Parameter Supremacy: The Man Who Seizes a Harem Through Sheer Effort.

Tsukishiro Matsuri – Gross

Tsukishiro Matsuri’s POV.

I walked toward school with firm resolve burning in my chest.

Yesterday at the family restaurant after school, we had discussed how to handle the rumors. My special mission was to track down the source of the gossip. Honestly, this might be a task only I could pull off.

Moe-cchi and Sagara-cchi were the ones directly involved in the rumor in the worst possible way. If they started asking classmates about it, people would just see it as the subjects of the badmouthing trying to defend themselves. Not many would willingly talk about that.

Shiina-cchi might have had a small chance. After all, she was on the victim’s side. She could probably draw information out through sympathy, but the whole “I’m the victim” stance would be a lie for her. Once the problem was solved, there was a real risk she’d end up facing backlash.

In that regard, I was in the perfect position. I was the type of person who was easy to talk to in class, and above all, I was friends with both the perpetrator and the victim of the rumor.

I was the concerned childhood friend worrying about the relationships within our group. Yeah… I was the ideal person for this.

I recalled the discussion we had at the family restaurant yesterday.

The conclusion we reached was that Minato-kun might be the root cause of the rumor. Sagara-cchi had said he thought it was unlikely that Minato-kun would try to drag down his own childhood friend. If it had been the old Minato-kun, I probably would have agreed.

But… but.

I couldn’t stop remembering that day at the game center when I went out to play with Moe-cchi and Minato-kun.

That time when delinquents were hitting on us, Minato-kun didn’t lift a finger to help. He just looked the other way and pretended not to see anything.

Sure, they were older delinquents. I could understand feeling scared. Even I couldn’t have told him to stand up and fight them — my mouth would never have formed those words. I was scared too, so I got why Minato-kun felt the same.

But still… but.

Even something small, like calling for help, would have been enough. That alone would have saved us back then and kept our trust in him intact.

In the end, I just found Minato-kun disgusting. Incredibly, unbearably disgusting.

What disgusted me most was realizing that beneath that gentle smile of his, he had always been the kind of person who could throw us away without a second thought.

Childhood friend. Yes, that word carried something special. I used to like Minato-kun, after all. I knew exactly why I had always thought of him that way.

But the idea that being childhood friends meant we would never drift apart no matter what — that was a huge misunderstanding. If you don’t hold on tight, people can fall for someone else. People can drift away.

Just look at Shiina-cchi and Moe-cchi. They’re both so beautifully in love with Sagara-cchi. Honestly, even I…

No. I really do find Minato-kun disgusting.

If he was the one who deliberately spread this rumor to ruin Moe-cchi’s reputation… I would never be able to forgive him.

If that turned out to be true, then this would be the moment our childhood friendship truly ended.

So please, Minato-kun. Please don’t fall that low. At the very least, stay our childhood friend. Please. Please.

***

When I reached school and placed my bag on my desk, I scanned the classroom to narrow down my targets.

My eyes met Shiina-cchi’s and I gave her a small nod. Moe-cchi was fidgeting, clearly conscious of the people around her. The current situation must be really hard on her. I had to do something quickly…

It would be best to start with the girls.

Girls are contradictory creatures. They loudly proclaim that cheating and affairs are wrong, yet they secretly love immoral gossip more than anything. They were probably enjoying these rumors with glee.

I set my sights on a few groups of girls who hadn’t yet brought the rumor up to me.

Classroom gossip rarely happened where boys could overhear it during breaks. Girls were cunning and had layers. Their true nature only came out in environments where only girls were present — like the girls’ bathroom.

My plan for the next break was set. While preparing for class, I glanced toward Minato-kun.

He looked the same as always. Seemed like he was doing fine? I couldn’t really tell. If he really was the culprit, he had some serious guts. Not that I cared.

I turned my eyes to the blackboard and absentmindedly thought about what was coming next.

***

“Got it~! Thank you so much!”

I thanked the girl with the friendliest smile I could manage, making sure to look approachable and pleasant.

That was the fourth group. The content was the same every time: Sagara-cchi was cheating on Shiina-cchi with Moe-cchi, and poor Shiina-cchi.

Yeah. I already knew.

Even though they spoke as if they felt sorry for Shiina-cchi, everyone cheerfully spilled the details with laughter. Well, I couldn’t really blame them. When it came to girls who weren’t in the same close circle, relationships were probably always this shallow.

Even I wasn’t particularly interested in girls I wasn’t close with.

But if I were in trouble, both Shiina-cchi and Moe-cchi would desperately try to help me. Once again, I realized that those two were my only real best friends. That alone was a worthwhile harvest.

What about Ryuu-chan? Yeah, he would definitely help me. He had always been endlessly kind.

That was exactly why I wanted to help Moe-cchi and Ryuu-chan.

Next one. Just one more.

***

Lunch break.

I had expanded my investigation to the neighboring class, but I still hadn’t found any lead that pointed to the origin of the rumor.

Checking the remaining time, I only had enough left to talk to maybe one or two more groups. It might be impossible to finish today…

Half-resigned, I headed toward the girls’ bathroom. Maybe I’d get lucky and run into a girl who had useful information. It was nothing more than hopeful speculation.

At the far end of the long hallway, I made my way to the first-year girls’ bathroom on the second floor. When I looked ahead, I spotted a group of boys loitering in front of the boys’ bathroom right next to it.

Ah.

Among them was Minato-kun. The moment he noticed me, he glanced over, then awkwardly looked away and resumed his conversation with the other boys.

If Minato-kun felt awkward around me, that was convenient. I really didn’t want to get involved with him if I could help it.

I shifted my gaze slightly to the side.

That person… was Kakei-kun.

