Chapter 4
Chapter 4
Now there is a boy friend too
“Sup, the handsome guy’s here.”
It was evening. While Itsuki remained holed up in his room, working, the bell rang, followed by a shameless line from outside.
Itsuki scowled as he opened the door.
That line itself was terrible, but the person standing there was really a handsome guy, as declared.
He was in his early 20s.
He had narrow eyes, an impressionable handsome face, and wears
thin framed glasses; his hair was dyed bright brown, short and unkempt.
He was so skinny, but despite this, he did not look weak at all. His legs were half as long as his body.
He had a kind smile on his face, and overall, was a youth giving off a vibrant flair.
If a handsome guy calls himself handsome, I wouldn’t know how to
react, so stop with that, Itsuki thought. But if a handsome guy’s going
to act humble and say ‘I’m not some handsome guy~’, it’ll be really
infuriating, so—
“—So the conclusion’s that all handsome guys should die.”
“What kind of conclusion is that?”
The handsome guy showed a wry smile after being told to die, but that wry smile gave a refreshing impression for some reason.
Itsuki did not know his actual name, but the pen name was Fuwa Haruto.
Like Itsuki, he was a novelist working under the same label, and
debuted in the same newcomer award along with the former. They were
authors from the same batch.
“Yo, Itsuki. Doing well recently?”
“Humph. Sort of.”
“Washed your p*nis properly?”
“Do-don’t say such things so openly out there!”
Itsuki panicked, his face reddened, and Haruto laughed,
“Relax. Your 4 neighbors to your left and right side, top and bottom are all college students who should be at school now.”
“…How is it that you know about the people living in the apartments here more than I do…?”
Itsuki groaned with his eyes half opened, “Anyway, come in.” and invited Haruto into his room.
“Please excuse me. Ah, here’s a present. I’ll put it in the fridge then.”
“Oh.”
Haruto opened the fridge as though he was in his own kitchen,
placed the tote bag filled with numerous bottles of foreign beer into
it, and took out one bottle of the Gouden Carolus (Belgium Beer) Tripel
and Christmas[5] each.
Itsuki’s room was for his personal use, but the fridge was family
size. 20% of the space was used for the food Chihiro prepared, while
60% were beer bottles and cans.
The remaining 20% were PET bottles filled with water and tea, raw ham, cheese, sausages, chocolate, dried fruits, tsumami[6], snacks[7] isotonic drinks and so on.
The alcohol in the fridge were basically all foreign, half of
them Belgium beer, and there was also beer from other countries, like
Germany, Holland, America and England. The only Japanese beer were a few
cans of Yona Yona Ale. Most of the beer and tsumami were brought over
by Haruto.
Itsuki’s room was close to the publisher, so whenever Haruto paid a visit to the publisher, he could pop by on the way here.
“I’ll borrow a plate here.”
Without waiting for Itsuki’s reply, haruto went to take a large
plate from the kitchen, opened the packaged raw ham he brought along
with the beer, arranged it along the circumference of the plate, placed
the cheese and dried fruit prettily on the plate, and served it onto the
kotatsu.[8]
He then took out two grail-shaped beer glasses[9]
that were meant for Gouden Carolus from the cupboard, washed them
briefly, and put them along with the two bottles of beers and the opener
onto the table.
“Kept you waiting!”
He finished his preparations as swiftly as Chihiro, and entered the kotatsu.
“Oh.” In response to Haruto, Itsuki nodded in an exaggerated manner.
On a side note, while the guest Haruto was busy serving beer and
tsumami, the owner of the room, Itsuki, remained at the kotatsu the
entire time, reading manga.
“Which one?”
Haruto took the two bottles, asking, “This one.” Itsuki pointed to the Christmas version.
Haruto opened the bottle, and poured into the glass.
The rich brown color frothing with bubbles filled the glasses,
and the room was immediately filled with the scent of herbs and spice.
“Anyway, good job!”
“Oh.”
They gave a toast, knocking the glasses lightly, and Itsuki was
anxious to have a quick sip of beer, only to be suddenly stopped bu
Haruto.
“Ah, wait.”
“?”
“Itsuki, make a peace sign on the plate.”
“…Like this?”
Confused as he was, Itsuki obedient put down the glass, put his
hand on the somewhat glamorous looking plate filled with tsumami, and
did a scissors sign.
Haruto then reached his left hand out, put it beside Itsuki’s
hand, and did a peace sign too, taking a photo on the smartphone using
his right hand.
“Right, okay. Erm, ‘I’m having a meal with my batchmate Hashima
Itsuki-kun’s house ^^, we’ve been meeting three times a week recently,
time to get married’…uploaded.”
“…What are you uploading?”
“Hm? I’m declaring on Twitter that I have gay tendencies.”
In response to that question, Haruto answered as he tapped at his smartphone.
“…?”
Hearing that, Itsuki still had no clue, and Haruto continued,
“Haven’t I been showing up out there, recently?”
“Yeah.”
Fuwa Haruto’s debut work ‘Keikai no Chevalier’ series was no
match for Kani Nayuta’s ‘Silver Lanscape’, but it was one of the top
selling hit series under the label, and was to become an anime on April
this year.
Because of the anime, Haruto began to hold autograph sessions,
interviews from anime magazines, internet news websites, and video
sites. Due to his looks, he was starting to be recognized as the
‘handsome guy’ author.
Haruto’s reader demographic was focused on young men, and
typically, most of the readers would not have much interest in the
author. However, some of them were spiteful at the sight of a handsome
guy, and some were really worried that the author would be too handsome
he would eat up the voice actresses in the anime.
“That’s why I need to act like I got some gay tendencies. I just
need everyone to think that I prefer to hang out with guys rather than
flirt with girls, and I won’t have to worry about being hated by the
fans of those voice actresses. Also, I’ll be able to attract the older
sister type fans who have such interests, whichs makes it killing two birds with one stone.”
“…You have it rough, huh.”
While Itsuki looked dumbfounded and somewhat sympathetic, he suddenly realized something.
“Huh? If I’m going to get involved in showing gay tendencies, then what about me…!”
“Hm? Come out of the closet with me.”
“Do-don’t kid me now! Why do I have to be mistaken by everyone for a gay just for the sake of protecting you!”
“Eh? What’s the problem with that? Maybe you’ll open up to a new fan group.”
“Like hell I need it! I won’t feel happy about selling books through an author’s personality and characteristics!”
“…!”
For a moment, Haruto showed a serious look, but he then gave a
bitter smile, saying, “You’re really serious in some weird way…” And
then,
“But even if the world thinks of you as gay, you don’t really care anyway, right?”
“You got to be kidding! If my work’s adapted into the anime, and
there’s rumors out there of me being gay when I’m going to get married
to the ultimate voice actress voicing the ultimate little sister that’s
the main heroine, that’s going to be troublesome, right!?”
“Eh, you want to marry a voice actress, Isuki?”
“Fuhahaha, you idiot! I’ve no intention of marrying at all. The
important thing is that the image of me going ‘I’m the golden standard
to the voice actresses’ looks cool and great fuhahahaha!”
“…Are you getting tired?”
“…Ah, um…I’ve been getting writer’s block recently…”
Haruto asked, giving a serious look, and Itsuki nodded with a ω look.
“…Really? Better not drink for today then.”
“No, maybe I’ll get some inspiration after I get drunk, so I’m drinking!”
Saying that, Itsuki gulped down the beer
The splendorous fragrance mixed with many herbs and spices
entered filled the nostrils, and the rich sweet taste lingered in the
mouth, followed by a comforting, complex bitterness.
The alcohol content of Gouden Carolus Christmas beer is 10.5,
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