Minamihara City, Shimono Town — Tsukimi Residence.
…
“I’m full. Thank you for the meal.”
“Huh? Darling, why did you only eat so little today? Is the food the servants cooked not to your taste?”
At the dinner table, Takahashi Rena looked at her daughter with great concern, her eyes overflowing with doting affection.
“No. I already ate a little on the way back from school.”
Tsukimi Ryuune put down her knife and fork and gently wiped her mouth with the napkin beside her.
“Is that so? All right then.”
“Mother thought you might be troubled by something. If you have any worries, remember to talk to us. Don’t keep it bottled up inside.”
“Mm. Thank you for your concern, Mother. I still have homework, so I’ll go back to my room now.”
“Don’t push yourself too hard. No matter what, your health comes first.”
“Mm.”
Once she was out of the woman’s sight, Tsukimi Ryuune let out a slow sigh.
Sometimes she really wondered if her parents in this life were being a little too good to her. It was as if they were afraid she wouldn’t feel their love.
She didn’t think there was anything wrong with that. Before her rebirth, her heart had always longed for exactly this kind of life. But after becoming a god… once she discovered she could change the world however she pleased, she lost the joy and appreciation she should have felt toward emotions that could be obtained with a single thought.
She treated them as something ordinary and unremarkable. What she truly wanted was natural affection that anyone would feel toward her sincerely.
The problem was, she didn’t know how to fix it.
The core of resetting the world lay in her impression of the original world, not in actively returning to a timeline where she had done nothing.
The logic behind how human emotions were formed was very complicated. She didn’t know what the so-called “original” state was like. From the moment she could remember, she had craved love and care, so she made everyone around her unconditionally see her as the most important person.
She had never tried experiencing how her family would have treated her as she grew up—whether they would truly love her or be strict and demanding. Those were timelines that had never actually been run.
As a result, she couldn’t obtain the normal world she idealized unless she understood how love was born in the first place.
This is so annoying…
Why didn’t that woman say anything about the consequences of abusing divine power… Was it just to see me in this state?
Lying on her bed, she was tormented inside.
She seemed to have obtained everything, yet the sense of reality wasn’t even as satisfying as what some nouveau riche commoner felt. This was what she regretted and felt most stifled about.
Especially when she looked at her own reflection.
Anyone who saw this appearance would be unable to look away—a perfect high school beauty. Even in her previous life, she would have been the kind of girl she could only fantasize about for a lifetime. And yet, she had been turned into her.
Even now, as a god, she had never experienced romance. In the end, it was all because of this body.
She could never accept confessions from boys, nor did she want to get too entangled with girls who could never become her lovers.
And so, her dream of becoming a harem king had shattered. Her mental state worsened day by day. Now, all she could do was crave something from elsewhere that could please her.
Even if it went against justice and morality itself…
—
“Do you feel any better, Teacher Yuto? I heard you fainted in your office the day before yesterday. Are you all right?”
“Thank you for your concern, Teacher Fujimiya. I’m mostly fine now.”
“That’s good.”
Kagami Yuto smiled, then seemed to remember something.
“By the way, Teacher Fujimiya, can I ask you something?”
“Hm?”
“Do you know which grade Tsukimi Ryuune is in?”
“Tsukimi Ryuune?”
“Mm. Do you know her?”
“I do. I once taught English to her class. I have a strong impression of her. Not only is she first in the entire grade by a huge margin, she’s also very well-behaved and cute.”
“Well-behaved and cute…”
“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing. Now that I know which grade she’s in, it’ll be easier to find her. She’s really that amazing, huh.”
He sighed with some emotion. Remembering the unfinished counseling session with her, he found it hard to sit still.
Judging from everyone else’s reactions, they didn’t seem to realize how serious Tsukimi Ryuune’s inner problems were. It seemed he might be the only one who knew.
“The other teachers and I are used to it. But more than that, I’m curious why you suddenly brought her up, Teacher Yuto.”
“I remember you only just started working here. What, are you already interested in Suzuran High School’s unattainable flower?”
“Don’t say things that can be so easily misunderstood, Teacher Fujimiya.”
Kagami Yuto felt slightly embarrassed by the teasing in her tone. However, as a counseling teacher, he instinctively wanted to protect the student’s privacy. So when faced with his colleague’s curious question, he could only give a casual excuse.
“She’s just so well-known. I keep hearing people talk about her around school. I couldn’t help but get curious.”
“I heard she’s also the young lady of the Tsukimi zaibatsu family from Minamihara City.”
He scratched his nose, his tone filled with shock and admiration.
“That does seem to be the case. But we probably shouldn’t discuss other people’s private matters. The school has received a lot of funding from the conglomerate behind her family over the years. You understand, right?”
“Is that so? I didn’t know that.”
“Just don’t tell anyone I said it. We teachers should just focus on doing our jobs properly. It’s better not to pry into other things.”
“Understood. Thank you for telling me.”
After seeing her off, Kagami Yuto stood in place, slightly dazed.
The previous conversation had given him a new understanding of Suzuran High School’s unattainable flower. At the same time, these key pieces of information helped him form a preliminary grasp of the predicament Tsukimi Ryuune was facing.
The daughter of a wealthy zaibatsu family… was she actually troubled by her interpersonal relationships?
Thinking this, he roughly knew what he needed to do next.
There was specialized research and analysis in psychology for the inner worlds of people like her. As a top student in his field, he was full of confidence at this moment.
However, how to gain her trust was still a difficult problem. After all, last time he had unintentionally touched upon a sensitive area in her heart.
After what happened, he didn’t know whether Tsukimi Ryuune would still be willing to accept his counseling. The process ahead might be difficult, but no matter what, as his first “patient” since becoming a counseling teacher, he was determined to pull her out of her current psychological predicament.
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