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 29 & 30

Chapter 29: The Fanservice Heroine Levels Up

“Hey, hey, Jeromiya, what do you think? This was taken in Saipan about half a year ago. Did you know? There are tons of wild sea cucumbers just lying around on the beach in Saipan. I stepped on one during the shoot and went flying, and this is the photo from when I got back up. The smile turned out really nice, so the photographer said it was an OK shot and used it.”

“I-I can’t look straight at it…! More importantly, don’t make me look at something like that when the subject herself is right next to me…! W-What kind of face am I even supposed to make…!?”

“What’s the big deal? I’m wearing a swimsuit—it’s not like I’m naked. And the person being looked at doesn’t mind at all. Come on, it’s Saipan, Saipan. The ocean’s super pretty, you know? Look.”

“I don’t care if it’s Saipan or Okinawa—once you’re in the picture, it’s impossible to look straight at it! W-Why are you showing something like that to people during lunchtime…!?”

“Myy? Does that mean you’re getting excited by my swimsuit, Jeromiya? Ahaha, that makes me happy. Being told that by you makes me happier than praise from anyone else. Oh, by the way, I haven’t updated my profile yet, but guess what—I evolved into an I-cup♥”

“S-Stop it already! Any more than this and I’m…! …Ugh! W-Wait, no way!? A nosebleed…!”

Chloe smiled at full blast—her godlike proportions also on full display—and as I stared at the gravure page in the manga magazine, a red-black liquid dripped down onto it, making me jump in shock.

If she’d just shown me gravure photos, that alone might’ve still been manageable.

But having the real person sitting right next to me in the same swimsuit, with those I-cup, national-treasure-class ultra boobs—so aggressively emphasized in the photos—sitting well within arm’s reach…

Honestly, that was way too real.

Still… even so… like something straight out of a manga—well, this was a manga world—but getting so worked up that I actually got a nosebleed?

As I panicked, a tissue was suddenly shoved right up to my nose, and I glanced to the side with just my eyes.

“Ahahahahaha! No way, seriously!? Jeromiya, you got a nosebleed just from seeing my half-naked body!? Even though I’m sitting right next to you!? How turned on are you!? This is hilarious!”

T-T-This bastard—shouting something like that out loud where anyone could hear… that was an instant life-ending-level accusation!

When I shot a resentful glare at the Chloe Mitsushima beside me, she broke into a mischievous “nihihi” grin.

“Ahh, Jeromiya, watching you never gets old. Maybe next time I should bring something even more stimulating. Like… you know, the kind where things are really close together. Or, um… or something licking it.”

“…I’ll ask just to be sure, but are you trying to kill me before the year’s over? If you show me something like that, I’m dead. Seriously dead.”

“No, that’s not it. I don’t want you to die. I just want you to know me better, Jeromiya. What kind of work I usually do, what kind of places I’ve seen, the scenery I’ve looked at up until now.”

Out of nowhere, she started talking like something straight out of a really nice romantic-comedy light novel, and I was completely thrown off.

“I’ve already shown you so many ugly sides of me—times when I was depressed, or crying. So I want you to know that I’ve also had lots of wonderful experiences, that I’ve seen beautiful views too. I’m not someone who’s only walked through dark parts of life. I know what a world under the sunshine looks like as well. I guess… I just want you to know the real me.”

Maybe she didn’t even fully understand what she was saying herself. Her pale cheeks suddenly flushed a soft cherry pink, and she let out a shy little laugh.

Honestly, that bashful smile—coming from the fanservice heroine who usually made others blush but rarely blushed herself—hit way harder than any swimsuit photo ever could, and my heart started rattling like crazy.

“—I-I mean, even so, why are you showing stuff like that to people…!? If that’s the case, it doesn’t have to be swimsuit gravure photos at all…!”

“You really don’t get it, Jeromiya. I told you I want you to know the real me, right? That means I want you to know how I look in my natural, birthday suit.”

Blub, something bubbled deep inside my nose, and the nosebleed burst out even harder, staining the tissue a dark red.

I couldn’t get any more words out.

All I could do was glare at Chloe next to me with nothing but pure resentment in my eyes.

“Ahaha, the tissue’s completely red now. Are you okay? You’re not gonna die from blood loss, are you?”

“Whose fault do you think that is… whose…! I-I give up. Seriously, I’m begging you, please, no more than this…!”

“Nope, nope, I won’t go easy on you. I’m gonna make you think about me more and more, Jeromiya. To the point where all you can think about is me and you can’t focus on anything else—that’s the only way I’ll feel at ease. My love is heavy, you know?”

Yeah, I knew that—but even I had my limits.

Wondering if I could really keep being war buddies with someone like this going forward—especially someone like me, a background mob—I lost all confidence and lowered my head.

Then, softly, something warm touched the top of my head.

“Ufu, did I tease you a little too much? But I’m happy. I like how you still properly deal with me, even while bleeding from the nose, you know?”

Thump.

My heart clenched hard in a way that was honestly bad for my health.

