Part-3 Ch-03 Ep-01

Seishuku’s POV

Once June passed its midpoint, rainy days became more frequent.

On the morning news, they announced the start of the rainy season across various parts of Japan, and it seemed that the season had finally arrived in the region where I live as well.

I gaze at the overcast sky through the window of my bedroom.

The thick clouds look heavy enough to be nearly black, a dark gray mass hanging low as a torrential downpour falls like someone has overturned a bucket.

To the point that it makes you wonder how school could possibly not be canceled in weather like this.

I don't actually dislike rain.

Even so, I am the type whose body is easily affected by changes in air pressure, so during seasons like this I cannot go without headache medicine.

It has been that way since I was young, so I have long since resigned myself to the fact that there is nothing I can do about it.

Around the time I finish getting ready to leave for school, I suddenly remember that I left a yuri novel by my pillow last night after reading it.

I pick up the book that had been left out and return it to the bookshelf.

The ratio of books lined up on the shelf is five to five.

About half are yuri novels, and the other half are everything else.

In fact, I have more hidden away in places other than the bookshelf, so the actual number of yuri books I own is even higher.

As for why I go out of my way to hide them, the only answer I can give is that they are that kind of thing. I cannot say anything more than that.

I, Seishuku Kokoa, love yuri.

Ever since I was born into this world and awakened to my role in it, I have loved it all the same.

When I was a child, there were many popular anime about very young girls becoming magical girls, facing hardship while fighting powerful enemies to protect the peace of their city, and I remember watching them often.

They worried at times, laughed at times, fell in love at times, and encouraged one another as companions.

Watching worlds like that, where almost only girls appeared, I gradually came to love worlds built upon those kinds of relationships.

But in this world, such things cannot happen.

This world was created based on an otome game, and the cast and the story that follows have already been decided.

On top of that, I am one of the characters in that otome game, and I have already been given an important role.

My role is to help the game’s protagonist, Ichinose Maki, fall in love with one of the male capture targets.

The only thing that changes is which capture target she chooses, creating the branching route.

I support her so that she can end up with the capture target she selects.

I believed that this was my role in this world, and the meaning of my birth here.

It was not a role that set my heart racing, but since I had been incorporated into this world and given a role, I intended to fulfill that responsibility.

Or at least, that was what I thought.

One day, not long after entering high school,

I was gathering information in order to keep track of the capture targets, the protagonist Ichinose Maki, and the person who would surely be by her side, Nagase Mari.

That was when I noticed two female students heading home, visible through the classroom window.

They wore slightly oversized, brand-new uniforms typical of new students, with equally new school bags slung over their shoulders and gleaming loafers on their feet.

From their overall presence alone, it was obvious they were first-years.

And on top of that, their striking hair color.

I immediately recognized one of them as Ichinose Maki.

Which meant that the girl beside her had to be her childhood friend, Nagase Mari.

Seeing the heroine with my own eyes like this made it sink in that this world truly was built from a game.

While thinking that, I was watching the two of them as they exited the school gate.

That was when it happened.

Nagase walked straight ahead, and Ichinose, beside her, cast a quick sideways glance in her direction.

It was an entirely ordinary gesture, yet in that instant, my eyes widened.

It felt as though there was heat in Ichinose’s gaze as she looked at Nagase.

Could this possibly be yuri?

But if that was just my imagination, that would be a problem.

I understood very well that people who love yuri tend to view everything through a yuri-colored filter.

I needed to judge the situation calmly.

From that day on, I once again investigated the two of them, observing how Ichinose interacted with the capture targets, and also how she interacted with Nagase.

And then I became certain.

Ichinose was already in love with her childhood friend, Nagase.

From there, I consciously reconstructed my role for myself.

Rather than supporting the heroine Ichinose Maki so that she could smoothly end up with a capture target, I would protect the red thread that bound her to the person she truly wished to be with.

Even now, when I think back on it, my chest still flutters.

The time when the two of them started dating.

The smartphone resting on my desk announces the arrival of a message.

When I open it, I see it is from Asahina Yuu, the boy I am currently dating.

It seems he has already arrived at our meeting spot.

Before I realize it, time has flown by, and the time I usually leave the house has long since passed.

On school days, I always walk to and from school together with him.

I must have gotten lost in thought for too long.

Ah, and on top of that, going outside in this rain feels like a bit of a hassle.

I hurriedly reply to Yuu, telling him I will be there soon, and then I head out the door.