I Was Helping Out With The Harem Plan Of The Romcom Protagonist I Admired, But Now That I’ve Realized He’s A Scumbag, Next Time I’m Going To Stop It And Make The Girls Happy Myself - Chapter 1: The Confession Drama

Chapter 1: The Confession Drama

“““““I’ve liked you for a long time!!!!!”””””

Five beautiful girls, lit by the setting sun, delivered the confession of a lifetime in the dead center of the park.

“……”

The boy being confessed to didn’t choose one of the five. He just stayed silent.

A confession scene in a park at dusk. Calling it a major youth event wouldn’t be an exaggeration—and yet the space was unbelievably quiet, like the final scene of some picture-perfect romantic comedy.

“I’ve liked you for a long time, Kouki-kun. So—”

“M-me too! Ever since you helped me back in elementary school, I’ve always, always—”

And the moment the third girl—the one with headphones hanging around her neck—followed up with a breathy, “Me too,” it happened.

In that instant, the park’s eerie silence was broken by a single set of footsteps—scrape, scrape—suddenly revealing itself.

The sound seemed to be coming from the shrubbery inside the park, but none of the six of them looked like they’d noticed.

The owner of those footsteps was an adult man. Though “adult” felt generous—he looked a little too worn for that. The second he burst out of the bushes, he sprinted in a straight line toward one direction.

In his hand was a single kitchen knife, gleaming silver and loudly asserting its presence with every flicker of light.

The way he clutched it with both hands, desperate and awkward, looked almost like a child cooking for the first time.

But there was no way he was here to cook. The place he was headed was near the center of the park—toward the boy at the heart of the confession scene: Kouki Jinguuji.

“Kouki-kun!”

The headphones girl noticed the man and tried to move to protect him, but it was already too late.

The man thrust the knife forward, completely consumed by impulse, charging at Kouki Jinguuji and… thunk.

He stabbed.

“AAAAGHHHHHH—!”

In the next moment, dark, dirty red dripped from someone’s sides.

It was me—Yuuya Sugita.

Still pressing a hand to the wound in my flank, I collapsed onto the ground.

“Pain” doesn’t even begin to cover it. A violent agony tore through me, and the part of my stomach that had been stabbed started turning cold fast.

The suspect—seeing me like that—let out a crazed shriek, tears pooling in his eyes as he turned and ran.

It was instinct. From the park entrance, I’d seen everything, and I judged that I was the only one who could save Jinguuji-kun. And as a result, I sacrificed my own life to save his.

Around my stomach, it was cold. More and more life drained out of me. I couldn’t speak. My body wouldn’t listen to me; I couldn’t even move. The most I could do was keep my eyes open.

Even so, I didn’t have a shred of regret.

Because I admired the protagonist of this story—Kouki Jinguuji.

If I could die helping Jinguuji-kun, someone worthy of the name “romcom protagonist,” then I couldn’t ask for a better ending.

“S-Sugita-kun!?”

Just as I decided I had no more regrets in life and started to let go, a girl’s voice pierced straight into my ears.

Four more voices followed, all shocked.

But the one voice I wanted to hear most—the boy’s voice—didn’t reach me.

Still, my heart felt calm.

Because the five girls weren’t looking at the person they loved. They were looking at me. Which meant Jinguuji-kun was unharmed.

My split-second decision hadn’t been pointless. Thank god. If I could be useful before I died, then I could finally—

As I felt proud of what I’d done and tried to sink into a deep sleep… an unsettling smile burned itself into my vision: a boy standing behind the girls.

That boy was, of course, Jinguuji-kun.

Why was he smiling?

But my doubts faded with my consciousness.

Even if I tried to speak, I had no strength left. My body had already hit its limit, and the bleeding refused to stop.

Even though I’d helped him with his harem plan…

“Why…”

As my eyelids began to close for good, the “protagonist” stood behind the heroines with his arms around their shoulders, and—

“Goodbye.”

He mouthed the words and watched me die.

※

I should’ve done everything right.

I helped him set up dates, come up with excuses to get alone with a girl, listened to the girls’ love troubles, even went along with confession rehearsals. And then I went further—I gave him my life.

Because I wanted to help him that badly. Because I truly believed he was the protagonist.

He had the drive to build a harem, and the power to save girls when it counted.

Kouki Jinguuji had a presence so strong I couldn’t help admitting he was the main character of the story.

That’s why I played the role of the kind best-friend side character for him… and that “protagonist” turned out to be the biggest trash alive.

He isn’t a protagonist. He thinks of me and every other guy as nothing but background. To him, I was nothing but a tool.

Even now, just imagining him—laughing at dead me while flirting and fooling around with cute girls, living a carefree life—makes my skin crawl.

But I’m already dead. There’s nothing I can do anymore.

If… if I could redo my life one more time, I’d absolutely stop Kouki Jinguuji’s harem plan.

Clutching that impossible wish, I gave up on life.

※

The noise around me is unbearable. Painful stares stab into me again and again.

Where am I?

I slowly open my eyes.

I—before I knew it—was standing right in the middle of a classroom.