While gently patting my head, Chloe stared straight at me with a gaze that was deeply sticky and intense.

“Jeromiya.”

“W-What.”

“I like you.”

“O-Oh… okay.”

“I love you.”

“Y-Yeah.”

“I probably couldn’t live anymore if you disappeared, Jeromiya.”

“T-That’s going a bit too far, isn’t it…”

“Nope, not too far at all. You’re my reason for living right now, Jeromiya.”

“T-That’s still kind of an exaggeration—”

“It’s not. It’s really not.”

She lightly scratched and teased my scalp with her fingertips, clearly enjoying herself, smiling brightly as she watched me sit there, too embarrassed to resist.

“If we weren’t war buddies but lovers, I’d have given you everything a long time ago. Aah… why didn’t I fall for you sooner? Don’t you think I’m super pitiful?”

“H-How am I even supposed to answer that…?”

“Now then, how should you answer as my war buddy? Think carefully.”

“I-I don’t think you’re… pitiful.”

“Bzzzt—wrong. The correct answer was ‘pitiful.’ I really am sad that I can’t be your girlfriend, you know? But we’re war buddies. In a way, that makes us way more bound together than lovers. You could even say we’re basically like a married couple.”

“Married couple.”

That word, dropped so casually, made me blank out for just a moment as I imagined a future where Chloe and I were actually like that.

A future where a gloomy mob like me rubbed the sleep from my eyes and stumbled out of bed, only to see Chloe standing in the kitchen in an apron, making miso soup or something.

…No, in this day and age, it wouldn’t have to be like that.

Maybe I’d end up as a full-time househusband, supporting Chloe as she dominated TV and magazines, backing her up quietly from behind the scenes.

The future, huh.

Back when I had a serious heart disease and couldn’t even be sure I’d see tomorrow, thinking about the future had been terrifying.

To the “me” before reincarnation, it had been nothing more than an empty ending waiting at the end of endless hardship.

But now, thinking about it didn’t hurt at all.

If anything, it felt overflowing with hope—and that feeling itself was strangely refreshing.

Why was that?

As I thought about it—and ran through all those brief imagined futures in my head—I realized that in every single one of them, there was always a silver-haired woman shining brightly.

Before I knew it, I found myself staring intently at Chloe’s face beside me.

“…That sounds nice.”

Looking at her well-shaped face as she stared back at me in confusion, the words slipped out of my mouth on their own.

“Eh? What did you say?”

“I said it sounds nice. Yeah… that makes sense. I’m not gonna stay a high schooler forever. I’ll become an adult someday too.”

Right—

After reincarnating as Reiji Jeromiya, what awaited me from here on out wasn’t an “ending,” but a “future.”

Thinking that way made me feel strangely unsettled, and I quietly looked at Chloe beside me, who seemed a little surprised by my reaction.

“Like a married couple, huh. That sounds perfect. If you became my wife… I think I could live happily for the rest of my life—”

Chapter 30: The Fanservice Heroine Gets Super Flustered

“W-What’s with you all of a sudden? Jeromiya, what kind of things are you imagining?”

Chloe’s pale cheeks flushed bright red as she spoke, clearly flustered.

Yeah… she was already cute to begin with, but when she got embarrassed like this, she somehow became even cuter.

If we really did end up in that kind of relationship someday, would I get to see this face of hers every single day?

That would be—

Honestly, unbelievably happy.

Feeling a deep, overwhelming sense of satisfaction, I absentmindedly continued speaking.

“I think I finally get it now. Imagining the future… imagining what comes next… it can actually be fun sometimes. When I was sick, just thinking about the future scared me so badly I couldn’t stand it. But—yeah. If you’re in that future, it doesn’t scare me at all.”

“J-Jeromiya, what’s gotten into you all of a sudden…!?”

“You know… if we became lovers someday, or even a married couple, every day would probably be fun. Watching movies together, traveling, eating good food… laughing, crying, and—like today—me getting nosebleeds…”

I kept talking nonstop, carried away by a refreshing feeling I’d never once felt in my entire life.

“Our future selves are ridiculously happy. So happy it’s almost stupid. We don’t have to worry about tomorrow at all, and every single day we can think, Tomorrow’s gonna be fun too. Probably even more fun than today. That’s an amazing kind of happiness, isn’t it? I don’t have to live every day scared anymore—thinking I might die tomorrow, or that if I fall asleep I might never wake up again. I don’t have to be afraid of that. And even if I did die tomorrow… if I could think that you were right next to me until the very end, then… yeah. Somehow, that feels okay too.”

What was this feeling?

This excitement swelling in my chest—something I’d never once felt before in my life.

As I thought about what this emotion really was—and then, all of a sudden, felt like I’d reached some huge realization—I turned my gaze back to Chloe beside me.

She was staring at me, her face bright red, clearly flustered by how I’d suddenly gone on this long, incomprehensible rant all in one breath.

“Um, Chloe.”

“W–What?”

“Sorry if I’m totally wrong here. This might be a really dumb thing to say, but…”

“Y-Yeah?”

