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 28: The Reason

Jinguuji POV

As if to look away from behind the school building, for now I just run.

It’s him again. That man interfered with me again. Every single time—wherever I go, he’s waiting there to ambush me.

And the heroines who were supposed to become mine keep getting stolen away one after another.

That’s basically theft. The police nationwide should hurry up and arrest that man already.

Seriously… every last one of them… pisses me off.

A mere mob character daring to oppose the protagonist… I’ll never give up.

No matter what, I’ll build my harem. I’ll be surrounded by cute girls, get doted on, and I’ll steal back even that man’s heroines.

And when he’s left all alone, I’ll say this to him:

“Serves you right.”

A story only needs one protagonist. And the only harem protagonist should be me.

I’ll crawl up from nothing, and in the end I’ll surpass that villain too—then laugh at him. Don’t think a barrier like this can stop me.

Sugita Yuuya—you are the one person I will never forgive.

I’ve always hated him. Always—always… I’ve held a grudge against him since before I even entered high school.

Because I enrolled in this high school for one reason only.

To get revenge on Sugita Yuuya.

That was two years ago, back when I was in middle school.

There was someone I liked at a different school. The first person I’d ever truly fallen for.

She reached out her hand to help me when I’d hurt my leg in town and was in trouble. But in that moment, I thought: I don’t owe it to someone like her to be saved.

Even so, she didn’t look bothered at all—she just looked down at me with a dignified expression.

That must’ve been why. I fell for her—the first girl who didn’t look at me.

She saw me in her field of view, sure… but her eyes were always being stolen by something else.

Even if we ran into each other in town, it was always just shallow, pointless small talk. Like she wasn’t really looking at me.

In her eyes—always, always, always—there was only that irritating man.

That man was… Sugita Yuuya. That annoying mob guy.

I’ll never forgive him.

At first, it really was a light idea—build a harem at school and rub it in his face. But that man interfered with my plans over and over again.

The first time was the field trip money plan. That was incomprehensible.

The field trip money I was sure I’d taken came out of his pocket. And then when I checked my bag, the envelope stuffed with cash was sleeping at the very bottom.

I couldn’t understand what he was trying to do. Time passed, and before I knew it, he was getting close with Hina.

The moment I saw Hina talking with Sugita in the hallway, I felt like I was about to snap. A girl who’d always been all “I like you, I like you” toward me suddenly started saying she was a couple with the guy I hated—I could only laugh.

But then I heard they’d dated just to make me jealous, and I found out on a weekend.

Even after knowing that, I still couldn’t hold back my anger.

I didn’t even want to talk to a girl who’d been “tainted” by that guy’s hands. I didn’t even want her in my sight. It disgusted me so much that when she confessed, I almost swung at her on instinct.

And then this time. I was almost sure I’d won. That I’d finally get my first heroine.

But I failed again. Again, because of him—my “property” got tainted.

Again… that man… again that guy…!

Like I’m venting my fury, I stomp hard on the ground.

His face. His voice. His smell. Everything flickers through my mind.

I want to crush him. Overwhelm him. Force him to the ground.

Next time… next time I won’t fail.

Thinking about how to slip past Sugita Yuuya’s eyes, I headed up toward the floor where the upperclassmen were—so I could stage an “accidental” meeting and force a fated encounter.

◇◇◇

MC POV

From the hallway side, I watched Mizuki—surrounded by a crowd—with an expression like it had nothing to do with me.

Months had passed since Mizuki—Mizurin—returned to streaming.

After that broadcast, Mizurin didn’t just “go back” to her pre-flame popularity… no—her attention doubled, and her momentum didn’t slow down at all.

Because of that, Mizuki’s popularity at school exploded too. And since she also stopped getting involved with Jinguuji, she was constantly surrounded by someone during breaks like this.

“Her popularity is insane.”

At that moment, the girl leaning her cheek on her hand by the hallway window spoke to me.

“Hina.”

“Has it been a while since we talked?”

“It hasn’t. If anything, you literally messaged me on LINE yesterday.”

“Ah—right. I guess you did.”

“Look, here—”

I showed her the LINE chat screen.

Hina looked satisfied for a second, but then her expression clouded. “What’s this?” she asked.

Confused, I turned my phone toward myself—ah.

