but the fact that I didn't freak out while thinking about it said a lot.

We were still in High School, having recently turned to second years. We'd have to worry about the upcoming school year, before thinking that far ahead into the future.

One step at a time, I wanted to build my life with this drooling girl with a silly-looking sleeping face, slumped against my shoulder.

"...Oi, you're drooling on my shirt! Wake up, you idiot!"

"Who wakes up their girlfriend like that, you brute?!"

We immediately started fighting again.

Chapter 4: Blessing These Second Years with a Field Trip!

Part 1

At the start of the new semester, during the opening ceremony, the sausages were checking out the first year girls.

"Since Mizuhara-san is taken, we'll have to look for a new school idol, huh?"

"Who will be the next class Madonna?"

They were scouting the beauties among the first year girls.

Aqua had a different concern.

"We need to make sure that the kouhai knows who's boss! We need to show our authority as senpai to them! You there! Get me some strawberry milk!"

"I'm a third year, Mizuhara."

Aqua had to apologize to a third year senpai who she mistook as a first year.

Aside from the arrival of the fresh batch of first years, there was the health check up.

"No change from last time, Satou-kun."

The nurse said, after they checked my measurements and performed an eye exam.

I thought that I'd get a bit taller, but it wasn't meant to be.

"Oh, Mitsurugi-kun! You got taller!"

This guy still gets on my nerves.

The good thing about April was that there was Golden Week at the end of the month. After only a month of school since the spring break, there was already another string of holidays.

My family always went on a trip during Golden Week, and apparently Aqua was going to visit her parents abroad. Since we already had a camping trip during spring break, we didn't have any plans for Golden Week, since we knew our families would drag us away in their own plans.

…

...

For our family vacation, we went to a hot spring inn. There was good food and the onsen was nice, but I couldn't help but think about how much more fun it'd be if Aqua came along.

"You miss Mizuhara-san already, huh?"

Kazuto said, when he saw me constantly looking at my phone, waiting for a new text from Aqua.

We were in our rooms, fresh from the onsen.

"...I guess I do."

"Male tsunderes aren't popular. Stop the act."

"Fine, I miss her! Now go away, I'm gonna look at some nudes she sent me."

"You pervert! Can I see some?"

I sent him some nudes of an AV actress who had the same body type as Aqua. He didn't figure out it was fake, since I cut out the face, and had fun with them.

My parents joined us for dinner. The hostess served a simmering sukiyaki hot pot, an assortment of sashimi served around a dollop of salmon roe, sides such as tofu served with ponzu, seaweed salad sprinkled with sesame, salads comprised of local veggies, and sake for the adults.

The TV in the room was old and only showed a few channels. There was a quiz show going on, and I was surprised to see the host of the show asking a question about Aqua.

"This streamer claims to be the Goddess of Water and has more than 300k followers on Mico Mico douga. Who is it?!"

"Ah, I know this one! It's Aqua-chan!"

"Correct!"

"I'm a big fan, so I knew right away!"

Surprisingly, one of the idols who was being quizzed answered it correctly. I tried not to react to it too much, since I didn't want to give my parents and Kazuto any clues about Aqua's streamer identity.

"Aqua-chan had that drama recently, right? She announced to her fanbase that she had a boyfriend. It's quite an unexpected move on her part!"

"Yes… It was quite unfortunate, but her boyfriend K-kun is actually becoming a regular fixture on her stream! I heard he's amassing quite a bit of fans, too!"

"Ehhh?! So it's like that! Then, Reiko-chan, are you saying that you've become a fan of K-kun, too? Your fans will be angry!"

"Ah, no, it's not like that! Reiko belongs to everyone~!"

I started choking on my tea.

"Hm? Kazuma, you alright?"

My mother said, watching me wipe my mouth with a napkin.

"Ah, yeah…"

I didn't expect to hear myself being mentioned on a variety quiz show, especially by an actual idol.

"Um, can we change the channel?"

"Sure."

Since they didn't really care about what was on TV since they were focused on the food, they let me change the channel. The next channel had an entertainment news show on, hosted by a male has-been comedian and a female up-and-coming actor.

"Here's footage from the Mico Mico douga live stream concert! Gathering all of the popular utaite for a livestream performance! I was quite a fun event, wasn't it!"

"Yes, it was! I especially enjoyed Aqua-chan's performance! Allegedly, she was removed from the roster due to her recent controversy, but fellow goddess streamer Eris-chan talked with management to let her back in!"

"Oh! The kouhai is sticking up for her senpai, huh?"

"Indeed! Their duet performance was great! Ah, I kind of wished that K-kun had come along and did a duet with Aqua-chan! That would have been so romantic!"

"It seems that the Aqua-chan and K-kun couple has become quite popular on the internet. Why do you think that is?"

"They seem to be in Highschool, right? But they already seem so close! The chemistry is undeniable!"

"Ah, so it seems. Alright, moving on! Our next segment is about Vtubers, and the fastest rising one right now is Megumin, the Crimson Demon Arch-Wizard…!"

I got mentioned again.

Talking about streamers and their boyfriends, and even Vtubers…

Was internet culture really that popular in the mainstream now, or was it just a slow news day?

Part 2

After Golden Week was over, it was time to resume school activities. When I saw Aqua again at school, she was in a bad mood.

"Why can't they make it a Golden Month? Why only a week?"

It seemed that she enjoyed her vacation and didn't want to go back to school.

"We do have the school field trip."

I said, thinking about the field trip second years had at the end of May.

In this school, second years were the only ones who went on field trips, in order to reduce costs. In other schools, third years were the ones who went on field trips, but since our school was an elite academic school, the faculty wants third years to focus on studying and nothing else.

Since only one group of students get to go on a field trip every school year, the school is able to spend more money on trip expenses. However, students are still required to pay some money for additional costs.

"...Are field trips really a vacation, though? In this school, they'll just take us to shrines and make us write an essay about the shrines we visited. It'll be boring as hell."

Going to an elite academic school certainly put a damper on a lot of things. The rest of the class was excited about the school trip, though. While Aqua and I were indifferent, those in the class who didn't have a significant other had a bunch of delusions in their head. I heard lots of rumors about so-and-so planning to ask someone out. Unfortunately, much to my great vexation, these people came to me for advice on asking someone out.

"I mean, I get that I have a girlfriend, but why would you ask me?"

I said, when my classmates started harassing me for dating advice.

"Eh? But there's this video of you making a great confession!"

They showed me a video that was sent to them on LINE.

"I love you! I love you so much it hurts! I don't care if you make fun of me for saying this, I'm casting my pride away! I really, really love you!"

