I Just Wanted a Peaceful Life After Transferring, but I Fell into a Rom-Com Trap and a Hidden Battlefield No One Knows About - Chapter 04: The Moment I Felt Completely Doomed (Or So I Thought), Tsunekawa Momiji Saved Me

Chapter 04: The Moment I Felt Completely Doomed (Or So I Thought), Tsunekawa Momiji Saved Me

Because I missed my stop and got off at the wrong station, I was already late by the time I arrived at school. As punishment, Sasaki-sensei made me stand for the entire morning.

Enduring that agony, I somehow made it through the morning. But the punishment wasn’t over yet—the real hell was just about to begin…

A reflection essay… What the hell am I gonna do!?

Lunch break is only an hour long. There’s no way I can finish writing a whole reflection essay in that time! I’m completely screwed!

I mean, I’ve never written a reflection essay in my life! How am I supposed to suddenly write one just because they tell me to!?

And to top it off, there’s a word count requirement? A minimum of 500 words!? There’s no way I can pull that off!

Just as I was agonizing over this, a voice called out from behind me.

“Misaki-kun.”

This voice… I recognize it. Tsunekawa?

I lifted my head and turned around. Sure enough, Tsunekawa was standing right behind me to my right. Of course, it’s her.

“Tsunekawa-san? What’s up?”

“Have you started writing your reflection essay yet?”

“No… I’m stuck. I have no idea how to write it…”

“If you want, I could write it for you instead?”

…Huh? Write it for me? Seriously? Why?

“You’d really write it… for me?”

“Yeah. Well, think of it as an apology.”

“…Huh?”

An apology? For what? I’m not mad or anything.

“Ayana was a little rude this morning, so I hope you won’t hold it against her.”

“Oh, that…”

To be honest, I wasn’t bothered by it at all. Whether she was rude or not doesn’t really matter to me. If she hadn’t mentioned it, I wouldn’t have even considered it rude.

“Yeah. So, as an apology, I’ll write your reflection essay for you.”

Tsunekawa’s eyes shone with sincerity and determination. It seemed like she was seriously trying to make amends on behalf of Satohama.

But what do I even do in this situation?

I wasn’t even upset to begin with, but since she’s going this far, turning her down would just feel awkward.

Besides, the reason I was late was entirely my own fault for getting off at the wrong station.

Sure, I wanted to get out of that situation, but if I had realized I was at the wrong stop, I probably would’ve just switched to another car and left it at that.

Like she said, “Satohama’s the reason I was late,” but honestly, that’s just blaming her for no reason. If anything, Satohama helped me by dealing with those delinquents on the train. That alone was more than enough repayment.

As I was lost in thought, Tsunekawa had already placed a sheet of paper on my desk.

It was completely filled with neatly written words.

“I already wrote it earlier. I’m not that great at Japanese, so if you don’t like it, feel free to revise it yourself.”

Saying that, she slid the paper towards me with her palm.

…There’s no time.

Honestly, I had no intention of accepting the reflection essay, but with time running out, I didn’t have the luxury of debating anymore.

A part of me screamed, “I hate owing people favors!” But even stronger than that was my fear of Sasaki-sensei.

At this point, Sasaki-sensei’s presence had become a deeply ingrained trauma in my mind.

I forcibly controlled my hand, which almost moved to reject it multiple times, and took Tsunekawa’s reflection paper.

As I carefully read through it—there wasn’t a single typo, the handwriting was beautiful, and the content flowed smoothly.

Hold on. Didn’t she just say, “I’m not that great at Japanese?” This is way too good!

Now that I think about it, the Friday of the week I transferred in, we had a Japanese test. If I remember right, Tsunekawa got the top score in the class.

I even heard other classmates saying stuff like, “She’s ridiculously strong at it.” Even if that was an exaggeration, the fact that people talked about her like that means she must be seriously skilled.

And she says, “I’m not that great?” Come on, if that’s the case, I wouldn’t even stand a chance against a baby!

“This is really well-written. Way better than I expected.”

“R-Really? Thanks!”

