Jaku-chara Tomozaki-kun

TL: learning2tl

TLC: Kagefij

ED: Fractal

「Y, you really think so……?」

Her eyes sparkling, Izumi's gaze was trained on me. However, now that I had finished saying everything on my mind, I had reverted back into the usual me with ineffective ad-lib conversation skills.

「Un, well, probably.」

Izumi burst into laughter.

「Ahaha, what's with that? You're so unreliable!」

「……Sorry about that.」

Since I had managed to keep a natural conversation going from arriving at her house up until now, I had briefly wondered whether my conversation technique had improved without me realizing it. I now understood that it really wasn't anything to get my hopes up over. The fact of the matter is; the reason I was able to express myself properly was because I was only conveying what I had in mind, something I had always been able to do, and because we were talking about AtaFami.

「……But……okay, I'll try it.」

「Eh?」

「AtaFami practice and……um, what people around me think? I'm also going to try and change, in a way that those types of things won't bother me anymore. ……As you've said, I won't know until I try.」

「……I see.」

「Un……ah, that's right.」Izumi took out her phone.「Can you give me your contact details? If there's anything I don't understand, I'd like to ask.」

「Eh!? No um, me giving advice on how to cope with what other people think is a bit……」

「Not that, I mean advice about AtaFami.」

「Ah, of course that's what you meant……」

We exchanged contacts as I got a look from Izumi going 'What is this person saying'.

「Okkayー!」

「Ah, yeah, anyway……I should probably get going now.」

After all, I had already told her everything I needed to tell her regarding AtaFami.

「Un, ah, the game!」

「Ah, it's fine, that's just my sub-ROM. The memory card is also a backup.」^[1]

「Saburomu? Bakkua?」

「……Ah, it's nothing. It just means that I've got another copy.」

「Ohh, really? But……then, if you'd lent me this one, couldn't you have taught me using the online function……？」

「Ah! You're right! ……Sorry.」

「Ahaha. Well, thanks to that we got to discuss a lot of things, so I guess it's okay!」

「Haha.」It was a relief to hear her say that.「See you.」

「Ah, un, take care! Ah, one more thing……uhh, ummー」

「Hm?」

「……Never mind! See you!」

What was that all about? Pondering over this sudden outburst, I left Izumi's house.

Then, barely five minutes later, I received a short message from Izumi.

『Thanks』

No emojis, no nothing. Just six simple characters. Perhaps this is what she had tried to convey earlier, but ultimately had not been able to. 'I wasn't able to say it out loud, so I'll tell him by mail', perhaps. How should I put it- even though she's a riajuu, it seems like there's also a part of her that's easy to get along with.

With the content being what it was, once I had finished reading it, I immediately decided to respond with a message.

──A message to Hinami asking 'How should I reply at times like this?' , though.

Translator Notes:

[1] That's just a Japanese word for a second ROM cartridge/Game cartridge that is used a lot less than the main one. For example, in Pokémon one might possess a second cartridge (and possibly a second gaming machine) to trade Pokémon/rare items to the main ROM.