Chapter 500: I’m the One Who Likes You More
Chapter 500: I’m the One Who Likes You More
Mashiro stayed silent for a long while, just raising her head slightly. Her clear, wet ruby-like eyes gazed up at Himekoji through misty lashes, giving her an ethereal, fragile look.
Himekoji took a deep breath to steady his emotions—
“Let’s walk this path together.”
He repeated the words with a bright, firm tone, his lips curving into a smile once more.
Mashiro’s lips pressed together almost unnoticeably. Still not speaking, she slowly reached out instead—
and tightly grasped Himekoji’s hand.
“Let’s walk this path together”—such moving words made Mashiro’s eyes curve into happy crescents as she finally smiled.
Mashiro rarely showed emotion. The times Himekoji had seen her smile were few enough to count on one hand. Each time felt like a precious, irreplaceable moment to him.
Himekoji believed these moments would only grow more frequent. Because he wanted—no, needed—to see Mashiro smile more!
Expressionless Mashiro was cute, yes. But Mashiro smiling? That was undisputedly the cutest!
Just absolutely, overwhelmingly adorable!
While Himekoji was still savoring the moment, Mashiro asked out of the blue—softly, shyly, yet hopeful—
“Are Akito and I… lovers now?”
“Huh?”
The question caught him completely off-guard.
His first instinct was to say yes. But the System’s “World Reset” option still hadn’t appeared!
Only after that could he properly pursue happiness—the kind forbidden in this world, the kind no one should have to sacrifice.
He couldn’t just abandon people like that. Especially now, when he had people counting on him… people like his child and his child’s mother.
So why hadn’t the System reactivated yet?!
After devouring another system inside the Brave, his energy gauge had hit 100% long ago. By all logic, it should’ve popped up to announce itself. Yet the useless thing remained utterly silent, dormant—asleep again, maybe?
For now, he’d have to stall. Maintain peace in his… complicated relationships until the System bothered to help.
That plan it sold him—where everyone found happiness—had better not be a scam!
This anxious, wishy-washy feeling… Himekoji realized he felt exactly like every love-struck fool he’d ever mocked.
“Akito confessed to me before,” Mashiro added when he took too long to answer, puffing her cheeks lightly, “Up on the Rooftop.”
“The Rooftop…”
Himekoji scratched his cheek awkwardly.
“Back then… I confessed to both you and Nanami at the same time, didn’t I?”
So embarrassing! I want to vanish!
Confessing to two people simultaneously…
Really, that’s something only doable after “World Reset”!
Still, hadn’t he already made up his heart? Whether “World Reset” or “Life Reset,” Himekoji knew his answer.
A life without Mashiro or Nanami? Without Yukinoshita or Yuigahama? Without Kasumigaoka Eriri? Without Rikka, the Lady of the Wicked Lord’s Eye? Without Sensei Hiratsuka Shizuka or Imouto?
A life reset with them erased… What would even be the point?
He owed them everything—his very life was their gift!
“Yes. Akito confessed to Nanami and me together. I accepted. Nanami refused. So now Akito and I are lovers. Akito and Nanami are not.”
Her logic seemed clear-cut, but…
Where do I even begin?!
“What if Nanami changes her mind later?” Himekoji couldn’t stop the frustrated retort.
“Then it depends on how Nanami feels,” Mashiro declared unblinkingly, as if she’d planned this long ago.
“Huh?”
It was so unexpected Himekoji froze for several seconds, slowly untangling her meaning.
“Mashiro… you’re saying…”
“If it’s love, we can work hard and overcome anything together—those were your words, Akito. So we’ll do it together.”
“Together… including Nanami?”
Was that really what Mashiro meant? Or was I twisting it to match my selfish hopes?
His lips trembled. He couldn’t trust his own interpretation.
Mashiro didn’t answer him directly.
“When I wasn’t near you… when you weren’t by my side… I thought a lot. It hurt so much. Nanami must have felt the same. I don’t want to feel that pain. I don’t want Nanami in pain. And I never want you to hurt again. I don’t know what’s right. I don’t know how normal people love. I don’t even know if this is the answer…”
But why…
Himekoji hadn’t even chosen “World Reset” yet.
Yet Mashiro was already speaking like this—like someone granting permission.
His ambitious, greedy, almost impossible dream of making everyone happy… Had its first hurdle truly cleared with Mashiro’s blessing?
Why would such impossible, unbelievable luck fall onto him of all people?
“I only know one thing—I like Akito,” Mashiro delivered her ultimate attack.
Direct hit! Critical damage!
So…
Why?! I still need to know why!
Why would a girl as wonderful as Mashiro ever fall for someone like me?
Was he… the luckiest person alive?
“I—I like you more! Way, way more than you like me! Super-duper mega times infinity much! I like Mashiro the most in the whole universe!”
Flustered, the unbearably cheesy words burst from Himekoji.
“I’m the one who likes you more!”
Mashiro unexpectedly challenged him, stubbornness sparkling in her eyes.
“My like for you… is ten thousand times bigger than your like for me!”
She stretched her arms wide open, her precious gesture trying—and failing—to capture that immensity.
This girl… this Mashiro…
“My like for you is a hundred million billion times more!!”
Beyond words. Beyond numbers. Beyond reason.
…
…