I, Who Was Reincarnated as an Evil Character With Cheat-Level Stats in an Eroge, Will Live Freely in This Life
――A week has flown by since then, and today is Monday.
Regarding Saki’s case, it seems the culprit confessed quite readily afterward, spilling the beans on various things, and a lot has come to light.
Well, most of it was information I already knew, but Harumi-san had contacted me about it too.
He also confessed to stealing the data, and it seems that data was safely recovered.
Though the culprit claimed he hadn’t shared it with anyone else, verifying that fact is difficult, so who knows.
It seems things have settled down for now, with the understanding that we need to remain vigilant about that aspect going forward.
Yesterday, the four of us—Harumi-san, Gaku-san (her father), Saki, and I—met up. Gaku-san was really down and looking worn out.
It’s his fault Saki was put in danger, so it’s only natural, I guess.
Saki was worried about whether he’d be okay since he’s so busy with work too. Well, I don’t know if it’s my place to say, but this incident was partly due to Gaku-san’s carelessness. For Saki’s sake, I hope he reflects deeply and makes absolutely sure he doesn’t repeat the same mistake.
Anyway, I’m really glad everything worked out without any problems.
As I sat there thinking about that, Miku and Saki entered the classroom… but something was off. No, something was really off.
Saki looked incredibly tired, and Miku was clearly in a bad mood.
A little while later, Nanashima came in too, but he seemed strange and distracted.
…Wait, did he just glare at me?
It didn’t feel like my imagination, and it probably wasn’t? It was just for a second, but…
Judging by the three of them, something must have happened? As I was thinking that, Miku spoke up.
“Kisaragi, Saki and I will come see you during lunch break today. There’s something we need to tell you.”
“Sure, but something you need to tell me?”
“Yeah, I don’t have time now, but I’ll explain during lunch break.”
“Got it…”
Judging by Miku’s tone, it must be pretty important. Seriously, what could it be?
I hope nothing bad happened… Honestly, I have a really bad feeling about this.
During morning classes, I was so preoccupied with it that I couldn’t concentrate at all.
◇
――During lunch break, I sat with Miku and Saki as instructed.
Is Kana not here today?
“So, what happened? And where’s Kana?”
“Well… Kana-chan is, um, taking the day off.”
“Right, I’ll explain it myself… Actually…”
◇
●Suzukaze Miku (side)
――About this morning on the way to school.
I was walking with Kana, Saki, and unusually, Tsubasa was with us today too.
Tsubasa usually struggles with mornings and barely makes it to school on time, so he didn’t usually come with us, but today he apparently woke up early for once.
Come to think of it, back in middle school, Tsubasa was terrible at waking up, so Saki and I used to go to his house. I don’t know why, but whenever I went, Tsubasa would suddenly get up in a panic… Well, we stopped doing that after high school started. We couldn’t keep doing that forever, and we figured it wasn’t helping him grow up.
That said, the reason he couldn’t wake up was probably just staying up late… Kana said Tsubasa loves games so much, staying up late to play is practically a habit for him.
Both Tsubasa and Kana’s parents do try to warn them, but those two are just so incredibly lenient with Tsubasa and Kana no matter what. So it always ends with just a warning.
“Hey, I’ve got something I want to ask all three of you.”
We’d been walking without much conversation, but suddenly Tsubasa said that.
“What is it?”
“Did something happen?”
“What do you want to ask?”
“I was going to ask Kana yesterday, but since we’re all together now, I figured I’d ask. Apparently, one of my friends saw the three of you walking home with that guy last Thursday. What’s up with that? Surely it was a mistake, right?”
Tsubasa asked this looking annoyed.
The “that guy” he’s referring to is probably Kisaragi…
Saki looked awkward, and Kana wore an expression that was hard to read.
Well, this topic would be hard for Saki to answer, and leaving it to Kana might make her angry and lead things in a bad direction.
After all, the four of us had gone home together, and we hadn’t ignored the possibility of getting caught. We’d discussed what to do in situations like this. There was no need to hide it.
