I Reincarnated as the Counselor NPC in a Dating Sim, and Now Every Heroine I Treat Becomes Obsessed with Me - Chapter 13: “The Biting Little Puppy—The Day Akane First Opened the Counseling Room Door”

Chapter 13: “The Biting Little Puppy—The Day Akane First Opened the Counseling Room Door”

June had arrived.

On a cloudy afternoon, with the rainy season drawing closer, it happened.

Near the end of fourth period, the homeroom teacher of Class 2-3 rushed into the staff room.

“Hinomiya snapped again and ran out of the classroom. This time she even kicked over a chair—”

The vice principal let out a sigh. 

“Again.” That single word carried pure resignation.

“Do you know where she went?”

“Probably the rooftop. It’s her usual spot—”

—”It’s her usual spot, so we can just leave her be.”

The rest of the teacher’s sentence practically hung in the air.

I stood up.

“I’ll go.”

Both the teacher and the vice principal turned to look at me.

It was the kind of look that clearly said, Oh right. The counseling teacher.

Honestly, I wasn’t even sure they remembered my name.

“Ah, um… Asagiri-sensei. But Hinomiya doesn’t really listen to adults—”

“It’s fine.”

There was no solid proof behind those words.

But I couldn’t stand the idea of one more adult deciding to “just leave her alone.”

—

I opened the rooftop door.

She wasn’t there.

Not in her usual spot.

Not in the shadow of the water tank.

Not by the fence.

Akane’s regular territory was empty.

The wind blew.

Gray clouds hung low.

The rooftop was silent.

“…………”

I slowly scanned the area.

The rooftop was wide, but there weren’t many places to hide. Behind the water tank. In the shadow of the outdoor unit. Along the fence—

Then I heard it.

A small sound.

Not quite breathing. Not quite sobbing. Something tightly suppressed.

I walked around to the back of the water tank.

Akane was there.

Sitting with her knees pulled tightly to her chest.

The tough expression she always wore was gone. Her face was buried in her knees, her body curled in on itself.

She was trembling.

She must have noticed my presence. Without lifting her head, her muffled voice shot toward me.

“…Don’t come here.”

It wasn’t her usual “You’re annoying.”

Her voice was hoarse.

“I said don’t come. Just leave me alone. That’s what you always do, right? That’s what everyone does. When I snap, it’s a pain, so you all just leave me alone—”

“I’m not leaving.”

Her trembling stopped.

“…Huh?”

“I couldn’t leave you alone. That’s why I came.”

Silence.

I sat down about two meters away from her.

The same distance as our usual rooftop lunches.

The same angle.

The same space between us.

Nothing changed.

After a moment, Akane slowly lifted her head.

Her eyes were red.

She had been crying.

The instant she realized I had seen the tear tracks, her face twisted.

Embarrassment.

Anger.

And something more complicated than either.

“Don’t look at me! I’m not crying!”

“Okay.”

“I said I’m not crying!”

“I hear you.”

I didn’t look at Akane.

Instead, I looked up at the cloudy sky.

There was something I had learned from our rooftop lunch diplomacy.

Akane hated being looked at.

More precisely—she hated being seen when she was weak.

So I didn’t look.

We were in the same space, but our eyes never met.

One minute.

Two minutes.

Her breathing gradually steadied.

Three minutes.

“…He said it.”

The words slipped out quietly.

“Who?”

“…My homeroom teacher. During class just now. I missed the deadline for an assignment. He said, ‘Hinomiya, again? You’re always like this. Why don’t you try being serious for once?’ —In front of everyone.”

“…………”

“It’s not like I didn’t mess up. I know I forgot it. That part’s on me. But—”

Her voice began to shake again.

“‘You’re always like this.’ Always. Always, always. I’m the girl who’s ‘always like this.’ The one who’ll never change. That’s what they think. All adults are the same. At first it’s ‘Do your best.’ Then before long it’s ‘Again?’—”

She buried her face in her knees.

“…You’re the same, aren’t you. Eventually.”

“The same how?”

“Eventually you’ll say ‘Again?’ too. Every time I snap, you’ll get tired of it. Annoyed. And then you’ll leave.”

I paused for a moment.

Then I answered honestly.

“I can’t promise I’ll never get annoyed. I’m human. I have feelings too.”

Akane lifted her head.

That clearly wasn’t the answer she had expected.

“But—”

I kept my gaze on the cloudy sky as I continued.

“I won’t get fed up and disappear. That much, I promise.”

“…………Why?”

“‘Why’ is a difficult question. —If I had to give a reason… we still have about two months’ worth of lunches left.”

“…Huh?”

“I haven’t even figured out all your favorite menu items yet. I know fried chicken and katsudon are safe. But what about yakiniku? Hamburg steak? Are you the type who can handle a full makunouchi bento?”

“…What are you even talking about?”

“Until I conquer the entire lunch menu with you, I’m not going anywhere. At least not before that.”

Akane stared at me.

Puffy eyes from crying.

A red nose.

