Baka to Tesuto to Syokanju:Volume10.5
Novel Illustrations
Novel Illustrations
These are the novel illustrations that were included in volume 10.5.
Page 003
Page 004
Page 005
Page 006
Page 007
Page 009
Page 048
Page 049
Page 050
Page 051
Page 111
Page 119
Page 140
Page 141
Page 142
Page 143
Page 173
Page 191
Page 210
Page 211
Page 212
Page 213
Page 275
Page 287
Popularity Contest Result (3rd place)
Me and Brother and the Mysterious Bolster
“How’s your preparations for the High School visit?”
“Nothing much. I don’t have a specific target, so I guess I’ll be fishing around~”
“Me too~”
I heard my classmates lazy conversation—
‘Keisei Middle School, student Kubo Yoshimitsu from class 3-C hopes to attend Fumitzuki Academy.’
I wrote my brother’s school on the form indicating which high school I hoped to visit.
“Arre? Kubo-kun, you hope to go to Fumitzuki Academy too? I’m the same too!”
Tsuchiya Hinata-san, who’s sitting at the table beside me, opened her form after seeing mine.
“You hope to take a look at Fumitzuki Academy, Tsuchiya-san?”
“Un. Onii-chan is studying over there, so I want to take a look.”
“Is that so? I see.”
“Aren’t you the same too, Kubo-kun?”
I’m hesitating somewhat over my response. The fact is that our brothers are in the same school.
However, there’s a basic difference in reason as to why I’m going to the school as compared to her.
“For me…I’m actually going there to check on something instead of visiting.”
“Check? About what?”
Tsuchiya-san naively answered back. As for what, well…of course, it’s—
“—A family member’s shame.”
Recently, I found a mysterious bolster and blanket in brother’s room. I want to go to Fumitzuki Academy to find out the reasons behind these items.
“—And so, our school integrated an advanced education system…”
The female teacher who was superintendent over the second years introduced Fumitzuki Academy to us at the sports hall.
I had a little interest in this format, but half my mind was thinking of some other thing.
My brother was obviously being overly happy recently. To him, it was a very good change, something that would be really welcomed. A family member’s happiness is definitely my happiness.
However,
“…Why do you have a bolster and photos of a guy, brother…!!”
I looked inside the half-opened cabinet shelf when I went to my brother’s room to borrow a dictionary. Before that moment, I never ever believed that there was no Pandora Box that was never meant to be opened.
A weird change in a family member is a weird change for me. I have to investigate what’s going on and eliminate the situation…!
“—And that is all for the explanation. Now, we will have the free trip around the school.”
The teacher finished explaining as I clenched my fist to swear.
“Also, there are a lot more people who wanted to visit A class, so we prepared a guide. Kirishima-san—“
“…Yes, I’m sorry for being late.”
A female student appeared in front of everyone as she apologized.
On seeing her, the visiting students gasped.
“What a beauty…”
“How, pretty…”
“I think that person has the top grades in the year…”
“Alright, I’ve decided to attend this school…”
I can understand the cries of amazement around me. The student who appeared in front of us is really pretty.
If she has the best grades, that means she’s in A class too…which means she’s brother’s classmate. So brother has been studying together in the same classroom as this beautiful person.
But even if I say so…
“Why…why did brother skip through that person to fall for a guy…!”
I cannot understand this at all! No, I think a lot of people other than me will not be able to understand as well.
“Hm? No, wait…?”
Instead of saying that I cannot understand this, maybe I should say that the chances itself did not seem to be right? Yes, in other words—
“My brother was brainwashed or something, right…?”
My guess here may be ridiculous, but since this itself is not normal, I cannot pass up on all possibilities.
To a certain extent, even if it was not of that level, was brother fooled by that person? Was he fooled by some guy with a unique interest or something?
Tricked, blackmail, brainwash. I cannot stop thinking when I lose control of my thoughts.
“Alright…as much as anything else, I have to collect all information first.”
I have to grasp the current situation in order to solve this situation no matter what. Luckily, I just need to investigate on this person ‘F class’ Yoshii Akihisa’. I do not think that it will be difficult to gather information on him.
I leave the A class group that is led by the pretty upperclassman and head towards F class.
“Ah, Kirishima-sempai. Your hand got dirtied by some coloring, you know?”
“You’re making something? Amazing!”
“…In a certain sense, I did dirty it when creating something.”
“What sense?”
“…I had some resistance when I said that I wanted to make Shouyu.”
“? Do you need red paint to make soy sauce? ”[1]
“…It’s not paint.”
“???”
“Where are you going, Kubo-kun?”
“Hm?”
Someone taps me on the shoulder as I look for F class.
“Ah, Tsuchiya-san. Aren’t you going to visit A class?”
“I want to check on Kou-nii’s F class. What about you, Kubo-kun?”
“I want to go to F class to look for something too.”
“Nice. I was wondering where the classroom is in the first place~”
Tsuchiya-san clapped her hands together as if she found a savior.
“Sorry to disappoint you, but I don’t know what to do since I don’t know where the place is either.”
“Hm? Is that so?”
They gave us a guidebook, but for some reason, only the locations for A to D classes were shown. Logically, there should be an E and F class, so it looked like they didn’t print something they don’t want us to see…why? Maybe I’m thinking too much, definitely.”
“If you don’t know too, we’ll just ask someone else then, Kubo-kun. Sorry—”
The fearless Tsuchiya-san moves to a girl on the corridor to ask for directions.
“Yes, what is it?”
That person who answered with a gentle voice had soft hair and…well, I’ll say, a very developed area for a certain female part. The type is different, but she has a charm that won’t lose to upperclassman Kirishima.
“Wow, amazing…I can see them even with the uniform on…”
“???”
Tsuchiya-san looked at the person’s chest and muttered. I guess even those of the same gender finds it amazing.
“Ah, are you lost during your visit?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
The upperclassman deduced this from how we looked and our attitude. She’s holding onto a ‘Tendencies of Prestigious Universities and Countermeasures’, and I can tell that she should be a smart person.
“Where are you going? I can bring you there if you want?”
She’s kind, pretty, gentle, and has a nice figure.
There’s such a person here, but I can’t help but think. Brother! Can’t this person do either…?
“That will be a great help to us. We’re looking for class 2-F.”
“Eh? Our class?”
Our class…?
“Erm…may I ask? Are you a student of F class, sempai?”
“Yes, I am.”
The upperclassman smiled as she answered. I really did not expect this person to be of F class…
“Then, let’s go. F class is on the other side of the corridor. It’s in the other school building.”
Tsuchiya-san and I follow her.
So it’s in another school building. No wonder I can’t find it around here.
“Excuse me…are you Himeji Mizuki-sempai?”
Tsuchiya-san asked the upperclassman Himeji as we proceed on.
“Ah, yes. How do you know my name?”
“Sorry for introducing myself late. I’m Tsuchiya Kouta’s little sister Hinata. Sorry for Kou-nii’s usual troubles.”
Tsuchiya-san introduced herself, and upperclassman Himeji widened her eyes in shock.
“Is that so? Tsuchiya-kun’s little sister, Kubo-kun’s little brother.”
““Thank you for taking care of our brothers.””
“No no, I should be the one here.”
Everyone introduce themselves as we walk towards F class.
We proceed down the corridor, and I can ask about what I wanted to investigate.
“Himeji-sempai. There’s something I want to ask.”
“Yes, what is it?”
Then, what should I ask? It’ll be too direct if I immediately ask what kind of person F class’ Yoshii Akihisa is like…
“How’s everyone from F class like?”
“Better ask in a roundabout way.”
“Un…well…if I have to say in one line, it’s that they’re all a bunch of cheerful people.”
Upperclassman Himeji showed no signs of malice as I could tell that she really believed so.
“I heard this from Kou-nii before too. I really want to see how it’s like~♪”
“Ah, we’re here.”
Upperclassman Himeji opened the classroom door.
CRAK!
“All pretty boys in this world shall be cursed!”
“““Cursed!!”””
“All popular guys can go and die!”
“““Go and die!!!”””
—Thud.
“Sorry, Himeji-sempai, but I think the black magic club is using this classroom.”
“Ah, no, that’s…everyone from F class…”
The mysterious group dressed in hooded robes was having a Massive Congregation in the shady classroom.
“What is it what is it, Kubo-kun? I haven’t seen anything yet.”
“It might be better not to see it.”
“I want to see it all the more when you say it like that!”
Tsuchiya-san ignored my advice as she opened the door.
“Hm? Visitors?”
“Oh my, a girl I’ve never seen before.”
“Welcome, cute lady.”
This time, what appeared in front of me was a group of boys who invited Tsuchiya-san and upperclassman Himeji with shining teeth. It feels like the mysterious scene just now vanished without a trace.
“Kubo-kun, it’s weird to have tatamis and short tables, but I don’t see any black magic club.”
“…”
As Tsuchiya-san had said, I don’t see any trace or even a dust of mystery.
But what I saw just now shouldn’t be a hallucination.
“Speaking of which, the boy over there. What do you have with us?”
“Are you the boyfriend of that young lady over there? …We’ll kill you.”
“Ah, boy. Do you want to play punching with us until one side bleeds?”
The upperclassmen talking to me seemed to have some agenda behind their words. As expected, what I saw just now was real.
“No, I’m just visiting with a classman.”
“““That’s fine then.”””
The thick killing intent faded off.
My body will definitely be sliced into fine pieces and fed to the fishes if I said ‘that’s right there~, my girlfriend is very cute, isn’t she?’
While I’m in cold sweat, beside me was.
“Ah, Kou-nii! I came to play!”
“…! Hinata, why are you…!”
Tsuchiya-san spotted her older brother in the classroom and walked over.
“Everyone, get ready.”
“““Right!”””
“…No, you’re mistaken…!”
The killing intent gathered again. I never thought that I would experience such murderous killing intent twice within 5 minutes of stepping in.
“Tsuchiya, it’s really a pity that you’re dating such a cute girl.”
“You shall experience for yourself the code of blood the FFF Inquisition has established.”
“…No…! Hinata’s my blood-related imouto…!”
“““So what!?”””
I feel that it’s important here.
“Wait, everyone, calm down.”
“““Leader! Why are you stopping us!”””
“Muttsurini undoubtedly called his little sister to everyone in F class to introduce us to her. Tsuchiya Hinata-san. Do you have a boyfriend?”
“Hm? No.”
“Nice to meet you for the first time. I’m your brother’s good friend, Sugawa Ryo.”
“Ya, you’re really cute, imouto-chan. What a coincidence that I don’t have a girlfriend.”
“Brother-in-law Muttsurini, I’ll definitely make her happy!”
Tsuchiya-san was immediately surrounded by the upperclassmen. What’s with this class? It has nothing to do with the ‘prep school’ concept at all.
“Well, even if you say so…I don’t have any intent to go out with anyone right now.”
Tsuchiya-san laughed as she said.
“That’s because I’m busy with taking care of onii-chan here.”
“Terminate him.”
“““Yes sir!”””
“…I won’t be caught by you! (Runs away)”
The classroom immediately descended into chaos.
I stare blankly at the persecution that’s going on as I ask upperclassman Himeji beside me.
“Well…Himeji-sempai. Is everyone normally like this…?”
“Ah, no…if I have to say, it’ll be a little…more overboard usually…”
My impression of a prep school has finally collapsed completely.
“Excuse me, can I disturb you for a moment?”
“Hm? What is it, Kubo-kun?”
“Sorry, there’s something I want to ask.”
I wanted to ask the upperclassman Yoshii Akihisa himself, but he’s not in this classroom, so I ask around the upperclassmen in the classroom.
“What do you want to ask?”
“Erm…I heard that there’s a very interesting person in this class.”
“Really interesting? The face?”
“Why must you consider that before the personality!?”
The conversation can’t even be completed successfully.
“Well, what is it that you want to ask about that Yoshii’s face?”
“Sorry sempai. I never said a single word about that.”
I don’t think there is a need to describe him like this after a look from my brother’s photo. Even so, that was the first name they immediately threw out. How is this Yoshii Akihisa normally being treated everyday?
“But you’re asking about Yoshii, right?”
“Yes. Well… since he’s famous, I thought that I should know what kind of person he is.”
I asked vaguely.
“An idiot.”
“A rather stupid idiot.”
“Ah yes, an unprecedented idiot who’ll probably never appear again.”
My impression of upperclassman Yoshii Akihisa has been covered with regret.
“Erm, to be specific?”
“During our first year, he splashed a pail of water on a teacher.”
“At the start of our second year, he destroyed a wall.”
“During the school festival, he even blew up the Head of Teaching Staff’s office.”
It’s already a big thing to splash water on a teacher, and yet he destroyed a wall and blew up the Head of Teaching Staff’s Office. This is completely unheard of, really unbelievable. These upperclassmen must be joking, right—
“MOVE—ASIDE—(Glass Shatters)!!!”
“DAMN IT! YOSHII GOT AWAY!!”
“BASTARD! HE’S ACTUALLY HIDING IN THE EMPTY CLASSROOM!!!”
“AFTER HIM! DON’T LET HIM GET AWAY!!!”
“WE MUST MAKE HIM SPILL OUT THE DETAILS ABOUT HIS OUTING WITH KINOSHITA!!!”
Some weird noises could be heard from the other side of the corridor. Huh? Did I just hear the sound of windows breaking…? To think that I can hear such noises during an ordinary life besides watching those Hollywood movies…
“Anything you still want to ask, Kubo-kun?”
If possible, I want to ask about something regarding common sense—never mind. For some reason, I feel that it’ll be a waste of my time if I do so here.
“If there’s none, we’ll proceed to join Yoshii’s execution team.”
“Ah, yes, thank you very much.”
“No biggies. Let’s go, Fukumura.”
“Right. We must make sure that guy ceases to breathe today.”
“That bastard better get ready.”
The upperclassmen wielded whips and wooden swords as they walked out of the classroom.
It’s too unreliable to obtain information from one side alone. I have to obtain information from many sources to increase the reliability.
That’s why I have to ask other people.
I ask another male student on the corridor. It seems like this guy is from F class too.
“About Yoshii? What do you want to know about that idiot?”
Idiot. I heard that description about him before.
However, let’s hear what others have to say.
“Well…like what people of the opposite type he likes?”
“What he likes…hm…”
From what I hear, it seems that he’s not usually a good guy. Maybe he might be the opposite of how he looks in the photo, a rather bad student. If that’s the case, his interests in girls may not be gentlemanly at all. I just need to find ample reasons to believe that he like girls who matter what kind of girls they are.
“I think he said before that kangaroos are rather cute.”
But I never thought that he would cross the line of species.
“Well…you mean they’re cute as pets?”
“Nope. Don’t underestimate that guy. Kangaroos do stand on two feet.”
That’s really weird. No matter what, the standard’s definitely weird here.
“I never confirmed it myself, but that guy may have ostriches in his range.”
“Ah, sorry…that’s enough.”
I found out that he probably has the defensive range of a center fielder’s catch.[2]. For this kind of guy, gender issues and such are merely a small problem.
I record the information I got in the notebook and look for the next source of information.
“Erm, excuse me. There’s something I want to ask of you.”
I call out an upperclassman with 3 braids as I walk around the new building.
“Yes?”
“I’m from the news club. Actually, I’m researching on a person called Yoshii Akihisa-san.”
I raise the name of the news club to make questioning easily. I am lying for convenience sake, and I do feel rather apologetic about it. To this upperclassman I don’t know of, I’m really sorry.
“Yoshii Akihisa-kun?”
“Yeah, that’s right.”
“In other words, that’s Aki-chan!”
That nickname does sound rather dangerous. Why does he have a –chan when he’s a guy? Does he somehow have the heart of a maiden?
Let’s keep asking anyway.
“Can you tell me what do you know about that Yoshii Akihisa-san?”
“Un, alright! Aki-chan’s…very suited for maid and nurse outfits, the cutest kid in the world!”
The answer I got is far beyond what I expected.
“Let me ask, are you talking about Yoshii Akihisa-san?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
“He’s a guy, right?”
“Ahaha. I think it’s not common sense and reasonable to call ‘Akihisa’ a girl, right?”
I don’t dare to say anything here.
“Thank you very much for your help.”
“It’s fine. Show me the news report when it comes out.”
“Yes. I’ll definitely do so once it comes out.”
I apologized to this upperclassman in my heart as we bade farewell.
Next, time to collect more information.
I just asked people from the culture department, so this time, I should ask people from the sports area. Does anyone around me give this vibe…ahh, let’s ask that person.
“Sorry. Can I ask you something?”
“Hm?”
This time, I’m asking an energetic-looking upperclassman with a headband. She has tan lines as well, so I guess she often hang out during club activities.
I wanted to use the name of the news club, but this time, I’m asked.
“Arre…? You do resemble Kubo-kun, you know?”
The upperclassman in front of me stared at my face.
This Kubo-kun would probably be referring to my brother. Is she an acquaintance? Well, it’s not like it’s a fact I have to hide, so I’ll just answer honestly.
“Yeah, we’re brothers.”
“Eh? Kubo-kun’s little brother!? In…in that case…erm, I’m Nakabayashi Hiromi! Ask me anything you want!”
“Thank you very much, Nakabayashi-sempai.”
I don’t know why she’s agitated out of a sudden, but it’s great that she said that she can help me with whatever I ask. I’ll just ask her directly then.
“Actually, I’m investigated a person called Yoshii Akihisa-san.”
“…”
Nakabayashi-sempai looks like she bit a bitterbug the moment I said that name.
“Since you say that you’re investigating, I guess that you asked others before, right?”
“Yes.”
“You should have heard about how ridiculously stupid that guy is.”
That’s the first reaction most people have. I guess that person’s stupidity is not in doubt now.
Thus, I better not focus on this information I already know of.
“For example, what do people say about him in the sports club?”
“Comments about that idiot in the sports club?”
“Yes. Like if he’s very active in club activities or something?”
“I think that idiot doesn’t take part in any clubs…”
It seems that this person called Yoshii Akihisa doesn’t take part in club activities.
“Ah, speaking of which!”
“What was it?”
“Well, this is what I actually heard from others…”
“Please tell me.”
I believe that I won’t be shocked no matter what I hear now.
“I think I heard that he had a kid with his classmate Sakamoto Yuuji or something.”
My self-confidence was shattered.
“Then, is this Sakamoto Yuuji-sempai a girl?”
“No, a guy.”
It’s already rare to have kids while being in school, but it’s even rarer for the other party to be a guy. What’s going on? This school is basically another dimension the way I see it.
“An, anyway, thank you very much for your help.”
“It’s fine. There’s no need to worry about this.”
I lowered my head and bowed. I’ll think about the rest later.
And, as I’m about to leave, Upperclassman Nakabayashi calls me.
“Speaking of which, erm…can you please tell me what kind of person your brother likes?”
“Sorry, I’m investigating right now.”
“??? What do you mean?”
“I’m bothered because I don’t understand either.”
I leave behind the puzzled Upperclassman Nakabayashi and move away.
“Then…this should be enough, I guess.”
I write down the information I obtained into the notebook as I walk down the corridor.
According to the information I got, this person called Yoshii Akihisa is this kind of person.
- Destroyed a school wall, blew up the head of teaching department’s room.
- Is fine with anything with 2 legs, even kangaroos and ostriches.
- Very suited to wear a maid/nurse outfit.
- Idiot.
- Has a kid with Sakamoto Yuuji (♂)
“……Brother…! I have no idea what you’re thinking at all…!”
How is this kind of person charming!? There’re beautiful people like Upperclassmen Kirishima and Himeji. This isn’t a difference in level! It’s impossible to have affections for such a person even if two people floated to an uninhabited island!
The shock’s so great it cause me to knock my knee on the corridor.
At that moment, someone seemed to rush over.
“…? That was…”
It was only for a moment, but I definitely did not miss it.
“Yoshii…Akihisa…!”
The source of all sorts of information came from there.
Alright, I don’t have to go around in a roundabout manner. Let’s just ask the person directly.
It’s against the rules to run in the school. I don’t really want to do this, but I can only ignore it. This is the only thing supporting my brother’s life and my family’s name here…!
I run towards where Upperclassman Yoshii is.
“I see him!”
It looks like my pursuit is effective as I see his back as I move up the stairs.
Even so,
“What’s with this speed…!?”
Fast is all I can describe this. He’s basically good enough to take part in track and field.
“Yoshii! You’re not getting by here!”
“Just accept your death unconditionally!”
“GO TO HELL!!!!”
The ones appearing in front of Upperclassman Yoshii are the Upperclassmen from F class.
“I WON’T DIE HERE!!”
Upperclassman Yoshii kicks the wall and escapes with a triangle jump[3]
“His specialty is running away…!?”
He got past the crowd and disappeared. It’s hard for me to catch up with him at the speed he’s running.
If I can’t catch up…
“Can’t be helped. I’ll just ambush on the outside…”
If he’s running, he’ll definitely be outside. I can’t be certain, but let’s wait near the entrance.
I head downstairs and put on my shoes.
And then, I walk out of the school.
“Erm, excuse me…”
A voice came from not too far away.
It’s not very clear, but I do have an impression of this voice.
“? What is it?”
I’m a little concerned by it, so I turn to look at where the voice may come from, only to find a girl being surrounded by two guys. Hm…? Isn’t that Tsuchiya-san? What’s she doing here?
“Excuse me, can you please let go of me…?”
The voice rang again.
This voice definitely belongs to Tsuchiya-san.
“How noisy. We don’t have much time to waste ”
“I’m very busy here.”
And then, the voices of the crew-cut and the Mohawk-head can be heard.
This sounds rather bad…wait, don’t tell me Tsuchiya-san is being harassed!?
I hurriedly look around, trying to find help. As for those who can help—there’s no one I can find. So I have to go alone…!
“…”
I hesitate. It can’t be helped. I’m dealing with 2 high school students. Normally, I’ll be scared about this.
But how can I just leave this alone!
“Hold on a minute!”
I shouted as I rushed over.
““Huh?””
Those two guys look around at me after hearing the voice, showing very unhappy looks on their faces. Kids might end up crying if they see such expressions at night.
Even I’m scared by these faces, but I try my best to summon my courage.
“She’s someone I know. If there’s anything, just tell me.”
And the answer I get is,
“Huh? What are you saying, kid—”
They snorted as they stared down at me.
And right after,
“TokoNatsu-sempai, what are you doing?”
ZUBAM!!! Upperclassman Yoshii appears right in front of us with a ridiculous sound.
Eh…? Where, did he…?
I really can’t tell where Yoshii-sempai came from. There shouldn’t be anyone around from what I checked just now.
I inexplicably look around, and find that the window above me is open. Did this guy…just jump down from there!?
“TokoNatsu-sempai. I didn’t expect you guys to harass a middle-schooler with those thuggish looks of yours.”
Upperclassman Yoshii says to both of them while leaving the shocked me aside.
In contrast, the duo give back blank expressions on their faces.
“…Yoshii, what are you saying exactly?”
“I say, are you misunderstanding that we may be doing something shameless?”
“…Heh?”
Upperclassman Yoshii is stumped by their unexpected response. Let alone him, even I don’t know what’s going on here.
Misunderstanding? What misunderstanding?
As both of us look puzzled, the pair continue,
“Don’t tell me you’re thinking that we’re harassing a girl here!”
“Aren’t you?”
“You got to be kidding. Why would we do that?”
“‘You’re not popular, got high over it, and are regretting it now.’”
““STOP TRYING TO COME UP WITH A RANDOM MOTIVE FOR A CRIME HERE!!!””
Both of them roared at Upperclassman Yoshii. Looks like the thought processes aren’t a match.
“WHO’LL DO SUCH THINGS IN SCHOOL AT THIS TIME!?”
“WE’RE GRADUATING STUDENTS HERE!”
Both of them sighed as they said. Looks like it’s not like what we thought. Then why…
“For some reason, that girl’s the one talking to us.”
“How annoying. It’s about time for lessons soon.”
The pair look bothered as they explain. Did Tsuchiya-san talk to them first?
“Tsuchiya-san, what you’re saying…?”
“Hm? Well, I just heard sempais talk about ‘how’s Tsuchiya’s new photos~’, so I asked them about my brother. They wouldn’t tell me what they’re talking about in the end.”
Tsuchiya-san says nonchalantly.
Asking them what they said…? In other words, when I heard ‘please let go of me’, it was supposed to be ‘tell me’ instead of ‘let go’, right?[4]
“TokoNatsu-sempai, are the photos from the Muttsurini Company?”
“Shut it. It has nothing to do with you, right?”
“How can we say this to an underclassman girl?”
Upperclassman Yoshii is whispering to them about something. Muttsurini Company? What are they talking about?
“Ah—it’s alright I guess. Let’s go.”
“Really, why do we have to handle this at such a busy moment.”
“Sorry for troubling you.”
“Sorry for that commotion.”
“??? Erm…sorry about that.”
The pair grumble as they head back to the school building, while we, the remaining trio, lower our heads.
As we lift our faces.
“Speaking of which, why are you here, Kubo-kun, Yoshii-sempai?”
Tsuchiya-san asks us while looking rather puzzled.
“…”
I just feel very annoyed here.
Isn’t that too much from you? We’re here because we’re worried about you here.
But unlike me, who’s looking rather annoyed at the moment.
“Oh, it’s nothing.”
Upperclassman Yoshii doesn’t seem to be overly concerned by it. Eh? Is he saying that he never thought much about it?
“?? What’s on my face?”
Upperclassman Yoshii can’t help but ask as I stare at him.
I already feel annoyed by Tsuchiya-san even though I often interact with her and understand her personality, but Upperclassman Yoshii here doesn’t seem to be bothered. What’s going on? Is this guy really a nice guy…?
I look up at the window. Even though he’s trying to save someone, there’s no need to jump down from there, right? Besides, she’s a middle school student from another school he had never heard before.
“Speaking of which, it does seem that I’ve been called an idiot more often recently.”
Upperclassman Yoshii scratches his head as he grumbles. That careless line he spouted out makes me feel that something’s out of place.
That move just now was stupid…? I don’t think so. It’s a misunderstanding in the end, but it’s respectable for him to do this just to save Tsuchiya-san.
“Well…sempai.”
“Hm? What is it?”
“Is it common to have such failures?”
“Hm…”
I question Upperclassman Yoshii, who then put his hand at his chin and muses softly.
“I think there’s a lot of these…”
He answers while looking rather sorry.
Quite a lot. That means this guy often does such things.
He probably failed a lot of times jumping out from a window, an act that doesn’t need much thinking.
However, he never doubted what he wanted to do. This guy’s always called an idiot because he’s like that, always failing in whatever he does.
As I think of it, the information I got beforehand lost its reliability.
I shouldn’t believe the rumors. I should see things for myself.
In other words, there should be some misunderstanding about brother. From how he acted just now, I guess he really does like girls, only to be misunderstood.
In that case, I need to ask him something to understand and get rid of this misunderstanding.
“Yoshii-sempai. Can I ask you something again?”
“Hm? What is it?”
“Erm…this might be too much, but sempai, you…”
And just when I’m about to ask the question.
“YOSHII! YOU BASTARD! IS IT TRUE THAT YOU WENT OUT WITH KINOSHITA HIDEYOSHI ALONE LAST WEEKEND!?”
“IF THAT’S TRUE, WE’LL KILL YOU UNDER THE NAME OF THE FFF!!”
“IF THAT’S FALSE, WE’LL KILL YOU FOR THE SAKE OF OUR FUTURES!!!”
The masked army of men come swarming down the corridor.
Kinoshita…Hideyoshi?
