My Childhood Friend, a Vtuber, Treated Me Like Trash—I’m Never Producing For Her Again
Making Mizuta dress up as a bunny…
No, no—there’s no way that could lead to anything more than that.
She’s just grateful to me for giving her the push she needed to change and for offering advice on her VTuber activities.
There’s definitely no deeper meaning to it.
“By the way, there’s something I’ve been wondering about.”
“Yes…?”
“It’s about the bikini you were wearing in that video. Why did you buy that?”
Knowing Mizuta-san’s personality, I just couldn’t believe she bought it to go to the beach.
Plus, even compared to a typical bikini, it was clearly much more revealing.
“Ah, w-well, that…”
Mizuta-san nervously twisted her fingers together.
“I was just thinking about maybe posting a photo of myself wearing something like that online…”
“Huh!?”
“N-no, that’s not it…! I was just thinking about it…!!”
She frantically thrust both hands forward and waved them vigorously from side to side.
Apparently, she doesn’t have a secret account after all.
Well, that makes sense.
She hadn’t even created a Twitter account for her VTuber persona, so there’s no way she’d have a secret account.
“I’m confident in my figure, so I was wondering if I’d get some attention if I posted photos of myself wearing, uhm, sexy clothes online…”
As I thought, Mizuta-san really craves validation.
For now, at least, I’m glad things didn’t go in a weird direction.
“Mizuta-san, just to be safe, please don’t do that under any circumstances.”
“I-I know…! I’ll only show them to you, Komachi-san…”
At those words, my shoulders jerked.
Wait, what was that? What did she mean?
I swallowed hard.
Trying to cover it up, I cleared my throat with a “ahem.”
“Well then, let’s really get down to studying.”
“Y-yes…”
I pulled up another chair and sat down at the desk next to Mizuta-san.
Even though it was for studying, we were close enough that our shoulders were touching.
A faint, sweet scent of shampoo drifted over from beside me.
As I found myself staring at her profile without meaning to, Mizuta-san’s shoulders trembled slightly.
“U-um…”
She suddenly scooped up a strand of her hair and held it out toward me.
“I-if you want to smell it, you can go ahead…”
“Huh? No, no, what are you suddenly talking about?”
“Huh? Well, Komachi-san, it looked like you were smelling my hair, so I thought I’d let you smell it better…”
Wait, was I really sniffing the scent of her shampoo that obviously?
Or was I unconsciously sniffing away?
I’m suddenly feeling really embarrassed.
“My hair right now is basically thanks to you, Komachi-san, so if it’s you, Komachi-san, it’s, it’s fine anytime…”
“No, no, I’m not that kind of pervert.”
“Eh, you don’t have to hold back…! I saw it in an eroge. Apparently, a girl’s hair is one of the things that turns guys on…!”
“So please don’t learn common sense from eroge.”
Besides, the way you put it makes it sound like Mizuta-san is trying to turn me on.
I’m sure that’s not really your intention, though.
“O-oh, or maybe you really don’t even want to touch a girl’s hair like mine…?”
“No, no, that’s not what I meant.”
“Huh? Could it be… do I… s-smell bad…!? I washed it really well before going to bed…!?”
“No, no, you don’t smell bad at all.”
“W-well, does it smell good, then…?”
“Yes, of course.”
Mizuta-san gave me a look that made my heart melt.
“Ehehe, I see… Well then, please don’t hold back—you can touch my hair however you like…”
I feel like she’s somehow skillfully leading me on.
It’s like if I refuse, I’ll be admitting I smell bad.
“…But how did you know I was sniffing?”
Did I really snort that loudly?
“Oh, actually, my ears are a little sensitive—or rather, I seem to hear things better than most people.”
“Huh? Really?”
“Yes. That’s why I can hear people’s breathing and snorts really clearly.”
It was a completely unexpected talent.
Wait, why didn’t she write this down for that self-introduction homework assignment the other day?
Maybe it’s because I don’t realize it’s a special skill myself.
“Everyone’s breathing is a little different, but that guy who hit on me on the way to school today—his breathing was absolutely awful…”
“Oh, you mean the kind that’s physically repulsive?”
“Y-yes…! His eyes were glued to my chest the whole time…”
It seems she’d probably been hassled by a pretty nasty guy.
“Did he keep bothering you? You managed to shake him off pretty well.”
“I ran away as fast as I could. While screaming as loud as I could.”
“You screamed?”
“Yes… ‘Help me, he’s doing weird things to me!’—I shouted with all my might.”
“……”
Well, I guess from Mizuta-san’s perspective, this is a huge deal, but isn’t she treating that guy who hit on her like a criminal in the blink of an eye?
I couldn’t help but let out a wry smile.
“I understand. To make sure nothing like that happens again, I’ll stay right by your side, at least on your way to and from school.”
Come to think of it, this whole situation happened because I was the one who helped Mizuta-san become more stylish.
If that’s the case, I guess this is a form of responsibility.
“Y-yes…! Please take care of me…!!”
Mizuta-san pinched a strand of her hair once more and held it out to me.
“S-so, this is… sort of a thank-you gift…”
“No, why would this be a thank-you gift?”
“Komachi-san, if you like long black hair and you like my scent, I thought this might count as a thank-you…”
Somehow, I’d ended up being labeled a scent fetishist without even realizing it.
“I-is this… not a proper thank-you at all…?”
“No, no, it’s more than enough.”
If I’d denied it right then, the confidence I’d been slowly regaining would have sunk back down to the depths of the earth.
…Though, to be honest, the way that confidence had built up was a little different from what I’d expected.
In the end, I resigned myself to it and took a strand of Mizuta-san’s hair in my hand.
A girl’s hair is this soft, huh.
“Hehe, ehehe…”
Right in front of me, Mizuta-san rubbed her knees together nervously, her cheeks flushing.
“It feels kind of nice having Komachi-san smell my hair…”
“I haven’t even smelled it yet.”
For some reason, she looked at me with eyes full of anticipation.
What on earth is going on here?
I feel like I’m going crazy.
Steeling myself, I gently lifted the strand of hair in her hand and brought it close to my nose.
“H-how is it…?”
“Well, how should I put it…”
If I said the wrong thing here, I felt like I’d turn into a real pervert.
Wait, am I already a pervert?
Ugh, whatever happens, happens.
It’s just the two of us here anyway.
Mizuta-san seems happy about it, so I’ll answer honestly.
“It smells nice—”
Just as I was about to answer, that’s when it happened.
“Hey, Tsubasa!”
A familiar middle-aged man’s voice rang out from outside the room.
Before I could even react, the door swung open with a bang.
“I got some pretty good beef from a business contact, so I thought we’d have sukiyaki today—”
That’s right.
It was my dad.
Both Mizuta-san and I froze on the spot.
And, of course, so did Dad.
“Ah, no, this is…”
“I don’t need you to say it.”
Dad dramatically covered his eyes with one hand and thrust the other toward us.
“I’m happy to see my son has grown into a man. This intruder will be on his way now. I’ll put the beef in the fridge, so you two go ahead and eat it. Well then, adios.”
“What do you mean, ‘adios’?!!”
“Oh, but since you’re still at that age, just make sure to use protection—”
“That’s not what this is about!!”
At that moment, I still hadn’t realized it.
That Mizuta was standing there with her mouth half-open, going “Fueee…,” her soul seemingly slipping away.”