Chapter 1
The chirping of sparrows is grating on my ears.
The blazing sunlight is also boring through my eyelids and disturbing my sleep.
It was strange. I always slept with the blackout curtains drawn.
Frowning, I sat up groggily with my eyes closed.
The blanket felt strange.
Unlike my usual one, which was soft and thick, this felt rough and scratchy, like I was touching a hemp blanket.
Even the area around my backside felt heavy, as though a floor mattress had been laid out instead of my bed.
‘What the hell...’
I forced open my eyes, which refused to open, and looked around.
It was a spacious room, with several tatami mats laid across the floor, their straw-woven surfaces edged in green.
Tatami? Judging by the faint scent of rice straw, like the smell I had noticed during my trip to a Japanese ryokan, that was probably right.
Groaning, I struggled to get up, and everything felt unfamiliar.
The interior, furniture, and layout of the house were all things I had never seen before.
I felt as if I were in someone else’s house.
‘What the hell is going on...’
Wondering if I was having a lucid dream, I stepped through the open sliding window.
As I stepped onto the brown veranda connected directly to the living room, a tiny garden caught my eye.
It was filled with all sorts of dead plants, clearly lacking proper care.
Looking around, I saw several houses lined up nearby that looked similar to the one I was in... traditional Japanese houses.
I had no idea what was going on. I couldn’t sort out my thoughts.
Where am I right now?
As I wondered where I was and tried to come to my senses somehow, I focused on a young man when he passed in front of me.
A man was running somewhere, sweating, with a slice of bread in his mouth and a bag slung over one shoulder.
A basic school-story cliché. The protagonist sprinting at full speed while chewing on bread so he won’t be late.
Seeing that cliché play out in reality, I let out a short laugh, then abruptly turned my head with a startled expression.
Because the man’s face looked incredibly familiar.
‘Th-that guy...’
I knew that guy. I knew him without a shadow of a doubt.
‘That’s Tetsuya...?’
Miura Tetsuya.
The protagonist of TokiAka—the most frustrating guy imaginable—had just passed in front of me.
He was tall but slight, with shaggy hair that made him look as stiflingly dull as he was.
Even from behind, all his defining features were unmistakable. That guy really was Miura Tetsuya.
Startled, I rushed out barefoot and vaulted over the wall of the house. I stared blankly at the retreating Miura Tetsuya, then...
Smack-!
I slapped my cheek as hard as I could.
It hurt. It hurt so damn much that I could see stars.
Why could I feel pain if I was in a dream?
Had the saying that dreams weren’t painful been a lie?
“Haa... haa...”
My breathing grew ragged. I couldn’t make sense of the situation at all.
Swallowing dryly, I moved and saw the firmly shut front gate of the house I had just left.
Then I noticed the nameplate fixed beside the gate.
Beautifully carved kanji were written on it, with the kana used in Japan written in smaller letters beside them.
I didn’t know any Japanese at all, yet somehow I could read the name on the plaque with perfect ease.
‘Matsuda Ken...?’
I knew this name too.
Matsuda Ken was a disposable side character who tried to make a move on the main heroine, Miyuki, only to be harshly taught a lesson by Tetsuya, who received the heroine-in-danger buff... and whose role ended as a result.
He was nothing more than a tool used to strengthen the bond between Miura Tetsuya and Miyuki.
Like me, he was an orphan with no parents, and he had inherited quite a large fortune, so I had felt a strange kinship with him.
It was also a shame that a character who could have been used for so much more had been reduced to a mere side character.
So was I experiencing TokiAka through Matsuda’s eyes?
The moment I had that thought,
“Ghk...! Aaaaaagh!”
An unimaginable pain tore through my head.
And then, they flowed naturally into me.
Matsuda Ken’s memories.
“Haaah... haaah...!”
As I panted and tried desperately to calm down, a middle-aged woman walking down the street recognized me and asked,
“Matsuda-kun? Are you all right?”
I didn’t have time to answer, so I ignored her and staggered back home.
**
Fortunately, the pain stopped soon after.
The memories settled into place as quickly as a phone synchronizing, sharply improving my ability to adapt after being dropped into this unfamiliar place.
Thanks to that, I had adapted perfectly and gazed at my reflection in the bathroom mirror in a calm state.
Short hair, an average-sized head, and distinct features set within it.
Broad shoulders, a moderately muscular body, and slightly tanned skin.
After checking my appearance, I couldn’t close my astonished mouth.
‘This is me...?’
The person standing in front of the mirror was me.
Not Matsuda Ken from TokiAka, but the me from reality.
I had a little more muscle than before, but there was no doubt that it was me.
“Ah... aaahhh...”
When I tested my voice the way a singer warms up, it sounded exactly as it did in reality.
Then had Ken become me?
