WataMote fanfiction: SOLO

Since I'm Not Popular, I'll Come Out of the Closet

Legendary Girl Alpha. Queen of the Otakus.

Tomoko didn't consider herself an otaku. Not a militant one, anyway. She watched anime and spent too much time playing H games, but she knew better than to advertise the fact. She was at best patron saint of the closet otaku.

Would that make Yuu-chan a goddess of closet otaku? Tomoko wasn't sure, sometimes – Yuu-chan's interest in anime she had begun to suspect was not entirely genuine, but rather an attitude she feined as a reason to keep up their friendship from middle school. In a way, it was flattering; it made Tomoko feel as if Yuu-chan genuinely liked her, and actually enjoyed spending time with her. It was the kind of lie she herself would tell in order to make somebody keep liking her.

But it also made the relationship feel a little unstable. To come apart, all that needed to happen was for Yuu-chan to drift away, which Tomoko could see happening, easily. Yuu-chan had friends who were normal, after all. Friends who went to the beach and did karaoke. Tomoko could feel herself becoming less interesting every day. What did she ever do, after all, but sit around at home?

Maybe I should stop treating Kotomi like a rival. If Yuu-chan lost interest in one of us, she'd lose interest in both of us.

Thinking of herself as just one of Yuu-chan's little pet otakus, though, made her feel miserable. She pulled out her notebook, while laying in bed, and started to make a list. In one column, things she does well; in the other column, 'sucks eggs'.

The 'sucks eggs' list was becoming distressingly long, in short order. She couldn't put her school studies in general in either column, as she was still just doing merely OK. She started out well, academically, but became discouraged when her grades were only average. Then her grades sank, and she overheard her parents talking about sending her to a remedial school. So she worked hard to pull her grades back up. And she did – she pulled them all the way back up to average.

Apart from that, she sucked eggs at just about everything.

Maybe I shouldn't have let go of the arms dealer dream so quick, after all.

She shivered.

OK, still not ready to make jokes about that.

"Maybe I'm fated to be just one of many. There's no shame in not being the frontman. I can contribute as part of a team. I wonder if I could cut it in a girl group."

She closed her eyes and tried to imagine herself wearing a cute costume, and learning cute choreography. She made herself stop, because she felt her gills turning green.

Sitting up and looking at herself in the mirror, she had to remind herself that trying to look cute was something else she sucked eggs at.

"If I join a band, maybe it should be a metal band. Looking grungy in that line of work is a plus. I can be sloppy, wear leather, dress in black, start smoking cigarettes, punch random people in the face..."

She didn't know why, but a wicked smile crept up on her while thinking about chains.

"Maybe I really should try that. It might be a good way for me to learn to be more aggressive. Hmmm..."

Shame I don't know how to play a musical instrument. But then, there's nothing wrong with being the frontman. I could learn to scream into a microphone really loud.

She stood up and struck a heavy metal pose. "Whaaaa–! I said I've HEARD! ENOUGH!"

Tomoko played air guitar for a minute, then imagined the guitar went out of tune and started screaming sour notes, and everyone in the crowd started throwing beer bottles.