Chapter 26: Nekono Ikuya's Great Defeat
Yes, why is that? Furuya Rei gently shifted his gaze.
He recalled the misunderstanding that occurred on his first day at the new school, his shift from vehemently denying it to giving up and giving up, and his indifference towards the president of the performance club who was telling him about his new ideas and trying to revise the school festival script after his explanations failed.
The boomerang that had been flying not long ago has finally struck back at me.
Rei Furuya remembers that on the second day after transferring schools, when the misunderstanding was cleared up, the president of the performing arts club was holding a script. When he refused the other party's invitation, he was impressed by the other party's efficiency in revising the script, as it was revised in just one day.
Haha, so the president hasn't given up on this script yet... huh?
Rei Furuya's smile gradually faded.jpg
Oh no! His pot is really in there!!!
Meanwhile, Nekono Ikuya continued, "Because someone left such a deep impression on the president, the president was determined not to give up on this script and insisted on using this cool character design in terms of appearance and personality." Nekono Ikuya, with her own bias, never hesitated to praise this character whenever she mentioned him.
"But unfortunately..."
At this point, Nekono Ikumi drew out her words, giving Furuya Rei a meaningful glance that made him feel inexplicably guilty before she looked away and continued:
"But this person just won't agree to join the acting club. This person's character, both in appearance and personality, is so unique that it's hard for most people to handle successfully. So what will the club president do? Of course, he can only ask me to act in it, right!"
Nekono Ikuya spoke as if it were the most obvious thing in the world, and Furuya Rei didn't question it at all after listening.
Although they haven't known each other for long, Rei Furuya has unknowingly learned a lot about Ikuya Nekono, both intentionally and unintentionally.
Thinking about this, Furuya Rei felt helpless. Even if he didn't pay special attention, the casual discussions among his classmates would allow him to hear a lot about Nekono Ikuya. This was the treatment of a popular figure in school.
Not to mention, Furuya Rei glanced at Nekono Ikuya, and moreover, this guy had been very interested in him from the beginning, often trying to make his presence known in various ways, making it hard for Furuya Rei not to know him.
Therefore, Rei Furuya was not at all surprised that the acting club president asked Ikuya Nekono to save the day, as Ikuya Nekono's acting ability was beyond doubt.
The only problem is...
Who exactly is the "someone" that Nekono-san is referring to? It's so hard to guess!
"Yes, who is this 'someone' referring to?" Furuya Rei gently shifted his gaze again.
"Sigh~" Nekono Ikuya sighed, and was about to say something when she suddenly paused for a moment.
Wait a minute? Something seems off...?
Something felt off. Nekono Ikuya frowned slightly. After a moment, his gaze slowly moved down to the dark skin on the back of his hand.
Then he gradually fell into deep thought.
Nekono Ikumi: "???" Wheat color?
He opened his eyes wide: "!!!" Oh no!
Please help! Please help!
The next second, Nekono Ikuya's entire demeanor changed, a bright and sunny smile suddenly appeared on her face, and her tone of voice changed abruptly without warning.
"Eh, so I've become Furuya-kun's substitute! That sounds interesting!"
What's so interesting about that?
Rei Furuya looked at Ikuya Nekono's radiant smile and felt utterly bewildered.
Also, why does Nekono's reaction seem a bit inconsistent? Furuya Rei frowned.
Of course it was cut apart.
Nekono Ikuya's smile remained bright, but the smile in her heart had already crumbled.
Oh no, oh no, this is really bad!
Nekono Ikuya felt dejected. She had been so engrossed in her speech that she had almost forgotten her persona for the day.
He's all out and about today, so his speaking style shouldn't be like it was just now.
Furuya must have found out, right? Character ruined, Nekono Ikuya's biggest failure.jpg
It's so sad, let him cry for a while.
At this age, Nekono Ikuya is still quite inexperienced and far less mature than in the future. She will often make mistakes unintentionally and still needs to work hard to grow up and level up.
After all, the child is still young.jpg
Fortunately, Zero is also small and has a lot of room for growth. At present, we can only say that the future is promising, and Earth has an excellent matching mechanism.
Uh, to put it bluntly, it means—it's okay, because Furuya Rei is also bad at the game, so it's okay.
Meanwhile, Nekono Ikuya was already immersed in the grief of accidentally ruining her persona, her thoughts temporarily disconnected from Earth Online.
Meanwhile, Rei Furuya had already naturally ignored Ikuya Nekono's unusual behavior, attributing it to Nekono-kun's daily erratic behavior, and began to reflect on his own.
That's right, Rei Furuya started to reflect on things inexplicably after what Ikuya Nekono said!
At this point, Furuya Rei was indeed quite inept.
After listening to what Nekono Ikuya said, Furuya Rei felt for a moment that it seemed to make some sense.
Because she hadn't joined the acting club, and the club president didn't want to give up on the script, Nekono was forced to fill the gap and agree to play the role.
Because of the character's unique appearance and the great difficulty of performing, Nekono-san maintains a similar outfit in her daily life in order to provide an immersive experience.
Seems like everything's fine? Nekono even informed the teacher beforehand—how thoughtful!
