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 35-36

Chapter 35: Miss Con Queen and the Uncensored Erotic Version (Meaningful Wink)

After finishing up at the exhibition, Amane-san and I rode the train from Harajuku to Ikebukuro for about twenty minutes.

The hands we’d been holding like a couple earlier? Once we let go, it stopped feeling weird at all.

Something that had my heart racing like crazy… and then it just ends, and that’s it?

Or maybe this is what getting used to it feels like.

Compared to back when even talking to Amane-san made me nervous, I’ve probably grown in all kinds of ways.

Guys grow up like this, huh… I thought vaguely while standing inside the Yamanote Line train.

“Akito-kun, are you still feeling all fluttery?”

“F-fluttery…? Nah, not anymore. I’m totally used to it now.”

“Hmm, that’s boring.”

The second Amane-san saw I wasn’t fun to tease anymore, she pursed her lips and pouted like a sulky kid.

As usual, she seemed to get real happiness from messing with me.

“Y’know, Akito-kun, you get used to everything so fast. You’re like one of those rom-com protagonists who, right after the heroine’s first kiss, starts getting all aggressive and pushy.”

“What kind of image is that!? Apologize to every rom-com protagonist out there!”

That was some seriously wild prejudice.

☆☆

The moment we got to Ikebukuro, we headed over to Sunshine City.
While we were climbing the brick stairs, Amane-san suddenly stopped and looked out over the cityscape of Ikebukuro.

“Amane-san? What’s up?”

“Ikebukurooo!!”

“Save that for Akihabara, please.”

Everything Amane-san does is always so sudden—it’s honestly kinda troublesome.

“By the way, Amane-san, you read light novels, but what about anime?”

“Anime? I watch about as much as anyone else. I keep up with stuff that’s based on light novels I like, and for series I’m really into, I do want them to get animated, but…”

“But?”

“When more people get into it through the anime, during the controversial parts the criticism gets way louder, right? That kinda scares me, so there are some series where I end up just reading the light novels and skipping the anime.”

Huh… I get it.
Of course it’s exciting as a fan when more people discover something you love, but it also means way more haters showing up. That’s inevitable.
I can see why longtime fans would feel torn up about it.

“But I watch every single lactation-themed light novel that gets an anime!”

“Huh!? Isn’t lactation stuff like the most divisive genre out there!?”

“Who cares about that! I just wanna see the uncensored version in anime form!”

“What’s with that high-school-boy-who-can’t-easily-access-adult-content mindset…?”

Well, honestly, I kinda hope for the same thing, so yeah, it’s relatable.

“I really want Opasui to get an anime too~”

Amane-san really is into that kind of stuff, huh.

“Akito-kun, you totally act like you’re not interested on the surface, but behind the scenes you’re buying the mystery-light-uncensored Blu-rays, aren’t you.”

“I told you, that’s prejudice!!”

Amane-san looked at my panicked face and gave this super satisfied smile.

…Well, the truth is I actually do buy them, but still.

—

Chapter 36: Miss Con Queen and Breast Milk???

We got to Animate in Ikebukuro and headed straight inside the store.

I usually just buy my light novels at regular bookstores near campus, but coming to Animate after so long felt kinda exciting. Being surrounded by all this anime merch in a place that’s super specialized for this stuff just makes walking around fun on its own.

“Wowww, they’ve got tons of otome game merch! And BL stuff too!”

“Y-yeah, lately Animate’s been pushing the women-oriented stuff pretty hard, so that’s the vibe.”

These days Animate stocks way more goods aimed at women, and obviously a lot of female customers come too.
The light novel shelves are slowly shrinking, same as in normal bookstores, but the amount of BL and otome game merch has exploded. In a way, they’re just meeting the demand.

“By the way, Amane-san, do you play otome games or anything?”

“Hmm… never really tried otome games, I guess. I’m more into seeing cute girls getting put through pitiful situations than being pursued by hot guys.”

“Don’t just casually drop a super messed-up fetish like that!”

That’s one of the privileges of being in an anime shop—you can say stuff like that without it being a big deal.

Still… something had been bugging me for a while now.
It felt like other customers kept glancing over at us.

Well, yeah, when a girl as stunning as Amane-san—who literally took first in the Miss Contest—shows up at Animate, of course she’s gonna draw eyes. As we passed by, guys and girls alike, all these otaku types would turn their heads to stare.

In their looks I could sense this mix of jealousy—like, why’s this gorgeous girl with such a lame dude?—and this assumption that I was some boring boyfriend dragging my cute girlfriend along to Animate. It left me with this really complicated feeling.

Even though Amane-san was just as excited to come here as I was, if not more.

“Ah! Akito-kun, Akito-kun!”

“Yeah, what’s up, Amane-sa—”

When I turned to look at her, Amane-san was holding up… a baby bottle? Huh?

“Look, look! This is a baby bottle modeled after an anime character’s boobs!”

“A… baby bottle merch!?”

A heroine baby bottle? That’s way too wild, isn’t it!?

“Huh, so they’ve got merch lines like this now? If something like TS breast milk or Opasui ever gets an anime in the future, I want them to make one of these~”

“No way—you’d just end up displaying it anyway, right!?”

“Nuh-uh, I wanna actually suck on it.”

“Suck on it!?”

Haah… seriously, Amane-san…

I couldn’t help worrying about the future of Japan’s otaku industry—and Amane-san’s future too.