Airi Sakura saw the comment, and the smile on her face gradually stiffened. A subtle discomfort crept into her chest, and she couldn't help recalling what had happened earlier that day.
The store clerk's leering gaze.
But she quickly calmed down and put the comment out of her mind.
She'd seen plenty of comments like that before.
Most people were just running their mouths.
Airi Sakura closed her blog and opened the site's trending rankings.
Sometimes, she checked out other bloggers' posts to pick up photography and outfit tips. The highest-ranked accounts were mostly lifestyle bloggers covering makeup, cooking, and fashion, and they were almost all familiar IDs. The site's most popular bloggers were usually the same people.
As Airi Sakura scrolled down the rankings, she noticed an unfamiliar ID.
[Nickname: God]
[Category: Games/Electronics]
[Bio: I am the God of AVG games (I don't reply to comments or DMs. Leave requests for game guides in the comments. I specialize in AVG games.)]
The bold, chuunibyou-style ID made Airi Sakura curious. She clicked into his profile. He didn't have that many followers—not nearly as many as she did—but considering the account had only been created a few days ago, his following was already quite impressive. He was also trending lately.
Airi Sakura stared at the account's creation date.
It was the same day she'd started school.
Was that a coincidence?
But the bio, declaring him the God of AVG games, sparked Airi Sakura's curiosity.
She didn't play games and had no idea what AVG games were, but she vaguely remembered hearing the term somewhere.
Wait...
Could it be?!
That morning, Airi Sakura had overheard some of Keima Katsuragi and Suzune Horikita's conversation. At the time, Keima Katsuragi had been rapidly typing something on his terminal.
Could it have been a blog?
Driven by intense curiosity, Airi Sakura opened God's posts. There weren't many—just two game guides, it seemed.
Airi Sakura didn't know much about them, but she clicked one anyway. Before long, she was drawn in by its contents.
God's guides weren't just about helping players beat the games.
He gave each heroine her own section, carefully analyzing her personality, what she liked and disliked, and what kind of girl she was, as if she were living right beside him.
Not only that, this blogger distilled each heroine's story route, preserving the heart of the story while conveying the subtle feelings between the male and female leads without making it feel long-winded.
His writing was so powerful that even some professional writers might struggle to match it.
This wasn't just a guide. It felt more like a story of youth.
Even though she didn't play games, Airi Sakura was captivated by the stories. Before she knew it, she'd read a great deal, and her heart was even fluttering a little.
For a moment, she felt an urge to fall in love.
Airi Sakura took a deep breath to steady herself, then looked at the comments.
[User Anonymous] You're my God! The best guides on the whole internet!
I'd write a thousand-page petition begging God to create a guide for WHITENOeS_The Tale of a Memory That Tells Lies. Please!
[User Harem King] How does the author keep up such high quality and output? How many livers does he have?
Her gaze returned to the blogger's ID.
That ID, that kind of content... and the date the account was created...
It had to be Keima Katsuragi!
If...
If she only followed him, surely that wouldn't be a problem, right?
Airi Sakura had set her privacy settings so that her followers couldn't see which bloggers she followed. Only the accounts she followed could see it.
Keima Katsuragi probably wouldn't realize she was Shizuku. Maybe he didn't even know who "Shizuku" was. He only followed gaming circles.
And his follower count was growing so fast that he probably wouldn't notice her follow notification.
"Keima..."
For the first time, Airi Sakura felt an intense curiosity about someone else, along with a hint of anticipation.
"He's up to 42% already?! What's going on, God of Conquest? Can you make clones?! Is another God of Conquest actually on a date with Sakura?"
At that moment, in Keima Katsuragi's dorm room, Elsie couldn't make heads or tails of what was happening.
"That's called self-conquest. It sometimes happens with girls who are particularly sensitive."
Keima Katsuragi didn't seem to care much. He picked up his terminal and spoke calmly, ready to write a guide for another game he'd just finished.
As soon as he opened his blog, a bunch of system notifications popped up, including recent visitor logs and new followers.
Thanks to his popular guides, Keima Katsuragi had climbed the newcomer blogger rankings, gaining exposure. It was only natural that his follower count was growing.