That twintail traitor recorded the whole confession I gave at the camping trip and spread it throughout the school.

"Please teach us, master!"

"Shishou! Teach us how to confess!"

A bunch of unwanted disciples started gathering around me.

"...Just speak from the heart. If you overthink it and try to make the confession all unique and special, then it'll just seem kind of insincere and fabricated. Language is just a vessel to carry intent and emotion. As long as you speak genuinely and honestly, even if the confession doesn't work, it won't be from a lack of passion on your part."

They stared at me for a few moments.

"H-He really is a master!"

"Shishou! Let me worship you!"

I noticed that even the homeroom sensei, who was silently listening to us, was hurriedly writing down notes.

Good luck, sensei.

…

...

The month of May was occupied by studying, after school fun with Mea-chan and friends, and even more after school fun spent with Aqua after our studying sessions. Sprinkled in between those events were the occasional couples stream that Aqua had me go on.

With my streamer identity, K-kun, I found that I got more comfortable with streaming as time went on. I was even getting better at singing.

After one of our couple streams ended, Aqua said to me,

"Hey, Kazuma, why don't you start doing solo-streams?"

"...Huh?"

I stared at her blankly when she made this suggestion.

"Don't look at me like I said something weird. You're accumulating your own fanbase. You should use that momentum and create your own streaming career."

"...I'm not looking to be a full-time streamer or anything. I'm just helping you out."

"But I'm saying that you actually have a talent for this. Plus, you appeal to people who like watching good gameplay. I know I suck at games, so I appeal more to the people who want the idol streamer experience."

"I don't know…"

"It'll be a good way to make money!"

"...By the way, I never really asked, but how much money do you make?"

"Oh? I can show you."

When Aqua showed me her bank account, I immediately made my own streaming account.

For my username, I just went with K-kun, since that was what everyone recognized me as.

On our next couple stream, after ending it with Karoke, Aqua announced that I made my own account, and that I would be having my first stream soon.

"Make sure to check out K-kun's stream, everyone!"

"Ohhh! K-kun is gonna do solo-streams now?! Kyaaa!"

"I hope he makes merch! I'll buy them all!"

"Now I can watch K-kun without having to put up with his annoying girlfriend!"

Why does it seem like I actually have a lot of fans?

I thought that people were just putting up with me because Aqua kept bringing me on.

I began to feel the pressure, since I didn't think that I actually had fans. I thought that people were just trolling when they got all excited whenever I showed up on Aqua's stream.

There's a popular clip of me walking into Aqua's room, when I didn't realize she was streaming. I covered my face just in time before the camera could capture it.

The clip got 1 million views.

There's a bunch of comments asking for my face reveal, but I thought they were just being sarcastic. Now that I knew that I was actually semi-popular, I began to have second thoughts about the solo-stream. I didn't want to deal with the pressure, but Aqua already announced it, so I didn't really have much of a choice.

Part 3

After Aqua gave me a bunch of her old streaming equipment she didn't have a use for anymore, I announced on my new Musker account that I was ready to do my first solo-stream.

I wasn't actually ready, but I was ready in a purely technical sense.

Aqua was nice enough to commission a stream intro animation for me, and to do her stream before mine, so her fans would come trickling in to my debut stream.

I made sure that my family members were out doing something, so I wouldn't be bothered for my debut stream.

I was nervous as hell, sitting on my chair, waiting for the stream to start.

For my first stream, I chose to play the game I'm most comfortable playing, that MMO I used to spend everyday playing.

I made a new account and grinded just enough to make it out of the tutorial area. I thought that it would make for better entertainment to start relatively fresh, since it was a debut stream.

I didn't know if it was due to the game's popularity, and the fact that a new expansion came out, that I already had 7,000 people waiting in the pre-stream chat lobby for the stream to start, or if it was due to Aqua's popularity and my association with her.

Going by the responses on the pre-stream chat, it was likely a mix of both.

I tried not to look at the increasing viewer count as I started the stream, pressing the live button right on time.

I blanked out for a few seconds, completely forgetting what I was about to say as soon as the stream started.

"Hey, guys. Uh… I'm gonna play this game for my first stream. If you're here from Aqua's stream, then you're probably tired of seeing her fail at games, huh? Don't worry, I'm a thousand times better than her."

The first words I said as a streamer ended up being a roast on Aqua.

The audience seemed to like it though. I saw a bunch of 'kusa' and 'www' swimming across the screen.

Among the messages, I saw Aqua replying to my provocation.

"I'd like to see you back up the shit-talk!"

"...I can probably beat any of your high scores using my feet."

That got even more people laughing.

"This new guy is pretty funny!"

"As expected of K-kun! I knew he would be a good solo streamer!"

"Show FEET."

The opening remarks were received well, but I was still nervous.

My fight or flight system was in full gear.

I was so nervous when I logged into the MMO client…

Muscle memory kicked in and I logged into my old account.

Before I realized it, I was using my max level character and I was in the guild house.

I managed to stop myself from cursing up a storm.

The worst thing I could do was reveal to the audience that I had an accident.

"So, uh, this is my guild, everyone! As you can see, I'm a top player in this game! Are you seeing this, Aqua?!"

When in doubt, roast Aqua.

"Holy shit?! This dude has the best gear in the game?! I thought that armor had an impossible drop rate?!"

"Is he a dev or something?! There's no way he has all those resources and gear?!

"Wait, K-kun is 'RNGod'! He's the leader of the top guild in this game!"

My chat box in the game started getting filled with messages. I opened it on my second monitor and saw my guild members spamming me with messages.

"The traitor has returned! What, did you get dumped or something? Dropped out of school, too? Serves you right!"

"...Wait, are you streaming this? WTF?! Our guild leader is Aqua's boyfriend?! That girlfriend you were boasting about is freaking Aqua?! I knew you were lucky but this is just unfair!"

"If he's streaming this… You idiot! You revealed our base location! We're gonna have a bunch of players raiding us!"

After seeing their replies, I said,

"Sorry guys, I accidentally logged into this account."

I decided to tell the truth to my guild members.

"...You're surprisingly an idiot, huh?"

"What, do you expect us to help you? Help a guy with a beautiful streamer girlfriend?!"

I sighed and discreetly typed to them while I was talking to the stream audience. I said,

"Didn't we go through a lot to reach the top of the guild?! Is that what all our hard work means to you?!"

"You fucker! You're the one who ditched us! We should be saying that to you!"

I wasn't getting anywhere convincing them to help me.

I noticed that Dark+Angel logged on while this was happening.

"Guys… Let's help our leader! We owe it to him after all he did for us!"

