Chapter 47: If We Were Never Lovers to Begin With

***

Standing on the bustling street, with the cool evening breeze blowing as dusk approached, Xiao Chun Miura felt as if she were dreaming.

Not long ago, Kanzaki Sou and she had walked to the fork in the road outside the shopping plaza. To get to the station, Kanzaki Sou left in a different direction from Xiao Chun Miura.

“Be careful on your way home——If you have any more questions about the Midterm Exams, just message me on LIME like I told you.”

“Then I’ll go ahead, Miura-san.”

Kanzaki Sou told Xiao Chun Miura this before leaving, then smiled, turned briskly, and disappeared into the crowd.

Xiao Chun Miura watched Kanzaki Sou’s back as he walked away, quickly fading from sight.

***

Then, even ten seconds after Kanzaki Sou had gone, the girl was still standing there

She called up the Goodwill Interface uncontrollably.

[Kanzaki Sou’s Goodwill toward Kondo Haruka: 48]

It wasn’t until she saw the information on the Goodwill Interface that Xiao Chun Miura slowly and deeply exhaled.

***

Only by seeing this could Xiao Chun Miura steady her emotions again.

Only by seeing Kanzaki Sou’s Goodwill toward Kondo Haruka could Xiao Chun Miura recall her own situation at this moment.

Even though the number had changed, it still hadn’t returned to the previous peak of 50.

But Xiao Chun Miura knew this was just a false sense of stability.

“Once Sports Day arrives, everything will change drastically.”

When that day comes, if you don’t work hard or take the initiative, nothing matters.

***

Whether it’s returning to the Real World, or spending the remaining years in this world.

The girl stood quietly on the street as crowds passed by her.

But in her mind, only the back of Kanzaki Sou, who had just left, lingered.

***

Monday morning.

With faint dark circles under her eyes, Xiao Chun Miura arrived at school.

After parting with Kanzaki Sou, for the rest of the weekend, Xiao Chun Miura had felt uneasy.

The chance meeting on Saturday allowed Xiao Chun Miura to see another side of Kanzaki Sou in private.

He was more talkative than at school, his demeanor softer, his personality more humorous.

Being with Kanzaki Sou in the bookstore and dessert shop made Xiao Chun Miura feel even more strongly that his kindness seemed capable of accepting anyone.

And the more she sensed Kanzaki Sou’s gentleness and tolerance, the less able Xiao Chun Miura was to see matters involving Kondo Haruka and Kanzaki Sou as simple.

Her mood had changed a little.

Compared to before, when she forced herself to “see people in the Game World as NPCs”……now Xiao Chun Miura’s mindset leaned more toward——

“Is there a way to achieve my goals without hurting them?”

She had thought of countless ideas to interfere with the relationship between Kondo Haruka and Kanzaki Sou.

Some methods were objectively despicable; some simply made Xiao Chun Miura herself uncomfortable.

But she knew she couldn’t do nothing.

To survive, she had no choice.

——Xiao Chun Miura was putting too much pressure on herself.

All of this had remained unchanged……until Saturday morning, when Xiao Chun Miura racked her brain over whether to use LIME to check Kanzaki Sou’s feelings. Her mood had not improved.

——Until she ran into Kanzaki Sou by chance.

To Xiao Chun Miura, meeting Kanzaki Sou unexpectedly was like facing a great enemy. But in the end, she found that to him, their contact was just a normal occurrence.

He neither distanced himself because of Kondo Haruka’s attitude, nor was he inattentive just because they had only recently met.

Xiao Chun Miura understood.

This was Kanzaki Sou.

Through this encounter, Xiao Chun Miura confirmed his attitude——her mood finally settled, and her mindset shifted.

——I should be like him, too.

Kanzaki Sou didn’t see the matter between himself and Kondo Haruka as a harsh, two-sided dilemma. That was why he could show his tolerant side and communicate calmly with both.

Even if one side was a Childhood Friend of many years, stubbornly unreasonable by virtue of their relationship, and the other was a recently acquainted, introverted, shy Library Committee Member.

Because from his position, he could show his attitude steadily to both sides…whether it was Kondo Haruka or herself as Xiao Chun Miura—two completely different people—both could feel his stability.

That’s why he’s the Main Character.

Since from her perspective, those Heroines had already claimed their seats beside the Main Character, Kanzaki Sou.

She, not seen as a Protagonist, could only work hard to secure her own place.

——Just like Kanzaki Sou, the Protagonist of the Game World.

I have to be the Protagonist of my own story.

If I don’t act with that mindset, I can’t go on.

So Xiao Chun Miura made up her mind.

Precisely because Sports Day would come right after the Midterm Exams.

She needed to clarify “Kondo Haruka” as soon as possible.

Not with the mindset of treating Kondo Haruka as an enemy, nor as a dilemma involving her, Kanzaki Sou, and Kondo Haruka.

But to find the right path to a solution for herself, to act like Kanzaki Sou—like a Protagonist.

She needed to understand Kondo Haruka.

Her feelings for Kanzaki Sou, her mindset toward herself.

——If she didn’t understand these, there was no way to talk about intervening in the relationship between Kondo Haruka and Kanzaki Sou.

Yeah.

Xiao Chun Miura understood.

——Because if she didn’t, Kanzaki Sou would never accept it.

If she tried to affect their relationship through other means, Kanzaki Sou would surely see through her intentions.

If her actions weren’t based on understanding Kondo Haruka’s feelings—

Then, as her Childhood Friend, Kanzaki Sou…

Would never approve of what she did.

So, once Xiao Chun Miura understood this, a new idea came to her.

Kondo Haruka—a Heroine she never truly understood in the game.

To prevent her and Kanzaki Sou from becoming a couple.

Before Sports Day arrived, she had to figure it out.

——Where exactly is the flaw in the feelings between Childhood Friends?

If their love was unbreakable, maybe she’d just give up.

But.

Xiao Chun Miura now had a strong hunch.

Even ignoring the original game’s storyline…at this point in the story, during the Midterm Exams, Kanzaki Sou had no romantic feelings toward Kondo Haruka at all.

Even the feelings Kondo Haruka had for Kanzaki Sou—

There might be a degree of misunderstanding.

This was just Xiao Chun Miura’s guess, still unconfirmed.

But this growing intuition, ever since her encounter with Kanzaki Sou, had been knocking more and more loudly in her heart over Saturday and Sunday.

Because of it, she hadn’t slept well for two days.

But it also brought her inspiration.

——Someone like Kanzaki Sou, who could show such tolerance to her own introverted self—

Would he really be more willing to show affection toward someone as lively as Kondo Haruka?

As she pondered this, Xiao Chun Miura yawned, waiting for noon to arrive.

The work of the Library Committee Member wasn’t over yet.

——She would meet Kanzaki Sou in the library today, too.