Therefore, I answered calmly.
“You mean Kisaragi?”
“Yes.”
“He was there.”
I didn’t lie; I stated it plainly.
“Huh? He was there?”
“Yes.”
“I don’t get it! Why?? I told you not to talk to him!! Nothing good comes from getting involved with him!”
“Hey!!…”
Kana was about to say something angrily, but I stopped her and spoke.
It might be difficult, but if we can resolve this peacefully, that’s best.
“If it’s about Thursday, I’ll explain. Okay? Saki?”
“U, uh…”
“Um…”
I explained what had happened this time.
“Is that really true?”
“It’s true. Why would I lie?”
“Then why didn’t you tell me?? Why the hell did you go and ask that guy for help?? Are you stupid???”
Tsubasa snapped, still clearly in a foul mood.
His first words weren’t about worrying about Saki… Maybe it was because I’d jumped straight to the conclusion that she was safe, but even during my explanation, he showed no sign of concern for her. Every time I mentioned Kisaragi’s name, he just scowled.
I was disappointed by that fact.
“I’m not stupid. Besides, if I’d told Tsubasa, do you think I could have worked with Kisaragi?”
“You didn’t need to! Kisaragi’s not involved, so I should be enough, right?”
Where did he get the confidence that just me being there was enough?
Looking at their usual behavior, it’s obvious who’s more reliable between Kisaragi and Tsubasa, but let’s put that aside for now…
“Like I said before, Kisaragi, Saki, and Harumi-san talked it over and decided to rely on Kisaragi. That was already settled. In fact, Kisaragi knew about it before even me or Kana did.”
“But that doesn’t mean he’s the one!!”
Tsubasa heated up even more and snapped that.
“What’s wrong with him? …Anyway, the reason we didn’t tell Tsubasa was just to avoid unnecessary trouble, since you’ve been badmouthing Kisaragi for a while now. I think Kisaragi would be fine, but have you ever gotten along well with him, Tsubasa??”
This is obvious, but if Tsubasa hadn’t disliked Kisaragi, I think Saki would have told Tsubasa too. It’s up to Saki to decide, but I think that’s probably how it would have been.
Even if Tsubasa had noticed Saki’s change herself, I think she would have been honest about it at the time.
“Ugh… Fine then. But don’t talk to Kisaragi anymore, okay? If you hang out with that one, you’ll definitely get dragged into bad rumors too. Plus, there are tons of nasty rumors about him…”
“I can’t promise that. Not just me, but Kana and Saki too.”
“Huh? What are you talking about?? Are you serious? Saki, Kana???”
Tsubasa said that and looked at Saki and Kana.
Kana nodded as if to say “Of course,” and Saki nodded awkwardly.
“What the hell are you guys talking about, seriously!!!???”
“Besides, he saved us this time. It’d be weird not to tell, right?”
“Even if he saved us, it’s still him! He definitely has ulterior motives!!?? There’s definitely a bad reason why he said he’d walk you home!!?? It’s crazy to think he’d do it out of kindness!!!”
“Th-that’s not true at all!!!!!!!!!”
Haa… I tried my best to calm things down somehow, but it seems impossible.
Kana, who’d reached her limit, couldn’t stay silent.
Emotional, Kana shouted it out.
“Of course it is! You guys heard the rumors too, right?! He’s a womanizer!!”
“Rumors are just rumors!!! Why are you saying bad things about him when you don’t even know anything?!”
“People saw him, so it must be true, right?!”
“Even if that’s true, he might have changed! You don’t hear those rumors anymore, do you?!”
That was undeniable.
Kisaragi hadn’t been the subject of rumors lately. Sure, some old rumors lingered a bit, but mostly not anymore.
In fact, the period when Kisaragi was excessively avoided by his classmates only lasted about the first month or so. He was attending school properly and taking classes seriously, so that was probably the main reason.
Still, there were a few people who were still a bit scared of him.
“…Even so, they’ll start talking again soon, right?? Honestly, I don’t get why Kana’s so mad?? Aren’t you defending him too much?? Are you still stuck on that manga thing??”
