Chapter 5 – Getting Used to School for Now

“Good morning~ Nevada-kun.”

With that, I hurriedly made my way to school and greeted my classmates.

The fact that I still only had one person I could even call an acquaintance felt like some kind of defeat for me.

Today, Sabakutani-san’s outfit looked like a student uniform straight out of an eroge. It featured a colorful design covered in tons of ribbons.

There were way too many things to nitpick if it was supposed to be a standard school uniform. Then again, school uniforms in those visual novel gal games tend to have ridiculous designs anyway, and her outfit today fit right into that category.

“So, what happened with the Moon Shadow Goddess?”

“Who knows?”

“She seems kinda yandere, doesn’t she~? Personally, I wouldn’t recommend her.”

That said, there wasn’t exactly a choice to just not help her back there.

“I left home early today and kept my guard up so I wouldn’t get ambushed.”

“Even so, you’re still arriving pretty late, huh?”

“I was killing time reading a book at the station. It has a different kind of charm compared to school.”

“An intellectual guy reading at the station?”

“It’s got that chuunibyou vibe to it. Pretty youthful, right?”

“Nihah~ Yeah, true.”

“So, in Sabakutani-san’s opinion, is Akira dangerous?”

“……Muu.”

Even if she makes that displeased face, I don’t have any follow-up prepared on my end.

“You call the Moon Shadow Goddess ‘Akira’, so why am I still ‘Sabakutani-san’?”

“Should I just call you Eri then?”

“You get it, Nevada-kun~ Why don’t we just go ahead and start dating already? Even if we kiss during class, no one will say anything, you know?”

“We probably wouldn’t even get sent to student counseling if we had sex, either.”

“Then let’s do it.”

“Rejected.”

“Whyyy……”

“If a kid gets born or something, I’d feel sorry for the reincarnated soul.”

“Ah, so you’re the type to commit domestic violence once you have a family?”

“No, I’d treasure them, but there are personal reasons.”

“Reasons?”

“Well, let’s just leave it at that.”

It’s not really something to talk about anyway.

“More importantly, I need to work on breaking your curse somehow.”

“Eh? Why?”

Is she seriously asking that?

“It’s fine as is. For me, as long as Nevada-kun acknowledges me, that’s enough.”

“You’ll die from a stroke and no one will call an ambulance, you know?”

“I’ll just die then.”

She says it so casually~ However, that’s exactly why. Precisely because of that attitude, I was trying to warn Eri about her recklessness.

“Nevada-kun!”

Akira’s words pierced the classroom, slipping right into the tiny gap in our conversation.

Zawari. The room immediately stirred with noise.

Even I was at a loss for words for a moment. There stood a girl who was supposed to belong to the advanced class.

Tokoyami Akira.

The beautiful girl known as the Moon Shadow Goddess.

Of course, she recognized me, and she had spoken up at a moment when I wasn’t actively talking to Eri. Still, the resulting silence stretched out for an overwhelmingly long time.

“The Moon Shadow Goddess…”

“…The Moon Shadow Goddess.”

“Eh? Nevada-kun is…”

The entire class turned to look at me. Hey, even if you look, I don’t have anything to say back, okay?

“Nevada-kun! I love you so much!”

Without reading the atmosphere whatsoever, the Moon Shadow Goddess, Tokoyami Akira, locked me in a tight embrace.

She had an adorably lovey-dovey expression that made it completely obvious why she was called the cutest girl in our grade as she hugged me tight.

“Huh…? …Huuh…? …Huuuuuuhhh!?”

Of course, this made absolutely no sense to my classmates.

It had only been three days since I transferred in, yet a random mob character like me was openly receiving the affection of the Moon Shadow Goddess.

Even I found it absurd… or rather, I was actively finding it absurd right now.

“Hey. Get off me, Akira.”

“No waaay~ It’s Nevada-kun’s fault for coming to school so early. I need to replenish my Nevadanium.”

“Nevada-kun? What’s that about?”

Eri asked that question with an intensity that practically radiated a menacing gogogogo sound effect, looking like she had manifested a fierce guardian deity as her Stand.

“She fell for me.”

Since my conversations with Eri couldn’t be heard by anyone else, I figured it was fine to just say it.

“Nevada-ku~n. What should we do after school today? You’re a transfer student and all, so do you want to check out some clubs?”

“No, seriously, get off me, Akira.”

“You say that, but you’re just a shy boy, aren’t you, Nevada-kun?”

Originally, I was worrying about what to do regarding club activities anyway.

“As for me— Mngh!”

Just as I was about to say something, my lips were blocked.

Everyone was watching the scene unfold, but I was the only one fully cognizant of what had just happened.

I had been kissed.

By Eri. By Sabakutani Eri.

“Hey. You. Is it normal to drop that kind of explosive fuel right here?”

“It’s fine, it’s just a kiss. No one can recognize us anyway.”

That was true. Technically, a kiss with Eri didn’t even count as an event that actually happened in reality.

More importantly, the world was losing out big time by not being able to recognize Eri. She was a peerless beauty, easily cuter than Akira by a good seven lengths.

Only I, possessing the Rejection Vision Side-Seeing ability, could perceive her. And that was exactly why she had caught feelings for me.

“Even so, that doesn’t mean it’s okay to kiss.”

“It’s Nevada’s fault for being all dere-dere with Tokoyami-san.”

“Oh really~?”

“Nevada can kiss me too, you know.”

“Without any regard for time or place, huh?”

“I’m always welcome, anytime.”

And so, completely unaware that she was actively being NTR’d, Akira just continued to hug me.

“Hey. Nevada-kun. Let’s get all lovey-dovey.”

“We’re already doing that.”

“Let’s do it more. Let’s make it clear to everyone around who I belong to.”

“I don’t think your understanding is keeping up here.”

The Moon Shadow Goddess was acting entirely dere-dere toward me. The fact that the rest of the class seemed paralyzed by the shock of it all was already hard enough to deal with.

“So, Nevada, are you dating Tokoyami-san?”

“I know deep in my bones that this girl is a total landmine.”

Frankly, it was no joke.

“Nevada-kun. Wanna kiss or something?”

“I don’t.”

“Ah, I made a bento today. Let’s eat it together, okay?”

“So stop acting like my girlfriend when we’re not even dating.”

When I said that…

Mishii! Mekii! Bekii! The unmistakable sound of a pen snapping echoed out.

Apparently, my arrogant refusal to let her act like my girlfriend—despite being hugged by her—had angered her enough to crush the pen in her grip. I understood how she felt, but I still had absolutely zero intention of making this landmine of a girl my girlfriend.

“Of course we’ll eat the bento together. Oh, and after school is our club viewing date, right? I’ll show you around.”

And so, that was how things turned out.

As for how many times Eri kissed me in the meantime, well… I’ll keep that to myself.