Chapter 7: Silence, Cambridge Tonight

Maybe because Jakui Rinrincho left right after adding her on LINE, or maybe because the sofa was simply too soft and comfortable, whatever the reason, Someya Sara relaxed completely and fell into a hazy sleep curled up on the couch.

“Sa…”

The afternoon sunlight was bright and clear, carrying the warmth of summer. It gently spilled through the rustling breeze and softly landed on Someya Sara’s long lashes, joining the girl in a long, lazy nap.

Quiet.
Carefree.

For a moment, those were the only words that fit the once-noisy living room.

When Hoshiori Tsukiyo came back upstairs after seeing Jakui Rinrincho off, that was exactly the scene that greeted her.

“Sara…”

Watching the girl sleep so obediently, Hoshiori Tsukiyo whispered her name, voice light as a lover’s murmur, full of affection.

She had expected Someya Sara to be like always—waiting anxiously the moment she returned, staring at her with those obsessive, insecure eyes and asking things like:

“It was Jakui Rinrincho again?”

“Are you going to abandon me, Tsukiyo? Because I’m a burden?”

“You talked to some stranger I don’t know again.”

“I hate it when you talk to other people where I can’t see.”

…and a bunch of other exhausting questions, followed by a pointless fight.

But now it seemed Sara finally believed her—believed that she and President Rinrincho were just normal friends.

That’s great…

Hoshiori Tsukiyo thought quietly.

Ever since Sara’s eyes were injured, her already slightly dark personality had turned extremely sensitive and suspicious. The tiniest thing could set her off.

She understood Sara’s fears.

That’s why she could tolerate all the unreasonable accusations, all the sudden midnight tears, all the endless demands for reassurance of love.

Because she was Sara’s girlfriend.

Because Sara was hers.

“Sara’s such a good girl.”

After a moment, Hoshiori Tsukiyo bent down.

She buried her face in the girl’s hair.

Someya Sara’s already messy hair became even fluffier from the nuzzling.

Hoshiori Tsukiyo breathed in the warm scent that belonged only to her girl.

“I’ll always be with you,” she whispered.

Forever.

…

When Someya Sara woke up, Hoshiori Tsukiyo had just changed clothes and was heading out again. Besides idol work, she had weekend shifts at a café. Someya Sara didn’t work, so rent, utilities, groceries—everything fell on Tsukiyo’s shoulders alone.

Click—

A second or two later, the door closed softly. Hoshiori Tsukiyo was gone.

Xiao Nuosang immediately started nagging her to check the phone and see how yesterday’s post was doing.

Only then did Someya Sara remember.

Everything she wrote yesterday had come from her own mouth, but she had assumed Hoshiori Tsukiyo and Jakui Rinrincho’s relationship was already at the point of—

“Ahh, I never expected little Tsukiyo to be so gentle and dutiful around you. She’s completely different with me. Someya Sara, if you have the guts, open this video.”

—so she had exaggerated a little.

But if it wasn’t actually true, then it was pretty serious slander. No wonder Jakui Rinrincho was so upset this morning.

Which meant…

The girl thought again.

Hoshiori Tsukiyo and Jakui Rinrincho’s relationship probably wasn’t that weird after all, right? Otherwise Jakui Rinrincho wouldn’t be so angry?

…

Xiao Nuosang got annoyed at how slow Someya Sara was and just hacked the phone itself, checking the backend data.

『Baby!!!』

Xiao Nuosang was instantly shocked.

『According to the game plot, this post wasn’t supposed to fully blow up until a week later! How did it explode last night?! And it stayed trending on every platform all night!』

“Ah…?”
Someya Sara blinked blankly for a moment before answering.
“Maybe because I added a tiny bit of extra stuff? What do I do? Will this cause problems?”

Her voice was tiny, her whole face crumpling into a lost, guilty child who had done something wrong.

『It’s fine, it’s fine~』

While comforting her, Xiao Nuosang opened the mission panel and shared the neural view so Someya Sara could see the current progress:

—『Cannon Fodder Mission Progress: 20%』—

『See? Super successful!』 Xiao Nuosang chirped happily.

Someya Sara: “Woof!”

Then Xiao Nuosang showed her the upcoming plot.

In the original story, after the original Someya Sara spread those rumors online and damaged the reputations of the super homewreckers—Jakui Rinrincho, Kanzaki Sumire, and Hoshiori Tsukiyo—they came one by one to settle the score. But the universally beloved Hoshiori Tsukiyo blocked them every time.

After that, whenever they came looking for trouble with Someya Sara, Hoshiori Tsukiyo stopped them. Naturally, their target for revenge shifted to Hoshiori Tsukiyo.

And so, half-willingly, half-unwillingly, Hoshiori Tsukiyo ended up in bed with all of them, playing the veteran-recruiting-newbie game (fog?), officially NTR-ing Someya Sara.

Suddenly, Someya Sara poked Xiao Nuosang.

Xiao Nuosang: 『What is it, baby?』

“I thought Hoshiori Tsukiyo was just a huge jerk who abandoned the original host because she went blind. But now it looks like she’s actually a really good person… To protect the original host, she kept sacrificing herself, doing things with Jakui Rinrincho and the others that she didn’t want to do.”

Xiao Nuosang: “…”

『Um… baby, don’t you think something’s a little off here?』

“What’s off?”
Someya Sara’s little face was filled with huge confusion.
“Isn’t Hoshiori Tsukiyo the original host’s childhood friend? How could she ever doubt her? In the end… if the original host hadn’t been so paranoid from the start, things would never have gotten to the point where Hoshiori Tsukiyo treated her like a pet, right?”

“It’s all the original host’s own fault.”

Someya Sara concluded seriously.

Her tiny face was perfectly straight, as if she were saying something very important.

Her voice, though, was soft and sweet like cotton candy.

Xiao Nuosang: “…”

Never mind.

With how pure its host was, explanations probably wouldn’t get through anyway.

The whole point of this 18+ NTR game was the contrast between the heroine Hoshiori Tsukiyo’s fierce outward resistance and her delicate inner fall.

In other words, the essence of this kind of game was the heroine gradually abandoning everything for pleasure—abandoning her childhood friend, abandoning their shared memories, abandoning the love confessed long ago, and letting the homewrecker genes flood deep inside her body.

As for the future?

It hadn’t arrived yet, had it?

…

Someya Sara had no idea what Xiao Nuosang was thinking. She just blinked her big eyes and continued.

“The original host was such a bad person! She did bad things herself, yet every time she made Hoshiori Tsukiyo block them for her. She never took any responsibility!”

Xiao Nuosang: “So baby, you’ll take responsibility?”

“…”

Someya Sara instantly went silent.

Silence is the Cambridge tonight.JPG