episode_0074

Holding the recording of the physical education teacher’s words, I pondered. ‘What should I do…’

Revealing Kumoto’s guilt immediately and saving Haru would be a good method. But it seemed that wouldn’t lead to the salvation the screen desired. The screen didn’t define salvation as merely rescuing Haru from that physical education teacher. More precisely, it considered salvation to include her connection with Hiro. Therefore, the problem was clear.

‘That Hiro guy is the biggest problem.’

He was a bastard who perfectly fit the description of an NTR male lead, the kind of guy who made you wonder how he could possibly win Haru over.

‘If he just had a normal guy’s brain, it would have been easy.’

Hiro truly suited the NTR male lead, whether in a good or bad sense. He had a good personality, but was incredibly oblivious, and while he was considerate, it was twisted. In short, he was too good a guy to be misunderstood.

‘No. Even before misunderstandings, he was too good a guy to cause conflict.’

Thanks to that, I had a lot to worry about. After much deliberation, I came to a decision. To get straight to the point:

‘Using the recording now is an amateur move.’

I decided not to immediately expose Kumoto. There were several reasons, but first, Hiro’s mindset needed to be reformed, and there were too many problems with using this recording right away. There was no proof that the voice belonged to Kumoto, and if I accused him with just this, there would be too many loopholes for him to escape.

In short, I needed to gather as much evidence as possible. In that sense, my current location was suitable for my goal. It was the track and field club’s office, where even in the game, Kumoto had several scandals associated with him. I had to raid that place.

‘Alright, shall I go in?’

I thus infiltrated the track and field club’s office.

A short while later, after ransacking the track and field club office, I managed to obtain some decent, though not decisive, pieces of evidence.

For example, this white powder that wasn’t sugar. [Low-Grade Aphrodisiac Powder] [Helps to excite a person’s body.]

This was an aphrodisiac.

[Training Log (Creating My Own Slave – Ruin Edition -)] [Follow this and I can become a Trainer starting today?!]

This was something a teacher should absolutely not possess.

None of them could be considered decisive evidence. He could claim he didn’t know the aphrodisiac was an aphrodisiac, and the book could just be dismissed as the teacher’s secret hobby. In that case, the level of punishment would likely be too lenient.

Of course, it didn’t matter since I had already obtained [powerful evidence] to prevent that. The drugs and the book were just supplementary items to further highlight the physical education teacher’s sinister tastes.

Anyway, now that I had the evidence.

‘Alright, then, shall I go and correct the biggest problem first?’

I should go and teach that idiot a lesson.

***

A boy named Hiro, a normal high school student, had many worries these days.

‘Haa… Haru must be at her club activities by now, right?’

The main reason for his worries was Haru, his childhood friend and crush. To be precise, Haru had gotten extremely angry at him a few days ago. Their relationship was already getting worse, and he had done the worst thing at the worst possible time.

That’s right. Hiro himself was aware that he had done wrong. Though, to be precise, he only realized it after telling the story to his friends.

‘But honestly, I thought I was being considerate…’

Because, from his perspective, it was consideration.

‘Before, she said she wanted to get closer to the seniors…’

To be precise, it was an act of consideration based on something she had said almost half a year ago. That’s right. Hiro didn’t realize that half a year was enough time for someone’s thoughts to change, and he naturally acted as if Haru’s thoughts were still the same as they were back then.

This was why it was hard to date an oblivious guy. It was clear from his actions that she currently had no such thoughts.

Of course, Hiro himself believed he was somewhat perceptive.

“Sigh, I don’t understand women’s hearts.”

Hiro muttered that, thinking he should go for a walk to clear his head, and changed into his casual clothes before heading out of the house. It seemed quite some time had passed since September began, and with the sun setting, it was getting a bit chilly.

‘I’ll have to get my winter clothes out soon.’

Thinking that, Hiro headed towards a nearby playground. It was nice and clean, perhaps because it had been newly built.

Upon arriving at the playground, Hiro couldn’t help but stop at the sounds he heard.

