Chapter 303: Liking Someone Isn’t Anyone’s Mistake
Chapter 303: Liking Someone Isn’t Anyone’s Mistake
After school.
Himekoji arrived outside the art room as promised. Mashiro was waiting inside for him.
Should he go in?
Help Mashiro finish that painting, find the answer together with Mashiro.
Should he really do it?
“Whoosh—”
Since he promised, then there was no backing out.
Himekoji took a deep breath and pushed the door open.
…
After school.
Nanami was urged by Hiratsuka-sensei to go to the Service Club, the girl’s hesitant hand trembling slightly as it touched the door handle.
Should she push it open?
Even if it was Hiratsuka-sensei who told her to come here…
But—
Could Yukinoshita help her? Could the Service Club help her?
Her problem was definitely not about studying.
It was far more troublesome, complicated, and difficult than studying.
Even if she requested their help, it was unlikely the problem could be solved.
Some things, apart from yourself, no one else can do anything about.
Besides, it wasn’t that big a deal.
Thinking this, Nanami wavered.
By nature, she was a strong and independent girl. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have argued with her family about pursuing her dream of becoming a seiyuu and stubbornly persisted all this time alone.
Her own matters—if she could avoid involving others, she would.
If she could handle it herself through effort, she would do so.
“Whoosh—”
She suddenly pulled her hand away from the doorknob. Aoyama Nanami instead gave her own cheeks a few firm pats.
“Stop overthinking things, Nanami!”
“What’s all this indecisiveness about? This isn’t something you should be worrying about right now.”
“Work part-time. Save enough for rent to move out of the Himekoji household! Practice. Focus and prepare seriously for this month’s Seiyuu Midterm Performance Showcase! That’s what you should be concentrating on!”
After this stream of self-talk, her mind finally settled. Nanami gave herself a big, encouraging smile.
However, this smile lasted less than half a second—
“Yikes! I’m running late for my part-time job!”
Stamping her foot in a panic, Nanami turned and ran, vanishing in a blur.
That door, ultimately, remained unopened.
Aoyama Nanami was still working hard today, overloaded, straining her young body to its limit.
She still hadn’t realized what her real problem was.
…
Dinner time ended.
Akiko and Mashiro each returned to their own rooms.
Mashiro worked on her manga, while Akiko was busy with something mysterious lately. Strangely, she didn’t even pester her Onii-chan anymore.
As for their other lodger, Nanami, she simply didn’t come back for dinner. Again. This had happened for several days in a row.
During this period, Nanami had become extremely driven.
Probably because the Midterm Performance Showcase was approaching?
June twentieth.
Thinking of that, it wasn’t hard to understand.
The moment to test the results of her long, persistent effort had finally arrived. Feeling nervous was unavoidable.
Facing this tension, the strategy Nanami adopted was to work even harder.
The harder she worked, the calmer she felt; the harder she worked, the more reassured she became. That was basically what Nanami believed.
“She better not overdo it and get hurt.”
Himekoji shook his head, stood up, and put away Nanami’s portion of dinner, planning to reheat it when she came back.
After tidying up the dishes, he also retreated to his own room.
…
The days passed one after another.
During this time, Himekoji’s life was pretty relaxed.
Attend classes during the day, be an art model after school. The perverse choices triggered from time to time were all completed—hair-raising moments included, sometimes even with a small group of bold boys and girls actively cooperating.
Yes, active cooperation! Actively!
Heaven finally favored him!
Since when could being a pervert be like this?
Compared to his previous miserable days, there was just one word for it: awesome!
The only drawback was that this “awesomeness” wasn’t actually under his control.
Earlier, I used the phrase “sometimes”. That was deliberate. “Sometimes” really meant when his “Pervert Charisma” worked…
It was unreliable. On and off.
Recently, Himekoji had experienced this far too many times!
When a task triggered, his charm was unstoppable.
Doing perverted things became ridiculously easy. The other person not only didn’t get angry but acted coy and actually seemed to want to play hard to get.