“Wait wait! It’s a misunderstanding! Both of us did go out together, but I didn’t have any uncouth thoughts here!”
Two people going out? Uncouth thoughts? What are these people talking about—
“CAN YOU SAY THAT YOU HAVE NO INTEREST IN KINOSHITA HIDEYOSHI!?”
“…About that…I can’t say that it’s impossible…!”
This sudden change situation is making things much more confusing here.
But amongst this, I understand only one thing from that conversation.
Kinoshita Hideyoshi-->♂
“…”
“Damn it! Anyway, got to run away!”
Upperclassman Yoshii tries to run away in order to escape from the incoming army.
“…Yoshii-sempai.”
“Sorry! I’m busy now, so ask me whatever you want to ask next time!”
“Ah, it’s fine. There’s no need to ask.”
I stand behind Upperclassman Yoshii as he gets ready to run away, and grab him by the throat.
“? Speaking of which, I’m trying to run away, so please let go—”
“Everyone! I caught Yoshii-sempai! Please get rid of him!”
“WWHHHHHAAAAAAATTTTT!!!???”
This guy’s a lost cause. There’s a lot of nice things about him, but this guy can’t be allowed to live on if my family is not to be destroyed!
“Good work, Kubo-kun! That’s a great accomplishment!”
“Eh…? Wa, wait a second, you! Why? What’s going on!?”
“I’m sorry. It’s my stubbornness at work here, but please deal with sempai.”
“WHAT!? WHAT SORT OF GRUDGE DO I HAVE WITH YOU!? ANYWAY, PLEASE LISTEN TO ME…AARRRRGGGGHHHH!!! IT’S DANGEROUS!!”
“EVERYONE, ELIMINATE THE HERETIC!”
“SIR! YES SIR!”
“Damn it…! How can I let myself be killed by you guys!!!”
I see puffing smoke at where Upperclassman Yoshii and the masked army were in the school.
“I’m really sorry, Yoshii-sempai. I don’t have a grudge against you, but this time, I definitely must…”
I must at least make an apology as I bow slightly towards the upperclassman running around.
“Well, Kubo-kun.”
“Hm? What is it, Tsuchiya-san?”
“I just noticed it.”
“Hm.”
“Did you come save me because you thought I was being harassed?”
“…Eh?”
I’m suddenly speechless.
That, that’s true, but how am I supposed to answer this sudden question now…
Bothered, I remain rooted as someone pats me on the shoulder. Hm? This is—
“Nice going, Kubo-kun. You sure have lots of guts.”
“To carry out a love comedy right in front of us so daringly.”
“Yeah, you have a bright future…if you have a future, that is.”
“Huh? No, that’s not it! This isn’t that kind of situation—excuse me!”
“ALL POPULAR MEN IN THIS WORLD, DIE!!!”
When you harm someone else, karma will come right back at you.
I understand this logic as I wearily escape with all I have, and my trip to Fumitzuki Academy ends just like this.
“…Brother.”
“Ah, Yoshimitsu. How’s your trip to Fumitzuki Academy today?”
“About that…a lot of things happened. Anyway,”
“Anyway?”
“I want to beat you up till your head gets shocked back to normal, brother.”
“Wait a second, what happened at the visit today, Yoshimitsu?”
“Brother, there’re many pretty girls in Fumitzuki Academy, like Kirishima-sempai and Himeji-sempai, right?”
“Yeah, that’s right.”
“If you can think that way, it means that shock therapy will work.”
“You’re having weird thoughts, Yoshimitsu.”
“That’s not the case. You’re the one having weird thoughts, brother.”
“Yare yare…Yoshimitsu, did you go to F class during your visit today?”
“Hm? How do you know?”
“I know. Isn’t your thought process just like F class?”
“What…!?”
“Since you got used to it immediately, you might find this school very suitable for you.”
“WHAT!? EVEN IF IT’S YOU BROTHER, I WON’T ALLOW YOU TO SAY THAT!”
On this day, I had a long overdue fight against my brother.
Popularity Contest Result (2nd place)
Me and Yuuji and the Dangerous Black Magic
It was a very ordinary day, a rare time after school where we didn’t have any remedials or detention.
Hideyoshi’s taking part in club activities, Muttsurini’s in some mysterious activity, so Yuuji and I are playing games at my house.
“You bastard! Watch this! So much for your petty tricks there, Akihisa!”
“What about you! You’re just Yuuji! Stop oinking!”
I changed my clothes once I got home, and Yuuji was still wearing his uniform as we’re holding the controllers in the living room. Our characters are running around on the screen in response to the controls.
“Die, Akihisa! Sure kill! ‘Total Annihilation 4 iron’!”
“I won’t let you! I have my ‘Total Defense Caddie’!”
Yuuji’s character swung the 4-iron, hitting the caddie I used as a shield.
“Let’s go, 4-iron! Send that caddie flying with Akihisa…!”
“Hang on, caddie-san…! I believe your face block will not lose to a 4-iron…!”
Yuuji and I continued to mash the buttons. On the screen, the 4-iron that was curled up slammed into the face of the caddie, and we’re fighting over who’s able to mash better in this battle of strength. This was such a surreal scene.
“‘Offset!’”
The screen showed that I managed to defend successfully. Great!
“Fufufu, you idiot! I can KO an opponent that lost a club!”
My character grabs the golf putter and attacks the enemy, and the thin stick that was meant to hit the ball lightly is swinging wildly onto the enemy violently.
“DAMN IIIIITTTT!!! DON’T LOSE! STAND UP! STAND UUUUPPPPP!!!” (※Note: this is a golf game)
Yuuji’s voice were of no effect as his character in the screen could only lie limp on the ground.
‘KO. Player 1 wins!’
“Alright! I win, Yuuji!”
“Damn it! I lost!”
“Haha! One big victory for me!”
“You’re really strong at games, you bastard!”
“Ahaha! It’s really great to hear the cries of the losers!”
I got overly excited because I won.
But it’s a joyous occasion whenever I beat Yuuji! How satisfying it is!
As he saw me laugh happily, Yuuji says to me,
“Ah…speaking of which, Akihisa.”
“Hahahaha! Hahahahaha!”
I continue to laugh hard as I ignored him.
“…Is this game really meaningful…?”
“Hahaha! Hahaha—uaa—!”
I bought this game while keeping it a secret from my sister, and it emptied my savings and also brought painful memories to me.
“Don’t feel so disappointed there, Akihisa. This kind of thing does happen once in a while.”
“Uu…it was hard to raise funds to buy this while hiding it from nee-san…”
Anyway, I switched off the game console first. I never thought that ‘De Golf game for everyone’ was a ‘Death golf game for everyone’…I should have had some suspicions when I saw the label on it that said ‘A brand new golf game where Knockout is the objective!’ in the first place…
“Isn’t it your own freedom to secretly save up money and spend it on games to satisfy yourself?”
“If only I can get grades that are as good as others.”
“Looks like you’ll be buying them secretly in the future for the rest of your life.”
“Isn’t that too much of an exaggeration…haa…”
I let out a sigh and landed on the sofa. As I landed, something hard was pressed on my back as I heard a thud.
“Hm? What’s this?”
I stand up from the sofa and pick that thing up with my hands. It looks like it’s a bag with a book inside, so I look inside the bag to see what kind of book is inside.
“Ah, my bad. It’s mine.”
Yuuji says as he sits down on the carpet. I see, so it belongs to Yuuji.
“What kind of book did you buy?”
“Ah, it’s not mine. I confiscated it from Shouko.”
“Confiscated?”
“She was acting rather suspiciously in the morning. I felt that my life was in danger, so I confiscated it.”
“Isn’t it an exaggeration to say that your life is in danger ?”
I say that as I look inside the bag
“Make it happen. Real Black Magic.”
It sure does feel a little horrifying, a step up compared to the beginner course we saw before.
“…What in the world is Kirishima-san planning to do with this…”
“…I don’t know. I’m too scared to ask.”
I flip through the pages tentatively and with fear. As I continued to flip through them, I see what looks like a slip tucked between the pages.
“Is this a bookmark?”
“Oh, really? I suppose we’ll be able to tell what Shouko’s planning from this page.”
Yuuji picked up the bookmark on the page as I pried the book open.
The bright colored patterned bookmark that was removed had words all over it. let me see what’s written on it…
“—This will henceforth take effect on the first day of the new month. The force will gather in form, and in other words, would liberate the yoke that was the concept of thoughts and emotions within bodies, and the souls will be complete free together with the flesh—”
Yup, I have no idea about what’s written on it at all.
“Yuuji, do you understand the content here?”
“Nope, not at all.”
Yuuji said as he shrugged his shoulders.
“But since it says that it’s black magic, I suppose it’s like a ‘charm’ or something? It’s pretty pointless if you don’t know how to use it.”
“If you think that way, you should return the book to Kirishima-san.”
Since it’s useless if nobody can use it, I’ll say that there’s nothing to worry about here.
“No, that’s another thing altogether. Besides…”
“Yes?”
“That person’s really suited for this kind of thing…”
“Oh…”
Now that he says this, I understand. Kirishima-san does seem like she’s suited for black magic.”
“I see. So that’s why you’re scared of returning it even though you said that you don’t believe in the occult.”
“You’re annoying!”
Yuuji knocks my forehead with the book. Creak. The bookmark that was tucked inside let out this sound as it hit.
“Then, what do we do next? Do we continue with the game just now?”
“Nn~…never mind. Let’s go back to that old fighting game.”
“OK.”
“Good grief…my money’s never coming back.”
“Cheer up. I don’t think there’s much use for saying this, but we’re having good stuff for lunch tomorrow.”
“Eh? Really?”
“Yeah. We got some good ingredients.”
“I see. Looking forward to it.”
We continue to chat as we load the fighting game disc into the game console.
We spent a lot of time attacking and defending, and at the end of the day, my result was 24 wins, 24 losses.
Nudge nudge.
“Nn…”
I can feel my body being shaken gently. “……Wake…up…”
At the same time, I could hear a wake-up call. Since nee-san is here to wake me up, I suppose it’s morning…
“Uu…sorry. I’ll go make breakfast first…”
I’m still in a sleepy state as my vision is still not clear, and I get up. I’ll just randomly make some bacon, eggs and toast this morning…
As I’m thinking of what to make, I hear an unexpected response.
“…Don’t worry, I’ve already made breakfast.”
Made…? Breakfast…?
“Eh? Nee-san!?”
I was shocked, and my consciousness was fully awakened. Then…
“?...Nee-san?”
I saw a beautiful calm-looking girl with long black hair beside the bed—Kirishima Shouko-san.
“▽☆♪×○▫♦♂×○▫♦♂ҳ̸Ҳ̸ҳ۞۩๑[sՖศO▼☆♪ξδ◆√∑!?”
Why!? Why is Kirishima-san in my house, and in my room!?
“…You’re dazed?’
Kirishima-san stared at my face. Not only that, we can feel each other’s breathing here. Th-this is too close, Kirishima-san!
“Why are you here, Kirishima-san!? What’s the situation!?”
I immediately pull my distance away. Isn’t she being too close and defenseless here!? Isn’t this too dangerous!? In all sorts of ways too!
“…”
Kirishima-san did not notice that I’m all confused here as she gives me an unhappy look.
“…Why must you call me that way?”
“Yes?”
Call her? What does she mean?
“…Just call me Shouko like usual.”
“Yess!?”
I never called you that before, you know!?
“…Or else I won’t answer you.”
Kirishima-san pouts and looks aside. I don’t know what in the world is going on here!?
“Eh…Sho-Shouko!?”
“…Yes.”
I call out to her, and she turns around to look at me happily.
“…You can have breakfast.”
I notice that Kirishima-san’s wearing an apron over her uniform. It looks like she really did make breakfast.
I-I don’t really know what’s going on, but anyway—
“I-I see. Then, I’ll change my clothes…”
“…Understood.”
I thought of changing my uniform, but for some reason, she’s still in my room.
“No, well, I’m going to change here, you know…?”
“…Un.”
“I can’t change if you don’t go out.”
“…I’ll help you change.”
“!? No-no-no-no-no need for that! Really, there’s no need!”
I immediately refused without saying anything else. Besides, this will really cause me quite the headache here!
“…Do you hate it?”
“I-I can’t say that I hate it, but that’s not right, you know!”
“…Too bad.”
Kirishima-san agrees readily, probably because she sensed my firm will.
“…Then, I’ll wait for you downstairs.”
“Right, I under—”
As she walks out of the room, Kirishima-san adds on,
“—Don’t go back to sleep again, Yuuji.”
“Heh…?”
That line alone allowed me to understand this unbelievable situation.
“Don’t tell me it ended up like this…”
Right now, I’m on my way to school, and I haven’t recovered from my shock after seeing my body.
My arms are thicker than what I’m used to.
My vision is slightly taller than usual.
I have nice short hair.
It’s really impossible to believe, but there’s no doubt about this. I’m—
“…What is it, Yuuji?”
Right now, I’ve become my bad friend Sakamoto Yuuji.
“No, it’s nothing, Kirishima-sa—”
“…(Frowns)”
“Sho-Shouko.”
“…Nn.”
I’ve become Yuuji, and Kirishima-san is walking beside me. I still don’t understand the situation, but this is the truth. To be honest, it feels too real for it to be a dream.
“I say, Shouko.”
“Un.”
“Today, I[5]—I mean, I look like Sakamoto Yuuji…right?”
“???”
My strange question causes Kirishima-san to tilt her head. Damn it, I was too careless when I asked. I’m too careless, and I haven’t even understood the situation now!
“Ah, sorry, just pretend that you never heard my question just now. I’m still a little sleepy.”
“…Is that so?”
Kirishima-san nodded her head honestly once I corrected my line.
“…You’re weird, Yuuji.”
She smiled at me as she said this. Kirishima-san’s nice long hair that’s swaying in the wind really adds charm to her smiling face.
Ho-how cute…!
She’s already so pretty, and yet she has that kind of defenseless childishness inside her that makes her look so cute at this time. It really brings about a different kind charm from her usual cold exterior. “…” I stare right at Kirishima-san’s face. “???” Kirishima-san too tilts her face to look at me. She’s really too cute, so I can’t help but start to think. (She’s a girl who’s so cute, so devoted, smart and athletic. Is it really good for her to be with Yuuji all the time…?) I continue to stare at her face as I start to think about such things, and at this moment, Kirishima-san asks me,
“…Is there something on my face?”
“No, it’s perfectly normal.”
“..I see…However…”
“However?”
“…I feel a little embarrassed when you keep looking at me like this…”
Kirishima-san says as she lowers her blushing face.
For some reason, when I’m talking to Kirishima-san at a distance different from usual, it feels…
(As expected, I really can’t take it. How can I watch such a girl walk her way to such misfortune? I have to hurry up and let her break up from that scum Yuuji as much as possible and fly a new leash in life. Yeah, that’s right. This is my duty to execute!)
Luckily, I’ve become Yuuji, so I should be able to manipulate her evaluation on Yuuji. There’s no better situation than this. This will definitely hurt her in this situation, but at this moment, I can only sell my soul to the devil. This is for her own sake too.”
“—Shouko.”
“?...What is it?”
The moment I call her, her innocent and pure eyes turn over to look at me.
Those eyes are not seeing anything else other than Yuuji. She is only looking at Sakamoto Yuuji.
She hasn’t seen that I’m Yoshii Akihisa, and her eyes are full of trust. This girl called Kirishima Shouko is harboring strong feelings in her stare at the boy called Sakamoto Yuuji.
Those eyes are so pure that I didn’t just say something that defies my heart.
“—Do you like me?”
“…Eh…?”
Kirishima-san widens her eyes the moment she hears my sudden question.
Even so, she knows that I’m asking her seriously. That’s why she’s looking back at me with a serious expression.
“…Yes. I love you the most in this world.”
She answers without a single doubt. Her feelings have never been shaken before, and it has been decided right from the beginning.
On hearing her answer, I start to ask myself.
Am I really hoping for her happiness? Or am I thinking in a way that will end up trapping myself because I’m thinking in the wrong way? If I’m really hoping for her happiness, I shouldn’t trample on them. I’m just trying to break up the relationship between these two because I’m jealous of Yuuji.
(I’m…really an idiot!)
If I really want her to be happy, I should make sure that these feelings are reciprocated! My despicable jealous heart should be secondary here! That’s right! Kirishima-san should have her own happiness, and I’m the only one who can fulfill that now!
“—Shouko!”
Once I made up my mind, I grab Kirishima-san on the shoulders and turn her to me.
“…Yes.”
Kirishima-san looks back at me with a shocked expression, but it seems that she still sensed something as she looks right into my eyes.
“We’re still high school students…but I’ve decided. Once we graduate, we’ll get marr—”
“UWOOOOOAHHHH!!!”
“GUAAAHHH!!”
A sharp pain that struck my head and a large scream interrupted my whole-hearted marriage proposal. Ku…!Who is it! Who got in the way of her happiness!?
“Akihisa…! You nearly broke the biggest taboo here…!”
The person who jumped over and landed has a blank look on his face. I do have an impression on this person’s face, hairstyle and physique. Th-this is, me—not! This guy, this idiot bastard is…!
“You bastard, Yuuji?”
“I came running here the moment I had a bad premonition, so it’s just as I expected…Akihisa, you bastard, does your stupidity have no limits!?”
“Yuuji, you bastard…! Just a step closer…!”
“???...Yoshii? …Yuuji?”
Kirishima-san stares at us blankly as we face off. It can’t be helped since we’re calling each other the opposite names, and it’s normal for her not to understand what is going on.
“Stop getting in my way, Yuuji! I have to do something for the sake of Kirishima-san’s happiness!”
“What a coincidence! I have someone I have to kill in order to protect my own happiness!”
Both sides’ killing intent continued to rise. As expected, this guy can’t be convinced in any way. Since I can’t get through to him with words—
““DIIIEEEEE!!!””
Both of us growled as we punched.
GOK. Blunt sounds can be heard.
“U…gh…!”
And so, my fist hit the opponent directly in the face. On the other hand, the other side’s fist can’t even reach me and can only hit me on the shoulder. Huh…?
Anyway, I have to press on for the kill and punch again. He wants to use his left hand to block—
“GUAAH!”
My fist broke through his guard. This, this is…!
“Gu…! Damn it…!”
GAK GAK. Yuuji (in my body) is trembling on his legs. In contrast, I practically took no damage on my side.
This, this is…!
“Is this Yuuji’s physical ability…!?”
Such amazing muscle strength, reach and toughness! So his physique is actually this good. It’s no wonder he’s good at fighting.
“I got beaten…! Even though this isn’t my body…!”
Yuuji mutters with regret. You idiot. It’s too late to regret it now!
“This is the final blow, Yuuji! I’m going to beat you and let Kirishima-san end her happiness!”
But just when I’m about to punch him,
“Kirishima-san! Actually, Yuuji didn’t come to my house yesterday!”
Yuuji presses against my face as he speaks up using my tone. Ha? I thought he’s going to beg for forgiveness, so what was he actually planning to say—
GUSH!
“…Yuuji, what’s going on…?”
Suddenly, my vision went dark. Urk, what’s with this sharp pain reaching the back of my head?
“…Answer me, Yuuji. You lied by saying that you were going to Yoshii’s house. Where did you actually go to?”
Creak crack, my skullcap is letting out a cracking sound.
“Wa-wait a moment. I really went to…!”
“Kirishima-san! Yuuji even told me ‘to give you a good testimony if Shouko asks’!”
“…Yuuji, are you, cheating on me…?”
“NOOO!!!”
This, this is bad! It’s hurting so badly that I can only scream out loud! Kirishima-san, this Kirishima-san that was cute until now has become a killing machine!!
“Okay okay, that’s enough Sho—ah, Kirishima-san. Yuuji’s saying all sorts of nice things because he’s been cheating on you, but those are lies, so you mustn’t believe them. You must punish him thoroughly and hurt him so much that he can’t say anything.”
“…I understand. Thank you, Yoshii.”
“YOU BATTER REBEBMER THIS!! GUUJIIII!!!”
Kirishima-san is so devoted, smart and sure has a powerful grip, and I’ve seen them all for myself here.
“Akihisa, you better not make this mistake again after this punishment.”
“Yes…I will remember this in my heart…”
I got released from Kirishima-san’s punishment, and I finally made my way to F classroom.
We arrive earlier than usual, so there’s no one else in the classroom. Just in case however, Yuuji and I hide in a corner of the classroom to discuss softly.
“Then, do you know exactly what it is, Akihisa?”
Yuuji looks at our bodies as he says this.
I suppose he’s talking about our current situation.
“Well, it’s kind of unbelievable, but have we exchanged bodies, Yuuji?”
“So it’s just as I expected…I thought I was the only one who ended up like this…but I knew our bodies were swapped once I saw you.”
We nod our heads. This is really unbelievable.
“Do you have any idea of what might have caused it this morning?”
“…It was too shocking that I couldn’t even concentrate, and I ended up not terrified at all.”
“I see…speaking of which, it’s shocking, right? Is it because you’re shocked to see a different room when you opened your eyes?”
The moment I ask this, Yuuji looks like he bit on a bitter bug as he answers,
“No…well…it’s hard to say it…your sister came to wake me up this morning. I was dazed, and my reaction was slow when I realized that it wasn’t Shouko—well, let’s not talk about what happened next.”
“What!? What did you do with nee-san this morning!? What did my sister do to my body!?”
“It’s fine, nothing happened. It was only seen.”
“YOU IDIOT BASTARD!!!”
“It’s alright, I don’t mind.”
“YOU DON’T, I DO!!!”
Why did it end up like this!! This idiot!
“Anyway, we know the situation now, so now it’s time to understand the reason this happened. Once we know the reason, we might be able to solve the problem.”
“That means…getting back to normal as quickly as possible…”
And don’t dig our wounds bigger.
“I never met you this morning, so the only time in question is…”
“After school yesterday.”
“Ah, most likely.”
I suppose the only time when Yuuji and I could swap over was when we were together. We don’t know the actual situation here, but this probably hasn’t affected anyone else. In that case, the chance of a third party not being involved is high.
Besides, before that—
“I can’t think of anything else other than Shouko’s book.”
“Yeah, me too.”
The only thing we can think of that could have caused this extremely surreal scene is the “Make it happen. Real Black Magic.” Book.
“Akihisa, did you bring that book along?”
“I don’t remember putting it in my bag.”
“Then it has to be in my room. I hid it in that place when I returned home yesterday.”
“I see, go over and get it then—ah, I can’t go on my own, right?”
“Of course, it’s weird for ‘Yoshii Akihisa’ to head over to my house at this time.”
“Okay. Then I’ll go and come back.”
“Wait, Akihisa. There’s something you have to take note of before that.”
“Hm?”
Yuuji calls me to stop just when I’m about to leave. What is it?
“Be careful not to let anyone know about this.”
“Eh? Why?”
It’s not like before now. Since we know the reason, isn’t it good to get everyone to help?
“Nobody will believe us if we say such ridiculous things, and people will call us weird here. Once we turn back to normal, there’ll be discord amongst us, and it’ll be really troublesome.”
Ahh, I guess that’s kind of true. Let’s get everyone to help out later then. At this point, Yuuji and I should be the only ones taking action here.
“Besides—if someone knows that our bodies can switch around, things may get out of hand.”
“Got it. I’ll definitely keep the secret.”
If the people in the class know, they’ll definitely want to play pranks with Himeji-san, Minami and Hideyoshi by switching bodies with them. To Yuuji, the most fearsome thing would be Kirishima-san’s action after that.
“But now I have to return to your house so early in the morning, Yuuji.”
“It’s really a huge relief in this misfortune that we came early.”
It’s a good thing that we woke up early, and there’s still a lot of time left in the morning. If I head to Yuuji’s house and come back, there definitely won’t be any problems.
“I’m really going over then.”
“Ah, I’ll leave it to you.”
I walk out of the classroom and rush back to Yuuji’s house.
Yuuji’s physical strength is far different from mine, but in terms of endurance, there’s not much difference here.
I head over to Yuuji’s house to get the book, and return back to school.
During this time, there’re a lot more people headed to school now.
“This isn’t good…I better return as soon as possible before something bad happens.
Yuuji and I can’t compare to Hideyoshi in our acting. We’re already at our limits trying to pose off as each other, and it’ll be dangerous if I don’t hurry up and return back to my own body.
I dash through the crowd that’s moving to the school casually, change my shoes and move towards F class.
“Yuu—Akihisa, I got the book back!”
I opened the door as I shouted.
“Ah, Sakamoto-kun, good morning.”
The place where Yuuji was just before this is now empty, and Himeji-san, who’s beside the door, greets me.
“Good morning, Himeji-san!”
I greet her back and immediately run off to look for Yuuji. Un~ he’s not here. Where has he gone to?
“? Himeji ‘san’?”
Himeji-san blinks as she reflects on what I just said. This is bad! Yuuji won’t call her ‘Himeji-san’, but—
“What is it, Himeji?”
“Ah, no, it’s nothing.”
I hurriedly change the way I call her; Himeji-san thinks that I just merely called her wrongly, and so she doesn’t pursue matters further. That was close. I better watch my tone.
Just when I was feeling cold sweat in my heart, Himeji-san smiled as she looked at me and said,
“Oh yes, Sakamoto-kun. Thank you very much for yesterday.”
“Un, what is it?”
“About Akihisa-kun.”
“???”
Himeji-san’s thanking me for some particular reason.
About me? What happened?
“You see, didn’t I say that ‘I learnt how to make tacos’ yesterday?”
“Ah, ahh, about that.”
I have no memory of that, but I start nodding like how Yuuji does it when he recalls something. Himeji-san learnt how to make tacos…?
“And then, didn’t you say ‘I’ll tell Akihisa not to bring lunch over, make him lots of delicious tacos’?”
THAT BASTTTAAAARRRRRDDDDD!!!
“I worked hard to make them so that Akihisa-kun can eat them ♪”
So that’s what he meant when he said ‘I got good ingredients, so leave lunch to me’!! He actually did such a cruel thing without me knowing here!
…Bad kids have to be punished.
“Himeji-s—Himeji.”
“Yes?”
“Do you know where Akihisa is?”
Once I find him, I better punish him—no, my body will have wounds after that. I’ll suffer once I switch back into my body.
Once I asked this, Himeji-san puts her fingers on her chin and answers,
“Un…Akihisa-kun said ‘I have something important to talk about’ and disappeared somewhere.”
? Something important? This early in the morning? With who?
“—With Tamano-san.”
NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!
Tamano-san, as in THAT Tamano-san!? Why is that idiot Yuuji walking around in such a carefree manner with a dangerous person like that!!? Doesn’t he have any sense of danger here!!?
“Tamano-san said that she’ll show me once she’s done, and she says that it’s her prized work today.”
“I get it! Where did they go to? Where are they!?”
Judgment has to be left aside first. I have to stop Tamano-san before this! Before my body and pride gets corrupted!
“I think they’re most likely in the classroom. They should still be preparing…”
“I get it. Thanks, Himeji-san!”
I immediately dash out of the classroom and head down to find that classroom. Where is it? Where are they? I continue to run around the corridor of the old building’s second level, desperately looking for them.
And then, I hear someone’s voice coming from an empty classroom.
“Then, Aki-chan, I want to take off those pants of yours.”
“What, what are you doing here!? What do you want to do with me!? Speaking of which, you’re unreasonably forcefully stripping me without my consent here, you know!?”
“There’s nothing to worry about, right? I’ve already prepared the clothing for you to change into. Don’t you find this clothing extremely cute?”
