Chapter 3: The Ice Princess
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“Well then, give me your report. Long-winded bro.”
Ayane, sinking deep into my prized gaming chair and gulping down carbonated soda, opened her mouth.
By the way, I’m sitting seiza-style on the floor.
The reason for this situation is very simple to explain.
It’s currently Sunday night. Ayane came to my room under the pretense of a regular report and started eating the snacks I had hidden. On top of that, she forcibly took the carbonated drink I was about to have.
I got irritated and tried to warn her, but just like last week, I got threatened and here we are. I’m apparently a man who doesn’t learn his lessons.
“Puha! After all, a drink stolen from someone else tastes the best!”
This damn brat is getting carried away.
My right hand screams at me to punch this girl’s face, but I grit my teeth and endure, imagining the hell that would follow.
“So, start explaining from where Tsuchiya Senpai consulted with you.”
“…Before that, I have one question.”
“What?”
“Do you know what Tsuchiya was consulting about?”
I know the answer, but I need to ask anyway.
In response to my question, Ayane shook her head.
“I don’t know. She wouldn’t tell me even when I asked, and I’m not that interested anyway.”
There’s no point consulting with Ayane about it. She apparently doesn’t have much connection with Shiranui.
And for Tsuchiya, she probably didn’t want anyone to know her secret. The reason she talked to me was because I had experience dealing with her problems back in middle school.
Besides, if this brat somehow fell for Shiranui, it would be a disaster in many ways. Tsuchiya probably didn’t tell her due to various circumstances. It was a very wise decision, I’d say.
There’s also the simple fact that Tsuchiya doesn’t trust her much.
No matter how much she puts on a facade, her true nature is this. It might have been leaking through. I felt a slight sense of superiority and couldn’t help but laugh.
“What’s with that gross expression?”
“It’s natural.”
“Yeah, whatever. Anyway, hurry up and tell me.”
“Fine, fine. Anyway, I just made them make up.”
At those words, Ayane’s eyes blinked.
“Huh? Make up?”
I explained everything that had happened up until that point.
Of course, I left out the part about Tsuchiya liking a girl. That’s not something I should casually talk about, and even though my romantic feelings have faded, she’s not an enemy. There’s no need to tell this girl her secret.
I simply told her that the two had fought and I mediated between them.
“I see, so that’s what the consultation was about. Tsuchiya Senpai is always getting along with Princess Prince, right? She must have been depressed because they were fighting. I mean, even those two fight? That’s kind of surprising.”
It seems Ayane had also noticed something off.
“What caused the fight?”
“Who knows. I just set up the location for them.”
I lied. There’s no need to tell the truth on purpose.
“Well, I guess it doesn’t matter. Everyone fights sometimes anyway, and if they made up quickly, it wasn’t really a big problem, right?”
She convinced herself without my input.
“But Princess Prince, huh? That’s tough. Her popularity with the girls is insane, so you can’t really get close to her either.”
“Turns out she was pretty easy to talk to once I tried.”
“Really? Even though she’s famous for hating guys. Come to think of it, bro has always had this weird special ability to get along with strange girls.”
“That’s rude.”
Besides, the weirdest person I know is sitting right in front of me. If I’m not getting along with you, then I don’t have some weird ability.
“What did you and Princess Prince talk about?”
“What did I…—”
“You convinced her to make up, right? Then there must be a key to getting along with Princess Prince hidden in there somewhere. I’d like to know about it for the future. Come on, I’m becoming a princess too. Princesses should get along with each other—it raises everyone’s evaluation, right?”
Still the overconfident one, aren’t you.
As someone who’s seen a real princess up close, I have my doubts about whether this girl is suited for the role of princess. Well, the princess group had a lot of weirdos too, so maybe they’re actually well-matched.
“The talk was about Tsuchiya. I went to the same middle school as her, so it started from old memories.”
“But they were fighting?”
“I, I sensed a mutual atmosphere between them that suggested they wanted to make up!”
“Wow, and here I thought you had poor observational skills for a guy like you, bro.”
It’s a struggling explanation on my part, but Ayane apparently wasn’t that interested and let it slide.
I’ll keep quiet about the fact that Shiranui is a big fan of VTubers.
Ayane is sitting there acting all high and mighty, and she’s a complete jerk who can’t stand VTuber and anime otaku types. That’s obvious from how she made fun of my collection in this room.
Shiranui is a fellow enthusiast who shares my hobbies. I don’t want to betray her like that.
“Well, whatever. Anyway, so bro mediated a fight between them.”
“Guess so.”
“Hmm, hmm.”
Ayane looked down as if thinking about something.
“Hey, you’re not mad that I made them make up, are you?”
You wouldn’t put them in a fight and then tell them to have a fistfight and scar each other’s faces or something.
“Of course not. If anything, I’m impressed. Good job. I’m giving you the word ‘good job’ as a present for your efforts this time.”
Ayane gave me a thumbs up.
“I’m going to spread this episode around.”
“The story about how I mediated a fight?”
“Yep. About how bro worked hard to make them make up, sort of on the down-low.”
“…Is there a point to that?”
When I asked, Ayane let out a sigh as if exasperated.
“This is a chance to boost my favorability.”
“Yours?”
“Well, bro mediated the fight because Tsuchiya-senpai originally consulted with bro through me, right? In other words, my credit for having Tsuchiya-senpai consult with bro is part of my achievements too.”
Is this girl seriously trying to take credit for my effort?
I want to tell her not to steal it, but when you trace it back, it’s not wrong that Ayane’s involvement led to this. Maybe it’s not really stealing after all.
It doesn’t really matter anyway.
Even if I build up some favorability at this point, it’s meaningless. Besides, favorability is something that handsome guys have, so it becomes a weapon. As long as Ayane becomes a princess, that’s all that matters to me.
“Anyway, how’s the main conquest going? You’ve made contact with Princess Prince too, haven’t you?”
“Both of those are impossible.”
That’s my honest opinion.
Ayane snorted in a mocking way.
“Figures. I didn’t have high expectations anyway. You’re just a bro who can only do super chats with long-winded texts.”
“Shut up.”
“Even if you can’t capture them, how about as friends?”
“I think that’s possible. Shiranui turned out to be a good person.”
Tsuchiya, who said she’d consult with me again, and Shiranui, whom I promised to talk about VTubers with. I should be able to build a friendly relationship with both princesses.
“Then just keep being friends with them. Especially Princess Prince—we might be able to drop her approval rating significantly.”
Since there’s no reason to fight, I agreed.
Ayane ate snacks noisily and drank the carbonated beverage.
“Things are going smoothly. So, let’s talk about the next capture target.”
“Haven’t I done enough? Are you going to keep going?”
“Of course. If bro had the confidence that you could sweet-talk any princess you’ve met so far, then I guess it would be fine.”
That doesn’t sound like you have confidence in that.
“See? So you should tackle more of them so bro can feel at ease too.”
“If you didn’t threaten me, that would be fine.”
“That’s impossible. Anyway, the remaining princesses, right? With this, there are still half of the princesses left that you haven’t made contact with.”
That’s right—half of them remain.
“There’s an easy one, right? The closest one.”
“…”
“You’re so stubborn. You’re going to make contact eventually anyway.”
In other words, she’s saying I won’t be able to capture the remaining two.
I’m not entirely sure I feel insulted, but I think there’s a high possibility she’s right. Those sisters have too strong defenses.
“If you won’t choose for yourself, then I’ll choose for you. Honestly, I really want bro to capture this one. Personal hatred, I guess? Or maybe jealousy.”
“Could it be…that princess?”
“Yeah, that cocky bitch.”
It’s you who’s cocky.
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