Log Horizon - Shiroe's sister

Chapter 64

"Conversation~"

Thinking thoughts

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Akatsuki suppressed her rapid breathing, stopping in her tracks after rushing up the grey stairs. It was fine for her to walk up to him as usual, but Akatsuki couldn't make herself do it because she didn't want Shiroe to see her out of breath.

She was still wearing the frilly clothes Henrietta forced on her. With laces sewed at its ends, it looked cute but was too light. Akatsuki, who had grown accustomed to the battle suits in this world, felt naked and defenceless walking the streets in this.

Also, it was hard to hide and sneak up on Shiroe in this outfit.

Akatsuki hid under the shade of the ancient tree that pierced through the sky bridge to calm her breathing.

She didn't want Shiroe to know she rushed all the way here.

Akatsuki felt she had grown closer to Shiroe over the past few days. She even managed to touch Shiroe's hair on the balcony of their guild house last night. It was colder than she imagined and different from hers, the hair of a man. Strong and smooth, flowing through Akatsuki's fingers.

It was an experience that made Akatsuki happy with minimal physical contact. She intentionally pulled a long face, telling Shiroe she was happy, which subsequently confused Shiroe, making him ask her to, again, confirm her feelings.

Those were happy times.

But her decision to catch her breath gave her the opportunity to overhear this conversation.

Shiroe leaned on the railings of the sky bridge, looking down at the central square illuminated by bonfires.

There was a young lady beside him... Minori, a companion of Akatsuki from Log Horizon.

Shiroe and Minori's words were carried by the wind that blew throughout Akiba towards Akatsuki who caught pieces of it.

"You... Did this on purpose right?"

"Yeah."

"... I'm sorry Shiroe-san."

In the beginning, Akatsuki didn't understand what they were talking about.

"No need to apologize, it's not something I want to make known to the world."

"I butted in needlessly, wanting to take Shiroe-san to the dinner party... But thinking about it carefully, there is no need to do that. There is no way Shiroe-san of the 11 founding guilds will fail to secure an invitation, right? So, you wanted Raynesia-hime to create a distance with you right from the start, correct?"

Akatsuki almost made a sound when she heard this.

... Shiroe... Planned to be detested?

This was a perspective Akatsuki never thought of.

The unexpected interaction between the two made Akatsuki forget to call out to Shiroe, she could only listen intently to them. Their dialogue could be heard in bits and pieces through the disruption of the autumn wind.

Akatsuki tried to think about Minori's 'planned to be detested' words. But a chill went down her spine as she began to understand its meaning. Akatsuki heard about an unknown source finding trouble with Akiba from Shiroe before.

Although she didn't comprehend the meaning, she knew that Shiroe had successfully defended Akiba.

But she didn't think about it the way Minori did.

Unlike Minori, she didn't consider how everyone else would think about Shiroe.

Unlike Minori, she didn't think about how Log Horizon's position would be affected by all this.