Who are you?

Just as dawn was breaking, the chirping of unknown birds came from outside the window.

Kazakami Ritsu poked her head out from under the covers, glancing sleepily at the not-yet-fully-bright sky outside the French windows.

After fumbling around on the bed for a while, she found her phone, which had been casually tossed aside, and checked the time. It was just past seven.

“What’s going on… it’s a rare day off.”

Although she grumbled this, Kazakami Ritsu still climbed out of bed and pressed the switch on the wall.

She picked up the clothes she had prepared in advance, put them on, and walked toward the bathroom, yawning.

After entering the bathroom, Kazakami Ritsu stared at her reflection in the mirror and fell into deep thought.

‘What hairstyle should I go for today…?’

After styling her hair, Kazakami Ritsu picked up her toothbrush and began her daily routine.

Having finished washing up, Kazakami Ritsu returned to her room, picked up a few essential items for going out, and left.

Sano Nana had voice acting work today; it was said to be a role of an energetic childhood friend.

However, Kazakami Ritsu couldn’t imagine what kind of sin one must have committed to become Sano Nana’s childhood friend.

After changing into her white outdoor shoes at the shoe rack in the entryway, she pulled open the door and walked out.

As the sky, shrouded by night, bloomed with the first ray of light, a weapon named ‘the sun’, signifying the advent of light…

This bustling city, like a steel giant awakening from a deep sleep, let out roars of anger.

The temperature on a summer morning wasn’t too high; judging from the clouds in the sky, today seemed very suitable for going out.

Yesterday, that senior had made plans with her on her own accord to go to Akihabara on this hard-earned day off.

Akihabara was in Chiyoda Ward, and the distance from her current location didn’t seem too far.

If she took the train from the nearby station, including the walking distance, it would only take about forty minutes.

She found a convenience store on the street side and simply settled her breakfast.

It was currently summer vacation, so the only ones out and about with her now were office workers in formal attire, carrying briefcases.

The air seemed to be filled with the fragrance of flowers from the flower shop on the street. She took the escalator down to the subway station and bought a ticket from the automatic vending machine.

The train entered the station, and Kazakami Ritsu walked into the carriage and sat on the Tokyo JR line that passed through Akihabara.

After getting on the train, Kazakami Ritsu found a quiet, empty corner to sit in as usual.

As the train left the station, a cluster of towering, bustling buildings appeared outside the window.

It was a landscape that should have been given a close-up in an anime, but to Kazakami Ritsu, who saw it every day, it wasn’t that special.

If one did something purely out of love, one would naturally feel all kinds of joy in the process. But as soon as it was related to work…

Kazakami Ritsu sighed and took out her phone to search for information related to herself.

This search actually yielded some surprising results for Kazakami Ritsu, who hadn’t held much expectation.

The first result below the search bar was actually her personal encyclopedia.

‘For real? Even a small fry in the industry like me has her own encyclopedia?’

With this doubt, Kazakami Ritsu clicked into her personal encyclopedia.

Discarding useless information such as birthday and affiliated agency, Kazakami Ritsu scrolled directly to the work experience section.

[Played the role of Meihime in the new anime Tales of the Ten Thousand Blades, and achieved an excellent result of one million playbacks in the first radio drama.]

[According to the preliminary promotional PV information released for My Friend from Another World, it seems she is currently voicing the lead role “Shu” in this work.]

“So short… how come there’s so little.”

After complaining dissatisfiedly, Kazakami Ritsu discovered that besides the encyclopedia for Tales of the Ten Thousand Blades, her encyclopedia’s related entries actually included that senior’s figure.

Looking at the big word “Friend” under relationships, Kazakami Ritsu fell into deep thought.

In the next second, Kazakami Ritsu clicked into her senior’s encyclopedia without any hesitation.

She had looked at it once before, but it only recorded information like things she liked to do and her preferred tastes.

However, after reading her senior’s acting experience, she felt jealous.

Since her debut, there were a total of more than 60 roles, with and without names…

‘Damn it, this despicable fellow!’

‘Saying she’s an overlooked small fry among her peers… wasn’t she also the female lead of an animated movie in her first year of debut, just like me?!’

Kazakami Ritsu looked at the content in the encyclopedia, feeling somewhat emotional in her heart.

“To be able to achieve this much through her own hard work, and still say she envies me… truly cunning.”

Just as Kazakami Ritsu was checking other people’s encyclopedias through her senior’s to gather information, the train arrived at the center of Japanese ACG culture—Akihabara.

As soon as she reached the bottom of the escalator, Kazakami Ritsu could already hear the faint sounds of embarrassing advertisements.

Actually, this was Kazakami Ritsu’s first time in Akihabara, and her first time in both lifetimes.

Thinking about it, she basically hadn’t been to any other places besides home, school, and the recording studio before.

During holidays, she would just stay at home as an otaku, her understanding of the world completely relying on the internet.

Taking the escalator back to the ground level, Kazakami Ritsu saw the huge, iconic advertising screen of Akihabara on a building.

The promotional content playing on the advertising screen happened to be the game she failed to audition for the first time.

Kazakami Ritsu withdrew her gaze and turned to look at the surrounding streets.

All kinds of shops related to ACG culture were located on both sides of the street, with some having standees of what looked like very lewd game characters placed at their entrances.

Even though it was early in the morning, many young faces had already appeared on the streets here.

‘Truly terrifying, otaku culture.’

As a member of the otaku, Kazakami Ritsu decided to take a stroll nearby first.

After all, her understanding of Akihabara, besides the fleeting glimpses in various anime works…

Was only some games whose names sounded okay, but whose content felt strange…

(Here I’d like to criticize Akiba’s Trip, where you can directly tear people’s clothes off on the street.)

Just as Kazakami Ritsu was wandering aimlessly on the street, feeling the baptism of otaku culture, a surprised voice suddenly came from behind her.

‘Hmm? An acquaintance?’

With this thought, Kazakami Ritsu followed the sound and looked.

Appearing before Kazakami Ritsu was a strange JK wearing a white T-shirt paired with a pleated skirt.

After she turned around, a sweet smile that would make one’s heart skip a beat appeared on the JK’s exquisite face.

“It really is Kazakami-san. It seems we haven’t seen each other since graduating from middle school.”

“I heard you went to the Japan Narration Institute afterward. You should be a voice actor by now, right?”

Listening to the girl’s monologue, Kazakami Ritsu’s mind felt completely chaotic at this moment.

‘Who is this? I don’t have memories from before middle school?!’