The Heroines Want to Confess

Chapter 460 460: Their First Encounter

At night.

A gentle breeze blew.

Fujiwara Chika had a bit of trouble sleeping, so she went out to the beach, lightly took off her shoes, and felt the cool seawater.

She gently kicked the sand, enjoying the sensation of the fine grains brushing past her toes.

'Just what do I have to do to take that step?'

She raised her head and looked up at the moon.

Kaguya-san is a Princess from the moon; even if she is imprisoned in a lonely palace, a prince will still come to rescue her.

As for herself… she is just an ordinary girl.

A coward in that year's confession battle, someone who didn't even dare to seize the initiative.

She had always waited for Saki-kun to make the first move, waiting all the way until now.

Those foolish actions she showed in front of Sakurai Saki—aside from a small part that was innate, most of it was an act after all—how could anyone really be that stupid?

Being able to get into Shuchiin, there was no way she was an idiot~

But still, the atmosphere last night was really good.

Next, Sakurai Saki would take the initiative to confess to her...

Chika was really looking forward to it.

So much so that she couldn't sleep tonight.

Suddenly, the sound of footsteps came from behind.

"I've been looking for you everywhere."

Sakurai Saki walked toward her from the sand.

"...?"

Fujiwara Chika turned her head. The thin white jacket on her body fluttered lightly with the sea breeze, bringing a sense of openness in that instant. Her shoulder-length pink hair covered half of her small face, then quickly fell back down.

The moonlight was bright and clear; the pale white glow poured down and gathered on her body, while the surface of the sea shimmered with silvery light.

"Can't sleep late at night?"

"Because I'm thinking of someone, so I can't sleep."

"Let me guess, that lucky person..." Sakurai Saki pointed at his own face, smiling as he said, "Is it me?"

"That's right."

A faint smile bloomed at the corner of Chika's mouth. She tucked a few mischievous strands of hair behind her ear, incomparably beautiful.

Sakurai Saki slowly took off his shoes and stepped into the water.

The seawater at night was rather cold.

"Let me prepare myself a bit before confessing, okay?"

"Sure." Chika saw his slightly flushed face under the moonlight.

So it turns out Saki-kun can get shy too?

After the waves washed over them a few times...

"May 9th last year, Chika, do you remember it?" Sakurai Saki slowly raised his head and looked straight into her beautiful blue eyes. Damn it, taking the initiative to confess for the first time really was embarrassing.

Even Sakurai Saki, who had experienced so many things, couldn't stop his heart from pounding.

Chika tilted her head, placed a finger at the corner of her mouth, and recalled with a dazed expression: "That was the day I confessed to you, right?"

"I already said it back then, you once beat me."

...Huh?

"On the very first day of school, actually, we had already met."

Eh!

That can't be possible?

Chika snapped back to her senses, covering her mouth with both hands in disbelief. Her heart beat much faster, and a light blush spread across her fair face.

She remembered.

"Chika." Sakurai Saki softly called her name, his voice gentle. "If developing goodwill the moment it's born counts as losing, then perhaps I lost this game called love a very long time ago."

A complete defeat.

"That day…"

...

April 5th, the opening day of Shuchiin.

As an aristocratic school for wealthy young ladies and young master, Sakurai Saki standing in front of the school gate looked truly out of place.

He raised his hand and rubbed his hair.

It had been two months since his last haircut, long enough that it was about to cover his eyes, but Sakurai Saki didn't care. He didn't concern himself with how ordinary people looked at him—ants that could be crushed to death with a single step weren't worth paying attention to.

In the first year after escaping from the organization, Sakurai Saki was still a person cold to the extreme.

If it weren't for his foster mother being overly clingy, making him feel annoyed during puberty, then no matter what, Sakurai Saki would never have run all the way from distant Kyoto to Tokyo's Minato Ward just to attend school… and even more so under the identity of a transfer student.

Dividing people into higher and lower classes, in Sakurai Saki's eyes, these peers of the same age were truly boring.

"First-year student, would you like to consider joining the basketball club?"

The enthusiastic female manager of the basketball club handed Sakurai Saki a flyer.

"Mn."

Sakurai Saki politely accepted it, saying nothing more.

He had no interest in clubs—or rather, no interest in social interaction.

"Such a headache…"

After walking a few steps, Sakurai Saki crumpled the flyer into a ball and threw it into the roadside trash can, then sat down on the bench next to the trash can to rest.

A side effect of overly powerful abilities.

He couldn't create emotional fluctuations that were too intense, otherwise problems would occur.

[Today's Superpower: Tsukumogami Conversion.]

[Effect: You can transform items you touch into Tsukumogami-like spiritual existences that will obey your commands. Note: must be used in conjunction with the ability to see spirits.]

[Side effect: Your sense of direction will become extremely terrible.]

'When will this damn side effect disappear?' Sakurai Saki held his forehead. More than once, he had thought about removing the seal—powerful people sealing their own strength was really too showy.

But if he removed it, this world would be affected by the power overflowing from his body.

