I, Who Was Reincarnated as an Evil Character With Cheat-Level Stats in an Eroge, Will Live Freely in This Life
●Hiiragi Saki (side)
――After Kisaragi-kun left, I was talking with Mom.
“But seriously, Dad, why can’t he just come home right away?! He’s never around when it really matters!!!”
“It can’t be helped, Mom. He said he had a lot of meetings today, and it’s hard to suddenly clear his schedule. When I called, he was in a meeting and had his phone on silent.”
It seemed Dad had been swamped with work-related matters until just before the call came in, and now he was rushing home in a hurry.
“I know that, but…”
“I’m fine, so it’s okay.”
“Well, if you say so, Saki… But still, how did that guy even find out you’re Himesaki Ruruka?”
“That… I don’t know either. There shouldn’t have been any identifiable information…”
“I watch all your streams too, so I know that…”
“Should I hold off on streaming for a while?”
Honestly, I wanted to keep streaming to deliver my songs, but this incident had me feeling uneasy.
I didn’t know if that person had tracked me down on their own, or if someone else knew about me… But one thing I could say for sure was that it hadn’t spread online.
I checked, and my identity hasn’t been exposed. There’s been absolutely nothing related to it online.
If it were out there, it would’ve spread instantly… I don’t know about the future, but for now…
“Why don’t we talk to the police about this first? Personally, I want you to do what you want, Saki. But if you decide to quit, you should talk to your dad, Miku-chan, and Kana-chan, right? And you have fans like Seito-kun, too?”
“Y-Yeah, you’re right…”
It’s true. Miku-chan and Kana-chan keep supporting me, and even Kisaragi-kun says he’s a fan. If possible, I really do want to keep going.
“Still, Seito-kun is such a great guy. I was surprised by how mature he is. You don’t find many high schoolers like that, do you?”
“Maybe. At least, there’s no one like Kisaragi-kun in my class?”
I said my class, but honestly, I don’t think there’s anyone like him in my grade… or even the whole school.
I know it might sound weird coming from me, since I hardly ever interact with guys, but there’s the fact about Miku-chan and Kana-chan too.
Honestly, I totally get why Miku-chan acknowledges him and why Kana-chan fell for him now.
Like Kana-chan said, he’s dependable and makes you feel safe. This whole incident really drove that home for me. Having Kisaragi-kun there this time really made me feel safe too.
This whole thing could easily have left me traumatized, but it didn’t. That’s definitely thanks to Kisaragi-kun… though of course, it’s also thanks to Miku-chan and Kana-chan.
“But I was really surprised you could talk to a boy other than Tsubasa-kun… though personally, I’m really happy about it…”
Mom said that with a happy smile.
It’s true, back in middle school, I was so bad at talking to boys that my teacher even contacted Mom out of concern… The teacher tried all sorts of things to help fix it, but it just didn’t work… Middle school was even worse than now…
“I’m surprised myself… But I’m trying to get to the point where I can at least talk to boys when absolutely necessary.”
Back in middle school, I didn’t really care if I couldn’t talk to them, but as I got closer to high school, that mindset changed.
So I wouldn’t have to rely on Miku-chan or Kana-chan… just the bare minimum, you know… though honestly, I still can’t talk to anyone except Kisaragi-kun and Tsubasa-kun…
“You can do it, Saki. No need to rush, just take it slow.”
“Yeah…”
“So, Saki, how do you feel about Seito-kun?”
Naturally, being asked that threw me into a terrible panic.
Mom, why are you asking me that!?
“Um… that is…”
“As a member of the opposite gender, you know?”
“I-I-I don’t know about that…”
I blurted out in panic. My face must have been bright red…
Seeing me like that, Mom smiled and said.
“Hehe, I see. Well, I’m sure you’ll find someone you like eventually, Saki. When that time comes, give it your best shot, okay?”
“Y-yeah… I’m going to my room to rest!”
Embarrassed, I said that and fled to my room.
◇
—Lying on my bed in my room, I muttered.
“Ugh, Mom, why did she have to say something like that…”
Sure, I want to get married someday, have kids, and build a happy family… But that’s all in the distant future. Getting a boyfriend? That’s way too much for me right now…
“But Kisaragi-kun really was kind…”
Tsubasa-kun was the only guy I’d ever properly interacted with outside my family, but he and Kisaragi-kun were completely different types.
Tsubasa-kun was more of a handful, always needing looking after, but I thought all boys were like that.
Kisaragi-kun was totally different, though. He was incredibly dependable, always worrying about me and comforting me. When he said he’d protect me, it gave me such a huge sense of security. Plus, every single word he spoke had warmth in it, and it felt really good.
I hadn’t interacted much with boys before, so I didn’t realize they could be so different.
I wondered which one was “normal,” but I guess Kisaragi-kun is just special. Miku-chan and Kana-chan have such good impressions of him too.
When my mom asked me what I thought of Kisaragi-kun, honestly, my heart was pounding.
When he protected me from that man back then, when he held me tight, my heart was definitely racing.
It wasn’t because I was scared. Of course, I felt scared too, but on top of that, I was definitely also flustered by Kisaragi-kun.
I mean, even before that, he’d looked at me with such sincere eyes and said he’d protect me. There’s no way I wouldn’t be happy about that, no way my heart wouldn’t race.
I’d only ever heard words like that in manga… Like Kana-chan said, Kisaragi-kun’s casual words and actions are so smart and wonderful. I really understood that over this past week.
I thought about it again just now, but I think it’s thanks to him that this incident didn’t leave a huge scar on my heart.
“Come to think of it, Kana-chan asked me a while back if I had a crush on someone, didn’t she?”
I remember being really surprised and flustered back then, probably because it was right after I started reading romance manga and it felt so timely. Plus, I’d never even talked about my own love life before, so it was even more unexpected.
But I don’t even remember what I said anymore…
If she asked me now, how would I answer?
Kisaragi-kun is Kana-chan’s boyfriend, her boyfriend… but there’s a part of me that can’t forget Kisaragi-kun’s kindness, his strength, his coolness.
It was only a week, but Kisaragi-kun’s presence had definitely grown larger inside me.
“So this feeling really is…”
The more I thought about it, the more my head felt fuzzy and my face grew hot.
This feeling is new to me. Right now, I’m definitely really drawn to Kisaragi-kun. And as a member of the opposite gender.
“But why?”
After the incident, I could talk to Kisaragi-kun normally, right?
If I really did fall for him, I don’t think I could talk so casually…
My heart pounded wildly whenever I spoke with him, yet somehow I felt at ease talking to him. It might sound contradictory, but that’s truly how it felt.
Even with the Himesaki Ruruka thing, I was scared to tell him because I thought he might be disappointed. But since the stalker had already come out and said it, I figured Kisaragi-kun, who said he was a fan, couldn’t possibly care, so I took a chance and told him. He believed me and accepted it so easily, and I was incredibly happy.
Kisaragi-kun acknowledged that both Himesaki Ruruka and me, as Hiiragi saki, have lots of good points, and it made me really happy.
In just this one week—it was only a week—I found myself caring about Kisaragi-kun enough to want to get closer to him.
I still don’t quite understand what this feeling is.
But I guess that’s probably what it is…
Even as I thought such things, whether from accumulated fatigue or relief, I fell asleep. But soon after, Dad came home, I woke up, and the three of us talked.
Maiban