Encounter
I belong to the Faculty of Economics at the Liberal Arts University. There’s no particular reason why I chose economics. Ever since my previous life, I’ve always had a longing for economics. Whether it was because it’s strong for job prospects, or because I had this vague image that studying economics was cool, or maybe both.
Either way, what I’ve come to realize is that the Faculty of Economics is a hardcore science-based faculty. There’s no way a private school humanities scrub like me could handle Math III, but sadly, the professors are all economists who originally came from a science background, so they assume that the students who enroll are all science-oriented.
After all, more than half of the lectures are math. I seriously wonder how genuine humanities students survive. It’s a mystery, but more than worrying about others, I need to worry about myself right now.
Room 201 in West Building 5. The Faculty of Economics is a mammoth faculty with the largest number of students. During the first year, we often have classes in large groups, so naturally, we end up in the largest classrooms.
When I entered the hall-like auditorium for the Entrance Ceremony, I was first overwhelmed by its vastness. The high ceiling was adorned with intricate lighting, and soft light enveloped the entire hall. In the center of the auditorium, tiered seating stretched out, with long desks arranged at each level. The wood grain of the desks, though old, exuded a calm that spoke of decades of history.
On the lecture platform, speakers and a projector were installed, and the screen was set up near the ceiling, as if looking down on the students.
I wanted to be moved by the classroom scene that was a far cry from high school, but my seat was in the very front. I wanted to look down from the very back, but since moving in a wheelchair is difficult, I gave up.
More than that…
“Seriously, what am I gonna do…”
The source of my worries is endless. Of course, it’s about the Four Beauties.
If I say I want to act alone, they’ll fall into darkness, so I can’t say that even if my mouth were torn open, but if I let them do as they please, that’s a problem in itself. The most immediate issue is the after-party of the Entrance Ceremony.
We had a lot of fun with the college student vibe, secretly buying alcohol and having a house party together.
However, getting them to go home afterward was really tough…
They suggested helping me with my bath and sleeping together, and the reason and desire within me fought. In the end, reason won, and I forced the four of them to go home.
If that day was the most difficult day, I could look back on it as a good memory, but every day is like this, and I can’t relax.
The most immediate issue is moving classrooms within the university.
Since universities don’t have homerooms, we have to move classrooms every break. In high school, we also had to move classrooms, but it was only for practical subjects or science experiments, like moving to the science lab. Most of the time, we spent in our homeroom.
That’s why I was underestimating it, but universities have a lot of moving classrooms. Sometimes you have to go outside and change buildings, which is hard work for me in a wheelchair. And that’s where someone comes to help me during their free periods.
This is really helpful. I should just prostrate myself and show my gratitude. However…
“Could you please stop throwing tantrums…”
They mostly throw tantrums, saying they don’t want to be separated from me or that they want to take the class with me. The professors, unable to bear it, tried to stop them, but they would pick fights, throw hysterics, and Shino even tried to use her power to get the professor fired from the university.
Thanks to that, the lectures don’t progress, and I’m exposed to curious gazes, which gives me a stomachache. It feels even worse because I’m in the front seat.
I can’t make friends, and it’s really troubling.
If the four of them were acting with malice, I could just reject them, but if it’s coming from an overly heavy sense of kindness and guilt, there’s nothing I can particularly say.
“I’m really glad we’re in different faculties…”
The only saving grace is that we’re in different faculties. Sakurazuki is in the Faculty of Law, Reon is in the Faculty of Literature, Akina is in the Faculty of Business Administration, and Shino is in the Faculty of Political Science. Thanks to that, I can enjoy some alone time during lectures. I wasn’t interested in studying, but when I think of it as the only time I can be alone, my mind can relax.
“They said they had unavoidable business during lunch break. I’ll make some friends during that time…!”
It’s too tough to have no connections within the faculty. It was fine in high school, but everything is so different between high school and university that I feel like I can’t do it alone. Sadly, universities are even harsher on loners who don’t take the initiative than high schools.
I think this is my last chance, so I’ll try to make some friends.
However…
“It’s because of those guys that I’m being avoided…”
Just as the class ended, the bell for lunch break rang. People poured out of the classroom in a long line. I’m sitting on the entrance side in the very front. I’m bound to meet their eyes when they come in and out, but when I try to call out to them, they ignore me and quickly leave. They even take a detour and leave through the exit at the back of the classroom.