For example, if the time-type ability within him overflowed, it was very possible that a situation like today being January 20th, and tomorrow suddenly becoming March 21st, would occur…

In this world, there were still at least a few people he cared about and wanted to protect—compared to hurting them, Sakurai Saki felt that letting himself suffer alone was still acceptable.

"Classmate, aren't you going in?"

"..." Sakurai Saki raised his head to look at the person who spoke to him.

Short blond hair, sharp eyes, looking somewhat tired, with heavy dark circles under his eyes.

Shirogane Miyuki… that seemed to be the name.

Last semester, Sakurai Saki had already looked through the student list and memorized everyone's faces.

He lightly shook his head, rejecting Shirogane Miyuki's kindness.

"The opening ceremony is about to start."

Seeing that he didn't move at all, Shirogane Miyuki kindly reminded him once, then quickly left.

After he left, Sakurai Saki rested for a few more minutes.

When the headache eased a bit, he stood up.

'West… which way is that?' Sakurai Saki casually chose a direction and started walking.

Wandering around, because of the side effects of his superpower, in a completely directionless state, he was utterly unable to find the location of the auditorium.

The more he walked, the fewer students there were around—probably because of the opening ceremony, everyone had already gathered in the auditorium.

He continued along the small path ahead, and very quickly arrived near an unopened entrance of Shuchiin.

'Wrong way.'

He tilted his head and began thinking of a solution.

Maybe I should just find someone to lead me over?

"Y-you you you!! Help, help me!"

Suddenly, a voice so weak it sounded on the verge of tears rang out. Sakurai Saki looked left and right.

"Over here! Look up!"

"..." Sakurai Saki raised his head, his face full of question marks.

Huh?

Why is there someone up there? That fence is a full five meters high.

"Save me~"

Faced with the girl's cry for help, Sakurai Saki turned around, intending to leave—he was an Esper without emotions.

"I've already been waiting for half an hour… don't leave~" The girl tightly grabbed the iron bars, her eyes turning slightly red.

Sakurai Saki stepped back a few paces, turned around, then raised his head to look at her.

Leaving just like that seemed a bit too heartless. Might as well help her a little.

Without thinking much, Sakurai Saki spread his arms.

"Jump down."

Sakurai Saki said to her.

"It's too high though?" The girl—who was precisely Fujiwara Chika—lowered her head to look down. A distance of five or six meters… would it really be okay to jump?

"Trust me."

"But it's really high."

"I'll catch you. I won't let you get hurt."

"You better not lie to me."

Fujiwara Chika trembled all over, aimed at the spot, and decided to trust that "hentai protagonist" with super long hair covering nearly half his face down below.

She closed her eyes.

Imitating a diving posture, Chika jumped down.

With a thump, Sakurai Saki caught her in his arms, then stepped back and gently spun twice.

"Gyaaaa——!! …It doesn't hurt at all?"

Fujiwara Chika slowly opened her eyes. The first thing she saw was Sakurai Saki with his bangs completely covering his face, which startled her badly.

She stepped out of his embrace.

After catching her breath, Chika scratched the back of her head and said with a silly smile, "Sorry, because I was late, and there were guards at the main gate, I planned to climb over the wall and go around to the back entrance, but… I wasn't careful and couldn't get down."

"Mn." Sakurai Saki didn't really mind.

He asked, "Can you lead me to the auditorium? I got lost."

"Sure."

Fujiwara Chika laughed foolishly. "Ehehe, turns out there's someone as dumb as me."

To actually get lost in a small place like Shuchiin.

"Follow me."

Chika walked in front to lead the way, with Sakurai Saki following behind.

A few minutes later.

Chika turned her head back and discovered that at some point, Sakurai Saki had wandered onto another path, so she jogged back over and pulled him back.

"That's not right, don't just walk around randomly."

Sakurai Saki: "Oh."

Then Chika continued leading the way, but unfortunately, because Sakurai Saki's sense of direction had become far too terrible, even with someone guiding him, his feet still refused to cooperate.

And so, dawdling slowly toward the auditorium, by the time they arrived—

The opening ceremony was already over.

Fujiwara Chika stared blankly and sighed, "Ahaha… it actually ended already."

Sakurai Saki didn't really care; it was just an opening ceremony.

But he still had something he was a bit curious about—

"Why didn't you just leave me behind and go by yourself?"

If Fujiwara Chika had abandoned him and gone on her own, she would surely have arrived smoothly.

But she didn't do that.

"Because you saved me."

Fujiwara Chika gave him a radiant smile.

The April spring breeze lifted her long cherry-pink hair. In that instant, by the boy's ears, the noisy chatter of students, the school's loudspeakers, the cherry blossom petals falling from the trees—everything around them seemed to come to a halt.

"Oh right, you should go get a haircut. It's too long."

"Is it a problem?"

"Umu, I can't even see your face anymore."

Only when the girl spoke again did time start flowing once more.

Sakurai Saki smiled at her:

"Umu."

...