“I don’t know anything about manga!!! I like Seito-senpai!!!!”
Kana blurted it out in the heat of the moment.
“Huh? You’re joking, right???”
“I’m serious!!”
“……”
Tsubasa seemed even angrier than before.
“Hey, you two, calm down…”
“Shut up, Miku!!! Hey, Kana!! I told you to stay away from him all along!!!”
Realizing this was bad, I tried to speak, but was cut off mid-sentence.
Tsubasa yelled this while grabbing Kana’s arm.
“Ow!! Let go!!! I heard that, but that was in the past!!! I heard Seito-senpai is really kind now!!!”
Kana shook off Tsubasa’s arm and snapped back.
“No way!! Even if it were true, there’d definitely be an ulterior motive!! Learn to distrust people a little!!! You’ll get fooled easily like this, just like this time!!”
“Yeah… Whatever.”
When Tsubasa yelled that, Kana said it as if giving up.
“Hey, Kana?”
“Miku-nee, Saki-nee… I’m going home today…”
Neither Saki nor I stopped Kana as she said that and walked away.
It seemed she couldn’t say they were dating, but she had admitted she liked him.
That had been completely denied, so Kana probably needed some time to think… If it were anyone else, fine, but Kana and Tsubasa are family, step-siblings though they may be…
“Hey, Tsubasa? Why do you hate Kisaragi so much? It’s not like he did anything to you, right?”
This was something I’d always wondered about.
He said he disliked delinquents, but his feelings toward Kisaragi seemed excessive.
“Didn’t I just say?? I heard he’s got a bad reputation with women, so I’m just worried about you guys!!!”
“I get that feeling, but I talked to Kisaragi too, and he didn’t seem like that at all? If you got to know him a little, you’d understand… Why not take a chance to calm down and get to know him?”
“There’s no need for that! It’s just a matter of not getting involved with him!! What the hell are you two thinking?!”
“Please, just try to see what kind of person Kisaragi really is? With your own eyes, Tsubasa… You might change your mind…”
“I… I’m asking you too, Tsubasa kun…”
I pleaded, grasping at that sliver of possibility, and Saki joined me in saying the same.
But Tsubasa’s response wasn’t the one we wanted.
“Stop making me say it over and over—just stay away from him! And anyway, Saki and Miku weren’t trying to get involved with guys before, so what’s with this now?! Just leave things as they were!!”
As usual… that’s not what I or Saki want.
Rather, I’ve only recently managed to break free from the chains of my past, and Saki said she wanted to change too. I hadn’t told Tsubasa about my past, but even so, those words are a little sad…
Still, it seems like nothing I say will work… Why does he have to be so negative about everything…?
he should at least try to find out for himself.
“Why don’t you at least try to find out? About Kisaragi. If you talk to him, he’ll surely tell you the truth, right?”
“I’VE BEEN SAYING THIS FOREVER!!?? I hate delinquents, and I told you guys to stay away!!! That’s all you need to do!!! You’re the ones who need to change your minds!! If you don’t, you’ll definitely regret it someday!! Don’t make me say it again!!!!”
Tsubasa shouted this desperately, still furious.
I don’t get it… I don’t understand why he keeps saying that without even considering what we’re saying.
Lately, way fewer people are scared of Kisaragi, and I see him getting greeted a bit more. Everyone’s impression of him has definitely changed from before. But Tsubasa won’t even acknowledge that.
Haa.. Well, Tsubasa’s pretty emotional right now, so talking more probably won’t do any good. Plus, we need to get to school soon.
“Let’s just go to school for now. If we keep talking, we’ll be late…”
“Y-Yeah, you’re right…”
“Anyway, you two need to change your minds, okay? Got it?”
Saki and I didn’t respond to that and just walked on.
There’s no way we could make a promise like that. We have absolutely no intention of avoiding Kisaragi.
That goes for Kana, of course, and Saki too.
After that, there was no conversation at all.
Maiban