Ranobe Mo Ore Mo Sukina Gyaru - Volume 1 Chapter 5.3

Gal and Light Novel 3

“But isn’t it that there’s no concept of good or bad when it comes to impressions of light novels? There’s just whether it’s good work or not, right?”

“No, that’s not entirely true. — Of course, opinions are a matter of personal preference, but there’s still a sense of whether it’s well-written or not. It’s not just about correct or incorrect grammar in Japanese, but whether emotions are conveyed or not. At least, that’s what I believe.”

“…well, based on that, what do you think of my impressions?”

“They’re full of emotion, and they’re really good. …I genuinely think that, but don’t go fishing for compliments!”

“Haha, you caught on that I was fishing compliments?”

Still blushing, she laughed. Tsumakawa was true to her desires, I thought.

After that, she took out a sparkling pink smartphone from her pocket and looked at it for a few seconds.

Then, while occasionally glancing at me, she asked,

“Hey, how about we become mutuals on Instagram?”

“…Huh? Didn’t you just say something about not doing mutual follows on Instagram earlier?”

“I didn’t say that.”

“You’re just casually lying with a calm face.”

“Well, I just don’t do mutuals with random people. I want to send messages to Nezumayo, my new friend. So, mutuals?”

“…Actually, we’re not exactly friends, though…”

“Huh? Are you still saying such lame things? Come on, take out your phone already.”

After saying that, Tsumakawa stuck her hand into the pocket of my jeans…

‘Where are you hiding it? Seriously, take it out already,’ she said while moving her hand around, exploring my pants pocket. Hey, what are you doing?

No, stop… Don’t touch weird places! You idiot! Pervert!

“Hey, stop it! Seriously, stop it! I’ll take it out myself right now. Don’t go shoving your hand into a guy’s pocket forcibly! That’s practically sexual harassment, you know?”

“Fine, it’s better if you just obediently followed from the beginning…”

“I’m scared, Tsumakawa-san… So gals are actually carnivorous, huh?”

“Huh? I eat mainly salads to maintain this style, you know? So I’m not exactly carnivorous, rawr.”

“Your sentence ended with a carnivorous touch though.”

“Anyway, I’m getting kinda hungry… I wonder if there are any ‘wild otaku’ around here. If there are, I’d totally eat them.”

“Huh? What do you mean by ‘wild otaku’? Just so you know, otaku are basically indoor and frail creatures, so they can’t survive in the wild, okay?”

“Alright, there’s a tasty-looking otaku right around here. Can I eat it?”

“O-oh, come on! Otaku wouldn’t taste good even if you ate them!?”

As I retorted like that, she chuckled while maintaining her grin and playfully urged me again.

“Hey, come on, stop with that! Let’s follow each other on Instagram already!!”

So, in an attempt to resist her even a little bit, I said.

“Sorry, Tsumakawa-san. I don’t really communicate with three-dimensional girls.”

“…You’re still suffering from that illness? Give it a break already.”

“What do you mean, ‘still suffering’? This is my chronic condition, so it won’t go away. In fact, it might even be an incurable disease.”

“Don’t give up on curing it. Go to a big hospital and get it properly checked.”

“You don’t understand, Tsumakawa-san… This condition of mine can’t be cured by modern medicine.”

“Why do you have that smug look on your face? — Anyway, fine, watch out. Someday, I, this gal here, will remind you of the merits of the three-dimensional world. Since it can’t be cured by modern medicine, I’ll personally treat you and maybe even warp Nezumayo’s perspective.”

” ….. “

She said this with a smile. It’s a terrifying proclamation.

Was she trying to crush the core belief of my twisted otaku self?

Then, with a still-beaming smile, she continued speaking in a somewhat sophisticated manner.

“By the way, Nezumayo-kun, you just don’t want to fall in love with real girls and don’t want to be betrayed, right? I don’t really have any romantic motives either. I just want to get along with Yoda, and that’s not about romance… Can’t we exchange contact info at least?”

” …… “

“Actually, not exchanging contact info is just running away. Isn’t it right for you to stick to your love for two-dimensional even after exchanging contact info with me?”

“..This gal, she’s way too good at punching otaku with righteous arguments…”

After I left that comment, she grinned and flashed a gal peace sign while exclaiming, ‘Yay!’

How is she so adept at having surprisingly well-formed values and opinions when it comes to certain things, even though she usually seems like she’s not thinking about anything?

Thinking in such a way—however, I ended up acknowledging that her reasoning made sense, so I took out my smartphone from my pocket.

Well, exchanging contact info shouldn’t be a big deal.

If replying becomes a hassle, I can always use my tested-and-true ‘Sorry, I was sleeping’ tactic!

By the way, I used this tactic so frequently that once my male friend Koyama scolded me with, ‘You’re asleep to the point of being a Snorlax. When are you not sleeping?’

Sorry about that, Koyama…

Anyway, even though I agreed to exchange contact info, there was one thing I needed to tell her, so I said to Tsumakawa.

“Actually, even before considering mutual or not mutual, I’m not on Instagram…”

“Seriously? High school students not on Instagram are a rare species!”

“Um, I’m really sorry for hitting back so hard, but I seriously am not on it…”

“Hmm? Well, whatever. How about Twitter? But we already exchange messages quite often there… Well then, how about LINE?”

“Well, I do have LINE, technically…”

“Great, let’s exchange Line then! Oh man, it’s been like five billion years since I exchanged LINE with someone!”

“Why do you always make the time frame sound so long when you say things like that, Tsumakawa?”

After that conversation, using QR codes, Tsumakawa and I exchanged Line contact information.

Then, in my Line friends list, a name written in hiragana, ‘Miona’, was added.

We weren’t really friends, so what was she doing on my friends list?

As I was pondering this, Tsumakawa, who would likely have added my name, said while looking at her phone.

“Hey, Nezumayo, your first name is ‘Ryosuke’. Pretty cool, huh?”

“Uh, thank you…”

“Well then, I’m gonna head home now—let’s search for light novels together again sometime, Yoda!”

“O-okay… Huh?”

“Bye-bye! Gal peace!”

With the customary peace sign, she bid me farewell, her cheeks still slightly flushed. And so, she left Animate.

Wait… Tsumakawa was here to buy light novels too, so is it okay for her to leave without buying anything?

With that question in mind, I glanced around where Tsumakawa had been standing until just now.

Right beside the spot was a table, and on it were the three light novels she had probably intended to buy (along with ‘Goodnight, Zarathustra’).

Had she remembered something important enough to forget buying light novels?

Pondering this, I picked up the four books and started to carefully put them back where they belonged in the store.

Oh? If you’re a guy, shouldn’t you have bought the forgotten light novels for Tsumakawa and then handed them to her when you meet her next time?

Well, I’m sorry, but if I did that, I wouldn’t be able to buy the equivalent amount of light novels, so that’s a bit of an unreasonable request.

Please don’t expect an ikemen move from an introverted guy like me!