Episode 3
Source
https://kakuyomu.jp/works/16818093094471724561/episodes/16818622172829242637
It might be a bit old-fashioned to feel nostalgic about the sound of a door creaking open.
I have to pretend to be Mizuno Shota and deceive my classmates. Will I be able to act like Saotome Ryusei’s best friend? No, I’m a man who has played this game many times before. I’ll definitely pretend to be Shota without anyone noticing.
When I opened the door, there were many people wearing the same clothes. Of course, this is a school classroom, so it’s only natural that the students are wearing the school uniform.
The sound of the door opening drew the attention of a few people. Then, a few of them came over to me.
“Hey, Mizuno! Long time no see!”
“What did you do during Golden Week?”
“Your hair is shorter now, isn’t it? It suits you.”
Huh… This is the first time in my life that so many people have talked to me. Suddenly, people rushed toward me, and I felt dizzy for a moment. But I decided to become Shota, so I’ll just act like the outgoing person I imagine myself to be.
“Oh! Long time no see, guys. Golden Week? Of course I just partied nonstop! Yeah, I had a pretty lady cut my hair, and if it suits me, I’ll keep it like this from now on.”
I forced out my non-existent cheerful side and answered in a way that wouldn’t make them suspicious.
How was that? I think I pulled off the cheerful guy pretty well…
“Mizuno… you know…”
Huh? Did I say something weird? Oh no! Am I done for here?
“Did you change your headband?”
Huh? Change my headband? Oh, really? Did he change his headband after Golden Week? Like switching from glasses to contacts?
Or is that all? Don’t say it in such a serious tone, you made my heart skip a beat.
“I fell in love with it at first sight when I was shopping during Golden Week. It was fate, right? How does it look?”
“It looks great on you. Well, the old one looked good too, though.”
I assume he bought it during Golden Week since he changed it so suddenly.
The fact that no one is suspicious means that everyone’s image of Shota matches my image of him, which is a big relief.
But I can’t let my guard down. I don’t know when my hikikomori side will come out.
“Hey, where’s Saotome? Aren’t you always together?”
“You idiot, we’re not always together.”
Even if we’re best friends, it’s tiring to be together all the time.
“You guys are really close, aren’t you?”
“We’re best friends, after all.”
In a game, maybe we’d be the protagonist and his best friend, but right now, we’re just best friends. We’ve known each other since middle school and went to the same high school.
From there, I managed to keep the conversation going without being suspected for a few minutes. I didn’t know their names, but I managed to bluff my way through. I need to match their faces with their names by tomorrow.
The gap between my past self and my current self is so huge that my head is spinning. I’ll sit at my seat and try to recover before he comes.
But then I realized I didn’t know where my seat was.
Shit, after overcoming one obstacle, another one stands in my way.
“Where’s my seat? I forgot after Golden Week.”
There’s no way I could have forgotten after Golden Week, but I’ll just have to get through it with a smile. I decided to just ask someone.
“You wouldn’t normally forget that. That’s so typical of Mizuno. It’s over there, next to the class president.”
“Haha, thanks.”
Thanks to Mizuno, I managed to get through it! I’m glad Mizuno is such a cheerful idiot.
I managed to steady my unsteady footsteps and made my way to my seat. I guess I’ve cleared the first stage? I praise myself like this to keep my mental state stable.
“Good morning.”
“Good morning, Chairman.”
After putting my bag on my seat, I was greeted by the chairman sitting next to me. In the game, she’s a background character who appears as the “Chairman.”
“I’m collecting the assignments, so hand them in.”
“Assignments?”
There are assignments in high school… Was Shota the type to do his assignments properly?
“What were the assignments?”
“You forgot? The math ones.”
“Oh, right, right. Math, math.”
I reached into my bag and searched for what looked like math assignments.
Nothing here, nothing there, I rummage through my bag, making a mess. I don’t know, but I manage to pull out something that looks like it.
“Uh, here.”
“Hmm. I’ll take it then.”
Phew, I got it right. I relax my tense shoulders.
What the hell is this? If it’s like this, I can’t let my guard down for a second. I’m scared I’ll slip up someday.
In order to proceed according to the original story, I have to be conscious of things other than the original story, or it will affect the original story, so I must not forget that I am Mizuno.
It’s only the first day, and I’m already in a bad mental state, and now the events I’m involved in are about to begin…
“Good morning.”
