Part-1 Ch-07 Ep-01

 I have a tendency to let my guard down and forget, but Ichinose Maki is the heroine of this world. And by “this world,” I mean the otome game 『Cherry Blossom Oath ―The Story of Us That You and I Weave―』.

It is a story about the heroine, Maki, and the seven capture targets. Up to this point, three of those capture targets have appeared.

The refreshing, handsome honor student, Kagami Shin.

The athletic, cool-type, Todoroki Gou.

And the easygoing jokester with a surprisingly strong core and a genuinely good heart, Asahina Yuu.

As for me, I am Nagase Mari, Maki’s childhood friend, a support character, and a reincarnator. 

Otome games, at their core, are rigged from the start. Of course, if you choose poorly, the relationship can fall apart, but fundamentally, every route is designed for the heroine to be loved. Or at least, that is how it should work, based on my research.

Which is why, even without doing anything special, Maki has more than enough charm to attract the capture targets.

In fact, her facial attractiveness score, her figure, and all her other stats, her entire base spec, is overwhelmingly higher than that of any surrounding mob character.

And today, on the day of the school festival, the heroine’s true power is about to unfold right before my eyes.

“H-Hey, isn’t Ichinose-san insanely cute right now?”

Behind me, the boys in our class are huddled together, whispering among themselves. I eavesdrop on their supposed secret conversation, and inwardly nod along with a silent “I understand completely.”

“Mari, h-how do I look?”

Standing in the center of the classroom is my childhood friend, cheeks flushed with embarrassment, dressed in a frilly maid outfit. It is a feast for the eyes.

“I think you look unbelievably cute.”

This is one of those moments when you should simply praise her honestly. Besides, no other words come to mind anyway. With this, our class’s maid café is practically guaranteed to succeed.

“Hehe, thank you. You look great in a maid outfit too, Mari. Really cute.”

Maki smiles like flower petals unfolding softly, and she is truly adorable. As expected from the game’s heroine, I genuinely wish she would work part-time at that cute uniform café near the station. It might not be too late if I ask her about it now.

“Thanks. The maid outfit is fine, but… after the break, I have to change into the prince costume next…”

I grumble, but not a single person in this class will sympathize with me.

For some reason, because I always stick close to Maki, the way I carry myself and the story about how I protected her during the freshman welcome sports tournament have gradually spread throughout the school.

Normally, anecdotes like this fade quickly unless someone spreads them intentionally. When I confronted her, Maki averted her eyes and muttered, “I-I don’t know anything about that…”

The culprit is you, isn’t it? I thought, but my clingy childhood friend is simply too sweet, so I gave up on pursuing it. Although, I am a bit worried that the capture targets might get the wrong idea.

Every now and then, she casually tells Kagami-kun and the others things like “Mari is mine.”

I sincerely hope this does not lead to any misunderstandings, I think with a slight chill. From what I later heard, it seems the Seishuku* group and the others have indeed misunderstood in that direction.

[T/N- Seishuku Kokoa & friends]

“I-I’m really looking forward to seeing you as a prince, Mari.”

Maki’s behavior remains strange as ever. Why is she blushing even more at that?

It is making me feel oddly fired up. But what worries me the most is that a new capture target is scheduled to appear during this cultural festival.

If he fails to leave an impression here, there will not be many opportunities to interact with him afterward.

Well, when I played the game, he was never a character I liked much anyway, so it would not be a great loss for me personally.

But I do not want to do anything that would restrict Maki’s future possibilities.

Today is the cultural festival.

I will show the result of all the preparations we have made, and give my absolute best as the support character. With that resolve renewed, I brace myself for the day ahead.