I Was Reincarnated as a Creepy Fat Guy, Then Trained Myself Without Sleep. And Then, for Some Reason, the Heroines Start Approaching Me

One day later

Night

Nishikawa’s Side

Nishikawa.

Ace of the photography club in the same class as Itsuki (refer to Chapter 51).

Silently, he, a gloomy person who loved taking hidden pictures, entered his room after taking a refreshing shower.

In the pouring rain, Nishikawa turned on the high-spec PC in his dimly lit room.

Various folders appeared on the screen.

Opening the folder with those words revealed countless photos and videos.

“…”

As he inspects them, he opened a seemingly interesting video file.

There, Shota questioning Itsuki from the time when he was a creepy fatty was captured.

[Hey, why did you touch Kanna?]

[Kanzaki-san dropped her eraser, so I just picked it up for her.]

[You, because you’re creepy, don’t touch my childhood friend.]

[Huh? I was just…]

[You’re gross. Damn fatty. Just being around you makes me sick. It would be better if you disappeared.]

[…]

[I’ll say it again. Don’t touch my Kanna. If something like today happens again, you won’t get off easily.]

Listening to their exchange, Nishikawa furrowed his brows.

He then opened other files.

There, Shota physically assaulting the creepy Itsuki was captured.

“…”

As Nishikawa’s anger builds up, his phone rings.

It’s Arisa Mikami, the fujoshi.

“Mikami-san…”

[Nishikawa-kun! Good evening!]

“Oh…”

[How is it? Does it look good?]

“Yeah. It looks really good.”

[Thanks!]

“No problem. I just did what was expected.”

[Hehe. Once this is over, let’s take lots of cosplay photos again!]

“Yeah!”

After ending the call, Nishikawa took a deep breath and exhaled.

Then, he remembered an old incident.

Not long after becoming a second-year student, Shota and his group approached Nishikawa, who had brought his camera to school for artistic activities.

And then, he forcefully started a conversation with Nishikawa, eyeing his camera.

[Wow? What’s with this camera? It looks super expensive.]

[Ah, well, my dad gave it to me…]

Shota, lifting Nishikawa’s camera forcefully, continued.

[Oh, isn’t this school property?]

[….]

[Well, lend it to me.]

[Huh?]

[Lend it to me.]

[No, this… It’s an extremely expensive item, and Hayama-kun and I, we don’t have that kind of relationship…]

[I’ll use it today and return it right away.]

[No, I can’t…]

[What’s wrong with it?]

[…]

[Tell me what’s wrong with it.]

Faced with his overpowering attitude, Nishikawa lowered his head.

In the end, he returned the camera three days later.

However, the internal components were messed up, and eventually, after a few months of use, the camera broke.

Although he knew it was entirely his doing, there was no way for Nishikawa to prove it even if he raised the issue.

Surely, Hayama would pretend not to know.

So when Shota broke his camera, Nishikawa cried himself to sleep and began documenting his behavior.

Thinking about Shota still stirred intense emotions within him, but Nishikawa shook his head to dispel those thoughts and opened another file.

There pictures of Arisa in cosplay were present.

“Hehe… Mikami-san looks really beautiful…! No, stop it! Mikami-san is Kanzaki-san and Kondo-kun’s friend!!”

Nishikawa gathered himself, jumped to the Shota Hayama folder, and continued inspecting the files.

X X X

Manabu’s Side

A few days later

Lunchtime

Corridor

“First place… I finally became the top student in the school…”

Manabu, who went to the corridor to check the results of the recent test, confirmed that his name was ranked at the top of the large bulletin board.

Some people around him congratulated him, saying, “Amazing,” and “Congratulations.”

The exhilarating feeling increased his heartbeat, but at the same time, Manabu bit his lip, expressing regret as he muttered about Yumi.

“That Yumi… she went too far…”

Muttering quietly, Manabu headed straight to the cafeteria.

X X X

Cafeteria

“Yumi, can I talk to you for a moment?”

“Manabu-kun…”

As Kanna, Yumi, and Arisa were about to have a meal, Manabu suddenly grabbed Yumi’s hand.

Kanna and Arisa glanced at each other, but they didn’t intervene.

Yumi blushed as Manabu pulled her along.

X X X

Hidden Spot

“Yumi, did you really give it your all?”

“…”

“There’s no way I could beat you, Yumi. Honestly, tell me. Why did you slack off?”

“…”

“Speak up already!”

Manabu, getting agitated, tightened his grip on Yumi’s hand and pressed her for answers.

Still blushing, Yumi looked confused, but eventually, she spoke out forcefully.

“I did my best!”

“Huh?”

“Ugh, it’s so frustrating! Losing to Manabu-kun! I’ve always been in first place!!”

