Chapter 1457 Competition Afterparty ⑤

While looking at the bustle of the busy afterparty in the distance, Aoi-chan started slowly talking.

[My house is quite... well, considerably big.]

[It's the Kusunoki Group after all.]

[Yes. I'm sure many people envy me. The only daughter of the head of one of the largest companies in Japan, it's no wonder that people would say I was born with a golden spoon in my mouth.]

In fact, Aoi-chan's household... Kusunoki Group is that big of a company that even I know about them. Aoi-chan, who was born as the daughter of one of the world's largest corporations that Japan is proud of, is definitely a high society figure.

However, if Aoi-chan were to be asked if that made her happy or not, it seemed like she might shake her head at that.

[From the moment I gained awareness of what was going on around me, I've only been studying various things. I almost never met my parents, and even if they did call me, I would either be referred to as "Oi" or "You", and they would never properly call me by my name. Basically, to the people around me, I was nothing more than "Kusunoki Group's young lady", not Kusunoki Aoi.]

[...I can only imagine what it's like, but it must be hard not being seen for who you are.]

[Yes... Moreover, I grew to hate those who gather around me. This might sound extreme, but marrying me, the head of Kusunoki Group's only daughter, meant that they would actually become the successor of the Kusunoki Group... It was really disgusting to see people who were obviously old enough to be my parent coming with such a purpose in mind at parties I've been to since I was little.]

[You could easily tell people with such inner thoughts after all.]

Even I had such a time in my life. My environment and situations are different from Aoi-chan's, but I understand well that the people around me feels pity towards me right after I lost my parents, and when they had just adopted me, I understood that my uncle and aunt were quite concerned about me, making me feel somewhat apologetic for them.

[Well, while living such a life, I have the impression that my private life was really boring. I didn't have anyone around me that I could trust... We had different positions, but perhaps, if I had someone just as how Lilia-san had Luna-san and Sieg-san, things might have been different. It wasn't under I entered high school that I became friends with Hina-chan. ]

[That means, when we were just summoned, you had only been hanging out with her for half a year... It seemed to me that you had been getting along pretty well at that time though...]

[The fact that Hina-chan always admired me for our club activities was a big part of that, and it was really only after we were summoned that we became closer. Being as we were in the same situation, we can now call each other best friends.]

In fact, I think that Aoi-chan and Hina-chan are close enough that their combination is as good as Lilia-san, Sieg-san and Luna-san. They have a good relationship where one could say that their personalities are compatible with each other, or rather, they make use of each other's strengths and make up for each other's weaknesses. The fact that their activities as Adventurers are going well is also proof of their good compatibility.

[Going back to the topic, I had a lot of things to study and didn't have much free time, when I stumbled upon that MMO. I wonder why? I was longing for a place where I could be with people who didn't know me as the young lady of the Kusunoki Group, so once I started playing, I was hooked.]

[Speaking of which, you were in elementary school when we first met, right? I remember being surprised to learn about that later when you use your words well.]

[I was quite troubled at first though. I had never played an MMO before, and if Ciel-san... Kaito-san hadn't approached me at that time, I might have stopped playing before I got hooked.]

My encounter with Aoi-chan was just the result of a whim, so to speak. At that time, I was completely addicted to the MMO, so I had cleared all the content that was implemented at that time, including the highest difficulty level content.

That happened while I was thinking about what to do now until the next major update, having already gathered all the necessary equipment. I remember thinking about various things, such as making another character, or earning money in preparation for the newly implemented items to be released.

I often visited the town where players were initially located at the beginning of the game, as it was a popular place for players to set up their stalls.

It was at that time that I found Aoi-chan a.k.a. Hibis-kun. No, actually, as someone who was used to the game, it was quite easy to understand that she was a puzzled newbie, and since I had just some free time, I called out to her and taught her various things.

[It was just a coincidence that I approached you, but I remember having a lot of fun talking with you, or rather, teaching you various things about the game.]

[About half of my login time ended up being spent just chatting in the city. I also, well, how should I say this... The first time we met, I had the impression that you were a gentle older person, and I remember having fun talking with you.]

She was so polite and mature that I just assumed she was someone of my age or even older than me. I remember being really surprised when I found out her age some time after we got to know each other.

At first, talking with her was just a whim, but we somehow got along well and it was fun to be with Hibis-kun, who genuinely looked up to me, so I remember that when Hibis-kun was logged in, I would stop hunting and take time off for her.

Although her log-in time per day was short, we were together for years... Thinking of it this way, it might be fair to say that I have known Aoi-chan for quite some time already.