“STOP JOKING AROUND!! WHO’S GOING TO WEAR SUCH A—WAIT, NNNNNOOOOOO!!! ARE YOU REALLY A GIRL HERE!? WHAT’S WITH THAT ARM STRENGTH OF YOURS!?”
“Over there!?”
BAM. I open the door and rush into the classroom, and I see the half-naked me and Tamano-san, holding a cheerleading uniform. Alright! I managed to make it in time!
“That’s enough here, Tamano-san! Release my body back to me!”
“Nice, nice timing there, Akihisa! You saved me here! I’m really saved here…!”
Yuuji’s so terrified that he’s hiding behind me. The victim here is my body, but even Yuuji, who’s normally aloof, is really terrified.
“Eh…? Sakamoto…?”
Tamano-san is stunned she looks at me, the intruder who suddenly barged in. No, my opponent’s that Tamano–san. I can’t be careless here!
“Tamano-san, your evil ambitions end here. Give up quietly in front of me.”
And return me my uniform!
I’m prepared to continue sharply,
“Ah, yes. Sorry…”
I thought Tamano-san wants to resist, but she unexpectedly backs off rather tamely. Arre…? This doesn’t feel right here…
And so, she nods with a giddily happy attitude,
“I’m really sorry. I’m sorry for pulling a prank on the ‘body’ that belongs to Sakamoto-kun…Er, erm, be happy, you two.”
Finally, she walks off with her face blushing.
Anyway, it’s great that things haven’t gone out of hand. It’s a good thing—but what’s going on? Something doesn’t seem right about the words Tamano-san just said…
“Akihisa…you better rethink the way you make friends here…”
“Yeah…I understand…”
Yuuji says this as he puts on the uniform that was taken off, and for some mysterious reason, these words really enters my heart.
“Then, what do you know?”
We finally manage to escape from Tamano-san’s clutches as we return back to the classroom, and we open that book to check the contents within.
“Damn it, I don’t think I’ll be able to understand everything at one go…why are there so many words there?”
“We saw yesterday that the book hardly has any pictures and illustrations on its pages, and the cryptic words written on it are hard to understand. To be honest, I’m feeling really dizzy just by looking at it.”
“For some reason, I feel that I can’t think well when I’m in your body.”
How rude.
“But we can’t look for anyone else to help out here. Do your best.”
“Ahh. Don’t worry. I’ll try to read it during class. It’s not easy to read, but if I’m serious, I should be able to finish it all within 2 hours.”
Due to the horrifying experience from before, Yuuji’s eyes are not showing a single sign of playing around here. Tamano-san’s really someone formidable considering how she managed to terrify Yuuji, who went through countless battles.
“In other words, we have to keep things hushed down before that happens, right?”
“Ahh, we better watch ourselves around the gang we often interact with…especially Hideyoshi here. If we’re not careful, we’ll definitely be seen through.”
“Un. Got it.”
Hideyoshi, who’s used to lies and acting, is the one biggest opponent we have to face. He’s not called an acting idiot for nothing. We have to watch out.
“Instead of saying bad lies here, we might as well avoid contact with each other. If possible, just run away.”
“Okay, we’ll do that.”
While we’re discussing, someone suddenly walks in.
“…What book are you reading?”
““!?””
We can’t help but cry out. The presence that appears without a sound is,
“Wh-what the, Muttsurini…?”
“You shocked us…”
“…Morning, you two.”
It’s our classmate Muttsurini, Tsuchiya Kouta.
“…And then? What’s that book?”
Muttsurini points at the black magic book we’re trying to read secretly and asks. Ah, is this guy thinking that we’re secretly reading some ero-book again?
“It’s not really an important book, right Yuuji?”
Yuuji copies my tone as he opens the door. It’s impossible to hide this book and try and explain with Muttsurini as our opponent here. His mobility will jump by many dozens of times if it’s anything to do with ero at all. It’s best to explain that this isn’t an ero-book.
“You see, Muttsurini? How does this look like an ero-book?”
I then copy Yuuji’s tone and show the book filled with words to Muttsurini.
Then, Muttsurini nods while looking like he understands.
“…I see.”
“It’s nothing big here, you know?”
“…It’s an ero-novel.”
Not good. This guy’s brain can’t be cured through modern medicine here.
“That’s not it, Muttsurini. This is a divination book Yuuji took from Kirishima-san. Right, Yuuji?”
Yuuji says as he gives me a look. I’ll just have to follow his words here.
“Un, I borrowed it over because I had some interest in divination reading.”
“…I see.”
The disappointed Muttsurini drops his shoulders.
“…I want to see a divination if I can peep into the girls’ changing room.”
““WHY WOULD THERE BE SUCH A THING!?””
“…I see…”
Muttsurini’s shoulders drop again, and he returns back to his seat.
“Phew…we managed to keep it safe for now.”
“We’ll be in danger if there’s a naked illustration inside it…”
If there’s even the single hint of ero inside that book, Muttsurini will immediately try to snatch it over. That was close…
“We still can’t be careless here. There are tougher opponents to face here.”
“Of course I’m not relaxing here. Hideyoshi’s not going to be fooled that easily.”
“Nm…? What’s wrong? It’s like you two have swapped bodies here, Yuuji and Akihisa.”
““Hii—!””
Hideyoshi immediately touched on the issue at hand the moment he appears. Hold on, hold on a moment! You knew without anyone saying anything?
“Wh-what is it, Hideyoshi? Why are you saying such a thing out of a sudden here?”
“Th-that’s right, Hideyoshi, what kind of strange thing are you saying this morning?”
Yuuji and I are so shocked that our hearts are almost popping out, but we continue to imitate each other’s manner of speech.
“Why, you say? I can see that your standing postures are reversed here.”
THE STANDING POSTURES!? YOU CAN TELL FROM OUR UNIQUE CHARACTER TRAITS!?
“Wha-what are you saying, Hideyoshi? I changed my standing posture because my feet are hurting!”
“Tha-that’s right. Me too.”
“Um…but.”
“Then, we have something to attend to first!”
“See you later, Hideyoshi!”
Yuuji and I escape to the corridor together. Such, such a powerful foe…!
“Listen, Akihisa. We mustn’t interact with Hideyoshi no matter what, and we must avoid looking at him at all costs.”
“Go-got it. I’ll take note.”
We then continue to waste time, and only return back when it’s about time to start class.
We continued to read that book in the middle of class intently (※or rather, only Yuuji, since I was sleeping), and we lie down on the short table, pretending to be asleep as so that we won’t be suspected.
The morning passed by like that, and at noon break,
“Found it, Akihisa! It’s this part!”
Yuuji takes that book and moves over to me.
(Wa-wait a second, Yuuji! The name, the name!)
(Oh, yeah, sorry. Anyway, let’s check this out)
Yuuji then opens the book and lays it on the short table.
He opens a page that has a lot of long paragraphs that are hard to understand.
“Sorry Yuuji, please tell me the main gist of it.”
“You can’t even read this…well never mind. There are 3 important points, so listen up, okay?”
Yuuji lets out a sigh, and then tells me the important points.
Point 1: After sticking the talisman on another person, the characters of the one sticking the talisman and the one being stuck will be swapped.
Point 2: The talisman will not take effect if it’s not stuck on the forehead.
Point 3: The effects of the switch will start from dawn on the first day of the new month until the day of the full moon sets.
“Heh~ looks amazing. Is there anything else written, like what can be used for convenience—”
“Now’s not the time for that! We have to hurry up and revert back to our original state as soon as possible!”
It seems that Yuuji has been skipping through a lot of parts just to look for this particular part. He looks really anxious here.
“It’s almost noon break now. There won’t be any time left if we dily-daly.”
“Ah, yeah, that’s true.”
The chances of everyone interacting with each other will increase during lunch break, and the chances of anyone else seeing through this will increase greatly, let alone Hideyoshi. We better hurry up and change back.
“Then, what’s the ‘talisman’ listed here?”
“Most probably this one.”
Yuuji takes out the bright patterned bookmark we saw yesterday from the middle of the book. I see, so this is the reason?
“So we just have to stick these on our foreheads?”
“Yeah, and we’ll be able to change back.”
“I see. That’s great. It’s really simple to swap back.”
“Oh—then, I’m going to stick it. Hurry up and show your forehead.”
Yuuji looks really anxious about wanting to stick the talisman on me here.”
“Here.”
I’m about to turn my head over to him—but I remember after Yuuji entered my body, that Himeji-san noticed me and approached me.
At that moment, the memory I have this morning awakens.
“You see, didn’t I say that ‘I learnt how to make tacos’ yesterday?”
“I worked hard to make them so that Akihisa-kun can eat them ♪”
“!!”
I immediately dodge the talisman that came right at me at that moment.
“O-oi Akihisa! Why did you dodge? Seriously, hurry up and change back.”
Yuuji sees me like this and frantically tries to force me to change back.
I think I can understand…I think I can understand why Yuuji’s so anxious about changing back now…!
“No, let’s not change back now. Let’s change back only after noon break is over.”
“Wha…!”
My unexpected answer stuns Yuuji.
If I change back now, I’ll have no choice but to eat Himeji-san’s tacos as a result of Yuuji’s evil plan.
But now I’m Yuuji, so that means—
“You’re the one going down to hell here, Yuuji…”
“You-you punk…! When did you know about this…!”
Your evil acts caused your downfall here! Suffer all you can here! I’ll give Kirishima-san her happiness as a present while you’re suffering. That’s great, isn’t it Yuuji?
“In that case, I’ll use force! I’ll make you return everything I have here!”
“What kind of joke is that? Do you think you can beat me now?”
“Shut up! That’s my body! Surrender quietly!”
“No way! Even if it’s your body, Yuuji, the heart belongs to me! I have my freedom to use it!”
And I continue to struggle as I try to escape from Yuuji’s hand holding the bookmark.
At this moment,
“(GARAK) I think I just sensed something really good here!”
Tamano-san seem to sense something as she appears.
Petak!
““Ahh…””
The bookmark’s thrown at her forehead while we’re wrestling.
The one sticking the bookmark is ‘Yuuji, who’s in my body’, and the one being stuck is ‘Tamano-san’. If what that book said was true…
“Er, erm, Yuuji? Tamano-san?”
I worriedly speak to both of them.
““…””
Yuuji and Tamano-san merely blink their eyes for a moment.
And then, Tamano-san (in my body) pats the chest to confirm the current situation.
“U~n…”
She mutters,
“Then, I’ll be going off then!”
And in an instant, she turned and ran off. Eh…? EHHH…!?
“Wait…!? My body!”
“Sorry, Aki-chan! I’ll take some memorabilia photos and return it to you properly afterwards!”
And all I hear are ominous words from Tamano-san.
How is she able to immediately understand and adapt here! Even Yuuji who read through the book and has knowledge on this can’t even respond here!!
“I, I won’t let you get away! Yuuji! Hurry up and catch up with her—DAMN YOU!!”
Yuuji (in Tamano-san’s body) just turn over and take the bookmark to stick it on me. Th-that was close—!
“What’s with this sudden attack here, Yuuji!”
“Tch! Don’t dodge!”
Yuuji (in Tamano-san’s body) attacks while holding the bookmark again. Th-this bastard…!
“You just want to return back to normal here, right!?”
“Don’t worry, Akihisa. I’ll help out properly once I return back to normal!”
“YOU’RE DEFINITELY LYING HERE!”
This guy’s definitely going to pretend that he’s not involved in anything once he gets back his own body! As for why I know that, that’s because I’ll do the same thing too!
“How can I let you return back to normal! I need the power of this body before I return back to normal!”
I say as I use my arm strength advantage to snatch the bookmark from Yuuji.
“Ku…u…! Not good, I can’t use my full strength in this body at all…!”
Frustrated, Yuuji can only grumble with Tamano-san’s face. This is the body of Yuuji who’s extremely strong even amongst the guys, so there’s no way that a girl’s body can fight against it (though Tamano-san will remove her limiter based on the situation…) and because of this, if I swap into Tamano-san’s body, there’s no way I can beat Tamano-san in my body now. If the opponent is that Tamano-san, I can’t beat her with a girl’s body.
“Sorry Yuuji, but you have to swap with my body if you want this body back.”
“Damn it—! RETURN IT TO ME! RETURN MY BODY BACK TO ME!”
I ignore Yuuji’s growls as I dash over to where Tamano-san vanished to.
“Good grief. Akihisa and the rest are as noisy as ever…”
“…They can’t remain quiet.”
“Seriously there. Speaking of which, Muttsurini, you’re the one in charge of buying tea today, right?”
“…I won’t be going today.”
“I see. Understood.”
I run down the staircase and head to the empty classroom I went to this morning. As I thought, she (though she’s in my body) is right over there.
“Tamano-san! Return me my body!”
I hold my bookmark in my hand and approach her, aiming for the forehead. If I can stick the bookmark on it, I’ll be able to switch back here…!
Just when I’m about to succeed—
“Sorry Mizuki-chan…eh!”
“??? Ye-yes?”
Tamano-san used Himeji-san, who was called out when I didn’t know, as a shield.
“Damn—!”
I can’t stop myself in time as my momentum’s too great.
Petak.
And the bookmark hits Himeji-san on the forehead.
“…!”
My vision immediately darkens, and a strong sense of dizziness strikes me.
And afterwards, when I open my eyes—
“…”
I see Yuuji’s blank face.
I was still inside Yuuji’s face until right before this. if I can see Yuuji’s face here, this means—
“Here, Mizuki-chan, let’s go!”
“Eh? Eh? Eh? Erm, Akihisa-kun. Don’t you have something you want to say to me…and why am I there? A mirror…?”
“I’ll explain later! Hurry up!”
“Y-yes…!”
Tamano-san (in my body) pulls Himeji-san (in Yuuji’s body) and runs off.
In other words, I’ve become Himeji-san now!
“Wa-wait a moment!!!”
I pick up the bookmark which dropped on the floor and try to catch up, however…
“Ku. Ugh…!”
I can’t run quickly no matter how I try…just like I thought, it’s really hard to move in this body…! Is this a girl’s body…!?
“Even so, I have to chase after them…!”
I run around in this body I’m still not used to. I, I can’t increase my speed…! I can’t step off the ground strongly at all…!
And what’s more troublesome is that I’m already panting after a short while.
“Haa…! Haa…!”
It-it’s tough…! I see…Himeji-san’s condition has been improving recently, but her body was originally very weak…!
“I-it hurts…!”
Himeji-san’s extremely large breasts can really get in the way when I walk.
They will shake whenever I take a step, and when they shake, my chest will hurt, and my body balance will be ruined. This is the first time in my life knowing that it’s troublesome to have such huge breasts!
“A-anyway, let’s use my arm to press it down…”
I use my arm to hold down the breasts that were swaying.
And then, my arms felt the softness of these breasts.
“▽☆♪×○▫♦♂×○▫♦♂ҳ̸Ҳ̸ҳ۞۩๑[sՖศO▼☆♪ξδ◆√∑!?”
Confused, I hurriedly open my arms wide, and I trip as I’m unable to maintain my balance.
“Ah, waah, awawwawawawa…!”
How’s this possible! What’s with this softness! The arm covering them wraps around them softly, and they can actually change shapes on their own! Don’t tell me this is the mythical—
“Is this the Tempur pillow!?”
No, wait! Why am I panicking here!? Speaking of which, I really touched them! I definitely touched them fully! I’m really sorry here, Himeji-san!
They’re shaking so hard that I forgot that my butt’s on the floor.
“What are you doing, Mizuki…your panties can be seen here, you know?”
At this moment, Minami appears.
“Eh…? Ah…!”
I hurriedly close my legs together and tidy my skirt. I’m wearing girls’ undergarments this time, unlike my crossdressing moments. Better take note of this!
“Can you stand up?”
Minami reaches her hand out, wanting to pull me up.
“Ye, yes. Thanks, Minami.”
I grab her hand and stand up.
“‘Minami’?”
“Ah, no. thank you very much, Minami-chan.”
I hurriedly switch over to Himeji-san’s manner of speech. Right now, I better find a way to sneak past this and get over to Tamano-san so that I won’t cause any added troubles!
“Then, if there’s nothing, I will go first.”
“Wait a moment.”
Just when I was about to run away, Minami pulls me. What’s going on now!? I’m in a rush!
“Isn’t the ends of your skirt all rolled up? Look, your undershirt’s all messed up too.”
Minami says as she reaches her hands out and tidies my undershirt. I’m really grateful about that, but now’s not the time for that!
“Really, why are you being in a rush here?”
Minami doesn’t realize my feelings at all as she adjusts my tie this time.
This is bad…! My body’s really hard to move in now, but I won’t be able to catch up if I waste time here! What do I do!? What can I do…?
“Mi, Minami—chan! I’m really in a rush here!”
“Nope. You still have dust on your butt.”
Minami ignores my concerns as she grabs me (in Himeji-san’s body), preventing me from running away as she dusts off the dust on my skirt. Ku…! This is really bad…I can’t run very quickly because of Himeji-san’s breasts getting in the way here…!
“…Nn?”
As I thought about this, the one right in front of me is Minami, who’s tidying me up.
“You’re normally so neat here. What exactly happened to you today…?”
Minami’s ponytail sways energetically in front of me.
“Hm…”
I observe Minami for a short moment.
She has a slender figure.
She has nice legs that look like they can really run.
She has athleticism that won’t lose to a guy.
“? What is it, Mizuki?”
While Minami looks at me worriedly, I say,
“I’ll take this body then!”
“Eh? Ehh!? Wha-what are you doing, Mizuki—kyaa!!”
I stick the bookmark on Minami’s head. After a little dizziness, I open my eyes to see Himeji-san. Alright! The swap’s successful!
“Let’s go…! I can fight in this body!”
“Eh? Ehh? M-me!? Wait a sec, Mizuki! What’s with this—!”
“Sorry Minami! I’ll talk with you again later!”
I leave the puzzled Minami (in Himeji-san’s body) at where she is as I immediately sprint out. Alright! It’s basically how I envisioned things here! It’s not as good as my body, but this body can move on its own freely!
“Speaking of which, I’m facing my body as the opponent…even if it’s Minami, I can’t win if I fight myself head on with this arm strength…”
I lost my target as I wasted too much time, and I start to think for a short while.
If I fight straight on, I won’t have a chance of winning, whether it’s in terms of physical conditions or whether it’s the damage inside.
“But I can’t say that I don’t have a chance of winning at all…”
The lucky thing is that I’m Minami now. I have athleticism, and Tamano-san might not know that I’m like this. If I can make use of this well, I might be able to get my body back easily without her noticing.
“In that case…I have to keep disguising myself as Minami here…”
I’ll pretend to be Shimada Minami who doesn’t know anything and approach Tamano-san, find a chance, slap the bookmark on her and get my body back. If I use this strategy, even if there’s a difference in physical ability, it should be alright here!
“Alright, I’ve decided!”
First, I have to convince myself here. I[6]—no, I’m [7] Shimada Minami. I’m Shimada Minami, I’m Shimada Minami. I’m—
“Onee-sama!”
“Hya!?”
I let out a squeal after I unexpectedly heard a call for me from behind.
And then, the other person latches onto me without waiting for me to respond.
“Where are you going, onee-sama! I wanted to have lunch with you today!”
The one hugging me tightly was the girl from D class who likes Shimada Minami a lot, Shimizu Miharu-san.
Just when I’m about to yell instinctively “let go of me, Shimizu-san!”, I stop myself and immediately copy Minami’s tone. I believe it’s supposed to be like this.
“Mi-Miharu, what is it!? I’m really in a rush now!”
“In a rush…that’s too much, onee-sama! You actually forgot your appointment with Miharu!”
“Eh? Appointment?”
“Yes! Have you forgotten?”
“Why-why would I? Of course I do!”
I answer,
“Really?”
“Of-of course.”
“I see—that’s good.”
Shimizu-san says this with a grin on her face.
“Seriously there, it’s only afternoon break, and Akihisa and the rest are still so active.”
“…That’s common.”
“Well, you’re right about that.”
“…(Nods head)”
“Fuu…the tea’s good.”
“…As expected, I should just go buy some tea.”
“Fm. It’s good, isn’t it?”
“I, I say, Miharu. Did I, really agree to such a thing…”
“Yeah! I remembered it clearly!”
“I-is that so…”
Shimizu-san drags me by the hand to the empty classroom in the second level of the old school building I’m very familiar with.
Over there, she stuffs the female waitress outfit she prepared into my hands.”
“Isn’t this the uniform from your shop, Miharu?”
“Yeah. I want to change the design for it a little. Didn’t I make an appointment with you to provide suggestions, onee-sama?”
“Oh, yeah. I think I did.”
Uuu…! This is really a bad timing here…! I have to get to Tamano-san (in my body) as soon as possible!
“Then, onee-sama, Miharu will change your clothing for you.”
“Eh? The-there’s no need for that here, right?”
“No no no. since you’re willing to provide valuable feedback for Miharu, please let Miharu repay you.”
Shimizu-san says this as she moves over at me while blocking the exit. Eh, erm…
“Erm, Miharu? Your breathing seems frantic for some reason…”
“Fu, fuu, fufufufufufu…! You’re really acting like an obedient girl today, onee-sama…! You’re tempting Miharu here, right? You’re tempting, right!?”
“Wa-wait a second, calm down, Shimizu-sa—Miharu!”
Her hands were trembling violently. Wha-what is Shimizu-san trying to do?”
“Since you’re doing this, Miharu has decided! Miharu will fulfill her desire today!”
“I-I’ll scream if you come closer, you know? I’ll really do that, you know!?”
“I’m tucking in, onee-sama!!”
Shimizu-san ignored my warning as she leaped over at me with astonishingly leaping ability. HIIIII!!!
“SO-SOMEONE! SOMEONE PLEASE SAVE ME—!”
“It’s useless! Nobody will come save you even if you yell with all you have!”
“NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!”
And right at the moment of death,
“What are you doing!?”
“Ahh!”
Someone barged into the room and used something like a stick to chase off Shimizu-san. I-I’m saved here…no…?
“Fuu…are you alright, Mizuki?”
Himeji-san—or rather, it should be Minami inside the body, pulls the mop as she asks me concernedly. So cool…! She’s like a hero here…!
“I feel that it’s fine if I’m hugged by Minami here…”
“Wait a moment, Mizuki. That’s my body here, you know?”
Leaving aside the jokes, is a girl’s body something that requires this much discomfort…? I might faint from shock in this body that can’t exert strength here if I meet some suspicious person at night.
“You’re…Mizuki, right?”
Minami asks to confirm again. Speaking of which, the one inside me here isn’t Himeji-san, but me…but I can’t reveal my identity here since I have to make Tamano-san show an opening. Let’s just try and pretend to be as Himeji-san here! I remember Himeji-san talks like this.
“Th-that’s right, Minami-chan. Thank you for saving me here.”
“It’s good that you’re fine, but what’s going on here?”
Minami (in Himeji-san’s body) looks around, and asks me.
It’s over. It seems she’s trying to ask me to explain here. Now, how do I start explaining things here?
Just when I’m still wondering about what to do.
“Uu…it’s too much to interrupt Miharu when Miharu was nearly able to do what she wants, onee-sa—huh?”
Shimizu-san, who was just defeated by a mop, gets up and looks at Minami and me in surprise. From the actions and tone, it seems that she thought that Minami, who looks like Himeji-san now, was the one who did it, and ends up confused here.
“Huh..? Himeji-san…? I thought it was onee-sama.”
Shimizu-san lifts her head up to look at Minami (in Himeji-san’s body)
Minami puts her hands on her waist as she says to Shimizu-san,
“I say, Miharu, you may not believe it now, but I’m now—”
Damn it! It’s all over if she says something she shouldn’t say here!
I immediately leap over to Minami, who’s about to explain the situation to Shimizu-san, and whispers,
(You, you can’t do this here, Minami-chan! It’ll be bad if others know about the swap of bodies!)
(Eh? Why?)
(Well, what will happen if Shimizu-san knows about it?)
(There’s a chance that my body may never return.)
It’s great that she can understand this quickly.
“??? What is it, Himeji-san?”
“Ah, it—it’s nothing at all, Shimizu-san.”
Minami switches over to Himeji-san mode. That’s good. I’ll pretend to be Himeji-san pretending to be Minami here—but this is really confusing.
“I’ll go off first then, Miharu.”
Anyway, let’s bring Minami out of the classroom first. We’ll talk about the rest later.
“Wa-wait a second, onee-sama! You haven’t put this on yet! We promised!”
Shimizu-san called me.
I can’t say anything here. Minami however speaks up for me.
“Wait a second, Miharu—no, Shimizu-san. I did agree to provide feedback on the uniforms, but I never said that I had to put them on, right?”
“Eh? Is that so?”
So Shimizu-san bluffed me here! I should have known that Minami can’t possibly agree to such things here! I nearly got fooled till my man’s pride got stained…
“What are you saying, Himeji-san! It’s all the same to Miharu here! Miharu even prepared so many sizes that Miharu will be troubled if these aren’t worn here!”
Shimizu-san says this as she takes out uniforms of other measurements. She’s really well-prepared here.
Even so, I as a guy definitely don’t want to wear such clothing, and if it’s Minami, she’s definitely not going to be moved by such words.
Just when I was thinking about it this way—
“Well, they are really cute uniforms though…”
Minami (in Himeji-san’s body) says this as she says softly. Huh? Why is it different from what I expected?
“You have some interest in this too, right, Himeji-san? How about you try it on with onee-sama?”
Shimizu-san then seizes this opportunity to close in with the uniform.
“Ah, no. There’s no need for that.”
“It’s fine, you don’t have to be so polite.”
“That’s not it…”
But just when Minami’s preparing to reject Shimizu-san—
“Ah, but…”
“But?”
“It might not be obvious with the big breasts…”
On hearing that, Minami looks like she trying to make sure she heard things correctly as she repeats,
“My…breasts, are big…?”
“Miharu is so happy! Onee-sama and Himeji-san are both able to wear this uniform!”
“We, well. Since you went out of the way to prepare them for us, Mi—Shimizu-san, I think it’s appropriate that we help out as friends, right Mizuki?”
“Ah, ahaha…that’s not it though, Mizuki.”
Minami (in Himeji-san’s body), Shimizu-san and I are holding waitress outfits.
What exactly am I doing here…
“? Don’t you know how to wear it, onee-sama? In that case, please let Miharu help out here.”
“It’s okay, Shimizu-san. Minami-chan should be able to put it on alone, right, Minami-chan?”
“Ye, yes…”
It’s not my wish here, but I’ve already worn many girl outfits up till now, so it’s not like I don’t know how to put them on. I just want to maintain my pride as a guy here!
“But since this is the first time you’re wearing such a thing, you should let Miharu put it on!”
“Then, how about you put it on first, Shimizu-san? We’ll know how to put these on after that. It’s fair to everyone after that.”
Minami acts like Himeji-san here as she tries her best to protect her own body here.
Shimizu-san finds it a pity that she can’t touch Minami’s body, but she relents here.
“That’s true. Since onee-sama’s willing to put it on here, Miharu will endure this for now.”
And so, the negotiations are set.
“Then, please watch how Miharu puts this on.”
Shimizu-san removes her blouse and undoes the hook on her skirt. Wait wait wait wait wait ! It’s not good for me to see this here!
“I, I’ll turn away first—”
“What are you saying, Minami-chan? You won’t know how to wear this if you look away.”
Minami stops me from looking away here. I’m really troubled here! Even though Minami’s doing this to prevent Shimizu-san’s demonic hands from helping me change my clothes here…
“Miharu finds worth in stripping herself if it means that onee-sama can see Miharu here!”
