Common Delusion

"Common Delusion" (な) is a short story from Gamers' store privilege for the second volume of You-Zitsu light novel series, together with two more short stories.

Summary
After checking the weather for tomorrow on his computer, Kiyotaka stood up and was called by Kanji via phone. Kanji shares his worries of not being able to choose his dessert for that night, to which Kiyotaka replied saying that the call is unusually trivial for someone who rarely calls. Kiyotaka then asked Kanji if he had properly eaten his dinner already -- the dorm's dining hall closes at 9 PM, after all, and the only other option would be the convenience store.

However, Kanji immediately retorted that it's not that kind of dessert that he's craving for, but rather, a dessert that all men desires. Kiyotaka was a bit perplexed about the matter as to him, it is unfathomable that there is some kind of dessert that tastes differently between genders. Kanji then labels Kiyotaka a “boring” man, which uncharacteristically took the criticism to heart. To clarify what this "dessert" meant, the former told the latter to look at the chat window of the Internet phone call program provided by the Advanced Nurturing High School. After accessing the contents of the “strangely large URL”, albeit hesitantly, Kiyotaka recognized a familiar face on the screen.

What appeared was the picture of their classmate, Airi Sakura wearing a swimsuit. This was considered to be unimaginable for Kiyotaka as he couldn’t comprehend someone of the same age being able to possess a body with such a well-developed chest and a slender waist. Additionally, this particular photo as taken during the last year of Airi's middle school phase. To both gentlemen, it is unbelievable so much so that even an average high school student figure would pale in comparison to hers.

At this moment, Kiyotaka finally understood what kind of dessert was Kanji referring to. Airi is a magazine idol and there are a lot of photos of her to choose from as a material for all kinds of delusions, after all. However, to Kiyotaka, this types of delusions, or rather emotions, can't be defined by mere logic. Feeling happy when you're in the same class with a cute girl, and being able to meet her, is a foreign emotion to Kiyotaka -- it can't be traced anywhere in his heart.

Though Kiyotaka understands why Ike would be staring alone at the picture in high spirits, he couldn’t help wonder about Airi's thoughts if she knew she was being treated as a 'dessert'. Surely, she wouldn't dismiss such an idea easily. Nevertheless, Kiyotaka still saved the picture and archived it inside a folder without letting the other know about his action.