If Nekono's behavior was not problematic, then is the problem with him who abruptly questioned her?
Rei Furuya is questioning the meaning of life.
However, just as Ikuya Nekono was able to quickly recover and salvage his character after his persona was ruined, Rei Furuya was not troubled by this linguistic trap for long either, and he also recovered quickly.
There would be no problem at all. The character of Nekono is portrayed as too innocent. Isn't that the biggest problem?
Without any warning, Rei Furuya looked up and said, "Nekono-kun, are you trying to mislead us?"
The more he thought about it, the more convinced he became that this was the truth. It's just that most people use illusions and lies to confuse others' perceptions, but Nekono was smarter or more cunning. He used the truth to confuse his perceptions.
However, the result may disappoint Nekono-kun, because—Furuya Rei is also very smart and won't be easily fooled!
Rei Furuya, hands on hips with pride.jpg
Then, he nervously lowered his hands from his hips, as if he had already been tricked.
Then it won't happen again next time...maybe.
Rei Furuya has realized that, even before the conversation began, he, as the one questioning, was undoubtedly the one standing on the moral high ground to condemn Ikuya Nekono. But now, it is he who feels a little guilty.
The Heavenly Gang is reversed, and Riku Furuya is shocked!
Nekono-kun was subtly seizing the moral high ground from him, and almost succeeded!
The clown is actually myself?!
Like sitting on a seesaw, when Furuya Rei came down, Nekono Ikuya naturally went up. When Furuya Rei felt guilty, the one looking down on others from the moral high ground became Nekono Ikuya.
This doesn't make sense, does it?
How did things turn out this way? Furuya Rei was utterly bewildered.
Of course, what made Furuya Rei feel guilty for a short time was not that the president of the drama club wrote a script based on him due to a mistake, nor was it that he had not yet agreed to join the drama club, so Nekono Ikuya was forced to fill in the plot hole and agree to play the lead role.
It's not like Nekono Ikuya's obviously witty remark, "He became Furuya Rei's substitute."
Just like when Rei Furuya was bullied by some bad kids because his hair color and skin color were different from other kids, Rei Furuya was only sad at most, but he did not feel inferior or hate himself because of what those people said. Instead, he chose to fight them fiercely.
Rei Furuya isn't someone who's easily manipulated or manipulated by others.
PUA, Furuya Rei refuses.
The mistake was clearly not his fault. The president of the acting club had already tried his best to explain before writing the script. Whether or not to join the acting club was his own choice, and whether or not to agree to play the lead role to save the day was a matter between Nekono and the president.
Rei Furuya knew he hadn't done anything wrong, so he naturally didn't feel any inexplicable guilt.
His only regret was that "he thought Nekono was deliberately imitating him, so he came to question her, only to find out that she was actually studying the character in the script."
While Nekono's subsequent words may seem to focus on something else entirely, they actually emphasize, intentionally or unintentionally, that his cross-dressing was a way of studying the character in the script.
When Furuya Rei felt ashamed of his misunderstanding and subsequent questioning, it meant that he had been tricked!
Anyone who believes this reason is an idiot. The chibi version of Furuya Rei quietly removed the nickname "idiot" from his head, looked around to make sure no one was watching, and then secretly stomped on the nickname twice before leaving.
He wasn't about to fall for the trap of severing ties with his former, foolish self.
Rei Furuya spoke again, this time with certainty: "Nekino-san is just trying to confuse the issue."
What do you mean by "analyzing the script and the character"? It sounds reasonable enough. But it's really just about trying to imitate him!
It's likely that she wasn't forced to take on the role, but rather that she enjoyed it; Nekono-kun was clearly very interested in it!
I almost got tricked by Nekono-kun again. How awful, Nekono-kun!
The valley is empty and bloated.
Huh?!
After recovering from her grief, Nekono Ikuya logged back into Earth Online, only to be met with a devastating blow when she was stunned by Furuya Rei's bombardment.
Wait, how could this be? It wasn't here just now.
To put it simply, Ikuya Nekono's feeling was—Furuya-kun suddenly had an epiphany? His epiphany was so sudden!
Could it be that Earth Online secretly updated behind his back? Right when he was sadly disconnecting? Secretly updating without him... that makes me even sadder.
Am I no longer your most beloved child?
Nekono Ikuya pretended to be disappointed and blamed Earth Online for it.
Earth Online: ? ? ? Please do not mention.
Seeing that Nekono Ikuya was still daydreaming, one could tell that his intuition hadn't given him a strong warning.
Then there shouldn't be a big problem.
Nekono Ikuya looked at Furuya Rei, who was almost turning into a pufferfish in anger, and slowly tilted her head.
Although he didn't know why, Furuya seemed even angrier than before, but Ikuya Nekono felt that it was time to jump around on Furuya's emotional limits, tease him, and watch him get angry.
The anger I felt just now seems a little different from the anger I feel now? But how is it different?
Or did Furuya's attitude towards him change after just a few rooftop conversations?
Nekono Ikuya was quite confused, having unknowingly performed many ingenious maneuvers but still not understanding why.
Intuition: I already told you the master is an idiot, I'm the real MVP! *smugly poses with hands on hips*
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