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 - 31

Chapter 31: How to Protect Murase-san: Stay Lovey-Dovey Until Morning

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“……”

At last, I understood why Murase-san had been chosen as the first victim. Murase-san really had just been dragged into this, after all.

“That’s why! Miocchi might be in danger!”

“I know.”

I didn’t know if this was really the right time to be having this conversation, but for us, it was extremely important information…! In other words, it meant that someone other than Hoshino-san was targeting Murase-san (Hoshino-san).

“It’s my fault… it’s my fault Miocchi is…!”

“Nothing’s happened yet, so it’s okay. But let me ask you one thing.”

And this was something we definitely had to confirm. Even thinking about it from a meta perspective, it was hard to believe that the person trying to target her was some random outsider who had suddenly appeared.

“Hoshino-san, do you think the person trying to get revenge is among the members of this courage test?”

“……”

Hoshino-san didn’t nod or shake her head.

“……I don’t know. But I feel like someone’s been watching me the whole time.”

That was when it happened.

—Crash!

The loud clatter of cooking utensils scattering came from the direction of the campfire. We hurried back toward the tent where our classmates were. N-no way, was something paranormal happening here!?

“Ah, sorry. Sorry.”

The culprit behind the noise was Yamamoto. Plates and forks were scattered across the ground.

“What’re you doing, Yamamoto~?”

“I was thinking we’d make curry.”

“Who’s gonna eat at this hour!?”

Yamamoto and Tanaka were messing around. I’d gotten pretty panicked, but it turned out to be nothing serious. Tch, that idiot, fooling around at a time like this…!

“Ueno-kun, should we help too?”

“Why!?”

“It might be our last supper.”

“That’s not funny at all!”

“Ahaha, just kidding.”

Murase-san said that and chuckled softly, but there wasn’t the slightest hint of laughter in her eyes. I stared at Yamamoto’s back as he picked up the scattered forks. Beside him, Tanaka adjusted the firewood in the campfire.

…Earlier, Hoshino-san had said she felt like someone was watching her. Was it Yamamoto? Tanaka? Or Sato-kun, who had started preparing the ingredients? Even Nanase-san, who was standing a little apart staring at her phone screen, looked suspicious.

“Hey, Ueno, don’t just stand there! Help out! If the fire goes out, Hoshino’ll get scared, you know?”

Yamamoto said that in his usual tone, so I reluctantly stepped closer to the campfire to toss in some firewood. That was when….

“…Hey, Ueno.”

Sato-kun called out to me.

“How’d you manage to start dating Air-chan properly?”

“Cut it out with that nickname.”

“Ooh, scary.”

Next, Sato-kun turned to Murase-san.

“Murase, what do you like about Ueno?”

“His kindness… I guess.”

“We’re not in elementary school.”

Not understanding what he meant by that question, Murase-san and I exchanged glances. Even though it was about us, Sato-kun looked oddly delighted.

Damn it, in the end, everyone just looks like good people. Maybe I’m just bad at suspecting others.

“Murase-san, can I talk to you for a minute?”

I wished time would just pass peacefully like this… but we couldn’t afford to think that way. For now, it was time for a strategy meeting with Murase-san.

“I was thinking I wanted to talk to you alone too.”

Keeping just the right distance so we weren’t too far from the others, I started talking with Murase-san.

“Jeez, curry at this hour.”

“It’s nice, though. They look like they’re having fun.”

“Murase-san!?”

Murase-san narrowed her eyes and watched everyone. I couldn’t tell if it was because of the starlit sky or the campfire, but her eyes seemed to sparkle.

“I always kind of longed for stuff like this.”

“You don’t have to say it so wistfully. We can hang out a lot more from now on.”

“……Yeah. I want to hang out a lot.”

Murase-san smiled gently, but I noticed her fingertips trembling just slightly.

“Murase-san, are you okay?”

“Sorry. I was just wondering what’s going to happen after this.”

She continued speaking with a very lonely expression.

“……If things keep going like this, I’m going to die, aren’t I?”

“……”

Shock and surprise choked off my words. Murase-san had realized her own fate.

“I-I got rid of what we thought was the murder weapon, so…”

“But if we leave things as they are, we won’t be able to clear it… right?”

Without thinking, I grabbed Murase-san by the shoulders. She didn’t try to pull away. She just quietly looked back at me.

“What are you talking about!? Let’s clear it together!”

“Can clearing it and me surviving really both happen…?”

“…!”

If things followed the synopsis, Murase-san would die. But in order to clear it, we had to follow the synopsis. She had realized that contradiction…

“I decided I’m turning this world into a romantic comedy starring you and me, Murase-san.”

“Huh?”

“So let’s find the person who’s trying to get revenge on Hoshino-san together! If we stop them, maybe we can blast through all of this and clear it!”

This was just a spur-of-the-moment idea. But there was no other choice! We’d stop the culprit and jump straight to the clear screen! If we did it this way, the risk of things glitching out should stay to a minimum!

“B-but…”

“Murase-san, listen carefully. We absolutely can’t trigger any horror developments until morning.”

“O-okay.”

“So until morning, let’s be all lovey-dovey!”

“Ueno-kun?”

Murase-san’s eyes went wide and her face flushed bright red. The despair from just moments ago was nowhere to be seen. My completely off-the-wall proposal seemed to make her freeze on the spot.

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