I Reincarnated as the Counselor NPC in a Dating Sim, and Now Every Heroine I Treat Becomes Obsessed with Me - Chapter 40: “Gaps in the Schedule—Shizuku on Tuesday, and the Silence on Friday”

Chapter 40: “Gaps in the Schedule—Shizuku on Tuesday, and the Silence on Friday”

The first week after the schedule started.

Monday. Shizuku’s day.

Shizuku knocked at 4:05, sat in her usual seat, drank her usual tea, and read her usual book.

Nothing seemed different—at least on the surface.

But the length of her notes had decreased.

Notes that used to go over a hundred letters were now, at most, around thirty.

『Ren-sensei. It’s cold today. The tea is delicious.』

A comment about the weather and the tea.

It felt like the kind of note she wrote in the early days.

Her note before leaving was just one line—

『I will come on Wednesday.』

There was no emotion in it.

—

Tuesday. Akane and Rin’s day.

Lunch break was as usual.

Rooftop. Just me and Akane.

Today was a hamburger steak bento.

“…Sensei. That Yukimura girl came yesterday, right?”

“Yeah. Monday is Shizuku-chan’s day.”

“…Hm.”

Akane cut her hamburger in half.

“What’s she doing today?”

“She’s probably in the library. She has duties there too.”

“…………”

Akane put the other half into her mouth.

The leftover food had stopped.

Maybe having her own fixed time in the schedule gave her some sense of ease.

After school.

Akane came to the counseling room first.

Rin arrived ten minutes later.

“Hinomiya-san, hey!”

“…Hey.”

Rin sat next to her.

I poured three cups of tea.

“Sensei, this schedule thing is nice. Before, I wasn’t sure when to come, but now that it’s set to Tuesday, it feels easier.”

“That’s good to hear.”

“Hinomiya-san, what about you?”

“…It’s fine. Just means my day is decided.”

Akane’s reply was blunt but not a rejection.

Rin and Akane coexisted just fine.

Rin talked nonstop, and Akane listened—but she didn’t push her away, and occasionally replied with a “Hm” or “I see.”

“By the way, Hinomiya-san, is it true you read Night on the Galactic Railroad?”

“…Who told you that?”

“Shizuku-chan. She told me when I saw her in the library. With a note.”

Akane frowned slightly.

“That girl talks too much.”

“Come on, it’s nice! It’s kind of unexpected that you read books—it’s cool.”

“What do you mean ‘unexpected’? I read books too.”

“So, how was it? Did it move you?”

“…………Shut up. My thoughts are private.”

Rin laughed.

Akane said, “Don’t laugh.”

But the conversation continued.

I worked at my desk, listening to the two of them.

A little past five—

Rin said, “I’m heading to solo practice!” and left.

Akane stayed behind.

“…Sensei.”

“Yeah.”

“Kagurazaka’s loud, but—”

Akane searched for the right words.

“I don’t hate it.”

“Yeah.”

“That’s all.”

Akane left.

Tuesday went well.

—

Wednesday. Shizuku’s day.

Shizuku came.

4:03.
A little earlier than Monday.

Her usual seat.

I made tea.

Shizuku held out a note.

『Ren-sensei. Yesterday, I passed by the counseling room.』

“…Yesterday?”

Tuesday.

Akane and Rin’s day.

『On my way home, I walked through the hallway. I could hear Kagurazaka-san’s voice from inside』

“…Yeah.”

Shizuku wrote another note.

Carefully, taking her time.

『It sounded fun.』

Three words.

Her handwriting looked slightly weaker than usual.

I paused for a moment, thinking about what to say.

“Rin-san’s voice carries. It must’ve reached the hallway.”

Shizuku nodded.

『Was Hinomiya-san there too?』

“Yeah.”

『…I see』

She didn’t write anything more.

She opened her book and began reading.

The sound of pages turning.
The sound of tea being sipped.
The sound of wind outside the window.

The usual time.

The usual silence.

But—

Even while her eyes stayed on the book, her gaze sometimes drifted to the cover of her notebook.

As if there was something she wanted to write—but chose not to.

5:30.

Shizuku packed up to leave.

A note before she left.

『I will come on Friday』

Same as Monday.

Just a confirmation of facts.

After the door closed, I looked at the seat where she had been sitting.

It felt like her warmth still lingered in the cushion.

Yesterday, on Tuesday—her day off—

Shizuku had passed by the counseling room.

“Just happened to pass by on the way home.”

That wasn’t a lie.

This hallway led to the dorms.

It wasn’t strange for her to walk through it.

But how did she feel, hearing Rin’s voice and sensing Akane inside?

On a day she wasn’t there—others were in her place, having fun.