"Well… If Dark+Angel-chan says so…"

"I guess we have to help, huh?"

These freaking simps.

After the guild united once more, the first wave of raiders came in.

I was out of practice, but I soon got into the swing of things.

I already got used to paying attention to the audience while playing a game, thanks to those streams I had with Aqua.

Since playing this MMO was second nature to me anyway, I was able to entertain my audience while playing.

I learned that I got a positive response from the audience whenever I was making fun of someone.

"...These raiders are actually braindead. Just because they know where our base is, they think that they can come in here with mid-game equipment? They're so poor that I don't even want to waste time collecting their drops before it expires."

"Damn, K-kun is brutal with the insults!"

"I like this sadistic side of K-kun, kyaaa!"

"The other players look like garbage compared to RNGod."

It took two hours to deal with the many raiders.

Since we had a non-aggression pact with a lot of the top guilds, we weren't in any real danger, even if our base location was revealed.

The devs actually had to step in and stop the raid, since the servers were getting insane lag with the number of people congregating in one place.

They'll probably have to patch the amount of raiders that can come to attack a base at once.

Since most top guilds never show their base locations, the game never encountered this problem before.

After the raiders were dealt with, I thought that it was a good time to end the stream.

"Alright, thanks for watching my debut stream! It was pretty intense for a first stream, huh? Alright, see you guys on the next one!"

After I ended my stream, I got a bunch of messages from my guild.

After I properly apologized for ditching them and revealing the guild base location, I spent some time catching up with everyone.

I got a direct message from Dark+Angel in particular.

"...It's good to have you back, leader."

I smiled at my disciple's message.

"I'll probably come back and play when I have the time."

"Yeah, it gets lonely without you."

"Maybe I'll feature the guild in my streams from now on."

"...Well, it's a good way to collect free loot from raiders. Not to mention it raises our combat score if we kill so many players at once. And the others won't say it, but they liked the attention and praise from the audience."

"Then I'll use you guys for free content and make a bunch of money!"

"Oi! You better share some of that money when you make it big!"

After spending a bit more time with my guild members, I logged off from the game.

Aqua called in to congratulate me on my successful debut stream.

"...You didn't need to pick on me so much!"

"I did it for the content."

"...You pick on me even when you're not streaming!"

After chatting with Aqua, I went to my bed and collapsed.

After all the adrenaline faded away from the system, all the stress and excitement made me pass out into a coma.

Part 4

After the first stream, I tried to stream at least once a week.

I still went on couples streams with Aqua.

My numbers were steadily climbing. There were other streamers who didn't like that I was getting famous just from being associated with an already famous streamer, but Aqua told me to ignore them since they were just being jealous.

I couldn't help but feel like they had a point. If it weren't for Aqua's help, I doubted anyone would watch a plain guy like me. There were a lot of streamers like me on the site, who were streaming to less than ten people at a time. I didn't think that I was necessarily more talented or capable than those people.

Like I promised, I featured my guild many times in my streams. Dark+Angel became a fan favorite and I even started to put her on voice call. Her popularity increased when the fans learned that she was a girl with a cute voice.

"Maybe I should start streaming, too~!"

She said, when she noticed her own popularity.

…

…

The school field trip approached while I was busying myself with school, dating Aqua and streaming.

Since I was busy, I almost forgot about it.

My stance on the matter didn't change even when the rest of my class were preparing to have the time of their lives.

We were heading to Tokyo. On the day of the trip, after taking attendance in class and making sure everyone was prepared, the sensei led us to the train station.

"Yosh! By the time I get back, I'm gonna have a girlfriend!"

One of the sausages who came with us to the camping trip said, while the class was about to board the train.

"Who are you aiming for?"

I asked, even though I wasn't particularly interested in the answer.

"I'm just gonna confess to as many girls as I can and hope for the best!"

So he wasn't even in love with anyone. He was just in love with the concept of being in love.

I couldn't really judge since I wasn't all that different before I started dating Aqua. I used to hate the kind of normies who acted like they were above single people. I gave him a thumbs up and wished him luck.

Since we had to sit with our classmates, I couldn't sit with Aqua or Mea-chan, who were in class 2-D.

Being in class 2-A, I had to sit with Mitsurugi, the two sausages, and the class rep. The class rep was a bespectacled girl with her hair tied in a braid.

This was our group for the trip. The class rep got left out of the groups, and Mitsurugi, being the typical nice guy pretty boy, invited the class rep to join our group.

I didn't even know why I agreed to join a group with my former love rival and those two sausages, in the first place, but the other groups that were inviting me to join were filled with girls, and I didn't want to make Aqua angry if I joined them.

"So, Konno-san! What are you looking forward to the most on this trip?"

One of the sausages said to the class rep, trying to start some conversation.

"...There's going to be a naginata demonstration in the stage performance we'll be watching. I'm also looking forward to seeing Senso-ji."

"Ah, Konno-san is the captain of the naginata club, right? That explains it!"

"What will you be looking forward to doing in your free time?"

I asked, trying to contribute to the conversation.

"There's going to be… A singing performance that I'd like to see as well."

"I see."

The conversation carried on, with me participating in the small talk occasionally.

The whole time, I noticed that Konno-san kept glancing at me, scrutinizing my face.

Since I became a somewhat well-known streamer, I was paranoid about people recognizing me, so I tried to hide my features from the class rep as much as possible.

After the train ride was over, we hopped off the train and entered Tokyo Station.

The senseis gathered us all up and did a roll call, before they led us to our hotel, which wasn't too far away from the station.

The hotel was actually pretty nice, the effect of the school saving money by only having the second years go on field trips. It was also an elite school with a high-tuition, and it wouldn't do if they got cheap accomodations.

After the senseis checked us in the hotel, we dropped off our stuff in our group rooms. All the guys in my class shared a big room, a prospect that I wasn't looking forward to.

"Sigh… Being in a room with a bunch of sausages…"

"What was that, Satou?! Boyfriend-san over here is too good to be sharing a room with us, huh?! You want to rent a love hotel to stay at with Mizuhara-san?!"

"Of course I do."

"At least deny it!"

My sugar mommy streamer girlfriend could probably afford to rent out a separate hotel for the both of us during this trip. Not like the sensei would allow it.

After getting all of our stuff in order, we relaxed while waiting for dinner time. Being in a strict school, we couldn't visit the girls' rooms and vice versa. We could visit the other classes' boys rooms, but what was the point in making the sausage party bigger than it had to be?

The guys were talking about all the confessions they'd make, and deluding themselves with fantasies of a high-class, sexy office lady from the big city inviting them to a hotel to take their virginity.