…Here it comes.
He has the face of a protagonist. When everyone thinks of a protagonist, I want them to imagine his face. That’s the face of Saotome. Ryusei
I wish I were him. If I were him, I could be popular with the heroine.
“Hey, what’s up? I thought you were taking the day off since you’re late today.”
There it is, my first line.
The road to my first line was long. Thinking that all the events up to this point have nothing to do with the game makes me shudder.
“There was someone in trouble.”
“It’s not a girl, is it?”
He has been popular since middle school (without realizing it), so Mizuno, who was standing next to his, immediately suspected it was a girl. He’ll be popular with the heroine too… I’m jealous.
“Does it matter?”
“Of course it does! That feeling is definitely a girl. I’m so jealous. Did you exchange contact information?”
“No, there were some complications.”
“What happened?”
I actually know. This guy is a lucky pervert!
“Come on, that’s enough.”
He appears like a hero in front of a troubled child and Niiro. He takes the child to the police station, which slightly increases her favorability, and the two become friends and decide to go to school together. On the way, he does his lucky pervert thing!
Because of this incident, Niiro sees Satohime as a good person but a pervert.
They end up fighting over this Lucky Pervert incident, and during the introduction of the transfer student, they find out for the first time that they’re in the same class.
It’s a common scene where everyone points at each other and exclaims, “Ahhh!” It’s like the opening theme song would start in an anime.
It may be cliché, but that’s what makes it good. Clichés and classic tropes are the best. This belief has never changed.
Kiiin-kooon-kaaan-kooon
The bell rings, and everyone naturally returns to their seats.
It’s nostalgic. School was like this, wasn’t it? Well, I always sat at my own seat, so it didn’t really matter to me.
“Alright, take your seats. Homeroom is about to start.”
A curvaceous female teacher enters the classroom looking bored. She doesn’t appear much in the game, but she has a huge following among some fans.
“But before that…”
It’s coming.
What do you call this mix of tension, excitement, and anxiety? I’ve seen it countless times in the game, but my palms are still sweating. But maybe it’s because I’m such a fan that the joy outweighs everything else.
“Rejoice, it’s a transfer student!”
“Oh,” the voices of the people in the classroom leak out. It’s hard to believe this was a quiet space just a moment ago.
Of course, there are also voices asking, “Why now?”
“I wonder what kind of person she is”
The class president next to me whispers.
“I don’t know. It’d be nice if she is cute.”
I’m not confident about lines that aren’t in the game. Was I the type to say something cheesy like “cute”?
“Same as always,”
the class president says with a smile.
No, it’s not the same as usual. Mizuno might be more of an idiot and a pervert than I thought.
“Come on in.”
The teacher calls out, and the door opens.
Even though I just saw you a moment ago, you’re still beautiful no matter how many times I see you.
“Nice to meet you, I’m Niiro. I transferred here at an odd time due to my parents’ circumstances, but please don’t mind. We’ll be spending a lot of time together from now on…”
At that moment, Niiro and Saotome’s eyes meet.
““Ahhhhh!!””
Alright, everything is going according to the original story.
I made a fist pump in my mind.
“Why are you making a fist pump?”
“Nothing, it’s nothing.”
It seems I couldn’t contain myself in my mind.
This is it! Without this, it wouldn’t be Tokidoki, would it? Oh no, another fan has appeared.
Since this isn’t in the game or the anime, the opening theme doesn’t play, so time just flows normally.
“You pervert from back then!”
“I told you it was a misunderstanding!”
Saotome’s seat is the one by the window at the very back, which is said to be the protagonist’s seat, so they’re arguing from quite a distance.
“What? Are you two acquaintances?”
“We’re not acquaintances!”
“We’re not acquaintances!”
“You two get along well, don’t you?”
““We don’t!””
Ugh! Their timing is perfect!
Even though it’s a cliché I’ve seen many times before, I think there’s something unique about these two.
“Then, Saotome, use your lunch break and after-school time to show the new student around the school.”
“Why me!”
I’m jealous. If the goddess wasn’t being mean, it would have been me.
“Wait a minute. I’ll have that person show me around.”
Huh?
W-w-w-what’s going on? I’ve never heard that line anywhere in the original story.
Niiro was pointing at me.
But I thought it wasn’t me, so I looked around, and everyone’s eyes were on me.
“Me!?”
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