When I praised her, Tsunekawa lifted the corners of her mouth slightly, looking somewhat proud of herself.

“Alright, I’ll submit this to the teacher just like this.”

“Yeah!”

With Tsunekawa’s approval, I grabbed the reflection essay and dashed out of the classroom, sprinting full speed down the hallway towards the staff room.

But just as I was running down the stairs—I unexpectedly ran into Satohama.

We weren’t exactly close, but after this morning’s incident, we had interacted at least a little, so my body reacted on instinct.

Wait, hold on—STOP! STOP!

Oh no!

By the time I realized it, it was already too late. Since I was running at full speed, I couldn’t fight against my own momentum.

The moment I saw Satohama and hesitated for just a split second—

I fell.

With the paper in hand, I tumbled down the stairs!

And not just a little—I slid down them so smoothly, it was like going down a playground slide at full speed!

“Owww!!”

Damn it… Today is the worst!

Nothing is going right. As I tumbled down, the only word that kept running through my mind was “worst.”

“Ehh?! N-Nagisa-chan?! Are you okay?”

Satohama rushed over immediately, checking my condition as she helped me up from the ground. She even carefully dusted off the dirt on my clothes.

…Wait, hold on! Just now, didn’t she call me “Nagisa-chan”?!

Isn’t that weird? I mean, we haven’t even had a proper conversation before! We’re not even acquaintances, and yet she suddenly calls me something so familiar…

No, no, now’s not the time to be nitpicking that. More importantly—ouch! My whole body feels like it’s been broken! The pain is unreal!

“O-Owww…”

“Why were you in such a hurry?”

“I have to turn in my reflection paper! I’m going ahead!”

Even though my legs were wobbly from the pain, the sheer terror of Sasaki-sensei outweighed any injury.

So, I just gave Satohama a quick response and dashed toward the staff room at full speed.

I had no idea what she did afterward, nor did I care.

After all, the extent of our relationship was just being “students from the same school who’ve seen each other before.”

“Damn it… This is such a pain!”

When I arrived at the staff room, only Sasaki-sensei was there. It seemed the other teachers had gone out somewhere.

A massive pile of paperwork was stacked on her desk like a mountain.

Sasaki-sensei scratched her head in frustration, bouncing one leg restlessly as she stared at the overwhelming workload before her.

She was clearly drowning in all that paperwork.

If I failed to submit my reflection paper right now, she would no doubt snap like a raging kaiju and swallow me whole!

Not even Ultraman would be able to save me then.

“S-Sensei… Here’s my reflection paper.”

I held it out with a trembling hand.

“You’re done already?”

“Y-Yes…”

“I see. Let me take a look.”

She took the paper and began reading it carefully.

But then—

The moment she reached a few lines in, her brow twitched, and her expression darkened.

Crap! She totally caught on!

“Misaki… Did you write this reflection paper yourself?”

A question of death!

“Y-Yes…”

My heart pounded wildly in my chest, feeling like it was about to burst right out.

Cold sweat beaded on my palms, and my entire body stiffened with tension. It was like an invisible giant hand was squeezing my soul.

“Hmm…”

Sasaki-sensei adjusted her glasses with a sharp motion and narrowed her eyes, scrutinizing the handwriting on the paper.

Shit! I completely overlooked this! My handwriting and Tsunekawa’s are totally different! She must have noticed!

It’s over… This is where I die…

“…Well, whatever. I’ll let this one slide. Be more careful next time.”

…Huh? What?

She handed the reflection paper back to me and waved her hand dismissively.

“Go on. I’m busy, so don’t get in my way.”

With that, she picked up her pen again and immersed herself in the pile of documents.

…I can’t believe it ended just like that!

But I made it out alive… I seriously thought I was going to die from the pressure just now!

This woman… Her presence is terrifying! How many times has she made me feel like this already?

Maybe, in the end, that mountain of work on her desk is what saved me.

Completely drained, I returned to the classroom and collapsed onto my desk.

My legs were shaking, completely devoid of strength. Like a pile of sludge, I melted onto my desk, deciding to play dead until class started.