"Thank you!" I had my doubts the entire time they were performing...but now, as the Mankai Company's Spring Troupe bowed, I was sure of it.

The sub lead of this play...the one who played The Mad Hatter. According to the pamphlet my friend gave me, his name was Itaru Chigasaki. There was no doubt about it. This man before me was none other than my beloved Taruchi...!

Ok, let me back up a bit.

My name is L/n Y/n, a third year at Senka High School. I'm a complete and utter otaku. Games, anime, manga, vocaloid, you name it. Somehow or another, it became my distraction from life...and my very life itself. Thankfully, it was never that hard to act normal in front of others and I could get more or less decent grades even with how little I studied, so it's not like my being an otaku was widespread in my school and I was bullied for it or anything. I didn't really hide it, though. 

I actually don't remember when I became an otaku, maybe it was my last year in grade school or my first year in middle school...? What I do remember is that I absolutely sucked at games when I started out. It was a real blow to me that I wasn't even good at the only thing I liked and efforted at, you know?

That was when I started turning to game tutorials and playthroughs. I randomly watched streams and noted down tips until I found what would be my go-to channel: Taruchi. 

Though he never showed his face, his voice was incredibly soothing and his explanations were somehow something I could understand easilly. His tips were actually super useful too. He even gave some thorough reviews on anime every now and then!

Over time, I got better and better at games, and I even got a name in the gaming community. But still, Taruchi was the unreachable and bright sun to me. I was sure I would be his fan for life.

Even if it wasn't exactly a secret that I was an otaku, I didn't really act weird or anything in front of normal people. They just knew I liked games, and that was that. You could even say that some of them are otakus to an extent.  I have what I consider a normal amount of friends, and I go out to do normal people things with them every once in a while for a change of pace. 

And that brings me to how I got here to the front row of the Mankai Company's theatre. One of my friends happened to love theatre and was a huge fan of their spring troupe. She was raving about the scriptwriter, or something. Since there weren't any limited time events in any of my games today and I thought the Alice in Wonderland theme was nice, I tagged along with her.

"Oi! Y/n-chan!" I snapped out of my trance as my friend shoved me in the shoulder.

"Huh?" I simply blinked up at her as she made a show of standing up and clapping.

"O-oh. Standing ovation. Yup." I hurriedly stood straight up and joined the rest of the audience in clapping and cheering.

The entire time, my eyes were glued on my idol. I wonder if they were sparkling like anime eyes do.

...

"You were totally staring at the sub lead, weren't you? Well he is good looking, but isn't he older than us? Do you like older guys?" my friend tapped her chin as we walked back.

"Agh, it's not like that, okay! It's um..." I waved my hands around as I tried to figure out what to say.

"An otaku thing?"

"Sort of. You know Taruchi, that guy I told you about? The one who streams his game playthroughs?" I toyed with the hem of my shirt as I looked down.

"Oh, the one you've devoted your life to or something? He's like, an idol for gamers right?"

"I guess you could say that...Anyways, Itaru Chigasaki-san has the exact same voice as him!" I looked back up at her, biting my lip.

"What a fan..." she laughed.

"It could be him, right? I mean Taruchi's never showed his face before but anyone would recognize his soothing, smooth voice if they've heard it even once before!" I gestured excitedly.

"Hm, I suppose there's no reason to say it can't be him. Plus, 'Taru' could come from 'Itaru' and 'chi' could come from 'Chigasaki'," she nodded to herself as if she'd solved a great conspiracy.

"Right, right!" I nodded happily.

"So...this means you're definitely gonna go with me to their next play, right?"

"..eh?"

"The next up performing is the Summer Troupe who specialize in comedy. We won't be able to see your Taruchi or the rest of the Spring Troupe perform again for a while, but they'll probably be watching in opening or closing night," she pulled out her phone to check her calendar.

"But um...didn't you only go there to watch Minagi-san or something? You don't have to go with me if—"

"Weren't you listening earlier? Sheesh. I told you that Tsuzuru-san is the scriptwriter, right? That means he writes all the plays, even the ones performed by the other troupes! I'm not gonna miss out on watching any of them!" she declared with a firm expression.

"Hm. You sound like an idol otaku right now," I narrowed my eyes and examined her closely.

"...I'll deck you, y'know," she sighed as I laughed at her reaction.

...

"...so when do you think the next play will be?" I looked up at the clouds as we walked home.

"Seriously? Their last show was literally just two weeks ago. They're human, y'know! And each play takes over a month to prepare!" my friend's exasperation was evident without me having to look at her face.

"Hhhh...he hasn't posted any videos this week..." I groaned as I leaned a bit on her.

"Geez, you're heavy you know! Walk yourself, you have legs, don't you?!"

"Rude," I huffed.

I sighed again as we rounded a corner.

"Try not to lose sleep over it. I bet he's just tired from the show. He must've worked hard to make that show a success~" she messed up my hair a bit.