“Really?!” “Have you ever seen me lie?!” “What about breaking that promise last time?” “Ahem… that’s…”

It was the voice of his childhood friend, Haru, happily chatting with someone. No. More precisely.

‘Why is *that* guy here!’

With that handsome kid who looked too young for his age, whom she had recently become close with by chance. Seeing them together, Hiro felt a strong surge of jealousy for a moment, but it was brief. No matter what, there was an age gap. What could those two possibly be doing?

Hiro thought that to himself, but since his suspicion hadn’t completely vanished, he carefully eavesdropped on their conversation.

“Noona, have you been to that cafe here? The atmosphere is really great.” “Isn’t that place a bit expensive?” “I think the person who runs the cafe studied abroad somewhere and is really proud of their work. So the desserts there are amazing.” “Then, maybe we should go next time… Oh! Right! Speaking of which, that romance manga you recommended last time was really fun!” “Right?! It’s a masterpiece, so you definitely have to read all of it.”

Cafe? Desserts? Romance manga? What were they talking about? When he first properly heard their conversation, he didn’t understand. It was only natural. Hiro had always treated Haru almost like a guy, so they only ever talked about games, soccer, or otaku topics, never about things girls would typically discuss like cafes, desserts, or romance manga.

Thus, Hiro was flustered at first, but the more he listened, the more he realized how ignorant he had truly been about Haru. ‘Haru… she liked those kinds of things…’

Since Haru had always accommodated whatever Hiro wanted to do, Hiro had no idea she liked such things. Well, it wasn’t entirely Haru’s fault for always accommodating Hiro, but even so, it was more Hiro’s fault for not even trying to understand the preferences of the person he liked. Of course, the oblivious Hiro had simply vaguely thought, ‘Haru has the same tastes as me!’

Anyway, Hiro, who had been eavesdropping on the conversation, was just about to lose focus due to the continuous everyday chatter.

“Takuyakun. This is about my friend… What would you think if a childhood friend of the opposite sex just opened your door and walked in without permission, or did things for you without being asked?”

‘Surely that’s about me?!’ With his own story suddenly surfacing, Hiro snapped back to attention and carefully listened to Haru’s words.

While Hiro was focused on their conversation, Takuya pondered for a moment before answering. “Honestly, that person is the worst.” “Th-the worst?!” “Yes. People have boundaries they need to respect. Interfering with others carelessly and crossing established lines, especially when you’re not even dating, shows a lack of tact and manners.” “Do you really think so?”

“Well, at least I do. Though there might be people who don’t think so. By the way, what do you mean by ‘doing things without being asked’?”

When Takuya asked, Haru vaguely mentioned “improving social relationships.” Takuya shook his head and said, “He really seems like an oblivious person.” “Th-that much?” ‘Me. Me. I was that oblivious?’ At Takuya’s harsh criticism, Hiro instinctively thought that.

No. Honestly, he inwardly thought he wasn’t *that* bad. But Hiro’s thoughts were utterly shattered a moment later.

“At the very least, he should have listened to what the person wanted before acting. Instead, he just rushed in and did things his own way, right? And then, when the person says they don’t like it, there’s nothing uglier than saying, ‘But I did it all for you, why can’t you understand?’” “Y-you’re right…”

Takuya’s words seemed to directly target the exact thoughts Hiro had just before leaving his house. Thanks to that, Hiro couldn’t collect himself. ‘W-was I really that kind of person?’ Because he was starting to feel disgust towards himself.

While Hiro remained disoriented, their conversation continued. Hiro couldn’t bring himself to leave, remaining rooted to the spot, listening to their conversation.

***

After chatting for a long time, Haru and I parted ways, heading to our respective homes.

On the way home, I sipped the drink I bought from a vending machine and thought. ‘I hope this stimulated him a bit.’

That’s right. Takuya had subtly targeted Hiro during his conversation with Haru because he knew Hiro was there. He was a professional at detecting presences, after all.

So he knew Hiro was there. And when Hiro appeared, he spoke strongly, hoping he would finally come to his senses. ‘I hope this solves things…’ I wonder how it will turn out.

Takuya thought that to himself as he headed home.