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 19 & 20

Chapter 19: The Fanservice Heroine’s Earth-Shaking Advance

“Fwah—?”

Do you like me?

The moment she asked that—

Honestly, for the first time in my life, my heart jumped so hard it felt like it might kill me.

When I looked at Chloe with just my eyes, she was staring straight back at me with an expression so desperate it almost hurt to see.

“Please, Jeromiya. I don’t care if it’s as a war buddy, or as someone comforting me, or even just as a girl you use as an excuse. If you like me—even a little—as the opposite sex, as a woman… then say it.”

N-No, if I say that, that’s seriously…!

I tried to drag out the excuse that I was just a mob character who wasn’t supposed to be involved in the story at all—but faced with that expression and those words, the truth was there was nothing someone like me could do.

The problem was—

I didn’t really understand what it meant to like someone in the first place.

I’d said it many times before, but in my previous life, my body had been weak.

I’d never gone to school properly, barely knew any world outside the hospital.

I had no friends.

There were hardly any people I could even call close.

So whether the affection and respect I felt toward Chloe Mitsushima—as my favorite heroine—were actually the feelings you were supposed to have for someone you loved as the opposite sex… I honestly didn’t know.

And there was no one who could teach me that.

Saying those words in my current state felt incredibly dishonest.

That was what troubled me.

But without caring about any of that, Chloe’s blue eyes grew wet, and she pleaded with me even more earnestly.

“Please, please, please, please, please, Jeromiya. Even one percent is fine—if you feel even a tiny bit of attraction to me as the opposite sex, I want you to say it here. If you do, I don’t care if other people call me a shameless, easy bitch a million times. So—do you like me?”

…Come to think of it, was this girl really someone who clung to others like this?

In the story, she’d always been the bold, aggressive type—the heroine who’d confidently declare things like, “I’ll definitely make you turn my way someday!” straight to Nayuta Yaohara.

Was it because she’d just been dumped and her emotions hadn’t settled yet?

Or because getting rejected had shattered the absolute confidence she’d always had in herself?

Her expression was truly desperate.

So desperate it felt like if I rejected her here, she might actually collapse on the spot.

—Please. Please, I’m begging you.

Seeing Chloe look at me like that, I finally steeled myself.

I gathered every bit of saliva in my mouth, swallowed hard, and answered.

“Y-Yeah… I like you.”

For now, I chose to bet on this—

That the “favorite heroine” feelings I’d had for Chloe Mitsushima as a reader before reincarnating were probably very close to what people called romantic liking.

The instant I said it—

Paaah. A bright, bursting smile spread across Chloe’s face.

“Really!? You’re not lying!?”

“I-I’m not lying… I mean… yeah. I think I like you for sure—more than one percent, at least…”

“Ufufufufu! What do I do, I’m so happy! Like, really happy! Again, again! Encore!!”

“E-Encore…? Encore what?”

“Say ‘I like you’ again! This time, say my name properly when you say you like me!”

“E-Ehh…!?”

“It’s fine! It’s not like it costs you anything! Come now, say—say you like me!”

Her eyes sparkled wildly, her breathing grew a little rough, and if she had an invisible tail, she’d be wagging it like a puppy about to go for a walk as Chloe kept closing the distance.

It was honestly hard to believe this was the same girl who’d been dumped once already.

That absurdly cute face, a scent that was less “sweet” and more outright sexual, and a national-treasure-class chest that I’d end up staring at the second I lost focus—being hit with all three at once, even my now-healthy heart had no guarantee of surviving much longer.

I finally gave up.

“O-Okay, okay! I’ll say it! I’ll say it, so back off a little!”

“Mm-hm, I will, I will—so hurry! Say it! Say it!”

That’s not how this works…

Feeling half-exhausted, I took several deep breaths, my face burning red, and muttered the words under my breath.

“I mean… um… I definitely like Chloe more than one percent… as, uh… the opposite sex… I like you…”

Even with such an awkward, clumsy confession, Chloe’s joy seemed to completely overflow.

Her face melted into a soft, dreamy smile.

“Nfufufufufu… I’m happy! I’m so happy! That means we like each other at least one percent now, right!?”

“…Uh, sorry, but are you really that happy over something like this? I mean, you’re popular. You’ve probably been confessed to tons of times by guys, right?”

“Not at all! Because the person I like has never said they like me back!”

Then please don’t say things like that so casually…!

“Guh—” I groaned, covering my mouth and turning my face away.

