Reincarnated Into a Delinquent Manga… Where the Genders Are Reversed and Everyone’s a Girl - Chapter 61 & 62: The Request | Merger

Chapter 61: The Request

“…I see.”

Mikoto narrowed her eyes.

Her expression seemed to say, “I’m disappointed,” or maybe even, “Don’t say that.”

At her words, the underlings behind her closed in.

A bead of sweat slid down my cheek.

“There’s no point in lynching me here, right?”

“Oh? You might get honest halfway through.”

“Yayoi’s never gonna say yes.”

“Don’t know that till we try.”

Crap.

I searched for a way to escape—but found none.

Even if I screamed for help, this place was way too deserted. No matter how loud I yelled, no one would hear.

Normally, Mikoto wasn’t the type to go too far.

But people changed when they lost.

In her eyes burned a dangerous mix of anger and madness, and in her movements lingered the shaky desperation of a gambler about to fall apart.

“Talk it out, and you’ll understand.”

“If talking worked, we wouldn’t be here now.”

“Fair enough.”

So negotiation was pointless.

I gave up and slipped my hand into my pocket.

Inside, my fingers touched the one thing I had hidden there.

“Hey, Mikoto. Mind if I ask you something?”

“…What is it?”

She tilted her head, suspicious.

Her expression said, “Is this just a stalling tactic?”

But really, there was nothing else I could do.

Maybe that’s why she judged it safe enough to hear me out.

“Why are you aiming for the boss seat, Mikoto?”

“Told you before, didn’t I? ’Cause being boss is cool.”

“…Fair enough.”

“Might be something a boy like Takuma-kun can’t get. But for us girls, at least once in life, we wanna aim for the top.”

“No, I get it.”

Back in my old world, that kind of ambition mostly belonged to guys.

But here, where the roles were flipped, it was the girls who carried it.

I shook my head slowly, a wry smile tugging at my lips.

“You asked me to join the Shirane faction, Mikoto.”

“Yeah.”

“Then let me make a request too.”

“…Depends on what it is.”

Her lips pressed into a thin line.

“It’s simple. How about you join my faction instead?”

“No way. Rejected.”

“C’mon, at least hear me out.”

She shot me down without a shred of hesitation—instant, final.

But I didn’t back off. If anything, I stepped forward, raising my voice.

“I’m about to pick a fight with the Myougi faction. They’re worn down after clashing with the Shirane faction, so now’s our chance. And I’ve got Yayoi Akagi on my side. Don’t you think our odds are solid?”

“That’s exactly why I wanted to pull you in.”

“But you know I’m not just gonna nod and agree, right?”

“I could always force you to nod.”

Mikoto’s eyes flicked toward her underlings.

The circle around me closed in tighter.

My legs trembled, but I barked at myself to stay firm—and forced a crooked grin onto my face.

“If you sided with me here, Mikoto, our chances would skyrocket. We could practically call it a guaranteed win. The faction that wins the boss fight… and the one that loses. Which horse do you wanna bet on?”

“…Wrong. You’ve got it wrong, Takuma-kun. I’m not here to ride some winning horse or losing horse. I wanna win myself.”

“I know.”

There was a reason I’d kept this back-and-forth spinning in circles.

Time itself felt slowed down, like the second hand on a clock had paused for a break.

But the stalling had done its job.

I’d already reached my goal.

I lashed out with a sudden kick at the girl behind me.

She never even had a chance to react.

In that instant of opening, I bolted full speed.

Her underlings immediately gave chase, but at this pace, I’d make it in time.

The door burst open—and an arm shot out.

I grabbed hold, and my body was yanked forward.

“…You were fast.”

“Don’t flatter yourself. You were late.”

Relief crashed over me at the sight of her sly grin.

For a moment, my knees nearly buckled, ready to give out—but I forced myself to stay upright.

“No… no way…”

Mikoto stood frozen.

Her eyes locked onto the one person she least wanted to see right now—

Yayoi Akagi, standing tall and fearless at my side.

—Why is Yayoi Akagi here?

That question was written all over Mikoto’s face.

“I’m the one who called her.”

“But Takuma-kun, you didn’t…”

“I used this.”

I pulled it out of my pocket.

Black, round, compact.

If this were a later era, someone might’ve mistaken it for a Tamagotchi.

But in this time, it didn’t exist.

This was something far more practical—a way to send messages.

“A pager…!”

“Before splitting up with Yayoi, I’d set it up so that if anything happened to me, I could send it right away.”

“And then I showed up to rescue the kidnapped prince. That’s the gist of it.”

Yayoi knocked her fists together with a sharp crack.

A fearless grin tugged at her lips.

The aura pouring off her made Mikoto instinctively take a few steps back.

“…Even if it’s Yayoi Akagi, she’s alone. If we all rush her at once—”

“She’s not alone, y’know?”

“!?”

Rattle, rattle—

The door slid open, and two more shadows stepped inside.

The moment my eyes landed on them, I recognized the familiar faces.

“Akira… and Asama-san?”

“They’re the ones I called in. No matter how strong I am, numbers are numbers. I couldn’t handle it all myself.”

Yayoi said it like it was nothing.

“So, what now, boss? Kinda feels like the flow’s on our side now.”