"I'm telling you! There's a lot of overworked OLs in Tokyo, right?! They see a hot young stud like me walking around after work and they get all horny! She invites me to a hotel and helps me become a man! That's how it'll happen!"

"...If you spend the night in a hotel, sensei will call the police and they'll search for you."

"I-I'll tell the sexy onee-san that I have an early curfew and I need to be back with my class at 6 pm."

"You think you'll get laid once you start talking about how you have a 6 pm curfew?! You watch way too much porn!"

Rightfully so, the other sausages ridiculed this delusional idiot.

After spending the time messing around in our room, sensei called us for dinner time.

They served fried fish, miso soup, rice, vegetable tempura and simmered potatoes, some standard hotel stuff.

The taste wasn't exciting but it was filling and the ingredients they used were pretty high quality. On our middle school field trip, the cheap hotel just gave us instant curry.

After dinner was over, the sensei assigned our turns at the baths. It wasn't a hot spring, but the baths were nice.

I saw Aqua chatting with Mea-chan and the girls outside the bath. They were wearing pajamas and their hair was still wet.

"Yo, Kazuma! How's the guys room so far?"

"...Talking about how much action they're gonna get on the trip."

The girls laughed, even if I wasn't joking.

"So, Mizuhara, your group is going to Nezu shrine tomorrow, right?"

Before Aqua could respond, Mea-chan cut me off.

"Hey, Satou-kun, I've been wondering about this. It's kinda weird that you keep calling Mizuhara-san by her last name, right? I mean, you don't use honorifics, but shouldn't you be using her first name?"

Since I normally called her Aqua when we were alone, I got used to calling her Mizuhara in public.

"I guess you're right. Hey, Aika, you guys are visiting Nezu shrine tomorrow, right?"

"You said it so easily?!"

What, did they think I was gonna start blushing and stuttering or something?

Aqua wasn't used to being called by her real first name, so it took her a few moments to respond.

"Erm… Yeah, Kazuma, want me to take pictures?"

"...I'm gonna go there on the last day of the trip with my group anyway. What's the point?"

"I guess you're right!"

After some more small talk, I said good night to them.

"Later, Aika."

"See ya, Kazuma!"

"...He keeps saying her first name so easily. I can't figure this guy out. Come to think of it, he said 'I love you' to Mizuhara-san pretty easily during the camping trip, didn't he?"

It wasn't that easy.

I ran away before they could start teasing me about that again.

Part 5

The next morning, the classes convened in the dining room again, where we were served miso soup, tamagoyaki and rice.

After that, the classes split off to their activities for the day.

Our group was assigned to the Tokyo Metropolitan Theater for our first day of the field trip.

We were set to watch a variety of traditional performance arts.

I was sitting with my group, with Mitsurugi on my left and Konno-san to my right.

There was the performance that Konno-san was looking forward to, a naginata demonstration, which included some sparring among masters.

Her eyes were sparkling as she watched the show.

"Wouldn't it be more exciting if they did it like a super sentai live show? You know, with fireworks and transformations and stuff?"

"Shut your mouth."

"E-Eh?"

Konno-san, who was normally mild-mannered and unassuming in class, told one of the sausages to shut up.

We stayed quiet for the whole performance as Konno-san watched the display of naginata skill.

The performances took about three hours total. I was bored as hell. I appreciated culture and stuff but only in small bursts. I was zoning out by the end of it.

The last performance was a kabuki performance, so at least the loud voices of the actors kept me awake. Otherwise, I would have fallen asleep.

When it was over, I got up to stretch my sore muscles. We had to wake the sensei up from her nap.

"Alright… We're heading over to the lobby. Write your impressions about the performances on this paper."

We groaned as she handed out sheets with questions asking us about our opinions about each performance.

"Sensei, can I have more sheets of paper for the naginata performance? This sheet doesn't have enough space."

"Eh? Oh, sure."

Konno-san was enthusiastic, but only about the naginata portion.

Aqua was right about the school trip. It was just an outdoors version of our usual classes.

Our schedule allowed for 2-3 hours on the main activity. After that, we had 1 hour to finish our assignment, mostly writing down our impressions about what we experienced. After that, we had free time.

My group chose a family restaurant for lunch. While eating our food, we planned out what to do for the rest of the time we had. We had about 5 hours to kill before we were expected to go back to the hotel.

"Hmm… How about we join up with Mizuhara-san and the others?"

A sausage said, while we thought about what to do.

"Where are they planning on going?"

"They said they want to check out this beauty salon. Ugh… Are you interested in joining them, Konno-san?"

"...Not particularly."

I wanted to go with Aqua somewhere, but I didn't feel like going to a beauty salon.

"So… What do we do, then?"

"Let's go to the arcade."

"How about karaoke?"

"Movies?"

They started listing off things you could do anywhere.

"This sucks! We're in Tokyo, but we can't even think of anything to do?"

"Well, what does Tokyo have that we don't back home?"

"...Hot Tokyo girls who know how to have a good time?"

"Idiot. Konno-san is with us. You think she's gonna want to watch us pick-up girls?"

Maybe she'd get some entertainment out of seeing the sausages fail, I thought.

Konno-san raised her hand, attracting our eyes to her, and said,

"If you don't mind, I'd like to do my own thing. There's a singing event that I'd like to watch."

"...We can't split up our group, Konno-san. Would you like us to go to that event with you?"

"Ah, no… I don't want to impose!"

The sausages tried to assure her that it was fine, but she insisted that she'd like to go by herself.

Seeing that we weren't getting anywhere, I said,

"Why don't you guys go sexually haraass some Tokyo girls while I go to this event with Konno-san?"

"We're not sexually harassing anyone!"

"Well, since Satou is already dating someone, I guess there's no point in him coming along with us. Alright, let's just go with us three, Mitsurugi-kun!"

"...Hey, it's not like I want to pick-up girls with you guys!"

"You're our chick magnet! How else are we supposed to attract them?!"

Mitsurugi got dragged off to the sausage's idiotic scheme.

I turned to Konno-san and said,

"Alright, then, let's go, Konno-san."

"Right…"

She seemed unsure about me coming.

…

...

I followed her to a small concert venue. After paying some cheap tickets, about 500 yen for students, we went into the theater.

As soon as we came in, Konno-san said to me,

"Ah… I'm going to the bathroom, Satou-san. Please head in ahead of me."

"Want me to reserve you a seat or something?"

"It's fine! The place will be packed so let's just meet up at the end!"

She ran off and left me behind.

Ah, I get it. She was trying to ditch me.

