The Protagonist's Sister Loves Me, But She's Definitely a Yandere. - Chapter 37: Handwriting

Chapter 37: Handwriting

The next day, Saturday. The intense heat was really starting to get on my nerves.

I kept muttering, “It’s so damn hot,” over and over as I wiped away the sweat dripping down my face with the back of my hand. Even though it was the weekend, the voices of students practicing for their club activities echoed from the sports ground.

Yep, I was at school again. Specifically, in the meeting room used for assemblies.

In front of me was a huge stack of papers. Bold letters across the top read: “Sports Festival Committee Survey.”

Like a robot, I kept typing data into the computer.

I had barely been freed from the sports festival, and now there was more work left to do. I wanted to complain about having to come to school on a day off just to finish it. But here I was, still doing the work. Maybe I was just naturally suited to being a corporate slave, I joked to myself.

“…Ugh, my eyes hurt.”

I wasn’t used to computer work. Typing letters and numbers was getting really boring.

Right now, I was dealing with surveys that had been handed out to the student council members and event committee members before the event. 

They had written their thoughts and suggestions for improvement, some as sentences and some as ratings. Today, I was gathering all the completed surveys together.

My eyes were tired from the blue light of the screen, so I rubbed the inner corners of my eyes to get some relief. Even though comparing the papers to the computer felt like simple work, the exhaustion was starting to pile up.

And to make things worse, there were times when I couldn’t even read what was written. Figuring out those parts took forever.

It wasn’t that the kanji were difficult —honestly, the handwriting was just terrible.

I stretched my body and looked around the meeting room.

My eyes landed on the air conditioner, and I glared at it. It wasn’t running —something about saving energy. Even though it was basically summer already. This was ridiculous. If I passed out from heatstroke, who would take responsibility?

Determined, I raised my voice so everyone could hear me.

“Uh… shouldn’t we just turn the air conditioner on?”

“…It’s not just about saving energy. Actually, it’s broken. Someone’s coming to fix it soon.”

“Oh, I see. Uh… got it. Sorry about that.”

The one who answered me was Kusunoki’s older sister, who I kind of knew. She wiped the back of her neck with a handkerchief, looking a little apologetic.

I thought they were just trying to save electricity, but it turned out the air conditioner was broken. No wonder it wasn’t working.

The fans we had pulled out barely made a difference.

Everyone in the meeting room looked exhausted as they continued working. Occasionally, there were bits of conversation, but the heat quickly defeated us, and things went quiet again. My sweaty hands were making the paper damp.

The only silver lining was that there weren’t many people here.

Today, only a few unlucky souls were working —students and teachers who had been personally asked to help out. In other words, we were the poor suckers who got trapped by a “You’ll help out, right? ♪” kind of devilish request.

Yep, I guess this means I’m well-suited to being a corporate slave. This might actually look good on a job interview someday.

“Hey, Usui-kun. Can you handle these papers next?”

“…Got it. I’ll finish entering the data real quick.”

I got called in this morning. The one who called me was Baldy.

In short, they were short on people and told me to come if I had time. He said it was because he appreciated how seriously I worked. Yeah, sure. Gotta love formalities.

Apparently, some students who attended the afterparty last night got asked to come to school today, too. That’s just cruel.

And that’s why I was here, staring at the computer with a blank mind, not really wanting to be here at all.

Yesterday, Runa still wasn’t feeling well. The cooling pad I replaced for her, her unsteady steps, her flushed cheeks —she looked exhausted. Her voice was hoarse, too. She was completely wiped out.

She only asked me one thing:

“Did you come into my room yesterday?”

I wondered what kind of ridiculous face I made at that moment.

I got through it with some pathetic acting that even a terrible actor would laugh at… or at least, I hope I did.

I could still picture Youka-san’s amused smile in my mind.

Her teasing attitude was annoying, but I was grateful she smoothed things over.

Though, to be fair, the whole mess was kind of Youka-san’s fault in the first place.

“Let’s take a break soon.”

The Student Council President, Yuri Himeno, gave the final word. The tense atmosphere immediately relaxed.

Even Himeno-senpai, who always seemed so composed, looked like she was annoyed by the heat. But she didn’t let it show —her cool demeanor never cracked. That was impressive. My computer looked like it was about to overheat, so this break came at the perfect time.

After the break, I really hope we can work in an air-conditioned room…

I opened the cap of my water bottle and took a long gulp of tea.

The tea I bought from the vending machine was already lukewarm —no, it was starting to feel hot. Droplets of condensation ran down the bottle’s film. This was already my second bottle.

“—Ah, is this mine?”

The name field had my name on it. Honestly, my handwriting wasn’t great. It was legible, but definitely not something I wanted others to read. The page was filled with ordinary, boring comments.

I adjusted the comments to the right length and typed them into the computer.

When similar comments showed up, I grouped them together as “2 opinions” or something like that.

Again and again, I worked through the papers. Slowly but surely, the stack got smaller.

I took breaks to rest my tired eyes, blinking a lot. The only thing saving me was the occasional breeze coming through the wide-open window. Outside, towering cumulus clouds loomed proudly in the sky.

Then, I suddenly stopped typing.

“Wait… this handwriting…?”

I’d seen this handwriting before. I was sure of it.

I rubbed my chin as I looked at the name field. Where had I seen it?

Maybe it was just during the sports festival preparations, at some random moment. But something about it didn’t sit right with me. Folding my arms, I tried to dig through my memories.

“……Ah.”

That’s it. This handwriting—

I mumbled quietly to myself. Remembering it made things clear.

I couldn’t be 100% sure yet, but it felt like I’d found the missing puzzle piece. I had a hint now. I was narrowing it down. I just needed one more solid piece of evidence.

To be honest, I didn’t have much to go on. If the culprit wanted to play dumb, they probably could.

Then— I just needed to create a situation where they couldn’t escape the truth.

But along with this realization came doubt. I needed to ask her directly.

What was she thinking? What did she feel? Why did she do something like this?

I needed to know. It was my responsibility to ask her.

The person stalking me was probably—

Lunchtime arrived. I wandered through the blazing heat like a zombie.

It felt like a joke, but I really did feel half-dead. Like a ghost desperately searching for a cool place.

Before I knew it, I ended up in the shade near the sports ground.

A refreshing breeze blew gently, and the shade of the school building kept me protected from the heat. The shouting from the sports teams was a bit annoying, but the spot was good enough to make up for it.

I plopped down and started eating the bread I bought from the convenience store before school. I leaned my back against the school wall, sitting on the few steps of a stone staircase.

The dry bread quickly sucked all the moisture from my mouth. Why did I pick bread on such a hot day? I cursed my lack of thought and forced it down with some tea.

“…Yeah, it’s summer.”

A clear sky. Towering cumulus clouds. Summer was just around the corner, and the seasons were changing.

Time kept moving forward, completely ignoring people’s worries.

I tended to think to myself a lot, lost in thought. And honestly, I liked having moments where no one interrupted me. I think most guys can relate to that.

It’s been over a month and a half since I got caught up in the stalker incident.

I think it all started in early May, so yeah, it’s been that long. The peace I wanted was long gone, and my normal life was completely shattered.

Time flew by, and it never showed any sign of stopping.

Even if we catch the stalker, will things really go back to normal?

It’s not that simple. People’s hearts are complicated.

Runa. Mimi. Hinata. The rest of the harem group.

No matter what Mimi’s plan was when she confessed to Hinata, things have already started to change. Little by little, everything is shifting away from how it used to be. Eventually, it’ll be too twisted to fix, and we’ll just get used to it.

I have a feeling this summer, something is going to change.