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 4: Reenactment of a Nightmare

Chapter 4: Reenactment of a Nightmare

A beautiful girl on his left arm. A beautiful girl on his right arm. A beautiful girl pressed to his back. Two beautiful girls in front of him.

And in the middle, surrounded by those five beautiful girls—the protagonist of a romcom.

“Hey, Kouki-kun. What do you think of my outfit today?”

The beautiful girl clinging to his left arm asked.

“Yeah. It really suits you, ___.”

Then, one after another—

“K-Kouki! What about me…?”
“Yeah. You’re really cute too, ___.”

“Me too! Me too!”
“Yeah. You’re super cute like always, ___.”

“K-Kouki-kun… w-what about me…? I tried changing my hairstyle…”
“The usual you is cute, but today’s you is cute too, ___.”

And the last beautiful girl… for some reason, didn’t say anything.

But the four girls who did get praised all blushed from a single guy’s words, and they pressed in even closer.

And yet that one girl didn’t react at all. If anything, it felt like the guy was the one blushing at her.

Six people in total—men and women in a so-called harem formation—walked forward with the boy as their center, gradually getting farther away.

Watching their backs, anger bubbled up inside me.

But I couldn’t move. I couldn’t even speak.

Of course not. Because I… had already died once.

※

I jolted awake, drenched in sweat.

“Hah… hah…”

I snapped my eyes to the clock. It was 6:00 in the morning.

Still too early to be up.

I’d had a dream that felt disgustingly real.

If that dream was something that would happen in the future… I couldn’t just sit still.

But before that—

I looked down at my clothes, clinging to my skin with sweat so badly it made me feel sick.

“First, I need a bath.”

Careful not to wake my family—who might still be asleep—I slowly went downstairs toward the bathroom.

I stripped off my gross clothes and slid open the door—

And a high-pitched voice I recognized rang out from inside.

“Wha—!? At least knock, you idiot big bro!”

My little sister, Kaede, desperately tried to cover her naked body with her hands.

We’re related by blood, but her face was bright red.

“Quit staring! Close it—now!”

“Sorry, sorry. Though I did have some ulterior motives.”

“Huh?”

Time seemed to freeze for a second for my sister from the unexpected words, but I kept going anyway.

“Because if you think about it normally, I should’ve heard the water running right? There’s no way I wouldn’t have noticed you were in, so, yeah.”

After I dropped that nonsensical logic bomb, Kaede froze for a moment—then, a few seconds later, her expression shifted like the meaning finally caught up.

“Drop dead!”

She slammed the door shut with all her strength.

Yeah… that one was completely my fault. I should reflect a little.

※

My real little sister, Kaede Sugita.

I think we get along, probably. Otherwise, I wouldn’t be barging into the bathroom like that.

But that’s only true for now.

Because in my previous life, Kaede was also part of Jinguuji’s harem.

After Kaede fell for him, her attitude was obvious.

It’s not like she hated me, but she clearly spent more time fussing over Jinguuji, until she stopped talking to me entirely.

It’s normal for a girl in love, sure—but I’ll never forget how that felt back then.

Still, the current me can handle it.

I absolutely won’t let things turn out like that dream I just had… wait, what?

Right in the middle of thinking, I realized something.

Kaede wasn’t in the dream.

Instead, there was some mysterious beautiful girl who didn’t fawn over Jinguuji.

Which could only mean one thing: the future already changed. A timeline where Jinguuji and Kaede never meet.

That said, it was just a dream. Letting my guard down would be stupid.

For now, what I need to deal with is—Yuzuki Takasaka.

After washing the sweat off in the bath, I teased Kaede a little, then left the house.

A few days had passed since my nickname became “thief.”

It was a messed-up nickname, but still within tolerance.

And the payoff this time was huge. I’d gotten a little closer to completely stopping Jinguuji’s harem plan.

In my previous life, Takasaka-san had already fallen for Jinguuji by this point. But this time was different. The future had definitely changed.

Last time, Takasaka-san switched from glasses to contacts for a makeover, trying to catch Jinguuji’s attention—but as of yesterday, she was still wearing her usual round glasses.

Honestly, I almost wanted her to keep those glasses forever and never switch to contacts.

Jokes aside, she hadn’t fallen in love yet.

It was too early to relax, but getting past the first incident had worked.

After taking a breath, I tightened my resolve again and walked toward the school where that romcom protagonist existed.

“Ooh, it’s Thief-kun.” “For real. How does he even show his face at school like it’s nothing? If it were me, I’d never leave my house again.” “No kidding.”

The second I arrived, that kind of dangerous talk forced its way into my ears.

I ignored it and kept walking down the hallway.

But stares hit me from all sides.

I’d expected this the moment I carried out the “field trip thief plan,” but I never got used to it.

Still, if this level of pain could obstruct Jinguuji’s harem plan, it was nothing.

And since there shouldn’t be any changes with Takasaka-san so far, I could walk into the classroom without worry.

Or so I thought—until the moment passed.

The second I stepped inside, something unbelievable filled my vision.

There they were: Jinguuji and Yuzuki Takasaka, talking together like they were having fun.

My heart jumped—but I forced it down immediately.

It’s fine. Takasaka-san hasn’t fallen for Jinguuji yet… so… so… huh?

Then something even worse hit my eyes.

Takasaka was wearing the exact same expression I’d just seen in my dream.

A bright, shining look—like a heroine falling for a romcom protagonist.

Her face was perfectly put together, and thankfully she still had her glasses on, but there was a faint, soft pink tint on her lips.

It was over.

That was the moment I knew despair for sure.