“As I’m sure you’re aware, team performance affects not only your grades at the academy but also your future prospects after graduation. Also, once a team is formed, it cannot be dissolved without special circumstances, so think carefully. The deadline is two weeks.”
With that said, Tachibana-sensei leaves the classroom. After that, the classroom became absolute chaos. Everyone stood up freely and gathered together, chatting enthusiastically about this and that. With students able to team up from other classes too, there was active movement between classes.
……Me? Same as always. Without talking to anyone, I hold firm at my seat. I wish a meteor would fall on the classroom right now.
Well, it can’t be helped. I’d already made my peace with this happening the day before. The teacher might be absent, but it’s still technically during class, so I can’t escape to the rooftop either. In that case, all I can do is minimize my presence and endure until the next class starts. Thinking that, I was about to put on the headphones hanging around my neck to retreat into my shell when—
“Oi, Yukiharu.”
—I was called out to, and I dropped the headphones in my hand without thinking. Being called out to by someone was such an abnormal occurrence for me.
Surprised, I looked up, and there stood my friend absolutely overflowing with protagonist attributes—Watagaya Touji.
“You know, I’ve been thinking about this for a while now……”
Saying that, Touji seems about to tell me something. Or rather, with him calling out to me at this timing, there’s only one possibility for what he’s about to say. And just as I predicted, Touji speaks those words.
“Want to team up with me?”
Touji places both hands on my desk and stares seriously into my eyes. His expression is completely serious, without even a hint of joking around.
…………Which is exactly why I doubted my ears. Are you serious, you idiot???? ……No, it’s not that I don’t want to team up with Touji.
Touji still treats me as a friend without any change, even though I put distance between us on my own selfish terms, and he invites me to “Let’s go eat ramen, bro!” about three times a week. ……Though I wouldn’t mind if it was more like once a week.
Either way, I do genuinely feel happy that Touji is inviting me to his team like this.
But far more than that happiness, my heart is now overwhelmed by absolute confusion. And that’s because—I’m being glared at with a terrible expression by Touji’s harem members. Obviously, it’s me they’re glaring at.
This is scary. They could probably kill someone just by glaring. Well, it makes sense that they would. Touji’s harem members number five people. But these five are only limited to this class. It’s easy to imagine that there are others from different classes, upperclassmen and underclassmen, and he’s creating local wives everywhere he goes.
I’m getting off track. Basically, the moment I team up with Touji, given that the team limit is set at six people, one of the harem members will end up odd one out. If that happens, a war over the heroine position will definitely start, with the stakes being dropping from main wife status. They’re already having occasional friction from the main wife wars, so please spare me.
“Oi, Yukiharu.”
It’s not “oi,” dammit. Why don’t you notice the killing intent from those heroines?
“Hey, Touji… could you turn around for a second?”
“…………?”
I’m implicitly trying to make him notice the heroines’ killing intent, but—
“……What? I don’t really see anything……”
This dense protagonist, seriously. Well, if he could notice it, we wouldn’t be in this situation in the first place. What should I do about this……
“If we team up together, I’m sure we could even handle A-rank missions.” “I think we could aim for the top in team rankings.” “Since I learned we could form teams in second year, I’ve always wanted to team up with Yukiharu.” “We’d definitely build an amazing relationship.” “So Yukiharu! Let’s form a team together!!”
……Isn’t he being a little too desperate? This is kind of scary. He’s got the exact same intensity as when he’s trying to court a heroine, you know. What is driving you to this point?
Look at that. The heroines behind me have hardened their expressions even more.
[What? You’re refusing, right? Obviously, right?] [You’re not actually accepting, are you?] [I’ve never been told something that enthusiastic before…] —I can almost hear those words.
They wouldn’t actually saying it out loud, but there’s definitely a possibility of me getting ambushed at this rate.
“Uh, well, sorry but… could you form a team with someone else?”
While feeling heartbroken, I reluctantly refuse Touji’s invitation. Then Touji’s face goes into disbelief, and he presses me.
“Why are you refusing?! Do you already have someone you want to team up with?!”
“It’s not that……”
“Then why?! Is there something wrong with me?!”
“There’s nothing wrong with you, Touji……”
Actually, now that I think about it, this whole mess is Touji’s fault. I maintain my determination and refuse.
As a side note, days later, one of the heroines who had been glaring at me gave me some snacks. Just from that, I forgot my anger at being glared at so unreasonably and got a little too excited. I think I’m quite the pushover.
READ THE ORIGINAL TRANSLATION AT LOCALIZERMEERKAT.GITHUB.IO
-Student Council President
Just as general schools have all-school assemblies, this ability academy also has them. And right now, standing on the platform and drawing attention from all the students is the third-year female student council president, who opens her mouth.
“As the ninety-ninth student council president, I announce the holding of an all-school ability duel tournament, and I promise that the academy will award prize money to the excellent performers!”
The students erupt at the president’s announcement, and many raise their fists to express their joy. As the gymnasium’s energy reaches its peak, I think to myself.
This academy’s student council president has some serious authority, huh. Well, I guess it’s fine to hold an event as a student council-sponsored project.
But offering money? That’s a no-go. What do you think an educational institution is? Plus, the fact that a single student can make such a decision is pretty crazy. And if the academy is offering prize money, doesn’t that mean some of the tuition fees might be going toward it…?
No, that’s not something I, someone who has their tuition waived, should be speaking up about. Yeah, let me keep quiet.
Either way, the fact that the student council president can unilaterally make such decisions shows just how strong her authority is in this academy. Building new facilities, changing prices at the shop—that’s just the beginning. She even has the authority to freely give or revoke a student’s expulsion or suspension.
Last year, when Touji punched a notoriously bad-tempered teacher and was about to be expelled, the student council president stepped in, canceled Touji’s expulsion, and even pushed that teacher to resign. That’s terrifying.
By the way, the fact that this student council president is a member of Touji’s harem has nothing to do with her reasons for canceling his expulsion. Got it?
After the all-school assembly ends, I head back to my classroom while examining the paper that was just handed out detailing the “Ability Duel Tournament.” I said various things earlier, but honestly, I love these kinds of things—manga-style ability tournaments and strongest-person contests.
Because of that, if this was actually going to happen, I’d naturally want to participate. I don’t think for a second that someone as weak as E-rank me could win, but just competing would be a nice memory.
With that in mind, I look at the details—and there it says: “Eligibility: D-rank and above.”
“…………………………Tsk.”
I threw the paper I was holding straight into the trash with all my strength.
Visit the request page If there’s a Japanese Light Novel (LN) or Web Novel (WN) you’d like me to translate
When the donation goal progress bar above hit 100% one novel will be chosen for translation
| Table of Contents | Next* |
Support the Author by Buying the Original Books!