Chloe gently stroked my head and whispered in a dangerously teasing voice.

“Oh my, Jeromiya, you’re giving such an obvious hit reaction. That’s fine, you know? Getting actively pursued by such a great woman—Jeromiya must be pretty happy.”

“S-Stop it…! This isn’t funny—this stopped being funny a long time ago…!”

“Even I wouldn’t joke about something like this, you know? By the way, I really like you, Jeromiya. If you ever want to hear it straight from me, just ask, okay?”

“P-Please, seriously, stop! A-And for now, don’t pat my head! A-Are you trying to kill me…!?” 

Was this girl really a losing heroine!?

I mean—how on earth does someone like this not win in the end!?

Romcom logic was way too messed up!

Even after being told, at full power, “I like you, I like you, I like you, I really like you, I love you, I love you so much I could die,” a romcom protagonist could still choose another girl!?

What even was that guy!?

A Terminator!? Made of liquid metal or something!?

For a mob character like me—someone with zero protective barriers in the form of other heroines—the fanservice heroine’s love, fired straight at me from the front with no restraint, was already beyond brutal.

It was a merciless storm of steel and thunder, an overwhelming barrage of affection that could only be described as a full-on, earth-rumbling assault.

It was my first time ever being told “I like you” directly by a girl.

And the girl saying it just happened to be my favorite heroine from my favorite manga.

Maybe all that suffering from heart disease in my previous life had earned me some serious karma points.

Before dying, I’d honestly thought it would be easier to just give up and be done with it—but now I was starting to think that maybe going through hardship really did have its rewards.

Just as that thought crossed my mind—

A boiled egg, neatly skewered on a pair of chopsticks, was suddenly held out right in front of my eyes.

“Alrighty~! Since we’ve confirmed we both like each other by more than one percent… here you go, ahh!”

“I-I told you, I can eat by myself! Lunch break’s already almost over, isn’t it!? Hurry, just eat your own bento already…!”

“What’s that supposed to mean!? We finally became mutually into each other by more than one percent, so at least accept an ahh to celebrate! You’re already more than one percent my man, you know!? If you won’t fulfill your duty willingly, I’ll just force it in!”

“O-Okay, okay, okay! I get it, so back off a bit! I-I’m seriously gonna die, I’m gonna die for real! I’ll fulfill my duty as a war buddy! I will! So please, break, break—time out…!”

Seriously now—

Who was it that started saying the fanservice heroine was just a disposable role?

She was strong.

Way too strong.

Chloe Mitsushima was terrifyingly strong.

At least to me, her destructive power was completely off the charts.

Thinking that in the corner of my panicking, embarrassment-overloaded brain, we spent our lunch break in a way that could only be described as shamelessly, unmistakably flirting—

A sweet, loose, hopelessly lovey-dovey kind of time.

Chapter 20: The Fanservice Heroine’s Counterattack

“H-Hey, Chloe…! D-Do we really have to go home together…!?”

“What are you saying, war buddy! From what I’ve heard, we’re heading in the same direction anyway, right? Not walking together would be a total loss.”

“I don’t even know what we’d be losing, and there’s nothing to gain either! A-And, um, Chloe-san!? Everyone’s watching, so pressing your chest against my arm in public is a little—!”

A perfectly healthy high school boy in the prime of his youth—

And yet, of all things, a go-home club member.

I knew it was pointless to lament it now, but Reiji Jeromiya really was a hopeless introvert through and through.

And so, once it was exposed that after school I had nowhere to go and just headed straight home every day, Chloe unilaterally decided that from this day onward, “we’d go home together.”

Naturally, a mere gloomy mob like me tried desperately to backpedal and firmly refuse.

Unfortunately for me, my opponent was—even rotten to the core—a headlong-charging, no-brakes, third “fanservice” heroine straight out of a romcom manga.

My desperate resistance was ignored as easily as a leaf swallowed by a giant wave, and now here I was—

Standing at the school entrance, getting my things ready to leave while Chloe clung tightly to me.

An experience that should have been absolutely impossible for a gloomy mob character.

“H-Hey, Chloe, um… please don’t cling to me so much…! Everyone’s—everyone’s staring, it hurts, it really hurts…!”

“Who cares about people who don’t matter? Just ignore them. …More importantly, Jeromiya! Put your shoes on properly! A guy who steps on his heels while wearing shoes is the same as a guy who can’t even say hello! Seriously, you’re such a kid…”

“I-I’m fine! I can fix them myself—myself! I’ll fix them, so you don’t have to do that mom-like stuff…!”

