I’ve Been Reincarnated as the Childhood Friend of a Doomed Heroine. Since I Don’t Want to Get Caught up in Her Bad Ending, I’ll Make Sure She Ends up Happy
Once it was just me and Akito alone, I finally spoke up.
“There’s something I need to tell you.”
As if sensing the mood, Akito nodded with a serious expression.
Seeing that, I told him everything that had happened.
About Yukimi being attacked last year.
About her planning revenge.
That I’d been trying to stop her.
But that just now, because of that, I’d been stabbed by what seemed to be the rival group.
Mid-explanation, I also mentioned my involvement in resolving Shinori’s bullying situation.
I left out some details here and there, glossing over the whole scenario thing and my scheming to pair Akito and Shinori.
But I told him the main points as they were.
After all, this was something Akito should have known about in the first place.
Unlike the uninvolved Aoiko, I felt Akito needed to know, so I confessed everything.
Yukimi might get mad at me later, but I’ll just have to accept that for now.
Or rather, there’s something more important I need to prioritize right now.
After hearing about the whole incident, Akito groaned.
“…I see. I’d heard rumors about her, Senpai. I just had no idea it had escalated to this.”
“Telling you suddenly like this probably just confused you.”
“Don’t worry about it. I want to help if I can.”
“Hearing you say that is a relief. …But there’s something I need to confirm first.”
After saying that much, I paused the conversation.
Honestly, explaining today’s incident wasn’t the top priority.
I didn’t suffer life-threatening injuries, and my wounds would probably heal within a few days.
They probably wouldn’t even need stitches.
But what worried me was Shinori.
With Ami and the others starting to move, there was now a possibility that harm could come to her
Unlike me, there should be no benefit in attacking Shinori right now, but given that negotiations with me had broken down…
I wanted to confirm Shinori’s safety sooner rather than later.
“I’m worried about Hanesaki.”
“True. Meeting up with Kato-san and the others is risky. We should probably check on her safety.”
“Yeah.”
Right away, Akito urged me to contact her.
But I shook my head and refused.
“You call her, Akito.”
“Huh? Is that okay?”
“Of course.”
It’s nicer when something like this comes from someone important to you.
There’s such a thing as the suspension bridge effect in this world.
It’s better to make her think, “Suga-kun is so cool for worrying about me during a dangerous incident ♡”.
Besides, I’d planned to have Akito contact her from the start, which is why I deliberately waited for the bath.
Watching Akito head out onto the balcony with his phone, I smirked to myself.
Truthfully, I’d already planned my strategy.
Encountering Akito, getting invited into his place like this…
That’s when it hit me.
—I’d found a way to resolve everything: handling this incident and fulfilling my original mission as a background character.
It was the perfect opportunity.
It wasn’t an exaggeration to say the stage was finally set to steer things back on course, after things had been drifting along, with only my favorability rating rising.
This plan would perfectly adjust everything, including the scenario’s progression that had gone haywire because of my actions.
In that sense, I now even think that getting stabbed myself was rather convenient.
Just then, my phone rang.
A message would be one thing, but a call was unusual.
However, the moment I checked my phone, I couldn’t help but smile wryly.
“Hello?”
‘Tell me what happened today.’
“…That tone… you already know what happened, don’t you?”
The moment I answered, she jumped straight to the point without pause. I wasn’t even surprised anymore.
Her voice sounded cold and mechanical, yet somehow carried a hint of emotion.
Through the phone, Shichikajo Yukimi sighed.
‘Still, tell me.’
“Yeah, yeah.”
This phrase, at this exact moment.
She probably already knew everything about my situation.
After all, she’d been thoroughly investigating my surroundings all along.
She was probably being watched by someone from the Shichikajo family until just now, but I couldn’t even be bothered to point it out.
It seemed my actions today were completely transparent to Yukimi.
Or perhaps all my recent movements had been under surveillance, but I didn’t care anymore.
After I calmly explained what had happened today, she paused briefly before saying.
“…I see. Then we’ll handle the rest here. You should rest—”
“No, that won’t do.”
I cut off Yukimi, who was trying to proceed without my input.
Caught off guard, Yukimi looked confused.
“Huh?”
“That’s why I said stop acting on your own. I have a plan.”
“…A plan?”
“Yeah. I came up with a way to save everyone—the guy who attacked me, you, and even Hanesaki.”
The plan in my head involved a bit of a gamble.
It wasn’t perfect yet; some pieces were still missing.
But somehow, I felt confident it would work.
Because it wasn’t a plan I had to pull off alone.
Honestly, I was confident it would absolutely succeed.
And so, in my usual tone, I interjected over the phone.
“Seriously, Senpai, you’re just gonna say you’ll kill Hayase and the others instead of me, right?”
‘Don’t call people berserkers, okay? I’ll handle that part flexibly.’
“That’s basically saying you’ll kill them depending on the situation. But I can’t let you get your hands dirty, so no thanks.”
“What do you mean?”
“I’ll handle this matter with absolute cleanliness.”
There’s not a single shady element in the plan I’ve devised.
If anything, it’s almost too lenient.
But that’s fine.
Because the center of this world isn’t me—it’s the protagonist.
Besides, repeating revenge upon revenge won’t stop the cycle of negativity.
“Well, just watch. Solving problems is the protagonist’s job. —Well then.”
I hung up immediately after saying that.
There was no need to wait for a reply.
My resolve was already set.
As I turned off my phone, I nodded.
At least, I’d succeeded in stopping Yukimi’s movements for now.
I was planning to contact her anyway, so she calling me saved me the trouble—lucky.
All that’s left is to finalize the plan with our protagonist.
Just then, Akito returned to the room, apparently having finished checking on everyone’s safety.
“Hanesaki san is safely at home.”
“That’s good to hear.”
“I didn’t give any details, so she got suspicious.”
“Well, we’ll find out about that in time.”
“Oh, and we also ended up making plans to hang out sometime soon.”
“Oh, right.”
He said it so casually, my face twitched a little.
This guy… he really is an eroge protagonist.
Making date plans at a time like this? He’s on another level.
I wish he’d saved that talent for when he was setting up flags, but I’ll let it slide this time.
And somehow, I felt a little lonely.
Spending so much time with Shinori must have made me grow attached.
Seeing Shinori and Akito looking so close now… I felt happy, yet… well, it was a complicated feeling.
“So, what are you planning to do now?”
I had Akito sit down in front of me first.
Then, with perfect timing, I told him.
“Alright, Akito, listen to the plan—”
From here on out, it was a joint effort between the mob and the protagonist.
Akito listened to my plan, eyes wide, nodding along.
Occasionally chiming in or adding details, we worked together to solidify our strategy.
After a while, when the date had changed, Akito clapped his hands.
“Man, you come up with some crazy stuff.”
“Nah, your connections really helped too.”
“Whatever. I’m just glad you trusted me with such a big job.”
We laughed together and shook hands.
This was our first major job in a long time.
“But are you sure? With someone like me?”
“No, it has to be you. My words just won’t get through.”
“I don’t think that’s true. But okay, I get it.”
When Akito looked back at me for final confirmation, I just smiled and shook my head.
I’d learned that lesson hard enough already.
The bluffing with Ami and the others, persuading Yukimi.
Nothing worked out well with someone like me handling it.
No matter how much I tried to steer things toward the true route based on the original story, in the end, someone like me—just a mob character—would only be looked down on and brushed aside.
That’s precisely why he’s the protagonist.
I admired Akito, who was finally starting to look cool.
And I became certain.
This plan was the right one.
After school on Monday, the start of the new week.
There, I would put every rotten part of this world back where it belonged.
Maiban