No. This body was mine, and since I was currently in Japan, the setting of TokiAka... I had become Matsuda Ken.
Besides, when I had been clutching my head because of the headache, some woman had clearly called me “Matsuda-kun.”
That meant she recognized me as Matsuda Ken.
To sum it all up... I had transmigrated into Matsuda Ken while remaining myself.
Unbelievable as it was.
After taking a deep breath, I went into the living room and opened the refrigerator.
I took out some water and gulped it down.
I didn’t know why this had happened to me.
Maybe the company that developed TokiAka was divine and had gotten angry after seeing what I had written.
It was a ridiculous thought, but considering that I had crossed over to this place, it wasn’t entirely impossible.
But did those bastards even have any grounds to be angry?
All I had done was insult a game and its writer, calling them garbage like anyone would.
In any case, thinking that I would be living as this guy from now on gave me a strange feeling.
At the same time, I was excited.
Why? Being in the world of TokiAka meant I could meet the heroines, including Miyuki,
and that I could win them over.
Watching those beautiful girls and enjoying academy life with girls of all sorts of personalities had made my otherwise boring life genuinely fun.
Though Tetsuya’s obliviousness had made me eat my fill of frustration.
Did I plan to return to reality? Not at all.
Did I plan to look for a way back? Not a chance.
I would live happily here.
With whom? The heroines, of course.
Honestly, anyone suffering over a dense guy like Tetsuya would be better off liking me.
I let out a lascivious chuckle, then abruptly came to my senses.
‘Let’s go to the academy.’
Ken... no, I was a delinquent who was late and skipped class all the time.
He had a bad image because he associated with other delinquents.
Naturally, the heroines had a poor opinion of him as well.
The good news was that I had arrived before I had made my move on Miyuki.
That alone was enough.
As long as I hadn’t already screwed things up, I knew countless ways to build up their affection.
Every dating sim has events that raise affection.
And I knew every event that occurred between Tetsuya and the heroines.
From now on, I would intervene in those events.
And I would make the hearts of all three girls—Miyuki, Renka, and Hiyori—turn toward me.
Of course, if I intervened, the future would change, so there was a good chance new events would appear as well.
Even so, I didn’t care. I would be the one at the center of those new events.
As I naturally opened the sliding wardrobe and put on my uniform, the route from this house to the academy unfolded in my mind like a familiar path.
I knew everything: where to catch the bus and where to transfer to the subway.
“Heh...”
I let out a foolish chuckle and strolled down the street with light steps.
Despite it being summer, it wasn’t hot at all. It was pleasantly cool.
I had been reborn.
Into the best world, as someone I actually liked.
**
In the world of TokiAka, the academy was a mandatory part of education.
It was a place one had to enter immediately after graduating high school.
One step above high school and one step below university.
That was the academy’s vague, ambiguous status.
And I attended [Yeboni Academy], a prestigious private school in Tokyo.
Looking through the memories, I could immediately recall how someone like me, who was terrible at studying, had managed to get admitted.
Quite anticlimactically, it had simply been a lottery.
Well, the details of this world’s setting weren’t important, so moving on...
Upon arriving here, I seriously considered what kind of attitude I should adopt.
I could act like Tetsuya and win the heroines’ affection that way.
But I didn’t want to.
Why should I imitate that... idiot who couldn’t even hold a hand despite being in a will-they-won’t-they relationship for years?
I had felt so sorry for the heroines who thought about oblivious Tetsuya... Following such a herbivore guy was going too far.
That didn’t mean I could aggressively hit on them like a playboy, either. That would only make my score plummet.
After giving it some truly deep thought, I arrived at this answer... I would keep Matsuda Ken’s image intact, but tweak it slightly in my own way.
A guy who was utterly irresponsible, but had a warm side...
Someone who occasionally showed an unexpected side and gradually turned over a new leaf thanks to the heroines’ lectures...
That was the role I aimed to play.
Of course, I would have to act differently depending on the situation, but that was the basic framework.
‘Class 1-A... Class 1-A...’
After finding the classroom I was supposed to be in, I opened the door without hesitation.
Rrrr!
At the sound of the wooden door creaking as it slid open, every gaze in the classroom turned toward me.
From the professor to the students... every single one of them was staring at me with their own pair of eyes.
Some glared at me, while others looked frightened and tried to avoid my gaze.
And... among the former, there was one person glaring at me the most fiercely, as if she wanted to kill me.
Long, straight, light-brown hair, eyes of the same color, a sculpted nose bridge, and a slender jawline.
Along with E-cup breasts and a slim waist that made me want to rush over and touch her right away...
She was the model student sitting in the front of the classroom, with exactly the appearance I knew.
She was Hanazawa Miyuki, the class president of Yeboni Academy’s Class 1-A, Tetsuya’s childhood friend, and TokiAka’s main heroine.
