I’m Going Crazy with Curiosity

 

“…Jane, what should we do?”

“Krisha, do as you please.”

Christina was deeply troubled by the KakaoTalk message from Ara.

[Ara] ─ [Hey, can I tell Reina that you’re Tina?]

Honestly, she was feeling uneasy about revealing her identity to Reina.

However, considering that Reina would probably find out eventually, and that she was Ara’s friend…

[Christina] ─ [Yeah. You can tell her. But why do you suddenly want to reveal my identity…?]

Christina replied that it was okay to tell Reina, but added a question about why Ara wanted to reveal her identity.

To her question mixed with an answer, Ara’s reply was…

So successful at making her anxious that it deserved praise.

[Ara] ─ [I’ll tell you later.]

[Christina] ─ [Eh… I’m going crazy with curiosity…]

It was extremely annoying.

♦♦♦

As soon as I got permission from Christina, I called Reina.

─ “Yes~?”

“Reina, there are people I want to invite with your team member invitation…”

I told her about the identities of ‘Tina’ and ‘Jane’ from Sekai-dol Realz and asked if it would be okay to invite them to our team. But—

─ “I see~”

Reina’s response suggested she had already suspected their identities.

“Huh? Did you already know?”

─ “No. It was just a hunch… So, what about inviting them?”

Reina asked about Christina and Jane’s participation, and also asked what I was going to do about Rolli and Polli.

I was also deeply contemplating that.

Whether to pick Pollon and Roilli or not. Honestly, I thought not picking them would be better for my mental health—

“Hmm… what should I do?”

Since thinking about it alone was giving me a headache, I tossed my worries to Reina.

And Reina returned my worry to me.

─ “It’s not like the server is opening right now… We can decide later, right? And I’ll follow whatever Ara decides.”

Hmm… come to think of it, as Reina said, there was no need to make a hasty decision.

Of course, there’s nothing wrong with deciding in advance.

But since there’s still time…

‘Yeah. Let’s pick them if we can’t find other team members, and not if we can.’

Concluding to keep Roilli and Pollon as reserves, I finished talking with Reina about the Last team members.

After that, while talking about various things with Reina,

─ “So, New Year’s is coming soon, right? Heheh.”

Suddenly, Reina changed the subject with an ominous tone.

“…Why?”

─ “We promised to go on a trip together for the New Year, remember?”

I remembered what Reina had said while eating breakfast before about going on a trip together for the New Year.

Of course, I could have struggled and said I didn’t remember that promise, but…

‘Damn. How could I forget that…’

I couldn’t deny it because Reina had made me promise during breakfast.

“I-I wonder when I made such a pro-promise? Ha, haha…”

─ “Heh. Well. Well. I’ll buy the tickets.”

And so,

─ “I’m looking forward to it. Right? Ara♥”

From the beginning, an ominous feeling came over me.

“…Yeah. Looking forward to it…”

And just like that, a trip to Japan with only Reina for the New Year was decided.

‘Ha… fuck.’

I ended the call with Reina, inwardly cursing and hoping that this ominous feeling was just my imagination.

[Reina] ─ [When you have time, let’s meet up with Christina and Jane. We have some broadcast stuff to talk about too.]

Perhaps she remembered after ending the call, Reina sent a KakaoTalk message suggesting that the four of us meet up to hang out.

[Reina] ─ [Ara? Why aren’t you replying even though you read it?]

I didn’t reply at all. No, I ‘couldn’t’ reply.

‘…I don’t want to go.’

[Reina] ─ [Answer me.]

Right now, Ara was mentally incapacitated.

♦♦♦

─ Tak! Head!

─ Pat! Wrist!

In a kendo dojo where bamboo swords were striking body parts without pause and the struck areas were being called out loudly.

That dojo was in Osaka, Japan.

─ Tat!!!

“Men! (Head!)”

And there was Gojo Sayaka, who was called the sword saint of Japan.

