The Villain Who Got Pinned Down Until He Ran Out Of Stamina ~ This Time I Raised The Protagonist's Affection Too Much And Everyone Fell For Me~ - Chapter 31: "I'm a Little Jealous"

It was not that I was popular because I was cute.

I was… just being played with, interpreted however they like based solely on my appearance.

Back in middle school, I’d been relatively timid in personality. Yet… I had voluptuous breasts that were disproportionate to my slender frame.

I stood out unintentionally. I was misunderstood.

“Riina-chan~ Is the rumor true? That you put out right away?”

“You fucking bitch! Stop making eyes at every guy!!”

Faced with such words, I just cowered, unable to say anything back, hiding behind my older sister… a coward.

My middle school days were a dark history.

… …… ………

While sitting on a wooden bench outside the facility, away from people’s eyes, I was listening to Riina’s story about her past.

And after hearing it all…

“Hmm…”

I crossed my arms, organizing the content in my head.

Riina was easily misunderstood because of her appearance. Because of this, during middle school, she had a terrible school life where classmates would gossip about her and treat her like a slut.

Also, since she was relatively shy in middle school, she was further helpless against their words.

So in high school, she became a little devil character… or something like that.

This story had also been shown as a backstory in the game, but hearing it directly from her made me better understand how much she had struggled.

But still…

“Why did you tell me about this, after all?”

Even if we shared similar circumstances of being misunderstood by our appearances, after hearing about her past, all I could think was “that must have been tough.” It would be awkward to try to empathize or comfort her…

“Are you perhaps… expecting me to offer a solution?”

“I’m not.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Asking someone like you who doesn’t fit in with the class for a solution… you know…”

“True, even if I came up with a solution, it wouldn’t be convincing! Then did you just want me to listen?”

“Yeah… Even if I usually hold it in, there are times when… you just want to let it out…”

“I can understand that.”

Solving problems wasn’t everything. Just having someone listen… might clear your mind a little, even if just slightly.

Riina, having finished talking, had a slightly relieved expression on her face.

Feeling that I didn’t need to play the heavy role of providing solutions or comfort, I relaxed my posture from the serious listening stance, stretching my legs a bit.

“By the way, I’ve been thinking about this for a while.”

“What…?”

“When you talk to me, Riina-san. Isn’t your way of speaking different? Like your tone and atmosphere?”

Usually, as a little devil character, she was bright and friendly. Sometimes she would make boys’ hearts flutter and behave in ways that could be misunderstood.

But now, while calm… she seemed somewhat listless. What did they call this… a downer type?

Even that time when we ran into each other at the amusement park—

“Why are you here?!”

“Being ignored by you just pisses me off somehow.”

“Huh? Don’t you only like Yui-kun when he’s not with his friends?”

It was clearly different from the little devil character she usually portrayed.

Riina narrowed her slightly slanted eyes.

“Being all bubbly all the time is exhausting…”

“Then why don’t you stop? Why be a little devil character in the first place?”

“Because being charming is advantageous. If you smile and talk cheerfully, everyone gathers around you, and it’s generally all good things. Well, there are a small number of girls who look at me with disdain or people who don’t think well of me.”

“And sometimes you earn resentment like this morning…?”

“…”

Riina fell silent, so I continued.

“This morning’s incident. It really got to you, didn’t it? Enough to remind you of your past… What really happened this morning?”

“Who knows?”

“Who knows, you say…”

“Even if I claim I had nothing to do with it, it can be interpreted however the other person wants, right?”

Riina stood up while speaking in a dark tone.

“In the end, it’s impossible not to be judged by appearances. I don’t say it’s all bad. That’s why I face it by playing the role of a little devil character that gives me some advantage.”

That’s right… I too lived each day facing this intimidating face of Kasajima Yuji, along with the bad rumors. Riina’s positive attitude like this was admirable.

“I’d really like to go around complaining to each person who judges by appearance. Compared to them, Yui-kun is… a cool person who doesn’t judge people by their looks.”

“So that’s why you fell for him?”

“Yes. You might think it’s simple… but among the people I’ve met, Yui-kun was the first. He faced me simply as someone he wanted to be friends with… Kasajima, you understand this feeling, don’t you?”

“I guess so.”