I’ve already spent three years in high school as a loner, so my communication skills have deteriorated, and this treatment is quite disheartening. There’s almost no one left in the classroom.
“Even so, I want at least one friend…”
It sounds bad, but I have no choice but to look for fellow gloomy loners. Those who failed their university debut should be wanting friends just like me.
Come on, anyone, just talk to me! I’ll treat you to lunch every day if you want!?
“Excuse me, can I talk to you for a bit?”
Yes!
Did my wish get through? Someone called out to me from behind. I haven’t believed in God at all since I reincarnated into this world, but I’ll thank him just this once.
What’s important is the first impression. If the first impression is bad, I won’t be accepted as a friend. In the first place, I’ve already messed up. This is truly a do-or-die situation. I have to greet them with the best smile I can muster.
“H-Hello… wait… huh?”
When I turned around, Yuto Sano—my, no, our fated enemy—was standing there, and my whole body froze. No, I knew he was in the same faculty. I was very surprised at the time, but since Sano and I have no direct connection, I didn’t think I would get involved with him. Even so, I was curious, but I averted my eyes and continued to ignore his existence.
“Nice to meet you, I’m Yuto Sano.”
“Ah, um, yeah. I’m Satoshi Iriya. Nice to meet you.”
“Haha, we’re classmates, right? You don’t have to be so formal.”
“Ah, then, please don’t mind me…”
I never thought that the person I have the most complicated feelings for in this world would directly talk to me. The emotions I had been suppressing deep inside suddenly welled up. To Sano, I’m a stranger, so I have to act calm. But my heart was pounding, and my right arm, which shouldn’t move, was trembling slightly.
Looking around, the spacious auditorium was eerily empty, with only Sano and me. Usually, there should be a few people left to take the afternoon classes, but there’s no one here now. The space was eerily silent.
“I’m from a minor high school called ○○ High School in ○○ Prefecture, and I don’t have anyone to talk to. I just happened to see you, so I thought I’d talk to you.”
It was Sano who broke the silence. He spoke to me with a friendly smile.
No matter how complicated my feelings are, Sano doesn’t know anything. Since he approached me with good intentions, I should respond with sincerity.
“H-Huh. What a coincidence. I’m from the same school.”
“Really!? Are you a ronin or something?”
“No, I’m a regular student.”
“Really… I never thought there would be other classmates from the same school…”
There’s no need to hide it, so I told him everything as it is. But I have to pretend it’s a coincidence, so I can’t let my guard down. I can’t let slip any information because I know too much.
“…What happened to your injury?”
“Huh? Oh, yeah. I was clumsy and got injured. Haha, I don’t know what I’m doing before even starting university…”
“That’s a disaster… Be careful, okay?”
“Huh? Oh, yeah, thanks.”
I was surprised when Sano worried about me as I gave a self-deprecating dry laugh.
Come to think of it, I was only worried about the Heroines, but I never thought about what happened to Sano after the Bad Ending.
Strangely, I don’t feel the unpleasantness I felt from Sano in high school.
Perhaps, as the ‘protagonist’ of LoD, he was exposed to the ‘World’s Compulsion’ and was led to the Bad Ending. I had a question about whether he had become strange because of the ‘World’s Compulsion’.
In the first place, it’s as impossible as a meteorite falling from the sky that he wouldn’t approach the Four Beauties, whom he wanted to make his own so badly.
If that’s the case, maybe I can let go of the past.
Rather, if I think of us as victims of LoD, I strangely feel a sense of sympathy from the bottom of my heart, even though he was the person I hated so much.
“A serious injury, the same high school…”
Sano was muttering to himself, so I was brought back to reality.
“Is something wrong?”
“No, it’s nothing…”
He was looking me up and down, as if he were appraising me. It made me uncomfortable, like I was being judged. Then, as if he’d thought of something, he sent me a probing look.
“Could it be that you’re the guy who got hit by a truck in front of the high school on graduation day… Iriya?”
I was surprised he remembered. I hadn’t expected that.
“Yeah, that’s me. What about it?”
“…”
Then, Sano’s gaze turned as cold as a winter’s freezing wind.
“Tch… so that’s how it is. It all finally connects… it was you.”
Sano’s tone had clearly changed. A cold shiver ran down my spine, and his eyes, which were fixed on me, swirled with contempt and hatred. The naked hostility was directed at me, and a bead of sweat trickled down my forehead.
