I Was Reincarnated as a Mob, and After I Kept Listening to the Losing Childhood-Friend Heroine’s Complaints, I Somehow Maxed Out Her Affection Rating - 17-18

Chapter 17: Phone Call with Kaede

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Yuuta’s POV

That night. It was unusual, but I had been doing “nothing.” I had already eaten dinner, taken a bath, and was lazing around on my bed while messing with my phone. I was blankly scrolling through my SNS timeline when my phone suddenly vibrated.

“…Kaede?”

I took a breath before pressing the call button.

『Hellooo? Yuuta-kun? What were you doing?』

“I was just lazing around.”

『Hmm, I see. So, um, Yuuta-kun, I kinda have something I want you to listen to.』

“Mm? What happened?”

『Mio was talking about the other day, you know, the thing that happened on our day off.』

Hearing that name, my body rose up just a little on instinct. The other day off. The day Shouma went wild. That chaotic mess.

“…What did she say?”

『She said, like, she’s sorry Shouma suddenly went crazy and all that.』

“Oh, that one. Shouma talked to me about something similar.”

『Eh? Shouma?』

“Yeah. He came up to me while I was cleaning.”

『No way? Shouma did!?』

Kaede’s voice rose a pitch. Even through the phone, I could clearly imagine her expression.

『So? So? What did he say!?』

“He asked, ‘You two aren’t, like, dating or anything, right?’”

『Pfft…! That’s so like him! Only in moments like that he goes super straight at it! And what did you say?』

There was a tiny pause. That “pause” scared me. It was that moment when the temperature of the words shifted.

“…I told him we’re friends.”

『Hm.』

A short reply. But in her voice, there was a faint softness mixed in.

“Yeah. Honestly, I didn’t have any other way to answer.”

『Eeeh, but…』

Kaede paused for a breath. Her tone suddenly had this weird implication in it.

『You should’ve just said ‘we’re dating,’ you know?』

“…Huh?”

『See, if you said that, Shouma’s face would’ve been soooo funny!』

“…You’re completely messing around.”

『Ehehe~ I mean, try imagining it.』

“I can imagine it easily… But nah, even as a joke I can’t say that.”

『Oh nooo, you’re embarrassed~. Your face is totally red right now.』

“You can’t see me through the phone!”

Even over a phone call, she made my heart skip. I felt the temperature rise just a little. This rhythm of hers was honestly unfair. Before I knew it, I was smiling too. I kept getting caught in her pace.

『Hey, Yuuta-kun.』

“Yeah?”

『…Then, how about tomorrow… We act like lovers?』

“…Huh?”

Time froze. The lingering laughter vanished. The entire atmosphere stiffened.

“W–what did you just say?”

『I mean like, if we act kinda like lovers, I wonder how Shouma and Mio would react.』

“No no no, don’t throw a bomb like that so casually!”

『Because it sounds fun, doesn’t it?』

“…Hey, how serious are you about that?”

『Hmm… Thirty percent joke, seventy percent…』

“Seventy percent is?”

『…‘I kinda want to try it,’ I guess?』

“What!?”

That one sentence hit me way too directly. My heartbeat jumped.

『It’s a joke, okay? If we actually did it, Shouma would get mad again.』

“R–right.”

I let out a breath of relief. Good. It was a joke. If it hadn’t been a joke, I wouldn’t have survived.

『But I wonder what would really happen.』

“Shouma would lose his mind. Mio would go silent. The mood would be awful for days.”

『Uwaa, I wanna see that.』

“I don’t, though…”

Because I would literally fear for my life…

『Well then, I’m gonna sleep now. Good night, Yuuta.』

“Yeah. Good night, Kaede.”

Click.

The moment the call ended, the room fell silent. Only the duration of the call remained on the screen.

“…Good grief.”

I let out a breath without realizing it.

“You’re not the only dangerous one… I’m getting pretty dangerous myself.”

