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 57 & 58

Chapter 57: The Sharp-Tongued Tsundere Lamenting Her Loner Status

“Loner.”

At that single word, Miyuki Hitotsuba reacted as if she had been stabbed.

“—Hauh!?”

Her entire body jerked.

I folded my arms and gave a small nod.

“I see. So that’s what this is. Your one ultra-rare, super-valuable friend suddenly started getting close to some gloomy background mob like me, and you panicked. You thought maybe I was blackmailing Chloe or something, and that’s why she was hanging around me. You got so worried you couldn’t sit still anymore, so you came here to demand the truth.”

“Ugh—!?”

Miyuki Hitotsuba clutched her modest chest as though she had taken a critical hit.

“Well, yeah, that’d be a crisis. If someone stole your precious friend, that’d be a disaster. So you overthought it, convinced yourself something shady was going on, and came to scout out the enemy—me—the guy who somehow got close to Chloe and became her friend. …Man, for a beautiful girl, you sure make some painfully gloomy introvert moves.”

“Aaaahhh!?”

She screamed, covering her face with both hands.

She bent forward slightly, breathing hard, like she had just taken massive emotional damage.

Watching her suffer so seriously from my words made me wince.

…Man, this was kind of painful to watch.

Right.

This hit rom-com manga, Schrödinger’s Love, only even began because Miyuki Hitotsuba was exactly this kind of person.

Because of her parents’ jobs, she had spent most of her life overseas. After several years, she finally returned to Japan and transferred into the prestigious high school, Seiran Private Academy. That was where the story started.

She possessed absurdly refined, almost untouchable beauty. Even though she transferred in during high school, she consistently held the number one spot in her entire grade. On top of that, her family was former nobility, her father was both a successful businessman and a member of parliament—she had the ultimate elite background.

And yet…

This unbelievably perfect girl, Miyuki Hitotsuba, didn’t have a single friend. Not one. She didn’t even have anyone she could casually chat with.

The reason was simple.

Her sharp tongue was colder than her ice-princess looks. And her strict, unapproachable attitude never let anyone get close to her in the first place.

Anyone who tried to reach out?

She knocked their hands away without mercy.

But no matter how much of a tsundere she was, Miyuki Hitotsuba was still a teenage girl.

Deep down, she wanted friends she could truly be close to.

Nayuta Yaohara, the protagonist, was the one who saw through that hidden loneliness. By pure coincidence, he ended up meeting her. From there, he stubbornly stayed by her side, trying to slowly open the tightly locked door to her heart.

Little by little, through Nayuta Yaohara’s sincere and desperate efforts, Miyuki Hitotsuba began to open up.

And eventually… she fell in love.

That was the basic plot of the classic school rom-com, Schrödinger’s Love.

In other words, this entire world functioned because Miyuki Hitotsuba was a loner.

The only people she could barely call “close” were the protagonist Nayuta Yaohara—and through him, the other heroines, Kanade Nikaido and Chloe Mitsushima.

That was it. That was her entire social circle.

As I looked down at her trembling ahoge with the eyes of someone watching a truly pitiful creature…

“Ufufu… ufufufufu…”

Miyuki Hitotsuba wiped her mouth with her sleeve and let out a strangely eerie laugh.

“Ufufu… whew… honestly, Jeromiya-kun, you really know how to be brutal. This is the first time anyone has ever called me a loner straight to my face. W-Well, wording aside… you’re not exactly wrong…”

She gave a thin smile, like a boxer who had taken dozens of punches and barely managed to stay standing.

“Annoying as it is, everything you said is true. Lately, I was so worried about Mitsushima-san after Yaohara-kun rejected her that I could barely sleep. It’s strange, really. Usually, just seeing those shamelessly huge breasts of hers makes me feel sick—”

“You actually felt sick? That’s news to me.”

“But recently, even after being rejected, Mitsushima-san looked ridiculously happy. It didn’t make sense. I started wondering if Yaohara-kun had hurt her badly when he turned her down… and with her brain already being half-empty from all the nutrients going straight to those massive boobs, I was honestly afraid she’d finally snapped. I was that worried about her…”

“That’s a terrible way to put it. Is that really how someone talks about a friend?”

