Chapter 15: Beautiful girl in cardboard.

Translator: Soafp

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[Natsuko PoV]

My name is Noguchi Natsuko. I am an ordinary high school girl. I’m waking up Gindou-san, who just fainted.

“Gindou-san!　It’s okay!”

“……”

　Her soul is missing!　Her mouth is open and her eyes are unfocused. She’s been like this since she saw Kuroda-kun and Hihara-Senpai leaving together.

“Gindou-san!”

“Ha!”

　She finally regains consciousness when I shout loudly enough. When she regained consciousness, she immediately started to pack up her belongings.

“Gindou-san, where are you going?”

“I have…… to take care of some business.”

“Are you going after them?”

“…… yeah, well…”

　Surprising. She doesn’t admit her fondness for him, but she seems to readily admit it here. No, she can’t afford to worry about it now, right? She hurriedly got up from her seat and left the classroom.

Now …… I’m going to go after her. I packed my bags and followed her.

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　She is following them, hiding in the shadows about ten meters away from Kuroda-kun and Hihara-Senpai. She pokes her head out and stares at them with her gaze fixed on a single point. So she is following them like a double-tail.

　I also see Kuroda-kun and the others talking happily. I can see her teeth chattering as she watches them.

　I didn’t have that impression of Hihara-sensei. I had an image of her being quieter, but she must have a good relationship with Kuroda-kun to be able to talk like that. I don’t really know what they are talking about.

At this rate, he’ll be taken in good by Hihara-senpai, who came out of nowhere. Gindou-san is not going to be left out of the game forever.

“Um, can I have this cardboard?”

“Haa. That’s fine……”

　She acts in an oblique manner. She probably wants to get closer and eavesdrop on their conversation. She got a large cardboard box from the grocery store and went into it and approached them at once.

　The distance of about ten meters is suddenly halved to about five meters. Everyone who passed her in the cardboard looked back at her. It was amazing in many ways that they looked back at her even in her plain form and even when she hid.

It would be normal for people to notice if someone was following them in a cardboard box, but those two were so engrossed in their conversation that they didn’t notice. Gindou-san was close enough to hear their conversation, and she kept walking around by their side, but then the unexpected happened.

“What is thisss!!”

“Amazing!”

“The cardboard is moving!”

She was spotted by a group of small children. Elementary school kids?　It was the end of the school day, and they were probably in the middle of playing together.

“Ora ora!!!!”

“Super kick!”

“Ouch, that hurts!　S-stop it~~~~!!!!!”

S-she is being bulliedーー!　They’re kicking and punching her!

　I have to be the one to go here!

“Hey, hey, you guys can’t do that!”

“Eeh. This is where the fun begins.”

“Yeah, yeah.”

　He is quite contentious with me. I guess elementary school students these days are so cocky.

“Uu~~. It hurts. ……”

　Even though I couldn’t see her while she was still in the cardboard, I could easily imagine her in pain with teary eyes. Fufufu. I’ll do something about it!

“Look, I’ll give you a candy bar. Let her go.”

　I offered the children a candy bar that I usually carry with me.

“I-It can’t be helped”

“I’ll let it slide.”

“Be thankful. Cardboard Fiend.”

I gave them a candy bar, and they left.

“Are you okay?　Gindou-san?”

“Natsuko-san!　Why are you here?　I mean, how did you know it was me?”

“Various coincidences. ……”

“I see. Thank you for your help.”

“Don’t worry about it. But they’re gone. Are you okay with that?”

The rush of kids was on, and while I was talking to her, Kuroda and Hihara went on ahead of her. They are still within sight, but they are much further away than before.

“Ah!! Well, excuse me!”

　She started moving again. After a while, Kuroda-kun and Hihara entered the bookstore, and Gindou-san took off the cardboard once and went into the bookstore.

[This one, for example, is good.]

[Come to think of it, I’ve heard it’s interesting.]

“……”

I had an impression that the two of them were two-dimensional lovers. This is something that Gindou-san won’t be able to step into. ……

I’ve seen Gindou-san reading a novel, but it was a serious-looking book, not a novel.

I guess she couldn’t talk about it even if she wanted to. She looks kind of lonely. ……

　It would be sad if the person who has been next to you all this time suddenly disappears. There may have been many conflicts, but to Gindou-san, he is the most important person in the world, so she probably wants to be next to him. Loneliness overflows from her. Wanting to be close to him, I decided to call out to her.

“Gindou-san!”

“Natsuko-san!　You’ve been following me!”

