Reincarnated Into a Delinquent Manga… Where the Genders Are Reversed and Everyone’s a Girl - Chapter 41 & 42: Takuma Takamure’s Resolve | Sour Movie

Chapter 41: Takuma Takamure’s Resolve

Lately, something felt off.

As I packed my textbooks into my bag, that sense of wrongness gnawed at the back of my mind.

At Shibakata High, fights were a daily occurrence.

In fact, there hadn’t been a single day without someone throwing fists.

But recently—maybe for the past two weeks or so—things had gone strangely quiet.

Not completely, of course.

But like rain in the rainy season falling only a handful of times, the drop was enough to feel unnatural.

Even with my knowledge of Fist, I couldn’t make sense of it.

It wasn’t like some big event had triggered a shift.

It felt more like some unseen force was twisting the flow of things behind the scenes.

The only possible causes I could come up with were:

the gender-swapped world… or me.

Sure, with everyone’s sexes reversed, maybe the amount of raw aggression had shifted too.

Even in my past life there had been female biker gangs and delinquents, but they were always the minority.

But if that were the reason, then why hadn’t the difference shown itself until now?

Which left me with just one conclusion—

“…It’s me.”

“Is something wrong, Takuma-kun? Wanna talk about it?”

“…No, I don’t want to make you worry, Mikoto.”

“You’re being stingy, y’know. With how close we are, you can tell me anything. I wouldn’t mind at all.”

Mikoto spun her pen between her fingers and gave her chest a light tap.

Over the past few weeks, she and I had grown closer, often hanging out together like this.

Though today wasn’t exactly “hanging out”—we were in the library, studying seriously.

“Still, Takuma-kun, you’re kinda unexpected.”

“What do you mean?”

“Look at you. Blond hair, flashy look—you totally give off a playboy vibe. And yet here you are, all serious, studying at a library desk.”

“Well, a student’s job is to study, after all.”

“Pfft, heh.” She shrugged with a grin.

She might’ve been teasing me, but the truth was, she was sitting right there too, working through her assignments.

Maybe she felt a little embarrassed about studying and used the teasing to cover it up.

“I’m no good at studying, though.”

“…You say that, but you’re solving those problems without even pausing.”

“That’s ‘cause these are easy ones.”

“…Really?”

I tilted my head, but since she said so, I decided to believe her.

There were still students at Shibakata High who studied.

Some had failed their high school entrance exams—like being too sick to even show up on test day.

Others had only discovered the fun of studying after entering high school.

But most of those kids didn’t study on campus.

They studied at home, at prep schools, or in private study rooms.

Which left the school library almost completely empty.

Basically, it was the perfect space to be alone.

That’s why I’d started holing up there.

Then, by coincidence, Mikoto had wandered in one day.

And somehow… we just ended up spending time together ever since.

“By the way.”

“Hm?”

“Right now, Shibakata High doesn’t have a boss, right?”

“The Myougi faction and the Tanigawa faction are holding things together side by side.”

“Well, I’m thinking… maybe I should go for the boss seat myself.”

At first, I thought she was joking.

But the look in her eyes was dead serious.

“You think you can pull it off? I mean, I won’t deny wanting to be boss—that’s the dream of any delinquent aiming for the top. But if you go in solo, won’t they just beat you down?”

“Actually, I’ve been preparing for a while now.”

“…Preparing?”

Mikoto snapped her fingers.

I wasn’t sure what she was planning, but then—from behind the bookshelves, several girls stepped out.

Even I recognized their faces, and I wasn’t exactly well-versed in Shibakata High’s power balance.

The thought hit me hard: No way…

“I’ve been planning for ages—figuring out how to beat Minato Myougi.”

“Wait… these girls, they’re your…?”

“Yep. They’re my allies now.”

I didn’t know this.

This never happened in Fist.

Even with all my knowledge of the manga, I couldn’t make sense of what was unfolding—an undeniable change, caused by my existence.

But what I couldn’t understand was why.