“…Yeah, it does.”

I lifted my gaze.

My eyes locked onto Mikoto, her face stiff with tension.

“I’ll ask one more time, Mikoto. Won’t you join us?”

Chapter 62: Merger

The classroom was thick with tension.

Yayoi grinned fearlessly.

In contrast, Mikoto was sweating.

Akira and Asama stood in front, shielding me.

“So this means… we’re about even in terms of numbers?”

The thought slipped out of my mouth.

Akira instantly caught it and gave me a look that screamed disbelief.

“Takuma, are you serious right now?”

“What do you mean?”

“There are about six Shirane faction members in this room. On our side, we’ve got four. And if we don’t count you, that makes only three.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know I usually don’t get counted in. But hearing it out loud still stings, you know.”

I frowned, still not catching Akira’s point.

“Fufufu… in other words, it’s actually two-to-one in our favor.”

“Which is why I said, factoring in everyone’s strength, it’s about even…”

“Too naive, Takuma. Two-to-one’s nowhere near enough to shake our advantage. I’m not saying we’re one-person-armies, but if you really wanted to take us down, you’d need at least three times as many as you’ve got now.”

Akira wagged her finger with a sly smirk.

Her sheer confidence nearly made me stumble backward.

“Oh my, looks like you still doubt us.”

“Asama-san… no, that’s not—”

“Suspicion is written all over your eyes.”

Asama pushed up her glasses, a sharp glint flashing across the lenses.

“Akira’s right. If the people in this room fought a hundred times, we’d win a hundred times.”

Unshakable confidence.

Pressure radiating like a storm.

Maybe I’d just gotten used to it, so I couldn’t feel it as sharply anymore.

But thinking about it now, all three of them were the top executives of the Akagi faction.

Most factions had way more executives.

But in their case, it wasn’t because they lacked numbers.

It was because three were enough.

Three people were all it took.

“…”

I swallowed hard.

A little late, but I felt grateful for my own luck.

Lucky enough to have this kind of firepower on my side.

The kind of luck Mikoto would kill for.

Luck beyond imagination—heaven’s blessing itself.

“So, what’s it gonna be? You gonna take the boss’s offer, or not?”

“Kh…!”

Yayoi’s words made Mikoto grit her teeth.

Her eyes darted around, desperate, searching for some miracle comeback.

“There’s no turning this around. You set this up yourself, didn’t you? A classroom with barely any foot traffic, sealed so no one can peek inside. Even if you screamed, no help would come.”

Yayoi pulled a candy from her pocket.
Every movement of hers brimmed with certainty.
As if to say: the one controlling this space right now… is me.

“…Damn it.”

A heavy silence stretched on.

Time dragged thick and slow, like honey dripping.

At last, Mikoto spoke.

“Fine. I’ll surrender to the Takamure faction.”

“No way!”

“Mikoto-san!!”

Her words bled with raw frustration.

Each sentence sounded like it scraped flesh from her bones.

That was the kind of pain behind them.

“Can’t be helped. It pisses me off, but they’re right. I could snap and start a fight here, sure, but there’s zero chance of winning. Better to swallow my pride, surrender, and hope the Takamure faction takes the boss seat.”

Her voice carried calm logic, but her face told a different story.

It was all she could do to choke back the flames raging inside.

Clutching her arm to keep herself from lashing out, she locked eyes with Yayoi.

“I’ve already surrendered. But if there’s this much distance between me and the boss, it’s enough to make me cry.”

“Not like we can trust you not to grab Takuma as a hostage.”

“Rude. Do I really look like someone who’d do that?”

“When people are cornered, you never know what they’ll pull.”

Even as she said it, Yayoi flicked me a glance.

“Well, whatever. The boss staying in the back forever doesn’t look cool anyway.”

With that, she beckoned me forward.

Like she’d pointed out earlier, there was always the risk of being taken hostage.

Even so, I stepped toward Mikoto—careful, steady—closing the distance bit by bit.

“…You got me good, Takuma-kun.”

“Wasn’t aiming for it or anything. Total coincidence.”

“They say luck counts as skill too, y’know. I thought I was the one pulling off the ambush, but turns out I was the one caught off guard. What a joke.”

Mikoto shrugged, forcing a bitter smile.

“…You can come a little closer, you know? I don’t actually plan on hurting you. Dragging this out would just make me look pathetic.”

Her brows softened.

“And when a boy acts that wary toward me, it just feels… sad.”

She looked straight at me.

“Takuma-kun.”

“Yeah?”

“You seriously plan to aim for the boss seat?”

“Yeah.”

“The Myougi faction’s tough.”

“I know.”

More than anyone.

I thought back to my knowledge from Fist.

This world was reality. I didn’t see it as just a manga anymore. Which meant I wouldn’t hold back—I’d act how I wanted, write my own path.

And comparing the Myougi faction I’d read about in the manga to the ones I’d seen with my own eyes… it wasn’t hard to grasp just how strong the opponents ahead of me were.

“The higher the wall, the better it feels when you climb over it, right?”

“…Hah, that’s the kind of thing a girl would say.”

Mikoto extended her hand.

I understood immediately and clasped it in a firm handshake.

“—You’d better win.”

“Of course.”