When I Started Capturing the Academy Princesses, Things Turned into a Battlefield - V1 Chapter 31: First Love Is the Saintess of Darkness

Chapter 31: First Love Is the Saintess of Darkness

Ranked number one in the Himegasaki Academy General Election—

Tsukihi Yoiyami.

She took first place in her very first school election after enrolling.

And ever since, she had remained undefeated—earning the top spot in every election since.

Truly, she was the Princess among Princesses, the face of Himegasaki Academy.

Her title was The Saintess of Darkness.

Together with Arisa Hikawa, the Queen, and Misuzu Tsuchiya, the Goddess, she formed the academy’s Big Three.

Though if we’re being precise—since she held the number one spot, maybe it’d be better to call her the center.

She was called a Saintess for a reason.

It came from her serene, almost mystical beauty, as well as her upright and pure-hearted nature.

Long, flowing black hair.

A flawless face that could easily rival top-tier idols on national TV.

Slender limbs and a stunning figure.

Her personality was gentle and calm.

She disliked anything vulgar, especially crude jokes, and always kept a respectful distance from the boys.

If I had to describe Tsukihi in one word, it’d be classic.

Most of the current Princesses had pretty unique traits, but Tsukihi was the ultimate traditional beauty.

Straight-laced, graceful, elegant—she was the textbook example of a proper, ideal girl.

She was smart, and every little movement of hers felt refined.

Beautiful, intelligent, well-mannered—she fit the image of a Yamato Nadeshiko perfectly.

In both looks and personality, she was probably the closest to Tsuchiya among all the Princesses.

…Well, considering I had a thing for both of them, it just meant they were my type.

Back in the day, Tsukihi didn’t have such long hair.

She started growing it out around the middle of junior high.

Right around the time we started drifting apart.

We’d known each other since before elementary school.

Our moms were friends and our houses were close, so we used to play together almost every day.

She was the one who gave me both the sweet taste of first love…

And the bitter sting of my first heartbreak.

Why was Tsukihi here?

Was this Ayane’s doing?

But she’d said she was going to study for the midterms.

No way she’d contact Tsukihi in a situation like this… right?

“Um, Yuu-kun?”

“A-Oh, good morning!”

I greeted her back, and Tsukihi smiled in relief.

That smile—it brought back memories.

She looked much more mature now compared to the past, but that familiar warmth still stirred something in me.

It just proved how special Tsukihi had always been to me.

“I was worried you were ignoring me.”

“Of course not. I was just… surprised.”

“It has been a while, huh?”

Tsukihi let out a small laugh.

“Alright, let’s go.”

“…Go where?”

“To school, obviously. It’s time to head out, right?”

“R-Right. Yeah.”

When she prompted me to start walking, Tsukihi naturally took the spot beside me like it was the most normal thing in the world.

Guess it wasn’t Ayane she came for—it was me.

It felt too awkward to say no at this point, so I ended up heading to school with her.

“It’s been a while since we walked to school together.”

“Yeah, it has.”

“How many years has it been, I wonder? Feels like we’re back in middle school.”

“Y-Yeah.”

“Even though we’ve taken the same route since starting high school, we’ve never run into each other.”

That’s because I intentionally avoided her.

…But seriously, what was going on here?

Why was this happening?

Heading to school with an old childhood friend I hadn’t spoken to in ages… It made no sense.

I glanced to the side just to be sure, but—

No doubt about it. It was definitely Tsukihi.

Not an imposter or anything.

There’s no way I’d mistake her face, and she’s the only one who ever calls me “Yuu-kun.”

“Is there something on my face?”

“Eh? No, nothing.”

“…I see.”

“…”

The silence felt suffocating.

I needed to say something.

Should I bring up that handsome guy from back then?

…Nope, bad idea.

Starting off with a love topic out of nowhere would be super weird.

Even I knew that much.

Better to stick with something safe.

“Now that I think about it, midterms are coming up soon.”

“Next week, yeah.”

“You been studying?”

“Same as usual, I guess. I might not be able to beat Hikawa-san, but I think I can still stay near the top.”

Nice. Good choice of topic.

