Chapter 29 – From Here On Out, I’m Aiming for You for Real♡

“Now, exactly who are you going to choose!?”

Pressed by three beautiful girls, Shinta desperately continued to search for a way to break through this situation, but the more he thought about it, the less he understood. Just why was a harem situation straight out of a romance manga prepared for him? During his high school life a year ago, Shinta couldn’t even make a single friend, yet now he had fallen into a situation that seemed to realize the dreams of the majority of boys at this academy. Pressed by beautiful girls of entirely different genres, he was being thrust with the ultimate choice of having them want him as their lifelong partner.

(No, wait, wait, wait, why did it suddenly turn into me having to choose someone? I mean, are these girls seriously interested in me?)

It was true that he had just received kisses from all of them, but to begin with, he couldn’t find any reason why he would be popular. Just when did he earn enough affection to have such passionate love directed at him?

Shinta completely lacked the self-awareness to recognize the obvious. He failed to realize that comforting Ichizu over her trauma and giving up his own time to help her diet had won her heart. He didn’t notice that giving Miina the push to repair her family’s collapsing bonds had made her fall for him. Furthermore, he overlooked how putting his body on the line to stop Kaoru’s rampage had made him her ultimate emotional support. Looking at it objectively, there were colorful arrays of elements for them to like about him. However, having previously only been subjected to malice, hostility, disgust, and awe, Shinta simply couldn’t comprehend his own appeal.

That being said, if he was told “I love you” this clearly, even a complete blockhead could understand they were serious. From the pressing enthusiasm of the three, he knew it wasn’t a joke and that they truly liked him from the bottom of their hearts. Faced with the girls still pressing him right before his eyes about who he would choose, Shinta struggled to come up with an answer.

(No, to begin with, how do I honestly view them?)

The other parties seemed to hold affection for him as a member of the opposite sex, but on the other hand, how did he view them?

To him, Ichizu and Miina were friends and benefactors. They were the ones who had shown him a new, light-illuminated path, pulling him away from a gloomy, isolated life that had seemed all but set in stone. He had profound gratitude toward those two and recognized them as friends he could open his heart to.

But was romantic love involved there?

And Kaoru was, so to speak, a senpai he held great admiration for. He had a hard time reprimanding her when she rampaged in this dojo, but within this school, she was supported and relied upon by many students. For someone like him who had been avoided by people until now, he had the confidence to say she was a very upstanding senpai.

But was romantic affection involved there?

While he held many good impressions of them, whether he felt affection for them as members of the opposite sex remained highly doubtful. For him, with such an opaque awareness, choosing one of these three to reach a special relationship felt completely wrong, and even his lacking brain could recognize that. That was exactly why Shinta lightly peeled off the three pressing against him and conveyed his true feelings.

“Sorry, everyone. Honestly, even if the three of you tell me you ‘love’ me, I don’t know what to do.”

The girls who had been aggressively appealing to him closed their mouths and listened to Shinta’s words.

“Just so you know, I’m not saying I hate it. If anything, as a guy, I’m happy about it. It’s just… to me, I’m more conscious of you three than other people, but even so, it’s not certain if I see you as members of the opposite sex.”

It was a difficult thing to say to women who had made the resolution of a lifetime and even offered up their kisses, but Shinta dared to honestly hit them with his true feelings.

“That’s why I can’t choose one of you here right now as my most special partner. If you three are serious, then all the more reason… could you let me get to know you better, sort out my feelings, and understand them before I give you an answer?”

It was exactly because they seriously loved someone like him that Shinta put his answer on hold here. He didn’t want to make a decision while swept up in the atmosphere of the moment, knowing that choosing with a half-hearted resolve would only make his partner unhappy. The three girls, answered with his straightforward eyes, remained silent for a while before simultaneously relaxing their expressions as if the tension had finally left them.

“Jeez, you’re so indecisive, Shinta-kun. But we did rush things a bit too much.”

“Haa… Well, it’s very like you, Shinta, I guess.”

“Umu, I suppose it’s hard to come up with an answer when pressed with such a choice so suddenly.”

While leaving behind a slight sense of dissatisfaction, the three accepted his hold on the matter for the time being. Shinta let out a sigh of relief that things had settled down peacefully for now, but immediately after, a tremendous chill ran through his spine.

“Eh, wait, what’s wrong with you guys…”

Before he knew it, the eyes of the three were once again clad in a suspicious light. Moreover, their cheeks were dyed crimson and their breathing had grown ragged. Directed at Shinta, who had fallen into the mood of an herbivore being targeted by carnivores, the maidens starving for love spoke out one after another.

“Since I’ve already said all my true feelings, I’ll say it to you once again, Shinta-kun. I love you, Shinta-kun♡ I love, love, love you♡ The most in the world—no, the most in the universe♡ So from here on out, I’m going to work hard so I’ll be chosen as your number one♡”

“I’m already totally feverish for you too, Shinta, so I’m going to attack you aggressively from here on out, so prepare yourself~♡ Grrrrr♡”

“I will absolutely make these fierce feelings bear fruit♡ To that end, I also intend to become a little… no, quite proactive, so I’m counting on you♡”

He felt like he could clearly see heart marks deep within all of their eyes.

Realizing that his future school life would distance itself from peace in an entirely different sense, Shinta could do nothing but let out a bitter smile.