“It’s fine, it’s fine. I’ll do it for you. …There, all good.”

Chloe crouched down, slipped her finger into the heel of my scuffed-up Converse, and fixed them properly.

Still crouching, she looked up at me and smiled with a gentle, almost embracing kindness.

Maybe because of that national-treasure-level size of hers—or maybe something else—

That smile somehow carried an oddly motherly vibe, and it hit me straight in the chest.

Completely shaken, and overwhelmed by the embarrassment of being fussed over by a girl my age, I had no choice but to turn my face away with a hmph.

“…Tch. Damn it, you’re way too calm about all this. It’s not fair. Over here, my heart feels like it’s about to stop every time you move even a little. Give me a break…”

“Ahahaha, Jeromiya. You keep calling yourself an introvert, but you’re really good at picking things up, you know? Talking with you makes my self-esteem—completely wrecked thanks to Yaohara—come back to life again and again.”

No, it’s not that I’m “good at picking things up”—it’s just that you’re way too good of a woman, that’s all!

My face went bright red, like I’d broken out in a rash, my body trembling in tiny shakes.

Chloe firmly trapped my left arm right in the valley of her chest, tilted her head slightly, and gave a small, awkwardly shy smile.

“Alright then—let’s head home together, war buddy.”

And seriously, that’s just unfair.

She’s the pushy, aggressive type, yet every now and then I could clearly see a hint of tension in her expression.

The warmth of Chloe’s body through my arm, mixed with that thick, sweet, musky scent clinging to my nose, made my head spin so badly I felt like I might start staggering just from walking out of the school building.

The murderous glares full of jealousy from other guys who were probably also heading home, the repeated —tch sounds I could clearly hear.

At this point, every man in the world felt like my enemy.

Even while feeling more uncomfortable than I ever had in my life, I couldn’t deny it at the same time—

The happiness of walking this close to such an incredibly cute girl, a heroine who used to be my favorite, and the sheer surrealness of the fact that this was actually happening.

My brain felt numb at its core, and I could clearly tell that some dangerously powerful chemicals were flooding my bloodstream, racing all across my body.

I’d said this many times already, but in this world, I was nothing more than a mob character.

And because I was a mob—

I had absolutely no way to escape the feelings Chloe poured onto me, one-sided and crashing down like a waterfall.

Even Nayuta Yaohara—who had other heroines like Miyuki Hitotsuba and Kanade Nikaido around him—had always been completely overwhelmed by Chloe Mitsushima’s full-power, fanservice-level seductive assaults in the story.

And yet here I was, with zero defenses, standing there basically naked except for my underwear, forced to take that massive offensive head-on.

Honestly, I couldn’t say how much longer my self-control would hold.

I didn’t even trust myself on that front.

“Say, Jeromiya. Someday, let’s stop by karaoke together on the way home. Of course, just the two of us. Being alone together sounds kinda naughty, and at karaoke we can shout as loud as we want and no one outside will hear us.”

And this girl was saying that, in a situation that was basically life or death for me.

With my face burning red, I glared at Chloe—

Ninety-nine percent completely melted, and the remaining one percent honestly wanting to punch her.

Even after being glared at like that, Chloe just smiled back happily, grinning from ear to ear.

“Oh? That look’s nice. Jeromiya—how far did your imagination run from a simple karaoke invite?”

“Ghk…! I-I wasn’t imagining anything! You’re the one saying stuff like that so casually—aren’t you embarrassed!? H-Honestly, you’re acting kinda shameless…!”

“I’m not shameless. The male who turns me shameless is the problem.”

“Gah…! O-Okay, okay! I surrender, I surrender—so please stop saying things like that already…!”

“Fuhihi, you’re really cute, Jeromiya. You’re making me feel strange now. …Hey, what if we just get carried away and cross a line sometime soon?”

She whispered it like a secret I wasn’t supposed to hear.

—Snap.

Something inside me felt like it finally broke.

“Haaah…”

I let out a long, deep breath and gently pulled my arm free from Chloe’s.

She looked up at me, clearly puzzled.

In the next instant, I placed both hands firmly on Chloe’s shoulders.

“Eh—? W-Wait, Jeromiya—”

“…I’m happy you’d even say that. And after being pushed this far, backing down would be a man’s disgrace, wouldn’t it?”

I slowly inhaled through my nose and opened my eyes wide, fully alert.

“If you’re going to say that much—then how about we test it right here? That ‘line’ you’re talking about.”

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