OriginStory 034: Bear Goes on a Date

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Chapter 34: Bear Goes on a Date

“Would you … stop moving!”

“Impossible. It’s human nature to protect their eyes.”

“Mou~! I’m not going to poke your eyes out, so hold still!”

Saturday evening.

It’s the night of the raid.

And a miniature, unrelated battle is going on in my house’s bathroom.

Maa, if I go into sales or some office-related job after college, this kind of makeup stuff will be necessary, but for me, who avoided it at all costs, I’d very much like to continue avoiding it.

Sometimes I can’t help but wonder if it would be helluva lot easier to be a guy, when so much of a girl’s performance is based on her appearance.

Well, I have more of an androgynous look, so I probably won’t have it as bad as the more petite chicks.

Actually…

“…Chie. I have a long face and broad shoulders. Won’t I just look like a guy in drag?”

Chie gives me ‘a look’, mid-chest.

“No.”

… … I don’t know how to respond to that.

“Mou, you have too many ridiculous ideas of what a girl shouldn’t be like. Even without that ridiculous chest, you look like a normal, cool woman. If you cleaned up more often there’d be guys falling after you, you know? Well, you look like the type a guy shouldn’t mess with if he can’t handle confident women, but there’s a lot of stupid guys who try their luck without caring about whether they can deal with your personality, so PLEASE don’t beat anyone up tonight!”

“…”

I feel like I can’t promise that. Not because I don’t want to, but everyone knows my track record of thinking before I act.

I mean, I don’t.

No, well, I kind of do, but I always prioritize my instincts over my reason, and sometimes my instincts are telling me to smash people.

This might be more important of an issue to fix compared to my appearance when I go into the workforce.

“…By the way, Chie, you’re doing my hair and stuff, but I’m taking my bike, you know?”

“… Mou-!”

Owowowow!

I don’t know what she’s doing, but she’s being rough!

“Do you have to wear your helmet?”

“Th-that’s the law…”

I mean, I used to not, but if you want me to get there without getting pulled over, it’s… no, to begin with, the wind from the motorcycle will also mess up my hair, right?

I ignore the option to just not take the bike.

“Mou-!”

With Chie ‘mou’-ing over and over again, she redoes my hair.

“You have to at least brush it down when you get there, got it!?”

“Uh…”

Is it really that important – I swallowed my words.

After all, I prioritize my instincts over my reason, and my instincts are telling me to shut up.

Ksha-!

“Oi, Toru. What. Are you doing?”

Although I can’t get up and iron-claw him in the face, I can at least glare at him from where Chie’s roughly braiding and combing my hair straight again.

“Ahahaha…”

Right, so he’s up to no good.

“Exactly why do you need a picture of your dear Nee-san?”

“No, well… It’s all Yoh’s fault!”

The chibi ducked back around the door, phone in hand, and disappeared into his room.

I’m not exactly sure what’s going on, but I have a sudden murderous urge towards two chibis.

Chie smirks.

“Well, it’s rare that you get dressed up, right?”

“And exactly whose fault is it?”

Chie just laughs and continues playing with my hair.

I sigh.

It’s going to be a long night.

—-

Well, whatever I say about Chie, I have to admit that she’s pretty good when it comes to dressing people up.

I mean, she’s kind of into that valley-girl, gyaru style (though not the hair and makeup), so of course I’m going to get nervous when she said she’ll pick something out for me, but as always, Chie is good at leaving her own likes out of the equation when she’s coordinating for someone else.

A long sweater with a belt, a scarf-thing, tight jean-like pants, knee boots, and a faux leather jacket that is somehow feminine looking but also cool looking.

Not really something I’d wear all the time, or much at all, but definitely something I could pull out of the closet if I had some sort of social function to go to.

Of course Chie didn’t have anything of hers my size, so she bought all of this stuff and gave it to me, saying it’s compensation for me going to the group date in her place.

