When I Started Capturing the Academy Princesses, Things Turned into a Battlefield - V2 Chapter 25; Interlude – The Self-Proclaimed ‘God’s Beloved Daughter’ Talks to Herself – Part 1

Chapter 25.5: Interlude – The Self-Proclaimed ‘God’s Beloved Daughter’ Talks to Herself – Part 1

“Absolutely ridiculous.”

Back in my room, I muttered the phrase that had basically become my personal catchphrase over the past few years.

I trudged over to the bed and collapsed onto it with a heavy thud.

Lately, it’s been feeling way too firm.

Probably just my mood.

And yeah—I know exactly what’s throwing it off.

Lying there, I found myself replaying everything that had just happened.

It’d been over a week since that utterly catastrophic double date.

And today… today managed to top even that.

Not in the way I’d feared—

No, this was a brand-new flavor of worst-case scenario.

Just thinking about that conversation from earlier made me shiver.

“…Unbelievable. And it’s all Aniki’s fault!”

I used to like Aniki.

Now? Not so much.

Back when we were kids, I didn’t dislike him at all.

I mean, as the big brother of a super ultra adorable girl like me, of course he had a decent face.

He was cheerful, kind, and honestly?

Pretty solid, as big brothers go.

We got along just fine back then.

But things started changing in middle school.

Aniki had some kind of awakening.

He started caring about his looks, got into working out, and really cleaned up his act.

I don’t know what sparked it, but he suddenly dove headfirst into fashion and self-care.

Looking back now… he was seriously cool at the time.

My friends wouldn’t stop talking about how jealous they were that I had such a handsome older brother.

And as his sister, I was practically bursting with pride.

And then…

Aniki went full-blown introvert on us.

Like—what even happened!?

He started collecting merch of cute anime girls.

His room slowly transformed into a shrine of posters and figures until it looked like some hardcore otaku cave.

And that was just the beginning.

Next came the Vtuber obsession.

Then some weird online game he got totally hooked on.

I was horrified.

See, I’ve got zero interest in that kind of nerdy stuff.

Couldn’t relate at all.

He stopped taking care of himself too—

The cool, stylish Aniki I once looked up to was gone.

All that was left was your run-of-the-mill anime-obsessed shut-in.

I just… couldn’t handle the fall from grace.

If I had to point fingers, I’d say it was Tsuki-nee—his childhood friend.

They were super close. Always together. Practically dating.

Then out of nowhere—boom. Nothing.

They just stopped talking.

And now that I think about it…

Yeah, that’s right around when Aniki started spiraling.

Did they get into a fight or something?

Did he confess and get rejected?

Even now, now that they seem to be on decent terms again, I still have no idea what actually happened.

I tried asking Tsuki-nee once, but she completely dodged the question.

Guess there’s something she doesn’t want to talk about.

…Whatever.

It’s not like overthinking it will get me anywhere.

Bottom line is—once Aniki went full-on otaku, I just couldn’t stand him anymore.

Naturally, our sibling relationship took a nosedive after that.

But even though things with Aniki turned rocky, I never let it slow me down.

I kept doing my best to be cuter and cuter—

Because I had one big goal in mind.

To become a Princess at Himegasaki Academy.

I first heard about the Himegasaki General Election and the whole “Princess” title right after starting middle school.

I was just walking to school when I caught sight of the reigning Princess at the time.

She was completely surrounded by gorgeous guys, basking in this royal, storybook atmosphere.

Seeing all those handsome boys tripping over themselves to please her?

It gave me chills.

—I want that. I want to be spoiled and adored by cute boys too!

Right then and there, I made up my mind.

I was going to become the next Princess.

So I got to work.

In middle school, I put on my sweet-girl mask and turned the charm up to eleven.

And after getting into Himegasaki, I even started treating gross otaku boys like Aniki with my sweetest, most sugary voice.

At night, I’d lie in bed imagining what kind of title I’d have once I became Princess.

Every reigning Princess had some kind of cool “attribute” attached to her—like Ice, or Darkness.

Obviously, I needed one too.

Since my last name is Kanbara, I figured something divine-sounding would be a perfect match.

I played around with options like Fairy, Goddess, Saintess, Queen, Princess, even Princess-Prince…

But deep down, I already knew the perfect one.

The one that suited me best.

The most divine, over-the-top, and fabulous title of all:

“God’s Beloved Daughter.”

Perfect. Absolutely adorable.

Honestly, with how divinely sculpted I am, it’s a title that fits way too well.

If anyone deserves a god-tier title, it’s obviously the one destined to take first place—me.

I went all-in on becoming Princess.

Sure, I already knew Aniki’s grade was packed with gorgeous girls.