“I guess so……”

“Can I help you?”

“Well, you know. I was trying to help Gindou-san.”

“About what?”

She is conversing with me, but her gaze goes to the two of them over there. And she looks at them with some envy and sadness. I was so moved now that I couldn’t imagine what she was normally like. Before, she was an icy person with an average response to everyone.

　But now she is clumsy but healthy and hardworking.

　But this is her nature.

“It’s love.”

“Fueee?!”

　Her white skin turns a beautiful red. The change is easy to see because of her beautiful skin.

“I’ll help you. Until Gindou-san’s love comes true.”

“No, I’m not in love with …….”

　I take her hand. She reacts hypersensitive.

“!…..”

　She looks a little surprised and a little scared at the same time. I don’t know if I can step into her at once here. But I wanted to be friends with her, pure and straight, in the true sense of the word.

“I promise you. I will cooperate with Gindou-san’s love all the way until it comes true. So, trust me.”

“……”

Gindou-san’s hands were shaking a little. She turned her eyes away for a moment. But then she turned to me. There is no perfect trust. Her eyes were somewhat mixed with suspicion, but there was a little bit of hope.

“Uhm, I don’t know if I can suddenly believe everything you say, Natsuko-san, but will you still cooperate with me?”

　Her smile was somewhat faltering. Trust is not a hundred percent, maybe not even thirty percent, maybe not even ten percent.

“Yes, of course.”

–But maybe now we are in a relationship where we can say we are friends.

“All right, then, let’s get to the observation.”

“Observation?”

I told her what we should do first, while watching the two of them who were still excited in front of the book.

“Yes. Observe Kuroda-kun and see what kind of things resonate with him.”

“I see.”

“From there, consider effective means of love for him.”

“Hooo~~~. I see.”

　She sounded impressed. She doesn’t know anything about romance, so I’ll pull her along here.

“As you can see, Kuroda-kun seems to be fond of novels, so why don’t you try reading some of them, too, Gindou-san?　I think it would be a good idea to create a topic of conversation with Kuroda-kun first.”

“A novel…..”

“Maybe, but Gindou-san doesn’t know much about it at all, right?”

“I know a little bit about it. The term ” novel” is an abbreviation for light novel, a genre that is more easily accessible than regular stories and preferred by the younger generation, right?”

“Well, you can say that.”

I may have never met someone who explains novel in such a polite way. I guess she’s never read a novel, she’s so serious and doesn’t seem to play anime or video games.

“Have you read them, Gindou-san?”

“No, never…”

　I knew it. She’s always reading the most serious and difficult things.

　What was it?　The title of the book Gindou-san always calls it. Ah!　I remember now.

　It was “Constitutional Reform Starting from the Ground Up”. Yeah, it has nothing to do with novels.

“For now, I recommend ‘The Failure of Magic Academy’.”

“Is that the one Izayoi-kun always read?”

“That’s right. As expected, you noticed because you always see him reading it.”

“Ah, no, I mean …… yes…….”

　I know she says that there is no need to hide it since we are already cooperating with each other, but I was so happy that she told me about her secret that my cheeks relaxed a little. And then I continue to explain to her who is looking embarrassed.

“‘The Failure of Magic Academy’ is incredibly popular, you know. I haven’t seen it myself, but I often hear that it’s really interesting.”

“Is that so?”

“As part of the overall plan, buy and read ‘The Failure of Magic Academy.’ Then, approach Kuroda-kun with a common topic of conversation. That’s all.”

“Understood. I’ll give ‘The Failure of Magic Academy’ a try.”

　As she was making up her mind to buy the book, Gindou-san’s eyes changed color. The reason is Kuroda-kun.

　He is holding a book and thinking about something. He’s pondering quite deeply, isn’t he?

[Izayoi-kun. You are thinking about something, right?]

[Yeah… Is it a conflict?　Is there something in that book that you are thinking about?]

　After a while, Hihara-senpai calls out to him and brings him back to consciousness. The two of them head straight to the cash register.

“Let’s go ahead of them.”

“Yes, that’s fine. Perhaps …….”

　We went into the cardboard box. Well, it was expected. This is actually pretty embarrassing to do.

　While I was thinking about that, the two of them came out. I sneak up on them to listen to their conversation.

　Even after they came out of the bookstore, the conversation did not stop.

　And then,

[Right, ah! let’s exchange contact information!]

[S-Sure. I’d appreciate it.]

“C-Contacts?”