"I know, he's really cool even in real life, huh? I might just become a threatre fan because of him~!" I boasted as I hurried to fix my hair.

"You have pictures from their debut show, right? I wanna see how he looked in his costume! Man, I wish I'd — huh?" a familiar flash of light brown hair dyed blonde at the edges caught my eye.

"Y/n-chan?"

"...you go on ahead. I just remembered I forgot something at school. Say hi to your mom for me," I hurried off before she could protest.

"He went this way, right?" I hurriedly looked around and only relaxed when I spotted him a ways off.

Don't get me wrong! I'm not a stalker or anything! I just wanted to make sure he was the person I saw. Curiosity and all. 

I was about to head back, content with the lucky information that Itaru Chigasaki went grocery shopping today, when he suddenly collapsed into the nearest bench and dropped his purchases. 

"Eh? Huh? What do I do?" I definitely looked weird panicking alone, but my frantic concern clouded most of my brain.

"Will I seem nosy if I go over and ask if he's alright?" I started scanning the area to see if there was someone I could ask for help.

"...hm? Are you lost, young lady? You look like you're looking for something," right when I was about to lose it, I heard the princely voice I loved.

"...Eto...I was just...I didn't know how to ask if you needed help...since you suddenly collapsed there..." I rubbed the back of my neck as I turned to him.

"Ah, thank you but I'm fine. I just took a little break since my little sister is taking her time picking out curry spices," he laughed lightly at my panic.

"You have a little sister, Taruchi-san?!" I asked before clamping my mouth shut in shock at my own outburst.

His eyes narrowed a bit before I hurried to explain, "Um, I'm sorry if I mistook you for someone else! I've been a huge fan of Taruchi's channel since middle school and I saw your perform in Boy Alex In Wonderland by chance since I have a friend who's really into theatre. When I heard your voice I kind of assumed that you were him uh...!"

"...What's your name?"

"L/n Y/n. I'm a third year at Senka High School," I bowed slightly as I introduced myself.

His eyes widened a bit in recognition before looking away, "I went there."

"I see..." I simply smiled at the information.

"For now, I won't deny or confirm your guess. My only request is that you become a fan of Mankai Company's Chigasaki Itaru either way," he gave a small lighthearted wink, causing my tension to disappear.

"Of course! I already am!" I said with force, nodding.

"That's good then. Want to game with me until my little sister comes back?" he laughed a bit at my reaction.

"Oh, but isn't that her already?" I point to a woman waving from a ways off.

"Ah, Izumi-chan~ you made your Onii-chan wait too long..." he raised an eyebrow.

"I'm not doing this act again, Itaru-san. You know I'm bad at acting," the woman shook her head as she walked closer and I realized who she was.

"Oh, you're Mankai's general director, right? But don't you have a different last name from Taruchi-san...?"

"We're not actually siblings," she giggled at my question before turning to Itaru.

"Ah right, she's Y/n-chan. One of my fans," he said as he got up from his seat.

"Nice to meet you, Y/n-chan. I'm Tachibana Izumi," she switched the hand she was carrying her bags with and shook mine.

"Nice to meet you too. Um...actually can I ask a favour? Can I maybe...get a picture with Taruchi-san?" I asked shyly while handing her my phone.

"Of course," she replied and nudged a hesitant Itaru.

"I...know it might sound weird but your videos really helped me get through a few tough times so I..."

He looked back at me with a soft expression as if to say I didn't need to say anything more, "So what pose do you want us to do?"

"Um...a hug if it's alright..." I looked down as he approached me.

"Is this fine?" he asked with a small smile as I looked up to see that he'd wrapped an arm around my shoulders and raised the other in a peace sign.

"Yes..." I felt my cheeks grow a bit warm but smiled for the picture.

"Here you go," Izumi gave me back my phone as I thanked her.

The two picked up their purchases as I checked the pictures on my phone before pocketing it.

"Hope to see you at our next show, Y/n-chan," the director smiled while trying to wave with a hand full of plastic bags.

"Of course! My friend already reserved tickets!" I laughed as I waved back, glancing at Itaru to try and see the expression on his face.

"It's nice to have a fan of both my personas~ Good luck in everything, Y/n-chan!" he bade goodbye without looking back.

"Thank you again, Taruchi-san!"

A/N

Request from @fluffystar89 ! Sorry it's late haha... I hope you don't mind that I made the reader high school age. I just thought it would be more likely that Itaru wouldn't hesitate to take a picture with her (since he's normally wary about his real identity as an otaku getting out to other people) if she reminded him of his past self. I also made the setting around the same time as Boy Alice in Wonderland because at this point Itaru's history with his friend in high school who ended up betraying him isn't known to the company yet, and his announcement to the audience about his love for the KoTR series at the start of Knights of the Round IV would make his identity a bit obvious and I characterized the reader as such an incredible fan that she'd be able to recognize him from the voice alone.