Chapter 49: I Want to Awaken an Other-Exclusion Talent — Step 1: Talent Hunting

I realized his talent during that study group—the one I told you about.

Yeah, joining something really is a good thing. Even if my grades didn’t go up that much in the end, for me it was still a really great session.

Because running into yandere talents is the most important thing in the world to me, you know.

Anyway, back to the point—when I say I noticed it at the study group, it’s not like he actually came to it. Well, technically we invited him, but he turned us down.

His name was Shuma Wada. He got in as the top scorer, and he even gave a speech at the entrance ceremony as the grade’s representative—so even in a class that had only just formed, it was obvious he was smart.

When you’re putting together a study group, the question of who to invite is a pretty important one.

Of course you want to invite people you’re close with, but if it turns into nothing but messing around, then what’s the point?

So we decided, “Let’s invite smart people even if we aren’t that close!” And the choice fell on him. If he placed first, then surely he’d be good at teaching too! That’s what we figured, so my friend and I went to invite him.

And then he hit us with one hell of a line.

“There’s no way I’m joining some group that’ll drag my grades down.”

Yeah.

Naturally, my friend and I just stared at him, totally blank. But we recovered pretty fast and did the whole, “Well, if you ever feel like joining, let us know,” routine—and somehow managed to leave without it getting worse.

You can probably tell from that comment alone, but he was already starting to stick out in class.

The rumor was that he’d gotten the flu on the day of the entrance exam for his first-choice school, blew it, and ended up at this school—one he didn’t even really want.

It’s not like this school’s academic level is terrible or anything. But his first choice was one of those elite schools everyone in the prefecture knows by name.

For someone who’d been aiming for a place like that, coming here had to feel like nothing but humiliation.

And it wasn’t just that one comment, either—over these few months since we started school, I’d already heard he’d been saying things like,

“You don’t even understand something this basic? I can tell exactly what level your intelligence is.”

“Seriously, you’re loud. If all you can do is make noise, don’t come to school.”

Stuff like that—like, how do you even say that out loud? I knew he’d been repeating those kinds of lines.

Both my friend and I genuinely wanted him to teach us. But I think there was also—at least a little—this other intention: he was clearly isolated, and we wanted him to be able to fit in by leaning on his strength—studying.

I mean, if it’s still this early, there’s a pretty good chance we can become friends, right?

Maybe he could see our feelings written all over us. Maybe that’s why he reacted even more strongly and said something like that.

But apparently he’s always like that.

Normally, at this point you’d either get depressed or get pissed off. Usually it’s one of the two.

But I wasn’t the kind of guy who’d get shaken by those feelings here.

So, despite his reaction, I couldn’t stop feeling happy. Because yeah, his words are prickly—but there’s something in them that feels like he’s scared of getting hurt.

Like… the stubbornness, the way he’s bristling at everything like he’s warning the whole world off—it’s kind of painfully adorable, isn’t it? Doesn’t it feel like it could head in a really good direction?

There’s a yandere type that seems perfect for someone this clumsy.

It’s the Other-Exclusion Type.

Chapter 50: I Want to Awaken an Other-Exclusion Talent — Step 1: Can We Become Friends?

I told you he seems like the Other-Exclusion Type would suit him, right? So first, I want to introduce what the Other-Exclusion Type even is.

The Other-Exclusion Type is someone whose desire to be alone—just the two of them—with the person they love is so strong that they see friends and family as unnecessary obstacles getting in the way of their relationship, and they try to remove them. Some will try to remove anyone no matter what, while others are said to only remove people who seem like they’ll try to hurt their loved one.

The Possessive Type can also end up pushing other people away because they want to monopolize their partner, so you could say they’re similar.

But in my own interpretation, I think what they’re focused on is different.

With the Possessive Type, the focus is on wanting to monopolize the person they love—and because of that, they want to keep others at a distance. In contrast, the Other-Exclusion Type focuses less on the loved one and more on the fear that the people around them will steal that person away, so they want to exclude others—and as a result, they end up monopolizing their partner.

Basically, the Possessive Type’s goal is to monopolize their partner, while the Other-Exclusion Type’s goal is… excluding people?

I don’t know, something like that.

The reason I felt like he had the talent was his prickly vibe—those harsh lines meant to push people away—and a personality that makes it seem like he’d have a hard time getting along with others smoothly.

At a glance—or honestly, to be blunt—he just looks like he has a bad personality. But I think it all depends on how you see it, and whether that talent awakens.

If his talent awakens, his prickly remarks will become a tool to hide his true feelings out of embarrassment, and his inability to connect with people well will lead to him forming a special relationship where he can only truly get close with a specific person.

I’m sure he’s not really suited to dealing with a lot of people. But flip that around, and it means he can form a special relationship with a small number of people.

That’s why I thought, “Doesn’t he seem like he might have the Other-Exclusion talent?”

For now, it feels like he’s maintaining his pride by looking down on others.

For him, just being at this school is probably something that wears down his pride little by little.

So he finds people he thinks are beneath him and looks down on them—and because he doesn’t want to be made fun of, he says nasty things to push people away.

He’s already become hated by most of the class, and if this keeps up, he really won’t be able to get along with the people around him.

So I want him to realize that he doesn’t have to put others down—that he himself is charming, and that he’s hiding talent inside him.

So, with that, I decided I’d start by greeting him.

It’s not even that we have common ground—at this point, for him, it’s like everyone at this school is an enemy. So for now, I want to become someone he can see as harmless—someone he can think, “Maybe it’s okay if this guy talks to me?”

No idea if I can pull it off, though.

Still, I’ve already created a whole bunch of yanderes—so you could call me a veteran.

He might be a tougher challenge than the people before him, but I’m not going to lose.

Just wait for me, my future yanderes.