I Reincarnated as the Counselor NPC in a Dating Sim, and Now Every Heroine I Treat Becomes Obsessed with Me - Chapter 37: “Intersection—The Girls Meet Outside the Counseling Room”

Chapter 37: “Intersection—The Girls Meet Outside the Counseling Room”

First week of November.
The trigger—was rain.

Monday. Heavy rain since morning.

Lunch break. 

Since the rooftop couldn’t be used, I had lunch with Akane in the empty classroom next to the counseling room. Our usual rainy-day spot.

We spread out our lunch boxes. 

Today was nikujaga. Lightly sweet. 

After adjusting it again and again to suit Akane’s taste, I was confident mine was better than anything store-bought.

“…Sensei. Can I ask you something?”

“Go ahead.”

“That Yukimura girl—she’s been with someone in the library lately, right?”

“Shizuku-chan? Seems like she got along with someone from the library committee.”

“Hm.”

Akane split a potato from the nikujaga with her chopsticks.

“That girl—she’s scared of me, isn’t she?”

A sudden question. 

But there was no sharpness in her voice.

“At first, yeah. But I don’t think that’s the case anymore.”

“Even when we’re in the counseling room together, she never looks at me.”

“Shizuku-chan doesn’t really look at anyone directly. Her bangs cover her eyes.”

“…That’s true.”

Akane ate quietly for a while, then spoke again.

“I saw her put up a POP in the library. During the festival.”

“You read it?”

“…I just happened to notice it while passing by.”

Just “passing by,” yet she remembered who made it.

Which meant—she definitely read it.

“Night on the Galactic Railroad, was it— That girl’s writing was kind of…”

Akane searched for the right words.

“…it hit me.”

“What part?”

“It said, ‘What remains at the end of the journey isn’t sadness, but the warmth of the time spent with someone.’ That—she wrote that, right?”

“Yeah.”

“…That girl can’t speak, but she can write like that.”

There was a faint hint of respect in her voice.

“Maybe because she can’t speak, her writing became stronger.”

“…Hm.”

Akane finished her lunch, closed the lid, and looked out at the rain.

“…That book—is it in the library?”

“‘Night on the Galactic Railroad’? Yeah, it is. —You want to read it?”

“I didn’t say I want to. …I just asked if it’s there.”

The moment she asked, it already meant she was interested.

Akane’s “just asking” was her way of saying “I want to.”

After more than half a year, I had gotten used to translating her words.

—

Wednesday. After school.

Shizuku came to the counseling room. 

Her usual seat. Her usual tea.

Today, as soon as she arrived, she held out a note.

『Ren-sensei. Today, I saw Hinomiya-san in the library.』

“Akane went to the library?”

『Yes. She was standing in front of the shelves. It looked like she was searching for something. But she didn’t ask the librarian or the library committee—she was looking through the shelves by herself』

Shizuku’s observation skills.

She had accurately noticed an unfamiliar presence entering her domain—the library.

『When I got closer, Hinomiya-san moved away from the shelf.』

“…I see.”

Akane went to the library. And when Shizuku approached, she left.

She had probably gone looking for Night on the Galactic Railroad. But when Shizuku noticed her, she ran off.

Shizuku wrote another note.

『The shelf Hinomiya-san was looking at was the one with Kenji Miyazawa’s books.』

Shizuku—understood.

She knew what Akane had been searching for.

I didn’t say anything. Shizuku didn’t write anything more either.

After about ten minutes, she wrote again.

『Ren-sensei. May I deliver a book to Hinomiya-san?』

“Deliver?”

『I will place the book Hinomiya-san was looking for in her shoe locker. Together with a note. —Would that be a bother?』

I thought for a moment.

Shizuku was trying to reach out to Akane on her own.

Someone she had only seen a few times in the counseling room. 

Different grade, different personality. 

The only thing they shared was “coming to this room.”

And yet, she noticed what Akane was searching for—and wanted to bring her that book.

“I think it’s fine. Just—Akane isn’t very good at accepting things directly, so make sure it doesn’t feel forced.”

Shizuku nodded.

『I understand. I’ll write in the note, “The return deadline is two weeks. If you don’t read it, please return it.” I’ll make it a loan, not a gift.』

—I was impressed.

Shizuku understood Akane’s personality.

To avoid hurting her pride—her “I don’t accept handouts”—she chose the form of a “library loan.”

“Shizuku-chan, that’s a perfect plan.”

Behind her bangs, her eyes narrowed just slightly.

—

Thursday. 

Lunch break. Rooftop.

While eating, Akane suddenly spoke.

“…That Yukimura girl—she’s kind of weird.”

“What happened?”

“There was a book in my shoe locker. With a library slip. And a note.”

“What did it say?”

Akane made a slightly annoyed face as she pulled the note from her pocket.

A small, folded piece of paper.

Shizuku’s handwriting.

『To Hinomiya-san. I saw you in front of the Kenji Miyazawa shelf, so I thought this might be the book you were looking for and brought it to you. The return deadline is two weeks. Library Committee — Shizuku Yukimura.』

A formal message.

But at the end—one extra line.

—『If you’d like, please give it a read.』

That was all.

A simple, official loan note—with just one personal line added.

Not pushy, but still clearly saying, “I chose this for you.”

“…So, the book?”

“I haven’t read it. Yet.”

“You’re still holding onto it.”

“There’s a return deadline, so of course I am. I’ll give it back in two weeks.”

Akane put the note back into her pocket.

—She hadn’t thrown it away.

“That girl can’t even speak, but she writes notes properly. And the fact she figured out what I was looking for—kind of pisses me off.”