He was one of the guys Minato-kun had started hanging out with recently after he stopped eating lunch with our childhood friend group. Kakei-kun.

We were in the same class, but I… yeah, I don’t think I had ever spoken to him. I definitely hadn’t. Probably…

Come to think of it, I had heard that Kakei-kun had a girlfriend. Who was it again? No, I didn’t know. I’d never talked to the guy, so how would I know his girlfriend…

But somehow, I felt like I wasn’t wrong. I was getting closer to the truth. That intuition was strong.

***

By the time school ended, I was standing in front of Class A.

I quickly learned who Kakei-kun’s girlfriend was. When I asked the girl sitting next to him, she told me without hesitation.

She had given me a slightly suspicious look, so I might have caused her to misunderstand something. But that didn’t matter.

Kakei-kun’s girlfriend was Saitou Fuuka-chan from Class A. Apparently she was in the same art club as him. That didn’t matter either.

What I needed was the source of the rumor. The original version. I wanted to know as soon as possible. I wanted to help Moe-cchi as soon as possible. That was all.

“Excuse me~! Is Saitou Fuuka here?”

I asked the girl sitting closest to the entrance to pass on the message. Since it was after school, she might have already gone home. If so, I’d try again tomorrow.

“Yes, um… that’s me.”

It was the girl herself.

Saitou Fuuka-chan had a baby face that stirred protective instincts. While her features weren’t particularly striking, her overall balance was good, making her a cute black-haired bob-cut girl. She wasn’t very tall and her chest was on the smaller side, but her skin was frighteningly smooth and beautiful.

“Ah, hello. I’m Tsukishiro Matsuri.”

I introduced myself with a deliberately warm, friendly smile.

“Oh, I know who you are.”

Apparently Fuuka-chan already knew about me. Well, my blonde hair does stand out.

“Ahaha, thanks! Oh! Can I call you Fuuka-chan? You can call me Matsuri-chan!”

“Um, yes. Of course. Nice to meet you, Matsuri-san.”

She politely rejected the “chan” suffix. Well, that was fine either way. This was just small talk anyway.

The only person who would take this kind of polite exchange at face value was probably Ryuu-chan.

Ah, no good. I almost smirked.

“Nice to meet you too~! So, um, can I talk to you for a bit? I won’t do anything weird, promise. Hehe~”

When I deliberately acted silly and playful, Fuuka-chan smiled brightly and happily agreed.

***

I took Fuuka-chan with me to the landing at the top of the stairs that led to the rooftop. There, we faced each other.

Fuuka-chan looked a little nervous as she met my eyes. I got straight to the point.

“So, um… You know the rumor about Sagara Ryuuji-kun and Isshiki Moe-chan cheating, right?”

The topic must have been completely unexpected. Fuuka-chan looked surprised.

“Eh? Yes, I know about it, but why?”

“Ah, sorry for asking something weird… Actually, the Shiina-chan and Moe-chan mentioned in the rumor are my best friends… I was really shocked when I heard it. I’ve been asking around because I want the most accurate information possible.”

I wasn’t lying. That was exactly why my words carried more credibility.

“I see… That sounds really tough.”

Fuuka-chan put on a sympathetic, somber expression. I knew it was just polite lip service, but that was fine. Since it was lip service, she would probably give me the answer I wanted.

“Yeah. So… do you know anything about it?”

“It’s something I heard from my boyfriend Kakei-kun… Is that okay?”

Bingo! That was exactly the story I had been waiting for!

I secretly pressed the record button on my phone.

“That would be super helpful! Please tell me!”

“Okay.”

Fuuka-chan began speaking in bits and pieces.

“There’s a friend of Kakei-kun’s named Satou-kun. Apparently he saw a guy named Sagara-kun coming out of Isshiki Moe-san’s house with her… and the way they looked, it seemed like they had just finished cheating…”

Fuuka-chan told the story with genuine good intentions.

“She said that Shiina-san and Moe-san are Satou-kun’s childhood friends. He was really hurt that two childhood friends had fallen into such a twisted relationship, so he consulted with Kakei-kun about what he could do. That’s why he seems to be spreading the story indirectly so it would reach Shiina-san.”

Ohh~ So it really was him after all. I was right not to believe in him~.

“U-um, are you okay?”

Fuuka-chan offered me her handkerchief.

“Eh?”

I felt something warm running down my cheek.

I accepted the handkerchief from Fuuka-chan and pressed it against my eyes.

“S-sorry… I’ll wash it and give it back…”

“No, it’s fine. Don’t worry about it. In this kind of situation, it’s understandable.”

This girl was probably a genuinely good person. She thought my tears were flowing out of worry for my two childhood friends. But these weren’t such beautiful tears.

Despite everything, I had still believed in Minato-kun. I had believed that even though he ignored us when we were being hit on, he wasn’t such a rotten person. I had trusted him.

What the hell. I was such an idiot. Idiot. Idiot. Stupid, stupid. Don’t mess with me.

What is this? Weren’t we supposed to be childhood friends even if we were rotten? Why would a childhood friend do something that would make us unhappy? You idiot. Don’t mess with me.

Damn it, damn it, damn it!!

Ha… this is ridiculous. What? What does this even mean? I don’t get it anymore. I hate this.

In the end, the source of the rumor really was Minato-kun.

Ha!? Don’t screw with me!!

What was all of it then? What were those years we spent together as childhood friends?

What about my feelings? What about all those years I spent thinking about you?

It was all pointless. All that time was meaningless.

Even when things got awkward, the bond of childhood friendship that had always stayed in the corner of my heart—

What about that group photo we took together that I could never bring myself to delete?

What about the keychain we exchanged on Christmas?

What about the lucky charm we bought together during the first shrine visit of the year?

What about the chocolate I worked so hard to make by hand?