Seeing me like that, Sano looked at me with a look of exasperation.
“Don’t you realize you’re doing something awful?”
“I don’t know what you mean…”
I returned his vague question with a question of my own.
“Let me put it simply. Release everyone, the Four Beauties, you bastard.”
“Huh?”
That was a real eye-opener. I must have had a dumbfounded look on my face.
And scratch what I said earlier. It wasn’t about the ‘World’s Compulsion’ or anything, this guy was just a jerk.
But I still didn’t understand why he hated me so much. If anything, he should be thanking me…
“I’ve been wondering. Why everyone stopped replying to my messages. You know about my relationship with them, right? If we went to the same high school.”
“Well…”
The fact that the Four Beauties were in love with the mob protagonist, Yuto Sano, was quite the rumor at school. It would be stranger if you didn’t know.
“Haah, you’re the worst… you…”
Even I was starting to lose my patience. I didn’t like being told whatever they wanted.
“What are you trying to say? Are you suggesting I deliberately got into an accident so the Four Beauties would take care of me?”
“I’m not blaming you for the accident itself. That’s unfortunate. But—”
He made a deliberately annoying gesture, as if he were praying, and glared at me with sharp eyes.
“What I can’t forgive is your attitude of enjoying the current situation. You bastard.”
It was a protagonist-like statement with a lot of pressure, but it only amplified my anger.
“Take back what you just said… there’s no way I’m enjoying being in this condition. Enough is enough.”
“I wonder about that. Deep down, you’re happy that all the Four Beauties are worried about you, aren’t you?”
“I said that’s not it. Don’t talk to me anymore.”
I didn’t think he was worth talking to, so I tried to move the wheelchair with my left hand. But the next moment, the handle was grabbed tightly, so I turned around and glared at Sano, who was glaring back at me.
“Sakurazuki-san and the others are kind, so they can’t just leave you alone after you had an accident in front of them. That’s why they’re so devoted. What’s wrong with calling you a bastard for taking advantage of that (・・・・・・・) kindness?”
“That’s…”
‘I saved Sakurazuki-san and the others as their savior!’ ‘You’re hated by all the Four Beauties.’
It would have been easy to refute Yuto Sano, and I could have spent all day listing how much of a jerk he was.
And yet, no rebuttal came from my mouth.
Sano’s words—the words about taking advantage of their kindness—pierced my heart like a knife.
I was letting them do as they pleased until my guilt disappeared, but was I really being so magnanimous? If I had really wanted to push them away, I could have done it.
‘Because they’ll fall into darkness’ wasn’t for the heroines, but a convenient interpretation for me to be with them.
Wasn’t I just reveling in this situation where I could do as I pleased with the heroines?
The dark, black feelings I didn’t want to see overflowed, and a suffocating feeling, as if my heart had been seized, attacked me.
When I snapped back to reality, Sano was looking at me with contempt.
“So you were aware of it after all… you dirty man.”
“N-no, that’s not what I meant…!”
“Sakurazuki-san and the others should be enjoying their rosy campus life, but they’re being bothered by a parasite who only feeds on people’s kindness. Don’t you think you should let them go?”
“…!”
His naked words pierced my chest like blades, one after another. I wanted to deny it. I wanted to argue back. But the voice that justified it within me was swallowed up by the dark emotions swirling inside me.
“I don’t want to say this either,” Sano said, letting out a short sigh.
“But… when I think about Sakurazuki-san and the others, I think it’s my role to take on the dirty work.”
“Sano…”
Realizing that he wasn’t just blaming me out of anger, my heart ached even more.
“It’s enough if Iriya just says, ‘I’m fine now.’ You can do that much, right?”
“That’s…”
Just because I was their savior, that didn’t mean I could chain them down for life. They had their own lives to live. Otherwise, there was no point in protecting their future. If the lives I saved became a prison, I would be no different from the people who created this world.
But my ugly nature was refusing to let them go.
I didn’t want to be alone anymore…
A selfish and self-centered wish. When that took shape in my mind, I felt pathetic.
If I could only connect with people by making them feel guilty, maybe I should have died back then…
My head naturally lowered, and my heart sank into darkness. When I glanced at Sano’s expression, he was sneering with contempt and sarcasm, but I didn’t care anymore.
“What are you doing—”
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