The Handsome Boy I Saved from Getting Beaten on the Train… Turned Out to Be the “Prince” of an All-Girls School - V1 Chapter 38: You Did Well, Rei (End of Vol. 01)

Chapter 38: You Did Well, Rei

My heart was still pounding like crazy.

Even now, I couldn’t calm down.

We weaved through the crowded streets, walking quickly like we were trying to disappear into the flow of people.

“Saito…”

Were those salarymen still following us?

No… I shouldn’t let my guard down.

What if they brought reinforcements or something?

“Hey, Saito.”

Should I call a taxi from the station and send her home?

That would probably be the safest move…

But do I even have enough money on me right now?

Once we get to the Hoshina residence, Suzune-san should be there.

I could call her out to meet us…

Right! I haven’t even called to tell her that I found Rei yet!

“Saito!!”

“Wah!? W-What is it, Rei?! Are they following us!?”

She tugged on my arm, and I instantly tensed up, scanning our surroundings in full alert mode.

“No one’s following us! I’ve been trying to talk to you for a while now!”

“O-Oh. Sorry about that. I was so focused on getting you to safety, it kinda took over my brain…”

“Ah, there’s a park over there. Let’s take a break, okay?”

Rei pointed at a small park just ahead of us, invitingly.

“Huh? But what if they come after us again?”

“They won’t. And… after everything that’s happened, I’m just really tired.”

“I see. Okay, got it.”

Well, I do need to call Suzune-san anyway.

If it’s just for a short while, taking a break should be fine.

So, just like Rei suggested, we headed over to the park bench.

◇◇◇◆◇◇◇

“T-Thank you, Kujou-kun…! Thank you so much for finding Rei-chan…!”

“No, really… it wasn’t just me. Anyway, like I mentioned, we’ll wait at the park entrance for the car. Yes, okay. Thanks again.”

On the other end of the line, Suzune-san was practically in tears.

I gently reassured her, then ended the call.

“I called Suzune-san, Rei.”

“Thanks, Saito. Umm… was she mad?”

“She was bawling her eyes out. So make sure you apologize properly when you get home.”

As I said that, I gave Rei a light pat on the head to ease her nerves,

Then sat down beside her on the bench.

“…The car should be here soon.”

“Yeah.”

The park at night.

The distant hum of traffic buzzed softly in the background,

As a quiet stretch of silence settled between us.

“…Aren’t you gonna ask why I ran away from home?”

The one who finally broke that silence—

Was Rei.

“If I ask… will you really tell me?”

“Yeah. If it’s you, Saito… I’ll talk. But I’ve never told anyone before. Not even my mom… so it’s scary…”

I gently took Rei’s trembling hand beside me on the bench.

I thought it’d be ice-cold after being outside for so long.

But instead, it was warm—almost burning.

That warmth carried Rei’s tension straight into me.

“Yeah. I’m right here with you.”

I didn’t say much.

Just tried to pass on reassurance through the warmth of my hand.

After a little while—

Once the heat in Rei’s hand began to settle down,

She slowly started to speak, one word at a time.

“You already know about the scar on my leg, right?”

“Yeah. You got hurt during figure skating practice… when you protected Sasaki-san’s little sister, Hyoka-chan, and her skate blade cut you.”

“What… did you think when you heard that story?”

“I thought you were amazing, Rei. Seriously. Like a real prince.”

What she did deserved praise.

The courage to step in without hesitation.

The kindness to stay and care for the person she protected afterward.

“That’s not it… I’m not some prince everyone should admire.”

“…What do you mean?”

“The truth is… even if I hadn’t gotten hurt, I was already planning to quit figure skating.”

It felt like she was finally letting the poison out—

Words that had been stuck inside her for a long, long time.

“So… even before you got injured?”

“Yeah. I mean, just look at me. I’m tall, right? Especially for a girl. My height really shot up in the upper grades of elementary school.”

“Shot up…?”

Something about the way she said it bothered me.

“In figure skating, smaller skaters have a big advantage. Lighter bodies make it easier to land tough jumps. When I moved up to the junior level in middle school… I suddenly couldn’t land my triple axel anymore. The same one I used to pull off so easily back in elementary school.”

As she spoke,

I could feel the warmth in her hand fade—just a little.

“I practiced so hard… but the skills I needed to compete just slipped through my fingers. It was… heartbreaking.”

“…I see.”

All the techniques she’d worked so hard to master—

Taken away by something completely out of her control: her own growth.

That must have been terrifying.

And horribly unfair.

The kind of loss that doesn’t go away no matter how hard you try.

Realizing that…

I finally began to understand how painful that time must’ve been for Rei.

