Chapter 98 - Volume 6 (2/2)

“Onee-chan, I’m sorry for bumping into you.”

“…………”

It was Matsuri who had bumped into her, but just from the things that she wore, Matsuri could tell that she had been brought up well.

“……Hey, you.”

“Yes?”

Matsuri, who was in a poor mood after seeing a girl wearing a first-class tailored dress that was nicer than her own, pinched her cheeks.

“Owwie”

“Ara? Oh, so your cheeks hurt if I pinch them.”

“Owwwww it huuuuurts……”

When the girl raised her voice and began to weep, Matsuri clicked her tongue lightly at all of the bystanders’ gazes. “Ara, she fell down and hurt herself……”

So she said, glancing at the boys nearby coquettishly, before instantly fleeing the scene.

“Wh-what, to that extent. I want to cry for the events that aren’t advancing.”

Still, it would have been terrible had either Kouki or Handsome seen it.

Matsuri moved about the place, and when she peeped quietly from the shadow of the table where the dishes were placed, her eyes went wide at the people there.

“Kouki-kun…… and Kako.”

The two of them looked like the perfect couple with their formal wear on. They didn’t look at all like grade schoolers.

The two of them comforted that little girl, with Kako on her knees gently stroking the hair of the girl with a gentle face, even as the girl cried, and with Kouki calmly fussing about Kako.

The voices of the surrounding adults reached Matsuri’s dumbfounded ears.

“Ah, that’s the young scion of the Kuon house. And that pretty young lady next to him is…”

“That’s the daughter of the Shijiyuuin house. They grow up so fast.”

“They’re fiancées, no.”

“Well, for such a beautiful couple, they’re certainly like eye candy.”

“A distinguished young man, and an honorable maiden in love.”

“They’re not just beautiful, but also kind to the children.”

“After the retirement of Lord Kuon, the current household head has been hard at work restoring the family’s power, but it seems that the house is in safe hands.”

“……………”

While she listened to the adults’ gossip, Matsuri ground her molars together at the appearance of the two of them in good spirits.

What was going on? How did this happen? How did the relationship between the two of them develop this far?

“……I am…… the heroine of this world…… but then”

It felt like she had her feelings played by some monster that she couldn’t touch.

“No…… Still, there’s the event in junior high school…… there’s still Handsome-kun.”

At that time……

Matsuri heard a noise from the corner of the hall even as she walked while muttering her grievances under her breath.

“Did something happen?”

“Oh, it seems that the scion of Nikuno has his fiancée standing with him.”

“I saw her. It was a pretty child.”

“Did she reveal herself for the 70th anniversary? It gives a sense of security for the next generation.”

“……………eh?”

Matsuri panicked at the rumors that she heard and turned to look at the commotion.

“Wh-why……?”

The fiancée event should still have been far away. Even if the event came early, Matsuri was supposed to be chosen as the fiancée, and such a thing couldn’t be happening.

As Matsuri looked towards the center of the commotion from the gaps between the adults, she saw that between the presidents and his wife and Handsome, there was a girl holding his hand.

“……Mob-girl…”

That girl, who Matsuri had watched when she came to Takamine School, was a child who had an adult-like appearance, who looked very beautiful despite being a dullard, and because she didn’t ever act against Matsuri, she had been one of the mob characters that Matsuri intended to use as her crony to capture her targets.

“W-what’s that girl’s name!?”

Matsuri asked as she clung onto a man next to her.

The man, thinking that she was the daughter of someone involved, grimaced at Matsuri’s attitude, but answered her.

“She…… is the daughter of Director Toukaki, Yuzu, wasn’t it?”

“Yuzu……!”

Although she didn’t appear in the game, Matsuri remembered that in the setting materials for “Nikuno Handsome”, that was the name of his first love.

“……Yu……zu……”

Was Yuzu lying to Matsuri all this while…?

But from her foolish attitude with regard to Matsuri, it seemed more likely that Kako was behind it instead of her, and she thought that Kako had gotten them together to get in Matsuri’s way.

However, she wasn’t intending to forgive Yuzu either.

“……I won’t forgive you. Both of you.”

Matsuri ran out of the hotel venue and walked through the city at night.

In her chest, she embraced the boiling anger and hatred that was like a smelter furnace burning within her……

Even if she had the memories of her previous life, it was no good for a fifth-grade girl, who was powerless, to walk alone.

Towards the pretty-looking Matsuri, a malicious adult crept closer.

“Yes, that’s right! Ahahahahaha!”

Matsuri who recalled a certain sentence in the setting laughed out suddenly.

The biggest reason for Handsome to believe that he was cursed was because his childhood first love had fallen sick when he had entered junior high.

“Yes, Yuzu should get sick as soon as possible, in fact, even sooner! Heeheehehe”

“O, oi, ojou-chan”

“Shut up!”

Matsuri, who had been interrupted, hit the neck of the man who had been behind her, and he crumpled down, staggering to the floor as he stopped moving.

Why could Matsuri do such a thing?

The bones of the fingers that Matsuri had used to hit him were also broken, but Matsuri kept laughing without minding it……

“I’ll kill you, Yuzu.”

Her eyes were stained with desire and madness, as if possessed by the same thing as the attackers who had tried to attack Yuzu.

Author’s Notes:

It’s feeling serious now.

The story starts to move.

Next time, what exactly influenced Matsuri?