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 45: [Just Like Fate] the Animal Stalking Its Prey Never Imagines It’s the One Being Hunted

Private Horeiin Academy, old school building. The library.

A few years ago, right after the new school building went up, almost everyone—including the teachers—stopped coming to this side of campus.

It’s a combined middle and high school, so there were all kinds of rumors floating around: they were letting the middle school use the old building, or they were going to tear it down and build something new. But the truth was still unclear.

Even though the old building was buzzing with baseless gossip, one thing was certain: almost no one ever came here except the janitor.

In fact, this was my first time stepping foot in the place.

The library was quiet, but it wasn’t run-down or anything.

There was just a faint dusty smell. You could see plenty of signs that someone had been ventilating and cleaning it regularly.

“Hmm… it’s actually kept pretty nice in here.”

I muttered that to myself, acting like I was completely alone, while I looked around the surprisingly well-maintained library.

But then I heard a couple of soft giggles from some people who were definitely listening, and I couldn’t help letting out a sigh.

—Man, this is throwing me off…

It felt more like a fun group exploration than anything else. We were supposed to be tricking someone, yet all the tension was leaking right out of me.

—Agh, no no no. Get it together, Yoichi. They’re gonna show up any second now.

The western sun was pouring in, filling the quiet space with a really peaceful atmosphere, but the moment for the plan was getting closer and closer.

The person I was waiting for should be arriving pretty soon. I couldn’t greet them while I was this out of it.

I pulled myself together again and started browsing the bookshelves with practiced hands, like I did this all the time.

I made sure every movement looked completely natural—so that to anyone watching from outside, I’d just look like a regular book lover picking out an interesting title—

—Slide.

There it was.

The sound of the sliding door at the entrance echoed through the silent library.

I deliberately put on a surprised face and slowly turned my eyes toward the noise.

“…………”

Our eyes met in the most natural way possible. The person who had timed her entrance perfectly into the old building’s library was a girl wearing glasses, and she was also standing there frozen, looking stunned—just like I was.

A few seconds of silence followed.

Even though we both knew we were going to meet here, the atmosphere felt strangely romantic and ridiculously funny, like we had bumped into each other by pure fate.

Well, it couldn’t be helped. From her point of view, the guy standing in front of her was just ‘Yoichi Kirishima, who had no idea and just happened to run into her here by chance.’ If I didn’t at least pretend to be surprised, she might get suspicious of me, the actual target of the trap. Yeah, this whole situation was supposed to look like pure coincidence.

Still, the two of us were putting on such obvious fake performances that I almost burst out laughing—but right before my mouth could loosen up, I bit my tongue hard.

Using the pain to fix my expression, I moved the silent scene forward and nervously opened my mouth.

“U-Um…”

“Y-Yes!”

The moment I spoke, her shoulders jumped up with a little twitch.

I was impressed by how deep she was into her role. I kept going.

“You are…?”

“Um… I’m Kotone Sanwa… We’re, uh… in the same class, Kirishima-kun…”

“…! S-Sorry! We’re classmates! I’m really bad at remembering faces and names…”

While I said that, I gave an apologetic little shrug and tried to smile.

It’s true that I’m bad at remembering faces and names of people who don’t matter to me… but I already knew who she was. Nakamiya had told me her name ahead of time.

She was the assassin Ryuki had sent in to frame me. I could roughly guess why she was chosen, but no matter the reason, she was clearly my enemy at this stage.

When Kotone saw me grinning like an idiot, she let out a small relieved breath, softened her expression into a gentle smile, and spoke.

“N-No, it’s totally fine! I mean… I look plain, just like you’d expect, so… I don’t really stand out…”

“…? Really? You’ve got this calm vibe and I think you’re genuinely pretty, though…?”

“…Tch!”

—Hey, I just heard someone click their tongue, and it definitely wasn’t me or Kotone…

“R-Really…? Um, just now… did you hear something like a light tongue click…?”

“Ah, haha… sorry about that? Did you hear a weird noise? I’ve got this old bad habit of clicking my tongue sometimes! I really need to fix it~… hehe…”

—Those idiot heiresses… I don’t know which one did it, but I’m definitely yelling at them later!!

Just because they didn’t have any lines in this scene, they didn’t need to make their presence known like that. I didn’t want to drag them in because I knew they’d pull stupid stuff like this…

“S-So that’s what it was…?”

“Yeah! Yeah yeah!”

It was a really forced excuse, but since we’d never talked before, Kotone seemed half-suspicious yet willing to accept it.

I quickly changed the subject. With a slightly puzzled look still on her face, I asked a normal question in a bit of a hurry.

“By the way! Um… Sanwa-san, what brings you to a place like this…?”

“Oh, um… reading is my hobby, and I heard the old building’s library has way more books… What about you, Kirishima-kun? Why are you here?”

“Same for me! I love reading, so I come to this library all the time!!”

“You too, Kirishima-kun…? Hehe, that’s kind of surprising.”

“R-Really…? But I’m kinda happy~! I didn’t know someone with the same hobby was this close by!”

I said it with a big smile on my face.

In reality, the only “reading” I’d done lately was light novels, and I’d never once come to the old building’s library for books—but everything was exactly according to the script I’d given Nakamiya. I was just calmly reading the lines from the script I’d handed over.

Of course, Kotone, who thought this was my normal life, didn’t suspect a thing. She kept the conversation going with a happy little smile.

“I’m happy too… So you come to the old building’s library a lot?”

“Yeah. It’s quiet because no one’s around, and there are quite a few rare books that don’t circulate much.”

“Really…? Then maybe… you could tell me some of your recommendations.”

As she said that, Kotone naturally started moving away from the doorway where she’d been standing.

She gave one quick glance at the door she’d left open, then in less than a second her eyes returned to me and she closed the distance.

She pointed at a bookshelf right near the entrance—one that was easy to see from the well-ventilated doorway—and tilted her head with an awkward smile.

“Are there any recommendations… on this shelf?”

That’s what Kotone asked.

Of course there were. I had a specially prepared recommendation ready.

I gave a friendly little smile, deliberately stepped closer to that shelf, and said,

“This shelf right here. You’ve got good eyes, Sanwa-san. One of the most interesting books I’ve ever read… is right in here.”