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 39 & 40 & 41 & 42

Chapter 39: Double Date (2)

We took a break for a while on that same bench, sitting in the order: Hina, me, Tachibana-san, Jinguuji.

But as if following “double date etiquette,” there was a one-person gap between me and Tachibana-san.

While I gulped down the water Hina had given me, Tachibana-san suddenly stood up without warning and pointed straight ahead with her index finger.

“Let’s go there!”

All of us turned to look where she was pointing.

Right where Tachibana-san pointed was the haunted house the pick-up guys mentioned earlier.

Beyond the entrance beneath the sign that read “Haunted House,” darkness stretched on, making it impossible to see what was inside.

“KYAA!!”

Two shrill female screams overlapped from within.

A haunted house really is perfect for a date. And for a double date, it’s even more so, since you naturally end up alone with someone.

…Or so I thought, until Tachibana-san destroyed that expectation.

“But going in two-by-two isn’t that fun, so how about we go in one at a time?”

Tachibana-san made a suggestion that would never happen on a normal double date.

“It’s the worst for a date, but… yeah, it does sound kind of fun…”

Hina voiced the reasonable take, but in the end, she still judged it by “fun.”

“Right!? And this way we’ll find out who’s the scaredy-cat!”

As she said that, Tachibana-san glanced at Jinguuji.

“What the hell. I’m not scared.”

“Oh really? Then please, go first.”

“Tch—fine! I’ll go! I’ll go if that’s what you want!”

And just like that, Jinguuji went into the pitch-black haunted house alone, exactly as told.

“Okay, then who’s next?”

“As for the last one, it’s obviously going to be Yuuya…”

Hina said something I couldn’t let slide.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Hm? Well, isn’t it kind of standard that the last one is the person who’ll have the funniest reaction?”

For some reason, Tachibana-san loudly agreed with Hina’s bizarre logic: “Right!? Exactly!”

I’d been thinking it since this morning, but isn’t this girl way too rude? I’m still technically her Senpai…

But at the same time, it did feel easier to deal with her like this, since it made things more “flat” between us.

“Just so you know, I’m not scared.”

Neither of them looked like they believed me at all, and Hina brushed it off with a “Sure, sure.”

“Okay, I’ll go next—wait at the exit, okay? Yuuya.”

“Hey, why are you looking at me?”

“Who knooows?”

Smiling, Hina went in second.

And then, last—

“Okay, Senpai. I’ll go next, so come in after a few dozen seconds, okay?”

“Got it, but… that’s kind of—”

“Then, see you la-ter.”

I couldn’t even finish saying, “Isn’t that way too soon?” before Tachibana-san disappeared inside.

Just like she told me, I waited a few dozen seconds, then entered.

The instant I did, everything went pitch-black, and a chill ran through my body.

I walked for a while and reached a creepy area lit by lanterns that looked like floating ghost flames.

Just earlier, I’d been hearing roller-coaster screams and families chatting happily, but now there wasn’t a single sound.

…

Only my own footsteps reached my ears, and the quiet made my anxiety even worse.

Enough. I just want to get out of this area already.

The moment I thought that—

I felt a presence right beside me, and a voice, as faint as a mosquito, went:

“Uwaa~”

I bolted.

Screw it—just run straight to the exit.

But my speed gradually dropped.

Because someone was slumped on the floor ahead.

And of course, it was Tachibana-san—the one who entered before me.

Maybe she’d hurt her leg—she was rubbing around her right foot.

“Are you okay?”

I asked the girl who was looking down in the darkness, and silence followed.

For a second, I thought she’d turned into a ghost or something—but that fear ended up being pointless.

“Senpai… please carry me.”

Instead, my body froze for a completely different reason.

Annoyed, I still responded.

“That’s the boyfriend’s job.”

“I’m… not dating him yet.”

And just like that, she dropped another bomb.

Not dating—meaning she wasn’t in a relationship with Jinguuji, and yet she proposed a double date with us.

That’s insane…

Because it means there isn’t a single real couple on this “date.”

“Senpai… do you really not remember?”

I had no idea what she was talking about.

With only the dim lantern light, I couldn’t really see what kind of expression Tachibana-san was making.

Then Tachibana-san stood up and started walking like nothing happened.

Seeing that, I understood immediately—she wasn’t injured at all.

But why would she do something like that—like she was lying in wait?

That was the one thing I couldn’t figure out.

Tachibana-san disappeared into the darkness, and the only way to track her was by her footsteps.

Tap, tap… her steps grew farther—

And then, suddenly, her footsteps stopped.

Next, a new sound colored the dark:

“Shh.”

I was sure she’d turned around.

…

After the silence grew too deep, I gained one more way to “recognize” her.

“If you don’t hurry, I’m going to get taken.”

After leaving that behind, Tachibana-san started walking again, and before long, even her footsteps disappeared into the dark.