“My coach and my mom both encouraged me. Told me I’d land the jumps again one day. They supported me with everything they had. But inside… I was already close to breaking. And then…”

“Then came the accident with Hyoka-chan…”

“Yeah… When I got hurt that day… something awful flashed through my mind—a part of me I wish didn’t exist, but I couldn’t stop it.”

Rei lowered her gaze for a moment, hesitating—

But then, as if gathering every bit of courage,

She looked up and met my eyes.

“Yes…! Now I have the perfect excuse to quit figure skating with dignity.”

Her hand suddenly tightened around mine—

Stiff. Trembling.

I didn’t say anything.

Just held her hand tighter in return.

“This scar… to me, it’s proof that I ran away. That’s why I’ve always tried to hide it.”

The pants she chose for her uniform.

The way she panicked and ran when someone caught a glimpse of the scar—

Even though it came from something that looked heroic on the surface.

It all made sense now.

“But no matter how much I try to forget, the scar is still there. And everyone around me remembers. Even today, my mom said something kind about it… and that just broke me. I couldn’t take it. So I ran. I couldn’t stand… how ugly I felt inside.”

Sometimes, kindness turns into poison.

Suzune-san didn’t mean to hurt her.

But maybe that made it even worse for Rei—

Because it left her no one else to blame but herself.

“…I see. So you’ve been carrying that pain with you all this time, huh, Rei.”

“…Yeah.”

The scar Rei talked about—

It wasn’t the one on her leg.

It was the one on her heart.

And that kind of scar doesn’t scab over.

It just stays there—raw and painful.

“So… the reason you didn’t want me to know was because—”

“Because it’s you, Saito… You’re so honest… I didn’t want to lie to someone like you. But I also didn’t have the courage to tell the truth…”

Rei’s voice trembled as she forced the words out.

“I was afraid you’d be disappointed in me. That you’d see how pathetic I really am… So I ran. That’s all I could do. I’m sor—”

“You know, back when I stepped in to help you on the train, I was totally thinking, ‘What the hell am I doing?’ And, ‘Ugh, what a lousy deal I just signed up for.’”

“S-Saito?”

She blinked up at me, confused—

Thrown off by the sudden shift to something so far in the past.

But I didn’t stop.

“And in the end, the guy I tried to protect got whisked away by a bunch of elite girls’ school fangirls, while all the heat from that dude in baggy work pants came right at me.”

“S-Sorry…”

Well, at the time, I still thought Rei was a guy.

So yeah—I’m not proud, but… I was kind of jealous.

“I just got lucky, that’s all. Deep down, I’m just a coward. Nothing special.”

“That’s not true!”

Rei suddenly jumped up from the bench, shouting over my words.

But this time, her voice wasn’t shaking.

Her face was flushed—not with fear, but with anger.

“Don’t you dare talk like that about my prince! Even if it’s you, Saito, I won’t forgive you for saying that!”

Heh…

That’s the angriest I’ve ever seen her.

And honestly—when someone that beautiful gets mad, it’s kinda terrifying.

“But the truth is… I’m not the noble, honest guy you think I am, Rei.”

Up until now, I’d played up the self-deprecation to help her open up.

But this part—this one line—was real.

“I’m not the person you believe I am.”

It wasn’t a joke.

Wasn’t for her sake.

It came straight from somewhere deep inside me.

“That doesn’t matter! I don’t care what you were thinking back then. You saved me. That’s the only thing that matters!”

Rei’s voice shook—not from fear, but from heat and frustration.

Every word hit like a heartbeat.

“Exactly. And that’s why… your scar is the same.”

I smiled gently as I said it,

Watching Rei—getting mad on my behalf—and feeling something warm stir inside me.

“Huh…?”

“If we go by your logic—Hyoka-chan, the girl you protected, is still skating today like nothing ever happened. That’s the result. That’s what really matters, right?”

“Uu…”

Her own words came full circle, and Rei faltered.

“The other day, Sasaki-san took me to the rink. Hyoka-chan looked completely happy, like nothing ever happened. She’s still out there enjoying figure skating.”

“I see… Hyoka’s still skating…”

She whispered it so gently,

And I saw it—the quiet relief, the small flicker of joy that softened her face.

It looked like she hadn’t seen Hyoka since the accident.

Probably because she didn’t want the girl to know she’d quit skating because of her.

Even though she’d worried about her, Rei had stayed away—so Hyoka wouldn’t blame herself.

“When you think about it… you and I are kinda alike, Rei. We were both carrying thoughts we couldn’t say out loud, but everyone around us saw something totally different.”

“Yeah… you’re right.”

“Well, unlike you, I became ‘Whoa-Whoa Guy’ online, turned into a mem, and thanks to a certain pair of girls, my reputation at school took a total nosedive.”

“A certain pair, huh? Oh, you mean me and Rinna-chan? Ahaha!”

Finally—

A real laugh.

Not forced. Not nervous.

It was genuine.

