Kaiwa mo shinai tsurekko no imouto ga, naganen issho ni baka yatte-kita Netoge no friend datta

/p>

 

It was dimly lit, with little to no sunlight coming in.
It was not a place that people would want to come to.
Most of all, if I remember correctly, Nanjo Rin should have been with Hiyori and others during this time.

 

“Oh, my God, why do you look so gloomy? Oh, maybe you fell in love with me? A~ah, I’m so guilty of being this cute.”

 

“Shut up, you makeup mania!”

 

“Wha!? Haa! Do you know what you are saying in front of a young maiden!”

 

“…Maiden …?”

 

“Wai! Why are you laughing at it now? You’re being so rude to a woman, damn it?!”

“Hehehe”

 

When you look at her closely, Nanjo Rin was trying her best to hide those dark circles under her eyes with makeup.
And somehow, she was strangely high-spirited.

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She had a strange feeling to her.

 

What I knew about Nanjo Rin was only limited to what I heard from Koutora talking about her.
Moreover, I never had a proper conversation with her before.

And yet, the words that came out were as smooth as if we had been talking to each other for a long-time.
As if we were fellow evil friends.

I remembered this feeling of déjà vu.

 

It was a feeling which I had of the former Hiyori where the image of Philia-san overlapped with the words spoken by Nanjo Rin.

 

“Well, whatever.
More than that, I want to ask something.
If your fam—, no, if you were to find out that your close friend was being bullied in the past, what do you think you would do?”

 

“—Ha~a? What is with this all of a sudden?”

 

“It’s nothing.
Just let me know that for reference.”

 

“Subaru… I never heard about you being bullied in the past though?”

 

“No, that— … they’re from another school.”

 

If you think about it, it’s certainly a strange question.

 

Nanjo Rin looked into my eyes with suspicion.
Her eyes were probing, as if to make out the real meaning behind the words I spoke.

“…Fu~un.”

… Was I too abrupt? Well, if you think about it, it’s certainly a hard question to answer, even for a normal friend.

 

 

“… So basically, you didn’t know that your friend was actually being bullied behind the scenes.
And now you happened to find out about it, you’re wondering what to do now?”

 

“…That’s right.”

 

“Understood.”

She was able to understand what I was trying to say and even summarized it in a concise manner.
I was tongue-tied.

 

Nanjo Rin’s eyes narrowed.

There was no sign of her usual personality.
Even her gaze pierced me as if she were determined to see through what she was doing until the end.

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“Are you an idiot?”

 

“… Wha-!”

What came back was instead a surprise. 

With a fed-up face, she claimed it as a trivial issue one-sidedly.

 

 

“Or are you perhaps trying to make fun of your friend?”

“Hey, Nanjo!”

 

 I couldn’t help but raise my voice in retaliation.
My head was boiling in anger.

 — I am making fun of Hiyori? I couldn’t ignore those words.

 

Maybe she was surprised by my voice as Nanjo Rin opened her eyes and sighed, “Heh.” She was looking at me as if she saw something unusual.
Then she gave me a somewhat amused but saddened expression before laughing.

 

“Hey, why do you think that your friend kept quiet about it to you?”

 

“… Why …?”

That’s exactly the question I wanted to ask.

 

But did Nanjo Rin think properly? She looked at me as if she was probing me.
I couldn’t help but get close to her unconsciously.

 

…The reason why Hiyori didn’t tell me?

 

“Doesn’t she want it to be known?”

 

“But that’s—”

 

“If you were in her position, what would you have done?”

 

“That would be …”

Yes, I would probably just keep my mouth shut.
I wouldn’t want to make her about it, and even in games she was a best friend whom I thought of as my equal.

Even if that were to happen in real life, it would be a trivial matter when it comes to playing games.

 

Because in the game, as fellow best friends … A~ah, so that’s how it was.