The conversation replayed in my head.

“How about we act like lovers?”

That line kept echoing in some corner of my mind. I placed my phone beside my pillow and let out a wry smile.

“…Even though I’m supposed to be a mob character…”

Muttering that, with my heart still completely unsettled, I started getting ready for bed.

☆☆☆☆

Kaede’s POV

“…Fuu.”

I set my phone beside the bed after ending the call and stretched lightly. A quiet night. The streetlight outside dimly lit up my curtains. Yuuta-kun really was interesting.

My lips loosened without thinking. His panicked reaction… I seriously wanted to see it. Well, even through the phone it came through pretty clearly, but still.

“‘I’d never say something like that,’ he said… His face had to be bright red when he said that.”

Remembering it made me bury my face into my pillow with a laugh.

“What should I tease him with next, I wonder~”

Grinning to myself, I pulled the blanket over me. This feeling might actually become addictive.

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Chapter 18: A Story About a Romance Movie and Making Up

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Yuuta’s POV

A few weeks had passed since then. Before I even realized it, the video of that incident had spread everywhere, and in class they were calling me something like “Yuuta Fujiwara = the guy who saved Kaede.” Honestly, I really wanted them to stop. But as for Kaede…

“Wow, look at you, Hero-sama. Did anyone ask you for a picture?”

“No one asked me. …And don’t say it like that.”

Kaede grinned as she opened her lunch. All I could do was sigh at that smile, with some blend of embarrassment and resignation. In the end, I was always the one who got swept up in her pace.

“Come on. I don’t mean it in a bad way. As the one who got saved, I’m just a little proud of you.”

“When you say stuff like that, you’re going to make me blush.”

“Really? Then maybe I should say even more. My little hero-kun.”

“Quit it.”

She teased and laughed, laughed and returned to eating her bento. I watched her from the side, waiting for that moment when her usual complaints would switch on. But—just for today—she was oddly quiet.

“Hey, Yuuta-kun.”

“Yeah?”

“Do you have any hobbies?”

“…That’s so sudden. I mean, like I said before, I didn’t have hobbies that cost money. If I had to pick… Maybe I like to watch movies.”

“Oh? Movies? I didn’t expect that. What kind do you watch?”

Kaede leaned in closer. Her eyes were more serious than I expected, so I leaned back a bit.

“Well… Foreign films, action, suspense… A bunch of stuff. Sometimes romance, too.”

“Romance too?”

Kaede’s eyes narrowed in that mischievous way. Ah, crap. I definitely pushed the wrong button.

“Hmmm…Romance movies, huh?”

“…Wh-what’s with that tone?”

“No reason. I just wondered what Yuuta Fujiwara thinks about while watching romance movies.”

“I mean, I just watched them normally! I wasn’t like, emotionally invested or anything!”

“Reaaally? Don’t tell me you’re the type who becomes the character and thinks, ‘If it were me, I’d say this.’”

“I don’t do that!”

“Aww, too bad. So you’re not the romance-brain type. Boring.”

She exaggeratedly slumped her shoulders. Her expression wasn’t exactly cute, it was more like… Mischievously adorable.

“T-that’s not a bad thing, right? Some of them are moving.”

“Heeey? So Fujiwara-kun is actually kind of a romantic?”

“No! I’m watching them because the story is good!”

Every time I denied it, Kaede laughed like she was having the time of her life. Teasing me had basically become part of her daily routine at this point.

“But really, that is kind of a surprise. I thought you were the type who watched only action movies.”

“…Well, I liked those too.”

“Right? I watch those as well. Oh, recently, did you see—‘Love in Metropolis’?”

Her eyes sparkled as she leaned forward. She was officially in full-on girls’ talk mode.I nodded and attempted to keep up with her rapid-fire excitement.

“And then the final scene where the protagonist confesses at the station! Isn’t that cheating? Stopping a whole train for it!”

