I Reincarnated as the Villain Who Bullies the Protagonist in an Erotic Game, but I Just Want to Stay a Nobody, Yet Somehow the Heroines Keep Obsessing Over Me - Episode 18: A Sudden Crisis

Episode 18: A Sudden Crisis

Lately, everything had been going smoothly.

I’d been maintaining just the right level of interaction with the other characters. I hadn’t done anything remotely shady. I thought I was living a quiet, uneventful life as the reserved guy in the corner of the classroom.

“You were the first one in the classroom this morning, right, Nishikouji?”
“This time it’s a nasty one. Poor target.”
“Well, in this class, the only person who’d do something like that is Nishikouji. Case closed.”

…So why the hell am I in this mess?

Seriously, I haven’t done anything. There’s no way I’d pull some reckless stunt that’d get me killed. I only came to school early today to study for the midterms.

So why?

This morning, the protagonist of this game—Saida—had their gym uniform discovered in shreds.

And after the culprit hunt began, a knife and torn pieces of the uniform were found in my desk. The items had fallen out of the desk, exposing them to everyone. Naturally, suspicion turned on me. There was no one else they could suspect.

If I had to guess, it’s likely one of Nishikouji’s middle school victims framing me. Nishikouji’s past catching up to him is totally his fault. But inside, it’s me now, so… yeah.

So, I’d been deemed the perpetrator of this half-baked bullying stunt, but oddly, the teachers didn’t reprimand me much. Apparently, the Nishikouji of old used his family’s power to sweep all his misdeeds under the rug. He’d even gone so far as to threaten teachers to protect his reputation. What a scumbag.

“But this means I’m back to being the bad guy.”

I slipped out of the classroom and headed for the rooftop staircase. I needed to clear my head.

“This is seriously bad. Feels like death flags are popping up all over the place.”

Also, I hate being accused of something I didn’t even do.

“But why the protagonist? I mean, I can’t exactly wish it were someone else… If I was framed, couldn’t they have staged it themselves…? Huh? Staged it themselves…?”

A thought clicked into place in my mind. Staging it themselves? Couldn’t the protagonist have done that?

“But what’s the protagonist’s motive? What would they gain from that?”

As far as I know, the protagonist shouldn’t have any knowledge about this world. In the game, the only thing they’d possibly know is the content of their dreams. So, it’s probably not them.

“What the hell am I supposed to do about this…?”

I buried my head in my hands.

Well, if this incident gets resolved somehow, maybe it’ll be fine. That’s a big if, though. I do feel bad for dragging the protagonist into this.

“Maybe… apologizing would help?”

If I apologize and offer to compensate Saida, things might settle down. But then what? The fact remains that harm was done to the protagonist.

“This is way too complicated.”

I buried my head in my hands again when a shadow fell across me.