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 - 40

Chapter 40: The Clouded One and the One Who Quit

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We, the members of the Manga Research Club, were hurriedly discussing things in front of the yakiniku restaurant that was supposed to be our after-party venue.

“I’m worried about Moe for now, so I’m going back home once. You guys can go ahead and eat the yakiniku!”

“Kazuto… Please let me know how Moe is later, even if it’s just a phone call…?”

“Got it.”

Kirari stayed behind as the club president, but she looked clearly uneasy.

“I’m worried too, so maybe I should go with—”

“It’s okay, Nazuna, you stay here. If Moe shows up, I want you to be here to listen to her.”

“O-okay…”

Nazuna nodded anxiously.

“When you see Moe, tell her to hurry up and come before I eat all the meat, okay?”

That was Konno-san’s way of cheering her on as best she could. She and Moe were especially close, so her concern showed plainly on her face.

“Got it. I bet Moe will come flying over, frustrated and all.”

“Be careful!”

“Kazuto-kun, take care…”

“Please look after Moe…”

Sent off by the three of them, I rushed home at full speed. That day, my parents just happened to be away, so the inside of the house was pitch-dark when I got back.

“She’s not home yet…?”

When I turned on the lights and walked down the hallway, Moe’s bedroom door was slightly ajar. But no light was leaking out from inside. Just in case, I opened the door further and turned on the light to check the room. What I hadn’t been able to see a moment earlier was now there. Moe, sitting on the floor hugging her knees, staring blankly at a single point.

“M-Moe!?”

When I hurried over to her, Moe slowly turned her hollow eyes toward me.

“Ah, Onii-chan…”

“What happened!? Are you feeling sick or something!? Why didn’t you answer your phone!?”

“It’s fine now…”

“What do you mean, ‘it’s fine’!?”

At my question, Moe sharply narrowed her eyes and raised her voice.

“It’s all your fault, isn’t it!? Why didn’t you tell Moe that you confessed to Nazuna-senpai!? You never kept secrets from Moe before…!”

After letting out a loud shout, Moe finally began to shed tears, flustered and trembling.

“H-hey, I’m sorry. B-but why would you go this far over something like that—”

“This isn’t ‘something like that,’ you idiot!!”

A scream thundered through the cramped room.

“W-what’s going on with you…?”

Faced with an intensity that didn’t resemble my usual cute little sister at all, my legs nearly gave out beneath me.

“You belong to Moe! I don’t want to give you to Nazuna-senpai, not to anyone!”

“H-hey, what are you saying!? We’re real siblings, aren’t we!?”

“So what!? Who decided that a little sister isn’t allowed to fall in love with her big brother!?”

“That’s… Literally the law…”

“I don’t care about that! Moe will smash all of it, so it doesn’t matter!!”

“H-hey… Calm down a bit…!”

Moe slowly stood up, then planted her hands on the floor as she loomed over me, who was frozen in place.

“Hey, Onii-chan… Have you already kissed Nazuna-senpai…?”

“I-I haven’t, but…”

“Then Moe wins—”

As Moe moved her lips toward me, I reflexively blocked her with my hand. When I tried to keep my hand over my mouth, Moe forcefully peeled it away as if it were nothing but an annoyance, raising her voice again.

“Why are you rejecting me!? We used to kiss all the time when we were little, didn’t we!?”

“How many years ago was that…!? Like I said, because we’re siblings, stuff like that isn’t allowed!”

“Then fine… Moe will just die.”

Moe slowly stood up and walked toward her study desk.

“H-hey, what are you planning to do…!?”

She picked up a box cutter from the pen holder and clicked the blade out with a sharp snap.

“If I can’t be together with you, Onii-chan, then Moe has no choice but to die, right…?”

My sister’s eyes were completely gone.

“W-wait…!!”

I instantly ran to her and tightly grabbed the blade of the box cutter so it wouldn’t turn toward her. Then—drip, drip—my blood began to fall onto the floor like drops from an IV. Seeing the blood made Moe flinch, and when she let go of the box cutter. She regained a bit of composure and collapsed onto the floor with a thud.

“Onii-chan, you’re bleeding…”

“It’s okay. This will heal right away…”

“Hey… Why…? Why are you and Moe siblings…? Moe never wanted that…”

My sister pressed her face hard against my chest and sobbed uncontrollably. At this completely unexpected confession, my heart ached as if it were being crushed. It hurt far more than my injured hand ever could.

After a while, exhausted from crying, my sister fell asleep. I informed everyone in the Manga Research Club that my sister was safe, lied that Moe wasn’t feeling well, and decided not to attend the after-party myself.

The next day, when I reached out to Chadani-san at school, I was met with another unexpected reaction.

“Good morning, Chadani-san. What happened yesterday?”

“Don’t talk to me so casually. You’re bothering me.”

Her gaze was cold, sharp, and filled with hostility.

“S-sorry…”

After school, when I stopped by the clubroom, only Kirari, Nazuna, and Konno-san were there. As I sat down, Konno-san muttered sadly.

“Moe said she’s quitting the Manga Research Club… Hey, Kurosaki-kun, what happened to Moe?”

“That’s…”

As I looked down, struggling with how to answer, Kirari stood up and called out to me as she always did.

“Hey, Kazuto, come here for a moment… Let’s talk, just the two of us, okay?”

“…Alright.”

Even though we hadn’t planned it, Kirari and I headed toward the rooftop together in silence.

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