The Story Where I, the Strongest Mercenary, Was Reincarnated as a Bullied Introverted High School Student ~ When I Was Freely Enjoying My School Life, for Some Reason the Girls Around Me Started Glancing at Me~

The next day, Sunday.

Because of yesterday’s incident, my part-time workplace, Kuroyagitei, was apparently going to be closed for a while.

By the way, that day had been their highest sales ever.

Dressed plainly in a gray polo shirt and jeans, I was waiting to meet Char in front of the store to enter that cutting-edge science and technology exhibition.

Of course, my purpose was to find clues to identify the mastermind who had destroyed SWORD and put bullets in their ass for every single one of my dead comrades.

There was a high possibility that one of the Japanese names appearing at this exhibition had provided stealth missile technology.

(Still, Char’s taking forever.)

Even though we were supposed to leave from the same house, for some reason Char had wanted to meet up separately, so I’d arrived here first.

Well, she was a high school student now, so maybe she was starting to care about what people around her thought.

It might have been better to act separately today anyway.

Just as I was thinking this, Char finally arrived.

“S-sorry to keep you waiting…”

Char looked a bit embarrassed as she averted her eyes from me and played with her beautiful golden hair with her fingers.

The white top Char was wearing was off-shoulder, exposing her beautiful shoulders.

Her beautiful legs extended gracefully from her short skirt.

Her white sandals were decorated with flowers, giving a youthful impression, but they suited Char well.

Her hair was styled the same way as when she’d worn the yukata yesterday, tied back and secured with a hairpin.

“H-how… do I look… in this outfit?”

Char asked me nervously.

“You’re completely no good like that.”

“Eh?!”

I stated my honest opinion.

Char looked shocked, tears welling up in her eyes.

This was way too cute.

Every single passerby who just walked by turned around to look.

She was inevitably too conspicuous.

“Disguise yourself in something more plain. And sandals will make it hard to run if something happens.”

“Y-you’re right… Sigh, and Ami-san went to all the trouble of dressing me up.”

“So it was that girl’s doing after all.”

Damn that girl, treating Char like a dress-up doll…

I’d have to praise her when I got home.

“…But in Char’s case, you stand out just by having your face visible.”

“I have a special mask that can disguise me as Japanese?”

“You’d collapse immediately wearing something like that in this heat. Just put on a front bang wig to hide your eyes. And then there’s the clothes.”

“I understand, I’ll go change…”

I watched Char’s back as she trudged dejectedly toward home.

Being too cute was also a problem.

◇◇◇

Taking appropriate breaks and blending in with other visitors, I toured the exhibition with Char.

Six hours later, by the time we had seen everything, the sun was already beginning to set.

“Phew~ I’m tired~”

Char said this and sat on a bench outside in front of the exhibition facility.

I offered Char an apple juice I bought from a nearby vending machine.

“Here, want to drink this?”

“Thank you, kind stranger.”

“Don’t worry about it, it’s your money.”

“…That’s certainly true.”

The long bangs she wore for disguise blocked her vision and were probably hot and stuffy too.

Char protested with sarcasm mixed in.

I decided to pamper her as much as possible today.

At least I had recorded the names of all the Japanese scientists who had appeared at this exhibition with the ultra-miniature earring-type camera Char was wearing.

That was about the only harvest, I guess.

Though there were too many suspects.

Also, Japan’s gaming technology really was amazing.

…Really, war should stay in games only.

As I was thinking this while looking outside the exhibition, a group of gals passed by.

I accidentally made eye contact with one of them who was chatting happily, and she noticed me.

“Huh? Wait, wait, wait~? It’s Fushimi~! Lol.”

I let out a big sigh in my heart.

This was one of my classmates, Yamashiro Momoka.

She was also the person Fushimi Jinta was the worst at dealing with.

“Did you think changing your hairstyle would keep you from being recognized? Too bad, but your gloomy loner aura makes it totally obvious!”

Saying this, she brought the other girls over with her.

Most of them were my classmates.

Looking at Char sitting next to me, they showed malicious smiles.

(Ah, that’s right… come to think of it, it might be ‘because of this girl’ that Fushimi Jinta became so self-deprecating.)

