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 42.1: An Unexpected Encounter

◇◆◇＜Third-Person Perspective＞◇◆◇

Shika’s mornings usually started early… Even though she was something of a minor celebrity on the internet as a dedicated gamer, she was the type who made sure to get a solid amount of sleep.

That was one of the few rules her relatively indulgent parents actually enforced. So it had become a normal part of her routine—but today, for Shika alone, things felt a little different.

“Hehe, I can’t believe I forgot to set the alarm on my target clock… The excitement of going on an outing really is something!”

She woke up three whole hours later than usual.

The main reason was forgetting to set the alarm, but the real cause was simply that she had been so thrilled about today that she couldn’t fall asleep.

“But this won’t do… At this hour, it’s way too late to sneak out for a secret breakfast…”

Yes—the thing she had been looking forward to was going to the new fast-food place that had just opened in town.

If she went on a weekday, she wouldn’t make it back in time for morning homeroom. And on weekends during the day or at night, even as a Teimon Academy student, she would definitely draw attention if she went.

That was why Shika had decided the early morning on a weekend would be the perfect time… but she had failed.

“Plan… change.”

Instead of the fast-food place for lunch, she decided to try the Western-style sweets shop she had been curious about for a while. She stood up right away and started getting ready.

Since almost all the academy students lived in the dorms, sneaking out of the girls’ dorm without being seen was difficult.

If Shika ran into any of the girls from her own faction, they might tag along.

That was why she needed to move quickly at this hour when fewer people were around.

Her thinking was correct, and she reached the lounge without running into anyone.

The dorm buildings at Teimon Academy had shared lounge spaces for both the boys’ and girls’ sides, connecting from there to the campus convenience store and the central cafeteria.

In other words, the lounge was naturally close to the kitchen area. Since Shika hadn’t eaten breakfast yet, she stopped in her tracks.

(Just a little something to tide me over…)

The smell wafting from the kitchen made her feel hungry, so she decided to stop by the convenience store.

It was a spot students who had already finished breakfast in the cafeteria often visited, so she chose it without much thought and returned to the lounge.

Since it was still an hour when few people were around, she sat on the sofa, held a cup of plain hot water in one hand, and bit into her bread.

“…Nanamiya-san?”

Just then—someone called out to her from behind.

She had already braced herself for the possibility of running into someone, so Shika turned around without losing her composure… and there stood Amane Mishina.

“…!?”

The moment she recognized her, Shika’s fingers loosened around the cup she was holding, nearly dropping it.

Her hand trembled—that was how shocking it was to be spoken to by Amane Mishina.

The face in front of her looked exactly like the girl who had once been Shika’s closest friend.

Shika had tried so hard not to remember her, not to get involved, and had avoided her all this time—so why was she the one approaching now?

Without understanding, Shika took a sip of the hot water in her hand to calm herself down.

“Good morning… It’s unusual for you to speak to me, Mishina-san.”

“Ah… yes. Good morning. Um, there’s something I wanted to ask you, Nanamiya-san… Is now okay?”

While Shika kept up her cool act, she noticed that Amane seemed nervous too.

Thanks to Riko Morozumi, the girls in the same faction saw Shika as something almost sacred. Approaching her directly could be seen by the other girls as overstepping, and Amane seemed worried about that.

“It’s fine. What is it?”

Even though Amane was still in the process of fitting in with the faction, she was willing to take that risk to ask something. Strangely, Shika felt a spark of curiosity.

Then came an unexpected question.

“Was it you who helped me, Nanamiya-san?”

“…”

Shika had no memory of helping Amane. So the answer was no.

But she could guess what the question was really about… and it made replying difficult.

Looking back on the past few days, it was natural that Amane would have a clear question.

Someone had made Riko Morozumi apologize to her?

From Amane’s perspective, the person most likely to protect her would naturally be Shika. She knew about the connection between Shika and Amane’s twin sister, and there was no one else she had any real contact with.

“It wasn’t me. Someone else made Morozumi-san apologize.”

“…I see.”

Amane’s face showed clear disappointment.

Even though her face resembled Kasane’s, Shika felt their personalities were nothing alike.

Shika had already figured out that the person who helped her was Taiki. The timing made it the only possibility.

But… Shika hesitated to tell her the truth.

Right now, curiosity was winning over everything else.

“Why do you want to know? What are you planning to do once you find out?”

“I want to repay the favor…!”

The pure look in her eyes and the earnestness in her voice almost moved Shika’s heart.

It was clear she genuinely felt grateful and truly wanted to say thank you.