Since I already paid the ticket, I went in and found a seat.

I wanted to save a seat for Konno-san, in case she changed her mind, but like she said, the seats were quickly packed.

Since the event organizers didn't bother with assigned seating, I now had two guys wearing smelly tracksuits sitting beside me.

I looked at the rest of the audience.

Most of them were wearing tracksuits, and they were all dudes.

Since it was the class rep Konno-san who invited me to this place, I thought that this singing event would be some classy opera showing.

I turned to the guy beside me, who had thick-rimmed glasses and an old tracksuit that smelled like instant ramen and body odor.

"Um… Can I inquire about what this event is about?"

"Huh? You bought tickets without even knowing?"

"I'm on a school field trip and I wanted to kill some time."

"Ah, I get it, my friend. Your group ditched you during free time, so now you're stuck killing time by yourself until you have to go back to the hotel. We've all been there."

The guys around me started nodding their heads in sympathy.

They were getting the wrong impression.

"As for your question, this is a concert for Axel Hearts."

"Who are they?"

"You heathen! They're the cutest new idol group right now! Lia-chan, Cielo-chan and Erika-chan! These three cuties will become top idols in no time! Be fortunate that you found your way in this sacred venue!"

This otaku got all excited while he told me about his waifus.

"I see…"

"Not interested, huh? You're telling me that you don't care about Axel Hearts?!"

"I'm sure they're lovely ladies and all, but I don't really know them."

"Today you will be converted!"

While this otaku was ranting to me, the lights in the venue dimmed.

"It's starting…!"

The otaku turned around and watched the stage intently.

The lights came on and three girls came out.

A cute, pink haired girl wearing twintails, a gentle girl with short, light brown hair, and a black haired beauty came out.

They were wearing striped idol outfits that had their individual colors, red, green and blue, respectively.

The pink haired girl raised her hand to the crowd.

"Hello, everyone~! It's your cute Erika here! Thank you for coming to watch our first concert in Tokyo! Whoo!"

The crowd started cheering for her, raising red glow sticks.

"E-Everyone… Um, this is Cielo! Thank you for coming all this way! To our new friends in Tokyo, thank you for coming to see us for the first time!"

The light sticks quickly changed to green and there was another chorus of cheers.

These guys are really efficient, I thought.

The last girl stepped forward.

"Lia here! We're gonna give our all for this Tokyo debut. Please cheer us on!"

A final roar swept through the crowd as blue glow sticks were raised.

"Here's our first song [Bright Show]!"

The song came on and they started dancing and singing.

I had to admit, they were really talented.

The show went on for an hour.

After that, there was a meet and greet available for fans who pay an extra 1,500 yen.

I paid the extra fee and lined up.

I waited at Lia's line. When it was my turn, I gave her the picture of the group that came with the fee.

Her eyes widened when she saw me at the line.

"T-Thank you for coming to watch."

She said, before hurrying up and signing the picture.

"U-Um, next person, please…"

The producer, who was watching the exchange, stepped up and said,

"...Lia-san, you forgot to shake his hand. I'm sorry about that, dear customer."

"A-Ah! Sorry!"

She held out her hand to me.

"No worries, Lia-chan. By the way, don't forget about the 6 pm curfew, alright? I'm gonna go on ahead now since it seems you'll be busy for a while."

"...?!"

Did she really think I wouldn't recognize her?

The glasses and braids class rep disguise only works in anime and manga.

Konno-san, or Lia, as she called herself, tried to keep smiling as she shook my hand.

She was probably thinking that she was in a lot of trouble.

Of course, I didn't intend to cause any trouble, but I wanted to make her squirm a bit, since she dragged me over to this concert and ditched me.

Part 6

While I was heading back to the hotel, I saw Konno-san running after me.

She was back in her uniform, with the class rep look.

"Satou-san, wait…!"

I stopped walking and let her catch her breath.

She looked up with her face still flushed from running.

"Um… I want to tell you something…!"

The people around us were watching curiously. Some were smiling and stopped to look.

They probably assumed that this scene was going to lead to a confession.

"Sorry, Konno-san. I'm already seeing someone…"

The crowd gasped, now invested in this scene playing out in front of them.

"I-I'm not asking you out!"

There were grunts of disappointment in the crowd as they dispersed.

I decided not to tease Konno-san any longer and invited her out to a cafe to talk.

We went to a nice looking cafe. Since we were in Tokyo, it was quite the trendy place. There was classical music playing in the background. The clientele were all white collar types and there was even a girl I recognized as a swimsuit model.

Feeling a bit out of place in our school uniform, Konno-san looked around and said,

"I didn't know you had such good taste, Satou-san."

I just picked the nearest cafe I could find. I didn't know it was this fancy.

"I'm hanging out with an idol, so I thought you wouldn't want to go to some cheap place."

She blushed when I called her an idol.

"About that… I know I don't have the right to ask you this, but please keep it a secret!"

She bowed her head to me.

The waitress came in with two menus, but stopped when she saw Konno-san bowing.

"Um… I can come back…"

"No, it's all right… Sniff… Um, Konno-san, let's talk about how you cheated on me with three guys later. Let's order for now."

"What are you saying?!"

Konno-san hurriedly told the waitress that I was just joking around, while I looked for something to order.

Their menu had a bunch of overpriced items in them.

I went for some milk tea, since that was still in the realm of affordability. Konno-san seemed hungry after her performance and the fan meet-and-greet afterwards, so she bought some cheesecake.

When the waitress left, we resumed our conversation.

"Relax, Konno-san. I don't have any reason to share your secret with everyone."

She didn't seem convinced.

"...Forgive me for saying this, but I'm going to need some insurance."

She took out her phone, began typing, and showed me the screen. She said,

"This is you, isn't it?"

She showed me my streamer profile on Mico Mico douga. My profile picture was me with the black and white mask on. It was impossible to tell it was me just by looking at it, but it's more obvious when you put my face and the picture side-by-side.

"So that's why you kept stealing glances at me during the train ride."

I said, remembering the way Konno-san kept trying to examine my face.

"Indeed. I'm a fan of Aqua and I've been watching K-kun's streams as well."

Maybe I should have picked a less obvious username.

"That explains it now. I thought that you had a crush on me, and that's why you kept stealing glances at me."

"T-That's not it! Besides, I knew that you had a girlfriend! That girlfriend… Mizuhara-san is Aqua, right?"

I nodded. The waitress arrived with our orders. Once she was gone, I said,

"Now that we both know each other's secrets, you know that I won't tell anyone about yours."

She sighed in relief, more willing to trust me now that we were even.