I didn’t understand anything that was happening.

But there was no one who was going to explain it to me.

And I was left alone in the pitch-black darkness.

Chapter 40: Double Date (3)

Our double date was already nearing the final stretch.

The sky had begun to darken, and that in-between dimness reminded me of the haunted house.

“What’s wrong? Don’t tell me you’re remembering the haunted house?”

As I was thinking, Hina teased me.

“No.”

“Even though you’ve been acting weird ever since we got out?”

“That’s…”

Because I’d been thinking about Tachibana-san.

“Senpai… you really don’t remember?”

Her words from back then kept snagging on my mind and wouldn’t let go.

“Well, whatever. It’s you, Yuuya—so you probably found some cute girl in the haunted house, right?”

“Just so you know, I’m not some kind of player.”

What does she even think I am…?

“Hmm. But then why did you reserve a couple seat on our first date?”

“No, that was because you—”

I almost said it, then remembered Jinguuji and Tachibana-san were right here.

There’s no way I can talk about the whole “pretending to date” thing in front of them.

I cleared my throat—ahem—and Tachibana-san took command again.

“Shouldn’t we go on that last?”

In the direction she pointed, the Ferris wheel—by far the most eye-catching thing in the park—glowed brightly.

Another perfect date spot.

“I’ll ride with Sugita-senpai, and Hina-senpai can ride with Jinguuji-senpai.”

But once again, it didn’t go smoothly.

And honestly, this suggestion was insane. Riding a Ferris wheel—an enclosed private space—with the other person’s boyfriend on a double date… it made no sense.

What on earth is she thinking?

Naturally, the other two also looked suspicious—especially Jinguuji.

“Why? Ririka should ride with me.”

Tachibana-san painted her usual smile on her face, like putting on a mask.

“Because it sounds fun! I want to hear what Senpai is like in class, and Senpai never wants to talk about himself, so I have no choice but to ask someone else.”

“What do you even want to ask about me?”

“For example… what you were like in your first year.”

“……”

Instantly, awkward air filled the space.

As if to soften it, Tachibana-san hurriedly added:

“I’m curious who you were close with, and whether you’ve ever dated anyone at school, too!”

While the two hesitated, I spoke up.

“I don’t really care.”

Sorry, Hina—but for me, this is the perfect chance to grab onto something.

I can’t let this opportunity go.

And in my view, Jinguuji is already into Tachibana-san. So even if he ends up alone in a closed space with Hina, he probably won’t try anything unnecessary.

He wouldn’t do something that lowers his evaluation in front of the girl he’s seriously fallen for.

Even so, both of them still looked unconvinced.

Then I noticed Tachibana-san sending Jinguuji an intense look.

After a moment, Jinguuji averted his gaze and said, “Fine… then I’ll ride with Hina.”

That left only Hina.

I looked at Hina the way Tachibana-san had, and Hina let out a small sigh like “good grief,” then agreed.

“Fine.”

I whispered, “Sorry,” to Hina.

And just like that, Tachibana-san’s aggressive proposal was going to happen.

We split into two groups and each boarded the Ferris wheel.

Sitting across from Tachibana-san, I got straight to it.

“What’s your goal?”

“Like I said earlier, I want Sugita-senpai to tell me about Jinguuji-senpai—”

“That’s a lie.”

Cutting her off like that made Tachibana-san go silent.

“Anyone could tell. If you really wanted to know about Jinguuji’s past, Hina would’ve been enough.”

I’d known it from the start—she was trying to tell me something.

But since I couldn’t figure out what, all I could do was watch Tachibana-san pull her phone out of her bag.

“More importantly, Senpai! We still haven’t exchanged LINE, have we? Let’s exchange!”

While fiddling with her phone, she shoved her LINE QR code toward me like she was changing the subject.

“Even when we met up today, I wanted to contact you, but then I realized we hadn’t exchanged LINE, and I was in trouble.”

As she spoke, she gradually brought her phone closer.

“Fine. Let’s exchange.”

There was no real reason to refuse.

And there was no way I could waste time on something like this.

Because it felt like today might be the last time I ever get to talk to her alone.

We exchanged LINE, then put our phones away.

“So, back to the point—why did you do this? Even in the haunted house, you set things up so you could be alone with me, even for a moment, didn’t you?”

After I fired off those questions, Tachibana-san took a deep breath—“Fuu”—and met my eyes.

“I still have a long way to go, don’t I? But—”

In that instant, Tachibana-san’s atmosphere changed completely.

“Senpai. You’re overthinking. I did set things up, yes. And honestly, even I knew the Ferris wheel thing was pushing it. But… I really wanted you to listen to my problem, so I acted like this.”

“A problem?”

“Yes. Actually, I…”

After a long silence—

“I’m going to confess to Senpai tomorrow.”

