LIGHTNOVELWORLD Chapter 6_ The Perfect Human
“What’s your reason… for talking to me…?”
“I want your help.”
“How could I possibly help you… the perfect human?”
“I need you to help me find that man.”
“Why… haven’t you already found the life you’re looking for? Why are you bringing up the past again?”
“Yoshikawa-sensei, if I don’t find and destroy that man, he’ll exterminate me for sure, like he promised, all those years ago.”
The rain was cold that day.
***
I looked up at the Golden Girl.
「The Golden Girl has raised her hand! Is she showing interest in Mizutaka-kun? She still hasn’t pressed her button yet… I wonder what she’s thinking. Let’s hear it; what’s your question, Miyazaki-san?」
She took a breath.
“I would be lying if I said that I didn’t have any interest in Mizutaka-kun. However, I’m not someone who will just go out with any good-looking boy~. Mizutaka-kun, my question to you is… would you be able to keep up with me?”
She showed a slight grin on her face.
I saw that, you know?
「The Golden Girl has stated her interest! Mizutaka-kun, what’s your answer to her question~?」
“Miyazaki-san. You’re an actor, I assume that that’s a pretty tiring job.”
“Haa~, tell me about it. I have to wake up at 6:00 am in the morning to start getting prepared for all the jobs during the day. I would be lucky to get even a single day off a week.”
“You’re asking me whether I can keep up with that?”
“People always think that actors and models have it easy. In the end, everything is done by hard work. I don’t think you truly understand how hard it is.”
“It’s true that I don’t really know what an actor has to go through, but I’ll tell you this: If you’re important to me, whether I can keep up or not is not a question.”
“You have some pretty good responses, Mizutaka-kun~. Maybe the two of us really could get along…”
“I wonder if we would, Miyazaki-san~.”
The host swiftly cut into our conversation.
「That was an intriguing question! We’re running out of time, so that’s it for the second stage! Before we get into the final stage, Mizutaka-kun, please choose one question from the list in front of you.」
Lights flashed around the stage once again.
It seemed that the assistant director’s explanation wasn’t completely accurate. This order was not what I was expecting… it didn’t matter that much, nonetheless.
He handed me a tablet.
There were several choices for questions. Most of them were pretty uninteresting. I was going to choose one at random… although, this one looks somewhat entertaining.
「Ooh! Mizutaka-kun has chosen: What’s more important to you, Friends or Family?」
An answer appeared at the front of each of the girls’ lecterns.
The results were split relatively evenly. The only person’s response I really cared about was Miyazaki-san’s.
She chose friends.
That was the answer I was looking for.
You can choose your friends, but you can’t choose your family.
「I wonder what Mizutaka-kun thinks of the responses? Anyways, without further ado, let’s move on to stage three! It looks like there are still twenty-four girls remaining! Impressive, Mizutaka-kun!」
The host looked around.
「However, we can only have five girls in this final round. Mizutaka-kun, you have to go around and press nineteen buttons. Choose carefully!」
Well, it was that part of the show now.
Slowly, I walked toward the girls.
Some of them stepped back a little, giving me some space. It didn’t matter that much to me, though, I didn’t really care whose buttons I had to press.
In a random order, I walked around, pressing them.
—Mrrw.
—Mrrw. —Mrrw. —Mrrw. —Mrrw. —Mrrw. —Mrrw.
—Mrrw. —Mrrw. —Mrrw. —Mrrw.
—Mrrw.
—Mrrw. —Mrrw.
—Mrrw. —Mrrw. —Mrrw.
—Mrrw.
—Mrrw.
That was a little awkward, but it was done now. Some girls looked at me with sad expressions as I walked over to their lecterns. Whatever the case, I just had to make sure things were over.
The remaining five girls walked in front of their lecterns, each armed with a portable button. The distance between us had significantly shrunk; we were facing each other, close enough to have a normal conversation.
「In this final stage, Mizutaka-kun can ask any of the girls any question he wants. The girls don’t have to answer if they don’t want to but remember, Mizutaka-kun will be judging you! On the other side, the girls can feel free to press their button whenever they feel like it! At the end, Mizutaka-kun can choose to ask out the girl he likes the most.」
There was a brief moment of silence.
The background chatter from within the crowd completely died off.
I guess I’ll start.
I decided to just ask one of the other girls a question.
“How are you with cooking?”
The girl smiled as she answered.
“I’ve worked hard to make it as good as possible~. I might be a housewife in the future, s-so I want to be able to make nice meals…”
Ah, this is boring.
I looked at Miyazaki-san.
“What’s your favourite pastime?”
“Me? Well… I like watching movies as well, just not the ones I’m in~. You know, I wouldn’t mind snuggling under a blanket on the couch and binging some shows with someone else~.”
I noticed that her hand was shaking.
She also took glances at her button.
Well, I already knew her intention… way before the third stage.
She was planning on rejecting me—the entire time.
I guess I’ll end it now.
“Cupid-sama, can I make my decision now?”
「Mizutaka-kun, are you sure? We still have time if you want to talk to them a bit more.」
“I’ve already made my decision.”
「If you’ve already come to a decision, I guess we don’t need to delay it any longer! Alright then, Mizutaka-kun, which girl will you ask out~?!」
I looked down at the host.
“None of them.”
As I turned around, I saw the horrifically shocked expression on Miyazaki-san’s face.
「W-wait a moment! A-are you sure? Aren’t you going to a—」
“Like I said, I’ve already made my decision.”
I felt someone grab the back of my shirt as I turned to leave.
Glancing back, I saw that she was extremely angry—to the point that tears were forming in her eyes.
“W-what on earth is this…!”
“Like I said, I’ve made my decision, Miyazaki-san.”
However, it wasn’t over yet.