“Calm down. Gindou-san, you can get it later too”

She started to get upset, probably because she was jealous that she didn’t have it.

[If anything happens, make sure to contact me!]

[Y-yes]

Ara, Kuroda-kun, you are getting embarrassed. It’s true that Hihara-senpai is cute. But this.

　I may have found it. An easy way to get Kuroda-kun off.

　After that, Kuroda-kun bumped into our cardboard box, which was too close to him, and he was suspicious for a moment, but he left immediately. As soon as he left, I got out of the cardboard.

“Contact information….”

“Don’t worry. Just ask him tomorrow.”

“I’ve been with him for a month and she’s been with him for one day…… .”

“Come on, cheer up. I may have found a way to get Kuroda-kun to fall in love with you.”

“R-Really?”

　She switches quickly!　That’s what’s so good about her!

“In the meantime, let’s go buy a copy of “The Failure of Magic Academy”. I’ll talk to you while you buy it.”

“Yes!”

　We went back into the store and headed for the novel section where Kuroda-kun and the others were. The novels were lined up by publishers.

　I wondered which one was “The Failure of Magic Academy”?　Ah, there it is.

“Here, this one!”

“Thank you very much. Let me read the synopsis.”

　I handed it to her and immediately started reading the synopsis. I could see through her wish to have something in common as soon as possible.

　She frowned as she read.

“What’s wrong?”

“I see that this book contains stories about a world where there is magic. ……”

“It has magic in the title”

“If you think about it, that means this story is about a different world, right?”

That’s true even if you don’t think about it.”

If she’s a serious person, perhaps she isn’t interested in this kind of isekai story. In that case, maybe a modern-themed light novel would be more suitable… Well, I don’t know much about them either, to be honest.

She thought the other world would not suit her, but her next words showed that she still had an oblique view of the world.

“In an isekai world where magic exists, it means the story takes place in a completely different culture that has developed through the use of magic, which is governed by unknown laws and phenomena yet to be explained by science… It might be nearly impossible for me to discuss this story as a topic of conversation, given my limited understanding…”

　Don’t think that deep！！！！！

Novels can be read casually. She just said herself that it’s easy to read.

It’s true that the principle is not well understood, but it’s okay if you just have a vague idea of what it is.

“I don’t think you need to think that deeply about it. Why don’t you try reading it with more ease?”

“Right. I’ll try to read it without thinking too much.”

With a difficult look on her face, she bought a volume of “The Failure of Magic Academy”. Then she left the store and walked on her way home. Holding a cardboard box.

“So, that method I mentioned earlier about getting Kuroda-kun to fall in love with you.”

“Yes!”

“Kuroda-kun, he’s not immune to women.”

“??”

　She tilted her head as if waiting for my next words.

“Hey, if Gindou-san were to make some calculated moves, you could easily manipulate Kuroda-kun like a puppet.”

“Calculated moves?”

“It’s about making guys feel fluttery involuntarily.”

“And you think that would work?”

“Well, let’s see… For example, maintaining eye contact from up close or asking in an overly shy manner if he has a girlfriend. Acting provocatively and creating a commotion around here with a teasing attitude.”

He’s completely defenseless. Although he may have hidden it well, today’s actions have exposed him completely. It could be partly because of his reaction to Hihara-senpai’s cuteness, but it’s not just that. It’s my intuition, but I sense there’s more to it.

Well, immunity or not, it doesn’t matter for Gindou-san. If she was serious, there wouldn’t be any guy who could resist her. She just doesn’t know the right approach.

“I understand. It’s a bit embarrassing, but I think I’ll give it a try…”

“Sure. If anything happens, let me know, and I’ll help you navigate through it.”

“Thank you!”

“Can I ask you one thing?”

“What is it?”

“What would you do if you managed to make Kuroda-kun head over heels like a puppet?”

　What will she do if that happens?

　Would she go out with him normally? Or will they become a sticky lovey-dovey couple? If that happens, I wish them a long and happy life.

“Right….Fuhihi”

　Eh?　What is she going to do?

“If I were able to make Izayoi-kun completely infatuated like a puppet, I might tease him with provocative gestures and attitudes for a while, as a way to make up for the attention I didn’t receive before.”

Hmm?… It might be a bit scary after all. Huh? did I make a mistake in my upbringing?

With her beauty, she might be able to do it, but if that were to happen, Kuroda-kun would be completely helpless and end up chasing after her like a dog. It’s a little pitiful, isn’t it?

　Well, I don’t expect everything going to be easy because of her personality.

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