After I Confessed to My Childhood Friend and Got Rejected, I Threw a Game Offline Meetup to Cheer Myself Up, Only to Find Out My Long-Time Gaming Buddy Was Actually the Quiet, Silver-Haired Swedish Beauty Who's the Cutest Girl in School - Chapter 17.1: Memories and Lap Pillow, And—

Chapter 17.1: Memories and Lap Pillow, And—

<Yesss! We won, Rain-san!>

<Yeah, this makes our 30th win in a row. But this level won’t beat Sky Music or Sword Master. Dragon Head-san, let’s go to the next one.>

<Of course!>

In a narrow room lit by a lamp, Amamiya Takaaki sat shoulder to shoulder with Karina Nagase, throwing himself into PVP training for “Arcadia Fantasy.”

He was borrowing the computer his little sister Anna used.

Because its specs matched his own.

Up until now, Amamiya had never really taken a close look at Karina when she got absorbed in the game.

Even when she battled with the seniors in the clubroom, he had no spare moment to glance over.

Amamiya hadn’t truly felt that she was really “Dragon Head,” but this training session convinced him.

Karina was a born gamer.

Her typing speed on the keyboard and her mouse control had no waste in them at all.

Karina’s job was swordsman, which required her to move around on the front lines.

On the other hand, Amamiya’s mage stuck to rear support style.

Click-clack, click-clack—

Amamiya forgot his own controls in stunned silence as her fingers moved at a speed he could barely follow with his eyes.

But Karina covered for him right away.

“Come on, Rain-san. Don’t zone out!”

“S-sorry…”

A chat message and a scolding stamp flew in.

In the middle of battle, how could she have such composure?

While reflecting on zoning out, Amamiya unleashed a high-damage spell.

The screen wrapped in flashy effects, and a few seconds later, it showed the opponent collapsed.

Even though he cast it himself, Amamiya inwardly gave a wry smile at how overkill it was.

“Hey, Karina. Can I ask you something for a sec?”

Amamiya called out to Karina, who had tied her bangs back into a ponytail since they were in the way.

She turned toward him with a serious expression still on her face.

“What is it?”

(Ugh… so cute…)

He found himself captivated by Karina’s profile as she stared at the screen.

And he couldn’t hold back his blush at the way she turned to him with a look that seemed pleased to be called.

If he got flustered, she might think he was conscious of her, so he somehow pretended to stay calm.

“The reason we’re doing PVP training like this in the same room was to practice our voice exchanges, right?”

“…Oh, yeah, now that you mention it, that’s right.”

It was a reaction like she had totally forgotten.

The two of them had ended up just purely enjoying the game more than training.

“But still, this feels the most natural, you know? It feels like we get each other without even exchanging voices.”

Amamiya felt his heart stirred by Karina’s words, which unconsciously sounded like something from a protagonist.

They were words too good for someone like him.

“Y-yeah. That’s true… me too.”

He had been friends with Dragon Head since middle school.

They grasped each other’s movements and habits without exchanging words.

They were like one body and soul.

“You know, from way back— you might not remember, but there was a time when Takaaki-kun helped me out…?”

“Helped you? Me?”

“Yeah, in the first guild we met in.”

The two had met in the first guild Amamiya ever joined.

They didn’t hit it off right away.

They weren’t close enough to actively interfere with each other, and the impression Amamiya had of Dragon Head was “an introverted person.”

She didn’t interact with other players much, and she did almost all dungeons except high-difficulty ones solo.

Even when she seemed about to lose to a boss, she wouldn’t call for rescue, and her chats were few.

But it wasn’t something to worry about that much.

There were as many players like that as there were stars.

However, an incident happened right after he joined.

It was the day the weekly “Guild Event” was held, where guild members gathered.

The event was for enjoying recreational activities planned by the guild master, like chit-chat, quizzes, and boss rounds.

At first glance, it seemed like a fun guild, but the guild master who planned these wasn’t a very good person.

He had a tendency to take an exclusionary attitude toward members who didn’t follow his opinions.

<Dragon Head-san, everyone’s having fun, so could you stop looking so bored all by yourself? I went to the trouble of planning this…>

During the event, Dragon Head, who had been quietly in the corner of the tavern, got scolded by the master.

And in voice chat that the whole guild could hear, no less.

<Plus, why are you participating if you won’t turn on voice chat? That way, you can’t get along with your guildmates, you know?>

That day’s plan was “chat with guildmates in voice chat.”

It wasn’t mandatory, and the master had said it was fine to join via text chat even without it, but he was harsh only toward Dragon Head.

<No, I’m good… it’s embarrassing for me…>

It showed up in the chat log, but

<That’s why it’s no good. What’s so hard about just speaking up?>

A stronger casual tone than before.

He couldn’t believe it, but maybe he had been building up dissatisfaction toward Dragon Head for not participating actively?

No, would a normal person get that grumpy over something so minor?

<Just do what the master says. It’s just speaking up.>

<Just for a second, come on lol>

<Dragon Head-san being shy is cute lol. Are you maybe a girl?>