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 - 8-9

Chapter 8: The Girl Who Glitches When She Tries to Hide Her Soft Side

ーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーー

“Zzz… zzz…”

From beside me, I heard small, steady breathing. It echoed softly in my chest, as if matching the rhythm of my heartbeat—lightly, gently. A warm, soft presence was pressed against my arm, and it felt as cozy as sitting under a heated kotatsu.

Huh…?

Still half-drifting on the edge of sleep, I slowly turned my awareness toward my hand. My palm was faintly damp with sweat. And someone was gripping that hand tightly. Our fingers were intertwined firmly, as if there were absolutely no intention of letting go. Speaking of absolutely no intention of letting go…

Murase-san is okay, right—

“Hah…!”

My mind snapped fully awake! R-right in front of me was Murase-san herself! She was sleeping while pulling my hand toward her chest. And her surprisingly ample chest was pressed against it…

“That’s not the issue!!!”

This wasn’t the time to be flustered about something like that! Saying “something like that” was incredibly rude to Murase-san, but still! I looked at the clock in the room. It was already past seven in the morning.

“M-Murase-san!”

“Mmm…”

Her peaceful breathing continued. S-she was completely dead asleep. Even after midnight last night, nothing shockingly unusual had happened. It seemed I had fallen asleep at some point without realizing it!

“Y-Your stomach!?”

With my free hand, I lifted the towel blanket and checked Murase-san’s stomach. Her T-shirt had ridden up slightly, revealing a nicely shaped belly button. It rose and fell gently with each breath. Yeah, nothing was wrong. Of course, it hadn’t been slashed open or anything like that.

“Th-thank goodness…”

The moment I let out a sigh of relief—

“…Mm.”

A small sound slipped from deep in her throat. At the same time, the grip on my hand tightened slightly.

“…Stuffed… animal…”

“Stuffed animal!?”

Murase-san twitched her brows and hugged my arm tightly. It was ridiculously cute, but this wasn’t our main focus right now!

“M-Murase-san! You need to wake up soon!”

“…No… I won’t let the stuffed animal escape…”

“I’m not a stuffed animal, I’m Satoru Ueno!”

She had completely mistaken me for a body pillow. And her grip was surprisingly strong. My arm was pinned in place.

“…Ah… mm.”

This time she let out a soft breathy sound, and her eyelashes trembled. Her eyelids fluttered open and…

“Mmm…?”

Murase-san woke up, her eyes still hazy with sleep. She looked at my chest first, then at her own hand, and finally our eyes met.

“…Huh?”

I could practically see something explode inside her head.

“N-no, this is—!”

Her ears turned bright red in an instant, and she leapt back from the towel blanket—

“I-it’s not me, okay!? It’s definitely not me!?”

“I didn’t climb into your futon, Murase-san!”

“Kyaaaaaaaah!”

The quiet of the morning was completely blown away.

◇◇◇

“I’m sorry for staying and even having breakfast.”

“No, no. It’s the first time Mio said she wanted someone to stay over. I already washed the clothes you were wearing, too.”

We were invited to the first-floor living room, where her mother had prepared breakfast for us. Fried eggs, toast, salad, and coffee. I was truly grateful.

“…I never said that.”

Murase-san shot her mother a resentful look. As always, her expression remained stiff even in front of her family.

“You did. You said you were able to come home thanks to Ueno-kun.”

“I-I might’ve said that, but…”

“No more doing dangerous things from now on, okay?”

“I know.”

“You’re really unfriendly, you know. If you stay like that, your boyfriend will lose interest in you.”

“He’s not my boyfriend, he’s a friend…”

Murase-san muttered her protest under her breath.

Murase-san, try harder! 

At this rate, her mom was seriously going to label me as the “boyfriend”!

“Ueno-kun, please continue to take care of Mio.”

The love she had for Murase-san came through so strongly… I had to try harder too. She had called herself a background character before, but within her family, Murase-san was undoubtedly the main character!

“…”

…Even though I was fired up, I had no idea what I should do from here. I wanted to believe we had avoided the instant-death route, but I had no solid proof. There was still a chance that nothing happened yesterday simply because I had been there. But realistically speaking, I couldn’t just keep staying at a girl’s house forever. If only there were some kind of deadline…

A deadline…?

I forced myself to remember that synopsis I had glimpsed. I was sure it mentioned getting caught in an “endless summer vacation”…

“Murase-san! Ma’am!”

Before I realized it, I had stood up and raised my voice.

“Please let me stay again tonight, even though school starts tomorrow!”

“Huh?”

Murase-san’s expression froze solid again.

“W-why?”

“Because I want to spend more time with you, Murase-san!”

That was it! If we could safely reach the end of summer vacation, it should mean we’d avoided Murase-san’s instant-death route! So if we could just get through today, which was the final day of summer vacation, without incident…!

“I-it’s fine, but… huh? Why? Huh? Huh?”

Murase-san’s face remained stiff as she fidgeted with her hair using her fingertips.

“Huh? Ueno-kun, do you like me that much…? Huh? I’m happy—no, wait, huh?”

