Chapter 548: The Courage to Take a Step Forward
Author's Preface
Shouldn't we ban Macro Cosmos and Banisher of the Radiance??? (The cry of a Duelist who got beaten up by Da Eiza) [*1]
"───Listen, Rei-chan. Campus life means... you'll be popular."
"R-Right..."
"Just so you know, Rakuro-kun is actually on the popular side."
"!?"
And purposely swallowing the words, 'And you are on the even more popular side,' Iwamaki continued. It had reached the point where half-hearted words wouldn't be enough to fire up this pure-bred, romance-incompetent girl.
"Unlike high school, the things you can do in college suddenly multiply. When that happens, guys like Rakuro-kun—who aren't bad-looking and don't have gloomy personalities—will almost certainly get invited to mixer parties."
"M-Mixer...!!"
"Right now Rakuro-kun is underage, but once he hits drinking age... Yes, the magic of alcohol will attack him!"
"The magic of... alcohol...!!"
It looked as though caffeine was already causing some sort of fatal error in her brain, but pointing that out wouldn't accomplish anything, so Iwamaki simply snapped her mouth shut.
"Even ignoring that, you two are entering exam season. Both you and Rakuro-kun are aiming for Raiou, right?"
"Y-Yes, that's right..."
Iwamaki was well aware of that. After all, it was none other than Iwamaki who had extracted Rakuro's university choices and leaked them in the first place, so of course she knew. Raiou University wasn't exactly a notoriously difficult school, but it wasn't easy enough to pass if you just goofed off either. In other words, even for Rakuro, whose motto was "Don't make any blunders that hinder game life," and Rei, who was highly spec'd in everything except romance, studying for exams would be necessary to some extent.
"Which means right now, during your second year, is your biggest chance. Understand?"
"U-Ugh..."
"I'm not telling you to confess right this second. Just making that trash-game brain of his conscious of you as a member of the opposite sex would be worth its weight in gold."
"Is that how it works...?"
"That's exactly how it works. Listen up, Rei-chan. Let's drop the unreasonable demands like telling you to kiss him or hold hands. Use this premium ticket and the stage known as JGE... and just say this one thing to Rakuro-kun."
"One thing........."
...............
.........
...
───It's basically a date, isn't it?
".........No, no, no, no."
Iwamaki's words echoed on repeat in Rei's mind. Shaking her head as if to make excuses against them, Rei pulled the JGE premium ticket out of her pocket and stared at it.
"B-Basically or not, this i-i-is totally a d-date, isn't it......... that's way too fast for me........."
But Iwamaki's words were also true. Both she and Rakuro were high schoolers... and there wasn't much time left before they became third-years burdened with exams. As long as neither she nor Rakuro messed up, they would end up at the same university, so there was still time......... She had thought that, but every time she recalled Iwamaki's lecture, her anxiety undeniably grew.
"Kuh......... N-No. This is... right, this is strictly a grand mission to verify the possibility of new ShanFro information being announced by going directly to the venue........."
Fortunately or unfortunately, because she had been agonizing over how to hand over the ticket, Rei had actually overslept for once. While jogging along her route to school, she felt a vague sense of relief that her mind and heart rate weren't being thrown into chaos right from the morning. And just as she was getting close to the school... she spotted that familiar back and back-of-the-head she had gazed at countless times before.
"Ah......... Hizu-"
And then, Rei saw it.
The Student Council Vice President of their school, who had been talking to her awfully often lately, was approaching Rakuro.........
◆
"Hey there, Hizutome-kun, right?"
"Sorry, gonna be late, no time to chat! Catch you later!!"
"Eh, wait, hey!!"
Who the heck was that anyway? Never seen that face before.
More importantly, I gotta hurry. Our homeroom teacher gets super passive-aggressive if you walk in during homeroom! He hits you with weirdly off-base lectures like "If you're going to be late, at least show the guts to skip the whole first period!" or "Don't operate on a schedule that makes you half-ass your lateness!" You can't even get mad back at him, and I absolutely refuse to be put on public display like that!!
◇
"..............."
Was this what Iwamaki often referred to as "missing a flag"?
While pondering such things, Rei stood utterly dumbfounded, then held her breath and circled around to the back gate so she wouldn't be spotted by the Student Council Vice President, Isurugi Sho, who was left standing there in a daze.
"I'm sure he means well, but... he's just a bit too persistent........."
Saiga Rei was a pure-blooded coward when it came to romance, strongly reflecting her family's traits in that regard. Yet in all other aspects of academics and martial arts, she displayed an excellence that equally showcased the strong Saiga bloodline.
And while there was no explicit rule stating "the top student of the grade becomes the Student Council President," Isurugi—who practically held the top rank and was all but guaranteed the presidential seat in the future—found every possible excuse to strike up a conversation with Rei. He claimed that "excellent individuals naturally get along," but Rei, at least, had never once felt they clicked. For some reason, he kept incessantly urging her to pursue the medical field, or passionately lecturing her about studying abroad for some reason... To be perfectly honest, he fell into the category of people she actively struggled to deal with.
───However.
Isurugi was genuinely an excellent person. He didn't have the authority to directly impact the students, but he still held the special position of Vice President. Seeing Rakuro treat that same Isurugi with a literal brush-off before sprinting into the school building served as a harsh reminder that her Target was a formidable opponent indeed.
Normally, you'd stop. Normally, you'd listen. Yet he just hit him with an unbelievable "You can wait!" If he gave her a similar reaction when she tried to hand over This.........
"Death.........!!"
Two days remaining until JGE opens... Rei's courage gauge still wasn't fully charged.
◆
Well, school's over, so what now... Might as well swing by Iwamaki-san's place and look for a new game. I'm definitely not in the mood to jump back into ShanFro today or yesterday. It's not exactly cooling my head, but I do want a change of pace.
"I feel like I put something off for later......... oh well, whatever."
If I can't remember it, it probably wasn't that important anyway. More importantly, what should I do.........
"U-Umm, Hizutome-kun!"
"Hm, Saiga-san?"
"Are you... heading home?"
"Yeah, I figured I'd drop by Rock Roll on the way, actually."
"Rock......... Do you mind if I, um, tag along?"
"Eh? I don't mind, but........."
For some reason, Saiga-san's face warped for a split second into an expression that practically screamed "Oh crap," which gave me a slight sense of dissonance, but regardless, the two of us headed toward Rock Roll.
......
.........
...............
".........Welcome, Rakuro-kun... and Rei-chan."
"Yo."
"H-H-Hello."
A terrifyingly shallow retail smile. It was a pretty rare pattern to see this kind of expression on Iwamaki-san's face. She never showed this kind of face during business hours unless she was accumulating a massive amount of frustration... Yeah, like when she got baited into playing an otome game with a ridiculously trashy plot development, for instance.
"Rei-chaaaan? Mind if we have a liiiiiittle chat........."
"...Yeeep."
Girl talk... (*Shudder*)
Author's Afterword
By the way, as a talk about the future, Heroine-chan is a bottomless heavyweight drinker.
The protagonist mixes Riot Blood with alcohol, so he falls into a separate calculation category entirely.
Translator's Notes
- [1] A reference to the Yu-Gi-Oh! Trading Card Game. Macro Cosmos and Banisher of the Radiance are cards that banish cards instead of sending them to the graveyard, which synergizes incredibly well with Gren Maju Da Eiza, a monster whose attack power scales massively based on the number of banished cards.
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