But I figured, “Whatever. I’ve got this.”

So I didn’t play any games.

No tricks, no backdoor tactics.

I went full throttle, face-to-face, taking the challenge head-on.

And the result?

7th place.

Unbelievable.

Me? Not the Princess? There’s just no way.

Anyone who didn’t vote for me must’ve had broken eyes or rotting brains.

No other explanation.

I totally spiraled over summer break.

I mean, I was fuming.

Couldn’t take it out on the Himegasaki students directly—word might get around—

So I used Aniki as my personal stress dummy and hurled insults at him every time we crossed paths.

Gotta vent somehow, right?

After a few days of that, I finally cooled off a little.

What I needed was a plan.

Some kind of strategy.

Anything that would help me steal the throne.

Of all the girls who’d been crowned Princess, all but one were second-years.

Despite being total knockouts, none of them had boyfriends.

And weirdly enough, none of them even looked like they were trying to get one.

Tsuki-nee and Tsuchiya-senpai never gave off any “guy” vibes from the start.

And the rest? Same deal—pretty faces, zero romance factor.

So then… what now?

How do I become a Princess?

While my brain was in full overdrive all summer, trying to crack the royal code—

One day, right in the middle of break, a classmate invited me out for karaoke.

“Vtuber songs are really blowing up lately, huh?”

“Some of them are actually good. The fans, though? Total creeps, a lot of them.”

“Right? Like, throwing money at anime drawings? Get a grip.”

“The worst ones always get exposed online. Look at this guy—they call him Long-Post Guy. Apparently, he’s a high schooler too.”

It was right after one of my friends finished singing a Vtuber song at karaoke when that conversation came up—

And that’s how I found out for the first time that Aniki had been exposed on a summary site.

I didn’t feel angry.

Didn’t even feel disappointed.

What I felt was… overwhelming secondhand embarrassment.

Of course I knew Aniki’s account.

We used to be close, watching videos together all the time.

There was no way I wouldn’t know.

“Ew, that’s just gross. You think so too, right, Ayane-chan?”

“Y-Yeah… totally.”

That was the moment Aniki got demoted in my head.

From ‘used-to-be-cool big brother’ to ‘ultimate cringe guy.’

He’d become a walking meme.

People all over the internet were laughing at him.

He wasn’t just a fan anymore.

He was that guy—Long-Post Guy.

…Wait.

Does that make me the little sister of Long-Post Guy?

No. No freaking way.

There’s no way I can live with that.

Having a brother who’s been publicly humiliated across the entire country?

He was officially… the disgrace of our family.

But then, right at that moment—

A wicked little lightbulb went off in my head.

…What if I used Aniki to knock a Princess off her throne?

I had blackmail material now. Actual dirt on him.

With that, I could pull the strings—force him to approach one of the reigning Princesses.

Sure, he’s a hopeless otaku these days, but it wasn’t always like that.

Underneath it all, he’s got a decent face.

If he actually put in the effort, he might just pull it off.

If the plan worked, Aniki would end up dating one of the Princesses…

And me?

The girl who landed in 7th place?

I’d get auto-promoted into Princess territory by association.

Plus, if Aniki got a girlfriend, maybe—just maybe—he’d start taking care of himself again.

(Not that I’m getting my hopes up.)

So I leapt into action.

And with that…

The wild ride of second semester began—

“The plan worked. It worked… But it wasn’t perfect.”

I looked back on everything that had happened so far.

Against all odds, Aniki actually tried.

He went around getting all buddy-buddy with the Princesses, one after another.

And unbelievably—seriously, unbelievably—Kanon, one of the actual Princesses, fell for him.

When I found out during the sports festival, I almost collapsed on the spot.

Honestly, since Kanon and I had become friends, I was kinda hoping she’d fall for someone a little more… you know, hot.

So yeah, mixed feelings there.

Still, thanks to his whole Princess Conquest, Aniki had started looking a bit better.

His complexion was improving, and he actually looked kind of alive for once.

On top of that, he even patched things up with Tsukihi-nee.

She was like a big sister to me, so I’d genuinely be happy if she started coming over again like she used to.

The results had gone way beyond what I expected.

All thanks to me, of course—

The brilliant mastermind behind Operation Princess Takeover.

So far, so good.

By getting close to Kanon, my own rep had gotten a boost, too.

I was feeling confident about snagging a Princess spot in the next general election.

But… that didn’t mean everything was perfect.

“…The real problem is that fairy senpai and that perv. What am I even supposed to do with them?”

I didn’t want to remember it, but it all came flooding back anyway.

That awful double date from hell—

And everything that happened today.