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 14 & 15

Chapter 14: After That

I was walking alone toward the buses for the ride home.

After what happened, Hina told me, “I just want to be alone for a bit,” so I let her.

After something that shocking, of course she’d want time to think slowly, by herself.

She’ll be fine. She’s strong—she’ll stand back up on her own soon enough, and she’ll grab a different happiness.

As I walked thinking that, I made eye contact with a girl.

It was—

“Takasaka-san? What are you doing here?”

“Huh!? Ah—um… I, uh… I found a shop that looked pretty good, so I was heading over there.”

“I see… but more importantly—”

Because of the earlier rain, parts of Takasaka-san’s glossy hair and uniform were damp.

“You’ll catch a cold.”

“Ah… it’ll dry soon, so I’m fine.”

If I could, I would’ve lent her my blazer, but earlier I’d tilted my umbrella toward Hina, so my back was a little wet.

Lending her wet clothes would just make things worse.

And Takasaka-san probably doesn’t think highly of me.

With the field trip money incident, I felt like she’d forgiven me a little—but it’s not the kind of thing you forgive that fast.

Kindness from someone you don’t trust can feel like nothing but meddling from the other person’s side.

“For now, use this towel. If you don’t want it, you can throw it away. See you—”

“…Thanks.”

From behind me, I heard her voice faintly, like she was talking with her face pressed into something.

At least she didn’t seem to see it as meddling.

Letting out a quiet breath, I headed back to the buses.

※

After waiting at the bus meeting point for a while, the rest of our group returned.

Hina’s under-eyes were a little red, but maybe thanks to foundation, it wasn’t that noticeable.

The teacher took attendance, and right as it seemed like everyone was finally here, I noticed something.

Only our group leader—Jinguuji—was missing.

When one of the boys asked the teacher, we were told Jinguuji had gone home early because of an injury.

Apparently he’d looked so rough that the teacher contacted his parents, and they came to pick him up by car.

That’s how shocking what happened earlier must’ve been for Jinguuji.

I just hope he learns from it…

Thinking that—and feeling eyes from the girls in our group on me—I got on the bus.

※

The field trip ended.

That wrapped up the first major chunk of the scenario.

What comes next is even bigger, but for now, at least, things settled down.

As for Hina—she wasn’t completely “back to normal,” but she was recovering pretty fast.

Proof: during lunch break, she messaged me on LINE: “Look at the hallway.”

After finishing lunch, I looked up from my phone and turned my eyes toward the hall.

There was Hina, waving at me.

I can’t believe she came to this classroom, considering he’s in here.

Still, he’d changed too.

For some reason, he’d stopped talking to Takasaka-san.

I don’t know why, but ever since Hina’s confession, a nasty tension has hung between them.

So Jinguuji was back with the popular group he’d been hanging around with on entrance day.

And Takasaka-san—just like on entrance day—was reading a book again. She still wasn’t wearing glasses, though.

“What are you doing?”
“Get over here already.”

Two impatient LINE messages came in, so I stopped thinking and hurried over to Hina.

“You ignored my waving. What’s that about?”

“Sorry, sorry. I was thinking.”

“Whatever. More importantly, Yuuya—wanna go see a movie after school today? A friend gave me tickets.”

Hina switching from calling me “Sugita” to “Yuuya” happened pretty recently.

I still remember pointing out, “Are you sure?” the first time she called me by my given name, and her telling me, “Don’t think you’re special.”

She never told me why she started using my name, but it’s probably because she wants us to be on equal footing.

I’m honestly happy about it, so I’m not going to point it out again.

“Sure, but are you really okay going just the two of us?”

“Isn’t it a little late to worry about that?”

That made me understand our situation.

“Fair enough. What genre is it, anyway?”

“Romance… just kidding. Comedy.”

“Perfect.”

Hina gets it. She reads my mood way too easily.

Maybe sensing what I was thinking, she added again, “I said I got them from a friend, okay?”

“Then introduce me to that friend sometime.”

“Don’t get cocky.”

I shot back with, “Yes, ma’am,” on reflex.

I’m genuinely satisfied with the distance Hina and I have right now.

School used to be nothing but dull, but thanks to Hina, it’s actually fun.

“Anyway, Yuuya—haven’t you noticed? That girl’s staring at you like crazy.”

“Huh?”

For a second I thought she meant Jinguuji, but the way Hina said it made that impossible.

The person Hina meant was—

Takasaka-san, puffing her cheeks out in the opposite direction.

She wasn’t looking straight at us, but the vibe of “I’m totally avoiding your eyes” was intense.

“Yuuya. Did you do something to her?”

“Something… huh.”

