I Saved the First Victim of the Horror Game (The Idol in My Class), and She Became the Ultimate Sweet Heroine Who Smiles Only at Me - 12-13

Chapter 12: Forced Event: The Endless Summer Vacation

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“I lost at rock-paper-scissors, so I’ll go now.”

The memory was far too vivid to call it déjà vu. Back then, Murase-san also had to go through the torii as a penalty…

“No. You absolutely cannot go.”

“Huh?”

I gripped Murase-san’s hand tightly. At the same time, I pinched my own cheek with my other hand. It hurt. This wasn’t a dream.

“Don’t start groping me all of a sudden…”

I’d heard that line before, too.

Time has rewound?

There was panic and confusion, but more than that, my heart was filled with helplessness. After spending a few days together, Murase-san had gradually started smiling… and I thought the second semester would just come normally.

“I have to go. Everyone’s—”

“You’ll get called ‘Invisible air’ again, right!? You don’t have to worry about that!”

I raised my voice without thinking.

“You… you know who I am?”

“Of course I do!”

“Then I… I have to go…”

“That’s why I said I absolutely won’t let you go!”

Murase-san tried to pull her hand free and head toward the torii. Back then, I didn’t realize how strong she was.

What should I do here…?

I hadn’t made a wrong choice. I had tried my hardest at everything I thought I could do. I had taken the best possible actions.

…but it felt like someone had pressed the reset button, and everything had gone back to the beginning.

What would have been the right thing to do…? What should I have done…?

Then, a window appeared in front of me like a game screen.

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Do you want to regroup with everyone?

＞【Yes】

＞【No】

❖＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿◢

Right. At the very first time, a choice like this appeared too. I ignored it back then.

“…”

Somehow, I felt like I couldn’t ignore it this time, so I tentatively reached out, like tapping a phone screen, and selected 【Yes】. The instant my finger touched it, the window disappeared.

Beep beep beep—

The alarm signaling midnight went off from Murase-san’s pocket.

“Ah… it’s already midnight…”

Murase-san slumped her shoulders in disappointment. For now, I had managed to prevent her from passing through the torii…

“Murase-san… You don’t remember me…?”

“What do you mean?”

Murase-san looked at me blankly. No, she genuinely didn’t understand what I was talking about. Since choices appear, this must be a game-like world. But then a thought struck me.

Could it be that the post-summer-break world doesn’t exist…?I don’t think an infinitely repeating game world exists, but… Maybe this world only has a time limit up to the summer break…

“Ah, Murase-san! That’s dangerous! Come over here!”

“Huh?”

“Quick!”

I grabbed Murase-san’s hand and pulled her over. A massive tree had fallen exactly where she had been standing.

“Huh? Huh? Eeeh!?”

“That’s why I said it was dangerous!”

“Y-You’re like a prophet, Ueno-kun…”

Her voice was panicked, her face blank. Murase-san’s reaction was as awkward as ever.

This is bad. The event that’s going to kill her is about to happen. But… what should I do!? Even if I protect her, it feels like we’ll be sent back to square one. The relationship I’ve built with her will vanish. I can’t stand that.

My head was close to panicking, my mind about to go blank when someone lightly tapped my shoulder from behind.

“Oh—there you are.”

I turned around in a fluster to see a slim, short-haired boy standing there.

“Yamamoto…?”

The name came naturally to mind. This was the guy who had escaped the abandoned village first in the last run!

“Murase, you didn’t go through the torii, did you?”

“Sorry about that.”

“Everyone was ready to record you passing through on their phones.”

My head heated up. I was furious. 

You have no idea what’s about to happen! Murase-san could die because of that!

“Well, anyone would get scared. Anyway, we’ve got a tent over there. Let’s have a midnight snack with everyone.”

Yamamoto said this to us. The sequence of events was different from before. Could it be that this outcome happened because I actually chose the earlier option? Then this must be the intended route…?

“Damn…”

My vision blurred. I felt so lonely realizing that the Murase-san I had been talking to earlier was gone. Thinking that I might never see her again hurt my chest.

“Ueno-kun, your hand…”

“Ah.”

I realized I had been holding Murase-san’s hand the whole time. She turned away shyly.

Right. She may have a blank expression, but she isn’t emotionless. She can feel lonely if left behind, she can be scared, and she can even get shy…

“Murase-san, don’t ever leave me, not even a millimeter.”

I held her hand tighter. There was no time to feel down. I had promised to protect her first. I couldn’t waver here.

“Hey, what are you two doing? Let’s go already.”

Yamamoto nudged us forward. I didn’t understand what was happening, but I had no choice but to follow him…

“Millimeter… wait, huh? I feel like something like this has happened before…”

Even as I tried to pull her along, Murase-san froze in place and tears began to well up at the corners of her eyes.

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Chapter 13: Affection Is Something You Build Up!

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We started walking in the opposite direction from where the river had been. After going a little farther, we arrived at an open area that looked like it had once been used as a gathering place. It was fairly close to that torii. Tall trees stood densely all around it. In the center, three tents had been set up surrounding a bonfire.

“I brought Ueno and Murase!”