For the first time, she showed a blushing face.

Chapter 41: A Dream From the Past

“Hina. How was it with Jinguuji?”

I asked Hina, who had gotten off the Ferris wheel first and was waiting.

“It was super awkward.”

I’d expected it, but it seemed silence had filled their Ferris-wheel cabin the whole time.

Part of me had hoped Jinguuji might have turned over a new leaf and apologized to Hina… but it didn’t look like things were going to be that simple.

Was it pride…? Or was he just blinded…?

I apologized to Hina, who was looking away.

“Sorry. I’ll treat you to something next time.”

“Hm… I don’t really need anything.”

“Then what would make you forgive me?”

“Hmm. Then—next time, let’s come here with just the two of us. Just us, with no one getting in the way.”

“…Okay.”

As Hina stared at me with a calm expression, I threw in a comment.

“But calling the kouhai right in front of us ‘a nuisance’ is kind of harsh.”

“I mean, like…”

While looking at Tachibana-san talking with Jinguuji, Hina started muttering to herself.

Looks like Hina doesn’t like Tachibana-san. After everything today, it’s hard to blame her.

As I was thinking, the two of them walked over, and Tachibana-san took charge again.

“It’s getting late, so let’s wrap things up.”

Everyone agreed, and our long double date finally came to an end.

At the nearest station, Hina and I, and Tachibana-san with Jinguuji, split up and went our separate ways.

The moment Hina and I said “See you,” turned our backs, and started to walk off, Tachibana-san stopped us.

“Wait! Hina-senpai!”

Tachibana-san ran over and held up her phone to Hina the same way she did to me.

“Let’s exchange LINE! We never did!”

Hina said, “Sure,” and the two of them exchanged LINE.

Then we said goodbye again—properly this time—and Hina and I were finally alone.

The noisy space from before turned quiet all at once.

As we walked for a while on our way home, a phone suddenly rang.

Not mine—Hina’s.

Hina took out her phone and checked the notification.

“Huh. What is this?”

She muttered like she’d seen something strange.

“What’s wrong?”

“Well, I got a weird LINE message… look.”

Hina turned the screen toward me, and I immediately understood it was from Tachibana-san.

But more than that—it was the content.

“Senpai is mine.”

That one line was displayed on the screen.

“This means… Kouki, right?”

Hina tilted her head and put her phone away.

“Yeah… probably…”

“Probably?”

As Hina pressed me, I thought.

Today, after observing Tachibana-san the whole day, I’d reached a conclusion: she spent the entire day acting under the premise that she “liked” Jinguuji.

Somehow… Tachibana-san didn’t look like she’d fallen for Jinguuji.

To put it another way, I couldn’t picture her genuinely being drawn to him.

But strangely, I could picture her trying to make Jinguuji fall for her.

I didn’t know why. But like Mochizuki-san before, there had to be some reason she needed Jinguuji to fall for her.

“Yuuya?”

Hina’s voice snapped me back.

“Sorry. I was thinking.”

“I see.”

Like nothing happened, Hina faced forward again.

“Still… do you think Tachibana-san thinks I like Kouki?”

Then she added, “There’s no way that’s true,” like it was obvious.

It was a fair point, but the bluntness made me fall silent.

Then Hina added one last thing.

“Because right now—I…”

But for some reason, her voice cut off.

“Hina?”

When I looked beside me, Hina had turned her face away, and the only part I could see—her ear—was bright red.

“It’s nothing. Stop looking and keep walking.”

Wondering if Hina had eyes in the back of her head, I did what she said and focused on moving my feet.

After parting ways with Hina too, I went straight home.

I took a bath, ate dinner, and then lay down in bed right away to recover from today’s exhaustion.

Today wore me out. I need to rest my body for tomorrow.

Because tomorrow is the day Tachibana-san confesses to Jinguuji.

I still didn’t understand why she told me about it.

But tomorrow, that reason would become clear.

With my thoughts still spinning, I closed my eyes, and before long, I fell asleep.

◇◇◇

“Thank you… ○○-kun.”

In a place I recognized, I handed leftover school lunch to ○-chan like I always did.

“It’s okay, ○-chan. I’ll bring more tomorrow, so wait here, alright?”

“Yeah… thanks. Really…”

Leaning against a concrete pipe, ○-chan sat on the ground, and I sat down beside her too.

“Aren’t you going home?”

“Even if I go home, no one’s there.”

“I see. Then I’ll stay with you until you go home.”

○-chan nodded and started trembling.

To warm ○-chan up, I pressed close—staying by her side until it was time for her to go home.

Chapter 42: The Final Confession Scene

The next day—the day of the third confession scene.

Around noon, a LINE message came in from Tachibana-san:

“After school — Empty classroom at the far end of the 3rd floor”

A second message was attached:

“I’ll show you something interesting.”

