A Late Bloomer's Powerful Restart ~My Second Life Starts at a Prestigious School Where the Gender Ratio Is Totally Off, and for Some Reason, All These Talented Girls Get Attached to Me...!?~ - 17

Chapter 17: The Heroine in a Complicated Position

Since the personal match with Aoyagi was over, I really wanted to join the ball game quickly.

But first, I needed to moisten my completely dry throat.

I still had some energy left, but I wanted to be in the best possible condition.

If I showed something lame here, I might end up getting looked down on again.

――That was what I was thinking when I headed toward the water fountain.

“Um… would you like some water?”

A girl holding a plastic bottle in one hand called out to me.

For a moment, I doubted my eyes because I already knew who this girl was, one-sidedly.

“Thanks, Mishina-san.”

“You’re welcome.”

Mishina Amane… she was the girl who wanted to become an actress and whom I worked with as a stylist in the first loop.

Her appearance itself was top-class, yet she was a girl who somehow carried a faint air of loneliness around her.

I never imagined she would be enrolled at Teimon Academy, so when I first heard her name, I even wondered if it was the same person.

Somehow, she felt more reserved than she did back in the first loop… but it seemed her quiet attitude of trying to help someone in a small way hadn’t changed at all.

“You were watching earlier, weren’t you?”

“Yes. Since Kanaka-san was cheering for Kashiwado-kun, I…”

She had cheered so loudly and waved her hands so enthusiastically… yeah, I figured it would become a rumor.

“People were bragging about it like it was their own thing… so I got a little curious too.”

“…I see.”

Since she couldn’t be seen right now, she was probably going around spreading the word about my victory… again.

It looked like another wrong rumor was about to get exaggerated.

“Um… are you two dating?”

As expected, she had gotten a weird misunderstanding.

I was used to this kind of question from my previous life, so I didn’t get flustered.

“No way. We’ve only been enrolled for less than a week. You’ve got to be kidding.”

“R-right…!”

Mishina quickly glanced away and let out a relieved breath, her hand gently pressing against her chest.

Hm…? Somehow her reaction felt a little strange.

Right now, it felt like something she had been afraid of had disappeared and she was finally at ease.

I couldn’t think of any reason why I would be the cause… unless――

“――Who told you to come ask me?”

“Huh…? Um…”

“Don’t try to hide it. Girls love rumors, right? They probably told you to go ask me and find out, didn’t they? If you were personally curious, that’s fine, but if you’re just being used as an errand girl, that’s a different story.”

“N-no, no! …I was curious myself too.”

“…………Myself too…?”

When I pointed out her slip of the tongue, Mishina fell completely silent.

When I looked in the direction she had briefly glanced at, I could see several girls standing in the shadow of the school building.

They must have asked her to come check with me whether the rumor was true or not.

It would have been much faster to just ask Sasa directly. She’s not the type who can lie anyway.

…Well, I can understand why it would be hard to ask when they’re not even close friends.

No matter how friendly Sasa is, she’s still an heiress with enormous power.

So they probably chose this more natural way of approaching me.

Considering Mishina’s personality… and her current position, I had no choice but to accept it.

“Thanks for the water.”

“…Yeah!”

I urged her to hurry back and report, then parted ways with her.

I hope someone like Sasa will take care of Mishina’s problem.

That girl is sharp and would probably notice it right away and take action.

While hoping for that, I decided that if trouble ever actually happened, I would think of other ways to handle it.

As I quickly tried to head back to the guys, an unexpected person called out to me from behind.

“Taiki~ I saw you, you know? You were totally grinning from ear to ear~”

The voice belonged to Kagurazaka, who had somehow snuck up close without me noticing.

Yesterday she had been down after her part-time job got exposed, but it seemed she had already regained her usual energy.

More importantly, I was startled that she suddenly appeared like that.

When did she… this girl moves really fast.

“…You mean about Mishina?”

“Yup yup! I was watching from far away, but you looked totally smitten… like love at first sight or something?”

“It’s a misunderstanding. I told you I already have someone I like. This was our first meeting.”

“You never said you’ve actually talked to the person you like though, did you~…?”

Maybe because she’s close with Kano, her teasing has really leveled up.

I felt a wave of nostalgia and ended up being a bit softer with her… but I can’t talk about my previous life, so it’s hard to make excuses.

From the way she didn’t understand the situation, Kagurazaka was probably not one of the girls who sent Mishina over. The ones scared of Sasa are likely the recommendation students, and Kagurazaka, being a general admission student, probably doesn’t hang out with them.

Girls seem to be even stricter about that kind of thing than guys. Even with Sasa alone, it will probably take time to change things.

Making friends as a girl seems way harder than it is for us guys.

“So what’s the deal! Isn’t she actually your type~? She’s pretty cute, you know!”

“She’s not my type, but yeah, I agree she’s cute. With looks like that, she could probably become a talent, right?”

“Eh, that’s not the answer I was expecting at all…”

“I don’t know what you were imagining, but isn’t it obvious to think that way with that level of appearance? She might even be able to do gravure. By the way, Kagurazaka, you also seem like you’d be suited for gravure idol work.”

Since I was thinking that, if she aims to become an actress in this life, maybe I could help her somehow, I gave what I thought was a safe and normal answer.

For some reason, Kagurazaka gave me a stiff, awkward smile.

“Wow~ Isn’t that what they call being totally tactless? Saying ‘I want to see you in lots of revealing outfits’ straight to someone’s face is normal?”

“Don’t be ridiculous. I’m being serious.”

I mean, I didn’t say it that directly…!?

“Sigh, you really are completely tactless. Even if you think it, you don’t say it! This is Tsukimi’s serious advice.”

It seemed I had said something wrong again, and she got angry at me.

But since she called it advice… it also means she’s seriously trying to help with my love problems, right?

Still… honestly, I might not even understand what was wrong.

By the time I realized, Kagurazaka was already far away.

The way she ran off was actually pretty fast.