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 30: Narita\'s Story

Episode 30: Narita’s Story

I sit on the bench and hand Narita the juice I bought from the nearby vending machine.

“Here. This is the juice you like, right?”

“Yeah. Thanks.”

He opens the pull-tab and drinks the juice in one go.

The spring weather is a bit cold, but it helps me calm down.

“Still, how did you realize I was different?”

“The first time I thought something was off was back at the restaurant.”

“Oh, I thought it looked pretty suspicious myself.”

“There was definitely a better way to handle it.”

Narita laughs as he says that.

“Yeah, I thought something was strange back then, but more than that, it was after. At that time, Nishikouji, who had been such a troublemaker, suddenly changed, and I was honestly pretty pissed off about it.”

“Of course you’d be pissed.”

“Right? I kept thinking, why the heck is this happening? I considered cutting ties with you and acting like the old Nishikouji.”

“That’s how you felt, huh?”

For a moment, I imagine it.

Narita falling into darkness. The situation where our positions had reversed.

I had been trying to save Narita’s life, but in reality, I had been trying to destroy it.

Yikes, thinking back, that was pretty dangerous. Scary.

“But, you know, after thinking ‘just one more day, just one more day,’ my relationship with you started to deepen. …And here’s something I’ll only tell you, Kaede. Actually, when I was in elementary school, I was bullied by my classmates.”

Narita’s tone suddenly changes.

I straighten up, preparing to listen.

“It was bad every day, and I kept thinking about getting revenge. I was obsessed with finding a way to get back at them. But I was too cowardly to do anything, so I ended up running away by studying for the junior high entrance exam and getting into this school. Once I got to junior high, I thought I’d rise to the top of the social hierarchy, become strong. Well, once I got to junior high, my personality didn’t change overnight, and I couldn’t make friends. I was depressed. Then, Nishikouji came along.”

“Oh…”

I listen carefully to Narita’s past, which had never been revealed in the game.

It’s far heavier than I expected, and I pay close attention.

“You were fearless from the moment you entered school. You didn’t hesitate to confront the upperclassmen. The first incident you caused was when an upperclassman’s girlfriend suddenly started liking you, and that upperclassman got mad and came to the classroom to beat you up. And then, Nishikouji, I was wondering what you were going to do, but instead of backing down, you punched that upperclassman right back. You beat him up and, with a cool face, told his girlfriend, ‘I’m not interested in someone like you.’ Honestly, it was a pretty terrible thing to do, but I thought, ‘Wow, this guy’s an overwhelming force.'”

So that’s what Nishikouji was up to.

I’m taken aback by how reckless and cruel Nishikouji could be.

Narita squints his eyes nostalgically and looks off into the distance as he continues.

“I tried to get closer to you, Nishikouji. Now I realize how childish that thought was, but back then, I was desperate to get stronger. I was determined to get back at my bullies—that was all I thought about. So, when I saw you fighting, I jumped in and punched the person you were fighting with without saying a word. Honestly, I was terrified, and my legs were shaking. But more than that—how should I put it—there was a sense of exhilaration. I thought, ‘I’ve gone from being the person who gets punched to being the one who punches.'”

Narita pauses there.

He takes a deep drink from the juice I handed him.

“So what did Nishikouji do then?”

Given how much of a jerk he was, I could easily imagine him doing something to finish it off. I’d find it strange if he didn’t do anything.

“Oh, he just said, ‘You’re a really interesting guy.’ And that’s how our relationship started. Not quite as friends, and not really as teacher and disciple either. It was more like a boss and subordinate, but it was still a little different from that. It felt like a dream back then, and it was fun. We did all sorts of bad things together, got feared by everyone in the grade, and still didn’t regret it. We were the undisputed strongest in that school… well, Nishikouji was the strongest, and he was scary, but still.”

I never imagined that the relationship between Nishikouji and Narita was like this.

What I had expected was that Narita would try to become Nishikouji’s disciple or something. It hadn’t been explained in the game, but he had admired him.

It seems like their relationship was always a thin and unspoken one, a fragile one.

“On the day of the entrance ceremony, you were absent, Kaede.”

“I didn’t just miss it, there were some things going on.”

“It was unusual for you to skip the entrance ceremony. You had always been the type to skip without saying anything, but that time, you told me that you were really looking forward to your parents coming to the entrance ceremony.”

“Wait, seriously?”

“Yeah, seriously. Nishikouji always looked forward to events, especially when his parents were supposed to come. In the end, they never showed up, though.”

“I see… yeah, I kind of thought that.”

I think about Nishikouji’s longing for his parents’ love. I still carry that feeling inside me.

After all, Nishikouji started using violence because he was starved for his parents’ love.

“And then, right when I started thinking something was off, you completely changed and came to school as a totally different person. I thought something was weird when you came back to school, and then you suggested going to a cafe. We had spent three years together, and you never said something like that before, so I was seriously surprised. The biggest shock came when we were talking at the cafe. You were completely uninterested in group dates, which you’d normally be all over, and you were acting all nervous. At that time, I didn’t think you had changed into a completely different person, I just thought your personality had changed. Then, when I realized this is just how you were now, I started thinking about how to bring things back to how they were. And if you couldn’t, well… I shouldn’t say this part.”

“You don’t have to worry about it, just say it.”

“Well… honestly, I thought about reversing our positions. I thought if I could do that, I’d become the strongest in this school. More than that, I was really pissed off by how suddenly you’d changed. What did it mean, ‘I’ll be serious starting from high school’? What happened to our three years? If you suddenly changed like that, what should I do? I kept thinking that if I reversed our roles, maybe I’d get revenge. But, in the end, I was too scared to actually do anything. As our relationship dragged on, I started thinking more and more. And then, I realized something.”

“That… I became your first real friend.”

“…What?”

I hadn’t expected him to say that. The truth is, I only stuck with Narita because he was the only reliable person around. But I also really did want to be his friend.

“After that, I felt really happy. It had been a while since someone treated me like that, and even though things started off strangely, I wanted to stay your friend. And, you know, as we spent more time together, I felt like maybe things just went back to how they were before.”

“Back to how they were?”

“Yeah. Because you still have Nishikouji’s memories, right? I don’t understand exactly what’s going on, but it feels like Nishikouji is still inside you. So it’s not really loneliness, but… something like that.”

“I see… That’s a complicated story.”

“It’s more of a feeling, really. But that’s how I feel. So, to sum it up, about what Taida said earlier today. I think he had a point, and honestly, I realized I had been childish. But realizing that was all thanks to you being here, so from now on, I want to keep being your friend.”

Narita smiles, a bit embarrassed.

So that’s why he stuck with me.

My chest feels warm. Narita had noticed. And he chose to stay with me, which made him even more amazing than when Taida had insulted him.

“…Thank you.”

“Yeah.”

I murmur. Narita nods.

“Sorry for making you listen to my long personal story.”

“No, I’m glad you told me. Honestly, I’ve always felt a bit uncomfortable being in this world.”

“Well, yeah. It’s natural to feel like that when things suddenly change.”

“Yeah. There’ve been so many incidents, I haven’t had time to think about anything else.”

“Ha ha, yeah. Since the entrance ceremony, it’s been one incident after another. Anyway, we should probably head back now.”

Narita stands up, and I do the same.

Together, we leave the bench. The cherry blossoms are starting to turn into leaves now.

In less than a month, summer will begin.