First, I don’t want to know how much all this crap cost, and second, if you’re going to compensate me with clothes, make it in game, please.

The price of this outfit is definitely too expensive to be considered equivalent compensation for me just going to the group date, especially since it’s not karaoke but just drinking, but I know she also just wants me to have the clothes because it’s Chie’s occupational sickness.

… These are good boots.

Shit.

I used to not give a crap about clothes, you know?

I was lucky to find parking down the street, close to the bar, but street parking in Shibuya always makes my wallet cringe.

Well, parking fees are always a pain, car or bike, which is why most people commute in other ways.

Because I didn’t have to hunt out parking, I’m actually kind of early.

I have enough time for a smoke – Chie would kill me if she found out I showed up smelling like cigarettes.

I sigh and put the carton away.

But these bars are damn trendy.

It’s a bit of a relief that we’re meeting for a group date so we’re not going to a club or whatever.

That is so not my scene.

Because of the area we’re in they’ll probably go clubbing for the after party, but I’M going to be going home, so more power to them.

If it were me I’d suggest a pub in Roppongi, but like I said, Chie and I have different groups of friends, huh~?

“Narumi-san?”

Aah?

I stand up after putting the lock on my bike.

A cute girl is looking at me curiously.

“You’re Narumi-san, right? Chie said you’d be coming by bike.”

I put on a smile.

“Aah, haha, I ended up coming early, since I didn’t think I would be able to find parking. Are you the organizer, Kasai-san? Just like Chie said, you’re quite lovely.”

“Oh my! Thank you. That’s so embarrassing.”

A genuinely bashful look is pretty good.

I follow Kasai-san into the bar, where she confirms our reservations and go into the small party room in the back.

“On a Saturday night, it can get kind of busy, after all,”

Kasai-san says, kind of apologetically.

Even though I get that it’s trendier to just walk into a place, in a situation like this, making a reservation for the first place is the basics, right?

Or maybe I don’t get the trends.

“It’s difficult to get everyone together in the first place, so a reservation is obvious, or should I say prudent?”

We’re the first ones, so we have some time for small-talk among girls.

Kasai-san seems like a good senpai, with a stable head on her shoulders.

She’s somehow on the cool side, but also on the caring side. No wonder Chie looks up to her.

“Is Chie alright? I thought she was looking forward to this, but somehow she dropped out so last minute. And she hasn’t been as free lately. It would be fine if there wasn’t something wrong…”

Rather than something wrong, she’s just gaming more.

“I think she’s just found something she’s more interested in lately.”

Uotto.

A look of displeasure crossed Kasai-san’s face.

… What did I say wrong?

Whatever it is, I should obviously follow up.

“You know, even though she’s in business studies, Chie isn’t really sure what she’s going to do after graduation, so it can’t be helped that she’s looking for something she likes.”

“Oh, I see. So she’s exploring different hobbies. It can’t be helped. As long as she’s not going to get herself into trouble.”

Kasai-san breathes a sigh of relief.

I’m still not sure if Kasai-san was feeling insulted or worried regarding Chie, but I’ll take it.

“Haha, don’t worry about that. Even if she was the type to go too far, I won’t let her get out of hand.”

Although I’M the ex-delinquent.

“Hehe, that’s reassuring. I didn’t know Chie had a reliable friend like you.”

“Well, I go to C Uni, so we have to make it a point to hang out or else we wouldn’t see each other.”

Or I just log into OS.

As we chat, the other members of the group date come trickling in.

Five girls and five guys is a lot of people. No wonder we rented out a back room.

By the way, Chie’s ex didn’t recognize me at all.

I’d say Chie’s makeup skills are amazing, but really, he hasn’t looked up past my chest.

I’m not going to say that guys can’t look; I mean, if I really wanted to hide them I wouldn’t be wearing this kind of form-fitting sweater, but it’s something else when that’s the only part you’re looking at.

Girls like looking pretty, but they much prefer it if you appreciate the whole package, y’know?

