RMSGE ` 06

Chapter – 06

My First Day of School After Reincarnation

Two days after talking with Kaoru. Today is Monday, my first day of school since I reincarnated.

I follow my memories and walk from home to school.

It feels familiar, yet I’m seeing it for the first time… It’s a strange sensation. The high school I attend prides itself on balancing academics and athletics, but there are students who excel at studying and others who don’t. When it comes to sports, the level is genuinely high. For example, the soccer and basketball clubs are regulars at national tournaments, and the volleyball club even won the national championship last year.

By the way, I spent all of yesterday at home thinking about what to do going forward.

There are three heroines.
Even if I don’t function as the “pivot” guy, there are multiple such roles available. All the heroines are exceptionally good-looking and have great personalities without exception. I do want to help them, but right now, Kaoru is my top priority.

Besides, it’s not like I’m thinking of making moves on the heroines other than Kaoru, but if I can help them, I’d like to… that’s about the extent of my feelings.

This eroge has so many branching routes in the middle that it’s impossible to predict minor events, but major events happen on the same days, so they can be dealt with. Well, if the protagonist does his job properly, there probably won’t be a need for me to step in. Right now, it looks like we’re on the gal heroine route, but I wonder how that’s going…

Lost in such thoughts, I entered the classroom.

As soon as I stepped in, I drew everyone’s attention. It’s been the same since a week ago… There are a lot of hostile gazes, and honestly, it stings a bit. Well, I know that essentially, they’re not directed at *me* but at the original Ougai Kaito, so it’s manageable. Besides, I’m used to being alone from my past life too…

And so, I took my seat.

All the heroines are in this class.
Sasauchi Kaoru, the gal heroine Hirokishi Kirara, and the class representative Minamikawa Hitomi.

Hirokishi Kirara is the complete opposite of Kaoru—a blonde gal with big, sparkling eyes and an amazing figure. Of course, she’s as good-looking as Kaoru. Her personality is energetic and lively, and though it might be hard to imagine from her appearance, she’s the type to proactively help the elderly or anyone in trouble… Okay, sorry, that was totally a prejudice… Let’s forget I said that.

Minamikawa Hitomi has straight black hair and sharp eyes. She’s a beautiful girl who perfectly blends coolness and cuteness. She’s tall at 168cm, very serious, a bit inflexible, and has a strong sense of responsibility. And surprisingly, she has otaku hobbies and loves anime.

Looking around the classroom, Kirara is chatting with the popular group, but Yamazaki, Kaoru, and Hitomi don’t seem to have arrived yet.

――A few minutes later

Kaoru and Yamazaki entered the classroom.

Seeing Kaoru talking normally with Yamazaki, I guess they managed to talk things out properly? From my perspective, having decided to “capture” her, it’s a bit complicated, but hurting Kaoru would defeat the purpose, so I suppose it can’t be helped.

Kaoru’s eyes briefly met mine, and she gave me a small smile. It was only for a moment, so no one other than me probably noticed.

Just then, Kirara approached Yamazaki.

“Hey-hey! Good morning! Makoto and Kaoru-chan!”
“Good morning… Hirokishi-san.”
“G-good morning, Hirokishi-san.”
“So I’ve told you both, just call me Kirara♪”
“We’re not used to it yet…”
“Yeah. We’ve only just met, after all.”

Against the always-high-energy Kirara, Yamazaki is clearly smitten, and Kaoru seems to have some thoughts about it.

If I recall correctly, the reason Kirara started interacting with Yamazaki was simply because they sat next to each other. Then she found his reactions amusing and started teasing him while gradually getting closer.

Kirara doesn’t realize Kaoru has feelings for Yamazaki, and she means no harm. Even so, Yamazaki is so carefree… He’s blatantly fawning over Kirara right in front of Kaoru… It doesn’t seem like he even knows Kaoru was crying. He looks so unreliable that I wonder if he can truly handle the disasters that will befall the heroines from now on.

For the record, Yamazaki’s specs are roughly like this:
Height 170cm, average build. Average looks. Academically, he’s slightly above the middle of this school, doing fairly well, but he’s not good at sports. He’s a member of the “go home club,” loves games, and spends any free time playing online PC games with his friends. As a result, he often stays up late.

“I wonder what will happen from here…”

I muttered to myself.

◇

――School ended, and it was after school.

I had the day’s cleaning duty and was alone in the classroom.

I watched the situation all day, and it was clear that Yamazaki was interested in Kirara. Seeing Kaoru nearby watching that was painful, and I felt uncomfortable for her. Well, but from my perspective, maybe it’s convenient.

“Well, whatever. Time to go home.”

Just as I thought that and was about to leave, the classroom door opened.

“Gah!”

It was Hirokishi Kirara who said that upon seeing me. I thought it was pretty rude, but then I figured that anyone who knew my rumors would react the same way.

“‘Gah!’ Isn’t that rude? Well, I guess it’s fine.”
“Sorry… You just startled me… There are all sorts of rumors going around…”

She said that with a slightly apologetic look.

“I’m used to it by now. Anyway, what’s up?”
“Um… I just forgot something…”
“I see…”

With that, Kirara went to her seat and took out a bag.

“What are you doing here, Kaito-kun?”
“Just doing my cleaning duty, that’s all.”
“Really? That’s surprising…”
“Hey… I do my own work properly, you know…”

I figured as much, but so that’s the image Ougai Kaito has. It’s going to be a real pain to shake that off… Well, can’t be helped.

“Maybe you’re not as scary as the rumors say?”
“Who knows. You can judge for yourself.”
“Yeah, I suppose so.”

While we were talking, Kirara looked at the clock.

“Ah! Crap! I’m running late! I’ve gotta hurry, so bye-bye!”
“Yeah.”

And with that, Kirara hurried out of the classroom.

◆

――On my way home, I was thinking.

“Hirokishi Kirara, huh…”

She’s an idol-like figure at school, popular with both boys and girls. She has many friends, and there must be countless people who want to get close to her.

But she has a worry she hasn’t told anyone.

She lost both her parents in an accident when she was young. She currently lives with her grandfather and grandmother, and they’re quite poor. She loves her grandparents dearly and has been working part-time since middle school, hiding it from the school, to help them even a little. And she’s still doing it now. Our high school has a permit system for part-time jobs… However, she hasn’t been given permission because her grades have been low since middle school. She was told she’d get permission if she scored above the class average in all subjects on the next test. So she’s still secretly working part-time in high school too.

Well, so far so good…

But here’s what happens in the future: her grandfather collapses…
And needing money for hospitalization fees, Hirokishi Kirara tries to earn money even by selling her body.

The protagonist notices this and tries to support her and find a way. He talks to his parents and tries various methods, like borrowing money. From there, Kirara starts to develop feelings for Makoto, the protagonist.

Hirokishi Kirara is popular at school, and she’s afraid of tarnishing that image, so she can’t consult anyone. She thinks that doing so would ruin her image and cause her friends to drift away. I think a big part of it is that she doesn’t want to betray everyone’s expectations.

That said, there’s probably nothing I can do right now. There’s no way I can just say “your grandfather’s going to collapse,” you know? Besides, no one knows I don’t have parents, and it’d be pretty creepy if I knew about that.

But well, the protagonist seems to be getting along with Kirara, so it’ll probably be okay. Kaoru is still my top priority, after all.