Shimizu-san says this as she removes her skirts. SHE’S STRIPPING IN FRONT OF A GUY HERE!
“Let’s strip too, Minami-chan. There’s nothing to be shy about since we’re all girls here.”
There’s a concern of ‘since I’m taking off your clothing, you shouldn’t be worried about this, Mizuki’ behind these words, but that’s if the one inside her body is Himeji-san here. To me, this is not the case here.
While ignoring how troubled I am over here, Shimizu-san and Minami have stripped to the point where they’re in their underwear now.
“Okay now, it’s time to change, Minami-chan.”
“Alright, onee-sama, there’s nothing to be ashamed of here!”
Minami and Shimizu-san don’t mind as they reach their hands out for my clothing.
I’ll be killed…those two from the fighting clans will shred me to pieces if they know that I’m the one inside…!
“Hm…this one’s for onee-sama. Miharu will take this one. This one with the largest chest size will be for Himeji-san. Just tell me if you can’t put it on.”
“Thank you very much, Shimizu-san.”
For some reason, Minami looks rather happy as she receives the uniform.
And then, she mutters with a thoroughly elated voice,
“My chest can’t fit in…this is really wonderful to my ears!”
Uh oh. Minami can’t possibly make decisions normally now.
“Then, let’s get changing♪”
“It’s not Miharu’s intention here, but since onee-sama’s willing to change, Miharu will play along.”
Minami and Shimizu-san start to spread their uniforms wide.
What can I do…is there anything I can do to escape here…
“? Onee-sama? What are you looking around for?”
“Eh, no, it’s nothing.”
“So you really need Miharu’s help here?”
“Okay—I think I should get changing here!”
If I continue to resist, Shimizu-san will really do all sorts of various things to me. I hurriedly grab my uniform and cling onto it tightly. Don’t mind, don’t mind. This is my own body now…
As I mutter, I end up in a zen state as I quickly change my clothing. It’s normal for someone with Minami’s body to put on female clothing. It’s slightly better to think of things this way.
“Are you done yet, Minami-chan?”
(Inside Himeji-san’s body)Minami’s voice rang from behind.
“Wha-what is it?”
I turn to look at Minami and Shimizu-san. They should have some clothes on now…right?
“Heh…”
As she looks at the front, Minami can’t help but let out a voice.
“This isn’t bad the way I see it here…”
Minami, who’s seeing herself directly and not off the mirror, nods as she looks at herself here. I can’t see without a mirror, but since she says it’s ‘not bad’, I think it should be cute at least.
“…Other than the fact that the breasts are small…”
Minami then pats Himeji-san’s body as she sighs. Wah! Over there! Aren’t those breasts about to pop out there!?
“It’s a rare chance, so how about we change hairstyles here?”
“No. There’s no time.”
“Don’t worry, don’t worry. It’ll soon be over.”
Minami lets me sit on the chair and undoes my hair from behind. Speaking of which, what’s going on here…I have to get my body back from Tamano-san here.
“What kind of hairstyle do you want here? Do you want to tie up from the sides or some three-strand braids?”
I don’t know where Minami got the comb from, but she starts to comb my hair. She seems really happy that she can doll herself up as someone else. I think this is what all the girls who like to groom themselves would feel.
“What kind of hairstyle do you find appropriate here, Mi—Shimizu-san?”
Minami hums as she asks Shimizu-san. Huh? Speaking of which, Shimizu-san seems really calm here.
As Shimizu-san continues to look at Minami (or rather, her body), she seems unexpectedly calm for some reason.
“That’s right, it’ll be good to leave the hair down like this. I think it’s good to leave a barrette at the back.”
Shimizu-san seems extremely calm in the face of this Minami she really liked, wanted to see dressed up in the waitress outfit, and actually managed to witness this. it’s very good that she’s not excited and attacking me now, but in a sense, I feel uneasy.
“??? What is it, Shimizu-san? You don’t seem very energetic here, you know?”
I don’t know whether Minami has the same thoughts as I do as she asks Shimizu-san.
“No, it’s not that I’m energetic here, but…”
“But?”
“For some reason, I feel that there’s something off when I started to look at onee-sama here, and I really can’t get excited here.”
““!!?””
Minami and I can’t help but feel a chill down our backs.
“Some, something off, is it?”
“Wha-what are you saying, Miharu? What’s weird about you here?”
“Well, if I have to say it, onee-sama feels more like a girl than usual.”
“Ah, ahaha. Like a girl, huh? Minami-chan probably wants to try a different style today.”
Minami hurriedly tries to cover for me so that Shimizu-san doesn’t suspect anything.
But what she doesn’t know is that the one who’s said to be more girl-like than usual here is me.
“But for some reason, I feel my heart race when I look at you, Himeji-san.”
“(Shock) Wait…! Are, are you joking?”
Minami hurriedly pulls her distance away from Shimizu-san.
This is really a terrifying beast-like sense of smell here.
“However, I’m still interested in onee-sama’s body!”
Shimizu-san clings onto me while Minami leaves. That’s why I say that I’m really troubled that you’re hugging me now!
“Are, are you satisfied now? There’s still something I have to do—”
“No! It’s rare to see you dressed up so cutely, onee-sama! I have to take an innocent memorabilia photo here. Don’t you agree, Himeji-san?”
“That, that’s right. It’s embarrassing if other people see it, but I think it’s good to have one for keepsake.”
Why are you agreeing here, Minami!? You always wanted to wear this uniform even after saying so much, right? …Well, I’ll be lying if I say that I don’t want to have a threesome photo of Himeji-san, Minami and Shimizu-san in waitress outfit…but I’m really in a rush here!”
“Let’s go take some photos now!”
Shimizu-san is completely unaware of my emotions as she drags me by the hand, wanting to pull me out of the empty classroom.
“Whe-where are we going? It’s embarrassing to walk around like this!”
“That, that’s right! The people on the corridor will be looking at us!”
“No! We can’t take any good photos in this dirty classroom here! Let’s go to a place with proper facilities!”
“A place with facilities, as in?”
“Miharu’s classroom, of course! Miharu has already prepared all sorts of equipment there!”
““HIIII!?””
Resistance is completely futile as Minami and I are dragged out onto the corridor in waitress outfit.
“Arre? The three of you are really dressed up very cutely.”
While we’re headed to D classroom in the new school campus, a girl walking towards us from the front says this to us.
“What fun things are you doing behind my back?”
The one grinning away evilly is A class Kudou Aiko-san. Normally, she’s a nice person with common sense, but she’ll pull pranks whenever there is something fun to do, so we can’t let our guard down.
“This is the uniform from Miharu’s family café. We’re now going for a photo shoot to make memories of love with onee-sama here!”
Shimizu-san, who’s wearing the same outfit as she walks down the corridor, isn’t embarrassed at all as she answers,
“Heh~ it sure looks very fun here!”
Maybe it’s because Kudou-san has nothing to do as she starts to have interest in this topic. Please, I really beg of you, “Since it’s a rare chance, why don’t I bring out the swimsuit used for club activities?”—don’t come up—“Oh, that’s a nice idea!” with such ideas here!
“Okay! I think my sizing should be similar to Minami-chan.”
The troubles continue to pile up like a snowman here. It’ll be really bad if I wear a swimsuit here! That’s to be worn after I get naked here, right!?
Minami probably feels that a swimsuit would be bad here as she interrupts Kudou-san’s words.
“Wa-wait a second, Aiko-chan! Minami-chan can’t really wear something like a swimsuit here—wait a second, Miharu! Why are you stopping me here!?”
“For the sake of onee-sama in swimsuit!”
Shimizu-san forcefully stops her.
“Let go of me, Miharu! A swimsuit or something similar here will be too much—”
“Ah…speaking of which, Himeji-san today looks especially charming for some reason…I want to keep this up…”
“Hiiii!!?”
Ugh…! In all sorts of ways, Shimizu-san and Minami have lost it.
“Then, I’ll go over to take them.”
Kudou-san uses this chance to get the swimsuits. What, do you think I will let you go here!?
“Summon, Muttsurini (flip)!”
“…What is it (DABADABADABA)”
I flip the ends of my skirt to summon Muttsurini (who’s still bleeding). If I want to stop Kudou-san, I can only rely on this guy!
“???...Shimada…?”
Muttsurini, who appeared instinctively, gives me an incredulous look as he stares at my face, but I don’t have the time to explain things now!
I take out the bookmark and hand it over to Muttsurini.
“Muttsurini! Stick this bookmark on Kudou-san’s forehead! Something really erotic will happen “KYAAAHHH!!” as expected of your mobility here, Muttsurini!”
Muttsurini dashes over at blazing speed and sticks the bookmark on Kudou-san’s forehead, causing both of them switch over. Alright! Now both of them can’t move here!
I use this chance to pick up the bookmark Muttsurini dropped onto the floor. Perfect timing, let’s just use this chance to escape!
“Ahem! Onee-sama, where are you going!?”
Just when I was about to run away, Shimizu-san grabs me by the hand. Damn it…! It’s really hard to deal with her when she’s clinging at Minami like this…!
“Then, Kudou-san, Miharu and the rest here will go off here. Please come over to D classroom once you have them.”
Shimizu-san left these words to the two people who remain still after they swapped over, and dragged Minami and me away.
“(Drips)This, this is?…Muttsurini-kun’s body…? Hey, Muttsurini. That’s my body—ah, Muttsurini-kun! Why did you faint out of a sudden!?”
“…Kudou Aiko…why…aren’t you wearing shorts today…!?”
“Eh? Ah, yes. There are days when I don’t feel like wearing them…wait! Why are you asking this out of a sudden…!?”
“…As expected…you…really want to kill me…”
“Now’s not the time to say such things—well, it doesn’t matter. I guess I’ll use this chance to check on your body here, Muttsurini-kun♪”
“…!(shakes head)”
“Eh? No way?”
“…Of course not…!”
“But haven’t you checked my body here, Muttsurini-kun? It’s time for my turn here.”
“…No, move your hand away from the belt…!”
“In exchange, you can do whatever you want to do with my body here, Muttsurini-kun♪”
“…Been there, done that.”
“Wait a sec, Muttsurini-kun. Hasn’t it been only 5 minutes since we swapped around…?”
Minami and I can’t even resist as we’re dragged away by Shimizu-san.
As we arrive at D class, located inside the new building, we can hear buzzing coming from within the classroom.
“Woah, the classroom sure is noisy.”
Even Shimizu-san is overwhelmed by it. As we listen to it, we find that the voices are mainly from the girls. The guys are mostly the noisy ones, so it’s kind of rare to see girls starting a commotion.
“What’s going on inside D classroom?”
“Can’t you tell once you go in?”
Shimizu-san happily opens the door.
What appears in front of me—is the vague scene of Yuuji and me wearing our gym shirts.
“〒●□&%#▲♀（T_T）!?”
The repulsive sense comes so quickly that I can’t even let out a cry here. What, what’s with this unpleasant scene here!? Why are they revealing their chests here!? Why is Yuuji hugging me from behind here!? And most importantly, why are the surrounding people not vomiting in disgust here!?
“Kyuu…”
I don’t know if Shimizu-san has reached the limit here as she immediately faints with her eyes rolled back. Yeah, this is a normal reaction.
“Yoshii-kun, is this what you want me to help you with?”
“That’s right, Kubo-kun. There’s no real reason, but I just want to take some photos out of a sudden. Ah, come over a little closer…okay. let’s start taking photos, Mizuki-chan—ah, no, Yuuji.”
“O, okay…I don’t really know what’s all these about here…heh!”
“Uwah…oh…”
Yuuji and I stand beside Kubo-kun on both sides as we put our arms on his shoulders. After that, Kubo-kun suddenly can’t maintain his posture once he was grabbed and hurriedly tries to adjust his glasses.
“KYAA!! AWESOME!! KUBO-KUN’S NUMBER 1 AFTER ALL!!”
“KUBO-KUN’S THE BEST!!”
'KUBO-KUN! KUBO-KUN!!”
The surrounding girls squeal with excitement as they on.
However, Kubo-kun doesn’t seem to understand what’s going on “???” as he gives a completely puzzled looked on his face.
“KYA! KUBO-KUN! KUBO-KUN’S SO CUTE!! KYAAA! KYAAA!!”
The loudest of them all seems to be E class’ rep Nakabayashi-san.
“What, what are you all doing, everyone…”
Minami, who’s spacing out beside me, forgets to act as Himeji-san now.
What the heck! I have to end this nightmarish scene as soon as possible, even if it’s one second earlier!
I arm myself with the bookmark, break away from the crowd and head over to my body.
“Huh? Shimada-sa—Minami. What do you want with me?”
Tamano-san immediately imitates me once she sees me approaching. It’s not about “Is there something wrong” here! You’re doing such cruel things to my body here…!
I finally barely manage to swallow my grudges. No, I’m in a girl’s body, and the opponent’s in a guy’s body. I won’t have a chance of winning if I fight head on.
I control my emotions as I try my best to imitate Minami’s verbalism while talking with Tamano-san.
“Really, what are you doing, Aki? Isn’t that stupid?”
Um, my acting’s good. I look like Minami herself no matter how it looks.
“I’m taking some commemorative photos. I want to leave some memories of high school life here. How about you join in, Minami? It’s rare to see you dressed up so cutely.”
WHO WANTS TO DO SO!
I really want to say this…but maybe, this is the chance? I can approach them naturally when taking photos, and I’ll definitely be able to swap over…!
There’s no time to worry about the fine details here. I can’t lose sight of my goal here. Right now, the most important thing is to take the best course of action here.
“Okay then, since it’s a rare chance, I’ll join in too.”
“Okay! What kind of photo do you want to take?”
“Yeah. Then, something like this—”
I time myself as I approach my body.
And then, I raise the bookmark in my hand, holding onto it tightly as if I’m hugging it tightly. I got this—
“What are you using my body to do here, Mizuki!?”
Thud! My head got hit. Damn it! I could have succeeded with just a few millimeters here!
“Mi-Minami. I nearly made it…!”
“It’s not a little bit here! Me hugging Aki in front of so many people, it’s…very, very embarrassing!”
Minami tells me off with the appearance of Himeji-san here. Everyone’s stunned after seeing this Himeji-san that’s different from before.
“Eh? Ah, what? Have I…? Then I really became Sakamoto-kun here? Ahaha…this dream is so interesting, but I’ll be late if I don’t wake up now…”
Himeji-san looks at her own body, and continues to run away from reality as she can’t stand this present truth. I suppose Tamano-san convinced her to help by bluffing her into thinking that “this is a dream”.
“You…you’re not Shimada-san, right? In other words, you swapped around again?”
Tch. She found out!? No, it’s not over yet. I can still do it!
“Swap around? What are you saying, Aki? More than that, how about we take a photo here?”
I give a “is your head alright there” look. Please, just once, even if it’s now, let Hideyoshi’s soul descend upon me here…!
“Wait a second, Mizuki! That’s my body here!”
“Wait a second! What’s going on here! Up till now—”
“Fmm…”
Tamano-san sees me quarrelling with Minami (in Himeji-san’s body). Stay confused there! I’ll be able to find an opening here!
“Heh!” ← my body flies towards Yuuji.
“Oh, that’s dangerous, Akihisa-kun.” ← Yuuji’s body cuddles me gently.
“Uggghhhh…!” ←Me enduring the urge to cry out in disgust.
“I see, so it’s Aki-chan inside.”
That’s too much…what kind of disgusting thing am I seeing here…
“(KARAK) I spent so much time looking for you here, Akihisa! Hurry up and hand over that bookmark—UWAAH!?”
Suddenly, someone who looks like Tamano-san rushes into the classroom, yelling around because of this unpleasant scene. I guess the person inside is still Yuuji.
“You’re like flies flying towards flames…the only unpredictable factor is right in front of me here. Let me tie you all up here and continue taking photos peacefully—”
Tamano-san is giving off an evil aura.
“—For another 3 months!”
How many thousand photos do you want to take exactly?
“Also, I’ll borrow that cute costume. It’s definitely suitable for Aki-chan…kukuku~”
The evil god with my appearance is closing in.
It’ll be all over if I’m caught here! I’m not aiming for Tamano-san now. I’ll go for the body with the strongest arm strength here!
“This one—!!”
I dodge Tamano-san (in my body) and head to Yuuji’s body where Himeji-san is in. I think it should be easy to swap around with Himeji-san since she hasn’t understood what’s going on here—
“I won’t let you, Akihisa—!”
“WHAT!?”
Yuuji (in Tamano-san’s body) runs over to get in my way. This is bad…!
“Me→in Tamano-san’s body.”
“Yuuji→in Minami’s body.”
Damn it, the strength output’s lower now…!
“WHY DID YOU GET IN MY WAY HERE, YUUJI!? ISN’T OUR AIM THE SAME HERE!?”
“DON’T KID AROUND, AKIHISA! THE MORE I THOUGHT THINGS THROUGH, THE MORE I FEEL THAT I CAN’T HAND MY BODY OVER TO YOU!”
Guu…! As expected of Yuuji…! He sure thinks fast.
The reason Yuuji’s stopping me is that if I enter Yuuji’s body and get my own body back with my arm strength—
“TAMANO WILL END UP OCCUPYING MY BODY HERE, YOU FOOL…!”
I won’t be able to defeat Yuuji in physical strength, and once I recover, I’ll definitely be forced to retreat. If this isn’t handled well, my body will be taken by Tamano-san again. If I ignore Yuuji here, I’ll probably have to use my all just to swap Himeji-san and Minami back. Yuuji’s body? Ahh, can’t he just change back after I spit on him?
“Listen up, Akihisa. Change my body back first. This is the best choice.”
Yuuji, who’s changed into Minami now, says this,
“Uu…”
It’s true that Yuuji’s proposal is the safest. Once he changes back, the rest can be handled through strength. My body, and Himeji-san and Minami’s can change back after that.
…However, I can’t trust this guy at all!
“Relax, Akihisa. I’ll definitely help once we promise to work together. How many times did I not keep my word?”
“You did, lots of promises in fact.”
“Don’t sweat the small details here.”
These details are very important to me.
…However, now’s not the time to worry about that.
“Damn it…! Isn’t there any other way now…!”
“Looks like you understand now, Akihisa.”
Yuuji smiles confidently. Even though he has Minami’s face now, that thoroughly primitive feeling feels just like Yuuji.
“I won’t let you, Aki-chan, Sakamoto-kun! I still have a lot of things I want to do! Mizuki-chan, help me catch these two!”
“Eh? But…”
“Don’t you always want to fight alongside Aki-chan? You can do so now, even though it only looks that way.”
“That, but that’s…”
“It’s fine. It’s just a dream here! This kind of thing can’t possibly happen in reality, right?”
“This is, a dream…”
“Right, it’s all a dream! Just do whatever you want to do and wake up completely refreshed here!”
“Is that so…I understand!”
And just like that, Himeji-san’s tricked by Tamano-san’s sly words. There’re two enemies—Yuuji’s body and mine, and in contrast, we’re two girls here—Tamano-san and Minami’s bodies. There has to be a limit to the number of disadvantages we can have.
Even so, Yuuji and I get into position as we get ready to fight back.
“Isn’t it fun there, Himeji, Tamano? I won’t act like you’re still girls here…today’s a really special day, so get ready.”
Yuuji, who’s in Minami’s body, says this as he undoes the shirt buttons so that he can fight easily, and shakes aside the hair that lands on the shoulders.
“You’re now guys, right? I won’t hold back anymore.”
I tie Tamano-san’s long hair behind so that it won’t get in my way, and clamp it down with the hairpin at the front.
Tamano-san’s probably overwhelmed by our pressure as she futilely tries to bluff her way.
“It, it’s impossible for us to lose here! We’re stronger here, and we have longer limbs!”
That’s true. In terms of strength and attack range, we have no chance of winning at all.
But these aren’t everything. We may be weak, and our reach is small, but it doesn’t mean we’ll definitely lose!
“Let’s go, Yuuji. We have the advantage in terms of experience. We won’t lose to them.”
“Oh, you two, bring it on. I’ll teach you that this world isn’t naïve enough that you can win through brute strength alone.”
Yuuji, with Minami’s appearance now, coolly gets into position now.
I’m already used to fighting strong enemies with weaker strength. The difference in strength–in the summoned beasts battles are much bigger as compared to now.
“Uu…! It, it’s alright, Mizuki-chan! We’ll win if we grab them! Let’s go!”
Tamano-san still tries to step forward.
And so,
“Erm…sorry, but I can’t move here…”
“Eh?”
We look towards where the voice came from, and find Himeji-san (in Yuuji’s body) restrained by the arm.
“…I found Yuuji’s body. I never thought that it would be in D class.”
Kirishima-san skillfully grabs Yuuji’s arm.
“Erm, Shouko-chan…? It’s important now, so can you please let go…”
“…It’s alright. It won’t hurt if you don’t resist.”
Kirishima-san says as she takes out a piece of paper.
“…I’ll leave the fingerprint to you, Mizuki.”
“Erm, ‘I agree to have Kirishima Shouko as my wife, and we swear to live together from this day on’…? Is this an oath?’
“BUWAH!?”
Yuuji beside me spat out. Huh!? Did Kirishima-san just now say ‘Mizuki’ to Yuuji’s body? How does she know!?
“…I never thought that the book was actually real. This is really a happy miscalculation.”
Kirishima-san pins Himeji-san (in Yuuji’s body) as she says this softly. She actually noticed that everyone swapped around…as expected of the owner of the book.
However—
“NICE CHANCE, YUUJI! IT’S TWO VS ONE!”
“WHY ARE YOU JUST THINKING ABOUT YOUR OWN THING!!? WA-WAIT A SECOND, HIMEJI! I’LL SAVE YOU—”
“Nn~…Well, it’s a dream. Let’s just fulfill Shouko-chan’s wish here☆”
“…Thank you, Mizuki.”
“NOOOOOOOOOO!!!”
The thumb of Yuuji’s body presses onto the ink slab.
The thumb’s about to press onto the document. At this moment—
“Seriously, you people…how about you revert back to normal before Ironman starts growling?”
Hideyoshi appears with that black magic book and rips out the pages.
“““Eh?”””
And then, our sights turn dark as dizziness set in.
This, this feeling is…
“Un…”
“Oh, you’re awake now, Akihisa.”
I widened my eyes and saw Hideyoshi’s face in front of me.
“Ah, Hideyoshi. Erm…huh? My body…”
“Looks like you’re back to normal now. I’m relieved here.”
It’s just like what Hideyoshi said. I’ve returned to this familiar body I’m used to.
“Let’s retreat before anything troublesome happens.”
Hideyoshi stands up, wanting to leave D classroom.
“Ah, wait, Hideyoshi!”
“What is it?”
“What happened just now? What did you do?”
I fainted after Hideyoshi appeared, and when I recovered, I reverted back to normal. What exactly happened here?
“That strange book of yours had a ‘recovery method’ written inside it, and I’d just followed through with it. You swapped around with many people, right?”
“Heh? Recovery method…?”
“The page you guys opened had it written.”
Hideyoshi said in a rather absent-minded tone.
Isn’t there such a method to turn everyone back to normal without so much trouble here!? Yuuji you idiot! You could have solved things if you read it through carefully! It’s because you’re scared of Himeji-san’s homemade tacos that things ended up like this!...Well, I suppose I’m at fault for not reading the book carefully too…
“But you really believe that we swapped around, and not think that it’s a lie here.”
“Muu…yeah. It’s true that it’s so ridiculous it’s unbelievable…but your appearance and inside were all so messed up that I could sense it.”
We never actually talked to Hideyoshi much today! How is he so sharp here!?
“Or rather, I understood what was going on after reading the book. I just felt that it all makes sense here.”
Muu…is that so…I myself won’t believe in a swap around or something, but I’ll be able to understand if I understand things from Hideyoshi’s viewpoint, I guess…?
“Well, it doesn’t matter now. I manage to recover thanks to you, Hideyoshi. You’ve been a great help.”
Either way, things are solved because of Hideyoshi here. Thank goodness.
“Um. Then, leaving aside that. Akihisa…”
“Hm?”
“Did you do anything to Minami?”
“Eh? What’s with that out of a sudden?”
“Erm, well…”
“???”
“Because she’s giving off a killing intent behind you now, so I’m wondering if you did anything here.”
“…Eh?’
“Hey~ Aki~ can you please come over for a while?”
And right behind my back, at a very close position, the call that seems to ring from hell came.
Ah, I might end up dead here.
“What, what is it, Minami? Something important you want to say?”
I’m so terrified that I don’t even dare to look behind as I ask.
“It’s nothing, not something really important here.”
“Is-is that so? It’s not something important, right? That’s good, then next time—”
“Un. That’s because I decided that I’ll kill you no matter what you do.”
“WAIT A SECOND, MINAMI! I FEEL THIS CONVERSATION IS VERY IMPORTANT!”
“Oh? Then let me ask here…you were the one inside my body when we were changing, right?”
It’s pointless to say ‘it’s not’ now. Anyway, it might be a little better to answer honestly and ask for forgiveness now.
“Ye-yeah…”
“Is that so—I see. So you’ve seen my body, Mizuki and Miharu’s and touched them just now.”
“But listen to me, Minami!”
“Yes yes. You’re really an honest kid, Aki.”
“There’s a complicated reason for this here—”
“And as a reward for your honestly, I’ll give you a ‘it hurts it hurts’ here, okay?”
“‘It hurts it hurts’!? What’s that!? There’s no cuteness shown here at all! Just the massacre element being multiplied here!?”
“And then, a ‘it's high, it's high’ to follow after that.”
“That ‘it's high, it's high’ is too scary after those words before. WAIT, STOP…NOOOOOOO!!!!”
And just like that, my miserable experience ends up finishing off these many mishaps.
“Speaking of which, that was really cool~”
“Yeah. It’s that ‘I’ll teach you that this world isn’t naïve enough that you can win through brute strength alone’ line, right? She said that so fearlessly even with that Sakamoto as the opponent! That’s the best!”
“That person’s F class’ Shimada Minami-san right? I’ve fallen for her!”
“Me too!”
“This is the first time my heart races when I see someone of the same gender here!”
—And without anyone knowing, this left a small impression amongst the girls of D class.
Popularity Contest Result (1st place)
Me and the Future and Summoned Beasts
“““Uunn…”””
“? What’s with you guys? Why are you looking so troubled?”
“It’s rare to see you look so serious.”
“What happened?”
On a day after school, Yuuji, Muttsurini and I were bothered over something, and Minami, Hideyoshi and Himeji-san came over to us.
“Well, about this, we’re wondering what to do…”
I handed over the one responsible for my troubles over to Himeji-san.
“Ah, it’s the Career Aspiration Questionnaire?”
“Yeah.”
The Career Aspiration Questionnaire is about what we want to do after we graduate from High School, and it is something important that will affect our lives, and also something bothering me.
“What do you mean by you’re wondering? You’re not going to further your studies?”
Minami asked with disbelief.
Fumitzuki Gakuen is a prep school after all, and as Minami said, most of us will write that we’re continuing our studies.
“I’d thought you would write that you’ll continue your studies, Yuuji.”
“Well, that’s what I thought too. But if I write that I’m going to further my studies, I should at least write the school’s name?”
“Of course. If you’re going to further your studies, you have to write the school you wish to enter and the subjects, or so I heard.”
“I’m really wondering how I’m going to write this here…”
Yuuji sighed softly.
Besides furthering our studies, we also have to choose what jobs we want. It feels really difficult for me.
