Chapter 28 - The Moment of the Mob Heroine's Graduation
We finished checking in with the teachers at the faculty office. Although there was a bit of a scene where Mogami-san's homeroom teacher was completely baffled by her new look, and my homeroom teacher gave me a light lecture for skipping class, we still managed to get everything settled.
I had expected the faculty office to be empty since it was class time, but for some reason, it wasn’t. Just my luck.
Because of that small delay and our short chat with the teachers, it was already close to lunchtime by the time we were done, so we hurried toward the classroom.
“I-I wonder if everyone’s going to look at me weird… Uuu… I’m so nervous my hands are shaking…”
“You’ll get used to it soon, so don’t worry. There’s no need to care about what other people think.”
"...You're right. Yeah... you're right."
I gave her some encouragement and walked a few steps ahead to lead the way. If I let my guard down, she'd try to slow down, but she was doing her best to keep up so she wouldn't be left behind. Or, no... maybe she was trying to use my back as a shield, to hide from everyone's stares.
(Yeah… people are definitely staring.)
I'd felt the stares as soon as we entered the hallway. Since it was lunchtime, the halls were packed with students. As we cut through the crowd, everyone's gaze was undeniably fixed on the person walking behind me.
“Eh? Who’s that girl?”
“I don’t know. Never seen her before.”
"Isn't she super cute?"
I could faintly hear the girls whispering among themselves. And of course, all of it was positive. See, Mogami-san? You have nothing to worry about.
“Uuu… If you weren't here, Sato-kun, I would have been so nervous I might have thrown up..."
That being said, Mogami-san had always been a naturally reserved person to begin with. While you could consider this a positive change, she probably hadn't grown accustomed to this much attention yet. Well, she was going to see plenty of it from now on anyway, whether she likes it or not. I guess it's just a matter of her getting used to it, bit by bit.
“If you weren’t with me, I don’t think I could even walk right now, Sato-kun. D-Don’t go too far ahead, okay?”
"It's fine. I'm right here."
...Although, I was only escorting her as far as Class A's room. But I kept that to myself. I figured she'd probably be too nervous to walk if I told her.
The moment she walked into that classroom, Sanada would definitely notice her. Maybe I should wait until their encounter, and then slip away without a word back to my own class, Class D.
We walked for a little while as I was thinking that over. Finally, we'd arrived at Class A.
And now... the story was finally beginning.
“Thanks for walking me here, Sato-kun.”
"Yeah. Mogami-san, take care—"
Take care.
Two simple words. Yet, the story wouldn’t even let me say it.
“Who… are you?”
The instant Mogami-san stepped into the classroom, a male student approached her.
He had short black hair, a clean-cut and a refreshing appearance, and a slightly muscular, athletic build. He had an aura that set him completely apart from me and every other guy in the school. His name was Sanada Saiga. He was the protagonist of this world.
…It had been a long road, but at last, the story finally circled back to the beginning. No... perhaps everything up to this point was just the prologue. The "preparation" phase, not even worth mentioning in the real story. That is because… the main story starts here.
"You're... M-M-Motokawa, right?"
Before summer break, no one besides me had ever called Mogami-san by her name. Even if someone did talk to her, they always got her name wrong like this. But now, she wasn’t the same girl she used to be.
“No, that’s not it. It’s Mo... Mogami, right? You’ve changed a lot.”
Sanada had called Mogami-san by her name. And what that meant was... she'd been acknowledged. It meant she'd been chosen... as one of the heroines surrounding the protagonist, Sanada Saiga.
…Having seen things unfold this far was enough for me.
(Mogami-san… no, Mobuko-chan. I hope you’ll be happy from here on out.)
I cheered for her in my heart and then quietly decided to leave the scene.
Alright. With this, my role was over.
From now on, I’d go back to the ordinary days of simply watching over my beloved character.
—Just like the time before I was reincarnated into this manga.
