Rocket Start ~sparse flash~ Chapter 1

[nebulancer]

Subaru: ...

Natsume: Ak̛eh̕osh̵i͞ ͘S̨u̸baru͟-ḱun.

Subaru: Uhyah!? Ahh, you surprised me, don't just talk to me outta the blue~?

Uhh. Sa...Saka- Sakaki-kun, right? Do you have any business with me~?

Natsume: It's not Sakaki but SakasakI. They're mixed up quite frequentlY; I'm Sakasaki NatsumE...

You should at least remember the names of your classmateS, as we will be making each other's acquaintances afterwards every daY♪

Subaru: "Making each other's acquaintances"! Ahaha, that's a pretty interesting way of talking there☆

So, we're classmates? You... uh, can I call you Natsume? But I don't really see you in the classroom often?

Natsume: AhahA. The content taught in spring of the first yeaR, is much of the content which I have already finisheD.

Some time agO, I had passed an idol training course not unlike this one, after alL.

Our school's curriculum, matching those "kids unable to do it", was quite lukewarM.

Knowing that forever and being able to discern as sucH, that I had to be quiet and continue listening~ was rather agonizinG.

That "time I should have become useless" was put to effective usE, and reading books and the like had brought me head and shoulders above my surrounding peers was how I'd lived cleverlY.

"Time is money", in this world time is the most valuable resourcE.

It's not an impossible missioN. The students placed within Yumenosaki Academy... Those called idolS, you see, are part of a royal aristocracY.

Even if it's to the point where I skip out on the lessons for a biT, the teacher won't say anythinG.

Subaru: Nn~, isn't it better if you attend lessons like you're supposed to? Because you have to pay the admission fee.

Natsume: My parents forced me into entering this schooL, so honestly I don't have much of a motivation to attenD...

Somehow, it seems due to wanting to impart me with "the charisma to lead a new era" that my Daddy did thiS.

With "fortune teller" and "idol" fused togetheR, to become a "special existence" who could control people's hearts, taking the world by surprise from behinD...

My Daddy isn't a bad persoN, but his megalomania that goes a bit too far is the flaw in the crystaL.¹

I just want to normallY, like my Mommy, become a "fortune teller", thougH...

That kind of era probably won't comE, but we can't not stay close to the trendS.

Subaru: Whoa... That's interesting, everyone has all kinds of motives for entering Yumenosaki Academy, huh.

An ordinary reason for entering like mine, just that "I want to be an idol!" is a bit... In hindsight, that's kind of in the minority, that's what I've been thinking lately.

Natsume: Fufufu. With that philistinism which matches your wordS, I feel as if I may have heard before that which lines up as if glossing over.

I look up to those beautiful conceptS, as I'm incapable of completely assimilating those kinds of pure idealS.

If that is your meaninG, then you truly are in the minoritY. No, you are completely alieN, Akehoshi Subaru-kun.

For humanS, to continually gaze at the sun has the possibility of causing one's eyes to cease functioninG.

While you float within your surroundingS, so that none may understand yoU, "that's just how it goes", after alL.

If just now, someone like a classmate were to ask you to do daily duties, you would do sO. That's what I'm able to surmisE.

To the limits of my observatioN, however, you have been doing day duty for three consecutive dayS.

That's quite unusuaL, seeing as how day duties are swapped out dailY. Someone said "Do it as my substitute" and asked yoU, and you must have readily accepted iT.

So saD. If you attempt to curry favor that waY, no one could ever love yoU.

You're only being used for conveniencE, "doing whatever's ordered of you as if you were an opportune tool", you knoW.

They don't think of you as a human of equal standinG, much less, you couldn't ever become their frienD.

If you weren't able to do what they commandeD, once you failed they would immediately remove you from their possessioN.

You worthless tool! You useless dog that has to listen to what I say! You slave that can't even perform your services well enough!²

...Just kiddinG. Instead, theY could only hope such thingS.

Humans are unable to calm down when they see beautiful, pure thingS, so with their own hands they make to sully theM.

If you pluck an angel's wings it will be dragged down to the grounD, that even if the sun were to shine on it, smeared with mud, its brilliance would all but be eraseD.

I'm tired of iT, that humans are carrying the fate that is structurally unsounD.

Subaru: Uhh. Sorry, if you say difficult things then I won't understand.

Natsume: AhahA, you're simply "pretending to not understand", righT?

Subaru: ...Anyways, what really was your business with me? Just come here to make fun of me?

Natsume: AhahA, sorry about thaT. When I say things with such deep meanings, I'm using my brain's capacity to analyzE; upsetting others and taking away their cool is a fortune teller's conventional means, after alL.

It's an occupational diseasE. Talking as such has become my habiT. If I were to truly dislike you, I would have thought nothing of it and continued hurting you that waY.

Actually... To become your friend I raised my voice to yoU, Akehoshi Subaru-kun.

Subaru: Eh, my friend? I'm so happy~! Ever since I came, I didn't think I'd be able to talk with someone like a friend so normally!

Natsume: Isn't that righT. Not with feelings of jealousy or envY, as without "friends" humanity wouldn't be able to accept each other in the slightesT. How pitifuL, that the genius is shunneD♪

Even if there were one friend to forgive your hearT, no matter what cruel battlefields one would be able to overcome iT.

To find competitors in each other in the entertainment worlD, "that" to look for would be quite difficult indeeD.

F͝or͜ y̢òur̷ ́fat͢h̀er as ̴well̵,̸ ìf ͟the̶r͝e͏ we̛re tha͡t͞ ́k̡in̛d͘ of "com͝pet̢it͝or͜"..̴.̨ T̡ha̡t͘ w̡ay,͢ ̸he̸ ̀w̧ould͟n͢'t͘ ͝hav̢e r͟e͠c͜eived ͞s̢u̕ch ̛a͜ ͜tra̕gi̵c end̵ín̸g͜,͜ ͢do̶n̢'̛t̨ ̛yo̴u ͜th̸in̸k̷?

Subaru: ...Hey. Because you knew about my dad, did you talk to me for fun?

Natsume: Let's deny that completelY; it's a misunderstandinG.

Because your father was simply too greaT, those who have talked to you up until now were all just "those kinds of people", howeveR.

The one I have business with iS, not "the son of that Akehoshi", but "Akehoshi Subaru-kun" himselF.

Of coursE, the reason why I took interest in you concerns your fatheR, buT

My Mommy was rather friendly with your fatheR, so I often heard his talkinG... Out of sympathy and curiosity, I simply thought to seek out talk with yoU.




¹-The term Natsume uses here is 玉に瑕, which, translated literally, is "flaw/scratch in the jewel" but means the same as the saying "fly in the ointment"; rather, it's a kind of flaw that would mar an otherwise good thing.


²-Yes, here Natsume is talking without his regular speech quirk, and using regular hiragana to end his sentences. It's likely to imitate the people who would be yelling such words to Subaru.