Not that I care about the guys’ personalities, since I’m literally here to make up the numbers.

And anyway, the other guys are less obvious, at least talking to my face even if they look elsewhere at other times.

Un, these are actually pretty cool guys.

If Chie’s ex wasn’t here, she would have really enjoyed it.

Just saying, I’m tacking more on the grudge I have against him.

The girls are also pretty cute, and not in the materialistic, flighty way.

Kasai-senpai and the guy-senpai from xx uni, good job.

It’s actually a decent group date, and not a super drunk, annoying one.

If it turned out to be one with creepy guys trying to get girls drunk, I definitely wasn’t going to hold back on beating them up … but that was probably pretty unlikely in the first place.

I mean, even Chie’s ex, whom I expected to be the worst here, isn’t the creepy type.

After everyone finally got in and got seated, we went around with introductions.

Kasai-senpai started us off, and we went through the girls.

Most of them were in business studies after all, although one was in law.

All the guys were visibly intimidated when she said that, lol.

“Ah, I’m Narumi, and I’m actually from C Uni, filling in for a friend who couldn’t make it last minute. I’m also in business studies, though.”

I flash a smile at the other girls, since they don’t know me either. I’m totally an outsider, but even though they’re all from the same circle, not all the girls know each other that well either.

With group dates, who’s interested in participating doesn’t always go with who all know each other, after all.

“Oh, one of the guys from our side couldn’t make it last minute either, so I had to snag my other roommate.”

The guy-senpai from xx Uni, the most friendly looking one, is the one who brought Chie’s ex and the other unfortunate victim.

No wonder there was one guy who looked like he didn’t really want to be here.

Dangit.

If the two sides had communicated better neither of us would have to be here, grumpy-looking victim-san.

“Oh, thank you for coming,”

Kasai-san said sweetly, folding her hands together.

“… Un.”

Haha, he’s struggling not to say anything unnecessary.

“Ah… he’s Ran, in computer studies. And I’m Haruki, business studies also~.”

The guy-senpai said quickly.

I can almost see the cold sweat on his brow as he tries to cover for grumpy and keep the mood light.

“Ran-chan?”

One of the girls, Hanae-chan, giggled a little.

“A-ah… yeah…”

Ran-kun looks a little embarrassed. Since he’s not bad looking, the girls are giggling and looking at his embarrassed form with warm eyes.

I’m looking at him with pitying eyes, because he’s got to get that a lot. Ran is usually a girl’s name, after all.

“Haha, actually, it’s written as Arashi, but his mother is Taiwanese, so it’s read as Ran.”

Haruki-senpai covers for him again.

… I can’t help but feel like it would have been less work for you if you were just missing a person, Haruki-senpai.

““””Heeeeh…””””

The girls and glasses-kun, one of the other guys who isn’t Chie’s ex or Haruki-senpai, are interested.

After we finished with the self-introductions, where I unfortunately relearned that Chie’s ex is named Kenta, the conversation turned back to gloomy-kun.

“Arashi (storm), huh? That’s a really ‘cool’ name, huh?”

“Ah… no, in Chinese it refers to mist, so it wasn’t used with that intention…”

“Hehe, I bet it’s misread all the time, huh?”

“Unfortunately.”

“So you’re a half, then?”

“…Yeah.”

Ran-kun seems a little overwhelmed with the attention.

Come to think of it, he seems a bit familiar.

I can’t place where I’ve seen him before, though.

Anyway, he’s the type I’d bullied in high school so that’s probably it.

Definitely not going to be saying that here, though.

“Hah, this guy, he’s the type to just play videogames all day, though. That weird full-immersion type.”

VR, just say VR. What era are you from, using ‘full-immersion’?

Anyway, Chie’s ex is starting his bad habits again.

“Even today, we had to drag him away. Like, seriously, it makes me wonder if he can even handle a woman, y’know?”

Chie’s ex spreads his hands open and laughs.

“Heeeh? Well it’s a good thing he’s at a group date, huh?”

