The Villainous Uncle in the Adult Game Gets Unusually High Praise from the Heroines - Chapter 10

“I really messed up…”

I kept ruminating over what I’d done yesterday until the next day, which was how I’d almost pushed Tomoe-chan down on the bed, and what I said to her afterward.

I’d acted like that thinking I might have had a chance, but looking back on it now, I was totally acting like a creepy old man. Tomoe-chan had practically fled from my house.

Ah, my likability rating had definitely dropped. I could feel my dream harem slipping away…

Oh, well. Even with such regrets, daily life moved forward without mercy. Today, like any other day, after making breakfast I cleaned the house and took out the trash.

After that, the plan was to work on my computer like usual. However, today, some things changed slightly.

“Oh…?”

“Hm?”

At the garbage disposal area, as I was throwing away burnable trash, I met a woman—a woman with black hair and red eyes.

Aina Rindo-san.

Although she had a child of high school age, her youthful appearance was striking, and her eyes widened when she saw me.

“Um, you’re… Take-san, right?”

“Ah, yes.”

“Um, good afternoon?”

“Right. Good afternoon.”

To tell the truth, I hadn’t had many chances to run into her before. It was just bad luck, and when we did meet, it was purely by chance. This might be the first time she’d initiated a conversation with me, but even meeting like this, we weren’t close enough to have casual neighborhood chats.

I figured I should just consider myself lucky to have this conversation, and was about to bow slightly then leave, when an unusual thing happened.

“Um!”

“…?”

She, Aina-san, stopped me. When I turned around wondering what the matter was, after hesitating a bit, she spoke, “Do you have some time after this?”

“…Eh?”

Though there was only one possible answer, I was genuinely confused for a moment.

****

“Here’s your tea.”

“Thank you.”

I glanced at the tea placed before me and expressed my gratitude to Aina-san. Did I appear calm to her eyes?

In reality, my mind was in complete chaos, and I was very worried it might show on my face. Right now, I was in the Rindo house’s dining room.

I was sitting in a chair, while Aina-san sat across from me. She took a sip of tea, and let out a breath.

“It’s Darjeeling tea. It’s nothing particularly valuable, but I think it tastes good.”

“I agree.”

“Ah, would you like some sugar or milk?”

“Oh, it’s fine. And you can speak more casually with me if you’d like?”

“Oh my.”

Her eyes widened at my words.

Hm?

Did I say something strange?

“No, it’s just… I thought you might prefer formal speech.”

“Why’s that?”

“…Well, because your older brother was that type of person.”

Aina-san said this somewhat reluctantly. Ah, so that’s it. My brother used to be like that, huh. Hm, I supposed that made sense.

I casually said, “I’m not really the type to care about that sort of thing.” 

She nodded with apparent relief, replying, “I see.”

Hmm, I felt like she was really wary of me when we’d first met, maybe that was because of my brother?

Really, what a troublesome legacy he’d left behind.

But what should I do? In this situation, for the “original version” of me, this would actually be a golden opportunity. In the original story, “Takeshi Tendo” forcefully assaulted her, photographed the whole scene, and used those pictures to blackmail her into doing whatever he wanted.

Well, I suppose that was a common development in NTR games, but I certainly wasn’t in the mood for such a thing. Plus, if I remembered correctly, there were descriptions in the original plot suggesting that they were pretty evenly matched in terms of strength.

I couldn’t take that kind of 50-50 gamble here. I was not confident in physical contests either way.

“So um, did you need something from me?”

“You can speak casually with me too… Well, you see. What I wanted to ask you about was Sakurako-chan.”

“About Sakurako-chan?”

“That child…. She’s excellent, isn’t she? I’m worried she might be pushing herself too hard. Even though it must be emotionally difficult with her parents passing away, she never shows any sign of that when she’s with me.”

“Ah.”

Indeed, there were few signs of her trauma. She rarely showed her vulnerable side to me either.

Recently, it felt like that had improved somewhat, and she even made modest requests about meals sometimes. At first, how should I put it… I really felt like she was wary of me.

I therefore tried not to force any distance and let her do as she wished, which I think worked out pretty well as she’d started to approach me more on her own.

As Aina-san said, Sakurako-chan was naturally excellent, so if I made any wrong moves she’d definitely distance herself, and in the worst case scenario, there was a high possibility of reaching a bad ending.

“She’ll be fine,” I told Aina-san reassuringly. “I intend to support her properly. I’ll keep watching over her to make sure she doesn’t push herself too hard.”

“I see, that’s good.”

“Rather than that, Aina-san, I’m worried about you too.”

“Eh, me?”

I gave a wry smile to her puzzled expression.

“I think it must be hard raising a teenage boy alone. If you ever need help, please tell me right away.”

“Fufu, that’s true. When that time comes, I’ll honestly ask for help.”

Seeing her chuckle, I was once again reminded that Aina-san was truly an adult woman. She maintained her composure quite well. We’d work on that area over the long term.

“Well then, I should head back now.”

“Oh my. I wouldn’t mind if you stayed a bit longer, but perhaps you have some business to attend to?”

“Yes, some personal matters. I haven’t finished cleaning the house either.”

“That’s true. Let me accompany you to the door.”

As she spoke, Aina-san stood up, me following soon after. Just as I was about to leave that place, something else happened.

“Kyaa…!”

“Ah, watch out…!”

Aina-san caught her foot on the table leg and started to fall. I was in front of her and reflexively turned around to catch her. A sudden impact hit my body. Heavy—not really. Rather, she was lighter than she looked.

“Ah, wha—”

She was momentarily dazed in my arms from the sudden fall, but soon came to her senses.

“I-I’m so sorry…!”

She quickly put some distance between us.

“I’m so sorry! I, I…”

“No, I’m just glad you weren’t hurt, Aina-san.”

While smiling at her, I was internally nervous. This was bad. Even if it was accidental, physical contact between the two of us was definitely way too early. 

She’d probably distance herself mentally. However, there was nothing I could do about it now. Having no choice, I decided to make my exit.

“W-well then. I’ll take my leave now.”

“Y-yes.”

In the end, she ended up seeing me off to the entrance anyway.