Something called “forbidden armor” had been found deep in the storehouses of Eldant Castle, and the girls had ended up wearing it. It caused them to spout their true feelings with no filter at all, and had ultimately led to a battle with me as the prize.
In hopes of stopping them, I had put on a suit of forbidden armor myself and jumped into the fray—but then I didn’t have any filter either, and the enraged girls ended up using me as a punching bag.
I had been on bed rest until the wounds healed. They hadn’t been hitting me so much as the forbidden armor, so despite some nasty bruises, I was back to normal in a couple of days. And honestly, the only reason it had taken that long was because, carried away by the exuberance of piloting a superweapon, I had put on a bit too much of a show and ended up unbearably sore. So being made a punching bag hadn’t actually been my main problem—although without the forbidden armor, which was designed to enhance people’s abilities in battle, taking a punch from another suit of forbidden armor would probably have caused me to explode.
But anyway.
Bed rest meant no school and no work, just stuck in my room reading manga and playing cell phone games to pass the time in between the meals Myusel brought me. I declined visitors, claiming I needed to focus on getting better. Since I had turned down a visit from Petralka, the Empress of the Eldant Empire, I could hardly go admitting anyone else.
I was, if you will, a completely legitimate (?) home security guard. And you know what? It was nicer than I had expected. Even when I turned down Petralka, it wasn’t so much because I was really afraid it would somehow interfere with my recovery, but rather because I was feeling so restless.
I had attracted the attentions of three different girls, and I found myself unable to choose any one of them. Then I had managed to tick them all off by saying everything I really thought. My heart wasn’t strong enough for me, after all that, to smile and say, “Hey, thanks for the visit!”
It was just too much, in any number of ways.
What other effects had the forbidden armor had? Well, maybe the girls felt better after beating me up together, because Myusel, Petralka, and Elvia were getting along famously, as if there had never been any argument, and it didn’t even seem like they were still mad at me. But... nonetheless, it was extremely difficult for me to face any of them.
“Sigh...”
Just the memory of it was enough to bring a sigh to my lips. And that wasn’t even the only problem I had. Apparently, when Loek and Romilda, two of my students, had come to check on me, somebody—maybe Minori-san or Hikaru-san—had spilled the beans to them about the forbidden armor. And then—in the style of a telephone game, with some details dropping out or changing and others being added—the story of the battle had spread among the other students.
And I could hardly go to school like that.
I could just imagine the scene if I did: the whispers, the pointing and laughing. I wouldn’t be able to endure it. I had come to a whole separate world—had hoped to do so many things differently, and sometimes had even managed it—and here I was, still a laughingstock.
Why does this have to happen to me?!
Er... Well, actually, I was painfully aware of why. But the point was, here in this other world, I was a shut-in once again. That was twice now, in two different worlds. Not that I was keeping score.
As I ate, silently, I kept my eyes fixed on the LCD monitor on my desk. It was showing the display from my computer, currently the interface screen of a gal game. An adorable 2D girl was looking at me, her eyes moist.
So cute. She was just so sweet.
A text window was open just below her picture, a cursor flashing as it awaited my choice. This game had been on my pile for a while, languishing with all the others I hadn’t been able to get to because I’d been busy. Now that I was finally starting it, I discovered how lovable and moe-able the heroines were.
“Oh, sweet Haruka-tan...” I whispered, leaning forward in my chair. I hadn’t had a character hit my moe buttons so hard in a long time. She was sweet and pure, totally committed, an upright leading lady of a kind you don’t see much of these days. Yet she deliberately avoided wearing her long, black hair down, keeping it in manageable twintails instead. It was transcendent, but at the same time, she was an excellent cook, loved to do housework—really the domestic type. But it was the occasional flashes of clumsiness that really lit my fire........................
Long pause.
What was this feeling of déjà vu I was getting? Eh, probably nothing.
“Anyway, I can hardly bear for this route to end! I wonder if they’ll make an anime out of this game. Or maybe we could get a sequel or a spinoff. Bah, but it would be pointless if the spinoff didn’t have Haruka-tan in it!”
The terrible truth... was that I was enjoying my shut-in life. I had my excuses, my reasons, my proximate causes, like being embarrassed to see Myusel and the others, or being afraid of being laughed at at school. But once I had settled into this lifestyle, I kind of got stuck in it—or maybe I should say it was so comfortingly familiar, so downright pleasant, that I had trouble getting out again.
Besides, I had all these games I hadn’t played, books I hadn’t read, DVDs I hadn’t watched. I just hadn’t had the free time. But now I had all the time I needed, and Myusel was bringing meals right to my door. I could do