Her ponytail slightly messy.

A face you’d never see in the game.

Not the polished “tsundere heroine” portrait.

This was real. A seventeen-year-old girl on the verge of breaking.

After a few seconds of silence—

Akane let out a small laugh.

She was still crying.

But she laughed.

“…Are you stupid? Lunch, seriously?”

“Probably. I won’t argue with that.”

“Don’t make promises over something as dumb as lunch…”

“Lunch is powerful. Humanity’s oldest communication tool.”

“There it is again. Your weird logic…”

Akane wiped her eyes with her sleeve.

Roughly.

Over and over.

She hadn’t completely stopped crying.

But the breakdown from earlier had faded.

The bento talk had shifted her emotions from falling apart to mild irritation.

From a counseling standpoint, this was completely unorthodox.

I had redirected an emotional explosion with humor.

You won’t find that in any textbook.

But—

For Akane, this worked.

If I confronted her head-on with logic, she would brace herself for another lecture.

If I gently sympathized, she would snap back with “Don’t pity me.”

So instead, I joked.

I made her laugh at something ridiculous.

I let her feel that even when she was a mess, I would treat her exactly the same as always.

For Akane, that was what “safe” meant.

“…………”

Still hugging her knees, she stared up at the sky for a while.

Then, quietly—

“…Is the counseling room open after school?”

Inside my head, I gave a small fist pump.

On the outside, my expression didn’t change.

“It’s open. Anytime.”

“…Not like I said I’m going.”

“Right. You didn’t.”

“I was just asking.”

“Yep. Just asking.”

“…………You’re annoying.”

Akane stood up.

She brushed the dust off her uniform and retied her ponytail.

“…I’m going back to class.”

“Alright. See you.”

She walked toward the rooftop door.

Halfway there, she stopped and looked back.

“—Lunch. I want hamburg steak tomorrow.”

“Got it.”

She gave a small snort and disappeared through the door.

—

After school that day—

I was in the counseling room, drawing with Shizuku when—

Knock knock knock.

No, not knock.

It was more like someone pounding on the door.

BANG. BANG. BANG.

Shizuku’s shoulders jumped.

“It’s okay,” I said quietly before heading to the door.

I opened it—

Akane stood there.

Her ribbon was crooked.

Her blazer was tied around her waist.

Her face looked like she had personally declared war on the world.

“…I came.”

“Welcome.”

“Not like I wanted to. The classroom’s just loud. I was looking for somewhere quiet, that’s all.”

“Yeah. It’s quiet here. Come in.”

Akane stepped into the counseling room.

And then—

She locked eyes with Shizuku.

Akane and Shizuku.

Same school. Same grade.

Completely opposite personalities.

Their first meeting in this room.

Akane’s face openly showed surprise.

There’s already someone here? —that kind of look.

Shizuku quickly lifted her book higher, hiding her face behind it.

Her usual defense mode.

For a second, the air tightened.

I naturally stepped between them.

“Akane, you can sit over there. — Shizuku-chan, it’s okay. Just a guest.”

Akane dropped into the chair farthest from Shizuku.

Crossed her arms.

Glared out the window.

Shizuku remained hidden behind her book, though she peeked over it now and then at Akane.

Three people.

One room.

Silence.

I poured three cups of tea.

One for Shizuku.

One placed near Akane.

One for myself.

Akane took a sip and muttered, almost under her breath—

“…What is this place? It’s so quiet it’s kind of unsettling.”

From behind her book, Shizuku stared at Akane.

Akane noticed.

“What? Don’t stare at me.”

Shizuku flinched and buried her face back in her book.

“—Ah.”

Akane’s expression shifted slightly.

Awkward.

“…I’m not mad or anything. I just don’t like being looked at. …Sorry.”

Shizuku slowly lowered her book a little and gave a tiny shake of her head.

A small gesture that said, It’s okay.

Akane saw that and let out a small snort.

“…You’re weird.”

It wasn’t cruel.

That was simply Akane’s version of neutral.

The silence returned.

But it wasn’t the same as before.

It had changed.

Just a little—

A silence where they had acknowledged each other’s presence.

After about fifteen minutes, Akane stood up.

“I’m going.”

She headed for the door.

Without turning back, she muttered—

“…I might come tomorrow. Or maybe not.”

And then she left.

Shizuku slid a memo toward me.

『Is she angry?』

“She’s not angry. She’s scared.”

Shizuku thought for a moment.

Then she wrote another memo.

『She’s a little like me.』

I read it—

And quietly admired her insight.

Shizuku couldn’t use her voice.

Akane could only use anger to express herself.

Their methods were completely opposite.

But at the core—

They were the same.

“They’re scared of showing who they really are.”

Shizuku had realized that—

Without words.

Pure instinct.

“…You’re sharp, Shizuku-chan.”

Behind her bangs, her eyes narrowed just a little.

Maybe she was embarrassed.

Maybe not.

I couldn’t be certain—

But her expression was gentle enough that I wanted to believe she was.