“…Full-immersion?”

One of the girls has a question mark over her head.

“VR, he means VR,”

I respond.

“Ooooh! My kid brother’s into that kind of stuff too. What’s that one that went for sale kind of cheap? He was so happy because he could buy it with his allowance.”

“OriginStory, probably.”

I answer, taking a drink from my oolong high. I really just want a cheap beer, but it feels totally out of place in a bar like this.

“Oooh, Narumi, are you a gamer?”

Hanae-chan asks. There’s no judgment, she’s just asking.

Look, like I said, no one cares if you game, Chie. Gaming is pretty mainstream now, after all.

“More or less. Well, I like to keep on top of the trends. VR’s pretty fun, you know?”

I say with a smile.

“… But isn’t doing things in reality cooler?”

I know Chie’s ex is just sulking because he wasn’t able to turn the conversation like he wanted, but I actually take the question seriously.

“Hm… I don’t know. It’s true that it doesn’t replace the fulfillment from climbing a mountain in real-life, but at the same time, you can do something like climb Mt Everest without risking your life.”

“Heeeh… That’s kind of cool. I actually have a Virtual Life account, you know?”

The girls and guys start talking about the normie VR games, but … I suddenly realize it.

If you dye Ran’s semi-curly, thick hair red, add a hoodie and two cat ears…

… Isn’t it Fen?

Hahaha! It totally is! What?! Oh man, what a coincidence.

Oi oi, there’s a raid you’re a part of later, you gonna be okay taking the time to do this group date?

Although the same can be said about me.

He doesn’t seem to have recognized me.

Well, yeah, unlike Fe – Ran’s dark red avatar hair, where it’s not that huge of a jump to compare it to his current black hair, I went white in-game.

Also, makeup and hairstyle, I guess.

I have to do my best to not sneer and laugh at him, now that I realized it.

“Narumi, is OriginStory safe? My mom worries about my kid brother all the time, since he’s underage, and VR’s pretty realistic.”

The girl from earlier asks.

“Ah, the net security is all pretty good nowadays, and the game puts in a lot of safety measures against malicious people, so it should be fine. Although she’s a good mom to worry.”

“Ne, ne, Narumi, what kind of character do you play? Since you’re all cool like, an elf?”

I totally thought she was asking about what play style I use at first.

Right, not gamers.

I laugh.

“Do you think being an elf suits me?”

“Mm…. yeah!”

“Haha, too bad, I’m a human. Kind of boring, huh?”

“Hm… No? But if I was going to play, I’d like to be an elf, I think.”

“Well, there are some who go pretty flashy, like cat-ears … or nekomata (two-tailed cat).”

Fe – Ran gives a start.

Oops.

I have to struggle to keep the large grin from spreading across my face.

He’s staring hard at me, like he’s thinking, ‘Who…?’

“Aren’t those types of people super weird? Like, are you so desperate with your fetishes, right?”

“Haha, cat-ears are a little…”

“It depends on the stats, I guess.”

Chie’s ex, you’re starting to piss me off.

And glasses-kun, you’re totally also a gamer, aren’t you?

“It’s only as dirty as you make it, you know? And anyway, there are games where you can pretend you’re a cat, so is it really that weird? I don’t play them, though, so I don’t know.”

As I say so, I don’t even try to hide my hostile-ish smile from Chie’s ex.

“Th-that’s…”

Chie’s ex has always been bad with coercive atmospheres.

“Hmph. I’d still prefer getting a girlfriend in real-life, compared to in a game.”

The king of shitty topic changes has returned.

But, well, it’s true that this group date got sidetracked to talking about VR, so I’ll let this one go.

For Chie’s senpai’s sake.

“Well, that’s true.”

I vaguely say.

Both Kasai-senpai and Haruki-senpai, who were a bit nervous from the tense atmosphere, relax when I de-escalate the situation.

