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 24.1: Shika’s True Face

The rain didn’t stop. That meant neither of us had anywhere to run, and so we ended up meeting like this.

“Why do you know my name…”

“Ah, sorry… I’m from the same class. Kashiwado. Taiki Kashiwado.”

Since she might be on guard, I figured it was better to be honest.

That was what I believed, but her expression only grew darker.

Looking at Shika’s outfit, she probably didn’t want her classmates to know she was a gamer.

—I picked up on that and quickly took the initiative.

“Sorry. I was disguising myself because I didn’t want classmates to find out I come here. But from the way you’re acting, it seems you didn’t realize who I was anyway, so my tongue just slipped.”

“I see… That’s what happened. Then… you didn’t follow me here or anything like that—”

“Absolutely not! I mean, I was playing fighting games here for hours, and you were the one who challenged me later, right? Well… I did lose, though…”

“Oh, that’s right. And after that… I was the one who spoke to you first. So it really was just a coincidence.”

Maybe the misunderstanding cleared up, because I felt the tension in her ease a little.

…If this really was pure coincidence, then it might actually be something like fate. In truth, I had come here with the faint hope of maybe running into her after hearing about Kagurazaka. Now I felt a bit guilty.

Even so… so this was Shika’s private side.

In both my previous life and this one, I had only ever seen her in her school uniform, so this felt really fresh.

And honestly, looking straight at her, she was genuinely beautiful. I ended up getting self-conscious… and now it was my turn to speak too fast.

“Well, if you’re coming out to play from the dorm, this area is pretty much the only place nearby, right? Ah… of course, let’s keep this a secret between us. I’m the top student, so it’d be embarrassing for me too, and I don’t want to ruin your image, Nanamiya-san.”

It made sense for both of us to hold onto each other’s secrets here.

That way, there might be chances to interact again in the future.

It might seem a little calculated, but this was the one small step of courage I could take right now.

However, her concern seemed to lie somewhere else.

“…Um, you’re not going to call me by my first name?”

“That was… sorry. Your name has a pretty unusual reading, so it stuck in my mind. I just accidentally—”

What do you mean unusual reading…?

It’s way easier to read than Kurumi or Tsukimi, so what am I even saying…

It was a terrible excuse, but I couldn’t think of anything else.

She just tilted her head… Did I say something weird? I held my breath, but—

“…? So you’re not saying you heard about me from Chairman Yashima, right?”

“Huh…?”

An unexpected name came up.

Chairman Yashima… Why would Grandpa’s name come up here?

More than that, the fact that she mentioned that name to me meant—

“You knew I’m connected to Yashima Electronics!?”

That had to be it. Thinking about it carefully, her grandfather—the current President Nanamiya—had also attended the October meeting, so word could have reached her.

“Yes. The chairman has been really kind to me for a long time… even keeping it a secret from my family.”

—Huh?

Keeping it secret from her family… so it wasn’t through President Nanamiya?

It felt like a puzzle I thought I had put together was falling apart all over again.

If what she said was true, then there had already been a personal connection.

Why…? If that was the case, why hadn’t Grandpa told me anything…?

Well, I never asked, so maybe that’s why.

I never imagined the person I was looking for would have such a close connection.

“I didn’t hear anything about this from Grandpa.”

“I think he was probably keeping the promise he made with me. I asked him not to tell anyone. But… keeping it a secret even from his own grandson is pretty honorable, isn’t it?”

“Can I ask what kind of connection it is?”

Maybe because she was close to Grandpa, Shika spoke a bit more fluently at times… but at my question, she showed an awkward expression.

Was I not supposed to ask?

Still, I was curious, so I waited for her answer.

“Um… this.”

“…!? Is that… a game software?”

“Yes. I’ve loved Yashima Electronics games for a long time… I sent a direct contact email, and they said okay…! And after that—”

After that, Shika started talking very cheerfully.

It was true that Yashima Electronics had a game development division. They produced software sold worldwide, and its history wasn’t short at all.

I had assumed she came around here for the pre-opening junk food place. Even if only related parties could enter, there was still a chance of a soft opening for general customers or distributing invitation tickets.

But it looked like I was wrong.

Shika was really into fighting games, and if she was buying software at the game store, she might actually be quite the otaku.

…So that’s why, even in my previous life, she never showed any prejudice toward the things I talked about. Thinking about it now, it all made sense.

“Whenever they actually included one of my opinions in a game they developed, I was really, really happy—”

Wow, she talks a lot…!!

Once she started, she wouldn’t stop, telling me all kinds of things I hadn’t even asked about.