CH 213

My aunt caught me skipping tutoring and forcibly took me to the Kurumizawa family.

Today was Saturday. It’s the weekend, but I couldn’t sleep well and was at home, when my aunt unexpectedly came.

“You have to keep your contract. If you have any complaints, I’ll hear them later. Let’s go for now.”

I was taken away by force and taken to the Kurumizawa family.

I never thought I would meet Ryoma Ryuzaki at the Kurumizawa house.

(What was he doing here?)

We passed each other, exchanged a few words, and turned our backs.

After only a few exchanges, I already knew.

(He’s back to his old self… What happened?)

The scruffy, uninspiring jerk from a few weeks ago is no more.

I felt a strong will from the current Ryuzaki.

It’s not the same as before. His aura was more awe-inspiring than before.  I was intimidated by such a “specialness” that made me feel how small I was just by facing him.

I was even awe-struck by his appearance as an imposing “protagonist-sama” …, perhaps because of my nature as a mob character to begin with…

(I feel something is different between yesterday and today…)

There is a sense of discrepancy.

I feel a huge gap between yesterday and before and after.

I can’t put it well, but … there was a change.

The trigger for this – I guess it was her after all.

(Did it all start to happen after you met Shiho again?)

I feel like the story accelerated quickly when that girl came back to the scene.

I felt as if various foreshadowing lines were beginning to be recovered, even though they had been goofy up to this point.

It was as if my eyes were being drawn into the text that had been slipping my mind before I knew it.

It was as if, when I thought the story was boring, I immediately became focused on it and lost track of time.

I can’t help but feel that there is such a change.

(What about Kurumizawa-san?)

I wonder if she, too, has changed in some way.

Like Ryuzaki, I wonder if something is happening in a place I don’t know about that is causing her to change.

To confirm this, I hurried to her house.

“Good morning, I’m Kururi’s friend.”

I call out over the intercom at the door.

Come to think of it, I should have called her even at the gate, but the gate was open just in time for Ryuzaki, so I was just entering the premises.

So it seems that my visit was sudden for the Kurumizawa family.

“Please wait a moment, I’ll check with the young lady.”

But since I was acquainted with the servants, they were polite to me.

Perhaps she had informed Kurumizawa-san of my visit. As I waited, the door suddenly opened.

“Nakayama! What’s the matter with you?”

That face… it seems to be impatient.

“No, I missed yesterday’s tutoring session, so I … came here today instead.”

“Oh, that’s right… I’m sorry to bother you.”

…Hey?

After all, she’s acting strangely.

She is clearly in a hurry.

Her eyes were shaking violently, just like a child’s when caught in a lie.

(I think this may be the first time I’ve ever seen Kurumizawa-san so distraught.)

Whenever she exchanged words with me, she was always calm.

She was always calm, checking my every move, choosing the most appropriate words and actions for each word and deed, and cunningly hunting me down.

I even thought she was like a snake.

But now she didn’t look like that at all.

“Hey, hey …, um, did you, by any chance, pass someone else?”

Why was she so perturbed?

I immediately sensed the reason why she was.

“Yeah. I passed by Ryuzaki.”

I called out his name.

Then Kuruizawa-san staggered as if dizzy and leaned against the door.

“…It’s different.”

“Huh? What?”

“I didn’t do anything with him. I just happened to meet him on the road, and he saved me when I was almost run over by a car, and he was injured at that time, so I treated him for that, and then…”

Without even asking, Kurumizawa-san suddenly explains what happened with Ryuzaki.

Seeing her like that,… I knew it was strange.

(Just like Ryuzaki…, Kurumizawa-san is also strange.)

The expectation turns into a certainty.

Something is definitely going on.

A story I didn’t understand was being spun somewhere after all…