I Chose the Plain Girl Instead of the Class’s Top Three Beauties, and Somehow She Became the Heroine - 47

Chapter 47: Guided by His Hand

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《Hiroko Anno’s POV》

Mukei-kun had chosen me. I had truly been filled with anxiety, and I didn’t know if someone like me could do it. But I wanted to live up to the expectations Mulei-kun had placed on me. If I could take the place of my supportive classmates—Kiritani-san, Miura-san, and Hino-san… Then that would be enough.

But… I was scared.

“Let me do your makeup. I’ll make you look absolutely adorable.”

Miura-san encouraged me. The moment I removed my glasses in front of the mirror, the outlines of the world softened. I couldn’t even see my own face clearly. The classmates standing around me turned into particles of light, and I could no longer tell who was where. But the warmth of the hand holding mine was unmistakably real.

“All done! Perfect. Hiro-chan, you really are cute.”

My long, heavy black hair that had always hidden my face had been pinned back with a few extra clips so my face would show. Without my glasses, there was nothing left to hide behind. But Miura-san still said I was cute.

“Hey, Mukei-kun, how is she?”

Miura-san’s voice. That meant Mulei-kun was standing right in front of me.

“Anno-san, you’re very beautiful. I think you look great with glasses too, but your bare face is really beautiful.”

Mukei-kun whispered it softly into my ear so only I could hear. I felt my whole body heat up at once.

“Can you do it?”

“…Yes.”

Mukei-kun’s voice sounded calm, like a signal meant only for me. I felt the taped markers under my feet. One step left, one step right. He held my hand and guided me to my position. I closed my eyes and recalled it. Just like the measured stride we practiced behind the school building, I stepped into the “me” who belonged on stage.

The opening. The lights rose softly. The audience was dark and invisible, like a black ocean. The only thing I could see wasMukei-kun directly in front of me. It almost felt like the bench behind the school had been moved here just as it was.

“…Are you there?”

My first line slid smoothly through my throat. I was nervous, but the weight of the words didn’t scare me. They sat comfortably in my hands like the little stone I had rubbed a hundred times behind the school.

“Yes. I can hear your voice. But… I’m sorry. I can’t see. That’s why I can’t see what you look like.”

The voice of Mukei-kun, now the blind young man, lit up the blurry space around me. I followed that light and stopped exactly where I had decided. I brought my fingers together softly before my chest and matched my breathing.

“Here, two beats.”

His lips moved just slightly. A cue only I could read. I left two breaths of silence in the air, then released my next line. It felt like quiet letters were being printed on thin paper.

Scene One continued. I heard the rustle of costumes from offstage, the dry smell of the wooden floor, the heat from the lights. All of it pushed me forward. The presence of the audience rose slowly, and their breathing reached me in waves. Akira-kun entered. His lively voice brightened the whole stage.

“Young man, is that story true? All right, I’ll record it. It’s my job, after all. But where is this woman, anyway?”

Because I was a ghost, Takatou-kun couldn’t see me. His exaggerated, comedic gestures made the audience let out small laughs. Their laughter fell like a thin rain, softening the edges of the air. I placed a quiet “thank you” on top of it. Then I moved forward.

“Whoa!? I-I really heard a voice!”

Takatou-kun fell back in an exaggerated tumble.

“This is newsworthy!”

He ran offstage. Next, Okabe-kun entered as the knight who came to exorcise the ghost. The sweep of his cloak temporarily covered the floor markers near my feet. As planned, I stepped half a step back.

“Stand aside! I will destroy this mansion!”

Many classmates appeared as spectators, and Okabe-kun’s friends joined him as fellow knights attacking the mansion. Their voices hit the ceiling beams and bounced back. A murmur rippled through the audience. It wasn’t fear, just surprise. The stage felt bigger now, filled with momentum. I lifted my gaze to the height of Mukei-kun’s shoulder and dropped my line.

“Stop. This is my home.”

The moment I said it, something warm welled up inside my chest. It was the ghost’s line, but also my own. It was the line I had rephrased over and over behind the school. The one Mukei-kun had said, “That version is good.” And I had delivered it exactly like that.

A place for the two of us. The flow never faltered. Miura-san narrated, Takatou-kun made his remarks, Okabe-kun raised his sword. I saw the tip of his sword stop safely in the corner of my vision, exactly as rehearsed.

“It’s useless. This mansion won’t fall.”

Takatou-kun’s final line. The audience’s breathing synchronized. It was like hearing the sound of pages turning in the darkness. Maybe they were surprised by us.

The paper I held brushed against my finger, pulling me back into reality. I loosened the folded edge and caught the scent of paper. I lowered my voice by half a tone. This was where the ghost’s time thinned.

“I’m glad… I met you.”

I had practiced that line endlessly. If I pushed my voice too hard, it became stiff. Too soft, and it wouldn’t reach him. I aimed for the center, right in the middle of my breath. My voice traveled straight across the stage floor and stopped at Mukei-kun’s feet. I saw him nod. A cue.

I stepped forward. The sound of my shoe touching the marker echoed faintly in my ears. The lights brightened just a little. His face grew closer.

“I can’t see you. But… I like the presence you give off.”

The words spoken by the blind young man filled my heart. Without my glasses, I couldn’t see Mukei-kun’s face clearly. His outline was soft. But I wasn’t afraid, not of the distance we had counted over and over in rehearsals.

The angle of my neck. My breath. I closed my eyes. At this distance… We would kiss. My heart pounded. Then the stage darkened, bursting white behind my eyelids. The world dipped into silence, right before fading away completely. From the wings came the soft sound of someone catching their breath. Probably Miura-san.

The “It’s okay” she’d told me while doing my makeup was still warm on my back. Even the audience’s surprise washed toward me like a wave. I wasn’t scared. I stood tall against that wave. I had decided this was my place. Did we touch? Just lightly, briefly. The stage blacked out. In the silence, only the sound of my heartbeat grew loud.

Before the lights rose again, I stepped offstage. The markers on the floor pressed softly against my soles. The moment I entered the wing’s shadow, Mukei-kun gently wrapped his fingers around mine. Applause burst out, like a dark ocean suddenly turning bright.

“…I did it.”

My voice didn’t shake. It sounded like a voice I didn’t fully recognize. It was stronger, steadier. It was the voice I had earned with my own effort.

“Yeah. It was perfect.”

His reply came close and warm. I exhaled and reached for my glasses case. But I didn’t put them on. Not yet. I wanted to stay a little longer in this softened world. Even without seeing clearly, I could move forward, because I had decided that.

The curtain fell completely. The lights backstage felt brighter than usual. Footsteps, laughter, voices full of surprise.

“That was amazing.”

“Wow, you’re strong under pressure.”

“Anno-san is actually really pretty.”

“Hiro-chan did it!”

“Yeah. That was awesome.”

Girls and boys alike called out to me. Their words bounced around softly in the air behind the curtain. I curled my hand into a fist at my chest and opened it slowly. My fingertips trembled just a bit. I had been scared. But with every rehearsal I did with Mukei-kun, the fear had thinned. And today, I finally proved that to myself.

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