Attack of the RPF!
Rion wasn't sure why he was doing this. It was almost as bad as searching yourself on the Internet and seeing what personal information about you got leaked.
But this situation was deliberate. And he just had to know.
Rion took a deep breath, then clicked on the link for the “Digital Adventure” anime on the Fanfiction Archive.
The anime, which chronicled the story of the Chosen Children from a fictional standpoint, had only been airing in Japan for about a month. But interestingly, there was a lot of fanfic already available in English. He scrolled down the list and snorted as he found shipping fics for “Aki” and “Seiji” (Akira and Seita’s anime names) and “Junichi” and “Marina” (Jun and Mana). Considering both couples were together in real life, that was expected.
He scrolled down further, stifling a laugh at seeing a few crack pairings that absolutely did not reflect real life. Then he saw a few wholesome slice-of-life genfics. And then, he spotted one particular fic and his heart dropped.
A fic pairing “Satoru” and “Karin” together.
Holy what-
“Satoru” was his anime name. While “Karin” was… Kei’s.
Rion flopped back into his chair and let out a breath. His face slowly turned red.
Him and… Kei?
He briefly thought about clicking on it (nonono, don't click it, you don't want to know!) then quickly changed his mind.
Kei was a friend. A close, childhood friend, for a long time. It never even crossed his mind to think of her in a romantic way. Never mind that he was only 11 years old and Kei was almost 9…
He scrolled through the tag list, found his anime name, and clicked on it, filtering the fic list to stories including him. Then he groaned and put his head on his desk.
There were more fanfics pairing him with Kei.
“Whyyyyy?” Rion moaned, “Why are people so crazy?”
Unable to help himself, he glanced at the ratings: mostly General Audiences, some Teen, and a small handful marked as Mature and… Explicit?!
No way!
Rion immediately closed the browser window, breathing heavily. Maybe it was time for him to quit while he was ahead…
The loud ringtone of the videoconference app scared Rion out of his skin. He looked over at the video window and his heart sank as he saw who was calling him.
Kei Nogami
Oh noooo…
Rion gulped, then, mentally preparing himself, he clicked onto the window to take the call.
Kei’s image appeared, smiling broadly.
“Hi, Rion!”
“Um, um… hi, Kei,” Rion stammered.
Kei frowned. “What kind of response is that?” She blinked and looked a little closer. “And why is your face all red?”
“Uh… I… well…”
“I wasn't… interrupting anything, was I?” Kei asked suspiciously.
“No!” Rion said, cringing internally.
Kei stared at him for a long moment. “Hmm…”
Rion plastered a smile on his face.
“Okay!” Kei replied, smiling again.
Rion sighed in relief.
“Anyway,” Kei continued, “I just saw the first episode of the Digital Adventure anime! It's really good! I think they got a lot of things right!”
“Is that so…” Rion said faintly.
“What do you think about it?”
“It’s… good, I guess?” Rion answered. “I’m more interested in how it’ll end.”
Kei nodded. “I see! Well, I heard the show actually blew up when it came out in Japan, and it's really popular!” She smiled conspiratorially. “I’m tempted to look up fanfics, and see what the fans think of us!”
Rion choked.
Kei frowned again. “What's wrong now?”
“I…” Rion coughed. “I wouldn't recommend it.”
“Why not?” Kei asked innocently.
“Trust me,” Rion said seriously, “You don't want to!”
Kei tilted her head and folded her arms, wondering what to say to that.
Notes:
Ahahaha! Poor Rion! There's a reason celebrities don't go searching for fanfiction of themselves!