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 40.1: Just Like an Unaware Protagonist

◇◆◇ <Third-Person Perspective> ◇◆◇

“Sigh… After that, I completely lost any chance to talk to him.”

Shika, who had sneaked into the boys’ dormitory, let out a quiet sigh.

At first, she had planned to actively interact with Taiki in the classroom too.

But ever since it came out that he was connected to the Yashima family, things got too noticeable, and timid Shika just couldn’t bring herself to take the step.

(He said he’d entertain me, but I can’t forgive him… anymore.)

That was why she had decided to show up without an appointment after school today.

On her left finger she wore Rimona, and over her shoulder she carried a bag with her gaming console in her right hand.

(Sigh… When the thing with Rimona got exposed, I thought I pulled off the coolest final-boss move ever… but the protagonist-kun I had my eyes on has turned into a total popular guy…)

If there was anything the timid Shika could feel proud of about herself, it was being good at games and being good at acting.

Even when her secret maneuvering got found out, her heart had truly raced so hard she thought it might stop—her back had frozen solid—but she got through it with her practiced acting skills.

Thanks to mustering up that courage, she not only avoided being hated by Taiki, but she also started looking forward to interacting with him even more than before, now that he had accepted her true nature.

However, lately because of the CM thing, Taiki had been getting approached by lots of classmates after school too.

Shika had also enjoyed siccing the girls in her own clique on him for fun, but eventually she realized the situation had made it hard for her to talk to him herself.

Mistakes come with the game… Thinking that way, she refused to let something like this get her down.

Besides——

(Well, lately Sasa-chan has been really entertaining, so I’ll forgive him… Hehe, I never imagined she would make that kind of face.)

Remembering the new side of Sasa she had seen in the classroom, Shika’s face took on a dreamy, blissful expression.

The reason things hadn’t felt boring recently was all thanks to Sasa.

She had originally been close with the other girls in her clique, but lately everyone could clearly see how much more proactive she had become.

The reason Shika had even started paying attention to her own clique was because she was paying attention to Sasa.

(Sasa-chan is an amazing rival character… We overlap in type, and above all, that expression she makes when she looks at Kashiwado-kun… it’s unbearably sweet!)

Shika felt charmed by the lovestruck face Sasa showed… so much that it made her wonder if she herself had that kind of inclination.

That was exactly why Shika wanted to become Sasa. She wanted to copy similar moves and feel the same pounding excitement in her own chest that Sasa felt.

And that was the game Shika had set for herself right now.

Today Sasa was busy holding a salon gathering with the girls from the Kokonoe Group.

So Shika figured that today would be the perfect chance to be alone with Taiki.

“Jeez… I took too long to apologize, so he’s definitely mad at me, right?”

“…!?”

Shika had finally reached the area near Taiki’s dorm room, but the moment she caught sight of him coming out, she quickly hid.

From the mutter he let slip, it was clear he was heading somewhere.

And she found it interesting to think about who he might be going to apologize to.

She followed quietly behind him like a stalker, but eventually she stopped in her tracks.

For some reason, Taiki had left not just the boys’ dorm but the entire school grounds.

“…Suspicious.”

Including the way he clearly tried to sneak out, his behavior was strange.

But maybe that was exactly why… Shika’s chest heated up again.

Because——

(What are you hiding, Kashiwado-kun!? As expected, you’re amazing.)

She was convinced he was hiding some kind of secret.

Unfortunately, with the gaming console weighing down her right arm, Shika had to give up on continuing the tail.

Still, she wasn’t going to give up.

Nanamiya Shika would keep continuing—no matter how many times—until she cleared the game.

◇◆◇ <Taiki Perspective> ◇◆◇

After school, I headed to the Western sweets shop for the first time in a while.

Ever since the CM thing, reporters had been staking out outside the school grounds, so I hadn’t been able to go out properly for a while.

Because of that, I hadn’t had a chance to talk directly with Tsukimi.

In fact, even in the classroom it felt like she was somehow avoiding me… No, she would still talk to me, but it always felt a little off.

Of course, the reason was obvious.

“…Three raw doughnuts, please.”

“Order received.”

Her reply came out flat… and the way she looked at me felt somehow distant, like she was talking to a stranger.

I sat down in the quiet shop where barely any customers were around, and as usual Tsukimi sat across from me.

I couldn’t exactly tell her to do her job.

“You’re still mad, huh?”

“…Yeah, I guess. You’ve been pretending to be a commoner all this time. Poor Tsukimi must have looked like such an idiot for getting completely fooled, right…?”

“Sorry. There were circumstances.”

“If there weren’t, I wouldn’t forgive you!”

Saying that, she brought a doughnut right up to my mouth.

Remembering how things used to be, I went ahead and took a bite.

That was when I noticed her hand was trembling.

“…To be honest, Tsukimi was scared, you know? Wondering when you were going to spill about my part-time job.”

“I’d never spill it.”

“I thought… since we were both commoners, you were keeping quiet out of sympathy.”

“So that’s what it was.”