episode_0075

Now, in mid-September, the intense sunlight was gradually weakening.

On an elementary school playground in Miyagi Prefecture.

There, a man was roaring.

Siuuuuuuuu-!!!!

The man’s name was Mori Takuya.

He was currently the god of the elementary school soccer field.

“C-Cowardly!”

“Ugh! If only I were about 20cm taller!”

“His spiritual pressure! His spiritual pressure is too strong!”

‘Did these kids all take drugs or something?’

Well, that was half a joke, and he was just a physically talented elementary school student who had joined the kids’ lunchtime soccer game for exercise after a long time.

“Oh? A student with such talent?”

Though it didn’t seem so in someone’s eyes.

Anyway, this Mori Takuya. No, *I* was cooling down after completely crushing the opposing team in the lunchtime soccer game, preparing for the next class.

“U-Um!”

“Hm?”

As I wondered at Momiji’s sudden approach, hiding something behind her back, she blushed shyly and handed me something.

And that something was a towel, which I really needed right now.

“H-Here’s a towel!”

“Oh, Momiji. Thanks.”

Instead of my shirt, I wiped off my sweat with the towel.

After thoroughly wiping away my sweat, I felt bad about handing Momiji the towel soaked with sweat, so I said I’d wash it and return it.

However, Momiji shook her head at my words.

“N-No! I lent it to you because I wanted to!”

“No. Even so…”

“Oh, anyway, I’ll do all the laundry so it doesn’t matter… Hmph!”

And when I tried to say something else, she just took the used towel and left.

Then, an old man (the principal) who happened to be passing by saw the scene and said:

“Ah, youth~”

Hearing his mumble, I muttered to myself, ‘What is this, a romance manga?’

“Takuya! Class is about to start. Hurry up!”

“Ah! I’ll be right there! Momiji, you hurry in too!”

After wiping off his sweat, Takuya shouted for Momiji to hurry back to class, then went inside.

And while Takuya went into class, Momiji went to a secluded spot far away where kids rarely went…

“Heh, heh. Takuya’s scent… it’s nice…”

She was doing something so creepy that Takuya would have been beyond surprised, perhaps even horrified, if he had seen it.

Sniff♥ *Sigh*…♥ Takuya♥ Takuya♥

Of course, she herself had no awareness of how creepy it was.

Momiji continued to sniff the sweat-soaked towel for a long time before narrowly making it back to class.

***

A few days passed.

There were no significant changes in my daily life, but it seemed to be different for others.

I watched Haru chattering away beside me, sipping my drink.

Her stories were mainly about Hiro.

Wait, weren’t they on bad terms until recently?

That was already days ago. What on earth happened in these few days? From Haru’s words alone, Hiro had become sweeter than anyone.

And that, of course, was good news for me.

No, more than just good news.

‘All according to plan.’

Everything was according to my plan.

You might wonder what plan I’m talking about, but surprisingly, this was my strategy.

I stimulated Hiro’s jealousy to instill a normal way of thinking in him.

Naturally, this method had little effect with just one or two tries.

After all, there’s a saying: the first and second times are coincidence, but the third time is inevitability [a proverb implying a pattern].

So, to make it seem inevitable to Hiro, Haru went around to various places.

And I didn’t forget the meticulous detail of planning her routes to be where Hiro usually passed, so he would see this process.

Am I human trash?

No. This was all for Hiro’s sake, if anything.

What I’ve learned in life is that humans are never creatures that change with just one or two tries.

Just as habits learned at three years old last until eighty [a proverb about old habits dying hard], human thoughts or beliefs don’t change that easily.

If they changed easily, it meant they were too shallow, or I’d never seen it happen except for cases where someone got hit in the head and became half a different person.

That’s why I continuously provided stimuli, creating an environment where Hiro couldn’t help but change, and thus their relationship progressed to a decent extent.

‘Honestly, haven’t I done everything I can at this point?’

Indeed, the scenario’s progress was quite good.

