I Was a Loner Who Tried Finding an Otaku Friend on a Matching App and Ended Up Matching with the Number-One Beauty Who Won the University Miss Contest - Chapter 27-28

Chapter 27: Why the Miss Con Queen Loves Light Novels

After polishing off that mystery dish called Opasui omurice and finishing up the dishes, we decided to just chill in the room until it was time for class.

There was a bunch of stuff that happened on the way here from the cafeteria, but somehow it’s still only 1 p.m.

“Yui-chan, you’ve got work right after fifth period too, right? I’m the same in the afternoon, so let’s go together~”

“I don’t really mind… but just so you know, please disguise yourself like you did earlier when we were at uni, okay?”

“I know, I know~”

While saying that, Yui-san pulled a book off the light novel shelf, flopped down onto my bed, and started reading the light novel… wait, what?!

“Why are you lying on my bed?!”

“Huh? Well, when I read light novels, I can only really get into it in this position.”

“What kind of logic is that?! No way that’s true!”

“Muu… we’re close enough now, aren’t we? It’s just a bed, Akito-kun.”

We’ve only known each other for like two weeks!

Maybe because I’ve been seeing Yui-san so often lately, our sense of personal space is starting to glitch out.

“Or what? Are you worried my scent’s gonna stick to your bed and you won’t be able to sleep or something? Geez, Akito-kun, you’re way too conscious of me~”

“Honestly yeah, so can you please get up?”

“…Huh? Oh, r-really? Ohhh, Akito-kun… is that so. Hmm~”

The second I answered her seriously with a straight face, Yui-san’s cheeks flushed bright red. Her eyes started darting around, then she quickly sat up, fixed herself into seiza, and dropped her gaze back to the light novel.

Hey, you’re the one who started teasing me—don’t get all embarrassed now!

Seriously, Yui-san is so hard to read…

She’s super bold when she’s poking fun at me, but the moment I answer seriously she loses her comeback and instantly turns shy and it’s over. It leaves me kinda stuck too.

Yui-san was clearly embarrassed and used the light novel to hide her face.

If the mood stayed like this, talking was gonna get awkward… so whatever, time to change the subject.

“Yui-san, how did you end up liking light novels anyway?”

“Hm?”

“You said before that since you’ve never had any romance experience, that’s why you read the erotic ones. But if that’s the case, I feel like it doesn’t really have to be light novels, right? Like erotic anime or… y’know, actual adult stuff.”

“Hmm, that’s actually kinda hard to explain~”

Yui-san finally went back to her usual expression and put her hand on her chin, thinking.

“Back in middle school and high school I was super interested in romance and had all these fantasies about it, so at first I was reading those super emotional, cry-your-eyes-out blue-light novels.”

“Wait… someone like you—a total pervert—was reading blue-light novels?”

“Hey!! What’s with that reaction?! You want me to kick your butt again?!”

“Ah, sorry sorry.”

Whenever Yui-san gets mad, “I’m gonna kick your ass?” has basically become her catchphrase.

It’s so perfectly her… getting kicked by the Miss Con queen might actually feel like a reward… wait no, scratch that!

“Anyway, back to the story. While I was reading those blue-light novels I realized—they’re emotional and all, but since I went to an all-girls school, I could never actually experience that same youth or romance. It kept rubbing reality in my face, and that’s when I reached over to the shelf right next to it… the light novel section.”

Yui-san stared hard at the light novel she was holding, speaking like she was fondly remembering that time.

“Light novels have fantasy stuff, crazy unrealistic rom-coms, stories that aren’t even real but you can still relate to them, and they’re fun. The settings are wild, the comedy’s hilarious… before I knew it I was completely hooked on light novels.”

She said it sounding a little shy, but I genuinely thought—yeah, that makes total sense.

Light novels have this freedom and fun that other kinds of books just can’t touch.

“So Yui-san, you really love light novels as a medium. Not just because of the erotic stuff.”

“Of course! It’s not like I only like the dirty ones!”

Nah, you totally do only like the dirty ones.

I silently retorted in my head.

“Oh, right right. Speaking of only liking the dirty ones—”

“What kinda phrase is that to remember me by?”

“Actually, today I was being extra annoying and clingy for another reason too.”

“There’s another reason?”

Yui-san stuck her hand into her campus tote bag and started rummaging around.

She looked exactly like a certain cat-shaped robot.

“Ta-da!”

“W-wait, this is…!”

—

Chapter 28: A Present from the Miss Contest Queen!?

“Ta-daah!”

“Amane-san, that’s…!”