“What? There’s a movie where they do that?”

“Yeah! It’s one of those scenes that just squeezes your heart! …Ah, don’t tell me, you haven’t seen it yet?”

“No, I knew the title, but…”

“I have the Blu-ray.”

She grinned. I had a very bad feeling about where this was going.

“You’re free next break, right? Let’s watch it together.”

“Huh? Where?”

“Your house.”

A perfectly clean, immediate answer. What kind of smoothness was that?

“Um… My house, like… uh…”

“Yeah, I know. It’s safe, and convenient, right?”

“No, if anything I’m the one in danger here…?”

“It’s fine, I won’t do anything weird.”

“No, that’s not the problem here!”

Kaede ignored my protests and was already checking her schedule on her phone. She was completely serious about this.

“Okay, Sunday then. I’ll come in the morning!”

“The morning!?”

“Yep. If we start in the morning we can watch two.”

“Is this a movie theater!?”

“Hehe, then it’s decided!”

With that, looking satisfied, Kaede stood up. As the lunch bell rang, she waved lightly and returned to the classroom.

…Wait.  She said “decided,” but is it actually decided?

Lately, Kaede had been acting strangely proactive. No… That had to be my imagination. I sighed and packed up my empty lunch box. We were only going to watch a movie.

…Probably.

☆☆☆☆

Shouma’s POV

The video spread three days after the incident. It showed me falling, Yuuta shielding Kaede, and me wiping out spectacularly. National debut, complete.

…No one wanted this kind of viral fame. Not even me.

“Shouma-kun, your face looks dead.”

“Shut up, Mio. I’ve already been called ‘that guy from the video’ three times this week.”

“But it is kind of your own fault.”

“…I can’t argue with that.”

During lunch in the classroom, I poked at my tamagoyaki and sighed. I hadn’t properly spoken with Kaede since the incident. Even when our eyes were about to meet, she looked away immediately. Well, of course she did. After all that chaos…

“So? What are you gonna do?”

“‘What am I gonna do,’ about what?”

“Kaede-chan, obviously.”

The moment that name was spoken, my chopsticks froze. Mio glanced at me while finishing off her salad.

“You seriously still care after everything that happened?”

“Of course I care… She’s my childhood friend.”

“…Not that kind of caring. You’re worried for a different reason.”

“Wh—n-no I’m not!”

“Sure, sure. Whatever you say.”

She didn’t believe me at all.

“But Kaede-chan said she wasn’t bothered, right?”

“Apparently… But I’m pretty sure she’s just being considerate.”

“True. That girl never shows it even when she’s mad.”

“Right?”

“Yeah. So you should apologize too.”

Her words were so casual that I had to ask again.

“…If I apologize, what am I even supposed to say?”

“‘Sorry’ works.”

“That’s way too simple.”

“Simple is usually best. Things get messy when you start making excuses.”

Mio glanced at me again. Something about that look had an odd nuance to it. Come to think of it, she’d been a bit cold lately.

…No, maybe I was imagining it.

“Well, if you’re gonna apologize, bring something.”

“Bring what?”

“Sweets or something. Kaede-chan likes sweets, right?”

“Oh… Yeah. She once ate a five-layer pancake stack.”

“That’s beyond the normal realm of ‘liking sweets.’”

Mio laughed in disbelief. But yeah, Kaede really did love sweet things.

“…Alright. Next break, I’ll buy some sweets and go apologize.”

“That was fast.”

“I might not look like it, but I’m decisive.”

The lunch bell rang, and Mio stood up. Before leaving, she lightly patted my shoulder.

“Well, good luck. …Make sure you actually look Kaede-chan in the face.”

“…Yeah.”

I watched her walk away and took a deep breath.

Making up, huh.

If I kept avoiding her, nothing would ever change. If I was going to do this, I had to do it right. With sweets, I’d win back Kaede’s— No, I’d win her trust.

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