Yamamoto called out proudly, like he was bragging about prey he had caught. Warming themselves by the fire were…

A long black-haired girl with slightly reddish eyes, Nanase-san. A blonde girl with a fluffy low ponytail, Hoshino-san. Tanaka, with a buzz cut, the class clown and mood-maker. And Sato-kun, who had long hair at the nape and gave off a cool, handsome vibe.

Me, Murase-san, and Yamamoto. The seven of us had apparently come here for a test of courage.

“Miocchi, are you okay?”

The first to speak to Murase-san was the blonde Hoshino-san. Her voice clearly carried genuine concern.

“Yeah. In the end, I didn’t go through the torii.”

“Sorry. I was tending the fire…”

Hoshino-san shot a sharp glare at the boys.

“What were you going to do if the rumor turned out to be true?”

“Well, we came for a test of courage, so we thought we had to do at least that much. And Hoshino, you said—”

“We’re leaving first thing tomorrow.”

Saying that, Hoshino-san firmly grabbed Murase-san’s shoulders. That was a bit… no, a lot too close.

“Come on, we came all the way out here for a test of courage. We wanted to do something, right?”

“That’s because Tanaka insisted on it!”

“It wasn’t me! It was Yamamoto!”

The buzz-cut guy and the blonde girl started bickering. Honestly, right now, I didn’t care about their exchange at all.

“Murase-san, let’s sit over there for a bit.”

“Ah, thank you…”

We sat down a little away from the bonfire. Normally, just watching the flames would have been soothing, but not now. Fire was the last place where you could predict what might happen. I had no idea what was going to happen next… Thinking back to what occurred at the shed, there was even the possibility that some completely incomprehensible “something” could attack.

My vigilance toward my surroundings was stretched to its absolute limit.

“Ueno-kun, your face looks scary…”

“Does it?”

Murase-san said that to me. Well, of course I looked scared. If we were on the proper route, then what happened next might follow that synopsis exactly.

“Heeey~ you two.”

Grinning mischievously, Hoshino-san walked over to us. She really loved butting in.

“What’s going on here~? You two are holding hands.”

“Eh, n-no—”

At Hoshino-san’s comment, Murase-san flustered.

…But she didn’t let go of my hand.

“You two are suspicious~”

“Hoshino-san, stop teasing us…”

“Hehehe, I’ll disappear, little lovebirds. I’ll leave you two alone.”

Laughing strangely, Hoshino-san walked away. The red hair ornament tied at the base of her ponytail left a strong impression on me. When she returned to the bonfire, it suddenly felt like the area around us had gone quiet.

“…”

“…”

An uncomfortable silence settled between us. It hadn’t felt that way before…

“…Ueno-kun, um.”

“Hmm?”

Unexpectedly, Murase-san was the one who spoke first.

“It’s better if I don’t leave you even a millimeter, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Okay, here I go.”

Still holding my hand, Murase-san moved closer, pressing her body against mine.

“What are you doing?”

“I thought maybe I should fill the gaps.”

“The gaps?”

“The gaps between our bodies.”

“What do you mean!?”

“I mean exactly what I said…”

“I don’t understand what ‘exactly’ means here!?”

Murase-san peered into my face with a puzzled expression.

“I’ve been feeling chills for a while…”

“Chills?”

“I feel like I owe you a lot, Ueno-kun. Like, because of you, I was able to become really positive. But I can’t remember what it was exactly—”

Her voice sounded like she might burst into tears at any moment.

“It’s making me feel kind of uncomfortable…”

“Murase-san…”

She remembers.

Just that alone made me feel saved.

It wasn’t in vain! There has to be another way to free Murase-san from her fate of death. I must have made the wrong choice somewhere in the last run.

“It’s okay! Let’s end this summer vacation as soon as possible!”

“Hmm… I feel like I’ve heard that before too.”

I can’t sit here wallowing.

Murase-san would die at dawn. Something would definitely happen before then. In that case, maybe I should talk to the others and gather as much information as possible.

“Murase-san, shall we go back to the others?”

“Ah, okay.”

Still holding hands, we joined the group. What I lacked was information… I couldn’t afford to remain completely clueless.

“Oh, the suspicious duo is back.”

“Don’t call us suspicious.”

Yamamoto said that, so I shot back immediately. I hadn’t forgotten. Last time, you guys ran away first and left Murase-san behind!

“Hey, I’ve got something I want to ask everyone.”

“““Hm?”””

Several voices overlapped in response.

“Why did we choose this place for a test of courage?”

“Why? Because this place has a rumor going on.”

Yamamoto answered with a slightly exasperated look.

“That’s it? There’s usually more of a reason.”

“What do you mean? A village of mass slaughter sounds obviously interesting.”

“Mass slaughter…?”

That was the first I’d heard of that. Right. I needed to gather more information like this.

“You said it felt like a game, right?”

The handsome Sato-kun muttered that quietly while staring at the bonfire.

“Ah.”

That was when I suddenly remembered… The words that had appeared after the synopsis.

【Game Start】

Which meant… Maybe I really did have to clear this world as a “game.” If this game ended with summer vacation, then maybe there was nothing beyond that..

“M-Mass slaughter…”

Perhaps frightened, Murase-san clung tightly to my arm.

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