Seeing her in person, I found her perfect.
Her looks and figure were absolutely insane.
I barely managed to suppress my urge to jump up and down. I greeted Miyuki only in my thoughts, then avoided her gaze.
Ignoring the Miyuki I had longed to see was no easy task... but I had to endure it for the sake of the future.
“Matsuda-kun, at least you showed up today.”
I gave the aging professor a halfhearted “yeah,” then went and sat in the seat at the very back.
Glancing to the side, I saw Tetsuya concentrating on the lesson.
Come to think of it, he was in the same class too. Pointlessly so.
As I watched Miyuki’s back from a slouched position and calmed my trembling heart, the bell rang not long afterward.
After confirming that the professor had left, I looked at Tetsuya and saw him diligently scratching away with his pencil.
He liked drawing and used to doodle all sorts of things during break time, but seeing it in person felt strangely surreal.
I stole a glance at Miyuki, then jerked my chin toward Tetsuya.
“Hey, Miura. What are you doing?”
“Ah, this... It’s nothing.”
Tetsuya timidly covered his notebook with his arm.
I snorted as if I were looking at some worthless loser, then started to rise from my seat to tease Tetsuya.
That was when Miyuki dragged her chair back, stood up, and approached me.
Miyuki hated me partly because I was a delinquent, but the biggest reason was that I occasionally played mean pranks on Tetsuya.
For example, I might snatch away a picture he was drawing and stick it to the blackboard, or tease him by saying he smelled like shit when he was heading to the bathroom... childish pranks like that.
Tetsuya would laugh them off with a hollow chuckle every time, but deep down, he really hated me.
In any case, Miyuki seemed to think I was about to do something to Tetsuya again and had come over to stop me.
I turned my eyes toward her as she strode over and thought,
‘As for how to address her... I should go with what I know, right?’
The thing I was most concerned about right now was yobisute.
The forms of address used when calling someone in Japan.
There were standard conventions, of course, but the way people accepted them varied depending on the situation and the individual, which made things a headache.
In Miyuki’s case, the only person who got to call her simply Miyuki was her longtime childhood friend, Tetsuya.
A close friend could call her “Miyuki-chan,” while an ordinary friend or classmate could call her “Hanazawa.”
And the rest of the nobodies probably called her “Hanazawa-chan” or “Hanazawa-san,” right?
From her perspective, I was one of those nobodies, so I should call her Hanazawa-san or Hanazawa-chan...
But -san seemed too distant, while -chan was so damn cringeworthy that I couldn’t bring myself to use it.
I’d call her Hanazawa. Matsuda Ken had called Miyuki that too, so there shouldn’t be a problem.
After quickly working through it in my head, I spoke to Miyuki when she reached my desk.
“Why? Hanazawa.”
As expected, Miyuki let the form of address slide.
But she made her dislike perfectly clear.
That contemptuous expression... Surprisingly, I didn’t mind it.
“Matsuda-kun, if you’re going to be late, you could just come in after class. Why go out of your way to disturb the other students?”
Ah... Her voice was so beautiful that I nearly lost myself for a moment.
Hold it in. I had to hold it in.
After calming my pounding heart, I answered curtly.
“You lose more points for being absent than for being late, right? I should start focusing on my studies too.”
“You never cared about that. You already gave up on studying.”
“When you put it that bluntly, it hurts...”
“I know you’re not hurt. Just don’t do it anymore.”
I desperately wanted to say that I understood and pledge my absolute loyalty to her.
“The class rep sounds awfully worked up, so I should listen. Fine.”
“Don’t mock me. I want you to listen properly.”
“I said I got it.”
At my slightly irritated response, Miyuki glared at me once, just as she had when she entered the classroom, then spoke to Tetsuya.
“Tetsuya-kun, I want to go to the school store. Do you want to come with me?”
“Ah... yeah. Let’s go.”
Tetsuya, who had been watching our exchange, answered quickly.
The two of them soon disappeared from the classroom.
Miyuki would probably badmouth me now, while Tetsuya nodded along, saying, “Yeah, yeah.”
The distance between Miyuki and me was wide and difficult to cross.
Even as the class president, she was supposed to keep an eye on her classmates. An attitude like that said everything.
I understood, given the sins I had piled up.
But it was fine. As I had thought earlier, I knew everything that happened to Miyuki.
That meant I was confident I could get close to her quickly.
It was July 10. The timing of my arrival here was absolutely perfect.
Why? Because the clichéd event from every love comedy would happen tomorrow.
Originally, it was an event that strengthened Miyuki’s feelings for Tetsuya... but I planned to intervene.
From that point on, Miyuki’s attitude would soften a little.
And Tetsuya... naturally, he shouldn’t be part of our affection event, right?