Maybe I hit the wrong thing, because somehow the screen was showing my chat list.

And at the very top was the chat with Mizuki, who’d messaged me “Good morning” earlier.

Below that was a slightly creepy message from Yuzuki that said, “I’m watching.”

And below that was Hina… meaning Hina was further down the list.

“So it has been a while…”

Sulking, Hina started tapping my phone like crazy for some reason.

The next moment—

Pikon. Pikon. Pikon. Pikon. Pikon. Pikon. Pikon. Pikon. Pikon. Pikon.

My phone vibrated like it was physically expressing anger.

“Um. Could you please stop the sticker spam?”

“No.”

I didn’t expect her to refuse refusing.

Doesn’t that make your hand tired…?

As I blankly watched, I stuffed my still-vibrating phone into my pocket—and a girl with long hair passed right beside me.

She was poised, and the aura coming off her long purple hair was overwhelming—seriousness incarnate.

The beautiful girl poked her face into our classroom and immediately said:

“Jinguuji-kun.”

She called out the name of the boy who’d been looking down.

Chapter 29: The Cold Honor Student

The girl who called Jinguuji’s name—long, flowing purple hair, and perfectly shaped features that didn’t show even the slightest change in expression.

To put it bluntly, there was no life in her eyes. Like she didn’t even have the emotion of wanting to live.

Her name was Mochizuki Kanon.

Jinguuji, having been called, slowly stood up from his seat and walked over to her.

What is this? Why does Jinguuji already have a connection with her?

Sure, I understand that because of my actions, the timeline has shifted drastically from my previous life.

I know that. And because I know that, for the past few months, I’ve lived my school life constantly on guard, watching Jinguuji for any strange moves.

And yet—why is he already acquainted with her?

Startled by the unexpected development, my eyes were stolen by Jinguuji as he approached Mochizuki-san.

The class was still obsessed with Mizuki. The only ones watching Jinguuji and Mochizuki-san were me—and Hina beside me.

“Sorry, sorry. Thanks for coming.”

When Jinguuji reached her, he smiled and looked straight at her face.

“So what did you want to talk about?”

Mochizuki-san didn’t move her face at all—except her mouth, moving only to produce sound.

And then Jinguuji said something shocking.

“Right, right. Kanon-chan… will you go out with me? Like, as my girlfriend.”

As if to pile on top of the moment, he added that.

All at once, the students who’d been focused on Mizuki turned their eyes in the same direction.

“Sure.”

Without showing even a hint of thinking, Mochizuki-san accepted.

And just like that—a couple was formed.

◇◇◇

Mochizuki Kanon—she was somewhat famous around school.

Because right now, she was the student council president. An honors student.

Anyone who saw Mochizuki-san—always expressionless and quiet—would naturally assume she was serious and reliable.

But in reality, that wasn’t it at all.

She was simply sick to death of this boring life.

Because—if this life is the same as my previous one—Mochizuki-san… is being bullied at school.

The bullying itself was petty: her things getting hidden, graffiti on her desk, nasty comments written about her on the school’s anonymous back-channel board.

On top of that, her family situation wasn’t good either.

I don’t know the details because in my previous life it was Jinguuji who saved her, but I did know the outline—abstract as it was.

Even if it’s vague, it’s still useful information.

So why can’t I do anything?

Because of her apathy.

She expects nothing from life anymore—so just talking to her won’t change anything.

Unless you change her home environment, or stop the bullying entirely, you probably can’t move her heart.

But I can’t do either right now.

Needless to say, sticking my nose into someone’s family life is out of the question. And as for the bullying, there’s nothing I can do.

If it were blatant bullying like Yuzuki’s case, it might be different—but this time I can’t even begin to guess who the bully is.

Normally, based on everything I’ve learned, I should conclude the culprit is Jinguuji… but this time, it didn’t feel that simple.

Because this bullying was different from my previous life.

No—the acts were the same, but the “heat” was completely different.

This was bullying saturated with malice.

Now I understand: in my previous life, the bullying was probably Jinguuji hiding her things on his own, then “solving” it himself and pulling Mochizuki-san in as a heroine—exactly the kind of scheme Jinguuji would run.

Jinguuji’s bullying is only for the sake of making a girl fall for him. That’s why the bullying in my previous life didn’t feel especially hateful.