“Still… after hearing your explanation, I feel a little relieved. So that’s it. Mitsushima-san was smiling like that because you were by her side…”

She let out a long sigh.

Then her gaze drifted somewhere far away.

“She’s insanely popular. She probably has hundreds of people she’s friendly with. And yet… the number of people she can truly smile with, from the bottom of her heart, is so small. Friendship really is hard to understand. Especially for someone as pathetic and lonely as me… I doubt I’ll ever fully understand it.”

She muttered that with a strange expression—half moved, half stunned, as if she didn’t even know what she was feeling herself.

Meanwhile, I watched her cycle through anger, sadness, and emotional revelation all on her own…

And before I knew it, I said something I had been thinking ever since I read the original story.

“Hey.”

“What?”

“I know we’ve only really met for a few minutes, so this might not be my place to say… but you do want to get along with people, right? Then why not just… try being more friendly? Someone like you? If you opened up even a little, people would line up to get close to you.”

Sure, I was a gloomy loner. That couldn’t be helped.

But her?

If she softened even slightly, there would be plenty of people who would want to stand by her side.

That was what I honestly thought.

The moment I finished, her expression sharpened.

She glared at me.

“Honestly… that’s the definition of none of your business.”

“I did warn you before saying it.”

“Oh really? Then let me return the favor—what exactly do you think you understand about me? I don’t act cold toward people for no reason. I have my reasons. That’s why I choose to stay alone. You don’t know anything about why I became like this, so how could you possibly—”

“Miyuki Hitotsuba. Birthday: November 17. Scorpio. Blood type A. Height 163 centimeters. Weight 48 kilograms. Measurements 75–56–86. A-cup.”

As I calmly listed that off, her eyes flew wide.

She stiffened completely and nearly sprang up from the stairs.

“Your father is the president of Hitotsuba Construction, a major company, and also a prefectural assembly member. Your mother teaches traditional Japanese dance. Your older sister is a second-year at a national university. Your hobbies and talents are Japanese dance, piano, and tennis. You like cats and sweets. You hate bugs and ghosts. Your current worry? That compared to E-cup Kanade Nikaido and I-cup Chloe Mitsushima, your chest is… tragically underpowered. And ever since middle school, you’ve been doing a hundred push-ups every single night and drinking one liter of soy milk daily to try to increase your bust size—”

“H-Hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!?”

She shot to her feet, face blazing red.

It wasn’t fear that I knew all that.

It was the sheer humiliation of having her most embarrassing secrets spoken aloud.

Her hair flew wildly as she flailed in full meltdown mode.

“W-What!? H-How do you know all that!? Fine, my birthday and blood type are whatever—but how do you even know about the push-ups and the soy milk!?”

“According to Chloe, it’s some kind of psychic power called the Akashic Records. I’ve got this ability that lets me see bits and pieces of people’s secrets and pasts. And you still think I don’t know anything about you?”

In reality, of course, I didn’t have any superpower.

I just had knowledge from the original story.

But while I laughed to myself inwardly, I took a slow breath.

“And the reason you started acting cold toward people? It was because back in elementary school, you found out that the girl you thought was your best friend was actually the one hiding your indoor shoes the whole time… right?”

The moment I said that clearly and without hesitation, her face froze.

Then, little by little, her eyes lowered.

“…I’m shocked. That so-called Akashic Records ability of yours… it even knows something like that?”

“If you think about it, it’s actually a pretty rude power. Being able to peek into other people’s secrets like that.”

“That may be true… but still. Even knowing about something that happened in elementary school… that’s surprising…”

That was the truth.

Miyuki Hitotsuba had grown cold toward others because of her overwhelming beauty, talent, and elite background. All her life, those traits had attracted jealousy and resentment from the people around her.

Especially that incident in elementary school.

It made her start avoiding the very idea of “friends.”

In the original Schrödinger’s Love, it was shown clearly how that betrayal became such a deep trauma that she even hesitated to say the word “friend” out loud.