Why did my mere presence push Mikoto Shirane—a forgotten side character—to rise up and move the story in such a huge way?

“…Mikoto, why do you even want to go for the boss seat?”

“Minato Myougi. What do you think of her, Takuma-kun?”

“…I think she’s… a good person.”

“That’s a pretty sugar-coated answer.”

She raised one finger.

“Honestly, I thought—‘I can probably beat her.’”

“…I can’t deny that.”

“Rumor has it Minato Myougi’s ridiculously weak, right? If that’s true, then me taking the top spot wouldn’t be a problem.”

Well, she had a point.

I didn’t know all the unwritten rules of yankee life, but I was pretty sure they wouldn’t tolerate a leader who couldn’t back it up with strength.

Sure, overwhelming charisma might’ve been enough to cover that gap… but to Mikoto, who had zero emotional ties to Minato, charisma didn’t mean a thing.

“…Just so you know, I am part of the Myougi faction.”

“Huh? Isn’t it winner-takes-all?”

“Pretty sure that rule doesn’t apply to people.”

“…Well, that changes things, huh…”

Mikoto pressed a finger to her chin, eyes drifting toward the ceiling.

“(Shirane-san, you know the saying—‘the more you say you hate something, the more you actually like it.’)”

“(…Meaning?)”

“(In other words, this guy’s basically being a tsundere.)”

“…Then I guess I’ll aim for boss after all.”

One of the girls who had stepped out from behind the bookshelves leaned in, whispering something politely into Mikoto’s ear.

Mikoto folded her arms, nodding deeply as if convinced.

The tense air around us deflated like a balloon, the seriousness evaporating in an instant.

Then Mikoto turned her gaze toward me and opened her mouth—

“Right now, maybe you won’t be mine. But once I become boss, then, uh… y’know, um… my, my bo—… bo… nghh! Something like that!”

“As expected of Shirane-san!”

“So dignified!”

“Truly the face of a woman who’s made up her mind!!”

She jabbed her finger right at me.

For a second, I almost felt like raising my own finger and pretending we were doing some kind of ET skit.

But before I could act on that dumb thought, Mikoto’s face flushed bright red with embarrassment.

She quickly gathered her followers and stormed out.

Silence filled the empty library.

Left behind, I slumped into a chair, completely lost for words.

“…Haaaaaaaaaah.”

—Something had to be done.

If my existence was warping this world, then it was my responsibility to fix it.

I wasn’t arrogant enough to think I could freely twist fate with my own hands…

But when the changes got this big, my knowledge of Fist became useless.

I couldn’t let the “foreigner” of this world—me—derail the flow entirely.

I had to clean up the mess I’d made.

Leaning back in my chair, I let out another long sigh.

Chapter 42: Sour Movie

I was climbing the stairs of the club building.

Yayoi had called me out—“We haven’t hung out in a while, let’s do something.”

At first, the idea of casually chatting with a delinquent had terrified me.

But by now, it just felt like spending time with any other friend.

When I reached the top and opened the door, I found Yayoi sprawled lazily across the sofa.

On the floor lay Asama, completely knocked out, surrounded by empty beer cans and instant noodle cups.

Apparently, she’d gone all in on the classic combo of underage drinking plus binge eating until she passed out.

I couldn’t help but wonder if her heart and blood vessels were okay, but I stepped into the room anyway.

Sensing me, Yayoi lifted her head.

“Long time no seeee~”

“…You look tired?”

“Eh? Why?”

“You’ve got bags under your eyes.”

I pointed at her face.

She gave a sheepish laugh.

“No no, that’s just… ‘cause of a movie.”

“Movie?”

“Yeah, I found this really fun one yesterday. It was a whole series, so I stayed up all night watching the lot.”

So basically, she’d pulled an all-nighter.

Yayoi puffed out her chest proudly.

Not that it was anything to brag about.

Normally, she went to bed early and woke up early—just like her childish appearance suggested.

So this was my first time seeing her with dark circles under her eyes.

I had worried, but since it wasn’t anything serious, I felt relieved.

