Volume 6 - CH 20

Advent of StarChild

The air surrounding Emi, Takeru, and I froze.

After all, a super popular idol is standing right in front of us.

Although she’s one year younger than us, she already looked mature enough to be a high school student.

Still, her atmosphere felt young and fluffy.

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What a presence…….

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Her hair is a mesh of blonde and black.

She usually sports a half-up pigtail but perhaps because this is her day off she’s let her hair down.

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Just as her idol name suggested, she’s someone truly worthy of being called a Star.

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“You’re Akechi Hideyori-san correct? I’ve always enjoyed reading your letters!”

“Y, Yes! Thank you very much!”

“I’m so sorry, I was planning to arrive before noon but I got lost so I got here a little late.”

“Ha……Haha, it’s okay.”

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Th, this is so awkward and my heart is beating like crazy.

Eh? Why did StarChild come to my home?

I mean, she wrote me that she would come but she’s actually here?

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I don’t get it. My head is spinning.

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“D, Do you want to come in…….?”

“M, May I!?”

“Yes……..”

“Thank you, Akechi-san.”

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She lowered her head and neatly set aside her shoes.

I can feel nothing but discomfort.

The whole thing felt so unreal that it was like someone photoshopped StarChild and pasted her at my doorstep.

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“A, Also……this is my friend, Sasaki Emi-san and Juumonji Takeru-san………..”

“Eh?…………N, Nice to meet you! I’m Sasaki Emi!”

“Ha? Eh? …………Nice to meet you, I’m Juumonj!”

“Yes! It’s nice to meet you two as well! I’m an idol going by the name StarChild!”

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Emi was still unable to process the situation while Takeru had stiffened due to nervousness.

They were like ‘What’s going on?’

That was the confusion StarChild’s arrival had brought about.

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“Hey, Juumonji-kun! W, Why is StarChild here!?”

“I,……I don’t really get it either. Hideyori probably forced her here somehow right?”

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Even if I tried that someone like her normally wouldn’t just visit a normal fan like me right…….

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I don’t know why she’s here either.

For the time being, I guided her to the living room and invited her to sit down.

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“U,……Umm…..We were about to have lunch but do you perhaps want to join us…….?”

“I can!? Thank you very much! I’m looking forward to it!”

“Hey!?”

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Emi yanked my collar.

It hurts but I bear with it.

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“Eh? Eh? An Idol is going to eat my food!?”

“Rather than mine or Hideyori’s yours would be better, Sasaki.”

“Agreed.”

“You two are pushing this on me….? What does an idol eat in the first place?”

“Pufferfish Sashimi?” (TLN: Highly poisonous, require licensed professional to prepare so very expensive)

“Why would there be a puffer fish in Akechi house? Something like that is a request-only dish at a restaurant right…….”

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Emi seemed tense.

She’s a good cook so I think that she should be more proud of her skills though.

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“D, Do you have any preference, StarChild-san?”

“Ramen would be nice.”

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So normal…….

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“I’m glad……., I’ve never tried cutting up a pufferfish before……….”

“You actually planned to serve her one if she asked……?”

“I mean, when you’re talking about celebrities pufferfish always come to mind isn’t it.”

“I think your image of celebrities is kind of skewed, Takeru.”

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After that, Emi went to the kitchen while Takeru and I prepared tea and sweets for our guest.

Takeru was in charge of serving the cookies while I handled the tea.

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“Here, it’s not something fancy though.”

“Please don’t mind it, I’m totally fine with this.”

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Even if she says that, I can’t help but get more and more nervous.

After we finished serving our guest, Takeru and I sat back on the opposite side of StarChild.

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“Also, Starcha has never tried pufferfish before.”

“See, her order is pretty normal right…….”

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All that whispering was for nothing.

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“Rather than some complicated high-end food, StarCha prefers the normal ones better. Please don’t fuss over me, Akechi-san, Juumonji-san.”

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It seems StarChild refers to herself in first-person as StarCha.

Honestly, seeing her keeping up her character even in a situation like this does make her feel even more real to me.

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“I’m Juumonji Takeru, I’m actually No.11 in your official Fanclub! I, Hideyori, and my sister have been big fans of yours!”

“Wow! You’re a member of Starcha’s official fan club!? Thank you very much for all your support☆”

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StaCha’s cuteness is too dazzling.

That smile that contains enough cuteness to pierce the heaven, as expected of StarCha-Smile.

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I recall the character StarChild from my previous life.

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She’s someone who appears in other works of the dev SkyBlue.

She had no direct appearance in [Breaking the Chain of Sadness] series.

However, her name was often cited as the idol who the protagonist, Juumonji Takeru, is a big fan of.

Her name also comes out as one of the [StarSystem] characters which is a group of SkyBlue’s mascot characters.

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StarChild’s information was also included in the visual fan book of the first game.

Despite the fact that she did not appear directly in the game, there was a big portrait along with a whole paragraph dedicated to her in the book.

In the words of Sakura Matsuri, the game’s producer [We have a setting prepared for her. However, there were some redundancies with her character so we didn’t insert her in the work. Perhaps she will show up in the sequel].

Even so, she had no appearance in the second game or the third game so she was effectively shelved.

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This world accurately reflects the settings of [Breaking the Chain of Sadness] series but as with my encounter with Tsugaru Nodoka, there’s a possibility that not only the commentaries in the visual fan books but the world settings from the entire library of SkyBlue’s works would be made real here as well.

It won’t be funny if somehow a piece of information that was not available to a player like me suddenly lead to my death though……

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That said……..

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“You’re so cute, StarChild!”

“Eh?”

“What’s up with you all of a sudden?”

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Both StarCha and Takeru got surprised.

But StarChild herself is in front of me in the flesh you know.

This is my chance to convey the [feelings] I couldn’t put into my letters to her directly.

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“I’m always cheered up by your work so I’m very happy that I got the chance to meet you today!”

“T, Thank you, Akechi-san!”

“Actually, I’ve been supporting your work from the beginning! I was preaching to Takeru and his sister about you and we ended up becoming better friends because of that! Even when we sometimes don’t know what to talk about, we would be able to chat as much as we want about you, StarCha!”

“………….”

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StarChild was staring at my face.

“…….I see.” she muttered.

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“It’s an honor☆.”

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She continued with a StarCha-Smile.

It already felt like I’m living the dream.

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“A while ago, Sasaki and I walked in on him while he was reading one of your letters. He was screaming [I love you! I love you!] on his own you know.”

“I didn’t!? Stop ratting on me you idiot!”

“Woah!!? Stop that, Hideyori!? I give up, I give up! You’ve been training your body so this won’t end pretty for me alright!?”

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I put Takeru in a sleeper hold.

That will teach him not to say something that would embarrass me in front of StarCha.

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“Hahaha! You two must get along pretty well.”

“These two get along too well in fact………”

“Sasaki!”

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Added Emi in an exasperated tone while serving us four bowls of ramen.

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She sat down next to StarCha and it was time to eat.

Emi, Takeru, and I had eaten together like this several times already but I had never imagined that I would get a chance to share a meal with StarCha like this.

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Rather, the meal I get to share with her is ramen huh…….?

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“This is fresh noodles, isn’t it! It’s StarCha’s favorite.”

“Woah!? This is amazing, Hideyori-kun! She’s a human like us!?”

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The excitement wasn’t limited to her fans like Takeru and me. Emi, who sometimes listens to her songs from my recommendations but normally isn’t that interested in StarChild, also got starstruck.

“StarCha is also human after all☆”

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The three of us turned red at StarCha-Smile.

In a word, we were completely captivated.