To Manabu’s surprise at Yumi’s unexpected response, she continued, raising her voice.

“I gave my all, and even though it’s so infuriating to lose to you, Manabu-kun! I’ve always been in first place!!”

Frustrated by Yumi’s unexpected answer, Manabu stared at her with his mouth half-open.

In a sudden low voice, Yumi spoke to Manabu.

“Manabu-kun.”

“Hmm?”

Her faded eyes reflected Manabu’s bewildered expression.

“Even though it’s already too late, it’s all your fault that I’ve become like this… So, you need to feel the pain. You forcefully brought me here and suddenly got angry… You deserve punishment for making me like this.”

“Y-Y-Yumi?!”

“I won’t forgive you, won’t forgive you, won’t forgive you, won’t forgive you… It’s all your fault that I ended up like this… So, you should feel the pain.”

“Wa-wait! Yumi, your eyes are creepy! Real-life girls are scary after all!”

Feeling scared, Manabu let go of her hand and started to step back.

However, a savior appeared at that moment.

“Yumi! Calm down!”

“Arisa?!”

Upon hearing Arisa’s voice, Yumi snapped back to reality and looked between Arisa and Kanna, who had followed them.

Usually, Yumi played the role of calming down Arisa, who was a fujoshi, but this time, the roles were reversed, and Yumi chuckled self-deprecatingly.

Arisa added another word to her, with a meaningful expression.

“Yumi, you completely lost to Manabu-kun, right?”

“Ugh!!!”

Hearing Arisa’s words, Yumi recalled the past.

Yumi, Arisa, Manabu, and Keisuke had spent time together over time.

They gathered at a cafe two to three times a week for study sessions, chatting and spending time together.

Every time they gathered, Manabu enthusiastically claimed that he would become the top student in school through his studies.

Initially, Yumi openly ridiculed him, declaring that he could never beat her. However, as he continued boasting every time they met, claiming he would become the top student, it became annoying. So, Yumi decided to call him out and ask for the reason.

Then,

[I want to become the top student and brag to everyone. I want to shout that I’m Itsuki’s friend. I don’t want to be the nerd I used to be. I want to proudly declare that I’m Itsuki’s friend, the most academically successful, fulfilled person in the school. If I do that, those who used to belittle Itsuki might back off…!]

“Manabu-kun…”

[I was saved by Itsuki. So now, it’s my turn to become great and help him. I won’t rely on his strength; I’ll become strong myself!]

“Ugh!!!”

She couldn’t forget the image of Manabu striving not for himself but for his friends.

During the test, the conversation kept echoing in her mind, making it impossible for her to concentrate. Despite being in such a state, the fact that Yumi still secured the second position spoke volumes about her intelligence.

Arisa, aware of this fact, gazed at the current Yumi with a bewitching expression.

Kanna, who didn’t know the details, looked at Yumi’s face and immediately realized.

That expression,

It closely resembled the expression she wore when thinking about Itsuki.

Manabu, oblivious to this revelation, breathed a sigh of relief as the crisis passed, feeling a weight lifted off his chest.

X X X

After that incident, Manabu, Kanna and others decided to have lunch at their usual spot.

Having lunch with the three beautiful girls in silence, Manabu focused on his meal without saying a word.

The conversation began after they finished eating.

“I need some compelling evidence,” Arisa sighed. Yumi agreed, expressing her uncertainty.

“Things are progressing smoothly, but we need irrefutable evidence that he can’t wriggle out of,” Arisa explained.

They had gathered information to expose Shota’s crimes. While they had Masato’s testimony, they were well aware that if Shota denied everything, it could complicate matters further.

Bullying, hatred, leaking personal information to the public, and cover-ups—the scale of the ongoing events was beyond the control of high school students.

“Well… it would be great if we could see everything on Shota’s phone,” Kanna mumbled, looking up at the blue sky with a sense of emptiness.

As they sat on the grass, each one secretly wished, “If only we could do that, we wouldn’t have to go through all this trouble.”

Manabu, with a somber expression, suddenly recalled the past.

[Do you know about a hypnosis app?] he asked, reminiscing about the time he first brought up the hypnosis app topic.

[Yeah, I’ve heard of it. It’s supposed to manipulate the other person as you wish, right?]

“Even you, Itsuki, the guy who’s up all night gaming, seems to know a lot about it,” Manabu remarked, remembering their previous conversation.

[Shut up,] Itsuki retorted.

(Refer to Episode 2)

Thinking about that moment when he initially mentioned the hypnosis app, Manabu muttered while placing his hand on his chin.

“If we had a hypnosis app, we might be able to do it…”

“Hypnosis app?” both Arisa and Yumi questioned in unison.