At her invitation, I sat down next to her.

“Takuma, you’ve got something on your mind, don’t you?”

“…Why do you say that?”

“You don’t have bags under your eyes or anything… but you’ve got that vibe.”

Yayoi narrowed her eyes.

It was almost the exact same line I’d thrown at her earlier.

She probably knew it too, judging by how her nostrils flared like she was saying, ‘C’mon, praise me.’

I just shrugged silently, playing the contrarian.

“You can leave it to me, y’know. Even like this, I was still the head of my own faction. I used to get asked for advice all the time.”

“Uh, well…”

Normally, I wouldn’t hesitate to confide in her.

But this wasn’t your average problem.

It’s not like I could just say, ‘So, turns out this is actually a manga world, and my existence is messing up the story.’

If I actually blurted that out, she’d just give me the pitying look reserved for crazy people, and that’d be the end of it.

But Yayoi’s expectant gaze pushed me.

It felt wrong to just stay silent, so I tweaked the truth a little and spoke.

“…Do you know about the Shirane faction?”

“Nope.”

“They’re a new group aiming for the boss seat at Shibakata High.”

I tilted my head back toward the ceiling.

“…Apparently they started aiming for it because of me.”

“So now you feel guilty—like you turned Minato’s life into a rivalry.”

“Yeah.”

Yayoi crossed her arms.

And then, after a pause—she burst out laughing.

“And? That’s it?”

“…Yeah. It was enough to keep me up at night, though.”

“Takuma, you’re just overthinking.”

With a little “yoink,” she hopped up from the sofa.

She took a few steps forward, then turned back to face me.

Her posture—confident, commanding—radiated self-assurance.

“Thinking that one person alone can change the entire flow of things… sorry, but that’s kinda arrogant. You could even call it presumptuous.”

“…But I did change things.”

“Well, if you wanna believe that, fine. But I don’t think worrying over it is the right move. Worrying means you’ve already decided those changes were bad. That the person who changed because of your influence somehow turned out ‘wrong.’”

Yayoi’s lips pushed into a pout.

“If I ever changed because of your influence, Takuma—even you—I wouldn’t want you to deny that change.”

“…I see.”

Without realizing it, I sat back down.

The cheap sofa groaned beneath me.

Maybe I’d been mistaken this whole time.

I’d started thinking I had some grand power within me, that I could shape things however I wanted.

Being reborn into a manga world I already knew—standing in a position close to the protagonist—probably gave me that illusion.

But the truth was, what I could do was limited.

I wasn’t some superhero who could save the world.

And I couldn’t freely rewrite fate, either.

It was basically a case of chuunibyou.

The cringy delusion that my words and actions had changed the flow of the world, throwing fate itself off balance.

Yeah… I’d been infected by that.

Or maybe “drunk on it” would be a better way to put it.

Sure, I regretted how much Mikoto’s future had shifted because of me—but in truth, I didn’t have the power to decisively alter anyone’s destiny.

At the very least, the one who decided to aim for the boss seat was Mikoto herself.

Not me.

It’s not like I whispered in her ear and pushed her into it.

Yayoi made me feel like she’d seen right through everything.

As expected from someone who once led the entire school—her sharp gaze could pierce through things even I hadn’t realized myself.

Maybe it was just easier to see from the sidelines, but either way, her eyes were undeniably keen.

“If you really can’t stop worrying, then why don’t you just check it out with your own eyes?”

“…Meaning?”

“Go undercover and infiltrate the Shirane faction!!”

Yayoi winked and snapped her fingers.

The move was so over-the-top it screamed Hollywood.

A hunch hit me immediately.

“…Wait. Don’t tell me the movie you watched yesterday was a spy flick?”

“Bingo. Made me wanna try a little undercover work myself.”

“So that’s why you’re telling me to do it.”

“Well, yeah, that’s part of it. But not all of it. I really do think instead of sitting around whining, you should just go see for yourself.”

With a dramatic shrug, she lifted both shoulders.