And so, after finishing my shopping at the school store, I returned to the lab for a moment, but.
“Why have I come to have tea with Mayuki-kun…?”
At the entrance to the cafe space on the first floor of the building where the lab is, I asked Mayuki-kun beside me.
“I’m not sure what’s going on either… But, the tablet I was given says, ‘Take a picture of yourself having tea with Himari at the cafe and post it to RootSpeak.‘”
“What happened to my portrait rights!?”
That heartfelt cry was swallowed up by the clamor of the cafe space set up on campus.
The reason being, this was the instruction that came flying from the professor as she stuffed her cheeks with the gateau chocolat I had just bought.
“‘Head to the cafe with Mayuki-kun. I’ll write the specific instructions in the notepad app.‘”
With just that one phrase, I came all the way here without a moment’s rest, with no time to even sit down.
“Still, a picture, huh.”
Hmm, I pondered for a moment. Well, my information has changed from how it was back then, so it should be fine. The professor probably gave this instruction with that in mind. She’s called a professor for a reason, she’s brilliant, so I’m sure she’s taken everything into account.
“Sorry to be a bother…”
“No, no, it’s fine. What do you want to drink, Mayuki-kun? My treat.”
“…Um. Then, I’ll have the same thing as Anesaki-san.”
“That’s a perfect answer.”
His ‘kouhai power’ is high, I thought, impressed. When someone says something like that, I’m happy to pay for them.
I led the nodding Mayuki-kun, picked up our drinks at the counter, and looked for an empty seat. It was quite crowded due to the open campus, and I couldn’t find a seat where we could settle down.
Dazzling sunlight poured down from the sky, and the smell of burning asphalt rose from the ground.
“There are four cafes on campus… but they’re usually not this crowded.”
“There are a lot of parents with their children.”
“That’s because it’s the open campus. A lot of kids come to tour the place with their parents.”
“I see… That’s what’s normal, huh.”
Normal.
I felt a slight implication in the way he said that, but I decided not to mention it.
“Anesaki-san, since we’re here, let’s get a terrace seat. We can use the sun as a light source here, and unlike indoors, it’s not cluttered, so the picture will look good.”
“Whoa… I’ve never seen someone naturally use the word ‘bae’ before…”
And it was a younger boy, no less.
I, who was just simply thinking, ‘The sun is bright and it’s hot outside, so I don’t wanna’… It seems my ‘joshi-ryoku’ is still lacking. I feel a bit down.
I scooped up the whipped cream on my latte with a spoon and brought it to my mouth.
“Stalkers are terrible, aren’t they? Forcing their affection on someone without considering the other person’s feelings.”
“…You’re right. I’m happy and grateful when someone tells me I’m cute or that they like me, but when it gets distorted into this kind of form, I can’t handle it anymore.”
“Are you a saint or something? I don’t think you need to worry about the other person’s feelings at a time like this.”
“I understand that myself, but I just can’t bring myself to feel detached about it… I know I’m saying something strange.”
“Doesn’t that just mean you’re a good person? You don’t have to worry about it, Mayuki-kun. Lately, crimes that exploit SNS have been coming to light, to the point they’re often featured on the news… Oh, right. Did you know the professor was a commentator on a news program the other day?”
“Yes, I did… I happened to see her on TV about two weeks ago.”
“Oh, that one… I was talking about the internet show. It was a program that delved into criminal acts on SNS, so I saved it. Wanna watch?”
Saying that, I operated my smartphone, launched the video app, and tapped the thumbnail of the program I had saved to my storage. It was a special feature dealing with criminals who record and upload videos of underage prostitution, soliciting minors, and nuisance acts via social media.
“Here, look.”
When I pointed, the professor was in the middle of speaking on the screen.
“‘Before we delve into the opinion that the spread of SNS has simply brought pre-existing nuisance acts to the surface, we should first separate the problems and consider them individually. The same can likely be said for underage prostitution.‘”
The host looked bewildered by her rapid-fire speech, which was so fast you’d wonder how many words she was speaking per second.
“Indeed, services where posts are deleted after a set time, like Instagram’s Story feature, have been increasing recently, and there are cases where these functional characteristics are exploited.”
A new opinion emerged from the side, agreeing with the professor, and the discussion became more lively.
“Ah, I know the person sitting next to Professor Shirasagi. They’re famous, right?”
“Was it Housenka-san? The genius, beautiful college student with an IQ of 200. Aren’t her specs a little too high…?”
“The comedian host is Kuribayashi-san from Shitchaka x Mecchaka, who has a regular show on Saturday afternoons. Is the woman with long hair over here the actress Ubume Fuuka-san?”
“The professor really co-stars with some amazing people… It doesn’t feel real.”
Just as I was thinking that, a smartphone’s front-facing camera was suddenly pointed at me.
“Well then, for now, shall we take a picture as we were told?”
Reacting instinctively, I pursed my lips a little and made a peace sign. How do you do a duck face again?
The next moment.
Clickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclickclick!
An incredible barrage of shutter sounds echoed from Mayuki-kun’s hands.
“You’re taking so many pictures!?”
As I cried out in my natural way of speaking, Mayuki-kun showed me his phone with a serious expression.
“For now, I took about 80 photos. What do you think?”
“Eighty…? Besides, even if you ask me what I think…”
I found myself speaking formally. The screen was filled with two-shots of me and Mayuki-kun.
What is this… Is it movie film or something?
”…’Is something wrong?’ is all I can say, but…”
Then Mayuki-kun pointed at the camera roll, which looked like a flip book, and said.
“The way the light hits and the angle of our faces change with every frame. I’ll choose the best shot from these, edit it a little with an app, and then post it to SNS. Would you like to choose with me?”
“Ah, um, no, it’s fine. I’ll leave it to you…”
Staring at this many pictures of my own face makes my eyes go funny. I mean, it’s a little creepy.
However, for kids of the generation a little younger than me, this might be normal. Is this what they call a generation gap?
Although I was taken aback by Mayuki-kun’s burst shooting, it’s entirely possible that my own common sense was just mistaken.
“Anyway, we’ve finished the task from the professor, so shall we head back to the lab for now?”
“You’re right… Ah, thank you for the drink.”
“Not at all. It’s a senpai’s duty to treat their kouhai.”
Just as we were standing up from our seats while having that conversation, Mayuki-kun muttered under his breath.
“This is the first time I’ve posted a picture with no makeup on…”
I thought I might have misheard, so I decided not to pry into this either.