Chapter 13: I Want to Awaken a Possessive-Type Talent — Step 2: What Kind of Person Is She?

By the way, unlike the dependent-type girl from last time, becoming friends with this girl seems like it’ll be a little harder.

Last time, she didn’t really have many friends to begin with, so I was able to slip into her comfort zone through greetings and shared topics.

But this time, whether people like her or not, she’s too busy talking to people on her own.

Because she lacks confidence in herself, she’s the type who gathers people around her and wants to show off that she’s liked.

A completely plain, average guy like me walking up and talking to her probably isn’t going to get much of a response.

To learn more about her, I asked him—the guy who’s in the know about the class’s inside gossip, and who I’d also asked about the dependent-type girl—what he knew about her.

And I got this kind of answer back.

She’s the type who wants affection from the opposite sex, even if other girls hate her.

She doesn’t want her boyfriend streak to break, and she’s basically always looking for the next boyfriend.

Apparently, she demands frequent check-ins from her boyfriend, and when they fight, she lets her emotions explode and pushes him for an apology and a show of affection.

With just this much info, I’m thinking… she’s probably kind of menhera-ish.

Huh? You’re saying menhera and yandere are the same thing?

That’s not true!

So here, I want to sort out the similarities and differences between menhera and yandere.

Both menhera and yandere have their hearts go sick and end up spamming messages and being possessive, so in that sense they’re similar.

But while a menhera demands love directed at herself, a yandere gives her own love to the other person.

That’s the biggest difference.

It’s also why I like yandere, but yandere don’t fall for someone just to satisfy their need for validation. They act based on the idea of, I want to make them happy with what I do—this should lead to their happiness.

That mindset is also what makes yandere… yandere.

And that is what’s so wonderful.

As expected of yandere!

They’re two things that people mix up all the time, but I want to make sure I’ve got the difference down.

Right now, you could say she’s in a state where, no matter what others think of her, she just wants approval—so she’s leaning hard on the opposite sex, since affection is a quick way to get that approval. And you could also say she’s carrying that “heart going sick” state because she craves love from the other person.

In other words, right now she’s being driven too hard by the urge to get approval from others, and she’s kind of menhera-ish.

Because of that, she ends up looking self-centered, and she’s losing out.

If things stay like this, she can’t make use of her talent.

If she can awaken her possessive-type yandere talent, she can develop that drive to devote herself to her partner—and not only will her need for approval be satisfied, she can also be reborn from someone who gives a self-centered impression into someone who has consideration for others.

You could say that’s a strategy that uses her charm points while also turning her weak points into strengths.

So, she needs to awaken her talent… but how am I supposed to get close to her?

After watching her for a few days, I found a single breakthrough.

Chapter 14: I Want to Awaken a Possessive-Type Talent — Step 3: A Breakthrough and the Right Timing to Get Close

That breakthrough was the seemingly ordinary keychain she had on.

It looks like the flag of Papua New Guinea, but the number of stars is different.

Yeah— that keychain is from the band 【Papipu New Guinea】.

A band with a name that’s basically a pun.

You might think, That’s dumb—so they probably aren’t popular, right? But nope. Their lyrics make heavy use of puns, and the melody—delicate in a way that doesn’t match—has gotten people talking, and among band fans, they’ve become a quiet little topic.

And the color of that keychain she has on is different from the usual one.

It’s probably a venue-limited item.

They shouldn’t be selling it online yet, so if she has that keychain, that means she went to the live show. And that live wasn’t held in this prefecture.

In other words, you can tell she’s a pretty serious fan.

But unfortunately, this band doesn’t go on TV, and their lives are few and far between.

Naturally, the odds that there’s someone in class she can talk about this band with are low.

And as if to back that up, I never hear anything about her liking bands.

She’s probably the type who doesn’t talk unless you’re a band fan too.

In that case—yandere chance!

Using Papipu as the breakthrough to loosen her guard is highly likely to work.

The narrower someone’s “favorite thing” is, the more it’s enough to make them open up.

This is a breakthrough with huge potential.

Huh? How do I know such a niche band?

Isn’t it obvious? I’m a man of many hobbies.

I’ve got the basics covered when it comes to bands, too.

Well… this is all for yandere, though.

Yandere are almost always highly wary.

But that wariness usually melts when you share what they like, or when you acknowledge them.

So, for that purpose, when I became a high schooler and set my sights on getting close to yandere, I made myself get interested in all sorts of things back in middle school, and I started keeping my antennae up.

Sports, idols, bands, manga, anime, trains… I tried a little bit of pretty much everything.

Sure, some things fit and some didn’t, but there’s no question that knowing something can lead to understanding.

And as a result, my hobbies increased, I can make use of it this time too, and it’s the best.

One more thing I want to value is timing.

She’s the type who always wants people around her because she’s always lonely, but there are times when that becomes even more obvious.

That’s when her relationship with her boyfriend isn’t going very well.

She tries to fill the loneliness and need for approval that her boyfriend isn’t satisfying by gathering more people around her.

And if, at that moment, a new person appears who can satisfy her loneliness and need for approval, she’ll gladly accept.

If that happens, the time it takes to get close becomes shorter, and it becomes easier to add some yandere spice.

So I decided that, at that timing, I’d talk to her about the band—so I can become that person.

A few days after I’d been thinking that, she was more intense than usual with physical affection toward guys, and I could see her clinging even to her few female friends, too.

Is this the timing I was aiming for—when things aren’t going well with her boyfriend?

Well, it’s rude to say I was “aiming for it” when she’s lonely, but…

Well, still, for me it’s convenient.

This is the perfect chance to awaken her talent!

I decided to take action.

Just wait for me, bud of a yandere talent. I’m coming to make you bloom.

Everything is for awakening her talent.