Do I really have a thing for female voice actors?

"Oh, does that mean I'm not welcome?"

"It's just to find a topic to avoid awkwardness. If it's difficult, you don't have to say it."

"........."

This sentence felt somewhat familiar to her.

"Now that the performance is over, it's time to rest and relax."

Hina Aoki clapped her hands, walked away from Toru Tazaki, jumped back onto the stage, and paced back and forth.

Sometimes he would reach out and touch the drum paddles, and sometimes he would suddenly jump up and try to touch the ceiling.

She was like a restless little wildcat, constantly patrolling her territory, never finding peace.

Tazaki Toru stared silently at the platform shoes on Aoki Hina's feet, which were at least six or seven centimeters thick, as if afraid that she might twist her ankle.

Tazaki Toru glanced at the electric guitar on the stage. It seemed she had been playing it for a long time before he arrived; her way of taking a break was truly unusual.

"Oh right, I heard from the store manager that you seemed to have come to see my stage play. What do you think?"

To be honest, I didn't quite understand the last stage play, Toru Tazaki. It seemed to be a sequel, and it ended at a rather subtle point. I heard that the sequel won't be released until next year.

He looked Aoki Hina up and down beside him, thought for a long time, and then tentatively asked, "Can I tell the truth?"

"Since I asked, of course I should hear the truth."

With the person's permission, Toru Tazaki pondered for a moment before answering truthfully: "The wig doesn't look good; it makes my head look big and my face round."

Aoki Hina's eyes widened in disbelief as she stared at Tazaki Toru, momentarily stunned.

After she realized what was happening, her petite and adorable face puffed up like a pufferfish, making it appear even rounder.

"Who told you to speak such truths!"

Tazaki Toru exclaimed in surprise, "The truth is divided into this kind and that kind?"

"Tazaki-kun, you must not have any friends."

"How rude of me, I do have someone I can confide in."

"Hey~~~" Aoki Hina drawled, her face full of disbelief, as if Tazaki Toru was lying to her.

"A girl?" she asked.

"No comment."

Tazaki Toru stretched, no longer in the mood for idle chatter, and prepared to think of some melodies for the Sky Cup campaign.

As soon as I entered the lounge, Hina Aoki jumped off the stage and followed me in.

Tazaki Toru was already used to this, simply treating it as having a clingy little cat in his room.

As long as it doesn't suddenly jump onto the table and lie on the mouse pad with its head as a pillow, Tazaki Toru won't do anything to her.

"Hey, I'm talking to you, Tazaki-kun."

Miss Cat stood behind him, bending her slender waist, her naturally falling long black hair brushing against Toru Tazaki's exposed neck, making it slightly itchy.

She stared at Tazaki Toru's fingers dancing across the MIDI keyboard, her tone tinged with envy.

"Actually, even now, I'm still writing scores with a pen."

"It's very nice, it has a classic feel."

She raised her lovely smile and said in a very professional manner, "Mitsubishi's 0.5mm mechanical pencil is easy to use, and recently they released a collaboration with a manga that I like."

"But you have to understand, someone like me who does whatever I want, to put it nicely, is full of creativity and has a flexible mind; to put it bluntly, I just do whatever comes to mind and have no fixed ideas."

“Every time I write down a note, I have to overwrite and revise it more than ten times before I’m satisfied.”

"Tazaki-kun, can you imagine how fast my eraser disappears?"

She seemed to be hinting at something, but Toru Tazaki decided to pretend he didn't understand.

Seeing that Tazaki Toru remained unmoved, Miss Aoki decided to put in more effort, risking the reputation of the rising star of the Hibiki Society, to persuade Tazaki Toru to willingly pass on his skills to her.

“Tazaki-kun…”

"Tazaki-kun, oh, Oshima-chan is here too. I was just saying I didn't see you outside..."

The door to the lounge opened, and Manager Yoshimura and Ms. Kuroki walked in together.

Seeing this, Hina Aoki, who was about to say something, suddenly stopped herself in her throat and immediately gave a polite smile.

"Okay, I'm here to bother you."

The store manager walked over, glanced at the computer screen, and casually asked, "How's the house search going?"

"It's hard to find." Tazaki Toru shook his head.

