I Got Dumped by My Childhood Friend Fiancée Who I Didn’t Even Like, I Thought I Could Finally Have a Peaceful School Life… But Then I Got Targeted by SS-Class Beautiful Young Ladies

Chapter 4: [Is Your Identity Revealed?] That Rumored Student… Is That You, Right?

When Charlotte said that, she had this super satisfied look on her face and was smiling wide.

Shiramine and Minase-senpai, who were watching from the side, both went “Ooooh” at the same time and started clapping for her…

“W-Wait, hold on… uh, wait a sec please…”

They were reacting like the whole conversation had wrapped up perfectly or something.

I slammed on the brakes hard—like stomping on an accelerator that had been crushed flat.

“Um… sorry. Just lemme sort this out in my head real quick…”

My brain was literally boiling from way too much info all at once. I tried to cool it down and think as calmly as possible.

Then I started prioritizing the questions I wanted to ask and lined them up one by one.

“So… the reason you guys kidnapped me is because… you got interested in me?”

“Yes.”

“And the result of that interest is me being handcuffed to a chair?”

“Yes.”

Instant answers. No hesitation at all. It was honestly kinda terrifying.

“…That’s not normally something you do to someone you’re interested in, right?”

“Is it not?”

“It really isn’t.”

When I said it firmly, Charlotte showed just a tiny moment of thinking, then tilted her head.

“But in terms of forcibly securing time with someone… isn’t this the most efficient way…?”

“It’s not about efficiency!!”

I couldn’t help raising my voice, and Minase-senpai—who seemed to have run out of patience—stepped in with a “There, there~”

“Yoichi〜, you’re overthinking the tiny details〜! If we didn’t do this, you’d just run away, right〜?”

“No, this is way beyond tiny details!”

Is there seriously no normal person with common sense here!?

I turned my eyes toward Shiramine, who seemed like she might still have at least a shred of sanity among the three, basically begging for help.

But nope, she was useless too. She just crossed her arms, nodded, and went,

“Yup yup, it’s all good in the end, right〜?”

“You’re skipping way too much of the process…”

I seriously didn’t even know where to start complaining anymore.

Since the conversation wasn’t going anywhere like this, I held back the headache from lack of oxygen and finally touched on the main point.

“…So, about the Polishing Research Society… was it? I wanna ask about that too, but first… why would a young lady from one of Japan’s four biggest conglomerates be interested in someone like me?”

“That’s a pretty snarky way to put it. You come from a pretty good family yourself.”

“Same to you, Charlotte-san. If you already know who I really am and you’re still saying that… guess I’m not exactly welcome here.”

The air in the room suddenly got super tense.

Charlotte narrowed her eyes at me just a little, let out a small sigh, and said,

“Fine, whatever. You wanted to know why I got interested in you… right? First, take a look at this.”

She raised her right hand and lightly snapped her fingers.

The moment that sound echoed through the room, the lights dimmed and a big projector appeared right in front of me.

On it was a huge photo of ‘Yoichi Kirishima’ along with a simple profile.

Charlotte stood in front of the projector, looked down at a stack of papers (no idea where she pulled those from), and started reading them out smoothly.

“Yoichi Kirishima, born in April, sixteen years old. The youngest child of the prestigious Kirishima family. In the same high school and same class as him are his fiancée Akari Tendo and the son of the branch family, Ryuki Kaga. No notable awards or academic achievements so far…”

Pretty much everything she said was correct. She’d probably dug into even more details super carefully.

“…You really looked into me a lot, huh.”

The polite speech slipped out unconsciously.

In the world me and these girls live in, digging into someone’s background is basically the same as showing hostility. Like baring your fangs.

Of course Charlotte knew that too. Was this just a declaration of war? Or was it the confidence of someone from a mega-wealthy family?

She completely ignored my casual tone and kept going.

“And the nickname you got is… Kirishima’s useless dog. Or… dropout. So far… that’s all correct, right?”

“For someone who says she’s interested in me, that’s a pretty harsh way to phrase it.”

“I’m just stating the facts based on what I’ve found out so far.”

If she knew this much in detail, it made even less sense why she’d pay any attention to me.

Was I just gonna be a toy for rich young ladies or something?

Well, if that’s what they’re planning… I’ll just crush that idea completely.

“So… that’s all correct, right?”

Charlotte asked again to confirm.

I gave her a small smirk at the corner of my mouth and said,

“Pretty much. But there’s just one thing that needs correcting.”

“Something that needs correcting? These are the materials I updated yesterday. There shouldn’t be—”

If you updated them yesterday, of course you wouldn’t know. This happened today… and just a few dozen minutes ago.

“You said I have a fiancée… right?”

“Y-Yeah… that’s been the case since way back—”

“—Today that fiancée dumped me. She got taken by the branch family guy you mentioned earlier—Ryuki Kaga.”

“Wha—!? N-NTR—!?”

Charlotte’s composed expression completely collapsed. She froze in shock, mouth open.

Behind me, Minase-senpai let out an “Eh!?” that sounded kinda happy, but I didn’t have the energy to react right now.

“The branch family stole the main family’s fiancée… N-NTR…!?”

“Yeah. She got taken.”

“D-Don’t say it so bluntly!!”

Her voice cracked as she said it.

She was this shaken just because Akari got taken…? Okay, yeah, I’m starting to get the picture.

“So yeah, that’s what happened. If you want a connection with the Tendo family, just talk to Akari directly. I’ve got nothing to do with it anymore.”

After saying that, I banged the chair to make noise, signaling to hurry up and take the handcuffs off.

But not just Charlotte in front of me—Minase-senpai and Shiramine didn’t move at all.

I started panicking, thinking they were gonna leave me like this, when Charlotte, who had been staring blankly, tilted her head cutely and went,

“…Huh? A connection with Tendo? …Me?”

Her eyes were basically screaming What are you even talking about?

If anything, the other two were holding their stomachs laughing.

“Is that… not it?”

“I feel like the one who wants the connection is them, if anything… but whatever. Like I said earlier, the only person I’m interested in is you. Just you, Yoichi Kirishima-kun.”

Looks like the conclusion I was so sure about was completely off the mark.

Feeling a little embarrassed, I brought up the question that had almost disappeared again.

“If Akari isn’t the goal… then why really…”

“Sigh… I was about to explain that, but you interrupted me, remember?”

“Y-Yeah… sorry…”

She turned toward me with a gentle “Okay~” and a soft smile.

She snapped her fingers again like before, and the projector switched to new material.

The big headline read: 『Weird Rumors』

“Do you know about this rumor, Kirishima-kun…?”

“This rumor…?”

“Yes. In our first-year grade… there’s one student who supposedly got perfect scores in every single subject on the entrance exam. An unprecedented thing…”

“…………”

“I’ll ask straight up. That rumored student… is you, right? The Kirishima family’s Jin’yō… Yoichi-kun?”