My Online Crush Is a Chuunibyo

On the day strange phenomena descended upon Blue Star, Shou found a special communicator. There was only one contact in it.

Shou tentatively sent the other person a message, and got a question mark in response.

At first, he thought they were just strangers who had crossed paths by chance, but a few casual chats made him feel sorry for the other person.

According to the other person's account, he and his grandmother depended on each other for survival. Some days they had nothing to eat, and nutrient solution and the garbage thrown away by nobles counted as a feast.

Ignoring a few descriptions that were a little too strange, his contact's circumstances were so miserable that Shou couldn't help feeling for him.

Shou: Didn't you receive compulsory education?

Gong: Compulsory education? What's that? The upper classes control access to knowledge because they fear someone will overthrow them. But I'll still be the one to do it.

After learning that there was no poverty relief for the most destitute over there, either, Shou finally concluded that this overly melodramatic online friend probably wasn't in China.

So when the communicator gained a feature that resembled a parcel delivery service, Shou set aside his doubts and sent over a box of apples from a poverty-alleviation farm.

The next day, he got a reply: Thank you, the apples are really sweet. The cores are a bit hard, but luckily my teeth are strong, so I had no trouble biting into them.

Shou: ?!!

After explaining at length that apple cores weren't edible, Shou's friend regretfully said he'd have to collect them next time. It was a shame the soil on the garbage planet couldn't grow crops, but he would treasure them.

His online friend was melodramatic, but genuinely interesting. Shou sent him a few more packages, all with food to fill his stomach. In return, the other person sent him a rather stylish weapon, supposedly assembled from all kinds of parts.

Gong: You said something's been circling nearby lately. You can use this to defend yourself.

Shou praised his talent, but didn't take him seriously.

Aside from their thought processes and lifestyles, the two were surprisingly in sync.

The day Gong received the roses from Shou, he was flustered and scrambled to find countless parts and a handful of soil from the home planet, carefully keeping it alive.

They fell in love naturally.

The unexpected trouble came when the monsters, which were said to be growing increasingly active, attacked. Seeing someone beside him about to be hurt, Shou instinctively grabbed the weapon, later named the Dawnbringer No. 1, and shot straight through the monster no one else could handle.

Theme: Keep finding new life, no matter the circumstances.