Murase-san glitched out trying to hide her embarrassment.

ーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーー

Chapter 9: We’re Not Holding Hands Today…?

ーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーー

I finished breakfast and returned to Murase-san’s room. Ever since then, her mother had been staring at me the whole time with a smug grin. She even tossed out a huge line: “You’ve got guts, acting like that in front of a parent.” No, there wasn’t any deeper meaning to it than the words themselves… probably.

“Murase-san, what’s your plan for today?”

“Ahh…”

Murase-san had continued glitching even after breakfast ended. She had crawled into her bed and wouldn’t even show her face anymore. Well, for now, that might actually be safer…

“U-Ueno-kun, are you planning to stay here all day today…?”

“That’s the plan. Is that not okay?”

“Ahhh…”

It’s not like I’d normally try to stay over at a girl’s house for multiple days in a row!

But just a little longer… I felt like I was only a little bit away from completely saving Mio Murase. If nothing happened today and we could safely make it to the end of summer vacation, then I should be able to save Murase-san completely!

“By the way, when do you actually do idol work, Murase-san?”

“…Whenever I get jobs, I guess. I don’t have any right now. I’m not popular.”

“I see.”

I didn’t know much about the entertainment industry, but it seemed tough… Someday, I’d like to see Murase-san performing as an idol. Maybe she sang and danced with that same expressionless face. That might actually be kind of funny in its own way.

“I think I’ll head home once. I need to charge my phone, and I should get ready so I can go straight to school tomorrow.”

“A-Are you planning to go together tomorrow?”

“Would that bother you?”

“N-No, it’s not that…”

Murase-san, still buried under the futon, suddenly stopped moving entirely. Oh. Her presence in the room almost completely vanished.

“Hey—”

Starting to get worried, I pulled the blanket off.

“Hyah…!”

“Huh?”

I was startled. Murase-san, who appeared from beneath the blanket, was hugging her knees with teary eyes. The same Murase-san who hadn’t let her expression falter at all in front of her family was now blushing so red she looked like she might burst into tears at any second.

“T-That just now was… um… I wasn’t ready…!”

“Ready?”

“…M-Mentally ready.”

“What do you mean?”

It felt like I had uncovered something I wasn’t supposed to. S-So Murase-san could make an expression like that too?

“A-Are you going home…?”

“Yeah. I have to get ready for tomorrow. If you’d like, want to come with me?”

“T-Together!?”

For a second, I could’ve sworn steam puffed out from Murase-san’s head.

“If you don’t want to, that’s fine. But I don’t really want to be apart from you…”

“I-I never said I didn’t want to go!”

Murase-san suddenly raised her voice.

“W-What’s with you all of a sudden?”

“…I’m going.”

Murase-san’s hand lightly tugged at the hem of my shirt.

◇

We left Murase-san’s house and headed toward mine. My place was about a ten-minute walk from hers. Just an ordinary apartment building near the school.

Murase-san was wearing a white blouse that showed her shoulders and a denim skirt. As a small accent, she wore a silver necklace shaped like a four-leaf clover. She also carried a small pouch for her smartphone. She looked like she could head out somewhere for fun just like that. She had said she wasn’t popular, but as expected of an idol, she was very stylish. She could’ve just worn a tracksuit since we were only going to my place…

“Y-Your casual clothes are cute, Murase-san.”

“R-Really?”

“Yeah…”

“Thanks…”

Conversation over, just like that. This was bad. I was getting really embarrassed too. My outfit was just a T-shirt and jeans. There was such a thing as being too careless and I felt that with all my beings right now.

“…I might’ve made some good memories this summer vacation. Though you might get mad at me for saying that, Ueno-kun.”

“What do you mean?”

“I’ve never spent summer vacation hanging out with someone before.”

As we walked side by side, my fingertips lightly brushed against Murase-san’s hand. The moment we touched, her shoulders jumped. With the movement, the hem of her off-shoulder blouse fluttered, and I caught sight of her collarbone. When someone wore revealing clothes like that, it was hard to know where to look…

“S-Sorry. My hand bumped into yours…”

“No… I just got a little surprised…”

As she said that, Murase-san clasped her own hand tightly against her chest. Combined with her cute outfit, the gesture made her look unbelievably adorable. If not for her lack of expression, wasn’t “Air-chan” actually at school-madonna levels of cute…?

“Um… We’re not holding hands today…?”

“Huh?”

Murase-san said that while clutching her hand.

“N-No! It’s not that I want to hold hands! It just makes me feel safe!”

Maybe she realized that had sounded bad, because she lightly kicked at the gravel near her feet in small, flustered movements. She was speaking unusually fast.

“During the test of courage, the only time I felt safe was when I was with you, Ueno-kun…”

I could feel my own face heating up more and more.

“Then… should we hold hands?”

“…Yeah.”

I gently wrapped my hand around Murase-san’s. This was bad.I was so embarrassed I felt like my face was on fire. Mio Murase, who was supposed to be called “Air-chan,” looked unbelievably cute.

This was strange! This world was supposed to be a horror game world!

ーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーー