The Archer of a Fictitious World 16

A Loner and friends

Her next reunion with Saki would happen the following day.

“Ah, excuse me! Sena! Can I talk to you for a second!?”

A girl called out to Sena as she was about to go home after school.

“Ah, um… ehh…”

As usual, Sena’s brain short-circuited, and she ended up just mumbling things without actually saying anything. The girl then took a seat in front of her.

“I… I’ve wanted to become friends with you for a long time, Sena… But perhaps you don’t want to…?”

“N-No! That’s not it!”

“Really!? Ah, good! I’ve been trying to talk to you for so many times, but you always run off somewhere, so I thought you hated me or something…”

“Not really…”

Then Sena suddenly remembered. This was the same girl that had always been trying to talk to her.

She then felt sorry for this girl, thinking she had hurt her feelings every time she had run away from her.

“You’re always by yourself… So I thought that maybe you preferred to be left alone.”

“That’s not it, I’m just… not good at socializing and stuff like that…”

“Why is that?”

“…You won’t laugh?”

“Why would I laugh about it?”

“I… I have a lot of trouble talking to people… I get really nervous when I have to talk in front of people I don’t know… I can’t look straight at their faces.”

“…”

“…”

“Aha… ahaha… ahAHAHA!”

“Hey.”

“Haa… I’m… I’m sorry! I’m sorry! Huh? It’s like I had this conversation before…”

“Strange, huh? Me too.”

“So… Do you play any online games, Sena?”

“Yeah, sometimes.”

“Really? What are you playing?”

“Um… I’m playing AnoDim–”

“You’re playing AnoDim!?”

The girl leaned forward.

“Y… Yeah.”

“Well, in fact, I’m playing it too~ Ah, I know! Would you like to play together today?”

“Eh? With me?”

“Yes! Don’t you want to?”

“Nonononono that’s not it at all! Sure! Let’s play today!”

“Ah, that’s great! Then let’s meet at 5 PM in Arunima’s Water Fountain square. Sounds good?”

“Um, sure.”

“Alright then! It’s settled! I’ll be waiting~”

Then she got up and started to leave. Sena hurriedly tried to stop her.

“Ah, wait! What’s your name!?”

“Ah! That’s right! I’m sorry, I haven’t introduced myself yet, have I? My name is Saki Fujisawa! Well, see you later!”

The girl then left.

Sena was standing in shock.

“I was asking for your name in AnoDim, though…”

Sera logged in a little before 5 o’clock. She didn’t know the name of that girl’s character in-game, but she hadn’t told her hers either.

(Well, she’ll come and see me here waiting, so she’ll know then.)

Then, someone arrived at the plaza.

“Ah, hello, Sera!”

“Ah, Saki.”

It was Saki. She saw Sera standing by the water fountain and happily came to greet her.

“Hey, remember that girl I talked to you about yesterday? I managed to have a conversation with her!”

“Really? That’s great!”

“Yeah! So we arranged to play together today.”

“Oh, that’s good! Have fun then!”

“Will do!”

Sera stood a bit farther away from where she said goodbye to Saki and waited for that girl… that Saki Fujisawa.

(Speaking of which, their names are the same, huh? It’s a pretty common name though…)

Sera continued to wait for her without stopping on that thought for too long. She didn’t know her in-game name, but she figured she’d be able to tell who she was as soon as she showed up.

**************

“She’s not going to show up, is she…?”

She had been waiting for two hours. No one arrived during that time.

(She wouldn’t have lied to make fun of me, would she? No, that can’t be it…)

Sera’s thoughts started to become more and more negative again.

(That’s it. I’m done. I’m just gonna go home for now and ask her in-game name tomorrow.)

As she was about to log out, she noticed Saki standing not too far from her.

“Hey, Saki.”

“Ah, Sera!”

“Weren’t you going to meet with that girl from yesterday today?”

“Yeah, but she never showed up…”

Saki seemed depressed.

“Oh well. It’s partly my fault though… I never told her my in-game name in the first place.”

“Is that so? Actually, the same thing happened to me…”

“You too, Sera?”

“I also arranged to play today with someone from school today but never asked their in-game name. I thought I’d realize as soon as they showed up, but that never happened…”

“Well, it’s hard to know by looking at someone’s face, since AnoDim lets you customize your appearance to some extent…”

“Yeah, you’re right…”

Then Sera started looking closely at Saki’s face.

(Saki does look a bit like that girl… And they have the same name… And speaking of which, Saki did say that she hadn’t told that other girl her in-game name. You don’t think…?)

With that in mind, she could only see that girl in Saki. She hadn’t noticed until now since she had thought they weren’t the same person, but after looking closely at her, Saki’s voice and face are somewhat similar to that girl’s.

“Um… Saki… Is your real name Saki Fujisawa?”

“Huh!? How do you know my real name!?”

“I’m… Sena Kohinata.”

“Eh, eeeeehhhhhhhhhh!?”

**************

“No way! You’re Sena!? I never realized!”

“It’s okay. I couldn’t tell either.”

“Hehe, how unexpected! I was trying to become friends with you when we were already friends!”

At that moment, Sena felt as if time had stopped.

“…Eh?”

“W-What’s wrong!?”

“Friends?”

“Yes!”

“You and I?”

“Yes.”

“Really?”

“Yes…! What’s wrong? Don’t you want to… Huh!? Why are you crying, Sera!?”

Sera was covering her face with her hands. She was definitely crying.

“Sera? Could it be that you don’t want to be friends with me…?”

“Uuh… That’s not it…”

“Then…”

“I… I haven’t had any friends… until now… so what you said just now… made me… really happy…”

She somehow managed to answer while crying.

“It’s okay! There’s no need to cry like that!”

Then Saki laughed, and started wiping Sera’s tears off her face.

Dear Mother,

I, Sena Kohinata, have made my first friend ever today.