“Pisses you off?”

“…Not exactly. It’s more like… I don’t know. …Feels like I was seen.”

Akane looked up at the sky.

“I’m used to being seen by you, Sensei. But being seen by her—I’m not used to that.”

Akane and Shizuku.

They had shared the same space many times in the counseling room.

This was the first time they connected outside of it.

Without me in between.

—

Friday.

After school, the counseling room had two visitors.

Rin and Midori arrived almost at the same time.

Rin opened the door first with a cheerful, “Sensei, hey!”

Right after, Midori came down the hallway.

“Oh. Kagurazaka-san, you’re here as well.”

“Ah, President! Good work!”

Rin waved.

Midori gave a polite bow.

It wasn’t rare for them to be there at the same time.

But their schedules rarely aligned, so running into each other like this only happened about once a month.

“Sensei, I’ve got something quick to talk about. —Is it okay if the president’s here?”

“I don’t mind. Midori-san?”

“I only have a small report, so it can wait. Please, go ahead, Kagurazaka-san.”

“Thanks! I’ll be quick!”

Rin sat down.

Midori stayed standing—then, after a brief hesitation, sat in the chair by the bookshelf.

This was the first time she chose to “wait.”

Before, she would have said, “I’ll come back later,” and left.

“So, about this. It’s about club stuff—”

Rin began explaining.

It was about a misunderstanding between Satou and another first-year.

“When Satou spoke to her during practice, the other girl took it as, ‘You think I’m wrong, don’t you?’ But Satou didn’t mean it like that at all.”

“Could be a matter of how it was said. How did Satou say it?”

“Uh, like, ‘You should try kicking it a bit more from the right!’ It sounded like normal advice to me, but—”

At that moment, Midori spoke.

“…Excuse me. I apologize for interrupting.”

Rin and I looked at her.

“That junior—could it be that she usually lacks confidence in her own play? When someone lacks confidence, even specific advice can feel like confirmation of their doubts.”

Rin’s eyes widened.

“…Yeah, that’s true. She might’ve been lacking confidence lately. Ever since she messed up in that match.”

“In that case, before pointing things out— it might be better to first mention one thing she did well, and then what she can improve. Something like, ‘This part was good, and if you adjust this, it’ll be even better,’ in that order.”

Rin stared at Midori.

“…President, is that from experience?”

Midori lowered her gaze for a moment.

“…Something similar happened in the student council. I pointed out too many details and made a junior lose confidence. —Lately, I’ve been trying to mention the good points first.”

Midori shared her own mistake.

With Rin.

Inside the counseling room.

Rin grinned.

“So even the president has stuff like that, huh. That’s kinda reassuring.”

“…It’s nothing to be proud of.”

“No, not at all! Actually— hearing that you’re making that kind of effort makes me want to try it too.”

The corners of Midori’s lips softened slightly.

“…If it was helpful, then I’m glad.”

I watched as I poured three cups of tea.

Rin and Midori.

The mood-maker and the perfectionist.

Complete opposites.

But they shared one thing—leading others.

A captain and a student council president.

Through that—they connected.

Not because I stepped in.

Rin spoke, Midori responded, and the conversation formed naturally.

The counseling room was beginning to change.

From a one-on-one space between me and each of the five, into a place where the five of them crossed paths.

I placed the tea in front of them.

“Ah, thanks!”

“Thank you.”

The three of us drank tea.

“President, do you like tea?”

“…I don’t dislike Asagiri-sensei’s tea.”

“Same here! Sensei’s tea is kind of calming.”

“Yes. It’s strange. It shouldn’t be anything special in terms of tea leaves.”

“It probably tastes good because Sensei makes it.”

“…That might be true.”

They kept talking—without me.

I quietly drank my tea.

—

After Rin left, Midori stayed behind.

Not for the report—just for another cup of tea.

“…Asagiri-sensei.”

“Yeah.”

“Today was the first time I properly spoke with Kagurazaka-san. We’ve talked before outside, but not like this.”

“How was it?”

Midori thought for a moment.

“…She’s a warm person. Like the sun.”

“That sounds just like Rin.”

“But—”

Midori looked down at her cup.

“I realized she has her own struggles too. Behind that smile.”

“…………”

“The old me wouldn’t have noticed. —I wouldn’t have even tried to see what’s behind someone’s smile.”

Midori finished her tea.

“If I say it’s thanks to you, Sensei—you’ll just say, ‘It’s your own strength,’ won’t you?”

“I will.”

“I know. —Then I’ll try, with my own strength, to look at the people around me a little more.”

Midori stood up.

“The monthly report—next time.”

“You just came to drink tea today?”

For a brief moment, her eyes widened.

“…The tea was good, so I ended up coming.”

She dodged the question.

But she didn’t deny it.

After she left, I washed the three cups.

Tea for three.

A conversation between three people.

In this room—the girls had started to connect with each other, without going through me.

Shizuku reached out to Akane.

Rin and Midori shared their experiences.

It was still a small intersection.

Just the beginning.

But—instead of all five threads connecting only to me, they were starting to connect with each other as well.

This was the scene I had been aiming for.

Supposed to be and yet, as those five threads slowly began to move away from me, that familiar, needle-like pain surfaced again.

(…I’ve said this over and over. That’s countertransference. It’s your emotion, not theirs. Be aware of it. Be aware—and don’t hold on. …Don’t hold on? No, that’s wrong. You should let go. —No, it’s not time yet. What is this back-and-forth? Am I tired?)

I finished the now-cold tea.

Outside the window, it was already dark.

November sunsets came early.