Reincarnated as the Protagonist of a Legendary Depressing Eroge – I Paired Up My Two Childhood Friend Heroines to Avoid the Bad End, But Their Possessiveness Completely Broke Through the Limits

Episode 06: Reunion / Winter

The staff room was filled with a unique kind of silence and the smell of ink like old paper burning.

I dragged my heavy feet toward my homeroom teacher’s desk—the math teacher’s desk.

My heart was pounding like a drum.

It wasn’t hard to imagine how lightly this place would take the “kid’s intuition” I was about to say.

“Sir. Do you have a minute?”

Sato, who was typing on his computer at the desk, pushed his glasses up with a finger.

“Kageyama? What’s up?”

“It’s about Yoru. I wanted to talk to you.”

The moment I said her name, his fingers stopped.

But it wasn’t out of worry.

The look on his face clearly showed he was annoyed at having trouble dumped on him.

“What happened with Yoru? Her grades are excellent and her attitude is serious. Is there some kind of problem?”

“Yoru and I have been childhood friends since we were little, but lately she’s been acting strange. Her fingertips are covered in bandages, and the other day I saw some unfamiliar adults going in and out of her house.”

I chose my words carefully, desperate to get through to him.

I already knew a bit about her family situation from my game knowledge from my previous life, but the most I could expect was being grilled with “Why does a middle schooler like you know that?”

So I stuck to the “abnormality” I’d noticed as her childhood friend and tried to appeal to adult logic.

But what slipped from my teacher’s mouth was a dry snort.

“Kageyama. You’re just a kid, so you probably think sticking your nose into other people’s family business is the right thing to do. …But families have their own ‘circumstances.’ Isn’t her mom raising her alone and struggling? A little messiness in appearance or noise around the house isn’t something the school should butt into. Being nosy will only ruin you.”

“But if things keep going like this, she’ll—”

“That’s enough. Go back to class. You should just worry about your own studies. We’ll keep an eye on Yoru ‘appropriately’ from our side.”

Appropriately.

Keep an eye on her.

I never knew those words could sound so irresponsible.

The teacher had already turned back to his screen, wiping me from his sight.

My clenched fist shook with anger.

This guy only sees what he wants to see.

He cares more about protecting his own peaceful day than hearing the screams of a girl who’s falling apart.

I was drowning in a hopeless feeling of powerlessness and was about to leave the staff room when—

“Sato, that doesn’t sound very ‘appropriate,’ does it?”

From behind me came that slightly airy but deeply resonant voice—the same one I’d heard when she opened the door earlier.

――――――――――――――――――――――――――――――――――――――
Target: Takanasashi Taeko
Occupation: School Nurse Birthday: May 7
Blood Type: B Height: 170 cm
Favorability: ???
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When I turned around, the woman in the white coat—Takanasashi Taeko—had apparently just set down a big stack of paperwork on her desk. She was holding a mug in one hand and looking our way.

“Takanasashi, this is a matter for our class management. It’s not something for the school nurse to—”

Sato made a clearly annoyed face.

But Taeko just gave a soft “fufu” laugh and stepped right between us.

“Even if it’s a management issue, when a student is giving such specific details about an ‘abnormality,’ don’t you think we should check? Have you even confirmed whether the cuts on Kageyama’s friend’s fingers really came from something harmless?”

Her tone was gentle.

But her words hit the teacher’s laziness right on target.

“Sato, even without bringing up Article 11 of the School Education Act, isn’t it neglect of duty if we ignore clear signs of trouble with a student’s physical or mental health and don’t quickly verify the facts?”

Sato’s face turned bright red in an instant.

“And if something bad happens later, are you going to report to the education board that ‘there was a report from a student, but we ignored it thinking it was just family matters’? That would look really bad for your career, wouldn’t it?”

“Ugh… th-that’s…”

It wasn’t that he’d been hit with pure logic.

He’d been jabbed right in his weakest spot—his own self-preservation—like someone gently tightening a soft cloth around his neck.

“Don’t you think it’s better to at least check the facts?”

She turned to me and winked playfully with one eye.

“So, can I take over this matter for a bit, Sato? I’d like to hear the full story from Kei-kun… in the nurse’s office, as a health room case.”

—Kei-kun.

For a second, my brain froze at the way she called me.

Why does this person already know my name?