"So, Konno-san, I assume that you were intending to use this field trip as an excuse to travel to Tokyo for your debut performance?"

She nodded and took a bite of her cheesecake. It was an expensive cheesecake, but it looked like it was worth the price, since she had a delighted look on her face.

"I'm lucky since the school decided to go to Tokyo this year. If it was another place, I would have skipped the field trip altogether. There's no way I'm going to miss out on my Tokyo debut."

"You take your idol activities very seriously, then."

"Of course. You take your streaming career seriously, don't you?"

Since I was associated with a top streamer like Aqua, she seemed to have a mistaken impression about my streaming career.

"Not really? Aqua convinced me to try it out. I thought it was a good way to make money."

"I see. I figured that you were serious about the whole thing, since you were constantly improving with each stream. Even your singing voice steadily improved ever since the first karaoke stream you did with Mizuhara-san."

I didn't know that it came off that way to other people. It wasn't like I didn't take streaming seriously. If I messed up, I knew it would reflect on Aqua. I tried my best to make my streams at least decent, since I didn't want to give people any ammunition to use against her.

"What does it mean to take a hobby seriously, anyway?"

I asked, while stirring my tea idly.

"When it ceases to be a hobby, and you want to spend the rest of your life doing it. Even if you come across your share of troubles, you still want to go back and do it again."

"Is that all there is to it? It becomes a job if you get paid?"

She looked up from her cheesecake, staring me in the eyes, her eyes set in a steely gaze.

"If you want something bad enough, you'll let it crush your dreams."

At that moment, in her resolute, shining eyes I saw all of Konno-san's dedication to her craft. She was fully willing to spend the rest of her life honing her skills, perfecting her craft.

I was fascinated and awestruck by her determination. She appeared to me as a blazing comet leaving a phantasmagorical trail of cosmic dust in the night sky, a stellar incision on an eternal stretch of oblivion. There's nothing more admirable than a dream chaser. There's also nothing more tragic.

Did I care about streaming that much, that I'd let it crush me completely if I failed?

It was fun, but it wasn't something I enjoyed doing until recently.

Aqua had been performing even before she started uploading cover songs on Mico Mico douga. She even got a scholarship to an elite school despite her abysmal academic scores, due to her talent and hard work in the performance arts.

I imagined that Konno-san was the same, and all those performers I saw in the theater were all cut from the same cloth. Could I really call myself one of those people?

"What made Konno-san want to become an idol?"

"I've always been a big fan. I watched traditional idols, internet idols and I even followed local maid cafe idols. I became enamored with the aesthetic of it all, more than anything."

"You mean, you're not doing it because you want to make the fans happy?"

"Don't get me wrong, I want to do that as well, but the thing that made me fall in love with idols is the concept of being an idol in the first place."

"So it's like being in love with the concept of being in love?"

Like wanting to confess for the sake of getting a girlfriend during a field trip, that was what I imagined from Konno-san's explanation."

"Do you look down on people who think that way?"

"Kind of, honestly. I don't think it's right to expend your energies chasing after vague concepts, instead of looking for something more tangible."

She chuckled and took another bite of her cheesecake.

"So instead of going to a fancy cafe, you're the type who would want to go to a cheaper one, because you think that it's the same experience?"

I was about to agree with the analogy, until I remembered the camping trip.

Curry that tastes better outside, games that you could play at home that feels better when you do it out there, surrounded by nature, the rested feeling you get the next morning after a day of running around and playing with other people, I recalled all these experiences that led me to a paradigm shift.

"I guess it's not the same."

I said, which surprised her.

There was worth in vague concepts that didn't necessarily add to the value of things aside from a subjective measure.

The difference between having fish in a restaurant and cooking it in a campfire outside, under a starry sky, the difference between a fancy cafe and a cheap one, the difference between a good hotel and a cheap one… In all things, there's a layer of aesthetic that puts more subjective value in one than the other.

"There's value in being in love with the concept of an idol itself, huh?"

I said, while Konno-san nodded.

"At least, I think so. I want to be an idol because I think it's cool, basically. Don't you think streamers are cool, Satou-san?"

I thought about Aqua, when she endured all that backlash she received from her fans, how she smiled through it all and kept entertaining people, no matter what. If someone asked me if I was in love with the concept of Aqua, as a streamer, or Mizuhara Aika, the person, I'd say that I loved how she was strong in both instances.

Normally, people don an identity, an aesthetic, to empower their normally weak selves.

Aqua was strong no matter what.

Loving for the sake of being in love and seeing the value in romanticism after finding love.

I guess those two things go hand in hand.

When the waitress came by again, I ordered a cheesecake. It was good.

Part 7

On the second day of the trip, we spent the day in the Tokyo National Museum.

I didn't really care much about art before, but I decided to become more open minded.

There's a correlation between open mindedness and intellect, anyway.

After the tour guide gave us explanations of all the major pieces they had, we were given free time to go around the museum with our group.

"I like the realistic stuff, but the abstract stuff isn't really my thing."

One of the sausages said, as we were looking at a painting of an orange, a banana, grapes and a melon violently mashed against each other. The tour guide said that it was supposed to represent the Sengoku period of Japan.

"You need to become educated before you can start appreciating the arts."

Konno-san said, while she was admiring the piece.

"Listen, I don't need to go to culinary school to appreciate fine dining. If I have to go to art school just so I can understand why a painting is good, doesn't that mean that art is determined by what professors say is good or not?"

"There's art that appeals to the general sensibility of the average person, and art that appeals to those who know what they're looking for. Even if you go to a fine dining restaurant and appreciate that the food tastes good, that's different from being able to explain why it's good, and why certain ingredients and cooking styles work together. You're also missing a whole series of context like the cultural background of the food you're eating."

"Is all that stuff really that important?"

"To the people who love nuances, it is."

We moved on to an impressionist work called 'Clear Skies'. There was an old man fishing and a little girl beside him. The man was wearing blue collar clothes, while the little girl was wearing a white sundress. The old man looked frustrated while looking down at the opaque, deep blue water, his fishing line unstirring, while the little girl looked up at the sky.

The clouds in the sky were painted with delicate, thin brush strokes. When I looked closer, I saw that the clouds looked like a shoal of fish swimming together in the translucent blue of the sky. I wouldn't have made that connection if I didn't look hard enough. I felt good once the art piece made sense to me and I felt all the emotions the artist was trying to convey.

After a few hours of looking around the museum, we had to write an essay about one of the artworks we saw. I chose to write about 'Clear Skies'.

Once we handed our essays in, we were given free time.