“And the reason you fell for Nayuta Yaohara… was because the same thing happened again here, right? Someone hid your indoor shoes at this academy too. And when you were stuck, he was the one who found them—thrown away and covered in mud—and brought them back to you… right?”

Chapter 58: The Sharp-Tongued Tsundere Who Finally Gains a Friend

When I casually added that last part, Miyuki Hitotsuba stared at me in shock.

And then—

Her face flushed bright red. Like a kettle reaching a full boil in a single second.

“W-What!? D-Don’t say something so stupid! Who would ever fall for that permanently messy-haired, average-faced, hopeless cheating idiot!? I-I-I would never like someone like him! T-That’s completely—!”

“Miyuki Hitotsuba. I’m fully aware that you’re extremely stubborn and a top-tier tsundere. At this point, don’t you think hiding it is pointless? Considering my ‘ability’?”

“Ugh—!?”

She let out a small groan.

Then, as if she had finally surrendered, she lowered her head.

Her ears burned bright red as she covered her face with both hands.

“I-I shouldn’t have casually talked to you in the first place…! This is the worst…! Even my embarrassing feelings for that guy are known by someone else…!!”

“Honestly, even without some grand psychic power, it’s obvious you like Yaohara. Anyone watching could tell. You’re way too easy to read.”

“Don’t compare me to a cat’s tail! …Ahh, this is awful. If there were a hole nearby, I’d crawl straight into it…!”

Miyuki Hitotsuba whimpered dramatically, her eyes glossy with tears as she glared at me.

“F-Fine! I admit it, I admit it! I like Yaohara-kun, okay!? I’m that pathetic girl who spends every night imagining holding hands with him, going on dates, and e-even k-k-k-kissing… and then can’t fall asleep because of it! Are you satisfied now!?”

“Why would I be satisfied just because you confessed? And what even is this conversation? Where’s the punchline?”

“There is no punchline! Gaah…! Y-You’ve got my secret now—what are you planning to make me do!? Don’t tell me you’re going to use this to force me into doing… those kinds of things…!”

“Huh?”

I tilted my head at her wild accusation.

“What are you even talking about? I’m not doing anything like that. You’re the one who came up to me and started spiraling on your own. I didn’t say any of that because I wanted to blackmail you—”

“Don’t lie! You’re holding the secret of a beautiful girl like me! What man wouldn’t develop some kind of ulterior motive!?”

I had already known from reading the original, but wow…

Miyuki Hitotsuba was seriously complicated.

At this point, her logic was spinning off in directions even I couldn’t predict.

“Even if you threaten me with any secret, I will never hand over my heart to you! Go ahead—boil me, roast me, do whatever you want! I won’t give in no matter what you order me to do!!”

She pointed a finger straight at me, eyes watery but blazing with theatrical determination.

I scratched my head.

How did this conversation derail this badly…?

Sure, Miyuki Hitotsuba had incredible looks and talent. But because she was such a tragic loner, her imagination ran wild in the worst possible ways. Even if I promised, “I won’t tell anyone, I’ll forget everything,” she definitely wouldn’t believe me. She’d just overthink it even more.

I needed a way to calm this down.

As I thought about it, my eyes dropped to my phone. The LINE app screen was still open.

Right…

This app lets you exchange contact info with people outside your family too. I only learned that after meeting Chloe Mitsushima.

And then, a simple idea hit me.

I looked up at Miyuki Hitotsuba.

“Alright. If that’s how you’re going to be, then listen, Miyuki Hitotsuba.”

“W-What!?”

“In exchange for me keeping your embarrassing secrets quiet, how about you trade LINE IDs with me… and become my friend?”

“…Huh?”

She froze completely, as if I had just thrown something at her out of nowhere.

“You’re bothered by the fact that you don’t have friends, right? Well, same here. Besides Chloe, I don’t have anyone I can casually talk to either. I’m a loner too. So this works out perfectly. I’ll keep your secrets safe. In return, you become my friend. Your secret stays protected, and you gain one more friend. That’s what you call killing two birds with one stone.”

As I laid out my proposal, Miyuki Hitotsuba—whose eyes had been staring off in completely different directions like they were sightseeing in London and Paris—slowly brought them back into focus.

