What If : the Author is Living in CoTE World

Vol 3.4

On the third day, I left the camp before noon and made my way toward the forest entrance.

"Ahh, ahh, ahh... Where are you planning to go now, Hakim?"

Sakura was out of breath, her breast, uhh, heaved as she breathed. She must've been looking for me and given chase.

"Didn't I tie a handkerchief(which the author skipped because he was tired) around a tree? Anyway, I thought I'd just go and check something out."

I wanted to confirm something much earlier, but didn't had the time.

"It's probably not okay for me to come along, is it? I'd only slow you down, probably, but..."

"Isn't it better for you to stay back? Won't it bother you if people start spreading rumours?"

"That doesn't bother me at all. Besides, I..."

"Well, let's go then. I mean what're you waiting for?"

"Really? It's okay?! Yeay!!" She shouted out of joy.

What kind of conversation was this? It felt kind of odd to just stay silent as we walked, so I killed some time by bringing up a familiar topic. Anything was less awkward than listening to the crunch of our footsteps on the path.

"Are you getting along well with the other girls? I mean, you can't really do things alone in this test, right?"

"Yeah, I'm getting along well with Haruka-chan." She exclaimed.

"'Haruka-chan'? Oh, you mean Hasebe? I see. Well, good for you. I still have like two male friends. Three friends if you include the girls." I'm pathetic, aren't I?

"That's... Well, that's true. But have you talked with Miyake-kun. Haruka-chan said he is a 'cool guy'."

"Miyake? Haven't talked to him yet. Maybe I'll try talking with him. Who knows, maybe I'll make it, maybe I don't."

"Hmmm~" Sakura pouted, appeared to be angry.

"W-what is it? Don't look at me like that."

"Don't say 'maybe'! Say you 'will' do it!"

"Yes, yes. I will do it."

...

...

"That reminds me... That guy, from the incident before... it seems like he disappeared."

The man who'd worked at the electronics store on campus had been an extremely passionate fan of Sakura from her gravure idol days... No, in truth, he was just a stalker. He hadn't been satisfied with hanging around Sakura's homepage, and had schemed to meet up with her personally. Everything about that man reminds me of the Ugly Bastards.

"Thank you for everything. Everything worked out thanks to you, Hakim."

"No problem. I was lucky I arrived there on time. You know, I'm not very athletic(is that proper grammar?). I was always one of the slowest in my class. Anyway, more importantly, nothing else weird has happened, right?"

Even though the stalker had been caught, there was possibility the others would try and reach out to her.

"No, everything's been fine. Actually, I've been taking a little break from the bulletin board, too."

That was for the sake of precaution, most likely. Probably a wise decision.

"Besides, even though you were really nervous back then, you always had this really confident expression when you were an idol."

"That's because I did the photography myself."

"A long time ago? But when you were featured in magazines you probably didn't take the pictures yourself, right?"