We went to a ramen restaurant this time. I didn't know if Konno-san would like ramen, since I knew girls tended to avoid eating heavy, oily foods, but she seemed excited about trying ramen in Tokyo.

The pork and chicken broth had a rich flavor of dashi and shoyu seasoning. The curly ramen was cooked perfectly, nice and firm. The classic toppings of chashu, scallions and soft-boiled egg tied the whole thing together.

After the filling and delicious meal, we went out to walk and burn off some of the calories, while we talked about what to do with our free time.

"Oh yeah, how did the pick-up efforts go yesterday?"

I asked the sausages. They sighed and said,

"Mitsurugi-kun managed to attract a bunch of them, but since he's not looking to date anyone, they lost interest."

"What's the point of a chick magnet if you're not even going to invite them to join us for karaoke or something?!"

What did they expect would happen, if Mitsurugi was the only attractive one among them?

"I know! How about we switch out Mitsurugi-kun for Satou?!"

"Oh! Maybe that will make a difference!"

They were talking about switching us out like Mitsurugi was the starting pitcher and I was coming in as the relief pitcher.

Furthermore, they were sending me out with the bases loaded and no outs.

"What makes you think that I'm gonna do better than with Mitsurugi acting as your chick magnet?"

"You have a girlfriend, don't you? Surely, you figured out how to attract hot girls even with that plain face of yours!"

I sighed. I didn't want to go along with their stupid plan, but I didn't know how else to kill time.

"Since I'm taking Satou-san's place, I suppose I should accompany Konno-san to where she wants to go?"

Mitsurugi said, offering to be Konno-san's escort this time.

Since she didn't need to go to a concert this time, Konno-san didn't have any reservations about dragging Mitsurugi along to wherever she wanted to go.

Once we split up, I followed the sausages to the downtown area of Tokyo.

"How are you guys gonna do this?"

"Normally, we just approach any hot looking girl we can find and ask them if they wanna have a good time with us."

"Speaking of hot girls… Target spotted!"

They saw a girl who was wearing a Tokyo U sweater. They ran up to her and did their thing.

I watched her politely reject them. They lowered their heads as they returned to me.

"We got rejected."

"I can see that."

I said, staring at them blankly.

"So, do you have any advice for us, Satou?"

"I want to know why you're even going after a girl wearing a freaking Tokyo U sweater. She's clearly above your league."

"I-I don't want to hear you of all people talking about girls above our league!"

"Yeah! A commoner like you is dating the class Madonna after all!"

I sighed and shook my head.

"Yeah, but the class Madonna is still within reason. She goes to the same school and we're the same age. That means that we have similar interests and our life experiences are relatively the same. A college girl going to the most prestigious university in Japan has nothing in common with us. Why would she want to fool around with a bunch of high school kids from out of town?"

"...Ugh, way to hit us when we're down!"

"No, I'm just giving you a realistic view of yourselves. That way, you can figure out your own appeal, too."

"Our appeal?"

I nodded my head and pointed to the school crests on their uniforms.

"Our appeal is that we're guys from out of town who go to a fairly well known elite school, even among these parts. Now, what kind of girls do you think would find that appealing? I'll give you a hint, it's not a college girl who goes to a better school than you."

"I don't know. I guess younger girls who look up to guys from elite schools?"

"Precisely. The fact that you're out of town means that they can have fun with you without worrying about getting bothered by you in the future."

"Hey! You're making it look like we're one-time fling material!"

"You're on a field trip. How often are you gonna go to Tokyo, anyway? Did you seriously expect a long term relationship?"

"Urk…"

These guys were way too optimistic.

…

…

After I gave them a healthy dose of reality, they started to aim for a different demographic. They looked for first year girls from local schools, the types who would find romance in temporarily dating a guy from out of town. After a period of failures, they managed to successfully reel in some girls.

"OMG, like, it's so cool that you guys are from elite schools!"

Somehow, I found myself in a karaoke room with a bunch of gyaru.

They weren't the intense types of gyaru, with the fake tan and long, painted nails. That type started to die out in the modern age, even if they were still constantly portrayed in anime. These gyarus had dyed hair and wore incredibly short skirts. They had their uniforms altered in a bunch of ways. Other than that, they looked like ordinary JK.

"Yeah, well I think it's cool that you girls live in Tokyo!"

One of the sausages said. They were surprisingly good at small talk.

Since I didn't want to ruin the mood, I played along with the general flirtation.

I didn't intend to actually let it go further than that, but I acted out my role as the wingman.

Thankfully, these girls were socially adept enough that they could tell who was actually looking for a casual fling. I guess they can tell when a guy gives off that 'I already have a girlfriend' aura. They went for the other two sausages and respectfully left me alone.

I did receive a good reception from them when it was my turn to sing, though.

By the end of it, the girls gave us their numbers and told us to call them up again when we had free time tomorrow.

The sausages were ecstatic.

"Do you think we'll get lucky tomorrow?!"

I shrugged and said,

"If you emphasize that it's the last day of your trip, you might bring out their romantic side. Who knows, you might get lucky."

"Satou, you're actually a god of romance?! Thank you! Thank you!"

They started worshiping me in the middle of the street.

I didn't tell them that one of the gyaru sent me a nude selfie she took in the karaoke bathroom.

I deleted it, of course.

Part 8

The last place our group visited was the Nezu shrine.

One of the oldest shrines in the city, it was surrounded by lush trees that rustled from the cool wind. Once you go along the tunnel of red shrine arches you'll see ponds full of carp, and beyond that, the shrine itself. There was a hillside garden, and at this time of year, the azalea bushes were still showing vibrant pink and celestial white.

There were a pile of rocks that were fenced off, but they weren't random rocks. One of these rocks had an interesting story. Apparently, some great figures in Japanese literature sat upon this rock and received divine inspiration for their novels. Hence, these rocks were called Bungo no Ishi, 'Stone of the Literary Greats'.

After taking a bunch of pictures, saying our prayers and drawing fortunes, where I got a 'great blessing', the sensei had us finish our last impressions assignment of the field trip.

I wrote about the rock that gave inspiration to writers. In my essay, I wrote about the nature of inspiration, and why a lot of our ancestors thought that inspiration came from the gods themselves. Wouldn't an artist try to claim credit for their own ideas and works? Why would they attribute it to the gods?

My conclusion was that since creative inspiration occurs in sporadic instances, that artists must have figured that they came from the unpredictable will of the gods. After all, if they came from the artist themselves, wouldn't inspiration strike more frequently?

I noticed the sausages were hurriedly finishing their essays. The reason for this was because they wanted to go out and meet the gyarus as soon as possible.

