Translator: Haruto.

“What’s happening to the plot?”

“Huh? Is something wrong, Sora-san?” Kaede-chan glances at me worriedly.

Man, as you might expect from a heroine, she’s incredibly beautiful. So much so that if you were to tell me that she’s actually a member of an idol group, I’d believe you without a second thought.

Her hair is smooth and shiny, her lips are pink and lustrous, her skin is fair and devoid of any imperfections, and her deep eyes hold a tinge of red in them.

Her eyelashes are long, too, and her face is small…

“Um, Sora-san? It’s a bit embarrassing when you stare at me like that…”

“Ah, my bad. I was just impressed by how beautiful you are…”

“Fweeh?!”

That’s a heroine for you. Even her strange little screams are adorable.

“Ah, leaving that aside, I need to take you to the ceremony before it begins. What about you, Kana? Will you go ahead to our classroom?”

“Nope. If Kaede-chan collapses again, it’ll be easier to take care of her together, so I’m coming with you!”

“Got it.”

“Um, thank you for your help, Kana-senpai.”

“It’s my pleasure. Also, you can just call me ‘Kana-san’ like you do with Sora, okay? You can even call me ‘Kana-chan” if you like… When you call me ‘senpai,’ it feels like there’s some kind of distance between us…”

“Ah, okay, I’ll call you Kana-san, then…” It appears calling her “Kana-san” is somewhat embarrassing for Kaede-chan since her cheeks are turning red and she’s keeping her eyes downcast to the floor.

“Uhhh! I just can’t! She’s too cute, Sora! Can we adopt her?” Unable to resist Kaede-chan’s cuteness, Kana throws her arms around her with literal hearts in her eyes.

Kaede-chan’s shoulders twitch for a second in response.

Without a moment’s delay, I squeeze between them, peel Kana away from Kaede-chan, and chop Kana lightly with the side of my hand.

“Hey now, you shouldn’t do that kind of thing when Kaede-chan isn’t feeling well. Sorry about that, Kaede-chan. If she goes crazy on you again, you can just tap her on the head like I just did, okay?”

“Aw, you’re no fun, Sora!”

Ignoring Kana’s little comments, I focus my attention on Kaede-chan who’s shaking her head from side to side and then forgive us with a smile on her face. “Ah, no, it’s okay. I was just a little surprised, that’s all. I didn’t really mind…”

She’s as kind-hearted as she was in the novel, but I remain a little apologetic nonetheless.

***

“First-year students, please come this way!”

One of our teachers, the young Iwasaki-sensei, is welcoming the new students in front of the gymnasium, where the ceremony will be held.

“Kaede-chan, you can just follow everyone else into the gym. Will you be fine by yourself?” I ask.

“Yes, I’m sorry for troubling you so much.”

“No, it’s fine. Also, just to be safe, I’ll tell the teachers about what happened earlier. That way if the need arises, you’ll be able to ask one of them for help and they’ll immediately know what to do.”

“Okay. Thank you.”

“I’ll see you later, Kaede-chan,” Kana says.

“Yes! Thank you for everything, Kana-san!”

They’ve gotten surprisingly close in the little time that it took us to get here. Kaede-chan chatted with us as we walked and that seems to have calmed her down. She also doesn’t look as pale anymore. I’m sure she’ll be fine now.

“Well then, here I go!”

“Bye, Kaede-chan!”

“Good luck.”

Waving her hand with a smile, Kaede-chan begins walking to the entrance.

“Funny how we ended up seeing off two new students the same day, don’t you think?” Kana says.

“Well, coincidences happen.”

Afterward, we explained what had happened to one of our teachers, and headed to our own classroom.

***

“Shoot, shoot, shoot! We’ll be super late, Sora!”

“Yeah, time flew by without us even noticing it. We have to pick up the pace, Kana.”

“I’m going as fast as I can! It’s not easy to run with a skirt, you know?”

We’re currently sprinting towards our classroom. Our talk with that teacher ended up lasting longer than expected.

Kana’s going all, “Oh, shoot, oh, shoot!” just like a certain famous comedian.  

Tap, tap tap… Ding!

“Phew, we made it!”

“Haa, haa…”

Having stepped into the classroom in a rush at the exact same time that the bell rang, the eyes of everyone inside fall on us.

The classroom bursts into chatter.

