Takamine Nagi Is in the Going-Home Club

Heh heh.

I won.

I had finally defeated a formidable foe.

A few months had passed since that day.

Kaede had finally realized her own feelings.

That's right, Kaede had admitted in her own words that she had feelings for ‘Arai Shota.’ Apparently, my repeatedly bringing up love during our counseling sessions had done the trick.

The sight of a woman who'd been denying her true feelings finally admitting, albeit reluctantly, that she was in love!

Personally, I was thrilled that all my struggles up to now hadn't been in vain.

‘Now we can move things along faster.’

Unfortunately, since Kaede had been denying her feelings all this time, there had been virtually no progress in their relationship.

They'd just bickered like little kids as fellow members of the same club. It was damn annoying.

But things were different now.

Stubborn Kaede had admitted her feelings. And perhaps she'd grown impatient, because she'd even asked me for help.

In other words, I could now actively intervene between the two of them.

‘That's a relief.’

I couldn't just celebrate, since we had a deadline before graduation. Still, I'd gotten her to realize her feelings before even one school year—no, one semester—had passed.

For the time remaining, Kaede would do her best to win Arai's heart.

And I wouldn't hold back on giving her advice.

‘Heh. Just you wait, Arai. You'll have a girlfriend soon. A proper young lady from a respectable family, no less.’

I may look like this, but I'm a man underneath.

I understand perfectly well what qualities in a woman appeal to men. If Kaede followed my advice, she'd surely get the result she wanted.

And I, too, would get the future I wanted――escape this wretched woman's body and return to my original world.

‘That's what you call a win-win.’

“Takamine.”

As I was lost in thought, someone called my surname. I turned toward the voice and saw a few girls I knew. They were classmates of mine.

“Oh. Koseki. …And Mizuki?”

Hmm. I think that was her surname.

Ah. Judging by her expression, I got it right. Thank goodness. It would've been awkward if I hadn't.

Knowing people's names is the most basic rule of social interaction. If you can't even manage that,

“What is it?”

The two of them were smiling at me with the fresh-faced smiles unique to schoolgirls. I looked up at them and asked why they'd come over.

“Takamine. …You're in the going-home club, right?”

“Yeah. …Why?”

“Hehe. We're in the going-home club too. …So, do you want to hang out after school?”

Ah, so that's why they came over—to invite me. How nostalgic. This sort of thing happened a lot at the start of the term. Hmm. When had people stopped inviting me?

…I don't really know. All I remember is that I kept turning them down because of my maid duties, and at some point, my classmates naturally stopped inviting me.

“Oh. Sorry. I have work. I can't hang out with you.”

I declined, letting disappointment show on my face.

For the record, I really was disappointed.

Putting my own sex aside, this was interaction between fresh-faced high school girls in the prime of their youth. It was something I had never experienced in my previous life.

Of course I was curious. Someday, when I had the chance and some free time, I planned to take a day off and experience the sort of fun high school girls had.

“Work? …What kind of work?”

Maybe she thought it was just a stock excuse. Koseki looked disappointed, then immediately added,

Koseki was persistent.

In my mental character encyclopedia, on the page labeled ‘Koseki Aya,’ I wrote ‘persistent.’

“Just what I said. I work. I earn money.”

“Oh, I see. Takamine, you have a part-time job.”

“Yeah. Something like that.”

As I've said time and again, I'm a maid. As soon as I get home, I have to change out of my school uniform and into my maid outfit.

At last, Koseki looked satisfied with my answer. She nodded, then suddenly a question appeared in her eyes.

I waited for Koseki to put her question into words.

“Something like that? …Um, Takamine, are you helping your parents with their work?”

“No, it's not like that. I don't have any parents. So I work by helping someone I know.”

If I had my way, I'd rather live normally and help my parents than be a maid. But my parents don't live in this world. So even if I wanted to help them, I couldn't.

This damn possession had taken my parents away from me.

I miss those days so much—before I enlisted, helping out at my parents' shop and getting a nice allowance under the guise of wages.

‘I need to reach the ending as soon as possible and put an end to this farce.’

