Part-1 Ch-01 Ep-02

――By the way.

During the entrance ceremony, while letting the principal’s speech pass through one ear and out the other, I glance around.

I try to search among the neatly lined rows of students in uniform for figures that look like capture targets, but as expected, I cannot find them so easily.

Besides, to be honest, I do not remember their faces very clearly.

……When you think about it, that is only natural.

It has been over sixteen years since I last played the game. On top of that, I died once in an accident and was reborn into this world, crying like a newborn.

Of course, I did what I could.

After my memories from my previous life returned when I was six years old, I frantically scribbled down every setting I could remember into a notebook decorated with characters from my favorite magical girl anime at the time.

Even now, I still take it out and reread it from time to time. However, the handwriting of a six-year-old child is far too messy to decipher.

Even if I had knowledge of letters, children are still poor at controlling their bodies. And my personality was never particularly meticulous to begin with. Impulsive, always charging straight ahead, running at full speed.

Otherwise, I would not have ended up injured and hospitalized so many times. The handwriting left behind by that version of me was, unsurprisingly, barely legible. I really should have taken calligraphy lessons.

Even though I took so many other kinds of lessons. Even so, I would like to praise myself for not forgetting my role as a support character.

For now, the things I clearly remember are these: the surnames of the capture targets always consist of three characters; they are all handsome; some characters are unlocked by clearing certain conditions; and confessions take place beneath the cherry blossom tree. These serve as my primary clues.

There are other fragments I remember here and there, but since those involve specific events, I think it would be best to deal with them as they arise.

“Mari, the entrance ceremony is over. Let’s go to the classroom.”

Before I realize it, the ceremony has already ended. Smiling brightly, Maki comes running over to me.

“I’m glad. We’re in the same class. I was a little nervous.”

Maki smiles in relief, and she is adorable. She looks just like an angel. If I were to look closely at her back, I would not be surprised if soft, fluffy wings were growing there.

I pat her back and rub it lightly, and she scolds me gently, saying, “What? Stop fooling around and let’s go already.”

An angel, huh.

“By the way… um,” Maki hesitates slightly and looks up at me.

Wondering what she wants to say, my heart gives a small, anticipatory thump as I wait for her to continue.

“Even in high school, you really are not going to call me… Hime-chan anymore…?”

She says something that would make any boy nearby want to hug her if they heard it. Honestly, I felt like hugging her too. But the nickname “Hime-chan” was retired when we entered elementary school.

Because the other kids teased us about it.

“Maki-chan, yet Hime? That’s weird, Matsuri-chan,” they would say.

Now I would probably ignore it, but back then, Maki’s face turned bright red as she angrily snapped at the others, and as a child, I thought I did not want her to feel hurt because of me.

That is why I stopped calling her that.

“I won’t call you that.”

When I answer her, Maki simply says, “I see,” and turns away. She starts walking ahead, so I hurry after her. Even when I call out to her, she does not turn around.

She does not turn back, but she adjusts her pace to match mine, and we end up walking side by side.

Even if she is not talking, she is my childhood friend. Being next to her feels comfortable.

By the way, the fact that Maki and I are in the same class is the same as in the game, so I am not surprised.

And if I remember correctly, the first capture target is also supposed to be in the same class.

The most promising one, “him.”

It will be fine. Maki is the heroine.

She is the protagonist of this game.

If everything proceeds smoothly, she can achieve happiness as the heroine.

There is even statistical data showing that the heroine’s favorability basically skyrockets no matter what she does, according to my research.

In supporting Maki, I have been considering one particular strategy for a long time.

A surefire technique for gaining positive impressions from capture targets, one that is common across all otome games.

Yes, the “interesting woman” strategy.