“I’m not the only one bothered about this. Akihisa too is troubled over which seaside tree to choose.”
“Wait, Yuuji, don’t just add an option ‘hanged in the forest’ in my progress options there!”
I guess Ironman will be shocked if he receives this piece from me that has the words “Choice of University: Sakaeou University, Place you wish to work at: Haseda Trading, Place you wish to be hung at: Fuji Forest.”
I suppose we should leave aside such useless talk for now.
“We’re troubled because of this.”
“Hmm…if you really don’t know what to write, how about you write down what you want first before changing it later?”
“I think you can write until your 3rd wish, right?”
“No, we’re hoping that we can write until the 15th wish.”
“Isn’t that too much?”
In other words, 3 wishes alone won’t be able to include our wishes completely. That Ironman…! He should die ten thousand deaths for lumping me together with Yuuji and Muttsurini…!
“If you have to write 15 wishes, it’s no wonder that it’s hard.”
“Yeah.”
And we have to hand it over to that Ironman. If we are to write something weird, we’ll be punished by the iron fist and forced to rewrite. It’s going to be an endless suffering for us. Good grief…
“Speaking of which, have you finished writing, Hideyoshi?”
I decided to ask Hideyoshi for reference.
From what they said, I guess that Himeji-san and Minami are going to continue their studies, but what about Hideyoshi?
“Hm? I haven’t written anything yet, but I do know what I want to do in the future. That’s why I’m not lost about anything.”
“Is that so? That’s good.”
If we’re talking about Hideyoshi, it has to be acting. He’s definitely going to put that as his career path. At this point, I really envy those who won’t be lost because they have a clear goal.
As she sees me looking this troubled, Minami claps her hands together and says,
“In that case, how about you choose something you want to do as your career path, Aki?”
“What I want to do?”
“Yeah. Isn’t it good to consider whether you want to further your studies or to work first?”
“What interests do you have, Akihisa-kun?”
Once the girls said this, I start to think for a while.
Interests, interests…as for what I like, I’ll say,
“Something like manga and games.”
I like playing games a lot, but if I am to say what I really like most.
“Fm…a mangaka or something similar?”
“Or a game designer. That can work.”
“It has nothing to do with manga and games, but you can be quite the chef, you know, Aki?”
Himeji-san and the rest listed out the options. Fm fm, I see.
“In other words, in the future, I’ll become—”
“…An ero-mangaka, an ero gamer designer, an ero-chef.”
“—One of those…wait, why are they all related to ero!? Aren’t these all your wishes, Muttsurini!?”
“…!!(Shakes head wildly)”
And what’s with that ero-chef especially? Is that a chef that will use an erotic-looking radish with the shape of feet to cook?
Yuuji looks like he’s lecturing Muttsurini as he says,
“Oi oi, Muttsurini, this can be considered something that will affect your life, you know? You have to treat it seriously.”
“…I’m already serious here.”
That’s very problematic too.
I ignore Muttsurini and turn towards Yuuji,
“Then, Akihisa.”
“Hm?”
“Honestly, which middle school do you want to enter?”
“YOU WANT A FIGHT, DON’T YOU!? I’LL GIVE YOU AN ALL-OUT FIGHT IF YOU WANT, YOU DAMNED BASTARD!”
“Aki and Hazuki in the same grade…as a sister, I’m really thankful for that.”
“Before that, you should pity me as a friend here, Minami!”
They are really friends who aren’t worth making.
“Ahaha…well, leaving aside Akihisa-kun…what do you want to do in the future, Tsuchiya-san?”
“…Nu—photographer.”
(He wanted to say nude cameraman there.)
(He wanted to say nude cameraman there, right?)
(He wanted to say nude cameraman there, didn’t he.)
Our thoughts were in sync.
“Well, Tsuchiya-kun…I suppose you should write something to explain if you want to hand this questionnaire over to the teacher.”
“…! (Shakes head violently)”
It’s just like what Himeji-san said. Muttsurini has to maintain a good image.
“What you want to do is a problem itself, Muttsurini.”
“But I do feel that it’s good that you have a clear idea of what you want to do.”
Yuuji looked over at Muttsurini and me as he said this.
“Speaking of which, don’t you have any interests, Sakamoto-kun?”
“Un? I see, as for me.”
“…Like this.”
We receive the paper that was handed over, and start to read.
“First wish: groom. Second wish: husband. Third wish: loving couple. Fourth wish: Newly weds. Fifth wish: Kirishima Yuuji. Sixth wish: Belongs to Shouko forever. Etc.”
“What about that, Sakamoto? Didn’t you decide on your career path already?”
“Really there. Why are you saying that you’re envious of others?”
“…I really envy you.”
“ARE YOU ALL SERIOUS HERE!?”
Yuuji’s career aspiration questionnaire was already filled up by Kirishima-san neatly without us knowing. She’s really a nice girl who pays attention to details.
“Ah, Shouko-chan, you’re here.”
“…Un.”
Kirishima-san appeared without warning, and we completely accepted that. To me, this is a common part of my daily life, so there’s nothing strange about that at all.
“What are you doing here, Shouko?”
Yuuji continued to keep his guard as he asked unhappily.
Kirishima-san did not care about Yuuji’s attitude as she said adamantly,
“…To check on my career progress.”
It’s really amazing that she can say that while holding Yuuji’s career aspiration questionnaire.
“Seriously, you’ve been quick at these kinds of things ever since the past…!”
“…Because it is something important.”
As we stare at them, Minami suddenly narrows her eyes.
“Hm…I see. So Sakamoto’s not worrying about ‘what to choose for the career path’, but ‘how to keep it a secret’, huh?”
“Ah, so that’s why Sakamoto-kun is troubled over ‘how to write this’.”
Speaking of which, he hasn't been worrying about ‘what schools he will write’, but ‘what to write’. So that’s why.
“What? So you’ve been worrying about that kind of thing, Yuuji?”
“Shut up. I’m worrying about my future too.”
“…It’s useless. Mother-in-law will inform everyone about it.”
“You even thought about a countermeasure for that!?”
It’s impossible for Yuuji to hide his career progression from his parents and Kirishima-san, but he’s still trying his best to think for his own freedom in life.
“Anyway, I can’t possibly tell you my career path, so just give up and go back.”
Yuuji said this coldly, and Kirishima-san looked really sad as she leaned over to him.
“…Yuuji, why must you say such hurting things to me…? …Do you hate being with me in the same school?”
Kirishima-san asked with a quiet tone. Anyone who doesn’t have a blackened iron heart will definitely be touched by these words.
In response to Kirishima-san’s question, Yuuji answers with a serious tone,
“No, Shouko, I want you to have your own freedom to choose. You’re going to miss out on what you really want if you keep getting restrained by me, and there’s nothing worse than that.”
I better note and remember how his face looked like a bean there.
“…But I want to put you first and foremost in my thoughts, Yuuji. That’s the happiest thing for me.”
“No way, I want you to look for your own happiness.”
“…No, Yuuji, I hope you don’t mind about me when you choose your own path.”
Even though it looks like they’re saying that they’re thinking for each other’s sake on the surface, there shouldn’t be this kind of selfishness both sides are showing for their own sakes.
Well, let’s leave aside Yuuji. I have my own career path to settle.
“U—n…how troubling…”
Just thinking about it alone really makes me want to sigh.
KARAK. At this moment, the F class homeroom teacher Ironman opened the door as he walked into the classroom.
“What, you’re still here? If you have nothing to do, hurry up and go back.”
Ironman looked in through the classroom windows, and it seems like he’s checking if the doors and windows are closed properly.
“Sorry, Nishimura-sensei. Everyone’s still asking about their career aspirations.”
Himeji-san said as she lowered her head.
“Oh, the career aspirations.”
Ironman muses as he looks at me, Yuuji and Muttsurini in turn.
“It’ll be great if it can be solved within this century…”
Why is this teacher so rude?
“Well, I won’t make any jokes now. How about you come over to the career counseling room if you’re out of ideas?”
“““…???”””
“Oi, why are you all giving such surprised looks?”
Go to the career counseling room to talk about career aspirations…?
“Ah, I see, so that room is used for that purpose.”
“I never thought you could give career counseling indirectly by interrogation and remedials…”
“…That’s an unexpected use.”
“What did you think of after hearing that room’s name?”
No. The reason why we thought of it this way is because of the remedial you usually give.
“Erm, Nishimura-sensei, what will the career talk touch on?”
“Well, I’ll give you detailed suggestions on the aspirations you raise, like for example, if you want to be a doctor, I’ll introduce a few schools based on the student’s academic ability and the courses the student need to study.”
Ironman said what the main use of the career counseling room was, at least.
He then looks away from Himeji-san and the rest to stare at us and ask,
“And so, have you at least gotten an idea of what you wish for?”
“I do, but I’m unwilling to say it.”
“…Nu—cameraman.”
“Anything other than a forest.”
“Alright, everyone, line up and clench your teeth.”
Why is he being so angry? We're being serious here.
“In other words, you haven’t decided on the path you want to take?”
“That’s right.”
I answer Ironman’s words definitely. The description of ‘haven’t decided on the path you want’ Ironman said of does fit me here at least.
“Is that so? In that case, discuss it with everyone. If there’s anything you don’t know, come over to the career counseling room.”
Ironman said that and left the classroom.
Hm…enter the counseling room…
“(KARAK) I heard about everything here.”
“Ah, principal-sen—”
“(SLAM) Bye!”
“Nice response there, Akihisa.”
“…Good job.”
“(KARAK) Really, there has to be a limit to your rudeness, you people.”
The one who swapped places with Ironman and appeared at the classroom is the old granny and principal we’re all very familiar with.
“Is there anything for us now, principal-sensei?”
Minami asks the principal while being on her guard. Considering the actions this old granny would do up till now, it’s natural for us to be on our guard.
“Actually, I just installed some new settings on the summoned beasts.”
“Such a coincidence.” (Minami)
“Another favor from us again.” (Hideyoshi)
“…Go back” (Muttsurini)
“Blow yourself back.” (Yuuji)
“Turn yourself bald.” (Me)
“What’s with such reactions? And the last two people are just chiding me here!”
That’s not all we have here.
“Erm, principal sensei, what’re the new settings of the summoned beasts about…?”
Himeji-san asks respectfully. She’s really someone very serious, even if it’s this kind of person she’s listening to.
The principal seems rather satisfied by Himeji-san’s question as she says proudly.
“We used the summoned beasts to read the user’s mental processing and use the personality data to simulate children before, haven’t we? This time, we’re using this idea to make a simple simulation of the summoner’s future.”
“Simulate the summoner’s future…is it?”
“Well, I would say that it’s closer to divination than prediction. I’ll input the data for personalities, athleticism, grades, social relationships and sorts, and from there, we’ll be able to obtain the most likely future.”
Is it like the kind of divination where we enter the birthdays and blood type?
“Then, what kind of future can we see?”
“Most likely, it’s around the time when you’re 23-25 years old. Your personalities, preferences and your thoughts when choosing your career paths will also be considered. The reflected age will also consider your physical and mental growth.”
In other words, it’ll tell me what my future is like based on what I feel when I choose my career path?
“That’s rather useful for Aki now.”
“That’s true. Sure came in handy here.”
Minami and Hideyoshi look like they’re rather interested in this. This is really interesting, and both of them have somewhat stated that they don’t have to take part in this since they have already thought of career paths, but in that sense, it means that I have to take part in this…
“But if something goes wrong again…”
On hearing me say this, the principal says,
“If you want to stop, just shout ‘out’ and it will disappear. Do that if anything goes wrong.”
I see, so we can let it disappear as and when we want it. Since she has already planned some safety (?) measures, it seems that she has already reflected upon it.
“Doesn’t sound like there’s any major problem here.”
“Un…even if you say so…”
This is the doing of that principal after all. She’s not very trustworthy.
“Never mind, you can use it whenever you want to. Don’t force yourself.”
The field is expanded such that we can use it however we want to. Leaving these words behind, the principal walks off. From the way she walks out, it looks like she’s really providing this for us out of well intentions. Un, I don’t think there’ll be any special tricks here.
“Then, what do you plan to do, Akihisa?”
Hideyoshi’s asking me as I ponder over whether to use it…alright!
“It’s a rare chance, so let’s try it.”
“Oh, how decisive.”
“That’s good.”
It’s not my style to keep worrying over such things. Since I have something I can do, let’s just try it out first.
“Then, I’m going to summon. Everyone, stand back just in case…let’s go.”
“—SUMMON!”
In response to that familiar call, a familiar pattern appears.
And then, right in the middle of it is my summoned beast, based on my avatar.
“Ohh, it’s a big one this time.”
“…Ever since the test of courage tournament.”
It’s just like what Yuuji and Muttsurini said. The summoned beast that appears isn’t 3 heads tall, but as large as a real human.
“Fm, it’s not a uniform this time, but a suit.”
“So that means he managed to make it into society?”
It’s impossible for me to be wearing my high school uniform in the future. The principal must have changed the clothing to an ordinary suit based on this thinking.
“Huh? It’s taller than me?”
“In other words, the prediction is that you’ll grow even taller.”
“Heh~ that’s really great.”
The future me says to us,
“Ah! How nostalgic! It’s everyone in high school!”
The summoned beast is talking normally. This happened before, so I can’t say that I’m not used to it. Also, I won’t be able to ask anything if it can’t talk.
“I see I see. So this is how I was like when I was in high school.”
The summoned beast who looks like an ordinary person looks at me as he says it. Speaking of which, is my voice like this? It just doesn’t feel right to me.
“But I feel that I should be looking wiser here…”
Why must he say such rude things?
“Let’s hear from you. You’re the future form of Akihisa, right?”
“That’s right. Oh, is this Yuuji? Hideyoshi, Muttsurini and Kirishima-san really look young here.”
The future me says this happily. The way I see it, this summoned beast is really showing my future self.
“I never thought that I could meet everyone in high school like this.”
In fact, you didn’t come from the future, but you’re set up to have such thoughts here, right? My summoned beast starts to nod as he looks over at everyone.
“And over there are Himeji-san and Minami, right? Hello there.”
“Ah, yes! He-he-he-he-hello!”
“Eh, erm, nice to meet you for the first—no! It’s been a whi—not that too! Th-that, that…!”
“? Why are you panicking so much?”
Himeji-san and Minami are shaken up once they started talking to the future me. Are they not used to talking with older people?
“…Mizuki and Minami’s reactions are really cute.”
“Ah…it’s true that he looks much more decent than he is now.”
“Fm, he has really become a good man.”
“…I can see the suffering in the future.”
I don’t really know the reason, but I really feel a little unhappy over how those two are blushing in front of this future me.
“Well, never mind. Anyway, I have to ask the future me something.”
“Hm? What is it?”
The future me looks over at my side. Looks are secondary, there’s something more important I have to talk about.
“I’ll go straight to the point. What will happen to me 2 years later?”
Since I’m in my second year, I really want to know what happens to me 2 years later.
The future me smiles and answers,
“Ah, it’s fine.”
“? It’s fine? What do you mean?”
“You’ll still have a nice happy high school life 2 years later.”
“WAIT A SECOND! IT’S NOT A HAPPY THING FOR ME IF I’M STILL HAVING A HIGH SCHOOL LIFE TWO YEARS LATER!!”
I had already prepared myself mentally many times, but I can’t even get through the checkpoint before that!?
“Huh? You don’t understand? It means that you can’t graduate ne—”
“I KNOW THAT WITHOUT YOU EXPLAINING THAT TO ME, IDIOT! THE QUESTION IS WHY CAN’T I GRADUATE! ATTENDANCE!? OR RED MARKS!?”
“No, you had enough attendance and points.”
“Then why is it then!?”
“But you can’t graduate in your second year…”
“I CAN’T EVEN GET UP TO MY THIRD YEAR, LET ALONE GRADUATE NOW!?”
THAT’S IT! I HAD ENOUGH!
“Un~, I see. My reactions are really interesting. It’s no wonder everyone always made fun of me.”
“Ha!?”
What is this idiot saying now? Don’t tell me…he’s bluffing me?
“Don’t worry, you studied till near death, knelt down to the teachers every day and managed to graduate with tender feelings”
“This line alone is enough to scare me here!”
I can’t graduate if this keeps up!? How severe is my current situation now!?
“Anything else you want to ask?”
“I want to ask a lot of things, but I don’t want to know the answer…”
I really don’t dare to ask anything about the future.
And then, right after I spoke up,
“Then, may I ask something?”
“I want to ask something too…”
“Nn? What is it?”
Himeji-san and Minami step forward with intensity.
“Erm…are you dating anyone now?”
“Th-that’s right. Or rather, are you married yet?”
In response to these two’s questions, as they seemed really agitated for some reason—
“Nn~>…”
After a short moment of thinking—
“I won’t tell you.”
The future me smiles as he says.
“Wh-why aren’t you telling us anything at all!”
“That’s right, Aki! It’s not like you to hide stuff like this!”
“Ahaha. Speaking of which, Himeji-san and Minami were being like this at high school as well.”
“Are you not telling us because it’s related to us!?”
“Please tell us! Akihisa-kun!”
The future me has his sleeves tugged by them as he says happily,
“Nope. I have to keep a secret.”
““Uuu—…””
While those two were pressing on, the future me proceeds to tease them easily. I really can’t imagine myself being like that—and for some reason, I really got infuriated as I look at them.
“Then then, please at least tell us your type, Akihisa-kun!”
“I see. But that’s a little—”
“Out.”
The future me vanishes once I says this. Phew, I sure feel a lot better here.
“Ah, Akihisa-kun! Why must you be so mean!?”
“I want to ask him regarding some other things too!”
“That’s fine. You won’t be able to get back any decent answer even if you ask that kind of stupid idiot.”
“? Why are you angry?”
“I’m not.”
”“???””
Really, that guy’s not decent at all. I won’t become like that in the future.
“Anyway, we don’t know whether it will work, but we can tell that there’s no major problem with it.”
“Um. How about it, Muttsurini? If you don’t know what career path to choose, you can summon.”
“…Let me try.”
Muttsurini nods “…summon” and says this. And like before, a summoned beast about as tall as me appears.
The adult Muttsurini is wearing a suit with a necktie, and he really looks very cool to us.
“Heh, this is really unexpected. It looks like Muttsurini still hasn’t grown up enough.”
“It’s even taller than mine. That’s good, huh?”
“…That kind of thing doesn’t really matter.”
Muttsurini does not have any interest in his future appearance, and he immediately asks this question,
“…There’s something I want to ask.”
“…What is it?”
“…Did I become a nude cameraman?”
His desires have been fully released, and he looks like a kid who just met his hero as he asks this.
“…In other words, you want to know my current profession?”
“…(Gulps)”
“…I am a news reporter.”
“…”
“…What’s the matter?”
“…Pardon?”[8]
Why English?
“…I am a news reporter.”
After he was asked again, the future Muttsurini repeats his words again.
A news reporter? I see. With his information gathering abilities, agility and other unique talents, Muttsurini is really suited to be a news reporter.
On hearing those words, Muttsurini’s body starts to tremble with rage.
“…You.”
“…Nn?”
“…What…are you doing…!”
“…What do you mean by that?”
“…Why can you forgive yourself for not being a nude cameraman…!”
Actually, I would say that we’re curious about why you can’t forgive yourself for not becoming a nude cameraman.
“…Have you given up on your dreams—the meaning of living…!?”
“…My mission is to reveal the dark side in politics.”
“…No…! My real mission is to reveal the secrets hidden under the clothes…!”
“…This is really bad…the old me…”
“…I don’t accept this…! I definitely won’t accept this me…!”
The future has gone on a separate path from his dreams. Muttsurini can’t accept that way of life as he glares back at this future him.
“Speaking of which, I never thought that I would hear Muttsurini say ‘My mission is to reveal the dark side in politics’.”
“I never thought that he would become a news reporter and get involved in politics.”
“If he continues to head down the path of Ero, he might be able to walk down the proper path after some time.”
I see. So there’s that kind of possibility too.
As we continue to look,
—Pipi. Pasha
An electronic sound rang. Is that the sound of a cellphone shutter?
“…Thank you Mizuki.”
“It’s fine. It’s just a small thing.”
Himeji-san and Kirishima-san were the ones who spoke up. It seems that Himeji-san used the cellphone to take a photo of future Muttsurini.
“Himeji-san, why did you take a photo of Muttsurini?”
“Ah, it’s not me. Shouko-chan asked me for help. She doesn’t know how to take a photo.”
“…I’m bad with cellphones.”
“You’re already well-versed at deleting the visual data on my cellphone memory…”
“…I’m not good with any cellphone other than Yuuji’s.”
It seems that machines are one of the rare things Kirishima-san isn’t good at. However, there seems to be some exceptions.
“So what did you do with Muttsurini’s photo, Kirishima-san?”
“…I sent it to Aiko.”
She sent the photo of future Muttsurini to Kudou-san?
“Ah, I see. Make her laugh at Muttsurini for having his dreams ruined.”
“That’s really a good idea. Muttsurini’s dream will only receive a tragic end. It’s so funny that my toes are tingling here.”
“Sometimes, I really feel that you people can’t be considered friends.”
“How rude. Our friendship lasts for a lifetime.”
“Seriously. We swore that we will remain as friends forever.”
((—Until the moment where he is of no use to us.))
“Why is it that I’m hearing your hearts’ voices here?”
“It’s a friendship that’s thinner than a metal leaf…”
The friendship between men is a beautiful thing. We, who are bonded firmly while we’re not even relatives or acquaintances, can be considered true friends.
“—I sent it to Aiko-chan.”
“…Thank you, Mizuki.”
“No no, this little thing is nothing—wah. She replied back.”
Just a moment after she sent the mail, Himeji-san’s cellphone rings, indicating that she received a message.
Once she checked her mail, Himeji-san laughs happily.
“Fufufu. Really there, Aiko-chan.”
“Here here, I want to see too.”
“…Me too.”
Minami and Kirishima-san head over to look at Himeji-san’s cellphone.
“Ahaha. That’s quite a nice reaction.”
“…Aiko’s really cute.”
Both of them show grins on their faces after that.
“What? Is the reply really funny?”
“What kind of reaction is that?”
Yuuji and I want to head over to look too.
“Un…it’s a secret. We can’t let you see that, Akihisa-kun, everyone.”
Himeji-san closes her phone. She can’t let us see it? What is that? What kind of reaction does Kudou-san have? I’m really curious.
“…What you have aren’t dreams, but desires.”
“…What is the man who betrayed his own code of beliefs saying…!”
“…Then show me, show me fully, what kind of beliefs you have.”
“…I don’t need you to tell me that. My beliefs will never be twisted…!”
“…Dreams will change. You must remember me.”
“…I have nothing to say to you…!”
“…Out” Muttsurini says, and the summoned beast vanishes.
Speaking of which, that conversation just now really sounded very cool…on the surface.
“Then, it’s Sakamoto’s turn next.”
Once Muttsurini’s turn finishes, Minami turns towards Yuuji.
“No. I really don’t want to know about my future.”
“…Yuuji (grabs)”
“Alright, resistance is useless, right? I know that, damn it!”
Yuuji calls out his summoned beast reluctantly.
The future Yuuji slowly appears from the patterns on the floor.
The future Yuuji hasn’t changed as compared to now, and his face is still full of wildness, but he seems to be gentler in some way here—
“OUT DAMN IT YOU IDIOT BASTARD—!!!”
—The ring on the collar really fits him.
“…Yuuji, don’t disappear so quickly.”
“Yeah Yuuji. We haven’t heard anything about what will happen in the future here, you know?”
“WE KNOW WHAT HAPPENS EVEN WITHOUT ASKING HERE! I’M A SLAVE! IF I’M NOT THAT, I’M A PERVERT HERE!!!”
It’s really a pity here that this idiot immediately caused it to vanish, which meant that we can’t ask anything about the future here.
“…Yuuji, summon it again.”
“No way.”
This time, Yuuji is completely unwilling to agree to it. He really doesn’t want to look at his own future here.
“In that case, how about we ask the future Shouko-chan?”
Himeji-san claps her hands as she proposes this. I see. There’s no doubt that Kirishima-san’s definitely going to be linked to Yuuji. We will know once we ask.
“That’s right. We don’t have to ask the person himself.”
“Looking at that Yuuji now, I really can’t feel that it has nothing to do with Kirishima.”
“…Let me try.”
Kirishima-san says softly “Summon”, and this time, the future Kirishima-san appears.
The future Kirishima-san is prettier than she is now, and her long black hair looks really dazzling—
“…(Poke)””
—And also, her belly grew to be quite big.
“““OUT!!!”””
All of us shouted once we saw the future Kirishima-san like this. What is this!? isn’t this bad if the school carries out such a simulation here!?
“Akihisa-kun, everyone, why is your reaction so big?”
“She’s at the age where it’s not weird for her to have a baby in her stomach.”
“No no no! This isn’t the problem here! It’s something more about the ethical issue or something else here…eh? What? Are we thinking too much here?”
That’s because, after seeing someone of the same age have a child here, what…for some reason, right!”
“Shouko-chan, so that child is really Sakamoto-kun’s—”
Himeji-san ignores us as we’re still puzzled here, and turns to look at the future Kirishima-san. The future Kirishima-san then turns around, and just when she’s about to answer,
“…Ah”
A ball drops out from beneath the clothing on the belly.
“““…””””
The ball just bounces right in front of us as we remain speechless.
“…”
The future Kirishima-san picks up the ball and puts it back at her belly, giving a shy look as she says,
“…It moved.”
“HOW CAN IT POSSIBLY MOVE HERE—!”
What the? So it was just a ball. That really scared me.
“Kirishima-san’s still very mischievous even after becoming an adult.”
“…She hasn’t lost her sense of playfulness.”
“It’s really just like Shouko-chan.”
“THOSE AREN’T THE PROBLEMS HERE, OKAY!? ISN’T IT TOO WEIRD TO HAVE SUCH JOKES IN A SIMULATION OF THE FUTURE!?”
Yuuji’s yelling away for some reason. There’s no need for him to be so excited in the first place anyway.
“…A joke?”
The future Kirishima-san tilts her head once she hears Yuuji’s yell.
“I can’t think of it being anything other than a joke when you put a ball on your belly and appear like this.”
“…???”
Kirishima-san doesn’t look like she understands Yuuji’s words as she tilts her head even further.
“Hm? Didn’t you put the ball in order to get ready to shock us here?”
“…I was not thinking about that.”
Naturally, Kirishima-san denies it.
Well, then why did you put that ball there in the first place?
“…This is an appeal to Yuuji that I want to bear children as soon as possible.”
“““Ahh, I see.”””
“SHE’S AT THE LEVEL OF COERCING ME HERE!”
So she’s trying to blame Yuuji for him being so indecisive? It’s really a great idea for her to plan and practice this in advance.
“What? So you haven’t had children yet?”
“I thought it’ll be fast because Sakamoto-kun likes children.”
“He’s normally so forceful when he says such things, but he’s unexpectedly timid here, huh?”
“Seriously, this is so unsightly.”
“WAIT A SEC WAIT A SEC WAIT A SEC! WE’RE GOING OFF TOPIC HERE! WE’RE GOING TO ASK ABOUT MY FUTURE HERE, RIGHT!?”
What he said is true. Her appearance shocked us so much that we ended up forgetting over this.
“Then, let me change this question…what are you doing in the future, future Shouko-chan?”
“…Working in the day.”
“““And at night!?”””
“…Working hard.”
