Chapter 31: I Want to Awaken My Worship-Type Talent – Step 6: A Yandere Is Born!

Phew. For now, I talked with her in the courtyard today too, and I get the feeling we’ve been getting along better.

When I talk to her, I make sure to sound like I’m having fun and match her pace, because I want her to trust me and treat me as her “standard” at school (a stand-in for her dad), or something like that.

I feel like the “spice” is getting her to see me as someone she can trust—someone she might even want to use as her standard at school.

Sigh. I’m tired again today. Alright, time to head home.

Starting tomorrow, I’ll keep talking with her and build her trust.

Thinking that, I was about to leave when I happened to glance at the courtyard—and there she was, sitting alone on a bench.

Huh? What’s she doing? She’s not really the type to stick around after school.

And that makes sense. She’s not in any clubs, and she doesn’t have friends who’d stay and chat with her.

So, in the end, she always just goes straight home.

It’s kind of a lonely reason, though.

But if she’s here, that means it’s my chance to talk! If I want to speed up the awakening of her yandere talent, I should talk to her as much as possible.

I ran into the courtyard.

She was still sitting on the bench.

Thank goodness, she’s still here… wait, huh?

I didn’t notice from far away, but she was crying.

It was like the tears had no intention of stopping—she didn’t even seem to realize I’d come over.

What the hell? Who did it? Who’s the bastard who made my wonderful yandere candidate cry? I’ll never forgive them.

I shook with anger.

No—calm down. Me getting mad won’t solve anything.

Taking a deep breath, I pushed the anger down and spoke to her.

“Good work today. What’s wrong? Are you hurt anywhere?”

She looked up with eyes red from crying, like she was startled, and she shook her head rapidly.

So it’s not a health thing… then what is it?

“I-It’s not that… I just… kind of started hating myself, that’s all…”

She said it in a thin, fragile voice.

What? She started hating herself? Is it because she can’t say what she thinks?

Did a classmate say something to her? She’d finally started being able to talk with me—slowly, sure, but still.

But there’s one important point here.

The point is that she’s caught on words she normally wouldn’t have cared about before, and she’s crying.

She had this vibe like she’d half given up on the fact that she can’t really voice her opinions.

Because people had told her that again and again, and she’d come to think, That’s just how I am. When someone keeps being told, “That’s just how you are,” they start believing it and give up.

And on top of that, she was raised with her father telling her that the whole time. Escaping that curse of words isn’t easy, and when other people stop expecting anything from you, it eventually leads to you not expecting anything from yourself either.

But the fact that she got hurt like this means something inside her is changing.

Supporting that changing heart and helping her grow her strengths—that’s the mission I’ve been given!

But before that, I have to support her feelings while she’s hurting!

Easier said than done, though…

“N-No, listen… I like you. You have good things about you. You never deny other people’s opinions, right? There have to be people out there who get saved by that. So it’s fine if you stay just the way you are.”

I got all passionate, and then I immediately got embarrassed. What am I saying———?!

Saying some manga-style line like that is way too embarrassing. Even if I want to help her strengths grow, I don’t have to say I like her. So cringe.

She has to be fed up with me.

Thinking that, I glanced at her—and she was staring with her eyes wide in surprise, then quietly…

“Thank you.”

…she whispered.

Good. She didn’t get creeped out.

From the day after that, she changed.

Not like she suddenly started blurting out her opinions or anything.

But in our little morning chats, she started remembering the advice and words I’d said—and actually acting on them.

“If a classmate asks you something, maybe take one beat to breathe first before you answer.”

“I’m sure there are people who’ll be encouraged just by you agreeing with them.”

Stuff like that.

She started trusting me and coming to me for advice about school life. And every time I answered, she’d go, “I see! Got it!” and then she’d do exactly what I said.

And then she’d say it.

“If I do what Takashiro-kun says, I can’t go wrong.”

And that smile—so pretty, and somehow alluring, like it was reflecting her talent itself.

She was perfectly treating me as her object of worship at school.

And just like that, a worship-type yandere was born at this school.

Chapter 32: I Want to Awaken My Worship-Type Talent – Step 6: A Yandere Is Born! (Her POV)

All I could do was let the tears keep spilling out.

I felt pathetic.

Why am I like this?

Then, someone spoke to me.

“Hey, are you okay?”

That voice…

I recognized it just from hearing it—my savior. It has to be him.

When I lifted my face, it really was him. He was looking at me with a worried expression.

Why did he come to me?

I’ve never talked with him after school, and I wasn’t planning to. But he came all the way over to me anyway.

Can he tell when I’m in trouble?

I felt like I could confide in him. No—I wanted to confide in him.

I told him why I was crying.

That I felt pathetic, that I felt embarrassed, and that it made the tears come out.

The moment I told him, I also felt a little afraid.

No matter how boring I was, he talked to me like it was fun. Even when I spoke slowly, he waited for me. So I thought I could tell him—I thought he’d defend me, say something to protect me.

But if he found out why I was crying, maybe he’d say the same thing everyone else does.

“It’s your fault. You have to change.”

What if he said that?

If even he said that to me, I wouldn’t be able to live anymore. Please, don’t say that.

Just keep smiling like you always do.

I was so anxious—so anxious that I couldn’t take my eyes off him until he spoke.

He took a breath, then looked at me and said,

“It’s okay for you to stay just the way you are.”

…with a smile.

In that moment, I remembered words people had told me in the past.

Everyone always told me,

“Have your own opinion.”

And every time, I’d feel crushed, and before I knew it, even I had half given up on the fact that I can’t decide anything for myself.

Because it’s impossible—that’s what I thought.

Why do I have to have my own opinion?

Do people really have their own opinions? How can they say them?

Aren’t they scared? Because that opinion isn’t something Dad said, right?

What if they fail because of it?

If I just listen to Dad and do what he says, everything goes smoothly.

And then everyone says the same thing, every time.

“You have to change.”

But why do I have to change? If I stay like this, will nobody ever love me?

Is it not okay for me to stay the way I am—someone who can’t have her own opinions?

But you were different.

You didn’t tell me, “Have an opinion,” and you didn’t tell me, “Change.”

If anything, you told me it was fine for me to stay as I am.

No one had ever really seen me before—someone like that didn’t exist in my life.

More than anything people had said to me before, your words fell right into my heart, and—

“Ah… so it’s okay for me to stay like this.”

I could think that, and I felt my heart go light, like it loosened all at once.

And then I thought it.

He’s just like my dad. No—he understands me even more than my dad does.

From that day on, every morning, I asked him how I should talk to my classmates—how I should answer them.

And every time, he never made even the slightest annoyed face. If anything, he looked happy as he answered anything I asked.

And when I acted exactly the way he told me to, everything went well.

I managed to have a successful conversation with classmates who never used to listen to me until the end, and I could make people smile just by agreeing with them.

I haven’t changed, but… I’ve changed?

I haven’t changed at all. I still can’t say my own opinions, and I still fidget and get shy.

But when I do what he says, everything works out. Even though I’m no different than before.

That means I can say I’ve changed, right?

Until now, I never knew how I was supposed to act at school.

What I should say, what I was allowed to say.

Because Dad isn’t at school. He can’t decide for me there. So I couldn’t act properly.

But from now on, he’s here. If I do what he says, I can’t go wrong.

He might even be better than Dad.