Pit-pat, pit-pat...
I woke to the weak sound of rain tapping against my window.
"Ah... morning already, huh?"
The sky outside was a murky gray, so thick it hardly felt like daybreak. I checked the time on my phone.
(Still six-thirty. I guess I have plenty of time to get ready today.)
While I was at it, I glanced at the calendar. Apparently, today was the first of June. That meant the start of the rainy season—the time of year I hated most.
"After everything that happened yesterday, of course I get weather like this. My luck really is bottom-tier."
Yesterday after school, I'd ended up discovering Yuria Ichinose’s secret otaku hobby at the arcade in the next town over. Judging by our exchange on LIME, things hadn't turned awkward, but there was no denying that our relationship had shifted.
It was the same with Airi Miyama, but even if I shared a secret with them, letting that change show in the classroom was dangerous. If anyone caught on, things would get messy.
(Miyama didn't try to talk to me in class, but I wonder what Ichinose will do.)
I didn't think she’d be the type to suddenly start blabbing to me, but still...
"Well, there’s no use worrying about it. It's not like I can do anything now."
In the first place, the moment I had lunch with Miyama in the school cafeteria, my peaceful life was already history. They could stew me or fry me for all I cared at this point.
"Hey, Ryouta! Wake up! Your big sis ate your whole breakfast!"
"A little late for the update!"
I checked the kitchen. There really wasn't anything left.
☆☆
I trudged to school through the drizzle, my shoes splashing in the puddles. The moment I reached the lockers, I felt the heavy weight of the stares around me.
"Hey, look. I heard that plain-looking loner actually had lunch with Miyama in the cafeteria."
"No way. The three beauties of Class 2-1 are famous for keeping guys at arm's length. That's insane."
"Huff, huff... My Airi-tan..."
"D-Do you think they’ve already held hands...?"
It seemed my face was already public knowledge thanks to that lunch with Airi Miyama.
(Does this school have its own private investigators or something...?)
As I headed toward the classroom, I was showered with looks of pure envy and jealousy. Only three days ago, I’d been on the other side of that fence... How did it come to this? It wasn't like I'd made some heroic effort or gotten reincarnated into another world. My life had been upended by a simple seat change—a mundane event that happened in every school.
The atmosphere didn't change once I stepped into the classroom. From the loners to the extroverts, everyone was stealing glances at me and whispering. My peace had crumbled... and yet, despite that sense of loss, a new emotion was beginning to take root inside me.
(Crap... what is this illicit thrill?!)
I’d been at the very bottom of the class caste until just a few days ago, but now, just because I’d had lunch with Airi Miyama, I was reigning at the top of the class tier list in a UR Rank position.
On the surface, people thought we’d just shared a meal. But in reality, I shared secrets with both Miyama and Ichinose. To a loner otaku virgin like me, the sheer weight of that secret was enough to make my brain melt with a sense of guilty superiority.
(So this is how harem protagonists feel...)
Looking at the envious glares of the popular guys, I didn't feel afraid. I felt superior. It wasn't a bad feeling at all.
Airi Miyama, Yuria Ichinose, and Rui Kuroki were notorious for their high walls; not even the flashy playboys or the top-tier handsome guys could get close to them. The reason was likely what Miyama had told me yesterday: Yuria Ichinose’s hatred of men.
In their trio, it felt like Ichinose—the one rumored to be a lonely soul—was the one who kept Miyama and Kuroki tethered. If she hated men, it followed that no other guys would be allowed near the group.
In reality, Miyama probably just saw me as a convenient guy who’d buy her food, and Ichinose was just an otaku friend. It was a better relationship than any other guy had, but I was certainly no heartthrob.
(The path to being a true harem protagonist is still a long one...)
"Ah, good morning—Izumiya-kun."
While I was savoring that top-tier illicit thrill in place of breakfast, a gentle voice called out from my right.
"Hehe. You look like you're having a lot of fun today, Izumiya-kun."
Sitting there was the Yamato Nadeshiko herself—Rui Kuroki.
With her straight, silken black hair, her delicate, refined features, and her elegant poise, she radiated her usual "perfect human" aura. There were absolutely no openings...
"Did something good happen?"
"...N-Not really."
No matter how much my rank on the tier list rose, I was still a loner at heart. I couldn't look her in the eye and could only manage a blunt reply. I could handle Miyama and Ichinose, but I still couldn't deal with Kuroki. She was a perfect beauty, and by all accounts, her personality was just as flawless.
And yet... that was exactly why I didn't trust her.
Human beings always have a hidden side, no matter how much they try to hide it. Miyama and Ichinose were proof of that. But I couldn't sense anything like that from Rui Kuroki. It was eerie. For a long time now, she was the one who had given me the strongest sense of unease.
(Maybe I’m just bitter because I saw too much of her being perfect back in middle school.)
"Oh, that reminds me."
Kuroki hung her bag on the side of her desk and turned back to me as if she’d just recalled something.
"I happened to see it yesterday, but your account popped up in my LIME recommendations, Izumiya-kun."
"Eh..."
The moment she said it, I flinched. Too many possibilities flashed through my mind at once.
"We were in different classes in middle school, and I don't think we have many mutual friends, so... hehe, I wonder why that happened?"
A cold, unpleasant sweat began to prickle on my forehead. For a split second, I caught a glimpse of Kuroki’s eyes. They looked darker than her black hair—a pair of voids that felt like they were filled with a deep, bottomless shadows.
(What was that...? Her eyes...)
"Ah, Rui-chan, morning!"
"Morning, Rui."
"Morning, you two. What's the matter, Yuria? Were you so lonely that you had to beg Airi to walk with you?"
"T-That’s not it!"
"Liar! You practically begged me to walk with you this morning!"
"Airi! Stop it already!"
It was the usual heartwarming banter between the class-caste queens—the gyaru, the busty beauty, and the black-haired girl. As our classmates watched on with smirks, I was the only one left shivering from a sudden chill.