If he encountered someone even bolder, they might even turn the tables. Spouting nonsense like “it’s only polite to return in kind,” they would reverse-“pervert” him right back.
Even though Himekoji felt this completely shattered morals and was ridiculous, the task ultimately became easier for him. He was practically the one benefiting. So, gritting his teeth, he threw away his psychological baggage.
Unexpectedly, every single time he finally managed to convince himself, shed that baggage, and lowered his guard, the “Pervert Charisma” would abruptly and completely fail him.
It was operationally useless—like a pile of dog poop!
Himekoji later found out from the System that at the moment the “Pervert Charisma” failed, for unknown reasons, a bug would occur—
His charm stat would reset to ZERO!
So, he’d instantly revert back to his true self. Argh!
The person who had just been passionately playful with him (half-pushing, half-playing!) would suddenly flip out.
Without a word, they would slap him across the face.
Shouting “Pervert!” once wasn’t enough to vent her anger. Following the shout, a fierce kick aimed squarely at Himekoji’s family jewels came next.
They said “Infinite Charm” and “Zero Charm.” Just one word difference, but oh boy, the gap was massive! Really vast! Saying it was sky-and-earth different wasn’t even stretching it!
Before, in the girl’s eyes, Himekoji was shining like the sun. Whatever he did to her was looked upon as an honor, a privilege. Even if this thinking kind of put herself down, she just liked it. She couldn’t help being drawn in by his charm; she willingly threw her shyness away.
But now…
She instantly felt she’d been totally fucking blind before! What kind of bullshit storm must’ve messed with her head to let this pervert do as he pleased? She got so damn angry she felt like bashing her head into a wall!
But then she thought, dying like this would be a huge loss.
So, just let this pervert die instead! Save others from his trouble!
With this back-and-forth clash, feelings got way too strong. Even this normally quiet girl, no surprise, woke up the violent feelings hidden deep inside – she started punching and kicking Himekoji.
[Ding!]
[Task complete!]
Himekoji took every hit until he heard this sound. Only then did he dare let out a breath. Without a word, one hand covering his crotch, the other shielding his face, he turned and ran.
Besides a bruised, swollen face, it was actually pretty relaxed… um, comfortable.
Truth was, Himekoji didn’t exactly hate being hit or yelled at.
First, he’d endured so much already it didn’t matter; he was almost numb to it.
Second, he’d done plenty of bad stuff himself, so this sort of beating actually made him feel less guilty.
…
Month fourteen as a pervert, and Himekoji’s reputation at Toyosaki Academy experienced its most dramatic split ever.
Those who liked him would say: “Okay, he steals Underwear, harasses people, does sexual stuff, likes lolis… but we know he’s a good guy.”
Those who disliked him? They just called him Pervert! Pervert! And Pervert!
Stealing Underwear, harassing people, sexual stuff, liking lolis – what part of that screamed ‘good guy’?!
…
Another funny thing: the people who liked Himekoji usually had super firm beliefs. Just like those crazy believers from the “Loli Cult,” they stuck with him firmly from start to end.
But the people who disliked him? They were fickle and changed their minds all the time.
One second they couldn’t stand the sight of him. The very next second, like a switch flipped, they’d be staring at him with sparkly pink hearts, plastering themselves onto him.
They practically wished they were the target of his Underwear stealing, his harassment, his sexual stuff.
“Go on! Treat me rough!”
Their eyes were full of that kind of hunger.
This kind of hunger lasted either long or short, arrived suddenly, and vanished even more suddenly. It could be replaced instantly by another kind of hunger—
“Beat him to death!”
…
This was Himekoji’s June: he was sort of living it up, yet also living in fear. It was like being caught between fire and ice.
June nineteenth, clear sky.
Himekoji finally couldn’t take those moody, awful girls anymore. He’d had enough; he decided to change things.
He hadn’t opened the System interface in ages, but now he finally called it up again—
[Amazing 10-Draw Gacha!]
[Monthly Quests!]
[Stock Market!]
The three big features that popped up after the System upgraded to 2.0, features he’d only used once or twice before tossing aside.
…