My Childhood Friend, Who I Made a Promise To Spend the Future With, Dumped Me... But Ever Since I Started Dating a Beautiful Girl From School, My Childhood Friend Has Been Acting Strange - Episode 42

The preparations for the stream were complete, and at last, a fresh start had been made.

Tsubaki Sakurada, a junior, had long wanted to try being a virtual streamer, and now, her activities were progressing smoothly.

The avatar illustration was prepared by Toma Suzuki.

On the screen, that illustration moved as an avatar.

With light green hair, an elf-like appearance, and a magic book in her left hand, the fantasy-style design looked like something straight out of an anime.

The avatar had been commissioned from a company specializing in 2D animation.

Since they had opted for a relatively inexpensive model, the body movements were somewhat stiff, but Tsubaki seemed satisfied with it for now.

Once she saved up enough money, she planned to request another upgrade from the company.

That evening, after dinner, Toma sat on the living room sofa, watching a livestream of Tsubaki’s virtual streaming activities on the TV screen.

It had been about two weeks since she started, and her subscriber count had already reached around 100.

For an unknown streamer, that was quite a lot.

Tsubaki had mentioned at school that simply streaming about things she liked was fun for her.

Toma had subscribed to her channel, as had Suzuha and Emi.

For now, all he could do was support her and offer occasional advice while watching over her progress.

That night, after finishing the stream, Toma headed to his room.

Lately, his younger sister Emi had been locking herself in her room right after dinner, studying non-stop.

Apparently, she had an upcoming test.

Toma hoped she would do well.

So, being careful not to make any noise, he spent some time on his phone before going to bed.

“Hey, big brother. Look at this.”

One evening on a weekday, Toma was sitting on the living room sofa when his sister, who had just come home, showed him a few sheets of paper.

“Look! These are my test results from the other day. I scored over 80 in every subject!”

“R-Really? That’s amazing.”

Emi held out the test papers, covered in checkmarks.

“Right? And guess what? I made it into the top 10 in my class!”

“You’ve been studying late into the night, so your hard work paid off.”

“Yeah! So, I have a request. Can we order takeout today?”

“Takeout? Sushi?”

“Not sushi, but I really want pizza! I found this flyer in the mailbox the other day, and I’ve been craving it. Can we order this extra-large pizza as a celebration?”

She handed him the flyer.

It was for a huge pizza, currently on a limited-time 20% discount.

“Well, since it’s a special occasion, let’s order it.”

“Thanks! But… I’m a bit short on money right now, so can you cover half of it?”

“Sure. You worked hard, after all. What else should we get?”

Emi sat beside Toma, looking through the menu together.

“Cola is a must. And how about some fries?”

“But wouldn’t this side menu set be cheaper?”

“No way! That one has onion rings instead of fries, and I really want fries!”

“I see. You’re set on fries, huh?”

“Yep, that’s the mood I’m in.”

“Alright, in that case, I’ll get fries too. Should we go for the large size?”

“Yeah!”

The two continued scanning the flyer, deciding on their order together.

The next day.

Toma and Emi had spent the previous night enjoying their pizza and fries.

The pizza, made with high-quality ingredients, was absolutely delicious.

Having eaten so much, even after sleeping and waking up, Toma still felt full.

He skipped breakfast and went to school, and by lunchtime, he still wasn’t hungry.

Since there had been no physical education classes that morning, he figured he could get through the day with just drinks.

“Toma, are you okay? You haven’t eaten anything.”

During lunch break, Toma sat on a bench on the rooftop.

Beside him was Suzuha Kamiya, who was eating her homemade bento.

Toma, on the other hand, was just drinking a bottled juice from a vending machine.

“I’m fine. I had a huge pizza last night, so I’m still full.”

“I see. Pizza is so good, isn’t it?”

“Yeah. I don’t know why, but it’s just amazing.”

“Maybe it’s the cheese and special sauce that make it so tasty?”

“That makes sense.”

“But eating too much isn’t good either. I always get tempted when I pass by a pizza place.”

“Same.”

“Now I really want pizza, too.”

“Want to go eat some this weekend?”

“That sounds great! Oh, and let’s go to the aquarium, too. We promised to go but never had the chance.”

“Good idea. We can go to the aquarium and then grab some pizza afterward.”

“Sounds perfect! I can’t wait for this weekend!”

Suzuha smiled happily.

Finally, they could do something that felt like a real date.

As Toma imagined their day together, he found himself eagerly looking forward to the weekend.

“By the way, I’ve been thinking about the future. There’s something I want to do with you.”

“What is it?”

“I want to watch anime together.”

“With me?”

“Yeah. You know, since I used to be a virtual streamer, I’ve been thinking about doing voice-related work. I want to expand my range of expression, so I thought watching anime and movies would help. Right now, I’m in the broadcasting club, but when I think about my future, I feel like this is my only option.”

Suzuha was seriously thinking about her future and taking steps toward it.

Toma, too, had been considering his own future.

After breaking up with Saori, he realized it was time to reconsider his path.

“Plus, next month, we have to decide whether to pursue higher education or get a job. So I’ve been thinking a lot about it. What about you, Toma? Have you made up your mind?”

“Well… I haven’t decided yet. But I’ll think about it soon.”

Originally, he had planned to go into a typical career.

But after drawing illustrations for Tsubaki, he started to consider working in the art field.

By the end of the month, he would have to make his decision.

Although he could change his path later, the career guidance counselor wanted to understand the students’ choices as early as possible.

As he pondered his future, Toma took another sip of his juice.