When I Started Capturing the Academy Princesses, Things Turned into a Battlefield - V2 Chapter 05: The Unhinged Prince and the Irritated Fairy

Chapter 05: The Unhinged Prince and the Irritated Fairy

I froze—completely unable to process what I’d just heard.

In love?

Yamada… is in love with Ayane?

No, no, hold on a second.

Aren’t you in love with Kazama, the girl literally sitting right next to me?

Did I mishear him?

“Let me say it again, Kanbara.”

“Uh… okay?”

“I’m in love with Ayane-chan!”

The Mountain Prince… had lost his mind.

Out of the corner of my eye, I glanced toward the seat beside me.

Kazama’s face had twisted into something terrifying.

She’d looked totally uninterested before, but yeah—she definitely heard that.

Is he seriously saying this?

…But then again, maybe it’s not that strange.

My little sister might be rotten on the inside,

But on the outside, she wears a flawless good-girl mask.

As far as I know, no one at school has seen through it. That’s how perfectly she plays her role.

If anyone had a shot at seeing through her act, it’d be Hikawa—

But she seems to find Ayane and Kanon’s friendship cute and wholesome.

Even if she suspects something, she probably won’t do anything unless Ayane becomes a threat to Kanon.

And to be fair, Ayane really is cute—objectively.

As long as no one sees what she’s really like inside, it’s not hard to imagine her gaining popularity.

In fact, among the first-years right now, she’s already ranked as the second cutest girl in the entire grade.

And her popularity’s been rising like crazy lately.

Yamada confessed to Kazama in early last month.

It feels a bit soon to be falling for someone else already,

But hey—it’s been over a month. Starting a new crush isn’t exactly strange.

When I gave up on Tsukihi back in middle school,

It took me about six months before I fell for Tsuchiya.

But honestly, falling in love happens in an instant.

When a guy’s feeling down and someone treats him kindly—he’s doomed. That’s just how guys work.

And besides, Yamada was into Kazama.

Kazama and Ayane actually have something in common:

They both put on an act.

Maybe that kind of girl is his type.

They don’t look alike, but deep down, they’re pretty similar.

…Not that I’d call it good taste or anything.

“Can I ask what made you fall for her?”

“Well, the truth is… I was heartbroken for a certain reason.”

Because Kazama rejected you.

I figured that much.

I had been keeping an eye on Yamada ever since I saw that confession—and yeah, he’d seemed kind of off lately.

“And while I was feeling down, that’s when I met an angel.”

“…An angel, huh.”

You sure it wasn’t a demon?

“When I was at my lowest, that angel came up to me and spoke… In this soft, cat-like voice, she said, ‘Are you okay, senpai?’”

That’s not an angel.

That’s a cat.

Still, I held back from making the obvious comeback.

Knowing Ayane, the moment she spots someone looking depressed,

She’d absolutely go over and say something like that.

If it helps her become a Princess, she’d do it without hesitation.

“It felt like a bolt of lightning hit me. I’ve never experienced love at first sight before.”

So basically, he fell the moment someone was nice to him.

Yeah… I get it.

When you’re heartbroken, kind words hit harder than usual.

Been there, felt that.

Now that I think about it, Yamada started looking like his usual self again around the beginning of this month.

So their “fated encounter” probably happened sometime around then.

“After meeting her, I finally understood what true love is. She’s my destined one.”

That’s just infatuation, dude.

“Kanbara… you live under the same roof as that angel. You get to walk to school with her. I’m seriously jealous.”

Jealous? Of being blackmailed into doing Princess quests every day?

“I want to be you, Kanbara.”

…Well, I kinda want to be you, Yamada.

While we kept talking, I glanced toward Kazama.

She was staring at Yamada with clear disgust in her eyes.

Not like a classmate—more like she was looking at literal trash.

It wasn’t just her face, either.

Her irritation was so intense that her leg was bouncing furiously, making the whole desk shake with a loud rattle.

Pretending not to notice, I looked straight ahead again.

“Alright, I get how you fell for her. But why are you telling me all this today?”

Yamada gave a deep, serious nod.

“Yeah. She comforted me a little while ago. After that, I started looking into who she was. Eventually, I found out she’s your little sister, Kanbara.”

“I see.”