“Is liking someone… imagining a future where you’re together with them?”

I tried, as seriously as I could, to put into words the strange, unfamiliar feelings filling my heart.

“When you like someone, do you end up wanting to stay with them forever? Wanting them to always be by your side? Do you start imagining laughing together nonstop, like idiots? Because right now, just imagining a future where I end up like that with you makes me ridiculously happy, and it’s so fun I can’t stop thinking about it… Is that what this is?”

At those words, Chloe’s eyes went wide, then slowly filled with moisture as she stared at me in a dazed, steamy sort of way.

As I waited excitedly for her answer—

BAM!

A sharp sound rang out as she suddenly grabbed the manga magazine spread out beside her with both hands and slammed it straight into my face.

“Bweh!?”

I let out a pathetic cry of pain, and then I heard her voice.

“W-W-Whaaat are you doing!? Why are you suddenly awakening to brand-new emotions!? And why—why are you asking me something like that directly!? What do you even want me to say!?”

“Guh…!? W-What was that for all of a sudden!? Did I say something weird!?”

“You said everything weird!! Do you seriously not realize it!? If I answered ‘yeah, that’s right,’ then that would make it that, wouldn’t it!? What kind of question are you making someone answer!? What kind of answer are you trying to force out of me!?”

Haa, haa—for some reason, Chloe’s breathing had grown rough.

When I hurriedly tried to pull the magazine off my face, a sharp voice snapped out.

“—Don’t move!”

My hands froze midair.

“R-Right now, I really can’t let you see my face, Jeromiya…! Just stay like that for a bit! If you see my face right now, I’ll bury you! I’ll bury you alive!”

That was the first time in my life I’d ever been threatened like that, and I had no choice but to quietly wait for her to calm down.

About a minute later, the manga magazine was finally lifted away from my face.

She was still bright red, her silver hair slightly messed up in places, looking like she’d somehow aged ten years in just a few seconds.

“…L-Listen, Jeromiya. You can ask other people things like that if you want, but you’re absolutely not allowed to ask me, okay? Honestly, I wouldn’t have been surprised if I’d slapped you just now.”

“W-Wait… isn’t it usually the other way around…!? Like ‘you can ask me, but not other people’!? Did I mess up again!?”

“Mmm… maybe love and romance stuff is still a bit early for you, Jeromiya. You’re definitely still in the rehab stage. Haaah… looks like this is gonna take time for reasons totally different from Yaohara.”

With a swing, like I’d seen once before, Chloe shook her head weakly, looking seriously dejected.

Seeing that expression made me feel oddly uncomfortable.

After a moment, she finally lifted her face.

In her eyes—at least to me—there seemed to be some kind of resolve, something like determination.

“Hey, Jeromiya.”

“Y-Yeah?”

“Can I… hug you for just one minute?”

“Eh?”

I froze in confusion, and she slowly shuffled closer, wearing that familiar, pleading look.

“I mean… it seems like you still don’t really get it yet. You were sick for so long, so you don’t really understand things like love or romance, right? Even so, I want to somehow make you feel my love properly. Is that no good?”

“W-Well, I mean… this is still school, you know? If someone sees us…”

“If someone sees, I’ll just say I hugged you on my own. Come on, please, please, please.”

“N-No, that’s still kind of… I mean…!”

I gave a quick glance at Chloe’s chest, where her massive breasts were packed in so tightly it looked uncomfortable.

If she hugged me, that overwhelming weight would be pressed right up against my body.

And on top of that, just being next to her already made my heart act up—there was also that scent of hers, the kind you could only describe as unmistakably feminine…

There was no way my self-control would survive that.

I tried to open my mouth and somehow refuse—but…

“Please, Jeromiya. When you said earlier that it would be amazing if I became your wife… that really made me happy. So as thanks, I want to let you feel my love. If I hug you, I’m sure it’ll reach you too.”

—Honestly, I was never capable of refusing this girl to begin with.

I took a deep breath, then slowly let it out, giving in as if I’d finally made up my mind.

“…J-Just one minute, okay? Any more than that and my self-control won’t hold.”

“Eh, really!? Yay! Then—then, Jeromiya, are you ready?”

“Y-Yeah… a-and if possible, um, don’t hug too tightly. I mean… things might, uh, bump into each other…”

“That’s nothing to worry about. I’ll make sure you really feel how soft and warm it is.”

“N-No, wait, that’s the opposite of what I meant! Seriously, don’t push my self-control too far, okay!? I don’t want to end up in some kind of prison!”

“O-Okay, I get it. …Then, Jeromiya, make sure you properly feel my love.”

Saying that, Chloe pressed close to me, carefully and a little nervously, as she leaned in to hug me.

Right away, even through our clothes, I could feel her warmth, her softness, her scent—everything seemed to seep straight through my skin, and a powerful wave of dizziness washed over me.

I barely managed to hold back a groan, and then her arms slipped around my neck.

Her fingers gently intertwined behind my neck, holding me there.