I Was Reincarnated as the Villain in an NTR Eroge, but Since I Don’t Actually Want to Be a Villain, I’m Just Going to Live Normally - 31-32

Chapter 31: I Got to See Sakurajima’s Wonderful Smile Again After a Long Time

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I headed straight for the first–year classrooms after that. But as I walked down the hall, I kept feeling glances from the female students flicking toward me.

That’s strange. Why am I feeling only the girls staring at me?

Even among the first–years, Akira Kuze was apparently well-known as a delinquent guy. So it made complete sense that the first–years would sneak glances at me… But for some reason, it felt like only the girls were looking at me.

Well, I didn’t really get it, but worrying about it wouldn’t help. I ignored it and kept walking toward the first–year classroom. Once I arrived in front of the first–year classroom, I approached a first–year girl who happened to be nearby.

“Ah, sorry. Are you a student in this class?”

“Eh… E-eh!? Ah, y-yes! I—I am!”

“I see. Sorry to trouble you, but could you call a girl named Sakurajima from this class?”

“S–Shizuku? Y-Yes, I understand! I’ll call her right away, so please wait!”

“Thanks. I’m counting on you.”

DADADADADA!!

With that, the first–year girl hurried straight into the classroom and called out to Sakurajima. At that moment, I caught a glimpse of Sakurajima’s face. Her expression looked dark. She was probably still wearing the same gloomy look she’d had since last week. And with that gloomy expression still on her face, Sakurajima stood up from her seat and walked toward the hallway.

A dark expression just doesn’t suit Sakurajima…

But the one who caused her to look that way was me. That was why I had reflected on it and was now doing everything I could to fix the cause of it. And to show her the results of everything I’d worked on during the weekend, I had come here to see her.

“Hey, Sakurajima.”

“……Eh? W—ah, Kuze-senpa…i?”

I called out to Sakurajima as she stepped into the hallway. She blinked in confusion for a moment, but then, immediately after…

“Eh… Eeeeh!? W-What happened!? That appearance—!!”

The moment she saw me, Sakurajima’s eyes widened and she shouted in shock. The gloomy expression from earlier vanished instantly. At least I had managed to completely break through that dark mood of hers. That was progress. Still looking her straight in the eyes, I spoke.

“What do you mean ‘what’? Remember, we made a promise last week, right? That I’d start making an effort so people around me wouldn’t hate me anymore? So as the first step, I graduated from the delinquent look. So, what do you think? Do you think this changes my impression a bit?”

“Eh… Ah, y-yes! Um… I-it looks really serious and you look really cool…!”

“Haha. Yeah? That’s good to hear.”

When I directly asked for her impression, she gave me her approval that I looked serious. That really was good. But right after that…

“Hm? What’s wrong? Your face is all red, you know?”

“Fueh!? M-My face is red!?”

“Yeah. Did you catch a cold? If you do, I can take you to the infirmary.”

“N-No, no! I-I’m fine! I’m not sick or anything!!”

“Is that so? Well, if you say you’re fine, then that’s fine.”

I noticed her face turning red and asked, but Sakurajima shook her head vigorously and insisted she was fine. Come to think of it, Yukishiro was the same way earlier, but since both of them said it was nothing, I guessed I didn’t need to worry.

“Oh, right. And… Here. Your handkerchief. You forgot it at my apartment before, remember?”

“Eh? A-Ah, y-yes! That’s mine! Th-Thank you very much, Senpai! Wait—did you maybe wash this handkerchief? It feels so clean…”

“Yeah, I washed it and ironed it. You used that handkerchief to wipe Mii-chan’s face, right? It had a bit of dirt from the sand on it. So I washed it and made it clean again.”

“E—ah, r-really!? I—I made you go through all that trouble… I—I’m really sorry, Senpai…”

“No, no. It wasn’t any trouble at all, so don’t worry about it. If anything, thank you. You helped clean Mii-chan’s dirty face that day. And thank you for always helping take care of her. I’d be really happy if you continued helping me take care of Mii-chan from now on too.”

“S—Senpai… hearing you say that… It makes me so happy… Hehe, understood! Th-Then I… I’ll keep doing my best to take care of Mii-chan! S-So, um…Please continue taking care of me too!”

“Yeah. Let’s keep working together.”

“Yes!”

With a bright, full smile, Sakurajima made that promise with me. At long last, I was able to see her wonderful smile again.