【Status】 [Haru] [Corruption Level: 10%] [Promiscuity: 0%] [Vulnerable Areas▼] [Capture Progress: 72%] [Redemption Progress: 70%] [Scenario Progress: 60%]

So much so that I thought if things continued like this, I could easily reach 100%.

Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case.

‘Is this the limit of how much redemption can be raised without further events?’

In fact, all possible redemption that could be gained had already been gained, and it was now stagnant.

In other words, a special event was needed to raise the redemption level.

And not just any event, but one that would make someone go nuts in an instant.

And I knew just the ‘good’ person who could create such a special event.

-Click.

That person was, of course.

[“Ah. You’re asking if I’m not having gatherings these days? Ah, well, the girl I had ‘trained’ ran away last time. I’ll have another one soon…”]

It was that physical education teacher.

And that wasn’t all.

I looked at the secret videos, diaries, and objects I’d retrieved from the teacher’s house, grinning slyly.

‘Now… what should I do?’

I thought about how to create the best possible event.

***

It was a time when the track and field club members were deep in training.

Kumoto, who would usually be giving advice to students with a solemn expression, casually yawning, was acting completely different today.

-Trembling.

He was restlessly shaking his leg, looking anxious.

“Hey, what’s that delinquent teacher doing?”

“I don’t know, but I heard that those files finally leaked?”

By the way, those files were the list of students Kumoto had ‘touched’ (which only existed as rumors).

-Stare.

Anyway, after saying that, the two students received Kumoto’s piercing glare and quietly resumed their training.

‘Everyone, this guy and that guy, ignores me!’

Kumoto, who had been staring at the two training students for a long time, began to tremble his leg again, lost in thought.

‘Damn it, more importantly, who took them? My collection and my valuable photos!’

The reason he was lost in thought wasn’t much different from what the students had just said.

It was precisely the photos and list of the girls he had used as playthings, and the small collection he had obtained from them.

Actually, if he had only lost the collection, it wouldn’t have mattered.

After all, he could just increase his collection again.

But the photos and the list were different.

They were clearly Kumoto’s weaknesses.

And in this Japan, no, in this world, there was no one who could remain unscathed after their weaknesses were exposed.

Even more so if it was a weakness that could instantly kill him.

That’s why Kumoto couldn’t help but tremble his legs, overcome with anxiety.

Because now, not only were his weaknesses exposed, but it was a situation where even a gang leader would feel a stab in the chest.

‘Where on earth are they? There were clearly no signs of anyone entering the house!’

Furthermore, it wasn’t easy to track down the person who obtained those materials.

As if a ghost was playing tricks, there were no traces of anyone entering anywhere.

While Kumoto’s mind was entirely consumed by thoughts of his weaknesses due to this situation.

Below Kumoto, someone was running diligently.

That person was, of course, Haru.

Thanks to good peer relationships lately, and Kumoto not bothering her, she could run quite freely, and perhaps as a reward for that. Her form had actually started to improve again recently.

Thanks to this, the glares from her seniors, who used to look at her fiercely, had softened considerably.

Haru, who felt satisfied with being able to run joyfully, suddenly thought.

That all of this had happened since she met a certain boy.

‘Now that I think about it. Everything started to change after I met Takuyakun.’

An amazing child who disappeared quickly as if by magic, yet unexpectedly played like a normal kid – that was Takuyakun in Haru’s mind.

Of course, to be a little more honest, he was also a kid who knew how to say and do cool things, unlike his age.

Anyway, since meeting him recently, she felt like things were going smoothly.

Perhaps that’s why. Haru, thinking of Takuya like that, ran across the playground with a smiling face.

Unfortunately, Kumoto saw that scene, and he became enraged by Haru’s smiling face.

No. To be precise.

‘That girl! She was laughing at me! How dare she… Wait a minute, could it be?’

He was about to get angry.

It was also at this moment that he felt a sense of disbelief as the events that had occurred so far came to mind.

In fact, it was illogical to think about it for even a moment.

How could a student freely sneak into a teacher’s house and steal items from inside?

It was something that defied common sense, but.

‘Right! It has to be that girl!’

Kumoto, feeling fear in this shitty situation, had no room to think about such things.