When I Started Capturing the Academy Princesses, Things Turned into a Battlefield - V1 Chapter 11: My Idol, The Goddess, and The Princess Prince

Chapter 11: My Idol, The Goddess, and The Princess Prince

The night after Tsuchiya’s shocking confession—

I lay on my bed, staring at the ceiling.

Sure, I regretted recklessly agreeing to help her with this mess, but that wasn’t the real issue. The real problem was that her secret had completely thrown me off. I couldn’t concentrate in class at all today.

Tsuchiya had never been linked to any guy before. Even though she had been insanely popular since middle school, there were never any rumors about her having a boyfriend. And even after entering high school, she never seemed to have any male presence around her.

So this was the reason.

The weight of the Goddess’s secret was making my brain short-circuit.

“…And to top it all off, her crush is that Princess Prince.”

Tsubasa Shiranui, 5th place in the Himegasaki Academy General Election.

She had a rather unique title—“The Fire Princess-Prince.”

Normally, I’d want to complain—Is she a Princess or a Prince? Pick one already. But in this case, I had to admit… the title fit her perfectly.

The reason why was obvious. Painfully obvious.

Tsubasa Shiranui was a true handsome girl.

The type that looked like she had just stepped off the stage of some high-class all-female theater troupe as the lead male role.

Sharp, androgynous features.

Tall, confident posture.

A husky voice that made her sound effortlessly cool.

Short, neatly styled hair.

If not for the fact that she wore the girls’ uniform, most people would probably mistake her for a guy at first glance.

She was known for her gentlemanly demeanor—a flawless handsome-girl in every sense.

Or so they say.

I didn’t actually know much about Shiranui myself. Everything I’d heard was just from the endless rumors floating around.

This was the first year she had officially been selected as one of the Princesses.

She had always ranked high, but this year, her popularity had skyrocketed—mostly because of her overwhelming support from younger female students. Some people were even whispering that she might take the top spot next year.

That’s how massive her appeal was among the girls.

People had been keeping an eye on her since last year, but for some reason, she seemed to have a stronger fanbase among underclassmen rather than her peers. She even had a fan club now, and wherever she went, she was constantly surrounded by female admirers.

I had seen her with Tsuchiya plenty of times since their first year. Since they were in the same class, I figured they had just naturally become friends. I never thought much of it.

And yet—she turned out to be the “handsome transfer student” from back then.

Back in middle school, there had been a lot of buzz about some ridiculously handsome transfer student at a neighboring school.

I never realized that “handsome” was actually a girl.

All Tsuchiya ever told me was that her crush’s name was Tsubasa. Since she kept describing them as cool and handsome, I just assumed it was a guy.

I never bothered to look into it myself.

I mean, if you hear someone being called “handsome,” you’d automatically assume they were a guy, right? It never even crossed my mind to be curious.

Tsuchiya had come to me for advice back then, but she never mentioned gender. She had probably wanted to keep it a secret.

The world was changing, becoming more accepting of diversity, but prejudice still existed.

She had revealed her secret because she was shaken by heartbreak, because she was desperate—but most importantly, because she trusted me as a friend. She believed I wouldn’t spread it around.

And, of course, I had no intention of telling anyone.

I no longer had feelings for Tsuchiya, but that didn’t mean I hated her. Getting bitter just because my feelings didn’t work out? That would be pathetic. Besides, if she was only ever into girls, I was never in the running to begin with.

Still… my emotions were all over the place.

Her confession had completely blindsided me. It was like getting hit by an attack from outside my field of vision—my brain was still trying to catch up.

“…”

At times like this, it was best to just shut my brain off.

I grabbed my phone and opened a video app. After scrolling aimlessly for a while, I noticed that my favorite Vtuber had just gone live.

“Live once again, full of energy! Bringing a small flame to your hearts—I’m your independent Vtuber, the Immortal Phoenix, Feni!”

A sweet, cheerful voice filled my ears.

“Konfeni, everyone! Today’s just a chatting stream. I’ve been playing too many games lately, so let’s mix things up and just talk for a bit!”

A girl with fiery red hair, designed as the personification of a phoenix.

Right now, my absolute favorite Vtuber was none other than Feni the Immortal Phoenix.

I hate to admit it, but Feni wasn’t exactly popular. Her live viewers barely reached a few dozen, and her chat moved pretty slowly. Compared to the major corporate Vtubers, she was practically unknown.

“Um… free talk is kind of hard, so I’d love it if you guys could suggest some topics! Just drop them in the comments!”

As soon as she said that, a handful of messages appeared.

Most of them were asking about the incident that had happened over summer break.

“Ahh, I figured this would come up if I asked for topics… Well, um… actually, it’s still not resolved. Feni doesn’t really know what to do yet, but I really, really want to fix things as soon as possible!”

The incident she was referring to—

It was about how Feni had been confessed to by her best friend.

“Oh! Some of you might not know about this, huh? Alright, let me explain from the beginning! So, Feni has this best friend, right? We hung out a lot over summer break, but… on the way home one day, she suddenly confessed to me! It totally caught me off guard! Like, no warning at all!”

New viewers were completely shocked by the story.

Not that I could blame them. When I first heard about it, I couldn’t believe it either.

“Feni never saw her best friend that way. So, I had to turn her down… but ever since then, things have been really awkward between us. But, you know, I really want things to go back to how they were. She’s someone I feel super comfortable with, and as a friend, I really, really love her.”

Feni’s voice sounded heavy with regret.

Getting confessed to by a best friend and having the relationship turn sour—definitely not something I could relate to. But, well… there were all kinds of people in the world.

…Wait a second.

Why did this story sound weirdly familiar?

“No way. That’s impossible.”

I shook off the ridiculous thought forming in my head. There was no way. That would be way too convenient—practically a miracle.

Plenty of people have gone through similar experiences. Same-gender confessions happen all the time, especially in all-girls’ schools.

As Feni poured her heart out, a few donations popped up in the chat, fans trying to cheer her up.

“Thank you, guys!”

I didn’t send one.

I had decided to hold off on throwing money for a while.

Not because I was broke or anything—but because I didn’t want to cause her any trouble. Thanks to me, Feni had ended up on some gossip site, and I didn’t want to bring more weird fans her way.

So, for now, I just sat back and watched as the usual names lit up the donation board.

“Oh, by the way—Valhalla-kun isn’t here today?”

Suddenly, Feni mentioned my account name.

The moment she did, the chat got noticeably livelier.

My presence in Feni’s streams had become something of a regular feature. I was always the first to comment when a stream started, and I frequently sent long, detailed donation messages. Because of that, Feni knew me well. Not just her—even the other viewers recognized me as a kind of regular in the community.

—I’m here. Just feeling a little out of it today, so I haven’t been commenting much.

“Oh no, you’re not feeling great? That’s not good! Feni always gets energy from Valhalla-kun, you know. So this time, it’s Feni’s turn to cheer you up! Valhalla-kun, hang in there!”

A “cheer up”—just for me.

Hearing those words from my favourite Vtuber sent a rush of energy through me. My whole body felt lighter, motivation surging back into my veins.

—Thanks, Feni. I’ll do my best.

I sent the message, then stood up.

“Alright. Sitting around sulking isn’t gonna help. Time to go find the Princess Prince!”

I had never spoken to Tsubasa Shiranui before.

I had been overthinking things—how to approach her, how to mend things between her and Tsuchiya—but none of that mattered now.

Screw it. I’ll just go for it.

Fueled by my idol’s encouragement, I made up my mind. It was time to face the Princess Prince head-on.