That laugh told me my plan had worked.

I’d poked her just enough to draw her feelings out.

“My situation’s nothing compared to yours, Rei. But… even so, I still gained something from it.”

“…Something you gained?”

She tilted her head, and I looked straight into her eyes.

“The girl standing in front of me right now.”

“…Fwhe—”

A weird little sound popped out of her mouth with a puff of air.

“A ridiculous first meeting. I thought you were a guy, then found out you weren’t. Then one day, you just showed up wearing a skirt. It’s been… fun. Really fun. Meeting you is one of the best things that’s ever happened to me.”

“Saito… you always catch me off guard. Like earlier, when you called me someone important in front of those salarymen.”

She puffed up in mock frustration, like she was trying to be mad.

But her expression was anything but angry.

It was soft. Bright.

“Is that so? I’m just saying what’s on my mind. Maybe I picked up the habit from a certain stubborn prince I’ve gotten close to lately.”

“…Then I guess it can’t be helped.”

She laughed again.

And that’s when I realized—

At some point, the tension in her hand had completely melted away.

“There’ll always be things that slip through your fingers. But if that happens… just fill your hands with something new.”

“…Saito.”

“And until the day what you lost becomes just another memory… I’ll stay by your side.”

“…Always?”

“Yeah. Someone like me is just right for you, don’t you think?”

The scar on Rei’s heart—what she called her original sin—

Wasn’t something that would vanish just because I accepted her.

There would be nights when the guilt came rushing back.

Nights when she’d blame herself all over again.

And in those moments…

She’d need someone by her side.

Someone who knew the truth.

Someone who could simply sit with her, quietly, when the pain flared up again.

Her mom, Suzune-san, even Sasaki-san—

They were too close.

Rei wouldn’t be able to open up to them, not about this.

That’s why…

Someone like me—someone who’d only recently become part of her life—

That kind of distance might be just right.

“Thank you, Saito. But… you got one thing wrong.”

“Huh? I did? Wait—woah!?”

Before I could even ask what she meant,

Rei suddenly leaned in and hugged me tight from the side of the bench.

I barely managed to stay upright as she wrapped her arms around me.

“It’s not because you’re ‘just right.’ It’s because you’re Saito. You’re the one I could finally talk to.”

From this close,

I could feel her warmth, the steady rhythm of her heartbeat.

And yet…

This hug felt different from the one she gave me at the school gates that morning.

“…This is strange. My heart’s racing. But more than anything… I just feel really safe.”

She was probably feeling the same as me.

As I looked down at her resting in my arms,

Her expression was soft and peaceful—like she was finally at ease.

(You did really well, Rei.)

I gently patted her head—

She had faced what was inside her, and let it out.

Something I might not have been brave enough to do.

Then I looked up at the sky.

Even here, in the middle of the city,

The stars tonight were shining beautifully.

◇◇◇◆◇◇◇

“That’s why I’m taking the train with Saito in the morning, Rinna-chan!”

“For the last time, I go to the same school as him, so it’s way more natural for me to walk with him, you runaway delinquent Wimpy Prince!”

“Why does my nickname keep getting longer?! A-And that wasn’t even a real runaway—it was more like… a failed escape attempt!”

“…Didn’t they just make up? And now they’re fighting again already…”

Another early morning.

Another noisy shouting match in front of my house.

I let out a sigh as the usual chaos played out on my doorstep.

Last night, after dropping Rei off at home,

Suzune-san gave me a long, heartfelt thank-you speech that went on and on.

By the time I finally got back, it was way past midnight—

And now I was running on barely any sleep.

I’d even planned to skip my morning workout just once,

Thinking I could stay in bed until the last possible second.

Yeah… fat chance.

“Will you two cut it out already?! Stop yelling in front of my house—you’re disturbing the whole neighborhood!”

I flung open the front door and barked at them.

At this point, it felt like yelling at these two had become my new version of “good morning.”

“Oh my, good morning, Saito. Wearing your uniform today? I’m impressed.”

“Pretty sure that’s the first time I’ve ever been praised just for putting on clothes.”

Well, to be fair, the last time I’d come out to yell at them,

I was fresh out of the shower—shirtless from my morning workout.

Still…

I could’ve sworn Rinna looked just a little disappointed when she saw me fully dressed today.

“Wait—hey! Wimpy Prince, why are you hiding behind me?”

“Uuh… I-I’m not ready yet…”

Rei was crouched behind Rinna’s back, trying to use her as a human shield.

But since Rei was taller, it didn’t exactly work.

Not even close.

“Come on, it’s not like you look totally different or anything. Quit being so dramatic—out you go!”

“Wah—! R-Rinna-chan, wait!”

“Oh… so you’re back to the skirt version, huh, Rei?”

Yep, the usual look.

Skirt and black tights—same as before.

