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 30: Alert Mode

After school. I was hurrying back to the dorm when Kano called out to me this time.

“Can I talk to you for a second? Kashiwado.”

“…K-Kano…”

Just a few hours earlier, I’d been messing around in that silly conversation with the other guys.

With anyone else it might be fine, but today I couldn’t help feeling on guard around her.

“What’s wrong? In just a few seconds you blinked four times, your Adam’s apple is trembling, and your shoulders are moving unnaturally… You’re clearly rattled.”

Don’t act like a psychologist instead of a doctor!

Even as I thought that, I kept my usual smile in place.

Hold on a second… I’m definitely not making fun of her small build, and the ones who said that stuff were anonymous guys anyway. I’ve got no reason to get scolded by Kano.

So why can’t I stop breaking out in cold sweat?

“No, it’s just rare for you to be the one calling out to me, that’s all.”

“It sounded like you were thinking something rude… but I see.”

“So, what’s up?”

I didn’t feel like I’d cleared her suspicions at all, but I forced the conversation back on track.

“I was going to ask if something happened between you and Nanamiya-san.”

“By the way… why do you ask?”

“Because she was watching you. And her gaze was all sneaky.”

Sneaky gaze? What does that even mean?

Anyway, that’s what caught her attention…

From her perspective, she probably figured I’d be the easiest person to ask.

I’d been worried she somehow overheard the guys’ conversation… I let out a quiet breath of relief.

“I wouldn’t say we have zero interaction, but it’s a bit of a private relationship.”

“Then that’s fine.”

—Huh? That’s it?

She didn’t press any further, and her quick, simple answer left me confused.

“She’s also connected to the rumored Mishina-san. That’s why I thought I should give you—a potential assistant candidate—a heads-up.”

I haven’t decided to become a doctor yet.

More importantly, I’m already planning to get involved with Mishina’s issue, so a warning like that doesn’t really help.

“I figured you’d hesitate. But Mishina-san’s problem is something she’s choosing for herself right now.”

I already knew that.

If someone said helping her was just my ego, I wouldn’t have any comeback.

But that’s still my choice.

“…………”

“Of course… if it starts to ‘spread’ to other students, that’s a different story. If someone lays a hand on Tsukimi, even I might step in myself. You can’t afford to have tunnel vision.”

I see. So she’s not exactly approving.

She’s just respecting Mishina’s own choice… I can understand Kano’s way of thinking.

The only real difference between my view and hers boils down to the fact that in the first loop, I actually had a connection with Mishina.

Even so, I—

After that, I headed to the Western sweets shop.

Maybe Kano’s real warning was “don’t drag Tsukimi into this.”

But I’d already contacted her last night to ask for help gathering information.

At least just hearing her out once shouldn’t be risky.

“One Mont Blanc, please.”

“You really like Mont Blanc~… Nothing else?”

“It’s the taste of autumn, you can enjoy it spring, summer, fall, and winter.”

The sweets she makes are incredible… Even Kano wants to protect them, so she must have real talent as a confectioner.

But Tsukimi is also great at gathering information. That’s why I ended up relying on her.

“Sorry for throwing the request at you so suddenly last night.”

I remembered how she’d insisted before that this place was a sweets shop, not a snack bar, and felt bad.

But the moment she saw how serious my face was, she answered seriously too.

“Well, you’ve been helping me study all this time, so I owe you~ Plus pretending to be a spy was actually kinda fun… I’ll be your accomplice.”

“Thanks. Honestly, it’s reassuring.”

“—Though Kurumi-chan totally noticed.”

“That one’s an exception.”

I’d figured it was something like that.

That Kano… mentioning Shika so much—was she trying to scare me?

Well, maybe it’s impossible to fully understand a once-in-a-generation genius like her.

“For now… I figured out why Morozumi-san has it out for Mishina-chan.”

“As expected. Tell me.”

“So apparently, a long time ago, she and Nanamiya-san were childhood friends? But since there’s no mention from Nanamiya-san’s side, it’s only one-sided info—”

Another new piece of information. But since she already knew about Shika’s timid true nature, the story probably has a good chance of being true.

Still, from Shika’s perspective, she probably doesn’t see it that way at all.

If they really had that kind of relationship, Shika would likely have gone to Morozumi for help herself.

“Then one day, Mishina-chan’s older sister showed up and stole Nanamiya-san’s best-friend spot. That seems to be where the jealousy came from.”

“…And why did that anger turn toward the younger sister?”

“Probably because the younger one looked weaker, so she made the perfect target? I couldn’t really figure out why Mishina-chan keeps her mouth shut, though.”

Yeah… that sounds about right.

In the end, to get the full picture, we need to know what happened to Mishina Hana Saion.

The only ones who can probably reach the truth are me or Shika.

But I can’t let Shika walk down such a dangerous path, so in the end I’ll have to be the one who moves. Sorry to Kano for giving me the warning anyway.

Right now, the easiest way to resolve this is to warn Morozumi and her group to leave Mishina alone.

But I don’t have any strong motivation in this life to go that far to protect Mishina, and the effect would probably be weak anyway.

“Anyway, it wasn’t exactly a feel-good story. She can’t say anything to the actual person, but the moment a weaker little sister enrolls, she starts attacking? That’s just childish.”

Tsukimi is well-informed, so she knows all about the Nanamiya faction, the Kanaka faction, and everything else, but she still seems to have strong feelings about how the recommendation-track students are treated.

Those girls, including Morozumi, are desperate to protect their position… To me it just feels like typical social behavior, but from the pure perspective of a commoner, it’s naturally disappointing.

“And… this is kind of hard to say, but”

“Yeah? More info?”

“Um, well… about Sasa-chan…”

“Sasa? …She hasn’t gotten involved, has she!?”

Yesterday, Sasa heard the conversation between me and Shika.

If she sensed something was up and started taking action… that would put her in danger.

“No. Actually, it seems she’s been quietly asking around for a while now… When Tsukimi asked people, they all said Sasa-chan had already come asking before.”

“Huh…”

So Sasa had already been trying to get involved with this matter even earlier…?

The conversation took an unexpected turn.

No, actually, it’s not that unexpected.

At first… I’d even thought it would be great if Sasa could solve the Mishina issue herself.

Her actions as a pure-hearted good person were pretty predictable.

Suddenly, I remembered what happened when I mentioned Mishina in front of Shika before.

Back then… Sasa’s reaction had been strange.

She had that look like she wanted to ask something too. If she’d already been moving behind the scenes… that expression makes sense now.

…Maybe the one who witnessed what happened in the flower bed was Sasa.

(This is my fault…)

I might have been way too optimistic.

No matter how powerful the Kanaka Group is, the other side is completely opposed.

And Morozumi doesn’t seem like the type to choose her methods carefully.

In Sasa’s case, it’s hard to imagine she’d take into account the reason Mishina keeps quiet.

So she’d probably gather evidence first and then get the teachers involved.

—And if that gets found out by Morozumi…?

That woman is out of her mind with personal grudges. She’s not afraid of Shika… If the target is Sasa, she wouldn’t hold back—she might even lose it completely and do something unpredictable.

I’ve got a bad feeling.

Looking back now… wasn’t the “spread” Kano was warning about exactly this—getting Tsukimi involved?

I’m an idiot… There’s no way she’d give me a pointless warning.

I should’ve listened more carefully to the words of the future savior.

When I picked up my phone, there was a notification from Sasa.

She said she’d come to my room after dinner.

All that nagging about contacting me first had paid off.

When I get back… I need to talk to her directly.