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...!?~

Chapter 20: You Have to Marry Me!

Something’s wrong. I definitely asked Kagurazaka for help.

So why did Kurumi show up instead?

I couldn’t just leave her standing alone in front of my room, so I invited her inside for now.

Sasa seemed a little embarrassed about being seen in such a messy state by someone else, so she quieted down a bit.

“Tsukimi told me something interesting, so I came to help. Here, this is Tsukimi’s spare…”

I already knew that Kurumi and Kagurazaka were close.

Still, even though she came in her place, the fact that the spare uniform she brought belonged to Kagurazaka bothered me. She could have just brought her own… but then I realized why that wouldn’t work.

Right… a uniform that fits Kurumi’s petite build would be way too small for Sasa.

“I’m feeling a very rude stare right now. Is that just my imagination?”

“No way. Thanks so much for coming.”

That’s exactly why having her here was actually a good thing. Because this savior really was sharp.

She had definitely already grasped the entire situation without needing any long explanation.

We didn’t have much time left.

I untied Sasa, handed her the clothes, and told her to change quickly.

Sasa was acting a little strange today, but thankfully she didn’t go as far as trying to change right there in front of us.

To let her fix her messy hair as well, I told her to use the bathroom.

While she was in there, I felt bad about keeping Kurumi waiting, so I served her some tea and asked her a question.

“By the way, Kurumi. Coming to the boys’ dorm this early in the morning—didn’t anyone stop you?”

“No? I just told them honestly that I was here to make use of Kashiwado because I have dirt on him… and they let me through.”

What the hell. So I’m being treated like an errand boy without even knowing it!?

Well, when it comes to excuses for entering the boys’ dorm, maybe something like that really was necessary…

“…You say ‘honestly,’ but you don’t actually have any dirt on me, do you?”

“No dirt…? Hmm. Just now, I got my hands on some really good dirt.”

She glanced toward the bathroom.

That was exactly the room where Sasa was changing right now.

…The fact that this situation had been seen by her was definitely solid blackmail material.

It was true that Sasa had slept over here, and even though I didn’t know whether Kurumi had proof, I had already sent the evidence straight to Kagurazaka.

“Hehe, for starters… how about you bark like a dog?”

“K-Kuun~”

“…Pfft.”

…This is humiliating. I was wrong to think Kurumi had a generous heart.

I’m really glad I moved Sasa to another room.

“Pff… Ahahahaha!!”

“You’re laughing way too hard.”

“But I seriously didn’t think you’d actually do it. Pfft… You should have a little more pride, you know?”

This was the first time I had seen Kurumi laugh like this.

I always thought she was the type who couldn’t laugh normally—like some kind of bloodless psychopath who only gave creepy smiles.

Maybe right now she was still just an ordinary first-year high school girl.

“I’m done changing!”

After that, while Kurumi drank her coffee and I quickly ate some toast for breakfast, Sasa came out of the bathroom.

She wasn’t wearing her usual ribbon, but for a girl, she had gotten ready pretty fast.

In my previous life, Misaka had made me wait about three times longer.

Well, she probably understood that we didn’t have time today.

“Okay, since I kept my promise and changed, shall we talk about what happens next?”

“What happens… next?”

Sasa sat down heavily right across from me.

I take it back… She clearly had no sense of urgency at all.

“I-It’s obvious, isn’t it? If you don’t marry me, then… I’ll have to stay single forever? It was my first time…”

Is she doing this on purpose!? Is she doing this on purpose…!?

Please don’t say things in front of Kurumi that are so easy to misunderstand.

No way that’s true… or so I thought, but in the first loop, she really had stayed single her whole life.

(Wait… Is that what this is…?)

I remembered something. Back then too, we had ended up in the same room… I had a memory of sleeping next to her when she was drunk.

There’s no way she seriously believed that and stayed single because of it… right?

“…W-We just slept in the same room! You’re making a big deal out of nothing…”

“Hehe… You really are pitiful. Or maybe I should be praising you since your partner is the young lady of the Kokonoe Group.”

I wish Kurumi would stop enjoying this and help resolve the situation instead.

Maybe my feelings got through, because she set down her mug and put on a serious expression.

“I feel bad for Kokonoe-san, but that’s not happening. I can’t allow it.”

“Why? Why do you get to decide, Kurumi?”

That’s what I wanted to know too. I had no idea why Kurumi’s permission mattered, but she was acting like my ally who wouldn’t let me be forced into anything.

“Because I need him to become a doctor.”

I still haven’t decided that…

And what does becoming a doctor have to do with taking responsibility anyway?

Was she just trying to bulldoze through this with sheer momentum?

Well, whatever—at this point, the small details don’t matter!

“First of all, Sasa and I slept separately. Of course, if we had actually slept together skin to skin, I wouldn’t hesitate to take responsibility, but that didn’t happen, right?”

“Hmm… But I’m pretty sure we did sleep together like that…”

Oh! Sasa’s certainty was starting to waver!

I could feel Kurumi watching with an amused “Hmm~” look… She probably hadn’t expected things to go as far as actually sharing a bed.

But right now, I didn’t care what kind of look she gave me.

If I pushed now, I could win! Sasa was surprisingly easy to sway… I was betting everything on that!

“I hate to say it myself, but I have terrible sleeping habits. Think about it, Sasa… If you really slept together with someone like me on that tiny sofa, wouldn’t you definitely have felt like you were being crushed?”

“Hmm… But if that happened, wouldn’t you have been underneath me, supporting me the whole time, Taiki? So maybe I just didn’t notice.”

No way! What kind of cyborg do you think I am!?

She might have way too many romantic fantasies about men.

“Kokonoe-san, think carefully. People sleep to recover… He was really tired yesterday, so it must have been hard for him to rest properly.”

“Y-Yeah, that makes sense!”

With that logical-sounding persuasion, even Sasa had to agree.

Amazing… As expected from the savior, she even protects the dreams of a dreamy girl.

“I’m sorry, Taiki… I can’t become your wife.”

“O-Okay…”

Why does it feel like I just got rejected?

Well, at least she seems to have dropped the weird obsession, so I’ll call this a win.

If Kagurazaka had come instead, she probably would have taken Sasa’s side out of sympathy.