I Was Reincarnated as a Mob in a Completed School Rom-Com Manga, and When I Tried My Best to Cheer Up the Broken Losing Heroines, I Realized I Had Surpassed the Original Story - 1

Chapter 1: Even If the Rain Stops, Love Never Does

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The autumn breeze drifting in through the open classroom window felt pleasant, and during fourth-period World History, I ended up falling asleep. The dream I saw there was strangely realistic and vivid.

No, this wasn’t a dream.

An impossible amount of information for just a fifteen-minute nap came crashing into my mind, and the moment I woke up, I clearly remembered that this life was at least my second one. In my previous life that I recalled in the dream, I had been sickly, unable to attend school properly, and I spent most of my life on a hospital bed.

I always wished that one day I could live a normal youth. My only source of enjoyment was manga and anime. Among all of them, the romance comedy manga I especially loved to read—Even If the Rain Stops, Love Never Does (shortened to Amakoi)—was nothing short of a bible to the me of my previous life. And the biggest shock of all was that the world where I had spent the past seventeen years without realizing this was my second life was the world of Amakoi itself, and I was attending the same high school as one of its characters.

But the protagonist of Amakoi and the main heroine were no longer at this school. Because, as of the very day I realized my reincarnation, the time axis of this world already corresponded to the period after the original manga’s ending. This rom-com had long since concluded.

Due to family circumstances, the main heroine had been forced to suddenly study abroad in another country, and the protagonist had transferred overseas as well to follow her. That happened in the final chapter of the original series, but for me in this life, it was practically a memory from just yesterday.

Seen off by the whole class, the original protagonist—Hayato Shiratori—departed beneath a distant sky to follow the main heroine, Kaori Momoi. Left behind in this school were several losing heroines, each crushed in the depths of despair. And as for me, I was nothing more than a mob among mobs—Kazuto Kurosaki—whose only role in the original story had been being a classmate of the protagonist, not even important enough to have my name mentioned.

While I quietly sorted through the information in my head, the bell signaling the end of fourth period rang throughout the building. My classmates, thrilled that lunchtime had finally arrived, scattered away one after another. Since I was a loner with no one to eat with, I remained in the classroom. And besides, now wasn’t the time to think about lunch. I was desperately trying to suppress the pounding in my chest—this excitement of actually existing in the dream world I had admired so deeply. There was no way I could feel hungry.

But there was one question.

What were those charming losing heroines—those not chosen by the protagonist—feeling right now? The original final chapter never went into much detail about what happened to the losing heroines afterward, so I could only imagine. But now I could actually talk to them directly. They must have been terribly depressed.

Even someone like me—a mob—might be able to do something for them. I genuinely wanted to repay those wonderful heroines who had supported me through my painful hospital life in my previous world. But since I had no romantic experience whatsoever, I had no idea what I should do for a girl nursing a broken heart. So I decided to turn to the power of the internet.

When I searched “how to heal heartbreak” on my phone, the answer appeared easily. At the top of the search results it said, “It’s important to have someone listen and let out your painful feelings.” This seemed like something I could do. For once, I was glad I had reincarnated as a mob. I figured the heroines would feel awkward talking about their love troubles to anyone deeply involved in the story. But to an unrelated mob, they might be more comfortable to open their heart.

And so, I dashed out of the classroom to look for one of the losing heroines of Amakoi. The first place I headed was the rooftop. She should definitely be here. The girl who had competed fiercely with the main heroine until the very end of the heroine race—Hiyori Konno. Up until the very last volume, the original protagonist had wavered between those two. That was why I believed the losing heroine carrying the deepest wounds must have been Konno-san. So I chose to look for her first.

I opened the rooftop door, though students weren’t supposed to enter, but no one was there.

In the original manga, Konno-san was frequently shown coming to the rooftop to nap, so I was certain she’d be here, but I was wrong. Just as I was about to give up and return inside, clank—came a metallic sound. When I turned toward the source, it came from the other side of the railing, at the same height as my own.

Don’t tell me…

I thought, but just in case, I approached and narrowed my eyes—and there was Konno-san, sitting on the rooftop ledge beyond the railing, her legs dangling freely in the air. Her deep-blue hair, cut to her shoulders, fluttered in the wind. Her petite figure and youthful features evoked a strong urge to protect her, and combined with the mysterious expression visible even from her profile, she made my heart skip a beat just by existing.

I found myself admiring her the same way I did in the manga, but the height of this four-story building’s rooftop easily exceeded twenty meters. If she fell, she wouldn’t walk away unscathed. Seeing her sitting there without even a safety harness sent a terrible premonition racing through my entire body.

“Konno-san, don’t do anything rash! It’s dangerous! Please, come over to this side!”

When I called out in panic, she slowly turned toward me.

“Why are you here?”

In contrast to my flustered state, Konno-san’s voice and demeanor were calm.

“Th-that’s… I was worried about you! Please, I’m begging you! Please come over here!”

“Why are you worried about me?”

Her expression remained unchanged.

“Because… Shiratori transferred away, and I thought you might be heartbroken…”

“Oh… I see… So you knew.”

She said that with a sorrowful air, her eyes drifting vaguely toward the sky.

“If it’s okay with you, I can listen to your story…”

“Hey… How did you know? That I liked Shiratori-kun…”

Her voice was like a whisper.

“I—I’m actually from another world!”

Unable to think of a better excuse, I answered honestly and by sheer coincidence, it worked.

“P-puhahaha… You’re funny, Kurosaki-kun…”

When Konno-san finally laughed, she looked like a small, innocent girl—fragile, and beautiful.

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