—-

—-

TALENTS

[Axe]Lv30       
[Bolstered Endurance]Lv36
[Sharp Senses]Lv27
[Scavenge+]Lv1
[Spirit of the Wild Hunt]Lv26
[Inheritance of the Forest Guardian]Lv30
[Discovery]Lv22
[Bolstered Dexterity]Lv28
[Counter]Lv20
[Mine]Lv17
[Scribe]Lv16

Avg Lv: 23
TP: 25

 

Extra

—

In the bathroom:

“Narumi-san, is the reason Chie didn’t come because of Toyoda-san?”

Kenta Toyoda, one of Haruki-senpai’s roommates, was a participant who had forced his way into participating despite not being part of xx Uni’s Business Networking Club, so Kasai-senpai was feeling a little… no, a lot regretful.

Because of that, she followed Narumi Ando, the friend of Chie, Airi Kasai’s cute kouhai, into the bathroom.

“Hm…”

Narumi just made a vague sound in response.

“So it was like that… I wish she’d just tell me.”

“Of course Chie didn’t want to trouble a senpai she looks up to. Well, that kind of guy is hard to dissuade, so we’ve probably saved Haruki-senpai some trouble.”

Narumi laughed and answered candidly, but that was probably true.

Airi wasn’t too good with that kind of guy, so she would not want to tell him not to come herself.

“It’s too bad we weren’t aware of the other guy missing too, or else Fe – Ran and I wouldn’t have had to show up. Ah, not that I’m not having fun, but because I have something else to get to in the evening.”

“Aah, I’m aware of that. Well, things just happen like this sometimes…”

“They’re a good group of guys, huh? Pretty good boyfriend material, if you’re interested.”

Airi smiled.

Narumi was the blunt type, but Airi didn’t dislike that kind of person.

“Yes, I knew Haruki was a reliable guy, so I thought it wouldn’t be too bad of an idea.”

Airi had met Haruki at a networking event, in previous years, so she had a somewhat good idea of his personslity.

“Un. It’s a good atmosphere. I think some of them might pair off at the end.”

Narumi was talking like it had nothing to do with her.

Well, it probably didn’t, Airi couldn’t help thinking.

---

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Ran, Naru, Chie

Yes, Naru has some weird ideas about what looks suit her and don’t suit her. GJ Chie.
Gyaru fashion has really changed a lot over the years… it’s become more like a mix of hipster/punk now.

---

<A/n:Thanks Leecher McLeechface for your donations!
Except that makes you not a leecher, so…
Also, thanks patrons. I am currently looking into other things for patron rewards, and failing about half.
I will put up the chapters I owe in a short while. I really wanted to get the other thing ready at the same time too, though…

Fluvia chapter 9 also up

I didn’t think about it too hard, because it’s out of my expertise and OriginStory is my ‘writing off the cuff’ experiment so not too much planning, but any recommendations for what Naru’s bike is? I don’t really know much about the street-cred of motorcycles.
It’s gotta be 250cc (because inspection fees in Japan. Admittedly, Naru would want a bigger bike, but she’s paying all the fees and stuff herself, so for now she’s sticking to a small engine. )
I don’t think she’s into those sleek looking sporty things, like the Kawasaki Ninja. She’s more grit and grunge, although she doesn’t care about off-roading at all.
Also, she likes tinkering with the bike a lot, working on it at least once a month even if it doesn’t need it.

It’s because of the 250cc engine that I’m kind of torn. In the US, you kind of need an engine that keeps up with the cars, especially on the highways, so most manufacturers don’t sell much under 500cc in this country, and I’m not into bikes to begin with, so it’s like a double whammy on knowing about stuff on small engine bikes that only motorcycle lovers would know.
Like, if she lived in the US I’d give her a smaller Harley, since that matches Naru’s modus operandi, but I sincerely doubt that they make something with a SMALL engine that fits Japanese regulations, and I’d imagine an import like that would be QUITE expensive in Japan.

These are the risks of writing in imitation of other countries’ literature, lol.>