Eh?
Eh eh eh?
Eh eh eh eh eh eh eh eh eh—?!
Yukina’s head let out a puff of smoke.
W-Wait a second. I must have misheard, right? I definitely misheard, right?
The female protagonist Mashiro actually confessed to a small-fry NPC like her?!
No no no no, something must have gone wrong somewhere!
Think carefully. The word Mashiro just said must have been something else. Condensed milk? Catfish?
Lotus paste?
She just finished lunch, so maybe she wanted some dessert…?
In short, it could not be “lover.” Absolutely impossible!
Yukina desperately tried to talk herself out of it, but while her ears could deceive her, her body temperature could not.
So hot.
The back of her hand was so hot.
Mashiro was holding her hand. Those long, slender fingers tightened one by one, completely wrapping her small hand inside her palm.
The places where their skin touched were sweaty—damp and warm. The moment they loosened even a little, cool air would slip in.
Her face was also burning.
Mashiro was staring straight at her. That usually cold face now carried a faint flush of heat.
Under her pale eyelashes, those blood-red eyes looked like melted syrup. Something thick was swaying inside, about to spill over.
So strange.
Was the weather today this hot?
Yukina felt as if she had been infected. Her body temperature was climbing higher and higher, and even her breathing turned hot, trapped in her chest with nowhere to go.
It seemed… she could no longer fool herself.
No matter how much she did not want to admit it, the fact was…
Mashiro… confessed to me.
Ugh.
The moment she realized this, her face burned even harder.
Her ears went numb. It felt like a little flame was sizzling and burning on top of her head.
This was the first time.
The first time anyone had confessed to her.
Whether in her previous life or this life, she had always been an inconspicuous transparent person.
No one would spare her a second glance. Sometimes even the automatic doors of convenience stores failed to sense her and refused to open.
Someone as insignificant as her had actually received a confession.
And the one confessing was Mashiro—this female protagonist who sparkled no matter where she went.
Was this a dream?
Yukina clenched her fist a little harder. Her nails dug into the flesh of her palm.
It hurt!
It was not a dream. All of this was real.
What should she do.
The area around her chest was a complete mess, as if every kind of seasoning had been dumped together.
All sorts of emotions were mixed into one lump that she had no way of sorting out.
“…Takanashi-san.”
Mashiro moved.
Her body leaned forward slightly, bringing that scent of roses after rain closer and closer.
She gripped even tighter.
As if afraid Yukina would run away, she held on tightly.
Strands of silver-white hair brushed across Yukina’s thighs one after another.
A certain resolve floated in her eyes.
Her face drew nearer and nearer—close enough to feel the touch of her breath, close enough to clearly see the slight rise of those lips.
Wait. Is she going to—
“N-No!”
At the very moment the distance was about to reach zero, Yukina suddenly snapped back to her senses.
She raised the hand that was not being held and blocked it between the two of them.
A warm, soft sensation landed on her small palm.
“…”
Above her palm, those blood-red eyes flickered once.
For an instant, a trace of disappointment appeared, but it was quickly suppressed.
Mashiro pulled back.
The hand that had been gripping hers also loosened.
“Sorry.”
Her voice was very light.
“Just now… I scared you, didn’t I. I’m sorry. It’s just that Takanashi-san’s reaction was too cute. I couldn’t hold back.”
“C-Cute? Me?”
Yukina pointed at her own nose.
“Mm. Very cute.”
Mashiro’s tone was extremely serious.
The faint flush on her cheeks had not yet completely faded.
Silence fell again.
The two of them each lowered their heads.
The tin shack felt stuffy.
The midday sun had baked the roof until it seemed slightly swollen.
The whistle from the distant sports field had long since stopped.
Only the cicadas in some unknown tree called out intermittently.
“…Ahem.”
Mashiro cleared her throat. After calming down a little, she looked over again.
“Takanashi-san, you still haven’t answered my last question.”
“…Ah? R-Right!”
Private First Class Yukina straightened up once more.
She still had not formally responded.
But how should she respond?
Think fast. Stupid brain, hurry up and invent some reason.
—We’re both girls, so it won’t work!
…That probably wouldn’t work.
According to the game’s world view, it wasn’t only men and women who could fall in love.