Bullying without the intention to bully.

But this time, it was different.

This time, it was bullying packed with resentment.

Of course, Jinguuji could still be setting something up again—but I can’t imagine him doing something that stupid.

Because it’s easy to predict what he’d think: there’s no way I’d fall for the same trick over and over again.

And from Jinguuji’s perspective, if Mochizuki-san found out he was the one bullying her, his plan would fail again.

That’s why I couldn’t do anything.

Because I didn’t understand anything.

A few days after Jinguuji and Mochizuki-san started dating—

Ever since then, she’d come to our classroom almost every day. It felt like Jinguuji was showing her off to me.

“What is it today.”

“Want to eat lunch together today?”

“Sure.”

They didn’t really look like a couple, but one thing was obvious at a glance:

Jinguuji’s plan was steadily moving forward.

Chapter 30: The Limit

Either way, nothing could start unless I had some kind of connection with Mochizuki-san.

Deciding I couldn’t break the current situation without talking to her and gathering even a little information, I waited for the moment she was alone at school and called out to her.

“Mochizuki-san.”

At my voice, Mochizuki-san turned around, moving her facial muscles only for the sake of producing sound.

“What.”

“Can I have a little of your time?”

I thought she’d agree right away, but Mochizuki-san opened her phone, checked something once, and only then said, “Sure.”

“Then let’s change locations.”

“Mm.”

After that one-syllable response, we moved to the far end of the school building—somewhere Jinguuji wouldn’t notice us—and I faced her.

“So what did you want to talk about.”

Mochizuki-san started with a flat, emotionless voice.

“This is kind of random, but… why did you start going out with Jinguuji?”

“Because I didn’t have a reason to refuse.”

Mochizuki-san answered instantly, her expression not changing.

It was an answer that suited her almost too well.

“I see…”

“That’s all? I got called by Kouki, so I have to go.”

As she spoke, Mochizuki-san looked down at her phone.

Now I understood why she checked her phone before agreeing to meet me.

She’d been paying attention to Jinguuji’s messages.

I stopped Mochizuki-san as she was about to go meet Jinguuji.

“Wait. One last thing—”

“What.”

I asked the question that had been bothering me, grateful she stopped.

“If I confessed to you before Jinguuji did… would you have dated me the same way?”

“…Not sure. But if dating you wouldn’t cause me any disadvantage, I probably would’ve.”

“I see…”

As Mochizuki-san turned her back on me, I said, “Thanks for your time,” and she walked away.

She said “if it wouldn’t cause me any disadvantage,” but even if I’d confessed first, it probably would’ve ended in failure anyway.

Because at school, I’m “the thief.”

If she dated someone like me, the bullying against her could easily get worse. That would be the “disadvantage” she meant.

Then why did she date Jinguuji?

She said, “I didn’t have a reason to refuse,” but if there was some “benefit” to dating Jinguuji—for example… “he’ll protect me from bullying”—

Then it’s not just “no disadvantage,” it could even become a clear advantage. In that case, she wouldn’t have a choice but to date him.

So what do I do…?

Nothing I say will reach Mochizuki-san, I don’t know who the bully is, and Jinguuji hasn’t done anything overtly wrong yet.

Meaning: right now, it’s impossible for me to move Mochizuki-san’s heart.

What is this… this feeling like everything’s already decided. Like I’m being played in someone’s palm.

Think. There has to be at least one gap somewhere. Something—

As I desperately searched for an opening, the man who was the root cause of everything walked right past me. At his side, the girl I’d just been talking to wore an enchanting smile as she clung to his arm.

Ah… I can’t do this.

From Mochizuki-san’s expression, it was clear—she was seriously trying to make Jinguuji fall for her.

And the reason was to be protected from bullying.

In front of my despair, the couple passed by.

All I could do was stare blankly at their backs.

◇◇◇

A week passed after thinking and thinking and thinking.

In the end, I couldn’t do anything. No—there wasn’t anything I could do.

At best, I could visit Mochizuki-san’s classroom during breaks and quietly observe.

But of course I couldn’t identify the bully… no matter how much time I spent—morning, lunch, after school—I gained nothing.

When, who, and for what reason was she being bullied…?

This week, there was only one thing I learned for sure.