The Kansai Villain’s Rebirth: I Accidentally Ended Up With a Harem. - Chapter 22: Natsume Shina — Her First Love.

Natsume Shina — Her First Love.

Natsume Shina’s POV.

I’ve been confessed to by boys for as long as I can remember.
They’d say I was cute, pretty, or something like that.
But I turned them all down.
Because honestly… I never really understood what “love” even was.

I mean, kids are born because their parents love each other, right?
But with my mom and dad… I never felt anything like that between them.

Dad goes out with other women. He even brings them home sometimes.
And Mom—she thinks she’s hiding it, but I once saw her kissing some guy in his car near our house. So when I think about it, even if people say they like you, in the end they just find someone else and drift away.
That’s why… I stopped believing in love.

I figured I’d probably never fall for anyone, and just stay single my whole life. After all, seeing how my parents turned out… the idea of dating honestly scared me.
But at the same time, the thought of being alone forever scared me too.

Even now, I live by myself most of the time.
At school, I have Mio-chan and Rin-chan, so it’s not like I’m lonely.
At least, that’s what I tell myself.
But deep down… maybe I’m just too afraid to take that one more step forward.

So I tried joining a gyaru group that one of my friends from middle school was part of.
But it didn’t help. I was still lonely.
Worse, I started drifting apart from Mio-chan and Rin-chan, and that only made the emptiness grow.

There were nights I cried alone at home.
The loneliness just kept building up inside me.

That all changed near the end of summer vacation.
The day I was saved from a group of scary people— by someone who, at first, seemed even scarier.

Tennouji-kun.

But Tennouji-kun wasn’t scary at all.
He was kind. So kind.
If I hadn’t met him that day, I probably would’ve stayed stuck with that gyaru group.
I might’ve started smoking, drinking…
But he told me, “You should quit that stuff,” and honestly, I’m so glad he did.

Since then, we’ve been talking a lot. Thanks to him, I don’t feel lonely at school anymore. I go to him all the time to talk… though I once asked if I was being annoying.

“Hey, Tennouji-kun… I keep coming to talk to you like this, but… am I bothering you?”

“Eh? Why’d you think that? Not at all. I’m honored, actually. Getting talked to by a cute girl like you? No way that’s a bother.”

“Really!? Yay! I like you, Tennouji-kun!”

“Wh—Hey! Don’t go saying ‘I like you’ to guys so easily! You’ll give them the wrong idea!”

“Eeh? So what, does that mean Tennouji-kun gets flustered?”

“W-well… I mean, you are really cute, Natsume-san…”

Strange, isn’t it?
No matter how many guys told me I was cute before, it never made me feel anything. Even when Toshiya-kun said something nice, I just thought, “Oh, that’s kinda sweet.” But when Tennouji-kun says it… my heart starts racing.

“Hehe, I might get the wrong idea too, you know?”

“See what I mean?”

“Ugh, you’re such a tease, Tennouji-kun!”

“Hahaha. I told you, don’t go saying stuff that’ll make my heart skip.”

He’s such a tease! But… when he called me cute, I thought… maybe it’s okay if I do misunderstand.
Because I think I’ve fallen for him.
No, I know I did—ever since that day he saved me.

That’s why I talk to him every day.
Because when I’m with him, the loneliness fades away.
Of course, I love talking with Rin-chan and Mio-chan too—but talking to Tennouji-kun feels… different.
That nervous, fluttering feeling… it’s fun.

***

During the sports festival, I finally got the courage to call him by his first name—Daiki. And once the match began, I couldn’t help but cheer like crazy.

“Go! Go! Daaai-ki♡”

Oh no, he’s so cool! Tenma-kun and Momotani-kun are cool too, but Daiki-kun… I just couldn’t take my eyes off him.

“Shina-chan, you’re only cheering for Tennouji-kun! Ohhh, I see how it is~?”

“Eh? What do you mean?”

“You like him, don’t you?”

“Like… him? Hmm… yeah! Maybe I do!”

“Kyaa! Then you have to cheer even louder!”

“Ehehe, okay!”

So this is what it means to like someone.
Since that day, I’ve been completely crazy about Daiki-kun.
Talking to him makes me happy.
Seeing his flustered face when I hug his arm makes my heart race, but I still love it.
Yeah… I love Daiki-kun.

“Go, Daiki-kun! You can do it!!”

I cheered until my voice went hoarse.
My heart felt so full, so warm…
Ah, I want to stay by his side forever.
But then I thought—what if he stops loving me one day, like Dad did with Mom?
What if he finds someone else and leaves me?

During the match against Class A, it was hot, so I rolled up my gym shirt a little. Daiki-kun looked at me and gestured something while pinching at his own shirt. I thought he wanted to see more, so I rolled it up higher. Oh no, my bra might show—but if it’s Daiki-kun, maybe that’s okay…

“Shina! What are you doing!?”

“Eh? I thought Daiki-kun wanted to see my stomach.”

“He was telling you to pull it down! What are you thinking…”

“Eeeh!? Oh well! Daiki-kun, fight on! Feeling better now?”

He just blushed and waved awkwardly.
Ehehe~ did I make his heart skip?
I was embarrassed too, showing that much, but still…
Today I was wearing one of my cute bras. I hope he liked it.

***

In the end, Daiki-kun made an amazing pass to Tenma-kun and won the game! But he hurt his finger during the match, and I got worried. Mio-chan took him to the nurse’s office, so I waited in the classroom with Rin-chan.

“Don’t worry, if Mio’s with him, he’ll be fine.”

“Yeah… you’re right.”

Then Toshiya-kun came up, looking annoyed.

“Shina, we won! What do you think!?”

“Ah, yeah… that’s great.”

“That’s it? Nothing else?”

“Hmm… I think Daiki-kun was amazing.”

“What? You mean Tennouji? Man, everyone’s always ‘Tennouji this, Tennouji that’…”

Ugh. Seriously? We only won because Daiki-kun was awesome. Toshiya-kun just made weird passes the whole time. He didn’t even do anything useful!

“…Gross.”

“Huh? You say something?”

“Nope. Nothing. You did great too, Toshiya-kun.”

“R-really? Hehe!”

I said it just to shut him up. He grinned and went back to his seat. What even was that? So weird.

Then Mio-chan came back. Her face looked a little red… maybe it was just my imagination.

“Hey, Mio-chan! What about Daiki-kun!?”

“Ah! Oh, he’ll be back soon!”

“And his finger?”

“Just a sprain. We iced it and wrapped it up. Nothing serious.”

“Phew… thank goodness. I was really worried!”

Then Daiki-kun walked in.

“Heya.”

“Ah! Daiki-kun!”

I ran up to him right away.

“D-Daiki-kun, is your finger okay…?”

“Yeah. Got it treated early, so it should be fine. Thanks for worrying about me.”

Then he patted my head. My face went hot all at once.

“Ah! Sorry! That was thoughtless of me…”

“N-no… it’s okay, if it’s you…”

“I-I see…”

My cheeks burned.
But when he patted my head, for the first time in my life, I felt… happy.
Really, truly happy.
I wanted him to touch me more.

Because… I love him.

Overwhelmed with that feeling, I hugged his arm again.
It was fun making him flustered,hearing him call my name, seeing him smile.

Thanks to him, school had finally become a place I loved.