When I Started Capturing the Academy Princesses, Things Turned into a Battlefield - V2 Chapter 24: The Graduation Album

Chapter 24: The Graduation Album

What the heck just happened?

We were talking about Shiranui—then suddenly, the topic swerved hard into Kanon.

How did we even get here?

That mystery cleared itself up pretty fast.

“I just got a super angry message from Hikawa-san. According to her, her little sister Kanon confessed to you, Yuu-kun.”

So… The Queen had officially regained consciousness.

Well, at least she seemed okay.

That was a relief.

But right after that came a tidal wave of questions.

Like—why the heck did she message Tsukihi of all people?

Why was she mad at her?

Wait… do they even have each other’s contact info?

Then again, they had been getting along recently, so maybe that part isn’t too surprising.

“Hey… is it true?”

I realized there was no point trying to dodge it, so I gave her a small nod.

“…I see.”

Tsukihi glanced back down at her phone, scanning through the screen.

“It also says the two of you are married in some online game.”

“She told you that too?!”

“It’s kind of hard to follow, since it’s all just one massive wall of text… but yeah, it’s in there. She keeps repeating the same words over and over—like she’s so furious she can’t even think straight. Honestly, she doesn’t sound too stable right now.”

So she woke up… and immediately rage-typed a storm of unfiltered emotion, huh?

I still had no idea why she chose to take it out on Tsukihi, but maybe she was just that far gone.

She did witness her beloved little sister drop a confession bomb right in front of her, after all.

So yeah… kinda understandable.

“So that game wife you mentioned before… that was Kanon-san?”

The sharp look Tsukihi gave me told me there was zero point in trying to lie.

I sighed and gave in.

“Yeah. That’s right.”

“You knew all along?”

“Nope. I only found out today. Trust me, I was just as shocked. Kanon, on the other hand, apparently figured it out a while ago. And… she confessed to me right before I came here.”

Since Hikawa had already blown the lid off everything, there wasn’t much point in keeping it quiet anymore.

Sorry, Kanon—but there’s no dodging it now.

Tsukihi nodded, like all the pieces were finally starting to fall into place.

“I get it now. So Hikawa-san was there when she confessed, too?”

“Yeah.”

“That explains why you look so drained. She really cares about Kanon-san, after all.”

It’s not like I’m tired because someone confessed to me.

Come on—Kanon’s beautiful. She’s also my in-game wife.

Even if she wasn’t drop-dead gorgeous, a heartfelt confession like that should’ve lifted my spirits.

No—the exhaustion came from the fact that Hikawa was sitting right there the whole time.

Getting confessed to while a literal apex predator was glaring daggers at me from three feet away?

Way more mentally taxing than I thought it would be.

Then she passed out, which somehow made me feel even worse.

I mean, technically, we’re supposed to be part of that whole sibling alliance thing.

And even on the way here, I couldn’t stop worrying about her.

So yeah.

Emotional damage—courtesy of Queen Hikawa.

“Did you give her an answer?”

“I’m planning to—on the day of the cultural festival.”

“…The cultural festival, huh.”

“I wanted to line it up with the others.”

The moment those words left my mouth, Tsukihi’s expression darkened just a little.

“So it’s not just Kazama-san?”

“Wait—”

“If it were only Kazama-san, you wouldn’t have phrased it like that.”

Crap.

I’d answered without thinking.

The moment she asked, my brain jumped straight to both Kazama and Shiranui.

And yeah… if it had only been Kazama, I would’ve just said, “I’m giving her my answer at the festival.”

“The other person… is it Shiranui-san?”

“…”

“It’s okay, you don’t have to hide it. Shiranui-san told me herself that she liked you. I figured it was only a matter of time.”

Wait—they were close enough to have that kind of conversation?

“My guess? She heard Kazama-san confessed and didn’t want to fall behind, so she made her move. And if that’s the case… that suspiciously personal stream she did totally makes sense now.”

Well… if Tsukihi already knew how Shiranui felt, there wasn’t much point in dancing around it anymore.

“Yeah. You’re right. She confessed—right after revealing her real identity. Very formally, too.”

I let out a breath and came clean.

What followed was a long, awkward silence.

I didn’t say anything, unsure what I could say.

