The Archer of a Fictitious World 15

A Loner and a reunion

“I can’t believe it! Getting sick at such a time! Just my luck!”

“Sena! Get ready to go to school or you’ll be late!”

“Yeees…”

Sena replied to her mother as she left her house.

The day after becoming friends with Saki, Sena got suddenly sick, so her parents forbid her from playing the game until she got better.

It had been almost one week since that day.

(Saki has other friends to play with, so she must have forgotten about me…)

Sena was depressed.

She could not believe how unlucky she was.

She went to school while deeply immersed in that thought.

It had been one week already, but she was used to thinking that way, so she wasn’t particularly concerned.

After entering her classroom, she threw herself onto her chair.

A few minutes later…

“Umm… Sena? Long time no see, huh?”

Someone was talking to her.

When she lifted her head, she saw one of her classmates looking at her.

“I was worried about not seeing you here for a week. You’ve been taking long breaks before… you do get sick often, don’t you?”

(I’ve seen this girl before… What was her name again?)

“Umm… Sena?”

Sena hurriedly tried to reply, but she only got more misfortune.

After not being able to talk with anyone other than her parents for a week, and being filled with negative thoughts during all that time, Sena found herself once again unable to speak with people.

“I-I… I’m F-F-F-F-Fineee!? Yes! I’m alright…”

After saying that, Sena jumped out of her seat and left the classroom.

“Haaaaaaahhhhhh–”

She blew it. Why was this happening to her?

(That girl had gone out of her way to talk to me, but after replying to her like that she must have definitely gotten hurt…)

Sena’s negative thoughts were nowhere near stopping.

やがて放課後になり瀬奈は現実から逃げるようにアナディンを始める。

Before long, school was finally over, and Sena could at last escape reality into the world of AnoDim.

“Uhh… it’s no use. I can’t seem to be able to focus at all today…”

Sera took a break after walking around Arunima.

Her negative thoughts had affected her gameplay, and she was getting tired of missing her arrow shots too many times.

“Ah…”

She suddenly found herself right next to the bench where she sat together with Saki after the event had ended.

“Here’s where Saki and I became friends…”

Sera started to recall the things that happened a week ago.

It seemed Saki was online, so they could get together if she felt like it.

Perhaps Saki would come to meet with her if Sera sent her a message.

But Sera had never met with any friends before. She had no idea about what to send in her message to Saki.

(It’s okay… I’ve been alone all my life anyway. I don’t have to worry about that now. I’ll just log out for now. I’m sure that I’ll feel better tomorrow.)

With that in mind, she decided to log out.

“Ah… Sera!?”

She was standing there in front of her.

“…Do you remember me?”

“What do you mean? Of course I remember you! I’ve been worried since I haven’t seen you online since that day~”

“Ah, I… um… I haven’t been feeling well since that day, so…”

“Is that so? Are you feeling better?”

“Ah, I’m fine, thanks. Are you by yourself today, Saki?”

“Yes, there aren’t as many players as usual today. I’ve been playing alone today, and I was getting a bit bored so I thought about logging out but then I found you~”

“I see…”

Her earlier negative thoughts disappeared in an instant as if they had never been there in the first place.

Being able to speak with her like this filled her heart with a happiness that she could not describe.

“Ah, can I ask you something, Sera?”

“S-Sure…”

“Well, there’s this classmate at school who’s always by herself, and I want to become friends with her but it’s not going so well…”

(Who am I to give advice about making friends? What should I do!?)

“I’ve been trying to talk to her several times, but it just doesn’t seem to work…”

“Is she ignoring you or something?”

“Not really, she does answer when I approach her, but she just runs off…”

(That girl sounds a bit like me…)

“What can I do to become friends with her?”

“I don’t think she’s doing that out of malice…”

“Do you think so?”

“Yeah, she’s definitely going to start to open up if you keep trying.”

“Is that so? Alright then! I’ll be sure to try again tomorrow!”

Then Saki excused herself and logged out.

“There’s someone like me in every place, huh~”

Sera felt a strong affinity for Saki’s classmate.

“Speaking of which, I keep feeling like I’ve seen Saki somewhere before…”

Unable to answer her sudden doubt and dismissing it as something she must probably be imagining, Sera logged out.

The next day would be an unforgettable day for Sena.