“Unfortunately, I figured it out right before midterms. I didn’t think it’d be smart to bring it up during exam week, so I decided to talk to you once the tests were over.”

So he got rejected by Kazama,

Ayane comforted him while he was down,

And he fell for her on the spot.

Then, after gathering some info, he realized she was my sister—

But since it was test season, he held back until now.

And now that midterms are done,

He’s finally come to talk to me.

I’ll admit—his reasoning checks out.

The fact that he even held off because he didn’t want to distract me from studying…

That’s some true “prince” behavior right there.

“But is there really any point in telling me? If you’re into her, shouldn’t you just talk to Ayane directly?”

“Sadly, that one moment was all I had with Ayane-chan. We haven’t spoken since. And if I suddenly walk up to her again, it might come off as creepy. I’d hate for her to think I’m some weirdo.”

“So you want me to introduce you?”

“Exactly.”

…Now what do I do?

I could easily turn him down by saying it’s too much trouble,

But looking at how sincere he’s being, rejecting him for no reason would feel wrong.

Should I just say something like, “Ayane’s too young to be dating”?

But that might make me sound like an overprotective siscon freak.

And seriously—

What would she do if some hot guy confessed to her?

…No idea.

After thinking it over for a moment,

I came to a decision.

“Yamada, asking for an introduction like that is kind of weak, don’t you think?”

Time to pass the responsibility back to him.

“Why’s that?”

“You called her your destined one, didn’t you?”

“Y-Yeah, I did.”

“Then leaving your so-called destiny in someone else’s hands doesn’t feel right, does it? If she’s really your angel, then you’ve got to win her over yourself. You won’t get her unless you chase fate with your own strength.”

Even I had to admit—I was just making things up as I went.

But Yamada turned out to be way more straightforward than I expected.

“You’re right. I didn’t realize I was running away. Maybe I was scared of being rejected. But yeah, if she’s my destiny, I should claim it myself. You’re totally right. Alright then—I’m going to go talk to her right now. Thanks for giving me the push I needed, Kanbara. I’ll be off!”

Flashing a bright, confident smile, the Mountain Prince made his exit.

He dashed out of the classroom and headed straight for Ayane’s class.

Class was about to start soon,

But clearly, that didn’t matter to him.

◇

With Yamada gone, the classroom fell quiet again.

Or at least, it did… for a second.

“Tsk.”

A loud click of the tongue came from the seat next to me.

To be fair, I’d been hearing it for a while now.

But now that Yamada was out of sight, the volume had cranked up.

One glance at her face, and yeah—Kazama looked absolutely furious.

“…So annoying. Seriously, I’m beyond pissed.”

She muttered through clenched teeth, then followed it up with another sharp “Tsk.”

“Y-Yeah, okay, calm down a bit?”

I tried to soothe her, but she shot me a look that could kill.

“Come on, you already cleared Yamada, right? So it shouldn’t matter who he likes now.”

“Hah!?”

Her voice dropped low and sharp—so sharp I froze on the spot.

“What pisses me off is that he said all that here. That was clearly aimed at me. All that ‘love at first sight’ and ‘destined partner’ crap? He’s just trying to say your little sister’s better than me. I spent so much time working on that guy, and now this? That jerk’s personality is seriously garbage.”

…That’s definitely a misunderstanding.

From what I could tell, the prince’s head was completely in the clouds.

The fact that he bolted out of the room right before the bell says it all.

He probably forgot Kazama even existed.

“Ugh, I’m so irritated!!”

Yeah…

No matter what I say now, it’s only going to make things worse.

If I poke the hornet’s nest, I’ll end up in the crossfire.

Time to sit quietly and hope it blows over.

“I mean, if you trace this irritation back far enough, it’s basically your fault, Kanbara-kun.”

“I didn’t do anything!”

“You totally did! Ugh, if you were as easy as that low-level nobody, things would’ve been a breeze.”

…Sorry, Yamada.

She just called you a low-level nobody.

For some reason, I’d become the source of her frustration.

And realizing that pushing her any further would be a terrible idea,

I froze up like a statue and didn’t move a muscle.

…

…………

Starting that day, two things changed.

First—Kazama became visibly grumpier.

Her bad mood was so obvious that even her popularity started to dip.

And second—

A new rumor began to spread.

Apparently, my little sister Ayane Kanbara… might have a boyfriend.