The Story Of How I, A Gloomy Guy, Ended Up Surrounded By the Top-Tier Beautiful Girls In Class After A Seat Change

Chapter 217: That Super Perverted After-Party, Rui’s Belly Button Pillow

I was inside a dream.

In that dream, I was getting a lap pillow from Rui, who was wearing a top that left her belly button completely exposed. I lay there with my head on her soft thighs, staring hard at her belly button the whole time.

And Rui kept whispering right next to my ear, “Ryota-kun~”… huh?

“Ryota-kun~ Ryota-kun~”

Yeah, just like that… wait, huh?

“Whoa!!”

The moment I opened my eyes, the living room carpet filled my vision, and my cheek felt the cool, slightly firm yet soft touch of a thigh.

No doubt about it.

This was… Rui’s lap pillow!?

I wasn’t just dreaming about it. I was really getting a lap pillow from Rui on the living room carpet.

Wait a second, then—!

I instantly spun around halfway so I was facing her stomach area (toward her belly button), but since it was already autumn, she wasn’t wearing that belly-button-baring T-shirt.

“Oh, you’re finally awake? Everyone suddenly passed out, so I was worried, y’know♡”
“…Your belly button isn’t showing.”

“Ryota-kun? What are you even saying?”

I sensed a hint of anger mixed into Rui’s gentle tone, so I quickly spun around again and looked away from her stomach.

“Maybe you were dreaming about me?”

Making up excuses wouldn’t work on Rui anyway, and she’d see through any lie, so I decided to just tell her everything.

“…Yeah. In the dream, you were wearing this super sexy half-T that showed off your belly button and giving me a lap pillow. I was facing your stomach, so I was staring right at your belly button, which was practically touching my face… That’s the kind of dream it was.”
“Wow… Even though I can usually figure out everything you’re thinking, you really didn’t have to tell me about such a creepy dream.”

It looked like even Rui was totally put off by it.
For some reason I felt like I’d won, probably because I was usually the one losing (in more ways than one).

“Anyway, more importantly! Why am I getting a lap pillow… Oh yeah, right after I ate the mystery hot pot, I blacked out, didn’t I?”

“Yeah. But it seems like everyone just passed out from the shock of how bad it tasted. They’re still sleeping?”

“Still sleeping… I’ve never heard of anyone fainting just because something tasted too awful.”

Well, at least it wasn’t poison, so that was a relief. Kind of.

“Before that, I feel like I heard a shutter sound right before I passed out.”

“Huh? What are you talking about? When I finished my call and came back, I didn’t hear any sound like that.”

“…R-Right.”

Maybe that was just a little dream or something too.

“Alright then, we should probably wake everyone up soon, huh? Heeeey everyone~”

Rui lifted me off her thighs, so I stood up with my lips pursed in a slightly disappointed pout.

It was such an amazing lap pillow… I should’ve stayed asleep longer.
I felt like I could let her take care of me for the rest of my life while I slept on her lap.

“Anyway. I’ll make my sister, who’s today’s main culprit, eat all the leftover hot pot later. So, where’s that notebook she brought for me…?”

I looked over at the table in front of the TV, and sure enough, the notebook was there.

But something felt off.

Before we started eating the hot pot, I’d left the notebook on the table in front of the TV, and it had been closed. Now it was lying open around the middle pages.

“…Well, whatever.”

I closed the notebook and headed off to help clean up the hot pot mess.

—

Chapter 218: The Contents of the Picture Diary [Shocking Truth]

The mystery hot pot party ended in total disaster—everyone passed out from a taste so weird it made no sense at all.

It was supposed to double as a victory celebration for the election, but when it was over, it just turned into a regular hot pot party…

“See you next week, Ryota~”

“Yeah, everyone take care on the way home.”

I stood at the front door and saw the five of them off.

All things considered, both Kanade Tanaka and Himesaki seemed to have fun right up to the cleaning, which was nice.

Even though they’d fought each other during the election, the tense atmosphere between them had completely vanished by the end. The two strongest candidates, Rui and Himesaki, were getting along well too.

From the way Rui was acting, it looked like Himesaki was probably joining the student council as well. So would the student council end up being me, Rui, and Himesaki?
And what about Kanade Tanaka… nah, probably not.

I went back inside the house and headed to the living room before going to my own room.

“And then there’s this… the notebook, huh.”

It was the summer vacation picture diary that I supposedly wrote back when I was in elementary school.

Thanks to Yuria, its contents never got revealed in front of everyone, but I kind of wanted to read it anyway.

Alright, I’ll take it to my room… and read it carefully.

Like a horny kid sneaking in a dirty magazine, I slipped the picture diary into my shirt and headed up the stairs.

I already knew from my sister’s big reveal that I had memories with Rui, Yuria, and Airi, but the thing is, I couldn’t even remember meeting those three in the first place.

“Now that I know I met those three in the past, it’s only polite to properly remember, right?”

The moment I reached my room, I opened the super-cursed picture diary on my desk.

“Let’s see… huh? What’s this?”

I quickly found a page that caught my eye and started reading.

‘July 29th. There was a girl fidgeting in front of Animate, the store I always go to. I thought she was looking for the bathroom, so I asked. She seemed embarrassed to go in alone. I didn’t really get what was embarrassing about it, so I told her it’d be fine if she went in with me, and she looked happy as she went inside. We got to talk a lot about anime, which was great.’

I talked to a girl in front of Animate!?!

“Whoa, seriously? Being that casual with a girl, and right in front of Animate too. The old me had that kind of hobby, but he was still doing stuff that sounds pretty outgoing…”

It was definitely the kind of weird behavior that the current me would never do.

“O-Okay, next page… wait, there’s another girl-related entry here too.”

‘August 2nd. I went to the airport to see my big sister off for her summer camp. There was a red-haired girl sitting on a bench crying. No one was talking to her, so I asked what was wrong. She seemed to have gotten lost, so I took her to the lost child center. I stayed with her until her mom came, and as thanks her mom gave me some overseas gummies. They were pretty big, which was lucky, even if the taste was just okay.’

A girl at the airport?

I thought it was gonna be another girl thing, but… this kid actually did something pretty cool.
Still kinda childish to get excited over gummies, though.

‘August 13th. My cousin Anju came over to play. She played a lot of games with me. It was fun.’

“Huh, cousin…? I have zero memory of that.”

Cousin would mean the child of my mom’s or brother’s cousin, right?
And her name is Anju? I don’t remember any relative with that name at all.

“Man, looking at all this, the old me was all about girls, huh.”

I was starting to feel like I didn’t even want to read any further when I turned the next page, and that memory came rushing back.

“…Th-This is…”