Letting Anger Eat Me

“Look! It’s wonderful, isn't it!?”

In our room, Sera sat on my bed, while I sat on my computer chair, showing her my mobile phone. It had Mom’s capture of us in the bay, both staring at the same sunset. It felt like it was a separate cutscene from FCO5 where I, the player, interacted with Shizu-sama before her departure.

Sera leaned in with glittering eyes, showing her adoration with the bright sunset. “It’s beautiful.”

Smirking, I bragged, “See? It’s the power of memories. It can capture a specific moment, and we won’t be worrying about it being forgotten… except through complicated technical issues.”

She leaned back and asked, “Kou-nii… That device is wonderful. What do you call that?”

I waved my phone up and said, “Oh, this? It’s a phone, capable of talking to others over long distances, playing anime movies, and capturing real-life moments. Quite a handy thing, isn’t it?”

“Can you talk with others over long distances? From what I believe, Telepathic abilities had limitations with distances.”

“This world doesn’t have magic, only technology. With this, I can talk to Mom anytime, anywhere. This smart thing can also store thousands of memories and record a certain moment in time. Look at this!”

When Sera leaned near me to watch the phone screen, she witnessed her performance from my point of view backstage. Though this wasn’t the best view, I could be the man of pride knowing she was my partial sister.

She covered her mouth and inhaled excessive air, her eyes widening. “That’s too much function! In my world, we could only carve hand-drawn images with coal through caves and wood chops.”

“Don’t worry, Sera! Once you finish studying Japanese writing, you can use this device as well.”

“Really!” She exclaimed loudly, showing her eyes that sparkled. She then clenched both her fists and made an ‘I got this’ gesture, acting hyper. “I’ll do my best to learn!”

“Do your best from now on. Your tutor will be coming tomorrow. I know how excited you are, but you should sleep properly tonight.”

With a wide grin, she nodded. “Right!”

Facing back my computer, I said, “Moving on, let us try to find your way back home. It might be a bit difficult to search for this for now, but we’ll still try. Would you mind telling me the name of your place?”

She sat back on the bed and gazed at my shelf full of books. “Pencyne… It's the Pencyne Kingdom, a civilization inside the forest.”

“Hmm… I can’t find anything related aside from a modern book based on Greek Mythology.” I can’t ask her to write how it was spelled since she can’t read Japanese characters yet. “I’m sorry, I can’t be of much help for now. Let us call this off for now. Don’t worry! I won’t give up on finding your way back home.”

“It’s alright, Kou-nii. I’m not lying if I tell you I’m so worried about my father and our people, but I might stay here for now. After all, I feel safe when I’m with you.”

Oh, if we continue the conversation, I’d be surrounded by dramatic vibes. I coughed and changed the subject.

“So you want to become my cosplayer? To become the best cosplayer, we need to gain your popularity. You should be on the top of the Regent of Glamour Rankings to become the best. It might take a long time to achieve this, but scanning this would be our best reference. You understand how rankings work, right?”

“Rankings? Was it like the standards of competition of how much they hit the bullseye?”

Showing her my screen again, I guided her to the cosplayer’s Instantgram images and blog posts. Giggling, I lately realized; my excitement far surpasses hers.

“Exactly! Here’s Mimirin, the top tenth of the rankings. She was a famous online sensation, but her appearance on the competition made her popularity skyrocket! For the next ranking, Hina Satou stands on the ninth ranking. Due to her young age and height, she can cosplay various cute characters.

“Oh, there’s the rankings for the Rising Stars in Cosplaying. These are the rankings of cosplayers who just started. This is weekly updated by the famous blogger, JoStar. Pure interactions with the commenters are also available here, giving us reliable feedback… though some of the commenters are trolls.

“For the first step, we need to have a unique style of cosplaying. In your case, since you have natural elven ears, we should focus on imitating elves. However, until your name scatters online, we should focus on Shizu-sama for now.