Of course, I knew that ‘as soon as possible’ didn't really apply to this situation. Even so, I murmured my personal wish to myself.

The conditions for reaching the ending were quite strict, and I felt like my resolve would break if I didn't motivate myself somehow.

‘Sigh.’

Faced with that bleak reality, I found myself making a sad face.

““…Ah.””

A sudden exclamation jolted me out of my train of thought. There were two voices—probably Koseki and Mizuki.

I shook off my thoughts and looked at the two of them.

‘Huh?’

What?

Those looks.

Why had the mood suddenly gotten so gloomy?

“I-I see.”

Koseki stammered, giving me an awkward smile. Her hands, hovering helplessly in the air, were an added bonus.

Seeing the two of them suddenly change their attitude, a thought occurred to me.

I wondered if their change in attitude was due to ‘disappointment’—because it had become clear they couldn't hang out with me.

If so, I felt bad.

“I'm sorry. Let's hang out together sometime, if we get the chance.”

“Y-you have nothing to be sorry for. Right?”

“Y-yeah! We were the ones who asked out of the blue. Don't worry about it, Takamine.”

At my words, Koseki and Mizuki both hurriedly blurted out a response.

Even though they were disappointed, they were still considerate of me. They were such nice girls. If I got the chance, I should be the one to invite them somewhere next time.

Though I should leave the choice of where to go to them. Unfortunately, I wasn't very knowledgeable about that sort of thing.

“Hmm.”

Koseki and Mizuki exchanged glances. It seemed they wanted to leave, so I decided to help them get out of there comfortably.

“If I don't get going soon, I'll be late.”

I said, lifting my bag from the hook on my desk.

“Oh. Yeah. W-well, we'll get going, then. Sorry for bothering you. And… good luck!”

“See you tomorrow, Takamine. I'll be rooting for you.”

The two of them left, waving weakly. I waved back at them.

They even wished me luck. They were so nice.

The kind of people who are hard to find these days.

I want to be friends with them.

I savored their kindness, then got ready to leave the classroom.

“Arai! What are you up to this Sunday?”

“Oh. Kenji.”

Just then,

A male student's booming voice rang out, heedless of everyone around him. It included a name I couldn't ignore.

I stopped in my tracks and glanced toward the sound.

There was a clean-cut-looking male student there.

Tall and well-built, with an oval face and elegant features arranged in perfect proportion.

He was a man whose looks left no choice but to call him handsome: Arai Shota.

‘He's ridiculously good-looking.’

As a fellow man, I'm really curious what it's like to live as an alpha male like him. I'm jealous, too. Though perhaps because of the rom-com's influence, nobody around him—including Arai himself—seemed to notice his good looks.

Once he graduated and escaped the clutches of the rom-com, wouldn't he immediately realize how blessed he'd been to be born with that face?

“If you don't have anything going on, how about the arcade?”

It seemed that Arai's frivolous friend was trying to coax him into going.

I might be able to glean some useful information from their conversation. So I decided to eavesdrop.

“Oh, sorry. I already have plans then.”

“Huh!? You have plans? …Is it a girl?”

“No, no. It's not like that.”

What was this prior engagement?

I pricked up my ears even more.

“I promised to go see a movie with my little sister that day.”

…A movie, so they're going to the theater, right?

Hmm.

I can use this.

“Aha. You siscon.”

“Siscon? I'm not―――”

If I hung around too long, I might arouse suspicion. I left the two of them still talking and headed out of the classroom.

“A movie, huh.”

The movie theater this weekend.

It was the perfect place to arrange a meeting disguised as a coincidence.

I should come up with a plan as soon as I get home.

I'd think up a scenario that would let Kaede and Arai run into each other naturally.

Then I'd have Kaede follow the plan.

Convincing her…

shouldn't be difficult.

As I've said, Kaede had already acknowledged her feelings. As a girl in love, she wanted to get together with Arai.

So Kaede would surely accept the plan I proposed.

“Heh heh heh.”

The thought of the two of them making progress in their relationship in a few days made me chuckle. Without bothering to hide my feelings, I walked down the sunset-lit hallway.