[User 123] followed you
[User I'm Natsuyo Mizuki's dog (training to hold my breath underwater)] followed you
[User Shizuku] followed you
Keima Katsuragi glanced at them and was about to start writing the guide.
Wait a second.
Had he just seen a familiar ID?
Airi Sakura?
[User Shizuku] viewed your posts at 18:11
[User Shizuku] viewed your posts at 19:17
[User Shizuku] visited your blog at 20:11
[User Shizuku] just viewed your posts
Airi Sakura had set her account to private, so her followers couldn't see the list of bloggers she followed...
But she'd forgotten one thing.
The visitor logs she left on other people's blogs weren't hidden.
From Keima Katsuragi's perspective, Airi Sakura had visited his blog again and again.
Had she figured out he was "God"?
Then again, Keima Katsuragi hadn't intended to hide it in the first place.
Keima Katsuragi clicked on Airi Sakura's blog.
Volume One: Chapter Thirty: Shiina Hiyori, You're a Menace!
Keima Katsuragi quickly found Airi Sakura's latest post.
Cute, cheerful, and full of youthful energy.
The dormitory background behind her was a little blurry, but it further confirmed her identity for Keima Katsuragi.
Airi Sakura was Shizuku.
Keima Katsuragi had reached that conclusion earlier from the card illustration, and her latest post confirmed it.
His eyes swept over the comments, where he spotted the same rather unsettling comment from before.
[User Anonymous] Two days later, and I saw you up close again today, little Shizuku. Do you know how happy I am to be by your side?~
Keima Katsuragi knew that comments like these were common on idols' accounts. After all, every idol had fans who were fanatical, even if she wasn't particularly popular.
But the problem was the way this person had worded it.
"Again?"
Was it just a joke?
No. It couldn't be a joke, not with "two days later" right there. The timing was so precise that it sounded as if he really had seen Airi Sakura two days ago—
Two days ago was the first day of school, when Keima Katsuragi had run into Airi Sakura at the supermarket. She'd wanted to buy something but hadn't dared speak up.
And today, the two of them had gone to the supermarket again.
Keima Katsuragi couldn't help thinking of the store clerk from earlier.
No, no, no. He couldn't form a bias about someone just because they had the kind of face people stereotypically associated with creeps.
Though, the guy really did look like the lecherous creep type.
Keima Katsuragi opened the commenter's profile. His posts were hidden, but from the avatar and the way he spoke, Keima Katsuragi could still find his earlier comments in Airi Sakura's post history.
He was... a little too fanatical.
Every time she posted something, he left an obsessive comment right away.
Was he constantly monitoring Airi Sakura's blog?
It probably wasn't anything, but Keima Katsuragi decided to keep an eye on him.
"Hey, God of Conquest! This person looks familiar!"
Just then, Elsie leaned over to look. A few seconds later, she suddenly realized,
"Wait! Wait! Is that Sakura?"
"Yeah."
"H-how can this be?!"
Elsie's face was full of shock.
"That's normal, isn't it? Lots of characters have two sides to them. Sakura's the classic example. The whole 'classmate on the surface, idol behind the scenes' setup isn't unusual. Besides, she's only a gravure idol..."
"That's not what I mean! I'm talking about the likes and comments. She only posted a few minutes ago, and she already has several times as many likes as your guides!"
"..."
At that moment, a boy's heart shattered.
Keima Katsuragi's guides had plenty of views—in fact, they were doing extremely well.
But next to Shizuku, a popular gravure idol, they didn't amount to much.
A casual photo someone else took could outperform the work Keima Katsuragi had poured his heart and soul into.
In front of a beautiful girl, nothing stood a chance.
"That's why I hate the real world!"
Keima Katsuragi let out a roar.
Meanwhile, Airi Sakura was browsing the blog too.
Her visitor log was enormous; it refreshed in an instant.
But she still caught sight of a familiar ID.
Usually, Airi Sakura only skimmed the list. There were so many visitors every day that she couldn't possibly remember all their IDs.
But today, she'd remembered this one—and now she'd spotted it in the visitor log.
Or rather, she found herself drawn to the name without even thinking.
That made Airi Sakura realize something...
Before you continue