“Kanzaki, Yaehata. You barely made it in time. Go take your seats.”

“Got it,” I respond.  

“Yes…” says Kana.

The teacher in charge of our class tells us to go sit down in a reprimanding tone. Kana answers him briefly and quietly. As I mentioned before, she isn’t comfortable talking to most guys—not even teachers. Still, it’s nice that he didn’t yell at us or anything like that. I guess he’s also heard what happened.

“It’s been quite a while since we last saw each other, huh. Today begins a new school term. I hope you did your spring vacation homework. It’s due today so make sure to leave it on my desk by the end of the day,” our teacher says.  

“Ugh, seriously?”

“Did you do it?”

“Nah, I totally forgot we even had homework.”

“Same, bro…”

Once again, it gets loud in the classroom.

“Alright, alright, pipe down, you guys. That’s all for now. After this, we’ll be going to the entrance ceremony to welcome the new students, so get ready.”

And just like that, homeroom ends.

“Hey, Sora! I was starting to think you’d be late on the very first day of school, man.”

The moment I stand up to leave the classroom, someone puts their arm around my shoulder. There’s only one person who’d talk to me in such a friendly manner.

“Morning, Ren. Yeah, some stuff happened.”

This guy is my friend, Mutou Ren. He was the first person that talked to me when I entered high school and we’ve become pretty good friends since then.

“What, you were having so much fun flirting with Yaehata-san that you lost track of time?”

“Nah, we aren’t like that. We’re just childhood friends.”

“Then, what happened?”

“A new student was feeling under the weather so we helped her and guided her back to the gym.”

“What?! A girl?!”

“Yeah, a girl…”

“Damn it, it appears yet another girl has fallen sacrifice…”

“What does that even mean?”

“That she fell for you, dude.”

“Haa, what are you saying? She isn’t going to fall for me just because I helped her.”

If it were that easy, I would have had at least one or two girlfriends in my original world. That’s right. I know this may sound like I’m bragging, but I honestly never had a girlfriend in my previous life.

“Haa, you really don’t get it, do you? Listen here and listen well, girls fall head over heels whenever a hunk shows them a tiny bit of kindness.”

“Is that so? In that case, we average-looking guys will have it rough…”

“Are you being serious right now? Or are you just messing with me?”

“Why would I do that?”

“Haa… This guy’s not just good-looking, he’s also got a cool personality and he ain’t even aware of it! Not to mention, he’s smart and he’s got a cute childhood friend to boot… How unfair can this world be?! Aaaahhh! Dear gods, what did I do in my previous life for you to have forsaken me like this?!!”

“…Previous life…”

“Oh? What’s this, Sora? Are you interested in all that past life stuff, perhaps?”

“No, not really…”

We keep enjoying a nice conversation as we make our way to the gym.

“Ah, by the way, have you heard? It seems the first-year students are pretty amazing,” Ren says.

“Hm? What do you mean?”

“I’m talking about the girls, of course! Apparently, all the new girls are insanely cute.”

If you count my previous life, I could be old enough to be their parent, so it’s hard for me to see high school girls as potential romantic partners. I mean, sure, I think Kaede-chan, Hina-chan, and Kana are cute, but right now I can’t help but see them more like younger sisters than anything else.  

That’s also why Ren’s comment doesn’t pique my interest much.

“Huh,” I respond.

“And there are 4 girls that are a cut above the rest. You should at least memorize their names, Sora.”

“Alright.”

“First comes…”

I yawn as I try to listen to what Ren’s saying but it just goes in one ear, and out the other. I think I heard him mention Hina-chan and Kaede-chan at some point, but I wasn’t paying attention so it might have been my imagination.

At the moment, I’m more concerned with whether Hinata made it safely to the ceremony or not. Mom should also be arriving soon, so I hope he did.

The novel depicted Hinata’s state of mind perfectly, but it didn’t say anything about Mom’s. That’s why I can’t help but get worried when I think about what she might feel if she doesn’t see him at the ceremony… And that’s when a sudden thought flashes through my mind.

I know it’s kind of strange to be asking this now, but what about me…?  

I mean, the novel did mention the existence of Kanzaki Sora, Hinata’s older brother, but we didn’t get to see him under the spotlight, so as a reader, I never knew where he was or what he was up to.

Unfortunately, having died already, there’s no way for me to solve that mystery now.

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