Tsukihi just sat there, lost in thought.

And then—out of nowhere—she let out a soft laugh.

“You really are something, huh.”

“Eh?”

“I used to think girls in this world had zero taste… but I guess the ones chosen as princesses actually do have an eye for quality. They’ve got good judgment—and guts too.”

Tsukihi gave this wise little nod, like she was some kind of seasoned love guru.

“Oh, and don’t worry about me. Sure, Kazama-san’s confession totally caught me off guard… but I’ve come to terms with it. I’ve always known Yuu-kun was cool, and kind, and honestly pretty amazing. I figured someone would notice eventually.”

Okay, hold on—that’s giving me way too much credit.

“I mean… I didn’t expect this many super cute girls to show up all at once, though.”

“…I was already overwhelmed when it was just the first one, honestly.”

“I seriously can’t forgive myself right now. Hikawa-san’s mad at me too… Not that she even needs to say anything—I already know I messed up. I just didn’t think things would spiral this fast!”

Still pouting, Tsukihi started lightly slapping her bed in frustration.

Her signature “I’m annoyed but too tired to yell” move.

After a good thirty seconds of venting on the mattress, she finally seemed to calm down.

She got up, walked over to her desk, picked something up, and returned holding it close.

“What’s that?”

“When I heard you were coming, I got it ready ahead of time.”

She smiled and held it out.

It was… our middle school graduation album.

“…Our grad album?”

“I thought we could look through it together.”

“…”

“You just made the most obvious ‘ugh, please no’ face.”

My middle school years?

Yeah… total cringe-fest.

I was living my peak loser arc—constantly losing out to the good-looking guys.

No regrets about diving deep into my hobbies, but honestly?

Not a ton of great memories.

I hadn’t touched my graduation album once since leaving that school.

Looking back now, all that “losing to the handsome guys” stuff was probably just in my head.

“You know, I’ve never looked at this album either.”

“Really?”

“Too many bad memories.”

That actually surprised me.

Back in middle school, Tsukihi was super popular.

Always surrounded by friends, always in the spotlight.

I just kind of assumed her middle school days were full of fun, photo-worthy moments.

“Wait, but didn’t you have a bunch of photos on your phone?”

“Most of those are from elementary school. There are a few from middle school, but only from the first few months.”

Huh. I didn’t know that.

“Everything after that just felt like a blur. Even now, when I think about it, I feel like I wasted so much time. This album’s basically a scrapbook of regrets. That’s why I never wanted to open it.”

So… it was a rough chapter for her too.

“Even now in high school, I’ve probably spent way too much time on dumb stuff.”

She let out a dry little laugh—half joking, half venting.

“Tsukihi…”

“Sorry, that got kind of heavy. Anyway, let’s open it.”

After flipping past the standard school building and principal photos, we hit the class portraits.

“So nostalgic.”

“Yeah.”

Seeing all those familiar faces again brought a flood of memories rushing back.

Then came the event pages—sports day, the school festival, class trips.
Sure, those years had been kind of a disaster…
But looking at them now, I was surprised at how much I actually remembered.

“Oh, there’s Yuu-kun!”

“Wow… I really look like I didn’t want to be there.”

“And over here—that’s me.”

“You look like you’re having the time of your life with your friends.”

We kept flipping through the album, tossing out dumb little comments as we went.

I’d always avoided this thing like it was cursed, but now that I was actually looking through it…

I didn’t feel much.

Maybe because all the old misunderstandings with Tsuchiya and Tsukihi had finally been cleared up.

Whatever lingering trauma I had from those days?

Pretty much gone.

After we reached the end, Tsukihi quietly opened the album again.

“Earlier, I said it was full of bad memories, right?”

“Yeah. I remember.”

“It’s because I had my heart broken in middle school.”

“…Wait, seriously?”

“…By my first love. My childhood friend.”

She looked up—and met my eyes.

First love… childhood friend?

Wait, was there another childhood friend I didn’t know about?

There had to be, right?

Because it definitely wasn’t me.

If anything, I’d assumed she had rejected me, which is what led me to drift toward Tsuchiya after she showed me a little kindness.

“The guy I liked… was this one right here.”

She pointed to a picture in the album.

It was a photo of me—wearing my usual dead-inside expression.