Vampires, beastmen, demons, and angels were all over the streets.
Reproductive isolation had long been solved. Same-sex relationships weren’t anything new.
—A small fry like me could never be worthy of the female protagonist!
That wouldn’t work either. Mashiro had no idea what “female protagonist” meant. If she said it out loud, she would just be treated as if something was wrong with her head.
—Hehe, sorry, let me think about it a little more~♥
…That was even worse! Wouldn’t that just make her the kind of scummy girl who strings people along without answering?
Ugh.
Seriously, how did things end up like this.
She had only wanted to secretly help the female protagonist deal with a few small troubles, and as a result she had been liked.
Could this be the legendary imprinting of a baby bird? She just happened to be the first person who treated her well, so Mashiro…
What should she do. She had never thought of this possibility at the beginning. She really shouldn’t have gone off-script and messed around.
Then… should she just agree?
That didn’t seem like such a bad idea either.
Although everything had happened very suddenly, and she still didn’t fully understand what kind of feelings she held toward Mashiro, there was one thing that was very clear—
She did not hate being with Mashiro.
Becoming lovers like this… didn’t seem completely impossible.
…
Really?
Something suddenly flashed through her mind.
It was not something in front of her eyes. It was a memory—a memory from her previous life, a scene she had seen through the screen.
Blood-red.
An entire expanse of blood-red.
The silver-haired girl collapsed in the center of a pool of blood, unmoving. Those faded eyes looked toward the sky, no longer able to reflect anything.
It was the death scene from the game.
Mashiro’s death scene.
…
No.
What the hell was she thinking? Why would she have such a frivolous idea.
Once she agreed to the confession, the game’s script would be rewritten on a large scale.
What about the male protagonist’s route?
What about the Family?
How to deal with the mastermind behind the scenes?
Could a small fry like her really solve any of that?
Yukina lowered her head and looked at her knees. The fall she had taken in the restroom still hurt even now.
With only this little ability of hers, not dragging others down would already be good enough. Changing the ending was completely impossible.
Even if she could somehow do something, the margin for error was far too low.
One wrong step, and the price would be Mashiro’s life.
There was no need to take that risk.
Mashiro… also had no need to die because of her.
“I… that—”
She opened her mouth. The words circled around on her tongue several times and simply would not come out smoothly.
“I can’t. I’m sorry. I can’t do it.”
She buried her face in the shadow of her bangs and said in a small voice.
“…I can’t become your lover.”
…
“You… don’t like me?”
Mashiro’s voice was very light, carrying a trace of disbelief and sadness.
“You come here every day. You’ve done so many things for me. You even didn’t mind getting hurt yourself.”
Her pupils contracted.
“I don’t understand. If you don’t like me, why do all of this?”
“That’s not it. It’s not that I don’t like you.”
Yukina shook her head hard.
“I-I don’t hate you, Mashiro. I also like being with you. It’s just—”
She got stuck again.
Should she tell her that she was a transmigrator? Would Mashiro believe it? Or would she think she was just making excuses?
“…”
Seeing her hesitate, Mashiro seemed to think of something. The light in her eyes gradually dimmed.
“…Is it because of Yumiko?”
“—Huh?”
Suddenly hearing a third person’s name, Yukina’s shoulders trembled.
“W-Why bring her up all of a sudden?”
“Because. The only reason I can think of for you rejecting me is her.”
Mashiro subconsciously clenched her fist. Her voice was calm, every word distinct.
“You and your older sister are both under the control of her family. You’re afraid that after getting together with me, she will take action against you and your family—isn’t that right?”
The analysis was very reasonable. But it was wrong. Completely wrong!
Yukina shook her head and was just about to speak—
“If.”
Mashiro spoke first.
She lowered her eyes and looked at her own hand—the hand that had been holding Yukina’s just a moment ago. Now it rested emptily on her knee.
The silence lasted for about two seconds.
Then her voice changed.
“If I say…”
Low and hoarse, as if something that had been suppressed for a long time had finally floated up from the bottom of the water.
She raised her eyes. A dark light flashed through those blood-red pupils.
“…I make Yumiko disappear from this world.”
She spoke very slowly.
“Would you… be willing to become my lover then?”