After getting forced to eat the boob omurice—aka Opasui omurice—Yui pulled something out of her bag… It was a single ticket.

“A ticket…? Amane-san, what exactly is this?”

“Ta-daaa! It’s a ticket to the exhibition of the one and only illustrator of Opasui—Umino Umino Uminokaiya-sensei!”

Wh-what!? Opasui’s… Umino-sensei!?

The super-popular illustrator behind the ultra-famous light novel Opasui, plus tons of other big-boob original characters, who’s sitting at a million followers on SNS—Umino Umino Uminokaiya-sensei!?

“No way! For real!?”

Umino-sensei is the illustrator famous for drawing nothing but super-pervy stuff.
But even though the art’s that dirty, the exhibition venue is some trendy, huge place in Harajuku, so apparently a ton of otaku who just wanna see the lewd drawings feel too awkward to show up, and it’s become kind of a meme.

“Actually, a while back I won a pair of invitation tickets through an SNS campaign～. They arrived yesterday, and it looks like if you show this ticket at the reception, you can even get a signed shikishi!”

“Wha—no way, seriously!?”

So Amane-san entered that SNS campaign too!? And actually winning is pretty insane!
I entered that same campaign, but of course I got rejected like normal, and it was super rare anyway—only five pairs, ten people total out of thirty thousand retweets.

But wait a sec? Pair invitation ticket… so this one ticket is for…

“You’re giving this ticket to me?”

“Of course! ’Cause Kayama-kun, you looove Opasui, right?”

“N-no, it’s not like I’m into lactation-themed light novels or anything—”

“So you don’t want the ticket?”

“I want it!”

I answered way too fast.
Obviously I want the exhibition, and obviously I want that signed shikishi too.

“Haa… kinda makes me jealous, y’know. You don’t beg for my autograph even though I won the miss contest.”

“Th-that’s completely different!”

“Then maybe I should just go ahead and debut in showbiz so I can become famous enough that even you’ll desperately want my autograph?”

Amane-san… in showbiz…?
If that happened, forget autographs—wouldn’t our whole relationship just disappear…?

“Jeez, there you go again with that lonely puppy face. You’re so easy to read, Kayama-kun.”

“Huh!? N-no, I’m not—”

“Don’t worry. Like I told you before, I’m not interested in showbiz at all.”

Hearing that, I catch myself feeling a tiny bit relieved.
Maybe it’s ’cause she’s my only light-novel friend… or maybe ’cause I don’t want this special time we spend together to end… I don’t really know why.

“Anyway, let’s put aside the story of how Kayama-kun would cry himself to sleep every night if I joined showbiz.”

“That’s way too much imagining for something you’re just ‘putting aside.’ I’m not gonna cry.”

“Anyway! Even though the pair ticket technically means two people, since it’s a pair ticket, we should obviously go together, right!”

“Uh… but it says right here on the ticket that except for reselling, it’s okay to give it to a friend or even go alone—”

“We should go together, right!? Right!?”

I tried to gently dodge the invitation, but Amane-san just leaned in harder.
Her eyes were wide open too.
Sc-scary, scary.

“I-I mean, it’s fine but… I’m not really used to Harajuku or anything, so I’m not sure I can even get clothes nice enough to walk next to you.”

“Heyy! Aren’t you putting me on too high a pedestal!? You can just wear whatever you normally wear, Kayama-kun. Well, I do have big boobs and they’re beautiful too, so yeah I’m basically a goddess, so I get why you’d wanna worship me, but still!”

“If you cut out that second half I could’ve just nodded honestly… Maybe I should just go alone after all.”

“Wait! Sorry sorry sorry! I’m not a god! I drank my milk properly and grew them through effort! And I make sure to wear a bra that shapes them right!”

“You really don’t have to say that part so honestly!”

Amane-san just blurts out way too much personal stuff without any filter.
Seriously, what is this girl even trying to do.

“Um… actually this is my first time going to an event like this… and it seems like it’s gonna be mostly guys, so I’m kinda nervous… That’s why I really want you to come with me.”

“Amane-san…”

Yeah, events like this can feel pretty intimidating if you’re not used to them.

“…Haa. Fine, I get it. So let’s go to the exhibition together this weekend, okay?”

“Yay! It’s a date, right?”

“It’s not a date!”

“Ehhh? Your face totally doesn’t look like you hate hearing the word ‘date’~?”

“It doesn’t!”

And so we ended up deciding to go to Opasui’s illustrator exhibition together this weekend…
I’m a little worried Amane-san might get way too excited at the venue, though.

Gotta go buy some proper clothes first.