Translator: Haruto.

We’re just trying our best to be treated fairly, so don’t get in our fucking waaaaayyyyyyy!!!

I know he didn’t say that just for my sake. He was simply voicing how he really felt. I know that, and yet… my chest still feels so warm, and there’s a tug at my heart…

***

“And… done.” It’s not like I can leave her lying on the floor so I pick Tajima’s ex up and put her on the bed.

Having done everything I wanted to do, I send Yuito a message to let him know that it’s all over. I’m sure he’ll tell the others as well.

I step out of the room while I’m still texting and—

“Woah?! You scared me…!” I reflexively let out some weird scream.

Rina’s standing next to the door with her back against the wall.

“Here.”

“Huh?”

She offers me something; it’s sweet bread. I’m freaking starving so it’s like a windfall for me right now, however…

“Is this your way of trying to cheer me up or something?”

“You could say that.”

I take a better look at Rina and notice that she’s holding two bottles.

“But I’m also paying you back for the drink you bought me yesterday.”

“I see. In that case… thanks for the food!”

“Huh? You’re going to eat it now?”

I’m seriously hungry so I take the sweet bread out of the package right away and bite into it.

“Hm! Delicious!”

“I’m glad you like it.”

I eat the whole thing in only four bites. And with that done…

“You were listening in on our conversation, weren’t you, Rina-san?”

She wouldn’t have been waiting for me outside otherwise.

“…I couldn’t hear everything you two said. Although, I did hear that last thing you yelled.”

“Right, I guess it would be strange to be able to hear everything that goes on inside just by standing on the other side of the door. But you at least heard me shout, huh?”   

“…Why did you yell that?”

We’re just trying our best to be treated fairly, so don’t get in our fucking waaaaayyyyyyy!!!

Well… It’s true that the way she was running her mouth off without even understanding what it’s like to be misjudged by your appearance pissed me off, but there was also another reason…

“I figured that telling her to not judge people by their appearance wouldn’t have been all that convincing coming from me.”

I mean, I trapped a girl in a room and screamed at her at the top of my lungs. That’s exactly the kind of reprovable behavior you’d expect from someone who looks like me.

“So in the end, I just chose to voice how I really felt, similar to what you mentioned last night…”

Do you perhaps… want me to find a solution to your problem?

I don’t.

Huh…?

I mean, I doubt there’s much a loner like you could do about it…

Right, who’d ask a loner like me for help, huh?!! But in that case, you honestly just wanted me to hear your story…?

Yeah… I’ve been keeping it to myself for so long, I just… needed a chance to vent, you know?

“I can’t solve everything flawlessly. I lack the kind of persuasiveness required to pull that off… I’m just an idiot that decided to use his menacing face and a little screaming to scare someone off, and solve the problem without letting it get out of hand, you know?”

I laugh with a wide smile on my face… and Rina looks away for some reason.

“Back then…”

“Hm?”  

“…you pissed me off, but you also made me feel a little better.”

“Are you angry or relieved? Make up your mind, will you?!”

“I didn’t care for the way you came up with that whole strategy without asking me, but you also made me feel a little better when you yelled those things for our sake.”

“I wasn’t asking for an explanation!”

“You’re too loud.”

“I’m not!!”

“…”

“…”

“Pff!”

“Haha…”

“Hahaha!”

“Hahahaha!”

In the middle of our little bickering, we look at each other, and for some reason we both break into a laugh.

The same Rina who’s spent so much time playing the role of a devilish and foxy girl is now laughing her heart out and smiling without a care in the world. I’ve seen her countless times, both in and outside the game, but never have I seen such a pure expression on her face.

After Tajima’s ex woke up, I brought Tajima and Rina in one by one, and I also stuck around to watch over them…

First comes Tajima—the real cause of all this mess.

“Sleazebag!!”  

“Ghaaa!!”

She slapped him across the face with all the strength she could muster. Well, that’s what he gets for throwing his girlfriend aside as soon as he got a crush on another girl.

Next comes Rina.

“I didn’t try to seduce your boyfriend, but… if my appearance and behavior gave you the wrong idea… I’m sorry. I still think you shouldn’t have acted the way you did, though.” Rina tells her exactly what’s on her mind.

Tajima’s ex seems nervous seeing Rina in front of her, but…

“…I apologize for what I’ve done.” She offers her an honest apology.

Afterward, she returned to her own room. I don’t know if she’ll eventually complain about me to her friends and start spreading rumors about how awful I treated her or whatever, but at least I doubt she’s got the energy for any of that right now.

And so, that’s how the Missing Money event reached a relatively peaceful end.

***

“Alright, guys! Time to board the bus!”

Having thanked the lodging facility’s staff for their hospitality, we get on the bus as Mr. Takebayashi instructed.

“I can’t believe the school camp is about to be over,” Yuito says.

“Yeah.”

“Time went by so fast!”

“It was fun, huh?”

“Yup!”

Despite the whole missing money issue, I did have plenty of fun, and it’s all thanks to me becoming friends with the protagonist…

“Thanks, Yuito.”

“Um, okay?”

This protagonist is as nice as they come.

“Come on, Kasashima! Be nice to me, too!” Tajima cries out, teary-eyed, as he pops out of his seat in front of us.

“What? Forget it. You were the main cause of all that mess, remember?”

“Oh, don’t be like that! You were so reliable and friendly to me back then!”

“That’s all in the past now.” If Tajima hadn’t dumped his girlfriend at the drop of a hat, things wouldn’t have gone awry.

I then throw a glance at the two sisters; Rina’s sleeping pleasantly while Mahiro’s got her eyes glued to her phone. She’s probably admiring the photo I sent her.

A few minutes later, we hear our teacher yell, “Look alive, guys! The school camp isn’t over until you make it back home!!”

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