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 43

Chapter 43: [The First Step of Zamaa] This Culture Is Just Way Too Beautiful!!

“Wh-What… the heck is this…?”

It had been about two weeks since the news got out that I was involved with the heiresses.

This stretch of time felt both long and short. I hadn’t been called in for any Polishing Research Society activities, so I’d been spending these strangely peaceful days not knowing when the next storm would hit. Well… school life was still way noisier than before, but the fact that it felt relatively calm to me probably meant my senses were already numb.

And then today. After school, I got a rare forced summons via carrier pigeon and headed up to the Polishing Research Society clubroom on the top floor of the school building—and now here I was.

I stood frozen in front of the open door, my brain completely shut down.

I mean, come on, you can’t blame me.

The scene spreading out in front of me was just too different from the Polishing Research Society clubroom in my memory.

Heavy wooden desks, high-quality leather sofas. Stylish bookshelves lined the walls, and every single little decoration had that divine, can’t-even-guess-the-price vibe.

To put it plainly, it used to be the kind of room you’d picture for royalty having a quiet chat.

So what the hell was this now?

Colorful cushions and blankets were scattered all over the sofa.

The table was covered with snack bags, teacups, an open manga volume, and several light novels.

Looking at the bookshelves along the wall, the gaps between the once-neatly arranged difficult-looking books were now crammed full of anime magazines and comics.

And above all, the huge monitor sitting proudly in the center of the room had an anime paused on screen—something I’d definitely seen before.

It was a total, bold-faced, perfect otaku room renovation.

And not some half-assed one-day job, either. The traces of serious invasion over just two short weeks screamed from every corner of the room.

“…Did I walk into the wrong room?”

I muttered it without thinking, then immediately shook my head.

The familiar heavy door. The familiar size. The familiar luxury furniture. No mistake—this was definitely the Polishing Research Society clubroom.

It was just that the inside had gone completely insane…

“Oh, there he is.”

While I stood there stunned in this once-familiar space, Azusa, who had been sprawled lazily on the sofa reading a manga, waved one hand at me with a flutter.

I slowly shifted my gaze toward her. Azusa looked up with a soft smile and said,

“It’s been a little while, hasn’t it, Yoichi-kun?”

“Uh… yeah. But it’s not really about how long it’s been… What is this? What happened to this room?”

“What do you mean? It’s the clubroom?”

“I can see that! Well, no I can’t!?”

I couldn’t help snapping back a bit sharply. This time, Charlotte, who had been buried in a big cushion on the sofa, gently lifted her face from the light novel she was hugging to her chest and said,

“Ah, Yoichi! We’ve been waiting for you!”

“Uh, yeah… I’m glad you were waiting, but first, can someone please explain the current situation…”

“…………Huh?”

“…………Hm? What kind of ‘huh’ is that?”

The vibe was like I was the one saying something weird. Please stop. Anyone would ask the same thing.

Charlotte just tilted her head cutely with pure confusion, still blinking at me.

While I was seriously bewildered by her, Rei-senpai, who had been elegantly relaxing on the single sofa by the window, closed her manga with a soft clap and looked my way.

Then, with a thoroughly amused expression, she shrugged her shoulders and said,

“Well… yeah, it was pretty sudden, so you must’ve been surprised, right?”

“Surprised doesn’t even cover it. What on earth happened here…?”

“It’s because of this! This thing you gave us, Yoichi! That’s why the clubroom ended up like this!”

“This…?”

Senpai held up the scrap of paper in her hand.

I frowned, not understanding, but it turned out to be the list of recommended anime I’d given to the three heiresses exactly two weeks ago—at the last club activity before the break.

At this point, I could already guess the punchline, and it left a strong bad taste in my mouth.

I guess I’d started to understand the personalities of these three mega-wealthy heiresses… or maybe I’d just slowly begun adjusting to this club…

“…………No way.”

“Yeah, exactly… no way.”

Azusa picked up on my muttered classic line and answered with a grin tugging at the corners of her mouth. Yeah, of course. I already knew.

Then Charlotte hugged the light novel tighter to her chest and nodded vigorously,

“The true culprit behind the clubroom renovation is you, Yoichi-kun!”

“Well, in a way, it is kinda Yoichi’s fault~”

Even Rei-senpai jumped in with that follow-up, looking oddly delighted…

I pressed my forehead without thinking and opened my mouth.

“Culprit…? I haven’t touched a single thing in this clubroom. Renovation is way out of line…”

I mean, sure. Sure, I gave it to them. I did give it.

But normally, you wouldn’t think a couple of weeks would turn it into a nuclear warhead that invades the room this hard.

—Wait, how deep into the swamp do you have to fall before a ridiculously lavish otaku room like this manifests at school?

“…Let me get this straight for a second.”

I said that as a preface, then looked at the three of them again.

“Senpai is into villainess stories.”

“Yeah. Those condemnation events? I really love them.”

“Azusa is into reincarnation stuff.”

“Yep. They’re easy to read, and it’s just satisfying when the protagonist powers up real quick.”

“And… Charlotte—”

“—It’s zamaa-type stuff!!”

For some reason, Charlotte answered with crazy enthusiasm, jumping in before I even finished. She must’ve been dying to say it—she declared it without waiting for my words.

—Seriously, hearing “zamaa” come out of a young lady’s mouth…

I felt an indescribable sense of wrongness and looked at the owner of those words with an expression I couldn’t even describe.

Thinking I was waiting for her to speak, Charlotte thrust the light novel with a zamaa title on it right toward me and said,

“Because!! This zamaa culture! It’s just way too beautiful!!”

***
Translator’s Note:
Zamaa (ざまぁ) is basically Japanese otaku slang for “serves you right” or “that’s what you get”—like a gleeful “karma’s a bitch” or “look at you now, you deserve this mess.”