“My shelf almost had references to elven movies, mangas, and novels. I’ll let Mom know this so that she can prepare the movie for you before your tutor comes in.”

“Do you have a clue on who my tutor may be?”

“I don’t know. It was Mom’s decision, but I can assure you she’s reliable.” Also, Mom know’s Sera’s situation. She’ll pick a tutor appropriate of her age and someone confidential.

Just by post scrolling the Rising Stars blog, I gasped, my eyes widening. I’ve seen a post regarding the confidential win of Rise. She was still new to the industry, but many believed that due to her similarity of style with Hina Satou, she was really the infamous cosplayer.

Additionally, the scarier news came up below the article. A Shizu-sama cosplayer from maidreams nearly took the crown from the infamous Mimirin who got disqualified due to leaving the venue early. However, near the article header is the most emphasized confidential information, verbatim…

‘Her name is Sera.’

Time for homeroom class led by my adviser, Asami Yamamoto. Throughout the entire period, she consumed two sachets of black coffee, and their packaging was still present in her table. Before our class ended, she announced,

“Everyone, regarding your physical education practicals tomorrow, Mr. Kimura requested that you pick your own partners. This may be regarding the exercises tomorrow. Also, please make sure that you don’t forget your PE uniforms because the exercises may be done in the field. You can consume this period in picking partners, but don’t be too loud!”

Most of our classmates stood up and searched for their partners. Me? I was too focused on the revelation of Sera’s private information online. Heck! Even countless fake Instantgram profiles suddenly appeared out of nowhere, showing her images from yesterday’s convention.

Though my closed lips hid my clenching teeth, my muscles quivered unconsciously. For every Sera’s dump profile I saw, my hands automatically tapped the report button. My barrage lasted until I reported a total of 40 profiles when almost all of my classmates got a partner for tomorrow’s PE class.

I only became aware after the bell rang and I looked up. Everyone has already left the classroom except for me and a classmate whose head is buried down her arms on her desk. Like the everyday occurrence, no one tried to wake her up. It was only this day to approach her because I need a partner through my PE classes.

“H–Hello, Amamiya. Do you already have a partner for tomorrow’s class?” I asked, fidgeting my fingers before her sleeping face. She was Rise Amamiya, and she was like me, socially detached, aloof.

When she slowly stood up, pulling up the bags of her short sky blue hair, I could see her morning glory residing in her lifeless half-closed eyes. Countless acne and freckles inhabited her face, but I’m amazed how symmetrical the patterns were. Not to deny, but her face was one of the reasons why no one wanted to partner with her.

She wandered her head, looking around for another person, but there was only me. Without hesitation, she nodded her head and said with the voice of a sloth, “...T–Thanks for waking me up.”

I waved my hand before my abdomen and exclaimed with shyness, “No, no! It should be me who should thank you. I appreciate you helping me out for tomorrow’s class.”

She stood up slowly like a sloth and carried one strap of her bag on her right shoulder. Dragging her steps out the room with a stooped posture, she was the pinnacle of unattractiveness in existence. It was not that I don’t like her, and she wasn’t doing anything wrong, but if I’m going to be asked, I don’t want to be her partner.

I sighed and slapped my forehead, thinking it was my fault this happened. “I shouldn’t have let anger eat me.” Speaking of hate, I nearly got curious on who Izumi’s partner was, but the answer instantly appeared in my head. It should always be her best friend, Naoko.

I intentionally delayed my dismissal so that Izumi could go home early, so our paths wouldn’t collide. However, as I got home, my eyes widened the moment I saw my former friend interacting with Sera.

Sera currently wore a beanie to hide her ears. Her hair was also entangled to hide it. However, she was sitting side by side with Izumi in our lounge. Sera handled the pen over a notebook filled with kanji. Their eyes directed to me after I got their attention from opening the door.

“Kou-nii! Welcome back! Oh, my tutor–”

“Izumi!?”