“““…”””
“WAIT A SEC, HIMEJI AND SHIMADA! DON’T BLUSH AFTER LOOKING AT SHOUKO AND ME! YOU’RE BEING SUSPICIOUS FOR NO REASON HERE, YOU KNOW!? AND MUTTSURINI, AKIHISA, DON’T GLARE AT ME LOOKING LIKE YOU’RE DRAWING BLOOD ON YOUR LIPS!!”
Unforgivable…we’ll kill this person…!
“Then, future Kirishima, what do you work hard on at night?”
“…Cooking, sewing and studying.”
Ahh, what the heck. So it’s like this?
“No, we’re too hasty. I thought it was something else.”
“Ah, ahaha…I was mistaken too.”
“…Fufu.”
Kirishima-san looks at us as she chuckles, and says,
“…This kind of talk is a secret to high school students.”
““…!!!(SHOCK)””
“HOLD ON, YOU IDIOTS! DON’T GIVE ME THE LOOK OF ‘we must kill this guy here now…!’”
We must kill this person here right now…!
“Well, Yuuji can’t possibly have any grudges if he’s stabbed to death out of jealousy in the future.”
“NO NO NO! THERE’S DEFINITELY GOING TO BE A GRUDGE HERE! NOBODY’S GOING TO SAY NORMAL STUFF AFTER BEING STABBED!”
“Eh? The future Sakamoto-kun will get stabbed?”
“What are you saying here, Himeji! How can such a thing happen?”
““DIIIIEEEE—!!””
“That was dangerous—!!”
Yuuji manages to dodge the punches from Muttsurini and me by a hair’s breadth. Seriously, that trash of a bastard has good intuition…!
“Looks like it’s only a matter of time before he gets stabbed, huh?”
“No no! This sort of thing won’t happen…right?”
Yuuji has no confidence as he says this, and he timidly looks over at the future Shouko to ask.
In response, Kirishima-san nods her head and answers,
“…Yuuji’s fine. Nothing happened to him, he’s really happy.”
“Is, is that so…? Here, I said it, nothing will happen to me in the future after all—”
“…The proof is that even when hearing today’s weather report, he will answer ‘yes, I’m very happy’.”
“ISN’T THAT ALREADY THE TERMINAL STAGE HERE!?”
So I see. The future Yuuji is really happy. This is good.
“…Out.”
While we’re still talking, Kirishima-san removes her summon. Huh?
“You’re fine with it, Kirishima-san?”
“…What?”
“What, as in the summoned beast, of course. You finally managed to call it out, so isn’t it a good idea to ask your future self about all sorts of things in the future?”
On hearing my words, Kirishima-san shakes her head side to side and says,
“…To me, the most important thing will never change.”
Won’t change? What is it?
“…These feelings will always remain the same.”
I couldn’t say anything at all when I saw Kirishima-san look forward in a direct manner with those pure eyes of hers.
Well, anyway—
“…(BOK)”
“Thud!”
Let’s just beat this lucky Yuuji for looking forward with those blank eyes, running away from reality here.
“This is really fun.”
“Yeah. We still can’t be certain since it’s a simulation, but it’s fun in its own way too.”
“And there hasn’t been any mishap up till now yet.”
Minami and Himeji-san says in a happy manner.
I suppose Yuuji, whose blank eyes are no longer focused, and Muttsurini, who’s unwilling to admit his own future, are not issues of mishaps to their eyes.
“Then, let me try to summon this too.”
“What kind of job will you have in the future, Minami-chan?”
“I don’t think I’ll definitely be working here. Maybe I might be a full-time housewife—summon!”
Minami calls out the keyword, and the summoned beast is called out.
The future Minami is wearing a female suit just like Kirishima-san’s summoned beast from before, and her hair is let down this time, not tied in a ponytail.
She’s all grown up now, and really became quite a beautiful mature woman. For some reason…she’s so pretty that it’s making me feel nervous.
“Ah, Minami-chan’s grown up a bit more than she is now.”
“…She has nice long legs.”
Himeji-san and Kirishima-san look rather delighted as they see this future Minami. It’s true that the future Minami is a little taller than she is now.
I don’t know if that’s the reason why I find something out of place here.
“Ah, that’s true. I’ve really grown taller.”
Minami stands beside her summoned beast to compare heights.
She really looks very happy.
“Well, we’ve seen how she looks like. How about we ask some questions here?”
“Ah, yes, then…what are you working as, future Minami-chan?”
Himeji-san asks the future Minami, who then looks a little shy as she answers,
“Me? I can be considered…well…a model…”
“““A MODEL!?”””
“It, it’s supposedly that, you know? I also want to do something related to design in the future, and I’m still studying that now…”
I always thought that Minami has a model-like figure, but I never thought that it’ll become real…seriously, this is really shocking.
“Amazing, Minami-chan! What was the opportunity that allowed you to do this?”
“Erm, there was a performance during the school festival in university, and I was requested to take part in it.”
“…And you were scouted for that?”
“No…a really passionate friend took pictures on her own and took it to an audition for review…”
A certain twintails girl suddenly appears in everyone’s mind.
“On a side note, what was that friend doing?”
“She’s an editor for a fashion magazine.”
It looks like Minami’s relationship with Shimizu-san’s still going on strongly.
“I really never heard of someone saying that ‘a friend took photos of me and sent it for application’ before.”
“To think that something like that really happened.”
“But that was an opportunity, and I did take part in it because I was interested.”
That’s true. I don’t think Minami will do this because of some reason like because she has a nice appearance only. Minami herself probably has an interest in it, and definitely worked hard for it precisely because of this reason.
“By the way, instead of talking about that—?
“Hm?”
Minami’s summoned beast turns towards me happily—
“It’s Aki in high school! I really miss you~♪”
“!?!?!?”
I was embraced fully, unable to move. Wha-what’s going on!?
“Wait! What are you doing!?”
“U-n, how cute! He really fits in me perfectly when I hug him!”
The future Minami does not mind as she continues to hug me while I’m confused. That softness and her act was really preventing me from resisting. Is, is this the charm of an adult here…!?
“Mi-Minami-chan! You can’t get a headstart like that!”
“I-I did try to stop her!”
“Good boy good boy! You’re so cute, Aki~”
She pats me in the back of my head while embracing me tightly.
Speaking of which, she’s really soft. I hardly had an opportunity to touch Minami like this—
“Let, go, of, him!”
And Minami forcefully makes her way in before separating me away from the future Minami.
I hurriedly fan my burning face to cool myself down as I glance at the Minami who became an adult beside me. Then, I realize a very important fact.
“!! No-no way…!”
“Hm? What is it, Akihisa?”
Shocked, I point at a certain part on the future Minami as I answer,
“Br-breasts…”
“Yes?”
“Minami’s breasts…have grown…!”
““WHAT!?””
This fact was so overly shocking that Yuuji and Muttsurini widened their eyes.
“Eh? Didn’t you all notice it, Akihisa-kun and everyone?”
“…We were able to tell from the clothes.”
“Bu-but that, that’s because we thought it would be impossible…”
“I’ll kill you.”
Minami’s killing intent intensity has risen to a dangerous zone. I guess I better watch what I say from now on.
“But in that case, that means the rumors of fashion models with big breasts are less likely to be used is just a rumor?”
Hideyoshi too stares at the future Minami’s breasts as he says this. Though it has something to do with what kind of models there are, the models we see often on fashion shows are rather slender.
“There’s really such a rumor going about.”
“…Minami’s breasts have grown to a C.”
“Fufufu, amazing, isn’t it~”
The future Minami puffs her chest as she continues,
“These are breast pads for the future.”
“Out.”
The future Minami hasn’t finished her words as she suddenly disappeared.
“Then, I guess I’ll try summoning next—summon”
Hideyoshi calls out his own summoned beast, and after a moment, a summoned beast with a familiar looking face appeared in the middle of the patterned array.
“??!! Wh-why is it like that!?”
“Um um, Hideyoshi’s just like what I imagined.”
“…Awesome.”
“How in the world do you people view me here!? I’m a guy but my chest has grown here!? Something’s definitely wrong here!”
It’s just like what Hideyoshi said. The future Hideyoshi has a larger chest as compared to the current state. Good, very good.
“…(Stares)”
“Don’t look at me with that kind of expression too, Shimada! This is definitely a padding in the future—no, it’s not normal of me if I really pad myself here in the future!?”
Hideyoshi is all confused. It doesn’t look like it’s padded however.
“Well, it’s a simulation, so there’s this kind of possibility too.”
“Yuuji, what do you mean when you say that?”
“This is a simulation done by obtaining the data from the linked relationships, so the reflected simulation is what everyone recognizes it as.”
“In other words?”
“It probably recognized and considered the recent rumors regarding how ‘Hideyoshi’s chest has grown bigger recently’, maybe?”
“THIS IS THE WORST!”
“Yuuji, say it in a way that’s easier to understand.”
“Ah…in other words, what’s shown is whether you want the ‘thoroughly bearded and not-handsome version of Hideyoshi’ or the ‘future beauty version of Hideyoshi here’.”
“I see, so that means it can’t simulate a future that can’t possibly exist, is it?”
“Uu…I’d thought I can still grow a moustache 10 years into the future…”
I can firmly conclude that the possibility is 0%.
“It’s alright, Kinoshita-kun. Maybe there’s a chance that it might have mistaken for Yuuko-chan…”
“Ane-ue? Ane-ue’s doing well here, you know?”
“—The possibility may be gone here…but, please pull yourself through.”
“THAT’S ENOUGH HERE! OUT!”
““AHH!!!””
Hideyoshi’s summoned beast vanishes before we can even stop him. What a pity! We haven’t seen enough of her yet!
“…Why did this happen.”
Muttsurini beside me is holding onto the camera, looking utterly regretful.
““…””
Muttsurini and I exchange looks and nod. Looks like we have the same interests here.
“Hey, Hideyoshi, do you know how to read this (Social Inequality)[9]?”
“Must social and inequality be read together here?”
“…And this (Akihisa, you break the curfew)?” [10]
“It’s ‘Akihisa dot you break the curfew’.”
““…””
“Wh-why? Why are you two suddenly quiet and kneeling down to beg?”
“Our intelligence aren’t enough, so the only way for us now is to show our honesty.”
“Hideyoshi, can you please summon it again? These guys are really so pitiful that I can’t bear to watch on.”
““PLEASE!!””
“Seriously, you guys…”
Hideyoshi then sighs, “Good grief” and summons his summoned beast again. Alright! I’ll leave it to you, Muttsurini!
“…!! (Snap Snap Snap)”
Muttsurini keeps pressing the shutter the moment the array appears. He even takes the shots from low angles, and I can only admire his great agility.
“Wait, huh? Why does something feel different from before…”
Hideyoshi’s summoned beast that’s called out this time seems a little different from before.
“I see. The hair’s different now. It’s long and bundled up.”
“No breasts here.”
Minami looks exceptionally happy.
This time, Hideyoshi’s summoned beast has long hair bundled up into a knot, and it has grown a little taller. It looks rather androgynous as compared to the pretty big sister from before.
“…It didn’t just predict one kind of future?”
“Ah, maybe that’s it! Maybe we can see a different kind of future from every single summon.”
“I see! That’s what I said! How can there be such a future—summon! ”Yes, I’m very happy.””
“Yeah, I’ll definitely have a bright future—summon! “You kneel down to beg every single day.””
“…Summon“…I have to find out if there’s any corruption.””
“““WHAT’S GOING ON!!!”””
Yuuji, my and Muttsurini summoned beasts are still the same as before.
“I don’t know what’s going on, but Hideyoshi’s the only one that’s different.”
“Well, leaving aside the progress, it’s already unable to predict how Hideyoshi looks here.”
“…The computer’s definitely puzzled here.”
“Um, in other words, there exist countless possibilities within me.”
Un un. Hideyoshi continues to nod. That’s true. It’s really hard to predict whether he’ll become the beautiful-type or the cute-type.
“Speaking of which, what’s Kinoshita-san’s career?”
“I’m in a drama troupe.”
“Well, we can expect that.”
We can’t imagine Hideyoshi choosing another route here. There’s no need to bother asking here.
“…Then, Yuuko?”
Kirishima-san asks, and the future Hideyoshi looks rather bothered as he’s tongue-tied,
“Ane-ue…well, ane-ue, that’s…”
What happened? Don’t tell me,
“Did she meet some traffic accident or fell ill?”
“No, that’s not the case. She’s fine and working now.”
“I see. That’s good~”
“What kind of job is Yuuko-chan working on?”
“U, um…that…an author.”
“““AN AUTHOR!?”””
Everyone cry out in shock. This really is unexpected.
“What kind of author? Novels? Manga?”
“What kind of book? I want to look at it too.”
“…Tell us the pen name.”
The girls look very excited.
“…”
—But for some reason, Hideyoshi looks really troubled. What’s the matter?
“It-it’s really amazing that ane-ue became an author. What about the rest?”
“Un! Yeah, for example, Kubo’s amazing too!”
The current and future Hideyoshis immediately change the topic. Leaving aside the future Hideyoshi, is the current Hideyoshi not interested in knowing here? Nobody expected that Kinoshita-san to become an author here.
“Kubo’s a secretary in the parliament now!”
“““OHHHH!!!”””
Amazing! If he’s a parliamentary secretary, that means he’s in politics, right? Kubo-kun’s smart, but I never thought he’ll go down this path.
“Is-is that so…so Kubo has finally walked down this path…?”
This time, Yuuji gives a grimace on his face. Huh?
“Kubo said that he wants to ‘work hard to change the civil law”
““…””
On hearing that, even Hideyoshi and Muttsurini grimaced. Why are they showing such expressions?
“…Civil code, section 731 to 749.”
“?What is it about the marriage-related law, Shouko-chan?”
“…It’s nothing.”
I don’t know why, but I feel it’s better not to talk about it.
“Then what about Kudou-san?”
“She’s working hard to become a premier talent as a doctor.”
A doctor! I thought she’ll become a sportsman. This is really unexpected.
“Anyway, after doing all sort of stupid things together, we forgot that she’s a student of A class too.”
“Yeah. It’s not weird for her to attend medical school.”
“She’s very familiar with the human anatomy too.”
In all sorts of ways…
“…A…female doctor…?”
Muttsurini’s voice trembles as he whispers—
“…She…how long is she going to mess around with me…?”
Kudou-san becomes a female doctor even with that kind of personality. Is that even possible…?
“Then, I think that should be enough.”
And just when Hideyoshi’s going to call back his summoned beast,
“Hm? Speaking of which, where did Akihisa and the rest go to?”
Hideyoshi turns his head around to look, and asks,
“We’re over here, Hideyoshi.”
“No, I’m not talking about you. I’m talking about the summoned beasts. Didn’t you call them out right before?”
Speaking of which, we did call out our summoned beasts to see if there were any changes just a moment ago…
“If it’s Akihisa and the rest, they walked out of the classroom out of nostalgia, you know?”
“““Eh?”””
We check the classroom door that should be closed, but it’s really opened.
“I see. It’s said that they can act according to their own will here.”
“…We forgot.”
The summoned beasts used this time are different from before, they’re the future versions of us here. It is possible for them to walk around like this as and when they like it.
Un un, we nod our heads, but Hideyoshi looks worried as he asks us,
“Is it really alright? Something bad might come up if you don’t hurry up and look for them.”
“It’s alright, Hideyoshi. If they’re just walking around the school out of nostalgia, I don’t think there’ll be any sort of trouble—”
“KYAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!! SOMEONE’S PEEPING HERE!!!”
“It-it’s a misunderstanding! We’re just lost here!”
“Muttsurini! Why the heck did you lead us to that side!”
“…Sorry, I just followed my old body instincts…”
The trio dressed in suits are chased by the girls of the sports clubs as they run off in front of F class.
“Trouble?”
“Even though…it shouldn’t happen…”
The words we said before are all wasted now. Seriously, those idiots…!
“Why is there a problem now after just a short moment! Aren’t those guys our avatars here!?”
“It’s because they’re your avatars that they’re like this.”
How is that possible! Leaving aside Yuuji and the rest, it’s definitely impossible for my avatar to do such an illogical action!
“Anyway, we can’t let things get out of hand here! Akihisa, Muttsurini, let’s go after them!”
“Ahh, got it!”
“…Understood.”
We discuss our strategy as we look for our summoned beasts.
“Yuuji! Can we remove them once we see them?”
“No! We’ll be suspected of peeping in suits if we remove them here! The damage to us will be reduced to the minimum if we hand them over!”
“…I think the worst part is that this seems to be the case.”
What kind of joke is this! We’re treated as peeping toms even though we didn’t do so! Even if we’re going to be scolded, we should as least have some wonderful memories before we get punished!
We continue to chase after them at full speed as we think. During this time, we hear the conversation of the girls in front of us,
“Does anyone know who those people are?”
“No! We didn’t see their faces clearly!”
“They might not be people from this school!”
This is the best thing in this misfortune! They didn’t see the faces of the summoned beasts clearly! In that case we can just remove the summoned beasts without any issues!
“Yuuji! Muttsurini!”
“Ahh, got it!”
“…Okay.”
“““Out!”””
The three of us continue to run as we yell the keyword to remove the summoned beasts.
And in response to the word, they vanish.
“““KKKKKKKKKYYYYYYYYYYAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!!! PERVEEEEEEEEERRRRRRRRRRRTTTTTTTTTTTSSSSSSSSS”””
“GYYAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!! WHAT IS THIS!!!?”
—While they’re running away, their pants vanish.
“Wait! What’s going on? Why are the clothes the only thing disappearing?”
“How would I know! Did that old granny make a mistake in the adjustments again!”
“…What kind of perverts…!”
Only the clothing disappeared off the summoned beasts! This sort of thing should only happen on the girls!
In the end, the situation is such that a trio of men wearing suits on top and boxers below are running around the school corridors. I don’t know what to call them in this state other than perverts.
“Damn it! We have to hurry up and remove them! Out!”
“Idiot! Stop it, Akihisa!”
I say the keyword again before Yuuji can stop me.
And this time.
“Hii! Now even the shirt’s gonnneee!”
And now the shirt’s gone from the future me! How did this happen!
“Don’t say it anymore, Akihisa! It’ll end up going beyond the level of peeping!”
“I-I get it!”
Right now, the future me is wearing a singlet on top and boxers blow. If I remove another clothing here, there’ll be an added crime in addition to peeping.
“Then what do we do now, Yuuji!?”
“Anyway, the best option will be to go over to that old hag and switch off the field.”
“Hey! Don’t those peeping toms look like the three idiots from F class!?”
“Ah! That’s true!”
“In other words, they disguised themselves and peeped!?”
We just heard some words of despair.
“…What do we do now!?”
“We can’t remove the accusations on us even if we remove them no! We’re changing our strategy now, damn it!”
“Ahh…how did such a thing happen after only several minutes…”
I really can’t believe that the one running away in a singlet and boxers is my future self here. I don’t want to believe in this.
“Let’s go over to Nishimura-sensei then!”
“That, that’s right! We can’t catch up with them at all!”
“That escaping speed they’re running at, it’s definitely them!”
The girls gave up on chasing after firmly believing that it’s us and immediately head down to the staff room downstairs.
“Damn it! It’s better if they actually continue to chase after them!”
“Why?”
“If we can run beside them, we might be able to clear ourselves of suspicions here!”
Yuuji can’t explain clearly as we sprint with all we have.
In other words, the logic should be ‘we, who they believe they’re chasing, are running beside them, so they can believe that they’re chasing after someone else’.
“We just have to appear in front of the girls.”
“You’ll just get grabbed by Ironman and interrogated.”
“…Executed.”
In that case, we can’t do anything other than to provide evidence to clear our names! As for why that is necessary, it’s because we have a past history of this.
“In that case, we better hand those guys over to prove that it’s not us! Don’t let them get away!”
“But we can’t touch summoned beasts here.”
“Didn’t you just touch Shimada just now? It is possible to catch them!”
““Understood!””
Normally, it will be easiest to simply remove them back, but we’re in big trouble if the clothes are the next things that disappear. In the end, we can only try to catch up to them and catch them.
“But how do we chase after them!? The distance’s not closing at all!”
“…It’s very tough to chase after ourselves.”
“We can do it if we believe in it! Let them understand the difference between graduates and students!”
And just like that, we start to chase after our futures, starting a chapter that seemed to be themed on youth.
“We, we can’t catch up…!”
“Speaking of which, those guys are summoned beasts after all…”
“…I forgot…”
The summoned beasts have power several times that of a normal human, and we forgot all about it because they look just like our future selves. It’s impossible for us to beat them in strength and endurance.
“Fuu, seriously there…that was really close.”
“For real…”
“…A disaster.”
The future us run to the corridor and pause to take a break.
“But then, it’s your fault for wanting to walk around the school out of nostalgia, Akihisa!”
“No! It’s Muttsurini’s fault for going to the girl’s changing room, right!?”
“…No, it’s Yuuji’s fault for opening the door after seeing the girls’ changing room sign.”
Once the summoned beasts see that they’ve escaped, they heave a sigh of relief and start blaming each other.
“But you’re the one who walked in without understanding the situation, Akihisa!”
“I did walk in, but things didn’t go out of hand if not for Muttsurini’s bringing in the camera like that!”
“…It’s Yuuji’s fault for not hiding well at all.”
“WHAT!?”
“YOU WANNA FIGHT!”
“…BRING IT!”
And so, the trio causing the ruckus start fighting each other. These guys aren’t acting like adults here…!
“Erm…what do we do here, Yuuji?”
“Even if you ask me this…I don’t believe I can stop this, do you?”
“…Too reckless.”
I do know that I can’t stop that scene of violence by myself, considering my own strength; it’s just that our crimes can’t be cleared if we don’t do anything at all…
Just when we’re wondering about what to do—
“Akihisa-kun, Sakamoto-kun, Tsuchiya-kun. What are you doing?”
A beautiful woman appears.
She has slightly wavy soft hair and wide cute eyes.
She looks a lot mature than she is now, but there’s no question that she’s—
“Thank goodness…I caught up…”
“Himeji-san? Then, this is really.”
“Yes. It’s my summoned beast.”
The woman’s the future Himeji-san.
“But why are you here?”
“It’ll be bad if there’s a commotion here, so Minami-chan and the rest went off to split. Also…I want to ask my future self something.”
So that’s why she came along? Her tenderness is really touching me. I suppose the commotion will end peacefully.
“You three, I don’t know what's happening, but you can’t cause trouble for Akihisa-kun and the rest in high school—wh-why are the three of you dressed like this!?”
…Huh?
“No, this isn’t it! I don’t know what’s going on here, but we’re being chased because of peeping!”
“O-oi, Akihisa you idiot!”
“Heh?”
Arre arre?
“…Yuuji, what is it about the peeping…?”
“Akihisa-kun, can you please explain things clearly?”
“Did you people go to peep on underaged people here?”
“No matter what, it’s really bad of you guys.”
In an instant, Minami, Hideyoshi and Kirishima-san’s summoned beasts appear, and the four of them surround our future selves.
Isn’t this development a little weird…
“…Yuuji, tell me the details.”
“Yeah. We might have to consider whether to hand you over to the police based on the situation.”
“I want to know what’s going on as well.”
The trio say as they get ready to punish us. They, they haven’t changed at all…! Himeji-san and the rest are still the same as they are now even when they’re adults…!
“Oi! Get ready to run, you guys!”
“…Understood.”
“Ah seriously, this kind of thing actually happens today ! Let’s go, Hideyoshi!”
“It has nothing to do with me, right?”
Our future selves sense danger as they get ready to bring Hideyoshi along.
“Ah! Wait, Aki!”
“…We won’t let you get away.”
“You have to explain this clearly!”
—And so, Himeji-san and the rest ran out to chase after them too.
Soon after, our futures selves were no longer present here.
“““…”””
We remain dumbstruck as we remain at where we are. I say, this is…
Amongst us, someone starts to laugh.
“Fufu. Everyone’s still the same as ever.”
Himeji-san’s the one laughing. She seems to be rather happy amidst this puzzling scene for some reason.
“Yeah, I wonder if we can say that we haven’t grown up, or whether it’s something else…”
“I think this is good.”
Good, huh…? I think we’re just causing useless trouble for no reason, you know?
Leaving aside that—
“Good grief…we won’t be able to ask anything about the future now.”
We summoned them to ask about the future, but in that situation, we can’t ask anything.
After hearing my grumbling, Himeji-san says,
“Yeah, I think if we want to ask, we should summon them one by one and ask once everything’s over.”
“Yeah…”
I ponder for a while.
Summon again later…though there is that possibility…
“No, there’s no need for that.”
“Are you sure?”
“Un.”
I still want to ask a lot of things in the future, but I guess there’s no need for them. Besides, I’ll just get weird answers, and also—
“Anyway, I don’t see any regret in whatever path I choose.”
Even though I don’t know what kind of future awaits us, we can firmly believe that we won’t regret it. Knowing this alone is enough for me.
“That’s because you’re always so optimistic and hardworking.”
“Hmm…maybe.”
It’s a little too much to say that about me. I’m not that kind of amazing person.
And then, more importantly,
“You too, Himeji-san. It’s better to call out your summoned beast alone, right? Don’t you have something you want to ask?”
Unlike us, who managed to talk right at the beginning, Himeji-san never had the chance to ask anything because of the commotion. I suppose it’s better to ask whatever she wants to ask later.
Himeji-san then shakes her head.
“No, there’s no need.”
“Eh? Really? Why?”
There’s a risk of being tricked by the future Himeji-san, but it’s better to ask whatever she wants to ask.
“There’s no need for that. Regarding what I want to know about, I already knew after looking at everyone.”
Himeji-san says as she smiles at where our futures ran off to.
Popularity Contest Result (Omake)
Me (Watashi) and Usagi and My Ambiguous First Love
Even till now, I have been having a recurring dream.
It was about what I saw after school during primary school.
What that girl wrote on the blackboard silently, in the classroom where the sunset was shining into.
It was neither her punishment nor her duty. At first glance, it seemed to be something done for an unknown purpose.
She would write and erase, and, after erasing, write again.
That kid kept repeating this seriously — this girl left an exceptional impression within my heart.[11]
“Yes. I think it’s great to have Himeji Mizuki-san as a Pet raising Committee member.”[13]
I was nominated during the first class meeting in 4th grade, and couldn’t help but freeze.
“Choosing Himeji Mizuki-san is a great idea!”
“Isn’t it perfect? It’s a plain and boring job anyway.”[14]
“It sure suits our ‘Plain Lover’-san!”
I could hear whispers from all around. The only ones who would call me that were those classmates who were in the same class as mine in 3rd grade.
“What is it, Himeji-san?”
The facilitating teacher said that, and everyone looked over.
“W-Well, about that…”
I must refuse it. Even though I had that thought, I was so nervous that I couldn’t speak up properly.
At this moment, the stares that were shot at me got sharper.
My mind went blank, and I could only lower my head.
I must refuse it.
It wasn’t that I hated the job, but that my body’s frail. If I get hospitalized, I’ll have to be excused from school for a long time, and that’ll cause a lot of trouble to many people. I don’t want that…
“I, I…”
I tried to squeeze the words in, but everyone’s stares intensified, and I couldn’t say anything.
“—You’re not willing to?”
I heard a concerned and friendly voice.
I looked up, and saw that the boy sitting at the table next to me is talking to me.
“…Yes.”
I nodded my head.
“I see. If you don’t like it, you can say it out loud.”
I looked at the boy and saw him put on a bright smile as he said:
“Erm, can I call you Mizuki-chan?”
I nodded my head silently.
