The intense hatred and murderous intent are almost palpable.
And no wonder—they’re all guys who’ve been rejected by Kurashiki at least once.
Kurashiki Hotaru—a beautiful girl who’s kind to everyone, charming, and oddly close in a way that’s hard to pin down.
Her actions stem from a calculated mindset of, “Being nice costs nothing, and it’s not like I’ll be inconvenienced if the other person likes me too much.” But while she’s not bothered, the guys around her are.
To put it bluntly, they get the wrong idea.
The result is an endless hell of confessions for Kurashiki.
The frequency? A terrifying “more than twice a week.”
Just the other day, I witnessed three guys confessing to her at the same time.
I used to marvel at how such a thing could exist in real life, but now I realize I’m getting caught in the crossfire.
After all, I’m the guy who spends the most time with Kurashiki Hotaru—Amamori Yuuto.
“Why him…?”
“Why was I rejected…?”
“Damn it! I’m so jealous… switch seats with me, Amamori!”
The eyes say more than the mouth ever could—or so the saying goes, and I can clearly feel their jealousy.
…Why is it that this girl can reject so many guys without earning a single grudge? Normally, you’d expect the rejected guys or the girls in their squad to hold some resentment, but… honestly, the depth and breadth of her social connections are unfathomable.
“I mean, I’m kind of trying to prepare seriously here, so…”
While I’m lost in thought, another arm reaches out from the gap on the other side of the seat.
She snatches the materials I’m holding and pulls them into the space between the seats.
I instinctively turn around to see Kurashiki standing up with a smug look on her face.
“Fine! I, the aspiring novelist Kurashiki Hotaru, shall read it out loud for you!”
I have a bad feeling about this. She walks over to the front of our seats.
Without asking for permission, she adjusts the movable armrest and squeezes herself between me and Asahina-san.
…Ugh, she’s soft, smells nice, and the guys are glaring at me like they want to kill me… Is this girl doing this on purpose!?
I lean back further, and Higarashi-san across the aisle twitches her cheek.
“Sorry… I’ll move seats right away, so please don’t sue me for harassment. I’d lose.”
“No, no, it’s not that… You guys are just way too close, aren’t you?”
Kind-hearted Higarashi-san says that, but while she and I might be okay with being sandwiched between girls, the guys in class definitely won’t let it slide.
I stand up, flip down the auxiliary seat in the aisle, and sit there instead.
On the other side of the aisle sit the remaining members of the Literature Club:
Manabe-kun, Ishino, and Tendou-san.
…Well, being sandwiched between girls hasn’t really changed since Tendou-san is next to me, but I figure this is still better than the previous seat. I cross my arms and settle in.
“Ugh, Amamori-kun! It’s such a shock that you keep running away from me like that!”
“Alright, alright. Save that kind of physical contact for some other guy.”
When I said that, Kurashiki puffed out her cheeks with a “Hmph!”
Her adorable reaction made the boys in the class crack smiles. But.
(Tch, that coward ran away. I was just about to socially destroy him.)
Since I could see her true intentions so clearly, I couldn’t find even a shred of cuteness in her.
(Stop it, Kurashiki. Just because you can’t beat me physically, don’t try to socially ruin me.)
If you go around crying about how “Amamori-kun sexually harassed me,” any trust I have in you will sink to the bottom of the ocean. Not to mention, I might lose all my human rights in Class C.
I gave her a mixed look of exasperation and a subtle eye contact. Maybe it was my imagination, but it seemed like a vein popped on Kurashiki’s forehead.
(Huh? Who said I can’t beat you physically? Have you lost your mind, you claw-head freak?)
She smiled sweetly. I smiled back.
(You’re the one who can’t beat me physically. Face reality, you split personality.)
Though we didn’t have the telepathic connection like Kurotsuki, our complex eye contact conveyed our thoughts perfectly.
Wait… is this mutual understanding? Yay, it seems we both hate each other!
Her hands trembled as she gripped a booklet.
(…I’m going to kill you one of these days.)
READ THE ORIGINAL TRANSLATION AT GADGETIZEDPANDA.COM
Kurashiki spat poison behind her smile, while I snorted silently behind my blank expression.