I still didn’t understand why Tachibana-san would tell me this much, but for now I was grateful—and I headed to the empty classroom on the third floor like she said.

The hallway was lively with club activities, but the farther I went toward the end, the quieter it became—until a new voice reached my ears.

“Senpai. Thank you for coming.”

Of course—it was Tachibana-san’s voice.

From the sound of it, the confession scene had already started.

I quietly peeked inside so I wouldn’t be noticed, and sure enough, the two of them were facing each other, meeting eyes.

“It’s fine. So what do you need?”

Even though Jinguuji should have known exactly what she was about to say, he played along like he didn’t.

From my perspective—knowing everything—it was nothing but an act.

But Tachibana-san continued anyway.

“Then I’ll get to the point right away… haha. This is my first time doing something like this, so it’s kind of embarrassing.”

Her bashfulness softened the tense atmosphere a little.

Even so, it couldn’t completely erase the tight air filling the room.

When Tachibana-san took a deep breath—“Fuu”—the pressure returned all at once.

I swallowed without meaning to.

“……”

In that solemn space, Tachibana-san raised her voice.

“Senpai! I like you! Please go out with me!”

With her face dyed bright red, Tachibana-san said it and bowed dramatically.

This is it—the moment their love becomes real.

That’s what I thought, but in the next instant, Jinguuji’s face twisted into an expression I recognized.

That eerie smile—burned into my eyes over and over again.

Jinguuji… he still hadn’t given up on his harem plan.

He’d seemed strangely quiet during the double date, but that was probably just acting—so I wouldn’t notice what he was really thinking.

From Jinguuji’s expression now, it was probably true that he’d fallen for Tachibana-san.

But he chose his pride over those feelings.

He was probably thinking: If he could get the girl he likes and get his revenge too, how perfect would that be?

“Thank you, Ririka. I’m really happy.”

He transformed that eerie smile into something that looked like genuine joy, and took Tachibana-san’s hand.

At this point, there was nothing I could do anymore. I’d done everything I could.

I wanted to uncover Tachibana-san’s “mystery,” but I’d been wrong from the start.

By the time I met Tachibana-san, the two of them were already set up—meaning… the loss had been decided right then.

And yet, the reason I couldn’t give up was probably because I wanted Tachibana-san to be happy.

Before I realized it, my hand grabbed the door—and I slid it open with force.

And at that moment, my eyes met hers.

“No. The person I truly like isn’t you—”

Tachibana-san pulled her hand away from Jinguuji’s—

“Sugita Yuuya-kun. Senpai.”

She spoke her real confession toward the doorway.

In the next instant, Jinguuji’s smile visibly cracked.

“Huh?”

Then, with his smile collapsing further, Jinguuji stared between me and Tachibana-san with a twisted expression I’d never seen before.

For the first time, I actually understood what Jinguuji meant.

Just like him, I couldn’t comprehend what was happening.

But Tachibana-san didn’t care—she kept looking at me with the face of a girl in love.

Shaken, I tried to question her, but—

“Don’t mess with me!”

Jinguuji suddenly shouted, his face going pale as if he’d sensed something.

He shoved me—the one standing by the entrance—out of the way, and fled as if escaping.

Even then, Tachibana-san’s expression didn’t change as she asked me:

“Senpai. I’ll ask again—do you really not remember? Me.”

Remember or not, I—

And then the content of the dream I’d had yesterday flashed through my mind.

Don’t tell me…

After thinking for a moment, I finally remembered the name I was truly supposed to call her.

“Ri-chan?”

At my voice, she turned the smile she’d shown me so many times back then—right toward me.

Seeing it, I was certain.

Tachibana-san… she was the girl from my elementary school days.

Ri-chan—the girl I used to give leftover school lunch to every day.

◇◇◇

Jinguuji POV

Damn it. I got played completely.

“Shit… shit!!”

My scream echoed through an empty, silent hallway.

Those two set me up together.

Why didn’t I notice until now? Why did I only realize it now?

A fact I didn’t want to see—but had to.

That woman… Tachibana Ririka is my first love.

The way Ririka looked at Sugita Yuuya said it all.

That face was the exact same expression she wore in middle school—ignoring me, her eyes stolen by Sugita Yuuya.

The infuriating face of a woman whose attention gets snatched by that obnoxious mob.

Just remembering it pisses me off.

Meaning: this time, I’d already lost before the fight even started.

Because there’s no way she’d betray Sugita Yuuya.

She’d been playing me the whole time for Sugita Yuuya’s sake. She’d been deceiving me the whole time.

I’ll never forgive it. There’s no way I can.

I want to see that man’s face warped. I want to look down on him. I want to shred his mind to pieces.

I want to tear his harem apart into a complete mess.

I headed for an empty classroom and rummaged through his locker—

Just like when I stole the field trip money.