Then, that boy stood up and said to the teacher for me,
“Sensei, Mizuki-chan is very obscene!”[15]
……………Eh?
The boy had stares raining all over him as his voice rang through the classroom.
Ah, well…wait a moment…that sounds like it means another thing altogether.
That boy ignored my doubts as he repeated it again, clearly:
“Mizuki-chan is really obscene!”
It, it really means something completely different when you say it like that!
“Wa, wait wait.”
I hurriedly pulled the boy who still wanted to go on. Don-Don’t repeat such a line so many times!
“Hm? What is it?”
The boy gave me an incredulous look, apparently not understanding why I was trying to stop him. Uu…how, how am I going to explain this…
“I-I-I’m not obscene…”
“Eh? Aren’t you unwilling?”
“I, I’m unwilling.”
“Then it’s the same, right?”
“I’m unwilling, but I’m not obscene.”
“???”
The boy looked cute as he blinked. Ah, what should I do…he didn’t understand at all…
“Aki-kun, the way you say it makes it sound like ‘that kid’s very H’, you know!”
“How pitiful~ Aki-kun’s bullying a girl here!”
“Onee-chan will get angry too!”
The boy’s friends seemed to be teasing him and having fun with this as they spoke up.
On hearing that, that boy finally seemed to understand what I was trying to tell him.
“Ah, no, it’s not like that! It’s a misunderstanding! Mizuki-chan’s obscene but isn’t obscene at all!”
“Which one is it??”
“A-Anyway, it’s obscene to be a Pet raising Committee member!”
“Aki-kun, you can’t say that either!”
This situation went on in class as everyone was looking at us.
Auuu…I, I really couldn’t take it…
“W-Well…I’m willing to be a pet raising member…”
I was not used to the stares everyone shot at me, and couldn’t help it as I decided to become a pet raising member. Uu…I’ll have to talk to the teacher about what’ll happen when I get admitted into hospital…
My name’s written on the blackboard, under the ‘Pet raising member. Girl’ column.
“Well then, how about the male pet raising member? Is anyone willing to nominate himself?”
The teacher looked around and asked everyone. The male Pet raising Committee member column was the only empty slot left.
Who will it be…?
I wanted to know whose name will be written on it. If that person’s going to work with me, I would end up bothering him a lot. No, maybe no one will raise names because nobody wanted to work with me. If that person gets nominated and didn’t like this job, it would cause trouble to me too…
Thinking of it really made me depressed.
Then, right beside me…
“E-Erm! I’d like to be a pet raising member too!”
The boy from before raised his hand energetically.
“You want to be a pet raising member!? Aki-kun!? Really!?”
“Aki-kun. Do you know how to take care of animals here!?”
“Alright, I’ll do it too!”
And, after saying that…
“Mizuki-chan, please take care of me.”
The boy turned to me and smiled.
“Y-Yes. Please take care of me too…”
And this was my very first encounter with Yoshii-kun.
“Heh~ so that’s how a rabbit house looks like on the inside.”
On the first day of pet raising duty, Yoshii-kun and I arrived at the rabbit house located beside the school building as pet raising members.
“Ah, there’s a new rabbit this year.”
Yoshii-kun carried the smallest of the three rabbits.
The rabbit was shocked, and at first, it started flailing its legs.
“Good boy good boy.”
The rabbit quickly calmed down after it was patted, and quickly quiet down within Yoshii-kun’s clutches.
“Do you want to carry it too, Mizuki-chan?”
“Eh?”
Yoshii-kun carried the young rabbit in his hands over to me.
“Ah, are you not good at dealing with animals?”
“Er, erm, that…”
I was at a loss of words.
Actually, I really could not handle animals. When I went to a pet exhibition, I wanted to pet a dog on the head when I got the permission, only for the dog to timidly let out a growl “Uuu…!”
“It’s because you’re scared of the dog that the dog is frightened of you, Mizuki. That’s why it started barking.”
Otou-san said after he saw this, and continued, “If you want to be liked, you have to like others first.”
“—Mizuki-chan!”
“Ah, it, it’s nothing.”
“Really?”
“Right, we should start cleaning.”
I remembered what happened when I tried to touch the dog, and turned my eyes away from the rabbit.
“You’re right. Then, everyone, be good kids and stay here.”
Yoshii-kun put the rabbits at a place where they won’t interfere with the cleaning and takes out the grass from their nest. During this time, I used the broom to sweep the floor.
“I’ll go change the water then. Mizuki-chan, please do the feeding.”
“Eh? Ah, okay.”
Yoshii-kun took the rabbit water pail and walked out of the house. I wanted to change the water because I was scared of them biting my hand when I feed them…
However, it could not be helped. I would still have to continue my job as a pet raising committee member, so I should get used to it earlier.
I put the grass and vegetables on the large plate, and got ready to put it in front of the rabbits.
“He, here…”
I timidly pushed the plate, and once the rabbits smelled it, they came scampering over to me
“Nu, nu♪”
They seemed to be humming as they ate.
Ahh…they look, so cute…
Its small mouth continued to nimble. I guess it was tasty as their ears and tails were twitching. The smallest one seemed to be having a hard time eating it though, as its food continued to slip outside, and its tilted face was rather dazed. It really looked adorable.
"Erm…there’s quite a lot that overflowed…”
I said these words as I was overly concerned that too much food overflowed.
However, the rabbit continued to look into the tray energetically.
“The, then, please excuse me…”
I said softly, and put the vegetables the rabbit tossed out onto the floor back onto the tray.
And then, that rabbit looked like it really wanted to eat a lot as it ate the vegetables in my hand.
“Wa…wa…”
Its unexpected action caused my body to stiffen up.
However, the rabbit continued to nibble without caring about me, and even started licking my hand, maybe because of the smell of vegetables on it.
“Hya.”
It was warm, and a little itchy.
I let out a cry, and the rabbit tilted its head at me in a mystified manner before turning to eat the food on the tray again.
The young rabbit happily twitched its ears and tail, and did not look scary at all, but cute. I started to have a feeling beside fear at this point.
Should I touch it a little…?
It is feeding now, so it should be alright to touch the back. I thought as I reached my hand to the rabbit’s back.
The child that was focused on eating did not show any signs of irritation after I touched it.
I felt a soft and fluffy feeling on my hand, together with a slight throbbing.
“Waa…”
This first touch on a rabbit felt a lot better than I expected, and I was engrossed as I continued stroking its back.
“It’s cute, isn’t it?”
“KYAH!?”
A voice suddenly came from behind, and I jumped up in shock.
“Ah, sorry, did I scare you?”
Yoshii-kun, who returned, looked at me in an apologetic manner.
It seemed I was not the only one shocked here—the rabbits seemed to be protesting or were simply panicking as they hopped around Yoshii-kun.
“Wa, WAH WAH!”
Yoshii-kun lost his balance trying to dodge them, and the water he was holding was poured down his head.
“Auu…looks like I have to go back again…”
Yoshii-kun took the water container and went out of the house again.
It was really funny to see the rabbits give the “How about that!” look as they watched him leave, and I could not help but laugh.
It has been past three weeks in the new class.
At this point, everyone was already used to this class and formed all sorts of small groups. For examples, the boys who like sports would group themselves together, or the girls who were more mature would group themselves together as well.
During break time, the girls would start talking about more mature stuff during break time inside the classroom.
“Akihisa-kun seems decent.”
“Yeah. He’s cute and athletic.”
“And he has a gentleness that the other boys don’t have~”
“Yeah yeah!”
The ones chatting happily belonged to the group of the very outstanding girl in class—Kanda-san. This Akihisa-kun they were talking about must definitely be the Yoshii Akihisa-kun who was doing pet caring work together with me.
It was just as they said. Yoshii-kun was very charming. His responses were as cute as a little animal’s reactions, he was always energetic, and unlike the other naughty boys who would play pranks, he was extremely gentle. Most importantly, he was always positive—he looked very dazzling to me as I got attracted to him.
“How about we attack him~?”
“Eh—? Really~?”
It’s too sneaky of you to run away like that--!”
Attack...as in, becoming his lover, is it?
That’s great... I did not have such frivolous thoughts of liking each other, but I too wanted to improve my relationship with Yoshii-kun...like calling him by his given name or something
However--
“I don’t think...I’m good...”
I could not help but sigh.
No matter what other people say, I’m not cute, I’m gloomy, fat, not athletic...
The more I thought about this, the more I could not stop sighing.
...Haa...
“I wonder what kind of girl Yoshii-kun likes...”
“Hm? What about me?”
“HYAAA!?”
I did not know when Yoshii-kun stood beside me, but he heard me muse to myself. Wha, what shall I do!? Did he hear everything!?
“Ah, it’s Akihisa-kun!”
“Akihisa-kun, raise your hand!”
“Hm? Okay.”
"Ahaha, you really did it~"
"Just like that Jirou I raised at home!"
"???"
It seemed that Yoshii-kun did not understand that he was being teased as he still had his hand raised up.
"Akihisa-kun, come over and talk~."
Kanda-san, who said that she wanted to go out with Yoshii-kun, waved at him.
While Kanda-san was trying to lure him over, Yoshii-kun answered,
"Sorry, but I'm looking for Mizuki-chan regarding something, so let's talk later--"
"Eh?"
I could not help but let out this voice. Looking for me regarding something? What is it?
"..."
Kanda-san gave me a sharp expression, probably because she felt that I got in her way even though I did not plan on doing so in the first place...
"Er, erm...is there anything you want from me?"
"Yes, well, I'm sorry about what I did to you before."
"Before?"
It might be explainable if it were the other boys, but Yoshii-kun probably did not do anything...
"I'm talking about the pet caring member thing. You got involved because I pulled you in, isn't it? You said that you didn't want to do it, Mizuki-chan, so I'm sorry about it."
“Ah…”
Speaking of which, I remember now.
I was not concerned about it in the first place. At that time, I was just bothered by the ‘very obscene’ line here.
“So here's something for you. It's very late, but it's a present as compensation."
Yoshii-kun handed a small package to me.
"What compensation?"
"Don't say that. Please accept it."
I wanted to refuse, but Yoshii-kun gave a troubled look.
"I, I'll accept it then..."
"Un."
I reached my hand out, and Yoshii-kun smiled happily. That smile showed so much happiness, and I could not help but be stunned by it.
"Er, erm, can I open it?"
"Yes, open it then."
I took note not to crush the things inside as I opened the packaging,
"Wah..."
There were cookies of all shapes and sizes inside.
"I did taste it beforehand, but just tell me if it doesn't taste nice."
Yoshii-kun's words caused me to doubt my ears for an instant.
Eh...? Taste...that means,
"Did you make it yourself, Yoshii-kun?"
"I did give it to onee-chan to taste, so it should be fine..."
Yoshii-kun said without much confidence. He's able to cook? Amazing! I did not know how to do anything at all.
Just when I was wondering whether I should learn cooking from Yoshii-kun, Kanda-san walked over and said,
"Looks good--Akihisa-kun, I want some cookies too ♪."
"Umm, sorry, I only made enough for Mizuki-chan."
"Fumm"
Kanda-san gave me a cold stare. Ah...it seemed that she was angry...
"You'll become fat if you eat cookies."
"Right~?"
"Ah, I should have been the pet caring member in the first place."
Kanda-san's friends said.
It's true that I'll get fat...but...
"...Erm, about that--"
KIN GONG KAN GONG
The end of the recess bell overpowered Yoshii-kun's words.
"Ah, it's time for PE next."
"Time to change."
Everyone in class walked out of the classroom. I should be going too.
"Thank you, Yoshii-kun. I'll try it."
"Ah, un. About the pet caring committee member thing, I'm really sorry." After thanking Yoshii-kun, I head off to the changing room too.
"We'll be playing dodgeball for today's PE lesson. Boys and girls, get into 4 groups of 4!"
Sensei said that we would be playing dodgeball, and the boys let out loud cheers happily. It seemed that the boys liked dodgeball, but I was not good at it...
We got into groups to decide on the teams, and then, the group I was in had too many people, probably because some people from other groups did not come over.
"Someone has to leave."
"That's right."
Kanda-san and the rest whispered as they stared at me...was it because they were angry at what happened during break time?
"Erm...I'll join another group then."
I raised my hand and said, and Kanda-san and the rest nodded in a satisfied manner after that.
"Is that so? Sorry then."
"Please."
"Okay."
It would be awkward to be in the same group as Kanda-san's group. This might be better. As I was thinking about that--
"Our team is lacking numbers here. Does anyone want to join us?"
I heard Yoshii-kun's voice. So his team is lacking players? It seemed that I really have quite the fate today. I'm a little happy...
I scampered over to Yoshii-kun and said,
"Yoshii-kun, we have too many players on our team here. Can I join your team?"
"Hm? Ah, Mizuki-chan."
And just when I was about to join Yoshii-kun's team,
"Wait, Plain-lov--Himeji-san. I should just step out."
Kanda-san, who came over out of nowhere, said this.
"Eh? But I..."
"So be it then. I'll come up and join Akihisa-kun's group."
It seemed that Kanda-san wanted to be in the same group as Yoshii-kun. But I wanted to be in the same group as Yoshii-kun too...
"??? So the one joining isn't Mizuki-chan, but Reika-chan?"
Yoshii-kun did not know who was joining as he looked at Kanda-san and me from time to time.
"Well..."
"Yes! Me! I want to join!"
Kanda-san forcefully pushed me aside as she stood in front of Yoshii-kun.
"But wasn't it supposed to be Mizuki-chan right from the beginning?"
"It's me! And--"
Kanda-san looked at me and said,
"--I'm more useful here than Himeji-san, right?"
Now that she said that, I had nothing to do.
It was just like what Kanda-san said. She's athletic, outgoing, and...unlike this fat me, she was pretty...
It could not be helped if I could not beat her out, I told myself.
"Then, I'll go back to my group--"
Before I could finish, Yoshii-kun said to Kanda-san,
"I hate it when people say it like that."
"Eh...?"
At that moment, Kanda-san was stunned. Yoshii-kun did not care as he said,
"Mizuki-chan, how about you join our team? Sorry, you can go back to your team, Reika-chan."
Yoshii-kun then raised my hand.
That means...Yoshii-kun chose me, did he...?
This unbelievable situation confused me.
In contrast, Kanda-san understood this situation earlier than I did--
"Wh, why...!?"
--And she raised her eyebrows while biting her lips angrily.
"...Don't get cocky there. You just earned Akihisa-kun's pity over there--Plain Lover-san."
--She glared at me and returned back.
Kanda-san's words caused me to feel extremely depressed after the happiness before this.
I was already used to people calling me this...but I did not want to have people calling me that in front of Yoshii-kun...
Concerned about Yoshii-kun's reaction, I turned over to look at his face tentatively.
"I don't like this..."
"...Eh...?"
And at that moment, I saw a different expression from usual on Yoshii-kun's face, startling me.
"Yoshii-kun...?"
"Hm? What is it?"
I called out to him, and he answered me like usual. Was it just my imagination...?
"Pl, please take care of me."
"Yeah, same here."
I lowered my head, and Yoshii-kun answered me similarly.
"Do your best, Mizuki-chan."
He looked very happy for some inexplicable reason. Normally, he would be showing a disgusted expression for choosing me instead of the very athletic Kanda-san...
And then, I realized something--
Does Yoshii-kun not know that I am bad at sports...?
"..."
The moment I thought about that, I felt a chill.
That, that's right! Yoshii-kun hasn't been in the same class as me up till now! Of course he doesn't know how bad I am at sports!
"Ah, waah..."
Wha, what should I do!? We cannot swap around here. If we lose because of me and Yoshii-kun hates me...!
...An, anyway, I should apologize first!
"Er, erm, Yoshii-kun."
"Speaking of which, Mizuki-chan."
"Actually, I'm really bad at sports--"
"About Reika-chan just now."
"I'll definitely pull everyone down--"
"Let's get rid of her first, shall we?"
".........Yes?"
These unexpected words caused me to let out an impromptu cry. Reika-chan...he was talking about Kanda-san...right?
"Well, get rid of her, as in...?"
"Ah, of course we're not going to fight. I'm talking about dodgeball."
"I know that!"
I could not help but raise my voice.
This is that Kanda-san we are dealing with here!? Her athleticism will not lose out to any of the boys. How do we eliminate her!?
As I panicked--
"I'll pass the ball to you. Throw at her as much as you want."
Yoshii-kun smiled as he said to me.
As I stared at this smiling face, I really could not say 'I can't do it'.
But if I did not say so...
"Yoshii-kun, I..."
Even if I get the ball, I would not be able to throw the ball strongly...
"Let's begin-- A group and B group, step onto the court!"
The teacher's voice rang. It seemed that Yoshii-kun's group was B group, so we were to step on the court right from the start.
"So that's how it is. Keep looking at me."
"Ah."
Yoshii-kun stepped onto the court without caring about my lack of confidence. What should I do...I have not told him that I am bad at sports...
"Then we'll choose courts through rock-paper-scissors."
The teacher said this, and the match began.
In that case, I could only do as what he said.
"Look at Yoshii-kun, look at Yoshii-kun, look..."
I continued to repeat these words and stared at Yoshii-kun seriously.
Right from the beginning, I just kept following what he said, and stared at him as if my life depended on it--
"...Amazing..."
And I was stunned as I looked at him.
He gently picked up the ball that was thrown at his feet and threw a sharp ball, hitting an opponent. As I thought about that, he created another opportunity for his teammate to pass. Yoshii-kun was dazzling, being so active on the field even if I did not want to see him.
"Here, Mizuki-chan."
"--Eh?"
My name was called, and I looked over, only to see the ball fly right at me. Ah! Is this the moment when Yoshii-kun said that he would pass the ball to me...!? I, I must catch it!
"Wa, wa!"
I panicked, and could not hold onto the ball properly.
Boing boing, the ball bounced gently into the opponent's court.
"Kukuku..."
Kanda-san smiled as she stood on the opposite court. It was my fault that the ball bounced off to that side...
"So, sorry!"
I lowered my head to Yoshii-kun. What was I doing...he already said that he would pass the ball to me...
However, Yoshii-kun did not mind about my miss,
"Don't worry. We'll soon get the ball back."
He smiled as he said that, and walked right to the opponent.
"Heyah!"
The ball was thrown at Yoshii-kun from close distance. If it were me, I would definitely be knocked out if such a fast ball flies right at me.
"Niheehee. Too bad."
Yoshii-kun easily caught the ball.
This time, the ball was on our side, and it was a chance as the opponent was right in front of us.
"Watch this. Right back at you!"
"Wa, waahh!? Danger!"
As Yoshii-kun got ready to throw, everyone on the other side scampered like spiders in front of him.
At this moment,
"Here, Mizuki-chan. Please."
He pretended to throw it out, but he actually threw the ball to me at a speed I could catch it.
"Wa..."
I barely managed to catch the ball, and standing right in front of me was Kanda-san, who thought that the ball definitely would not be thrown at me as she remained undefended--
"Go, Mizuki-chan!"
I heard Yoshii-kun's voice.
"Ye, yes."
I stared at Kanda-san, who looked really shocked, and threw the ball out with all I had.
The ball flew out, hitting Kanda-san on the foot, and landed on the floor.
""Ah...""
Kanda-san and my voice rang in unison.
It hit...? I, I hit Kanda-san...?
"Okay! Got it!"
The ball rebounded back after hitting Kanda-san, and a teammate picked it up.
"Aki-kun, over to you!"
"Alright!"
Yoshii-kun received the ball from the teammate's pass, and at that moment, hit the last remaining person.
"B team wins!"
The last player on the opposing side got hit, and the teacher declared the end of this match.
As everyone cheered, Yoshii-kun looked over at me.
"Here here, Mizuki-chan. Your hand."
"Eh? Eh? Like this?"
I reached my hand out while not understanding why,
"Nice job!"
Yoshii-kun said that as he high-fived my hand.
"Ah..."
The overlapping hands had a vague warmth within.
"Hey, Aki-kun! It's too sneaky of you to ask a girl for help like that!"
"Hehe! We win either way!"
Yoshii-kun's friends on the opposing teams said that, and Yoshii-kun ran out.
As I remained there, I spaced out as I clenched my hand that touched Yoshii-kun's hand.
"Listen to me, something really amazing happened today!"
Once homeroom meeting was over, we could return home.
I hurriedly packed my bag, and ran off to the rabbits' hut.
"I hit Kanda-san when we played dodgeball today!"
The three rabbits were the ones listening to me, and they gave me a "What's for mealtime?" look, but I was so excited that I did not notice and immediately hugged the smallest rabbit.
"And I was in the same group as Yoshii-kun. I worked with him!"
It was something that happened in the morning, but my excitement did not subside even after school.
To me, who normally ended up getting hit immediately and picking balls, what happened today was really memorable.
"Hmmm~, shall I write a diary entry today~?"
I was so happy as I rubbed the rabbit with my face.
The rabbit felt that my actions were weird at first, but after it understood that this was an expression of love, it licked my face.
Recently, I had been starting to understand what otou-san meant when he said that 'if you want to be loved, you have to love others first'. The rabbit I liked would respond to me affectionately in my clutches. As I was happy, I would come over even when it was not time for our duty.
"Well, Yoshii-kun's really amazing at dodgeball--"
As I wanted to continue, the rabbit looked behind me.
I followed its stare and saw Yoshii-kun walking right at me--for some reason, my heart raced somewhat.
"Then, that's all for now. Time to eat~"
The rabbits heard that there was food, and happily leaped over to my feet.
Yoshii-kun came near the house, taking care not to step on the rabbits as he opened the door and went in.
"You're here early, Mizuki-chan."
"U, yes, well...I want to see these children earlier."
I was not lying. I really wanted to see them earlier, but I will keep what I said before as a secret.
"I see. The rabbits sure are cute, aren't they?"
"Yes."
I was a little happy that I had the same thoughts as Yoshii-kun.
"Arre? Is this one male?"
"No. That's the mother. This one with the larger tail is the father."
Amongst the 3 rabbits, one of them was a 4-year-old father, one of them was a 3-year-old mother, and the one I liked was a young girl that was less than a year old.
"Then, this one?"
"This is the youngest girl."
The three rabbits really looked the same, but they had their unique traits. I was proud that I could distinguish them from each other just by their movements.
"Doesn't this one seem rather concerned about us? It has been tilting its head at us."
"That's its habit. It's cute, isn't it?"
"I see. So it's a trait. It's definitely cute . Arre?"
"What is it, Yoshii-kun?"
"Mizuki-chan, you have grass in your hair."
"Eh?"
Yoshii-kun said as he stared at me. There was grass on my hair? I think that child kicked it onto my hair when I cuddled it."
"Eh...is, is it still there?"
"Ahaha, it's on the other side. I'll help you take it off."
Yoshii-kun got close to me and reached his hand out.
His hand touched me. That was the hand that touched mine when we played dodgeball.
I realized this, and blushed as I froze.
"Okay, I took it off...Mizuki-chan?"
"FUAAH!?"
I let out a cry I did not expect. Wh, why!? Why is my face so hot?
"What is it? Are you feeling unwell?"
"It, it's nothing, nothing at all...!"
"??? You're very weird here, Mizuki-chan."
Yoshii-kun tilted his face as he saw my thoroughly blushing face.
At his feet, the one-year-old rabbit was tilting its head in the same direction.
"Good morning."
Yoshii-kun waved at me as he walked into the classroom.
"Good morning~ Aki-kun."
"Good morning. You're later than usual today."
"Un, well, onee-chan..."
"What? Did you do something to make her angry?"
Ever since we swapped seats in the past, my seat got further away from Yoshii-kun. We used to be able to greet each other when we were sitting close to each other...
At these kinds of moments, I would hate myself for thinking too much. Why can I not summon my courage? Someone like me is not cute, bad at sports, and if I have any good traits like being very positive...
"Good morning, Akihisa-kun. What is it? What happened?"
"Ah, Reika-chan. Good morning."
And the girl who was the complete opposite of me, pretty, outgoing, athletic--Kanda-san greeted Yoshii-kun.
"It's not really anything big here,"
"Yes yes--ahaha! Akihisa-kun, what is it?"
"Eh? What is it?"
"Your head! Behind you!"
"Eh?"
Yoshii-kun hurriedly looked behind, and found that there was a cute hair ribbon on the back of his head girls would wear.
"Ahaha! What is that, Aki-kun?"
"Aki-kun, you got pranked on!"
"You're cute, Akihisa-kun♪"
"Ah...! Onee-chan definitely did that."
Yoshii-kun reached behind his head to pull down the decoration. Everyone stared at him and laughed.
"Ah. That's so funny~"
"That's really funny there."
"I don't find it funny at all!"
"Ahaha, is that so?"
"Sorry sorry."
"But Aki-kun, why would onee-chan do that to you?"
"Well, I don't know about that, but onee-chan definitely did not look happy."
"That means you definitely did something again, Aki-kun."
"You can't think of anything?"
"Unn... she asked me 'what happened to the cookies you made?', and I said 'I gave it to a girl in class', and she wasn't happy about it..."
"Did onee-chan want to eat the cookies you made?"
"But onee-chan doesn't like sweet things..."
"That's not the problem. Onee-chan is really pitiful there..."
"I'm the one to be pitied here. I had salt water for breakfast this morning!"
"Salt water for breakfast? Ahaha, that's really amazing!"
"That's not funny at all! Who can live on with salt water alone!?"
"""AHAHAHAHAHA!!!"""
Laughter erupted at that moment.
It was always like this around Yoshii-kun. Everyone was happy, and Yoshii-kun smiled energetically as well.
That is great...he has so many things I do not have...
"Hm~? I wonder who Akihisa-kun made these cookies for that caused him to end up like this~"
Amidst the laughter, Kanda-san whispered as she glanced at me.
The rabbits continued to nibble grass in front of me.
During the pet caring time after school, I spent time alone with the rabbit.
I put the food that dropped out back inside the tray, and the female rabbit happily licked my hand. I could not help but give a grin at this moment.
"Good one, children."
I patted on the back of the rabbits that turned back to eat the food from the tray. The rabbit then tilted its head and gave a soft voice. Rabbits would make noises when they are happy or angry, and I only learned of that as a pet caring member.
At first, I wanted to quit the job of being a pet-pet raising member, but I really liked this job. Every day, I would look forward to duty time that occurred once every week. The rabbits were that cute, and...Yoshii-kun had duty as well.
However,
"Did Yoshii-kun forget about the duty today?"
I patted the rabbit on the back as I said. Today's duty is swapped over with another day because another class had to go to another school today, so Yoshii-kun probably forgot because of this.
"It's a pity..."
I whispered as I scratched it from behind the ears.
The rabbit probably felt good as it let out a soft voice.
After taking good care of them, I kept the cleaning equipment and closed the rabbit hut door.
"Bye bye. I'll come back."
I said my farewells and went back to the classroom to get the bag.
"...-chan, you find Kojima-san to be better?
"Ehh, but he often play pranks."
"I can't stand him either."
I returned to the classroom, and heard the voices from within. Most likely, there were still some people chatting in the classroom.
I opened the door and silently walked in.
As expected, the ones inside were my classmates--Kanda-san's group of 4 in the classroom.
"Reika-chan, so yours is?"
"Yes, Akihisa-kun."
"Ah, I understand!"
"He's so cool, right? Like during PE class."
"Right?"
I heard the name I was concerned with, and immediately looked over.
And my eyes met Kanda-san's as her group looked over at me.
"..."
Kanda-san narrowed her eyes as she smiled and asked,
"Hey, Plain Lover-san, who do you like most?"
"Ye, yes?"