He'd already been staying at Mika Takagi's house for several days, and if this continued, Toru Tazaki worried that one day he might really become a parasite living off female voice actresses.

Hina Aoki stood quietly to one side, listening to the conversation between the manager and Toru Tazaki, looking thoughtful.

……

……

Since he didn't have to work tonight, Toru Tazaki left the SHELTER early and went to the supermarket before going home to buy some fresh ingredients.

Since he doesn't have to pay rent or utility bills, Toru Tazaki has to focus on cooking to avoid being labeled a kept man.

At this time, Mika Takagi is still working part-time. Going back to cook now would be the perfect timing.

Back at the apartment, Tazaki Toru took out the spare key that Takagi Mika had given him. As soon as he entered, he was greeted by a wave of warm steam.

Tazaki Toru looked into the room and noticed that, for some reason, the bathroom door was open, and steam was emanating from inside.

A familiar girl emerged from inside, wrapped only in a thin bath towel, her arms raised as she dried her wet brown hair.

The crystal-clear water droplets were about to fall, and the underarm care was done very well, so clean that it looked like a brand new porcelain bowl.

When the fog inside the house completely dissipated, and feeling the gaze fixed on her, the girl couldn't help but turn her head and see Tazaki Toru standing in the entryway.

The room fell silent.

All that could be heard was the sound of water droplets rolling down her skin and dripping onto the floor.

21. Dude, I'm really being manipulated by female voice actors.

The "lucky pervert" incident will only happen zero times or countless times.

Tazaki Toru didn't know who said those words, or even if anyone had said them at all.

But at least at this moment, Toru Tazaki has no choice but to believe this claim.

Before his brain could function,

Before the voice actress in front of me screamed,

Just before that thin, cicada-wing-like bath towel fell to the ground.

Tazaki Toru's body moved first; he didn't even know how he reacted before he left the house.

Standing outside the door, feeling lingering fear and a sense of loss, I felt a breeze.

He's still too much of a gentleman.

However, the female voice actress inside did not scream as he had imagined; she was even unusually quiet, leading Tazaki Toru to believe that he had stumbled into a silent lakebed.

After an unknown amount of time, a "click" came from the door behind me.

The sound made Tazaki Toru's heart leap, and he had to turn around stiffly.

And so, he met Takagi Mika's eyes once again.

The girl's hair was still a little wet, and a few water droplets rolled down from the ends, inevitably wetting her shoulders.

The moment she touched Tazaki's see-through line, she hurriedly lowered her head, her right hand unconsciously rising to grasp the sleeve of her left arm, her index finger and thumb twisting the fabric back and forth.

"Feel sorry……"

"sorry!"

They said it in unison.

In a situation like this, there's no reason to make the girl apologize.

"I'm sorry, I thought you were still working. I should have checked first."

She had probably guessed this would happen when she was alone in the house earlier.

"Tazaki-san, don't you have a part-time job today?" she asked softly, her tone still gentle and innocent, with a hint of shyness as she tried to remain calm.

"Um... I wasn't on duty, so I came back early."

"I see."

Unfortunately, the conversation was stiff and awkward.

From Mika Takagi's perspective, what made her tone stiff was probably an emotion inclined towards shyness.

Katasaki Toru seems to be different from her.

So she raised her eyes to look at the man in front of her, and said softly, "Anyway, let's go inside."

The girl made way for him, and Tazaki Toru hesitated before entering the house.

Unlike before, when they sat down in the living room, the silence was longer than ever before.

After a long pause, Tazaki Toru took a deep breath and looked at Takagi Mika with a serious expression.

"I think I should move out first."

For some reason, Mika Takagi was not surprised at all; it seemed that this was exactly the kind of reaction she expected from the man named Toru Tazaki.

"Have you found a place to stay yet?"

Not yet.

"Where can you move to? Are you really going to live under a bridge? If you do, I certainly won't be bringing you beer as a gift when I visit your 'new home'."

"Has it been confirmed that my new home is under the overpass?" Tazaki Toru exclaimed in surprise.

The voice actress put her hands on her hips, sighed in a deliberately deep voice, and couldn't help but steal a glance at Tazaki Toru to see what kind of expression he had at that moment.