Yeah… Seeing Sakurajima smiling like that… Somehow it really makes me happy too.

Last week she had been absolutely crushed, but today, I finally got to see her smile again. I was really glad. And now that both Yukishiro and Sakurajima had said that I “didn’t look like a delinquent anymore,” I felt like I had gotten a step closer to graduating from being the villain character.

Though honestly, just changing my appearance wasn’t enough for the other students to suddenly believe I had quit being a delinquent. So from here on out, I would work even harder to become a proper, serious male high school student!

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Chapter 32: S-Something’s Wrong with Shizuku… (Kakeru’s POV)

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One day after school, in the classroom.

“Hey, hey, Kuze-kun suddenly changed his whole look, right! Isn’t he, like, way too cool now??”

“Yeah, I think so too! He looked so cool today! The black hair suits him, and the glasses look amazing on him!”

“Right, totally! He became super stylish and cool! And he looks way more serious now! He’s been coming to school every day too, so maybe he actually became a serious kind of guy??”

“Ahh, that might be true. He really has been coming every day lately, so maybe he did become a serious boy. He used to have that scary vibe that made him hard to approach, but if he really turned serious now… Hehe, I kinda wanna talk to him a little…”

“I get it, I get it! If that’s the case, I kinda wanna go talk to him too!”

The girls who stayed in the classroom after school were getting excited with that conversation. Kuze had already gone home, so he didn’t hear any of that. But their voices reached my ears perfectly.

Hah? What are they even talking about? What’s so great about that delinquent guy??

Their cheerful conversation kept reaching me, but I just couldn’t understand any of it, and that was exactly what I thought. And apparently I wasn’t the only one who thought the girls’ conversation made no sense.

The guys around me seemed to feel the same way.

“Hey, like… Aren’t the girls saying a bunch of nonsense since earlier?”

“Y-Yeah, I was thinking the same thing. Until now Kuze was a crazy delinquent, but the moment he changes his look they start squealing? Seriously? It makes no sense.”

“Exactly, right? I totally agree. I mean, how could someone become ‘serious’ just from changing their look? They’ve been talking nonsense nonstop.”

Even though the class’s girls were getting all excited over delinquent Kuze’s makeover, we guys weren’t excited at all. If anything, the girls who were squealing were starting to look completely stupid to us.

I mean, seriously… Thinking someone is cool or serious just because they changed their appearance… Those girls must be unbelievably dumb. There’s no way someone can graduate from being a delinquent that easily. Man…Seriously… I really hope no airheaded, shallow girls like that ever end up around me…

“Excuse meee. Ah, there you are. Kakeru-senpai!”

“Hm? Oh, hey, Shizuku.”

Right as I was thinking that, Shizuku suddenly came into my classroom and called out to me.

It was the first time she’d ever come to my classroom, so I was honestly a little surprised.

I’m pretty sure I told Shizuku at the beginning that she shouldn’t come to this classroom because that delinquent guy is here. Well, whatever.

“It’s rare for you to come to my classroom, Shizuku. What’s up?”

“Ah, yes. The advisor told us earlier that we’ll be having a meeting in the club tomorrow, and that everyone should attend if possible, so I came to tell you that, Kakeru-senpai!”

“Ah, got it. Thanks for coming all the way to tell me. But something like that… You could’ve just sent it on LIME, you know? It’s after school, so you probably wanted to go home early too, right?”

“No, no, it’s totally fine. I didn’t have any plans today anyway. A-Also, I kinda wanted to take a look at your classroom…”

“Huh? You wanted to see my classroom? What do you mean by that?”

“Ah, n-no, it’s nothing important… Ah, um, by the way… Is Kuze-senpai here right now?”

“…Eh? K-Kuze? No, I think he already went home…”

“Ah, I-I see… So he already went home… Ah, right. Then, while I’m here… Where is Kuze-senpai’s seat?”

“His seat? Uh, well… It’s that one by the window.”

“I see, so Kuze-senpai’s seat is by the window. Hehe… I understand. Ah, thank you for telling me, Kakeru-senpai!”

“Uh… Yeah, sure…?”

Shizuku smiled while thanking me. Then, still smiling softly, she stared at Kuze’s seat for a while. And for some reason… Her face looked a little red.

W-What’s going on… Shizuku?

I felt like it was the first time I’d ever seen an expression like that on her face. It made me feel kind of unsettled somehow. A-And why was she asking about Kuze…?

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