The Kansai Villain’s Rebirth: I Accidentally Ended Up With a Harem.

A Kansai Guy, Performs Dogeza.

Rinko and I sat side by side, recounting everything to her parents.

It all started the day the exam results were posted—direct verbal abuse, three straight days of hate letters, and then the secret forum I had kept from Rinko so she wouldn’t worry.

“A… secret forum?”

“Essentially, an anonymous board where countless people hurl slander at students and teachers of our school. It never surfaces publicly. If Takii-kun hadn’t shown me for fun, I never would’ve known it existed.”

“And Rinko was being talked about there?”

“Yes. They were spreading vicious lies designed to utterly destroy Rinko-san’s social standing, using maliciously edited photos.”

“Edited… photos? Like, the kind you yell ‘hey!’ at?”

“Mom, please… So they photoshopped Rinko’s pictures, right?”

“Yes. It pains me to say this in front of everyone, but…”

“Dai-kun, it’s all right. I can bear it because you’re here… Go ahead.”

“…They call them ‘fish preserves’—screenshots that remain even after the original posts are deleted. Here are the images. Using these, they spread rumors that Rinko-san was sleeping around, opening her legs for me and countless others, keeping sex friends on the side…”

“…Disgusting.”

Rinko spat the word like venom. She was right. These were vicious, malicious lies—there was no way the real Rinko would ever do something like that. Unless it was the dark-fallen version from the original story. The one who was ordered to go please ten random men and actually… no, stop. I’ll lose my mind.

“This is… ara ara… this is truly awful…”

A chill ran down my spine from Kozue-san’s voice. She was furious beyond measure. Of course she was—her daughter had been turned into the subject of obscene collages and accused of keeping a harem of lovers.

“Tennouji-kun, I’m sorry to ask, but… these images, and…”

“If Katsuya-san wishes, I can send every single one.”

“Thank you. It may take time, but I will file disclosure requests with the board administrator or the hosting company. They made a mockery of my daughter and grievously wounded her honor. They will regret it—thoroughly.”

You can’t just delete and run these days. Even the idiots laughing in the threads—I told them the same thing—this is heading straight for disclosure requests and civil lawsuits. Even a small settlement will stain their family name and credibility forever. “It was just kids playing” won’t fly. The Fuyuki couple clearly intends to go all the way.

“You stopped these rumors from spreading underground… all by yourself?”

“If those rumors had leaked, school would have become even more unbearable for Rinko-san. It could have fueled the bullying further. That’s why I crushed them without her ever knowing.”

“Tennouji-kun, you’re amazing~! You really are a prince on a white horse! Right, Rinko-chan?!”

“Dai-kun…!”

My stock was skyrocketing. Rinko was gazing at me with dreamy, entranced eyes.

“And then the animal carcass in the locker… and the push down the stairs. Yet every single incident somehow involves you, Tennouji-kun. It’s almost too perfect to be coincidence…”

I feel the same way. But this was one of the bullying events that existed in the original game. If the protagonist solved it without choosing a single wrong option, he would start dating Rinko. At the same time, Tennouji appears and the bullying escalates. Tennouji orchestrated it all, pinned the blame on the protagonist to erode Rinko’s trust, then swooped in to solve everything cleanly. That’s how Rinko fell for Tennouji. A garbage-tier event.

“It would be understandable if you suspected I staged everything myself to gain Rinko-san’s trust.”

“Absolutely not!”

“Rinko-san…”

“Rinko?”

“Dai-kun is earnest! Kind! Full of compassion! Even knowing he might be attacked—knowing he could be gravely injured, or even… d-die—he still protected me with his life! There is no universe where the Dai-kun I know is the real mastermind behind the bullying!! The guilty one is Tsuruhashi-san, right!? Dai-kun did nothing wrong!! Nothing at all!!!!”

She shouted it all in one breathless torrent.

To think she trusted me this much…

“If Dai-kun were a bad person… he never would have gotten soaked himself just to keep me dry… he knew my body is frail… he walked me all the way home so I wouldn’t catch cold… a bad person wouldn’t do that…!”

“Rinko-chan… yes. Mommy understands.”

“Rinko… I’m sorry. But if we leave even the tiniest seed of doubt, you could be hurt again—”

“It’s not Dai-kun! Dai-kun would never bully me! Dai-kun is… my prince… my first and last love!!”

“Nmu—!?”

Suddenly my face was seized and—

She kissed me. Wait, wait, wait—tongue! Her tongue just slipped in!! In front of her parents—!! This is bad!!

“Ara ara… my my~”

“Pwaah!! How’s that!? Do you still think I doubt Dai-kun!? I love him! I’m in love with him!! I trust him completely!! I’d even elope with him right now if I had to!”

“Waaaait, Rinko-san, calm down! I’m terribly sorry! There’s something I forgot to mention too! Rinko-san and I—we swore to each other, with full mutual consent, to become lovers!! The conversation got completely derailed, but I want to stay by Rinko-san’s side forever!”

I was on the floor in dogeza again. I already did this at Mio-chan’s house… If I keep doing it, it’ll lose all value… But showing off a deep, tongue-filled kiss and then declaring that—totally out!!

“Tennouji-kun… Rinko.”

“What!? Should I kiss him again!?”

“No no, Rinko-san, please really calm down…”

“I’m totally in favor~♪ Such a passionate kiss~ Mommy’s heart is on fire♪”

“For Rinko to open her heart this much… goodness, Rinko…”

“Dai-kun! I’ll do it again—as many times as it takes until Dad approves of us!”

Rinko’s character had collapsed so spectacularly I was speechless… Where did the cool part of cool-deredere go? Is this how she is at home…? The original game never showed anything like this…

“U-um… If Mom’s okay with it, I have no objections… Ahh… Tennouji-kun… please… take care of my daughter…”

“Y-yes, sir. Somehow… I’m really sorry about all this…”

“Well, I never doubted you for a second, you know? Rinko just jumped the gun… Sorry about that… yeah…”

Of course Katsuya-san was at a loss for words… Rinko was huffing and glaring daggers at him, Kozue-san was “ara ara”-ing in delight, and the whole scene had descended into beautiful chaos. For now, I needed to calm Rinko down…

***

A few minutes later, Rinko was hiding her face in both hands, refusing to show it. Kozue-san looked like she’d won the lottery. Katsuya-san wore the most awkward expression known to man, and I was stuck in the most uncomfortable living-room atmosphere imaginable. When I strained my ears…

“What have I done… in front of Mom and Dad… I want to crawl into a hole and die… I’m an idiot… idiot idiot idiot…”

She was drowning in regret.

Leaving Rinko aside for the moment—just like with the Akitani family, I received full parental approval. I also told them I was dating Shii-chan and Mio-chan.

“Ara ara, marvelous~!”

“As long as you never treat Rinko poorly…”

Approval secured again.

“Daiki-kun, you must stay for dinner~! Honey, the deluxe course for four~”

“Yeah, sure. Suzukiya’s deluxe, right?”

“Of course~♪”

“Hold on!? You mean that ultra-high-class sushi place, Suzukiya!?”

“Exactly~♪ To celebrate Rinko-chan getting her first boyfriend~♪”

Suzukiya… The legendary sushi restaurant where a family of three could easily drop fifty thousand yen in one sitting—I’d looked it up once when searching for the best sushi in the area.

The deluxe course!?

My eyes rolled back in my head.