I pushed that thought away.

I was overthinking it.

Shizuku was accepting things quietly.

The shorter notes were probably just because she wasn’t used to the schedule yet.

Once she got used to it—it would go back.

Once she got used to it—it would go back.

—

Thursday. Mio’s slot.

Mio didn’t come.

Just like she said—“I’ll come when I feel like it.”

I drank tea alone in the empty counseling room.

It was quiet.

It reminded me of April, when no one came.

Back then, “no visitors” was normal—but now, it felt a little lonely.

(…What is this loneliness? Time alone is something I need too. I record things, plan my approach, prepare for what comes next. A counselor needs time alone.)

I continued my paperwork.

Filing visit records. Notes for new visitors.

A little past five, I heard footsteps in the hallway.

They stopped—right in front of the counseling room.

There was a presence beyond the door.

But no knock came.

Three. Five. Ten seconds.

Then the footsteps moved away.

Who was it?

I thought about checking—but decided against it.

They chose to stop at the door and leave.

I respected that choice.

Still the rhythm of the footsteps lingered in my mind.

Small, quick steps.

Not sneakers—indoor shoes.

—

Friday. Shizuku’s day.

Akane had something to do and wouldn’t come.

Shizuku arrived.

Right at 4:00.

The earliest she had come this week.

She sat in her usual seat, took her tea—and immediately wrote a note.

『Ren-sensei. Yesterday, I came here.』

My hand stopped.

“Yesterday—Thursday?”

『Yes. But I left at the door.』

The footsteps on Thursday—that was Shizuku.

『Thursday is not my day. I thought I wasn’t allowed to enter.』

“I never said you couldn’t come. Thursday is Mio-san’s slot, but if she’s not here—”

『But it is not my day.』

Shizuku held out the note, cutting me off.

It was the first time she had interrupted me.

『Ren-sensei decided the schedule. I will follow it.』

Her writing was neat.

Her usual rounded handwriting.

No shaking.

No disorder.

Too neat.

The kind of neatness that came from suppressing emotion.

“Shizuku-chan—”

『Today is Friday. It is my day. —Shall we draw』

She changed the topic.

On her own.

I followed.

I took out the colored pencils and spread the paper.

Our usual back-and-forth drawing.

I made the first stroke.

A simple circle.

A meaningless circle.

Shizuku picked up a green pencil and drew leaves on top of it.

An apple.

Just like before.

Just like that first drawing, when she turned my circle into an apple.

Shizuku—was trying to return to the beginning.

A time with just the two of us.

A drawing meant only for the two of us.

I drew a tree trunk next to the apple.

Shizuku extended the branches.

I added a sun.

She colored the sky.

The same composition as the first drawing began to take shape.

But there was one difference.

In the first drawing, it was Shizuku who drew “two figures” in front of the house.

One tall. One small.

Today when it was her turn to draw them, she didn’t.

The house was there.
The tree was there.
The sky was there.

But there were no people.

Shizuku drew a small window on the house.

Inside it—curtains.

Closed curtains.

“…”

I didn’t say anything.

Shizuku put down the pencil.

The drawing was finished.

A landscape with no people.

A window with closed curtains.

Shizuku wrote a note.

『It turned out well.』

The same words as the first drawing.

But the picture itself was different.

“…Yeah. It’s a beautiful drawing.”

Shizuku nodded and got ready to leave.

At the door—she stopped.

She turned back—her lips moved.

No sound came out.

Only the shape of her lips formed something—and then she left.

I pinned the new drawing to the wall.

The eighth one.

An apple tree with no people.

A window with closed curtains.

I placed it next to the first drawing.

The same composition.

But the first had two figures and this one didn’t.

What Shizuku was feeling—this drawing said everything.

She didn’t put it into words.

She didn’t write “I’m lonely.”

She said, “I will follow the schedule.”

She was the one who suggested drawing.

All of it was correct behavior.

And within that correctness—there was a silent cry.

I sat in my chair and looked at the two drawings.

The schedule was working.

Midori could come comfortably.

Mio’s slot was secured.

Rin and Akane had no issues.

For three of them, it was positive.

For Akane too, it wasn’t negative.

Only one—only Shizuku—had lost something.

A place she used to come to every day—now reduced to three.

On the days she wasn’t there, others filled her place.

I knew that and still made the schedule.

I even predicted her reaction.

And chose what seemed best.

It wasn’t wrong.

It wasn’t wrong.

It shouldn’t be.

But—

Can I really dismiss the fact that there are no figures in the eighth drawing with just “it wasn’t wrong”?

I looked at the snowdrops by the window.

Their white petals had turned slightly brown.

Winter was coming.