She seemed to realize it was pointless after seeing my face. It looked like she’d given up on socially destroying me.
“Fine, whatever. I’ll explain everything to you, Amamori-kun, since you probably haven’t read anything.”
Kurashiki held up the materials she’d snatched from me and began explaining the details of the upcoming Conflict.
I stopped my little spat with Kurashiki and shifted my focus to the Conflict.
“First, the stage for the Conflict is the [Underground Ruins] owned by the academy… You already know that, right?”
“…Yeah, it’s been the talk of the school.”
Survival in underground ruins? What is this, some kind of game?
Apparently, the battlefield for this Conflict between Class C and Class B will be a vast underground ruin beneath the academy.
“It says here that the ruins stretch for about ten kilometers in total. There’s a simple map included, but it’s basically a combination of large halls and pathways. The halls are about a kilometer long each.”
“…That’s a pretty serious ruin.”
I’ve never heard of such a massive ruin being discovered underground in Japan. Depending on the circumstances, wouldn’t this thing be eligible for cultural heritage status or something?
“Is it really okay to fight in a place like that?”
“Well, why not? It’s clearly stated that the academy owns it.”
As she said that, she showed me the page where it was indeed written.
Next to it was the map Kurashiki had mentioned earlier, and I quickly memorized the layout.
“Here, Amamori-kun, take this!”
What Kurashiki handed me was a small postcard-sized piece of paper.
On it, there were only two fields: [Name] and [Starting Point]. Recalling the map, I noticed that each room and pathway was numbered.
“This came with the booklet at the end! If you write your name and the starting point number, they’ll use some kind of teleportation ability to send you there when the Conflict starts!”
“I see.”
I took the paper from her and pulled a pen from my chest pocket.
“By the way, Asahi. What’s Class C’s starting point?”
“You’re not very surprised, are you? And my name is Asahina.”
Asahina-san was staring at me suspiciously.
…Whoops, I might’ve brushed it off too casually.
Actually, I’d already gathered some information about the teleportation.
Since I already knew about it, I couldn’t really act surprised now.
“At this school, it’s not surprising to have one or two people with abilities like that.”
“…I suppose. Kurotsuki-kun can do something similar, after all…”
As she said that, Asahina pointed to a spot on the map.
I checked the number she indicated and quickly wrote it down on the paper.
I folded the paper so no one could see the contents, and Asahina seemed relieved as she took her finger off the map.
“Thanks, Amamori-kun.”
“Even I understand the danger of letting Class B know our starting point.”
This Conflict becomes much more challenging because neither side knows the other’s location.
According to the rules proposed by Shinzaki, each student would be randomly teleported, and battles would start as soon as they encountered each other. However, since that would leave too much to chance, Class C managed to add the right to choose our starting point to the rules.
But there’s a [cheat] that becomes possible because of this.
“That’s right… Like starting in the same room and launching a surprise attack, or securing a strategically advantageous position… Knowing the other side’s location makes a huge difference.”
“Exactly, Hotaru-san. We absolutely can’t let the enemy figure out our starting point.”
Looking ahead, Shinzaki seemed to be paying attention to us as well.
While we’re supposed to fight fair and square, if the enemy’s location is easily discovered, we’ll use it without hesitation. After all, it’s their fault for not controlling the information properly. I have no complaints.
“You just need to keep that paper on you. The academy’s ability users will automatically assign you, so there’s no need to submit it or anything.”
“Hey, Amamori, the rest of us have already filled ours out. What are you doing now?”
“Didn’t we set up a communication network? Who was supposed to tell Amamori about this?”
Voices came from the front seats—Sakuma and Karasuma.
Also check out my friend Localizermeerkat for more LN translations!
BUY THE SOURCE MATERIAL TO SUPPORT THE AUTHOR !!!
Kindly click on the green button above and contribute to filling the green bar if you’re interested in having another LN from the request page translated. Also, every donation is being used to purchase the source material and to fund more English translations.
Please consider joining my Ko-Fi membership. By becoming a member, you’ll also gain access to 2-10 additional chapters of all of the novels from this site translated into English. Last but not least your support will also assist me in upholding the translation quality and speed. For more information, please follow the link.
Donation for faster release is always welcome
Additionally, I am now accepting translation requests.