"Good luck, my students."

I said, as they were preparing to head off.

"Master, you're not going to come with us?"

"No. It is time to show me what you learned."

"Master! We won't fail you!"

"We'll send pics!"

The sausages tearfully embraced me before they went past the torii gates, running off to indulge their flesh in earthly desires.

I asked Mitsurugi and Konno-san what they wanted to do in their free time.

"Apparently, Mizuhara-san's group wants to go to the amusement park for the last day of the trip. We can join them if you want."

Mitsurugi said, as he took out his phone to check his messages.

I took my phone out and saw that Aqua texted me the same thing.

"You two go ahead. I have some friends I want to spend the last day with."

Konno-san said, while it was clear Mitsurugi and I wanted to head to the amusement park.

"Oh? Friends from another class?"

"Ah, no, they don't go to our school."

I realized that she was probably talking about her idol group.

…

…

With Konno-san splitting up with us, Mitsurugi and I took the bus to the amusement park. It was awkward with just us two, considering what happened during the camping trip.

When the others were there, we didn't need to talk directly to each other. Konno-san didn't seem to notice the tension between us, which meant we must have hid it well. Now that we were alone together, it was much harder to hide it.

"If you want, I can go and ask Mea-chan to find a way to give you and Mizuhara-san some alone time."

Mitsurugi said, when we got off the bus.

"What brought this on? Why would you want to give your rival any favors?"

"We're not rivals anymore, are we? The victor was clear before the game even started, it seems. I was just fooling myself into thinking I had a chance."'

He gave a weak smile. We stopped at a crosswalk. The amusement park was just across. We could hear the faint screams and laughter of the people inside.

"Just because you lost, it doesn't mean that you should be giving the other guy any favors."

"My mom taught me to be graceful in defeat."

"If you're graceful in defeat, that will just eliminate your hunger to win. All your defeats should be ugly and painful. I don't know why I'm even saying this to you, but if you really like Aika that much, you should keep fighting until the end, right?"

"You're saying you want to rub your victory in my face again? No, thanks. Mizuhara-san is happy, and you're the one who gave her that happiness. That's enough for me."

Maybe Mitsurugi was more mature than me. If I was in his shoes, I wouldn't have given up so easily.

Maybe I still had a lot of growing up to do.

After we paid the admission fee, we found Aqua and the others waiting for us near the entrance.

Mitsurugi kept his word and managed to lead Mea-chan and the girls away, giving Aqua and me a chance to be alone.

"How was the trip, Kazuma?"

Aqua said, after she took my hand. We walked around the park, looking for something to do.

"Not bad. I even began to enjoy writing the essays toward the end."

"Seriously? Don't tell me the boredom managed to corrupt your brain?"

She poked me on the side of my head.

"Boredom is kind of like meditation, in a way. Maybe I became just a little bit more enlightened during the trip?"

"Yeah, right. I heard you were flirting around with some gyaru yesterday."

"Those damn sausages snitched on me?!"

Those traitors!

"Nah, some girls from your class saw you guys heading to a karaoke with them. Well, since you're here now, you were probably just helping those guys out, right?"

Aqua was only sharp when it came to moments like this.

I didn't intend to cheat, but any possibility that I would in the future disappeared at that moment.

We ended up choosing a log ride to go to. I didn't know why Aqua wanted to start with a log ride from the start. If we got splashed with water, we'd have to walk around in wet clothes.

Thankfully, we didn't get too wet. The raincoats the staff gave us kept most of the water out.

My face still got splashed, though.

I spit out some water as the log slowed to a stop.

"That was fun!"

Aqua said, hyped up from the feeling of freefall and the cold water spraying all around us.

We looked at the pictures and Aqua started laughing at my face.

"Are you actually scared of these kinds of rides, Kazuma? Hahaha!"

"Not really. I just make weird faces whenever these ride cameras capture a picture of me. It's all a conspiracy, I tell you."

Aqua decided to test this out by going to more rides.

After the roller coaster, a fast spinning teapot ride and a scrambler ride that made me regret agreeing to go on it, Aqua had a collection of me making weird faces during these rides.

She wouldn't stop laughing when she saw all of them.

"Bwahahaha! I know you're not scared of these rides, since you're always up to do one, but why does the camera only take weird pictures of you?!"

"I told you, the amusement park secret society is conspiring to mock me. I don't know what their motives are, but the evidence is clear for all to see. Exhibit A!"

I pointed dramatically to the picture of my cheeks blowing up with air, as the roller coaster went down.

Aqua started crying from laughter.

After all the rides we went to, we needed a break.

We got some sno cones and ate them on a bench. Aqua had a blue sno cone while I had a green one. We took a selfie of our colored tongues sticking out.

As we ate the frozen dessert, we watched the crowd of people walking about. The fresh legs, the tired feet, the eager smiles and the tired ones, they blended together in a confluence of opposing circumstances, gaps in time separating the two conditions, even if they shared the same space, the commonality of the amusement park.

After we finished our sno cones, we made our last stop at the ferris wheel.

The sun was setting, casting an orange glow in the sky. The dark purple of the encroaching realm of night sky crept into the fading specter of the day. Following the cycle of day and night, the day goers were spilling out of the park, making way for the night group. Employees were changing shifts, rides were closing for maintenance, opening again to a new group of customers.

Above the loud noise and spurious movement on the ground, we were suspended in a cyclic drawl, seventy feet up in the sky when we reached the apex of the wheel, and barely ten feet away from the ground when we reached the bottom.

I leaned in to kiss her. In our isolated bubble, in this spinning wheel full of them, we oscillated between eager passion and wordless contentment.

We separated when the wheel slowed down to a stop. The employee helped us get out. I held Aqua's hand and rejoined the others.

It was getting dark and our curfew was approaching. We merged into the throng of tired but satisfied visitors, enjoying a period in their lives of ceaseless amusement, a feeling shared and understood by everyone stuck in the moment. Once we stepped out of that gate, the thread of commonality held taut by the amusement park would snap, and we'd return to the isolated bubbles of our own lives.

It was getting dark out. Stars were starting to appear, as well as a half moon. God was calling for a pitcher change to give the sun a rest.

The sausages were late coming back, breaking curfew. They earned a month of cleaning duty, but they didn't seem to mind. They were grinning from ear-to-ear the whole time.

Sensei had to call the police, since one male student hadn't arrived yet. He got back to the hotel around midnight, in a taxi. It was the same kid who was fantasizing about hooking up with a sexy Tokyo OL. He was grinning ear-to-ear as well. He almost got suspended, but he was still smiling.