“Phew…”

Sayaka, who was called Japan’s sword saint, was there.

“Oh no…”

On the internet portals in Japan, negative articles about her were all over the place.

[Gojo Sayaka. Is she truly a sword saint?]

[After losing to Korea, Gojo Sayaka. Her skills were exaggerated.]

[Why don’t we have a player like Kang Ara in Japan!]

[Why do we have to be in second place to Korea in Kendo?]

Of course, Japanese people who had watched the finals through the VTube live broadcast were busy cursing the journalists who posted those articles, but…

Ignorant Japanese netizens were busy cursing her, saying that Sayaka had lowered Japan’s national prestige.

However, Sayaka didn’t care at all about such negative public opinions.

“A goal is what helps us to keep moving forward,” as Andrew Matthews said.

She just had exceptional talent in kendo, which she started to be with her dad when she was young.

For her, kendo was like having a meal.

That’s how much Sayaka didn’t have a goal or dream about what to achieve with kendo.

But not anymore.

After meeting Kang Ara in the finals.

She now had a dream of defeating ‘Kang Ara,’ whom she met in Korea, and a goal of being acknowledged by her.

─ Whoosh, Whoosh!

“Haaat! Haaaah!”

Sayaka was just swinging her bamboo sword diligently to get closer to her dream and goal.

And Sayaka, who was so focused on her training.

“Huu~ Master. I’ll be going now.”

“Hmm. Alright. See you at home.”

After finishing her daily training quota, she left the dojo after talking with her dad.

Sayaka took cheerful steps, feeling that she had grown steadily today as well, though not as much as when she competed with Kang Ara.

However, even while walking, when she was diligently revising in her head what parts she was lacking today.

─ Vrrrrrr.

The smartphone in her pocket vibrated.

She wanted to curse the person who disrupted her concentration while she was optimizing her sword path in her head, but…

[Ara-san]

Since the person who contacted her was none other than Kang Ara.

She was surprised that the person she had been thinking about had contacted her.

[Ara-san] ─ [Sayaka, I’m planning to go to Japan. Can you be a guide?]

“Eh, ehhh!? Ara-san is coming to Japan!”

Sayaka ended up shouting out loud at the fact that she would meet Ara again.

─ Hey, that person…

─ It’s Sayaka! Gojo Sayaka!

─ Wow… she’s pretty. That’s her bare face, right?

─ Should I ask for her number?

“Oh no…”

Sayaka, who had forgotten that she was on a crowded street, had accidentally drawn attention with her loud voice.

─ No! Sign! Give me an autograph!

She ran quickly without looking back to escape from people’s sight and fled to an alley with few people.

─ Where did she go? My autograph!

─ My future wife…!

─ You’re crazy.

─ Hey. Let’s go that way!!

─ Let’s go!

“Haa-haa-“

Sayaka’s breathing became heavy as she used up her remaining energy to run after swinging her bamboo sword at the dojo.

“…Whew-“

After leaning against the wall and taking enough breaths,

[Sayaka] ─ [Yes! I can do it! If you send me the dates, I’ll come running!]

She sent a KakaoTalk message to Ara saying she would guide her.

[Ara-san] ─ [Wow. Thanks.]

[Sayaka] ─ [But there’s a condition!]

However, she had no intention of working for free.

[Ara-san] ─ [What is it?]

[Sayaka] ─ [Please have one match with me! I’ll guide you well!]

She requested a match with Ara as compensation for being a guide.

“Why isn’t there a response…”

When there was no response for a while after sending that message, Sayaka began to worry.

Perhaps Ara didn’t want to have a match with her? As Sayaka was sinking into despair,

[Ara-san] ─ [Okay.]

A positive response came back from Ara.

“Whew~”

Thanks to that, Sayaka let out a sigh of relief.

Her heart was pounding at the thought of verifying through Ara how much her level had improved.