And then…

Her cheeks turned a soft pink.

“I don’t fully understand it myself, but Chloe said that these days, once you exchange LINE IDs, that basically makes you friends. So we just do that. One small step, and boom—both of us gain one friend. What do you think? Hate the idea?”

I put every ounce of seriousness I could into my expression.

Just moments ago, she had been in full meltdown mode.

But now?

Miyuki Hitotsuba suddenly looked away, touching her hair for no reason, rubbing her knees together awkwardly. She was clearly fidgeting.

“W-Well… when you put it that way… it’s not a terrible idea. And I suppose leaving a lonely boy like you without any close companions would weigh on my conscience. You could even call it… a small act of charity…”

She started muttering excuses under her breath.

As if this wasn’t for her own sake at all.

No, no.

This was absolutely, purely for me.

“W-Well, if that’s the case, then I suppose I don’t mind. More importantly, having even one more f-f-fri—fri—fri…!”

“Friend.”

“Y-Yes! F-Friend! Having even one more friend is something to celebrate, right? A-And since you’re also f-f-friends with Mitsushima-san, that makes you a f-f-friend’s f-f-friend, so it’s very clear and easy to understand and—!”

I was honestly impressed she could stutter that much while still somehow defending her logic.

“Alright then, it’s settled.”

I pulled up my LINE QR code and held out my phone. She scanned it with hers.

For a few seconds, Miyuki Hitotsuba just stared at her screen in a daze.

Then she gently hugged her phone to her chest—her very modest chest that was, compared to Chloe’s, not even a tenth as overwhelming.

“Ufufu… ufufufu…! A f-f-friend has been added…! Now it’s Yaohara-kun, Nikaido-san, Mitsushima-san, and Jeromiya-kun… four people… That’s practically an astronomical number…!”

“Oh yeah. Four. Truly a number beyond human comprehension.”

“Ufufu, you think so too, don’t you? …So, Jeromiya-kun, from now on, as one of my f-f-fri—fri—friends… will you get along with me?”

“Yeah. Let’s get along.”

How did this even happen?

I honestly had no idea how things ended up like this.

But somehow…

This gloomy loner—me—had just gained a friend. At least, technically.

With a small, awkward smile, I held out my right hand.

Miyuki Hitotsuba beamed brightly and grabbed it with a proud little “hmph.”

Her hand was small and cool.

It felt like ice that refused to melt…

And at the same time, like it was hiding a faint warmth deep inside.

“W-Well then, Jeromiya-kun. I need to get back to student council duties now. I’m glad I got to talk with you today.”

“Didn’t you just say you shouldn’t have talked to me so casually?”

“Forget that part. …Well then, farewell, Jeromiya-kun. I’ll message you on LINE for no reason someday, so be prepared!”

No sooner had she said that than Miyuki Hitotsuba skipped off behind the school building, humming happily to herself.

I looked down at my phone.

There it was—“Miyuki Hitotsuba” clearly added to my contact list. Her profile picture was a cute cat.

“…Man.”

I let out a small, tired laugh.

Miyuki Hitotsuba.

Kanade Nikaido.

Chloe Mitsushima.

That meant I now knew every heroine in this manga.

In my past life, I had just been a reader.

And now?

It felt like I had properly stepped into the story as one of the main characters.

I was actually feeling a little proud of myself.

Just as I was admiring my phone screen with a smug sense of accomplishment—

Ping.

A LINE notification.

From Chloe Mitsushima.

『On break right now! So, Jeromiya? Aren’t you lonely without me? You’re not… relieving yourself, are you?』

Relieving myself? Who the hell would jerk off at school? I’ll do that alone at home later—with your selfie, obviously.

I couldn’t tell if it was a typo or if she genuinely meant it. Either way, it was exhausting.

Still, I figured I should report what just happened.

So I typed back:

『I’m not jerking off and I’m not crying. Also, after some weird back-and-forth, I just exchanged LINE with Miyuki Hitotsuba. We’re friends now.』

—The moment I hit send.

It took less than thirty seconds for Chloe to start a furious video call.