Chapter 23 – I’m Into Light Novels and Manga

Today was all about forgetting the eventful Saturday I had.

Sunday is the most peaceful day in the world.

Even the most brutal wars call a truce on Sunday (or so I wish).

For the record, after Chifuyu’s boyfriend, Shigure-kun, gave me that back hug yesterday, nothing else happened. I managed to get home without anyone noticing.

My sister came home completely wiped.

Apparently, she’d been running all over Fifth Avenue, thinking I’d gotten lost. Talk about overprotective.

Nee-san said she had plans with friends today, so a free Sunday had finally come my way.

Which is why I found myself at Animate, a specialty store for anime and manga a little ways away from Fifth Avenue.

There’s a bookstore right next door, so the place is famous in the otaku community as a “Sacred Sanctuary.”

I hear Japan’s official otaku representative, Nanba Shinichi, shows up here five times a week.

He holes up at home on Sundays to read the light novels and manga he’s bought, so as a rule, he’s never at Animate on a Sunday.

“Guess I’ll pick up the new volume of Empire and volume six of Yuita today.”

The Animate in Sasebo isn’t all that big, but I’ve heard the ones in the city are crazy huge.

Shinichi’s apparently been to the stores in Tokyo and Fukuoka.

He had to flex on me about it the other day.

He said their selection is massive and the otaku density is high. In other words, paradise. And if about 20% of them were fujoshi, it’d be even better.

“Ugh… Volume six of Yuita is sold out…”

Yuita is the abbreviated title for a fantasy series set in another world called The Maverick of Hero Academy Wants to Make the Ultimate Power Move, and it’s currently out up to volume seven.

I got hooked on it recently.

I’m a fan because the protagonist, Saionji Oscar, is a total chuunibyou and just completely unhinged.

The author, Ace Koumei, is a writer I really respect. He’s popular as a TV personality, too, and since he’s from Sasebo, I feel a sort of kinship with him.

As I stood there, debating whether to try another series by the same author or go for something completely different, someone slapped me hard on the back.

“Aki-kun, you here for Yuita by any chance?”

“Shinichi?”

He shows up a lot, but I never thought I’d run into him on a Sunday.

The official otaku representative of Japan makes his entrance.

“If you’re trying to buy volume six, you should head to the bookstore next door. As long as no one bought it in the last twenty minutes, there should still be one copy left.”

“As expected of a true otaku.”

“I’m always on top of the light novel and manga distribution in Sasebo. Compared to me, Aki-kun, you’re still an amateur.”

Yeah, I’m fine with being an amateur.

“Okay, I’ll go grab it right now.”

“Wait. The new volume of Empire is sold out over there. How about you buy Empire here at Animate first, since they order more copies, and then ride that wave of satisfaction over to the bookstore?”

For Shinichi, that was a surprisingly logical suggestion.

I had no choice but to entrust this to the pro of Sasebo’s light novel and manga distribution network.

Empire is a fun historical take on the Roman Empire.

It’s a super popular series, so it’s displayed front and center on the shelves.

It’s an incredibly long series, currently at forty-six volumes. The first volume came out about twenty years ago, so naturally, I wasn’t even born yet.

Rumor is it’s going to end in two more volumes.

Which makes sense. In the story, it definitely feels like the Roman Empire is about to meet its end.

I reached for volume forty-six, the one with Emperor Constantine striking a cool pose on the cover.

“—!”

—And my hand just so happened to overlap with a beautiful, fair one.

What is this, some kind of cliché setup…?

“Akira-kun?”

“Hinami… uh, hey.”

It was Hayasaka Hinami, the cool and beautiful otaku girl from my club.

I think she mentioned just the other day that she liked Empire.

The book she’s always reading during break is Empire, too.

“Meeting you in a place like this… must be fate, huh?”

I think the odds were actually pretty high.

“I was so excited for the latest volume of Empire yesterday, I pulled an all-nighter.”

“Are you feeling okay?”

“I’m fine. I’m wide awake now, and I’ve started seeing things.”

She was not fine at all.

“Did you come alone, Akira-kun?”

“Yeah, don’t worry. My noisy sister isn’t with me.”

“Karin-sama might be lonely at home, you know.”

“Nee-san’s out with her friends, so she’s not home.”

She’s probably walking around Fifth Avenue right about now.

The conversation died.

An awkward silence fell between us.

Shinichi, who might have been useful here, had already taken off, saying something about trying his luck with the capsule toy machines to get his favorite character. I hope he gets anything but.

I searched for a topic to get the conversation going again.

“Hinami, are there any other manga you like besides Empire?”

“Are there manga besides Empire?”

Of course there are.

What is she talking about?

“Just kidding. I at least know other manga exist.”

“That’s a relief.”

“But I don’t remember their names. I can’t remember any word with more than five letters.”

Empire is five letters, so it just barely made the cut.

“Oh, I think I might have read a manga about gymnastics.”

“Gymnastics… Right, because you did it in middle school.”

Apparently, Hinami was on the gymnastics team in middle school and was pretty amazing. But in high school, she joined the go-home club, using her incredible physical abilities for the sole purpose of getting home as fast as possible.

“You’re not going to continue gymnastics in high school?”

“Probably not. I’m just… tired of it now.”

“Sports can be draining, yeah.”

I wanted to smack myself for such a bland, noncommittal reply.

“There’s that, and, well… the leotard…”

—Leotard.

Hinami, the beautiful girl who is somehow both sexy and oblivious to the word “virgin.”

I tried to imagine her in a leotard.

Somehow, it felt like I was treading on sacred ground.

“…My chest… it was hard to fit into the leotard… so it was difficult to move my body.”

“…”

So, in short, she quit gymnastics because her chest got too big.

Is that what I’m supposed to understand here?

I’m sure the world’s most insensitive man, Takizawa Souichi, would say exactly that.

“Akira-kun.”

“Hm?”

Hinami’s cheeks suddenly flushed as she closed the distance between our faces.

Lately, Hinami has been more cute than cool.

The gap between her cool-beauty face and the charm she exudes is hitting me right in the heart.

“Are my boobs… really that big?”