I’d also experienced that Yuito wa a good person. Kind and thoughtful… he became friends with me despite my intimidating face. He was not only our important friend who was easily misunderstood by his appearance like us but also our emotional support.

“…Are you really after Yui-kun?”

“What do you mean by ‘after’?”

“Because Yui-kun is kind and cool… and my sister says that love can take any form.”

“I don’t really understand what you mean, but I like girls, you know?”

“Right. You came to the amusement park with a beautiful girlfriend, after all.”

“Huh? Who’s my girlfriend—ah…”

“Ah?”

“Ah-CHOO!!”

“Ugh… how gross…”

My nose suddenly got itchy… and I sneezed violently.

I thought I had turned to face forward where no one was, but Riina made a disgusted face and obviously distanced herself.

“You should cover your mouth with your upper arm or something…”

“I couldn’t help it! It suddenly got cold and… ah… ah-ACHOO!”

This time it caught in my throat, and a half-hearted sneeze came out. This was bad… my nose was starting to run too…

“That’s because you didn’t dry your hair… That’s why you can’t get a girlfriend.”

“That has nothing to do with it! Besides, guys naturally air-dry!”

“That kind of thinking is uncool. By the way, Yui-kun properly uses a hair dryer. That’s why his hair is silky. He’s clean and cool.”

“Don’t compare me to Yuito! I can’t win against him in anything except being rich!”

“Even being rich is thanks to your parents, so you’re completely outmatched.”

“Shut up!”

As the villain, I was completely outmatched by the protagonist in every stat.

I stood up too. Naturally, we both started walking toward the entrance of the facility.

“Thanks for listening to me today.”

“It’s fine to listen anytime. After all, one of the reasons you chose me is that you can’t talk to Yuito or Mahiro-san, right?”

“…You noticed after all?”

“Of course. We’re not even that close.”

“…Then why did you listen to me?”

Riina stopped walking. I also stopped in response.

When asked why, well… Half of me thought it might impact things later if I ignored her, but…

“Because Riina-san looked sad.”

“Eh…”

Riina let out a small voice and looked at me with wide eyes.

“Tomorrow is another fun day on the school trip. It would be better if you cheered up a little.”

I stuck my hands in my pockets and started walking.

“I think I understand just a tiny bit why Yui-kun is attracted to you…”

“Huh? What?”

“Nothing. We need to get back to our rooms before lights out.”

“Ah, alright.”

“But…”

“Hmm?”

“I apologize for saying I wasn’t interested.”

“Oh, is that so?”

Did she say something like that?

Whatever good thing happened to her, Riina was smiling a little.

◆

“I’m back, Yuito.”

“Welcome back, Yuji-kun. Oh, Yuji-kun, actually…”

“Sorry, Yuito.”

“Yes?”

“I’m… really sleepy…”

After taking a bath and listening to Riina’s story… When all that was over, I suddenly felt drowsy.

“I’m really sorry… tomorrow… tomorrow we’ll…”

Yuito probably wanted to play with me… But I didn’t feel like I could win against this sleepiness…

“Yuji-kun, you’re already staggering! Here, to the bed!”

“Thanks…”

Yuito guided me to the bed. As soon as I dove into the bed, my consciousness started fading…

“Zzzz…”

“Yuji-kun fell asleep… I want to wake him up, but since I just woke up earlier, I can’t very well do that…”

Yuito looked at Yuji’s smartphone that he had intended to return.

“What should I do with the smartphone… And there’s a message from Hibari-san… From the message, it seems it would be fine tomorrow too.”

Yuito placed the smartphone by Yuji’s pillow for now.

“Here you go. Yuji-kun, this is your forgotten item. Hehe, Yuji-kun’s sleeping face… it’s a bit cute.”

Yuito lightly poked Yuji’s cheek, but Yuji was in such a deep sleep that he didn’t notice, probably because he was so tired.

“Still, you’re close enough with Hibari-san to chat through messages. It’s fun being with Yuji-kun, after all. Being with Yuji-kun even after going home… I’m a little jealous.”

Yuji-kun was his first male friend. And not just that.

A person he wanted to be with, who made him feel comfortable… Besides Mahiro-chan and Riina-chan, he was the first. But Yuito felt like there was still something else about Yuji-kun… he didn’t know what it was yet.

“The maid Hibari-san. She probably knows more about Yuji-kun than I do. I might want to talk to her once.”