I Reincarnated as a Mob Character in a Romcom Manga—After I Kept Comforting the Third “Fanservice” Heroine When She Got Dumped and Cried, I Feel Like She’s Started Directing Some Seriously Heavy Feelings at Me - Chapter 05: The Fanservice Heroine Who Broke Down Crying

Chapter 05: The Fanservice Heroine Who Broke Down Crying

When the words slipped out of my mouth without thinking, 

“Eh…?”

Mitsushima—her eyes red and swollen—looked straight at me.

“I told you before that my body was weak, right? My heart was a complete mess. I don’t even remember how many surgeries I went through anymore. Every time my condition got worse, just breathing hurt. And I can’t even count how many times I thought, man, it’d be easier if I just died like this—”

I spoke haltingly—clumsy and unpolished—but there wasn’t a single lie mixed in.

Mitsushima listened in silence, her eyes never leaving me.

“But even then… I still couldn’t die. Because I kept dreaming, you know? Even with a body this painful and miserable, one that couldn’t even walk outside properly… I kept wishing that someday it’d be completely cured. That I’d be able to run outside until I was out of breath. No matter how hopeless it was, I still wished for it.”

Yeah.

That feeling was exactly the same as hers.

It was the same wish Mitsushima had held onto until the very end—believing that someday, she might be able to stand beside Nayuta Yaohara as his lover, and fighting for that hope until it was finally crushed.

“You were the same, Chloe. Just like how I couldn’t give up on wanting to live, you couldn’t give up on Nayuta Yaohara. You seriously believed it’d all end in a happy ending. So don’t call yourself pathetic. At the very least, I don’t think the version of myself who desperately fought not to die back then was pathetic at all.”

I didn’t even know where words that gentle had come from—but for now, I’d said everything I wanted to say.

I forced myself not to look away from Mitsushima, as if to prove there wasn’t a single lie in what I’d said—

And then, all of a sudden, Mitsushima’s face completely crumpled.

“Uuh… uuuuhhh…!!”

With a squish, her well-shaped face collapsed like a child throwing a tantrum, tears spilling down her cheeks one after another.

A crushed, animal-like whimper leaked out from between her clenched teeth as Mitsushima shook her head back and forth, then started sobbing loudly.

“Eh—!? Chloe, w-what’s wrong!?”

“Jeromiyaaa… why, why are you saying things that nice to comfort me…!? I—I got dumped so pathetically, like that, and you still praise me this much… whyyy…!!”

The moment she said that, Mitsushima suddenly lunged forward and hugged me tight.

“Wah—!? H-Hey, Chloe—!”

“Waaaahhh! It’s not your fault! It’s just that—you’re way too kind, it’s scary…! So take responsibility and let me cry on your chest! I’ll calm down soon, I promise!”

Spouting completely unreasonable logic, Mitsushima pressed her nose straight into my chest.

Right away—right around my ribs—I felt it.

Those massive twin mounds that absolutely screamed fanservice heroine were squished hard against me in a full-on-mugyuu.

If this were my previous life, I probably would’ve died on the spot.

Reiji Jeromiya’s heart hammered wildly in my chest, and Mitsushima’s aggressively feminine scent flooded my nose and went straight to my brain.

She gave one last, tight yank on my dress shirt with both arms—

And that was the trigger.

Mitsushima started crying with truly terrifying force.

It wasn’t something you could describe as sobbing or screaming anymore.

The sheer volume and intensity were on another level entirely.

As if she were trying to turn every last part of herself into tears and wash it all away right then and there, her wailing shook the entire area behind the school, Mitsushima crying at the top of her lungs.

As for me—

I was completely overwhelmed by the volume and momentum of it all, and since I’d never once had a girl cling to me like this before, all I could do was freeze up, stiff as a board.

Even while frozen there—

I looked up toward the sky and prayed to whatever might be up there.

Please—if the one who reincarnated me into this world really exists, then at least don’t let anyone else see this.

My body was too small, and I couldn’t even shield this utterly unrewarded girl’s choking, broken sobs from the eyes of others.

I couldn’t tell if it had been a few minutes—or if it had been way, way longer.

At last, Mitsushima squeezed out a trembling voice through her tears.

“…Okay.”

She pulled her face away from my chest and then—zzuii!—sniffed hard, without holding back at all.

“…You calm down now?”

“Yeah. For now, at least…”

“I see. That’s good.”

“Hey, Jeromiya.”

“W-What is it?”

“We barely even talked before yesterday, but… you’re really good at comforting people.”

While I was still at a loss for words, Mitsushima gave a small smile, looked away from me, and gazed off into the distance.

“Hehe… yeah. Just a little—only a little—but your words really comforted me. You’re right. I really did love Yaohara. And if you love someone, there’s no way you can just give up. Comparing that to how people don’t want to die… I’d never thought of it like that before, but… it’s true.”

Even with the tip of her nose still painfully red, her face looked like something inside her had finally snapped free.

She gave a tiny, fragile smile—like this was the best she could manage right now.

Seeing that fleeting expression, my chest tightened for no clear reason—

And then Mitsushima slowly scooted her hips closer to me.

“Whoa—h-hey! You’re way too close…!”

“What? You were way more pressed up against me just a minute ago. Don’t get shy now.”

“T-That’s true, but still…!”

“…Hey, Jeromiya. Wanna make a deal?”

A deal.

That word threw me into confusion again, and seeing that, Mitsushima curled her lips into a mischievous grin.

“You know, I’m the type who really holds onto things. At this rate, I’ll probably keep dragging my feelings for Yaohara around for my entire time in high school.”

“T-That long!? W-Well… after being that deep into him, I guess that makes sense…”

“Right? I’ve only just been dragged out of a bottomless swamp, and I’m still covered in mud that hasn’t even dried yet. So…”

Mitsushima poked right at my chest, directly over my heart.

“So from now on, I want you to comfort me. Regularly.”