Novel Bin
Chapter 423
Chapter 423. [The Final Human Match]
《There’s no point talking to you about anything other than VTubers, huh?》
Shitenno said, sounding resigned.
Rude. Lately, I’ve been starting to understand all sorts of things, you know.
《So then, Iroha, what do you plan to do?》
《...》
《I’ve made up my mind. I’m officially going to advance my studies here.》
《...I see. Somehow, I had a feeling Shitenno would choose that.》
《Heh. Well, look at you—seems like you’re starting to get me after all.》
Shitenno blinked, then smiled faintly, looking a little happy.See? I do get you.
《There are so many things I want to do, so many dreams I want to achieve. But if I keep walking at the same pace as everyone else, I’ll never catch up. So I’m aiming to skip grades and go straight to university.》
《It’s not like Japan here—there are plenty of systems in place for that sort of thing.》
《And then, there’s that research institute, too.》
《...?》
《Even that translation system—part of the idea came from me, but in the end, it was mostly the researchers there who made it a reality.》
No, but they were hired to do that as their job.
I don’t think it’s fair to compare them to me, who was just helping out...
Honestly, the fact that someone his age even got an idea approved is insane to begin with.
But I guess that doesn’t matter to Shitenno.
《They’re all geniuses, even more than me. Being around them is stimulating, and there’s still so much I want to learn. Someday... no, soon—I’ll surpass them all.》
《I’ll be cheering for you.》
《.........Cheering, huh?》
Shitenno stared straight at me.
The girl sitting next to him also stayed silent, as if holding back something she wanted to say.
《I...... thought you’d do the same. No, I think you should.》
《...》
《Your talent is incredible. One of a kind. You should use it for the world—for the sake of linguistics.》
《Yeah. Actually, I’ve been thinking the same thing.》
《~~~~! Then, come with me.........!》
《But............ I’m sorry. I’ve decided to go back to Japan for now.》
《Wha...... why!? If it’s you—if we’re together, then I......!》
Skipping grades with Shitenno, advancing to an American university, majoring in linguistics...
That...... might’ve been one possible future for me.
But I didn’t choose it.
No—I decided not to choose it. So......
《—I’ll leave that to you, Shitenno-kun.》
《...!》
《If it’s you, I know you can do it...... no. I’m sure it’s something only you can do. Or—have you already forgotten our promise?》
《~~~~! As if I’d forget! I’m going to become a scholar whose name goes down in history!》
《Mhm, then it’s fine. I’m also......... going to do something only I can do.》
My gaze drifted far, far into the distance.
Beyond it lay the world—or perhaps, the future.
《I see. So you’ve found your calling too, huh?》
《Yeah.》
《Haaah~~~~, alright. I get it, I get it.》
Shitenno sighed in exasperation......... then smiled, looking like he might cry.
Then, just to be sure, he asked:
《Just to confirm—that “something only I can do” isn’t just watching VTuber streams, right?》
《......!?......Tch, of course not!?》
《Hey wait, what was that reaction!? That changes things, you know!?》
《I-I’m serious! It’s really just a little...... no, half...... okay, maybe 80% of it!》
《THAT’S BASICALLY THE WHOLE THING!?》
No, no, it’s not like that—it’s this and that and...!
I want to make a world where I can enjoy VTuber streams even more...!
I mean, that’s the motivation, but—!
It’s not like I won’t take things seriously...! Well, okay, nothing’s more serious to me than watching VTuber streams, but still!
《Ugh, whatever, whatever. I get it. If you’re doing what you need to do, I won’t say anything more.》
《......Whew.》
《But I have one suggestion...... no, a request. You okay with that?》
《What is it?》
《I want to face you in one last test.》
《......But...》
《I know. It doesn’t matter who wins or loses. I just... want to compete with you one last time.》
《...》
《From now on, we’ll be walking different paths. So—this’ll probably be the last time we take the same test together.》
《Got it. If that’s how it is, I’d be happy to.》
《Heh. Don’t think I’ll go easy on you just because you’ve been slacking. After all, last time, you crushed me!》
《Wouldn’t have it any other way.》
The test is this weekend—.
***
After that, I studied seriously, as if to repay Shitenno’s sincerity.
So seriously that even Angu Ogu—
《That Iroha is studying seriously......!?》
—was shocked.
But I couldn’t just focus on studying.
It’d been three months since I last—
There were other things I needed to catch up on. Specifically......
《Aaaah, nooo! No matter how many hours I watch, my backlog won’t go doooown! Waaah~!》
《Says the one drooling while complaining.》
《Ehehehe... slurp. No matter how much I watch, there’s still so many streams and videos I wanna see... what bliss—I mean, what a nightmare!? I’m in trouble heeeere!》
《People in trouble don’t make that face.》
Man, this is rough!
Gotta watch videos. Gotta watch streams. Being an otaku is suffering—having to do both!
《More importantly, don’t you have something else to do besides watching other people’s streams!?》
《Huh? Something else?... L-like superchats?》
《You VTuber idiot! What you urgently need to do is—》
《—”A RETURN STREAM,” DAMMIT!?》
《Ah...》
.........Wahhh, I totally forgot~!?
What do you think?
Total Responses: 0