Even just thinking back to the last few seconds, too many things came to mind.

“Oh crap, class is starting—so, Yuuya, meet me at the school gate after school.”

With that, Hina went back to her classroom looking satisfied.

After she left, I forced myself to ignore Takasaka-san—who still kept acting like she was avoiding my gaze—and sat down at my desk.

Chapter 15: Covert Watching

After school, I hurriedly packed up and stood to go meet up with Hina.

The moment I stepped out of the classroom, someone called my name.

“Sugita-kun.”

It was the girl who’d been watching me during lunch.

“Takasaka-san… what’s up?”

“Um… Sugita-kun. Isn’t there something you want to tell me?”

“Something I want to tell you?”

I had no idea what she meant.

“So you’re really not going to say it yourself, even if I hate you for it.”

Wait… oh.

After thinking for a moment, I finally realized my mistake—no, not what I did, but what I didn’t do.

That’s right. I still hadn’t apologized to her.

Even if I wasn’t the real thief, from her perspective I was simply the guy who tried to pin the crime on her.

“…I’m sorry.”

At my sincere apology, her face shifted into a look of confusion.

Did I get it wrong? Was an apology not what she wanted?

“……”

A silence that lasted way too long stretched out in the corner of the hallway.

This is awkward…

Unable to stand it, a lie I came up with on the spot slipped out.

“Um… well, I’ve got work after this, so—”

I tried to run away with my usual lie, but someone grabbed my arm and stopped my escape.

I turned only my head, and there she was—Takasaka-san, cheeks puffed out again just like earlier.

“Liar. You don’t have a part-time job.”

“Huh?”

How does she know I quit?

“I know everything.”

And then she said something terrifying.

“I saw everything.”

“Huh?”

Her violet eyes stared straight into mine. They shone like gemstones—almost dazzling.

Once again, I found myself thinking she should never wear contacts, and should just stick with her usual round glasses.

My brain reached her words, but refused to process them after that.

So all I could do was stare back into her eyes.

※

“Yuuya, what are you doing? Hurry up, we’re going to the movie—wait.”

At that moment, the girl I had plans with spoke up.

I thanked Hina internally for the god-tier timing, and at the same time, a stupid little “Ah” slipped out.

“A movie?”

My lie was completely exposed.

※

And the result—how did it come to this?

In the comedy movie theater, I was sitting between two girls for some reason.

Sure, I’m trying to stop a harem, but that doesn’t mean I want to build one.

Hina on my right. Takasaka-san on my left. From the outside, it probably looks like a full-blown—

Right then, I felt killing intent from the right.

When I glanced over, Hina was glaring at me with an unmistakable pressure that said, Don’t get the wrong idea.

I got carried away. My bad.

Even while reflecting, the three of us watched the comedy movie.

None of it sank in.

What did I even watch? That’s how stunned I felt. Needing to deal with a basic biological urge, I headed for the restroom.

I told the two of them, “I’m going to the bathroom,” and walked into the men’s restroom.

※

Takasaki POV

Watching Sugita-kun’s back as he went into the restroom, I asked the girl beside me a question.

“Kisaragi-san. What do you think of Sugita-kun?”

She reacted the same way Sugita-kun had earlier.

“Huh?”

“What do I think…? He’s just a close friend.”

After a short pause, that was her answer.

“Good.”

I felt relieved. It was my first time feeling something like that.

“Why are you asking that—wait, don’t tell me…”

Partway through, Kisaragi-san seemed to catch on.

“…Yeah. That’s what it means.”

“Huh? B-but… huh?”

Unable to hide her agitation, she followed up with, “Why?”

“He’s helped me so many times. And… I—”

Because I saw everything.

I saw him go to the staff room after he stopped the bullying and hand the teacher the video evidence.

I saw Jinguuji show up during Kisaragi-san’s date, and I saw Sugita-kun stand there watching her back until she disappeared from sight.

I saw the field trip confession. I saw him protect Kisaragi-san when she was crushed. After that, when it started raining, I saw him sacrifice his own back so Kisaragi-san wouldn’t get wet.

I know it all. Because I watched it all.

I’ve never felt like this before. Right now, I truly want to know everything about him.

That’s why I—

“I think I get the gist… but why are you telling me?”

“Because I thought you’d be my rival.”

“My… rival…”

“But I’m glad I was wrong.”

“……”

I told her with a smile, but she didn’t respond.

Not long after, Sugita-kun returned, so I said, “Come to think of it, I never asked what you thought of the movie,” and tossed him a topic.

His reply was, “Y-yeah. I-it was funny.”

After that, we left the theater and split up.

For some reason, Kisaragi-san stayed silent until the very end.