“I’m jealous—you’re really smart, Tsukihi.”

“You’re not bad either, Yuu-kun.”

“I’m just average.”

“That’s not true. You’ve been getting good scores on every test. It’s totally different from how you were back when I knew you. I was really surprised.”

…How did she know my test scores?

Then I remembered—

At Himegasaki Academy, the top 100 scores for each year were posted in the hallway.

My name barely made it on that list.

If we’re talking academic level, I was somewhere between “above average” and “upper-mid tier.”

Even if we’d grown apart, we were still childhood friends.

Checking the ranking for familiar names wasn’t that strange.

I knew Tsukihi’s rank too, after all.

“How are you feeling about this test?”

“Honestly, not super confident.”

“Huh? Did something happen?”

“I haven’t been studying much lately. Saying I don’t have time is just an excuse, but… I’ve been kind of busy.”

Unfortunately, my grades had been slipping lately.

Ever since the second term started, I hadn’t studied properly at all.

I’d gotten dragged into this whole Princess-hunting thing.

That ate up all my time, and if I kept this up, my scores were going to drop hard.

“Wait, is it because of your part-time job?”

“No, that’s not it. I had the same job last year too, and my grades didn’t drop.”

“Yeah, that’s true. You don’t work that many hours anyway.”

…How does she know how many hours I work?

I mean, sure, my part-time job is just at the local convenience store,

But I don’t remember Tsukihi ever stopping by.

Ah—maybe she heard it from my mom.

Our moms are still close friends, so there’s a good chance it came from there.

Actually, that’s probably the only explanation.

“If your grades are in trouble, I can tutor you—like I used to.”

“You’d really do that?”

“I am ranked second in our year, you know. I think it’d be more efficient than you studying alone.”

Right. Tsukihi was second place in the entire grade—just behind Hikawa.

She’d always been smart.

Back in elementary school, she helped me study all the time.

She was good at explaining things, and I still remembered how she once said she wanted to be a teacher someday.

Honestly, even if it had nothing to do with this Princess-hunting nonsense, I could really use her help right now.

If things kept going like this, my grades would take a serious hit.

And if I continued with this Princess project, they were only going to get worse.

…Wait, what about her boyfriend?

Maybe they already broke up,

But still—if he suddenly barges in halfway through the study session, I’m not dealing with that.

Well, it should be fine, right?

She probably meant a group study session with a few others.

No way it’d be like back in the day, where we’d hang out one-on-one in each other’s rooms.

We were in totally different positions now.

“Then I’ll come over to your place after school, okay?”

“…Huh?”

“Is your house not a good idea?”

“N-No, it’s fine. I don’t mind if you come over.”

“I’m looking forward to it. I haven’t had a proper chat with Ayane-chan in forever.”

Ah, I see.

So Ayane was the real reason she wanted to come.

Naturally, Tsukihi was also childhood friends with Ayane.

I wasn’t sure how close they were now, but back then they used to get along pretty well.

Tsukihi was an only child, and I remembered her saying many times how she was jealous that I had a little sister.

So she probably just wanted to catch up after a long time.

I was just a side bonus.

…Then why did she walk to school with me?

That little inconsistency bugged me—

And right then, I started to feel the stares from people around us.

I finally realized just how risky this whole situation was and came to a stop.

“We shouldn’t walk in together. From here on, let’s go separately.”

Tsukihi tilted her head slightly.

“Why?”

…Do I really need to explain?

If I showed up to school with the Saintess, I’d be swarmed in seconds.

I’d get interrogated—at best.

Worst case? They’d beat me up.

No thanks.

I’d rather not get turned into a test-absent excuse before the midterms even start.

“Let’s go together.”

“Nope.”

“Ehh, but I want to walk with you, Yuu-kun.”

“I said no. If we don’t go separately, I’ll cancel the study session.”

Tsukihi came to a sudden stop.

“I don’t want to lose the study session, so… I’ll back off for now. See you after school then.”

With a slightly disappointed look, Tsukihi turned and headed toward the academy.

As I watched my childhood friend walk away under the curious stares of everyone around us,

My heart—

For the first time in years—

Started to beat faster.