Sato clicked his tongue in irritation and spat out, “Do whatever you want,” before standing up from his seat.

Taeko didn’t even bother watching him leave. She just gave my shoulder a gentle pat.

“The nurse’s office is a good place to talk without anyone bothering us—”

I followed behind her as she walked off, her white coat fluttering.

Walking down the hallway, her figure somehow felt warmer than the cold winter school building, like the only spot with a few extra degrees of body heat. It gave me a strange sense of relief.

—

Episode 07: Declaration of War / Winter

The moment I closed the door to the nurse’s office, the freezing air of the winter school building was cut off. In its place, the steam from the humidifier and a faint sweet smell of disinfectant wrapped around me.

Ms. Tsubaki called out, “Just grab a seat wherever,” while she took two mugs out of the cabinet.

“Sorry to keep you waiting. Cocoa okay? I went ahead and dumped a ton of sugar in.”

“…Thanks, Ms. Tsubaki.”

I wrapped both hands around the mug she handed me.

The gentle warmth seemed to melt from my numb fingertips all the way through my body.

Ms. Tsubaki sat down across from me.

The soft, womanly curves of her body under the white coat leaned back against the chair.

But behind that calm smile, her eyes were carefully studying every inch of me.

“Ahaha, don’t look so tense. I can tell just by watching how worried Keiji is about Yabuchi Iyo.”

“…You knew, Ms. Tsubaki? About us?”

“Yeah, well… I’m the school nurse, after all. I try to keep track of the relationships between students I’m worried about.”

Ms. Tsubaki gave a playful little laugh and took a sip of her own cocoa.

“So, picking up where we left off… How does Iyo look to you, Keiji?”

I stared at my own reflection rippling on the surface of the cocoa.

I didn’t have the luxury of hiding behind metaphors or vague words.

Trusting my gut that this “adult” might actually believe me, I spoke.

“I think she’s… starting to feel despair about why she was even born. She’s convinced she’s the one who ruined her mom’s life.”

The gentle warmth drained from Ms. Tsubaki’s eyes.

What replaced it was a sharp, clearheaded reason that came from someone who had seen a lot of lives up close.

“I see… Her mother has been desperately trying to keep Iyo on the ‘light’ side, wearing herself down to nothing in the process. But that impossible lifestyle ended up creating openings that invited the wrong kind of adults in.”

“…I don’t think her mom is a bad person.”

My voice came out stronger than I meant it to.

“Iyo’s mom… Saya… she just wanted to protect Iyo, even if it meant sacrificing herself. Her methods might have gone off the rails and gotten twisted, but the very fact that Iyo exists is proof of Saya’s desperate love. I want Iyo to understand that properly. It’s not that her life fell apart because of Iyo. It’s because Iyo was there that she managed to hold on until today…”

Ms. Tsubaki listened quietly to my earnest plea.

After a while, she let out a small sigh and gently placed her hand on top of my head.

“Hehe. Keiji, are you really just a first-year middle schooler? You’re seeing pretty deep into things.”

“That’s…”

“It’s fine. I won’t ask right now… But let me say just one thing. What you’re saying is right. No matter how worn out that mother gets, she never let go of Iyo. That’s not just a sense of duty. It’s a woman’s desperate, all-or-nothing ‘selfishness.’ …I think Iyo might be the one shining trophy her mother managed to bring back from hell.”

Trophy.

The word dropped straight into my chest.

“Keiji. This problem is too heavy for you to carry alone… So let me help too. I’ll keep an eye on both the wound on Iyo’s finger and the wounds in her heart, little by little. In return, you stay by her side as her ‘childhood friend,’ okay?”

“…Ms. Tsubaki.”

“Ahaha, don’t make that face. You still have plenty of things you need to do, right?”

Ms. Tsubaki smiled at me, gentle but strong, almost like she could see right through the fact that I had come here with “original story knowledge.”

Even after I left the nurse’s office, the warmth of the cocoa still lingered in my palms.

The wind blowing through the winter hallway was as cold as ever.

But in my chest, a clear heat had been lit, different from the helplessness I’d felt before.

…Wait for me, Iyo.

I quickened my steps back toward the classroom.

The story had only just begun.

This time, I would grab the hand of the girl who was sinking toward the edge of hell and never let go.

That was my—Keiji Kageyama’s—first declaration of war against this legendary depressing erotic game.