The other high school girls also started talking in front of us two.

“Hey, isn’t this guy that ‘one’?”

“Yeah yeah, that totally delusional bastard! He was seriously gross! Lol.”

“This guy’s dangerous! Doesn’t he feel ashamed to be alive! Lol.”

“He looks pretty decent with his hair cut! But well, he’s gross so no way lol.”

“Coming to see an exhibition is so totally like a gloomy loner lol. We’re going to karaoke so we’re just passing through.”

Before I was reincarnated, Fushimi Jinta had been made into a ‘toy’ by several of these girls.

Originally gloomy Fushimi Jinta was treated kindly by a girl at school for the first time in his life.

That girl was Yamashiro, the one standing in front of me.

Fushimi had fallen in love pathetically quickly.

Yamashiro always spoke kindly to Fushimi and acted as if she was interested in him.

However, Fushimi was about to give up thinking that a gloomy loner like himself wasn’t worthy of her.

The ones who pushed his back at that time were the girls now surrounding Yamashiro.

“Momoka likes you too!”

“She likes cool-acting guys, so being narcissistic would be just right!”

“Come on, you should send more sexy messages!”

“Like ‘show me your panties’ or ‘let me touch your boobs!'”

“It’s fine, girls actually like that kind of thing! Lol.”

“If you don’t do it, she’ll think you’re boring.”

“If you don’t have the courage, we’ll send them for you!”

“You’re a loner, so you have to act like you’re popular!”

Fushimi, who had no experience with women, took their advice at face value and sent embarrassing messages and did things that would make him want to die if anyone saw them.

Love was blind, and above all, Fushimi was desperate.

He dreamed that maybe even a loner like himself could get a girlfriend if he tried hard enough.

If he got a girlfriend, his sister Ami would see him in a new light and it would create opportunities for conversation. That seemed to be a big goal too.

And so, finally Fushimi called Yamashiro to the school’s back garden and confessed his love.

“Pfft, ahahahaha! I can’t hold back my laughter anymore! Like I’d ever like someone like you! lol You’re too gross! Lol.”

The moment Yamashiro gave that response, all their classmates jumped out from behind the school building and bushes, laughing loudly while filming with their smartphones.

“That’s seriously a masterpiece! Lol.”

“All your messages have been shared with the whole school on RINE!”

“Like you could ever get a girlfriend.”

“Yamashiro was forcing herself to be nice to someone like you?”

“Delusional loner, seriously crazy!”

“Good thing we stopped you before you committed a crime lol.”

And so, Fushimi became known as ‘a man who deserved to be bullied’ at school.

Of course, the other classmates didn’t know that Fushimi had been manipulated, and thought that Fushimi had sent those messages to Yamashiro in his own words.

Fushimi was the perpetrator, Yamashiro the victim.

No matter how Fushimi tried to make excuses, they were seen as desperate lies.

That’s why everyone laughed when they saw Dojima beating up Fushimi.

(…Well, this was what caused Fushimi Jinta’s distrust of people.)

It hurt my heart even though it wasn’t about me.

From that day on, Fushimi became afraid of all humans except his family.

It was already close to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Looking at me like this, Yamashiro sighed and spoke.

“Anyway, Dojima was saying something about ‘killing you’ tomorrow, so you’d better not come to school, you know? You should just stay home until graduation~”

Then she looked at Char sitting next to me and laughed through her nose.

“Wait, what’s with you! Did you actually get a girlfriend? So you got cocky with Dojima because you wanted to look cool~”

“Don’t throw up again when you get beaten up, it’s seriously disgusting lol.”

“Hey now, stop it, he has a girlfriend lol.”

“What are you saying! We should tell her properly!”

Now they all started badmouthing Char.

Just being with me apparently made her a target for their slander.

“Your girlfriend hides her face with her hair, dresses plainly, has pale white skin and looks like a shut-in!”

“Except for trying hard to dye her hair, she’s a gloomy girl just like you~ and she’s short too lol.”

“We won’t look at her face so don’t worry! She’s probably too ugly and we’d laugh!”

The girls cackled with laughter.

“You should dump a guy like this too~ He’s weak at fighting and pathetic lol.”