Something I’d seen plenty of times.

But for some reason, Rei was holding the hem of her skirt in both hands,

Her face flushed red as she stared at the ground.

“Y-Yeah… So, what do you think, Saito?”

“O-Oh… Well, honestly, I think the best thing is for you to wear whatever you like, Rei.”

Part of me felt relieved.

Seeing her back in that uniform—it was proof that she was starting to heal.

But at the same time…

She just looked so cute right now, I couldn’t think straight.

So I went with the safest answer I could muster.

“And that’s so you, Saito. Not saying something like, ‘Yeah, I totally prefer the skirt look. Way more my type.’”

“Whoa-whoa, Rinna-chan. That’s actually one of the things I like about Saito.”

For some reason, the two of them were weirdly in sync on that and getting all hyped about it.

Also—hey! “Whoa-whoa” is my line, Rei!

“Anyway, if we don’t get moving, we’re gonna be late. Let’s go.”

Rinna glanced at the time on her phone and started walking ahead.

“Let’s go, Saito.”

“Yeah.”

Her steps felt lighter now.

And the smile on that prince-like, beautiful girl’s face—

It was as clear and bright as the morning sky.

-:+【Afterword】:-:+:-:+:-:+:-:+:-:+:-:+:-+:-+:-+:-+:-+

And with that, Volume 01 comes to a close.

Honestly, I’m just glad I made it to a proper stopping point.

But there are still so many scenes I want to write—

Saito’s many mysteries, Rei being head-over-heels and sweet to a fault,

Rinna-chan’s counterattacks…

If you’re curious about what happens next,

Please follow and leave a ★ rating!

See you in Volume 02!

【Announcement】This Story Is Getting a Book Release!

Were you expecting Volume 02 to start?

Too bad—it’s announcement time!

But don’t worry, it’s great news, so I hope you’ll forgive the detour.

As the title says,

“The Handsome Boy I Saved from Getting Beaten on the Train… Turned Out to Be the ‘Prince’ of an All-Girls School”

is officially getting a book release!

 YAAAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!

It’s all thanks to every single reader who’s supported this story from the beginning.

Seriously, thank you so much! I hope you’ll stick with me for what’s ahead too.

This will be my second official publication under the name Maiyo.

By the way, my first commercial release was:

“I’m on the U-15 National Soccer Team, But I’m in the Literature Club With My Childhood Friend”

Available from KADOKAWA’s eb! (Enterbrain) label!

It’s a romcom, and kind of rare—it’s a large-format, standalone volume.

(Yes, this is me shamelessly plugging it. Please check it out.)

Now, some of you might be thinking:

“Wait, didn’t Volume 01 end last Friday? Shouldn’t you have announced this then?”

Fair question!

But the truth is, my first meeting with the publisher happened after that, so I had to hold off until things were official.

They first reached out in late March—right when the fiscal year-end rush hit.

At the same time, I got swamped with my day job, reassigned to a new department in April, and spring break meant packing lunches every morning for the kids.

Yeah… it was chaos.

I ended up asking to delay the meeting a bit, just to stay sane.

Also, in the middle of all that, my other story:

“If I Become a Shogi Master, Will You Marry Me, Sensei?”

[https://kakuyomu.jp/works/16818093079125930568]

won an award in a contest!

(Yes, yes—I’m doing all the plugs while I can. Don’t judge me.)

Thanks to that win, I found the motivation to keep writing Train Prince, even with everything else going on.

By the way, while Shogi Master did win a contest, I confirmed with the organizers that it’s still eligible for book or manga offers from other publishers—no restrictions or prior approval needed.

So… hey publishers, if you’re interested, I’m right here. Hit me up anytime~

Now, back to Train Prince.

This story was born during one of the toughest stretches in my writing life.

I was stuck—writing, deleting, scrapping ideas, and unable to find something that truly clicked.

In that sense, this story… really saved me.

It pulled me out of a dark place.

So yes, in every way, Train Prince became my prince.

That’s why when I got the message about the book deal… I was beyond happy.

“Ah… I’m so glad I didn’t give up. That I kept writing, even when it felt impossible.”

That thought hit me hard.

And then Kakuyomu’s official team even featured the story in one of their special articles: https://kakuyomu.jp/features/16818622171705929015

As someone who mostly posted on Narou until recently, being welcomed like that by the Kakuyomu community meant the world to me.

I’m truly grateful.

To everyone who’s supported this series—thank you so, so much!

I’ll make sure all the gifts and kind words you’ve sent go to good use.

(Special shout-out to @nori345kazu for the celebration gift after Volume 01 wrapped up!)

As for the book version—once I get the green light to share the publisher, label, and release date, I’ll let you all know ASAP.

And that wraps up this announcement about the book release!

Thanks for reading—and thank you for being a part of this journey.