This unexpected question caused me to panic.
"Do you have someone you like?"
"No, I, well, no..."
I did not really understand what it meant to like someone...and, I did not think that this kind of thing was to be said with others...
"What's the problem here? Tell me~"
"We want to know too."
"Yea, it's too sneaky if you don't tell us after hearing us~"
"Eve, even if you say so..."
I did not hear much, and I did not want to hear them in the first place...
Kanda-san said as she saw that I was unwilling to talk,
"Well, it's--nothing. If you don't have one, so be it."
"Eh?"
She let me off just like that? I thought she would pursue this further.
"I thought you would say Akihisa-kun, but it's great if that's not the case."
"Eh? What's the problem with that. You'll definitely win when compared to Plain Lover."
"Yeah~ you're skinny and cute, Reika-chan."
These words hurt me.
I did feel this way personally, but it was really sad to hear these words said right at me. I am fat, and not cute at all...
As I looked dejected, Kanda-san and the rest continued,
"We can't say that. Boys are kids after all. If you say so--"
"Ah, well, the other boys will move further away from him."
"It's pitiful that Akihisa-kun would be teased by other boys."
"Especially when he got involved with Plain Love, right?"
Ah...
The moment I heard the words Kanda-san's group said, I remembered.
It was true that those boys who talked to the girls would be teased. If that was what would happen when he talks to me, I wonder what will happen if he likes me...
"But does Akihisa-kun really like Plain Lover?"
"Hurry up and say it, you know?"
They asked me again.
I had doubtful feelings of not wanting to cause trouble for Yoshii-kun, felt embarrassed as I wanted to keep this secret, and also...I had a little pride in me.
These feelings intertwined with each other, and before I realized this, I cried out.
"I--I DON'T LIKE YOSHII-KUN AT ALL!"
I did not know why I just had to say it at that moment.
Even if it was just a few moments earlier or later, even if it was just a little softer
Then--
"Ah...erm...did I hear something I shouldn't have listened to...?"
And then, Yoshii-kun would not have heard it.
"A, Akihisa-kun? Why?"
"Haven't you returned back?"
"I remembered that I have pet caring duty, so I rushed back...but it looks like it's done. Sorry, Mizuki-chan."
Yoshii-kun lowered his head at me, but I was thoroughly confused--
"...!"
I took my bag from the table, and ran away from the classroom without looking back.
"Ah! Mizuki-chan!"
"Forget about it, Akihisa-kun. Don't bother with Plain Lover-san."
"Right right. Plain Lover-san doesn't like you anyway, so it's not like it matters anyway."
"Speaking of which, Akihisa-kun, can you talk with me for a short moment?"
"..."
"??? What is it, Akihisa-kun?"
"...Sure, I have something I want to say to you too, Reika-chan."
After that incident, I had been living through the days in a daze.
Because of that, I did not notice that everyone stopped calling me 'Plain Lover' from a certain point.
"What is it, Yuki-chan?"
Now, even my friends who often called me 'Mizuki-chan would call me Yuki-chan. I think it was derived from 'Mizuki-chan→Zuki-chan→Yuki-chan[16]
"Kanda-san and the rest started calling you that first."
And I could only get this answer when I asked about how this nickname came about.
Kanda-san's group; I started thinking more into this the moment I heard about this. Did they call me Yuki-chan because I looked as fat as a snowman, or...
"You don't look fine recently, Yuki-chan. What happened?"
"No, it's nothing."
My friends were worried, so I answered them with a smiling face. It was nothing in the first place.
"Then, I'll go for my pet caring duty then."
"Ah, okay. See you, Yuki-chan."
I bid farewell to my friends that were heading home, and ran off to the rabbit house.
I opened the rusted gate and went in. The rabbits came running over, seeing if it was me.
"Hello there. How are you feeling?"
I greeted the rabbits that were jumping around me. The rabbits seemed rather happy as they let out cries.
"I'll clean up now, so wait for the food, okay?"
I put the rabbits that were hopping around out of the hut one by one, cleaned up the inside of the hut, changed the water, the bedding grass, and finally, I served the food the rabbits were waiting so long for. They happily nibbled on it.
Normally, I would stroke them on the back...but today, I started to think mindlessly.
"I--I DON'T LIKE YOSHII-KUN AT ALL!"
These same words continued to repeat in my mind.
I really regretted it, and I was dejected over it.
I actually said that to the kind Yoshii-kun, and worst of all, he personally heard it...
He definitely hates me now.
Yoshii-kun was kind, and up till now, he had not shown it, but he definitely hates me in his heart. Anyone will be angry when someone like me says 'I don't like' with regards to them.
"I didn't expect that I would say such hurtful things to Yoshii-kun."
Before that, I would feel happy whenever he called me, but now, I keep avoiding his eyes. I could not do the pet-caring duty I normally looked forward to because I was admitted into hospital from time to time, and he had to do the pet-caring alone. Nowadays, I could not stand being alone with Yoshii-kun.
"Haa..."
There was a saying that happiness will slip away if I sighed. In that case, I suppose no happiness, no matter how small it is, will befall me in the end. I had been practically sighing whenever I breathed.
As I was feeling depressed, I felt a soft touch at my feet.
Conscious of this, I looked over, and saw a rabbit rubbing itself at my feet. It was the youngest girl that always had its head tilted.
"..."
I wordlessly squat down to pat her back, and the other rabbits, on seeing my reaction, tilted their heads and let out a cry 'Nu' before going back to nibble on their food.
Were they comforting me?
I thought as I stared at the rabbits that were eating, occasionally looking up at me.
"If you want to be loved, you have to love others first."
As what otou-san said, once I started loving the rabbits, the rabbits loved me back too.
However, in that case--
"I will be hated if I said that I do not like, I guess..."
This thought continued to swirl in my mind.
"I didn't want to say that in the first place..."
My vigor and happiness slipped out of my mouth with that sigh.
And it was two weeks later that I caught a fever and got admitted into hospital.
I suppose it was really true when they say that illnesses come from mind.
On a particular morning a week ago, I got up, found out that I had a fever, and took sick leave, but the fever just would not subside. The next day, I went to the hospital I often went to.
Right now, my fever has subsided somewhat, but since I still have to take many tests and treatment, therefore I continued to be hospitalized.
It seems that my body’s immunity system is slightly weaker. The doctor at the hospital did say ‘when you’re an adult, you don’t have to come to the hospital’.
I was already used to seeing this hospital room.
Inside this unpleasant pure white room, there was a large bed and a chair for guests to sit on. On the table beside the bed, there were flowers okaa-san put there, and there were also postcards my classmates wrote in when I was hospitalized.
“Get well soon, Kawai Nene”
“Let’s go out and play when you’re recovered! Yoshino Shinobu.”
“A lot of things happened. Sorry, please take care of yourself. Kanda Reika.”
Amongst everyone’s encouraging words, there was one line from Kanda-san.
Also—
“I’ll definitely go visit you—Yoshii Akihisa.”
Amongst the letters that were sent, there was Yoshii-kun’s message as well.
“…”
After seeing this, I wondered if Yoshii-kun bothered about the words I said about him, or rather, I wonder if he forgot all about it…
Or rather, maybe I can say that ‘Yoshii-kun never had any thoughts about me in the first place’. I may be just an afterthought to Yoshii-kun.
“As expected, someone cute and energetic like Kanda-san is better than me…”
In the past, she would give a few bad looks to me, but she would not do so recently. She even wrote an apology on the postcard and was worried about me.
“Kanda-san’s so good…and so energetic, athletic, cute, gentle…”
I cannot match her in every way.
Besides, I do not like myself at all. I hate the fact that I have no good points, and I hate that I keep hesitating like this.
I wonder what Yoshii-kun felt when I, an annoying person said that ‘I don’t like him’. Did he feel shocked, or…
“…”
The more I thought about that, the more worse I felt.
“Oh yes. I have to study…”
I brought the bag beside my bed over and laid out the studying materials in front of me. Since my body is feeling better, I have to work hard for the one weeks worth of lessons that I had missed. I want to catch up with everyone, even if it is only about studies…
There was no one else inside the ward room. I continued to do a maths assessment book[17] alone inside, and the ticking of the clock’s second hand just felt very loud.
And then, I found that I wrote a wrong answer.
“Ah…I filled in the wrong answer column…”
I accidentally wrote the answers I should have written on the left side on the right instead.
I looked back to see where the problem arose from, and found that I wrote the answer of the 4th question in the wrong column.
“Ahaha…this isn’t good…”
I erased the parts I wrote wrongly with an eraser and rewrote the answer again. And then, as I was rubbing away with my eraser, the page on the assessment book was torn as it let out an annoying sound.
“Really, I can’t do anything…”
Why is it that I am so useless no matter what I do? I am so gloomy, not cute, so weak, and cannot even do my maths well…
“Uu…uu…”
All sorts of feelings swelled in my heart, and tears came out from my eyes.
It was a good thing no one was looking, and I continued to cry as I did the questions.
On the next day, at 8pm.
Visiting time was over, and okaa-san got up to return home.
“Then, Mizuki-chan, I’ll come back to visit tomorrow.”
“Un, thank you for bringing the books here, okaa-san.”
I thanked okaa-san graciously for bringing books to me.
I often talked about how cute the rabbits at school were when I was at home, so okaa-san bought me a book called “How to raise Rabbits”. Maybe she will allow me to raise rabbits at home.
“Speaking of which, a boy was buying the same book when I bought this book. Is it a current trend to raise rabbits?”
Okaa-san said this before she returned back.
I will be happy if that is the case. The little rabbits are really cute.
“Your body is recovering nowadays, but don’t stay up overnight.”
“Okay~”
Okaa-san left these final reminders behind as she walked out of the hospital.
Left alone in the patient wardroom, I hurriedly reached over for the “How to raise Rabbits”. It will be great if there is a way to make rabbits happy written on it, so that I can try it out when I go to school.
On the books, there were basic things like “Important things for nurturing”, “things that they can’t eat”, and also more in-depth information like “how to play together” and “How not to be hated”.
“Eh…so rabbits like to dig holes...I didn’t know that.”
Even if there is no dirt, they like to play with things given to them like tissue paper.
I really wanted to try out all sorts of things with those children at school at this point.
I could not help but continue reading, and saw the chapter “Rabbit illnesses”.
“The symptoms might be rather severe by the time you find out that the rabbit is sick. You have to spot early symptoms.”
These words caused my heart to tense up. I never thought that those children could get sick.
“But everyone has had good appetite, and they were jumping around energetically. It should be alright, right…?”
The symptoms listed were similar to humans, like fever, loss of appetite, diarrhea, and those children never showed such symptoms.
“Thank goodness. Looks like they’re fine…”
I continued to read the symptoms that did not match, and patted my chest as I continued. The last line that was listed, however,
“Also, rabbits might suffer from an illness called ‘torticollis’.”
Torticollis, I have never heard of this illness before.
“Torticollis is a disease caused by a problem in the organ controlling the balance in rabbits. The main illnesses will involve inner ear and middle ear infection. On rare occasions, it might be caused by a parasite damaging the brain.”
Problem, illness, brain damage.
I could not help but hold my breath as I read the horrifying words laid out in front of me.
It is alright, they are still energetic, nothing will happen to them…
“The symptoms include unsteady walking, tripping, repeated tilting of the head, and so on.”
“Eh…?”
Tilting heads, now that it was mentioned, I remembered that youngest girl that was less than a year old .
“The illness will develop based on the body size, and sometimes, it might die in a short time.”
That child had been tilting its head repeatedly for a long time, towards the same direction over and over again.
“Once you find it tilting its head, you have to bring it to a specialist clinic.”
I had been in hospital for a week, and it had been 3 weeks ago ever since the last time I saw that child.
“Doesn't this one seem rather concerned about us? It has been tilting its head at us.”
“That's its trait. It's cute, isn't it?”
It was not a habit, it was sick…!
I felt angry at my stupidity. It was because I thought that I knew about everything, and I did not notice it back then…!
“The symptoms might be rather severe by the time you find out that the rabbit is sick. You have to spot early symptoms.”
I recalled the opening line in this chapter.
Problem, illness, brain damage—death.
It might be too late if I do not hurry up.
“That sort of thing is impossible…!”
I said these words that I did not actually managed to hear.
“The symptoms might be rather severe by the time you find out that the rabbit is sick.”
The words on the book caused me to feel more and more uneasy.
Unknowingly, I ran out from the wardroom to the school.
“…”
The school at night was so silent and dark, without a trace of life.
“How is that…possible…”
I collapsed on the floor in a limp manner as I looked into the rabbit house.
The father and mother rabbits were sleeping soundly. Slightly further away—that rabbit that was less than 1 year old was lying face up, not moving at all.
I did not know if it was because the illness developed quickly during these past few days as that child lay on a towel that was not too cold, acting as a bed. The hay on the tray were scattered apart for easy eating.
But the care showed by the pet raising committee members did not work at all, and this child slept silently without breathing.
“Why…! It was still energetic before this…!”
It was even prodding at my body, and comforted me when I felt down. It was just, 3 mere weeks ago…!
I did not have any faint hopes about whether it was just sleeping while facing upwards. I knew, without cuddling it, that it died in the middle of the night.
“Mizuki-chan…?”
As I was spacing out, someone called me by my name.
The owner of the voice was holding the book I just read.
“Yoshii…kun…”
Why is he here, why does he have that book?
I would have such doubts in the past, but at this point, I only had one thought.
—It was my fault.
The reason why this child died is because I did not notice it.
There were so many telltale signs before this, but I did not notice it even when it tilted its head. If I had checked through it carefully, if I had discovered it earlier, it could have been saved.
This child died because I was hospitalized.
If I had carried out my duty as a representative and told others about how it keeps tilting its head, maybe the vet might be able to save it.
Why is it that I just cannot do anything.
I have a weak body, I am gloomy, I am fat, not cute, and have very poor athleticism. I can even fill the answers wrong, and I could not realize that the rabbit I loved is feeling sick.
“Mizuki-chan, about the rabbit, sorry…”
Yoshii-kun said to me in a concerned manner.
It was the same for Yoshii-kun. He is so kind to such a person like me, and I even said ‘I don’t like him’ after all that had happened.
All sorts of annoying thoughts swirled in my mind—the one little friend that would comfort me at this moment can no longer move because of me.
“Mizuki-chan, are you alright…?”
The things I hate, the things that cause me anguish, and the things that cause me bitterness, the more I thought about this…
“I HAD ENOUGH!! EVERYTHING…EVERYTHING!!”
I yelled without thinking about anything and ran away from that place.
I did not remember how I ran.
Before I realized it, I was back at my hospital room when the lights were out, and I buried my face in the pillow, crying.
—Why is it that I cannot do anything?
—What am I doing wrong?
—Why is it that I am so useless?
This sudden sequence of events caused me to have negative thoughts.
—No matter what I do, someone like me will keep failing.
—Am I an existence that annoys people when I approach them?
—If that is really the case, am I going to be hated by everyone for the rest of my life?
I lost my little friend, and I could not stop hating myself as I cried for a rather long time. The nurse checking the room would probably feel annoyed about talking to me, so I covered the blanket over myself and continued to cry.
My throat hurt, and my tears were dry.
I lifted my head weakly, and saw that the hands on the clock pointed at 11.
“I should be sleeping now…”
I did not feel like sleeping, but I had to do this.
Okaa-san will be troubled if my body weakens even more after another late night. I don’t want okaa-san to hate me here…
“I don’t want to have any dreams tonight, whether they’re good or bad…”
I did not want to experience both the pain of the dream or the loneliness of waking up.
I closed my eyes that were swollen from the crying, slipped the blanket over myself again, and at this moment
“Hachoo!”
My ears suddenly heard this voice.
“Eh…?”
I dragged my sleeping body up and looked around.
This voice, did someone sneeze…?
Was it from the next room? But the walls were not so thin that a sneeze could be heard…
“Hachoo!”
As I thought about that, I heard that voice again.
The voice came from the large window facing the courtyard.
I, who was so tired from crying that I could not turn my head, did not want to think of anything as I got off the bed and pulled the curtain aside.
And then, I was shocked and made speechless by the scene outside the window.
“Wh…y…?”
There was a tall and large tree outside the window.
And Yoshii-kun’s body was shaking as he sat on a branch.
“Yoshii-kun!?”
I opened the window and called out to Yoshii-kun who was outside.
“Ah, Mizuki-chan, good evening.”
Yoshii-kun greeted me just like how he would greet me when I was on my way to school.
“Good evening isn’t the issue here! Why are you over there!?”
In contrast, I asked back in a thoroughly confused manner.
And then, Yoshii-kun stared at my face and said.
“Because you look really sad, Mizuki-chan.”
Eh…?
“Do you know? It’s better to be with someone else at this time.”
Yoshii-kun beamed as he looked like he was trying to encourage me. On the other hand, I was becoming more and more confused because I could not understand Yoshii-kun’s actions.
To be with someone else…so he’s been sitting on the tree outside so late at night, in such a cold weather, all for this!?
If he says that he wants to be together, would it not be meaningless to be outside without myself knowing in the first place!?
Why—
“Why must you do this!? You can just leave me alone!”
It is better to forget about someone like me who cannot do anything, who can only add onto other people’s troubles!
In response to my words, Yoshii-kun said with an incredulous look,
“Eh? Why must I leave you alone?”
Why? Why in…!
“Because of me! I said that I do not like you already, Yoshii-kun!? Did you not hear me say it that time!?”
“Yeah, I did hear it.”
“Then—!”
Then you would definitely hate me—
“But I do not mind about that. Onee-chan always said that I am not popular with girls, and also—”
Yoshii-kun kept his always smiling face as he continued,
“—Even if you don’t like me, Mizuki-chan, I do like you.”
At that moment, all the words that rushed to my mouth vanished.
Yoshii-kun’s ‘like’ and my ‘like’ were different. I knew that he was talking about the like between friends.
But even so—these words were already a big treasure I gained.
“Ah, that’s right. I got something I want to give you, Mizuki-chan.”
As I was at a loss of words, Yoshii-kun agilely used the branch to get to the window.
“Here, a get-well-soon gift.”
Yoshii-kun said as he pulled out something small from his pocket.
“…A rabbit, hairclip…?”
“Yeah.”
Yoshii-kun nodded.
“You might become very depressed about seeing rabbits, Mizuki-chan…but that kid definitely won’t wish for this.”
Yoshii-kun said as he was at arm’s length from me.
“So I hope you’ll continue to like rabbits for that kid’s sake, Mizuki-chan.”
And then, Yoshii-kun reached his hand out and put the rabbit hairclip onto my hair.
“Un. You look like a ‘Snow Rabbit’, Mizuki-chan, just like what everyone says.”[18]
Once again, he showed the smiling face I liked most.
After that, 7 years had passed.
I was in a different class from Akihisa-kun after we went on to fifth grade, and we never actually had the time to talk to each other after that—until our second year in high school.
“But a lot of things happened recently…”
A lot of things happened one after another, as if it was a make-up of all the lost time at one go. I did all sorts of various things with Akihisa-kun, and our relationship is now better than before.
“Principal-sensei[20] even talked about studying overseas…”
Really, so many things happened that I am all confused now.
“Hey, Akihisa-kun, what should I do…?”
I inadvertently let out a soft sound, and then—
—GACHAK
“Mizuki-chan, I’m going to wash the clothes. Is there anything you want to wash—”
“Hiyaaaaaaahhhh!?”
Okaa-san suddenly walked into the room. I, I thought my heart nearly stopped!
“Okaa-san! Didn’t I say to knock the door before entering the room?”
“Ah…sorry, okaa-san always forgets about this.”
“isn’t there a ‘knock please!’ sign hanging on the door?”
“Hmm…but okaa-san isn’t good at baseball[21], you know.”
“That’s not it, okaa-san!? This knock isn’t that kind of knock!”
Speaking of which, I only learnt this baseball-related knowledge recently.
“Then, Mizuki-chan, what were you thinking about?”
“Eh, well, that’s…”
Embarrassed, I turned my eyes away.
“In other words, you’re engrossed in your primary school life with Yoshii-kun—”
“Fueeh? How did you know?”
“You’re thinking that you should have switched the recorders secretly that time, right?”
“Ah, it’s okay, the latter half is all wrong—no, that’s not good at all, okaa-san!?”
“Ufufu, you’re asking me how I know? Of course I do, I’m your mother.”
“Stop! Don’t look like you guessed everything correctly! I never thought of doing that in the first place!”
I feel that okaa-san’s impression on me has changed ever since she saw the bolster. That…that, I just bought it out of convenience!
Okaa-san ignored my panicking self as she gave a steady look, continuing,
“I have only met him once, but Yoshii-kun is a good kid.”
“Ah, un. That’s right. He’s really kind, just like in primary school.”
“Yeah. He has become Mizuki-chan’s prince charming ever since then.”
“Do, don’t say that!”
Ever since she knew about this, okaa-san would occasionally tease me with this.
“But why has Yoshii-kun been so nice to you right from the beginning?”
“Eh?”
Okaa-san suddenly said.
Why? Because…he’s Akihisa-kun?
“Maybe Yoshii-kun likes Mizuki-chan in the first place?”
“How can that be? That’s impossible.”
I immediately denied okaa-san’s guess.
That is because there is nothing to like about me.
“Really? That might now be the case. Everyone has their own fated encounter, you know.”
Okaa-san continued to joke with me without knowing the truth. I said that it was impossible already.
“Okay, please go out. I’m thinking about something!”
“Okay okay, I understand.”
I pushed okaa-san by the back and nudged her out of the room.
“Fuu…really, okaa-san’s always like that…”
I closed the door and sighed hard.
“Akihisa-kun, huh…?”
Because of her, my mind was filled with this name.
I opened the drawer and took out something from within—
A rabbit hairclip.
The treasure I got when I was in primary school.
Akihisa-kun looked like he had forgotten that he was the one who handed me this gift, but I still remember it clearly.
At that moment, as I kept crying alone in that dark wardroom, Akihisa-kun said to me with a gentle voice, ‘So I hope you’ll continue to like rabbits’ and left this treasure in my hand.
I did not forget a single moment during this incident.
“Yes, I do like them…starting from that moment, until now…”
Akihisa-kun, I really love them; both the rabbits, and you.
Author Notes
I will like to thank you sincerely for picking up this book, I’m the author of this light novel, Inoue Kenji.
Unknowingly, the baka test series has reached the 15th volume. It has been 5 years and a half, and I really want to thank you, the readers, very much for following this series for a long time. Please continue to support me until the end of this series.
Speak of which, the interludes this time include the polling I got from the okamas I mentioned in the afterwords of the previous volume! Thank you very much for allowing me to make use of this, everyone. I’ll also like to express my apology for mentioning this story again…
And then, there were a lot of questions I asked, and everyone’s replies were really interesting. Everyone around me was telling, “This is really interesting! Let’s do this again next time.” I really never expected them to be so proficient at talking about such things. I am really curious as to how they managed to refine such outstanding talking skills here.
I had a lot of things I wanted to write, but due to the limited number of pages, I have to cut quiet a few things out from here in tears
Thus, this becomes a simple introduction for every single chapter. I am really sorry here.
“Me and Brother and the Mysterious Bolster”
How did I come up with this short story?
It seems that everyone has been asking me about this at one point. I am sorry, but I do not know where I got this inspiration from. I just wrote this chapter while thinking “They don’t have any underclassmen…” Kubo-kun’s little brother is one of those with the precious (relatively) common sense in this work. If he really enters Fumitzuki Academy, he will probably be playing the straight man so much until he starts getting ulcers in his stomach. I must definitely write about him properly if he does appear in the future.
“Me and Yuuji and the Dangerous Black Magic”
I always wanted to write a story about swapping around, and if I wanted to write it, I can probably write out a volume. To be honest, I really cut out a lot here. I originally wanted to include Ironman, Takahashi-sensei, Hazuki and so on in this story. It really is not easy for me to shorten this.
“Me and the Future and Summoned Beasts”
This is the series of the principal that comes in handy anytime and the summoned beasts. In the end, what I want to say is that “I just want to see the illustrations”. I do not have any second thoughts about this.
“Me (Watashi) and Usagi and My Ambiguous First Love”
Who are you!? This version of Akihisa appears, and to be honest, it might not be a reach to call it his heyday. What exactly caused him to end up like this…? The Yoshii couple probably argued a lot over how to education their children here. I personally wanted to let the high school version of Akira appear, but in that case, Mizuki’s presence in this story will have to be removed completely, and Akihisa’s chastity and morality will be doomed. Thus, I restrained myself here and chose to write about how Akira felt jealous that Akihisa was popular with the girls.
As I write on, the pages are coming to an end. I don’t have any space left to write, so I can only write some simple thanks here. I am really sorry about this.
To Haga-san, who is in charge of the illustrations, I am really left speechless by the cover page, beginning of the volume, and insert illustrations. With all these wonderful illustrations, I really want to have a look at Akira in high school!
K-sama in charge of editing. I really admire your attitude, and I was saved by your enthusiastic “I will think of a way!” positive thinking. Really, thank you very much.
I will also like to thank all the people involved in this work in all sorts of ways. I will continue to work hard in the future!
And finally, it is time for a synopsis of the next volume. The next volume is the last volume in this series. There is still a little left, and I will like to ask everyone to continue supporting me until the end!
Notes
- ↑ Again, Shouyu (醤油)= soy sauce
- ↑ Center field, Baseball term. The player is called a center fielder, and needs to cover a lot of ground here. Basically, this player covers the most area in the outfield on defense. In other words, Yoshimitsu assumes Akihisa to have a wide array of fetishes.
- ↑ In other words, wall kick and jump like those kungfu movies…
- ↑ Let go—放してhanashite, and tell me—話してhanashite. Basically, both are pronounced in the same way.
- ↑ Japanese pronouns mess again. Akihisa uses boku, Yuuji uses ore. I have a list of Japanese pronouns here, [1], and on a side note, I should start following the terminology guidelines, but it’s kinda too late, huh?
- ↑ 僕
- ↑ ウチ
- ↑ Furigana given is Can you repeat that again (もう一度お願いします)? Original text is in English
- ↑ Same joke from the first talking summoned beast chapter, 格差問題, kakusa mondai. sa mon=summon, the way the Japanese pronounce it.
- ↑ Text, when read together, goes, Akihisa mongen o yaburu明久,門限を破る
- ↑ This part is written from Akihisa's perspective. The pronoun 僕 is used in the 'within my heart' line.
- ↑ Space intended. There was a blank page.
- ↑ Now, the story starts from Mizuki's perspective. I (私) is used here.
- ↑ As noted in volume 5 question 4, if we take out the ‘Hime (姫)’ from Himeji Mizuki, we get 路瑞希 (ji-mizuki), which sounds like 地味好き (jimisuki), or plain lover.
- ↑ What the boy wanted to say was, いや, らしい, which would mean ‘no, it seems’ (literal) or 'it seems that she doesn’t want to do so'. Without the comma, いやらしい means ‘very obscene’
- ↑ ミズキちゃん to ズキちゃん to ユキちゃん
- ↑ To shut some people up for me supposedly not using Japanese RAWs, the original text gives it as drill, okay? ドリル. Now, how do you expect me to put it in
- ↑ The real meaning of the nickname 'yuki' given to Mizuki. I'm just going to treat everyone as idiots and say that yuki means snow.
- ↑ Space intended. A time skip of 7 years happens here, just like Fairy Tail.
- ↑ Don’t look at me here, Mizuki always adds them together
- ↑ Both knock and fungo (baseball drill) are written as ノック
