Chapter 17: Bad Girl in Action
A few days after Nagi’s visit to the Shirakami Shrine.
Nagi’s personal route plan was progressing methodically.
In the original of “Star Pull 2,” there isn’t a personal route for Hoshimiya Nagi, as she is one of the protagonists played by the player.
There is no scenario where a male protagonist can pursue a female protagonist.
Therefore, Nagi had to design her own pursued route from scratch.
She intended to tackle it in three parts.
The first part was to create distance from Kanade.
From the day Nagi left early from the self-research club, she stopped commuting to school with Kanade as she used to, maintaining only minimal communication with him at school.
The second part was to intentionally appear very popular in front of Kanade, ensuring that she was always surrounded by others.
Because of the curse, being alone would raise Kanade’s concerns, causing her to prematurely retract the flag she had set.
Thanks to the friendships she made to prevent school bullying incidents, Nagi ensured she could always interact with others in plain sight of Kanade.
The third part was to occasionally leave some clues revealing her true self.
Her current persona was the childhood friend who didn’t want Kanade to notice anything unusual about her.
But if she played her role too perfectly and Kanade and others failed to perceive any abnormality, it would become a solitary performance.
She had to leave some hints for Kanade and others to notice her difference.
For example—
“Good morning, everyone~”
Nagi’s clear and bright voice accompanied her radiant smile and charming figure as she appeared in the classroom.
Her sunny demeanor swept away the gloomy atmosphere in the class.
Kanade, sitting at his desk, couldn’t help but glance over.
For the past few days, since Kanade didn’t have to take a detour to pick up Nagi for school, he arrived in the classroom earlier than usual.
He had always entered the classroom alongside Nagi, but this time he had the opportunity to observe how Nagi’s entrance transformed the entire class’s atmosphere from the sidelines.
“Good morning, Kanade-kun.” Nagi nodded slightly as she passed by Kanade’s desk.
“Good morning…”
But Nagi didn’t wait for Kanade to finish and walked straight to her desk.
As soon as she sat down, a few enthusiastic and cheerful girls approached her to greet and chat.
Nagi’s delightful laughter rang out frequently.
However, a hint of undeniable gloom was hidden within her smile.
—That’s good enough.
Kanade thought to himself, turning his head to look out the window.
This scene had been unfolding every day for the past few days.
Since the day Kanade explicitly expressed his intention to put some distance between himself and Nagi.
Nagi seemed to be cooperating, increasing the distance between them.
At school, they seemed to revert to the unfamiliar “classmate” relationship.
Apart from brief greetings as they passed each other, they had virtually no other interactions at school.
In the past, Nagi would always come to chat or have lunch with Kanade during breaks or lunchtime.
But in recent days, whenever break or lunchtime came, Nagi was nowhere to be seen in the classroom.
However, a popular girl like Nagi often had people inviting her to lunch, so Kanade didn’t think much of it.
After school.
Kanade arrived at the self-research club as usual.
The difference was that Nagi was not by his side.
Nagi hadn’t shown up at the self-research club for quite some time.
Since that day, Nagi had been skipping the after-school club activities.
And the self-research club’s publications, which recorded “Supernatural Phenomena: Shy Doki Doki-chan Observing You in Secret (Part 2).”
In the past few days, Kanade and Chika had meticulously searched through all the self-research club materials but found no trace of her.
Given the age of the issue numbers of the self-research club publications, losing a few here and there wasn’t strange.
“But why is it that specifically the one recording Part 2 is missing?” Kanade felt this seemed a bit too coincidental.
“Tsukimi-san… Is Hoshimiya-chan not coming today?”
Chika, seeing Kanade enter without Nagi, appeared slightly disappointed.
“Yeah… It seems she has plans to hang out with a second-year senpai after school…” Kanade explained with a sullen expression, though he actually knew the reason Nagi wasn’t coming to the self-research club.
—She doesn’t want to be with me.
Unlike in the classroom, if Nagi came to the self-research club, she would have to face him directly.
From Kanade’s observations over the past few days, it was evident that Nagi was trying to avoid him.
—Little Nagi is such a kind person; she must be considering my feelings, right?
—Once I find a solution to the curse, maybe I should just quit the self-research club?
Unlike Nagi, who loved supernatural things,
Kanade had no strong feelings towards them; he neither loved nor feared them.
If being in the self-research club meant that Nagi couldn’t participate in her favorite club activities, then he might as well just quit…
“Then… let’s go get the keys from the teacher first, and then head to the materials room?” Chika said as she stood up.
The publications issued by the self-research club were once submitted to the school as results of club activities.
So there might still be drafts from those years stored in the school’s materials room.
Chika had mustered the courage a few days ago to submit a request to the teacher for access to the materials room.
Today, the request was finally approved.
“Okay, thank you, Amiya-senpai… Let’s go.”
On the way, the two walked in silence.
But Chika’s expression was quite conflicted, as she seemed to hesitate over whether to ask some questions.
As an observer, Chika was adept at sensing the atmosphere between others.
It was clear that something had occurred between Kanade and Nagi, leading to Kanade’s current sullen demeanor, while Nagi had been skipping club activities after school.
Yet she was also conflicted, as she was still an outsider to them…
“Ding~”
The charm in Chika’s pocket jingled due to her steps.
This reminded Chika of the former president of the self-research club, who had once helped her overcome her shadows, and now she was the president of the self-research club herself…
Taking a deep breath, she halted in the corridor and turned around.
Kanade, walking behind Chika, also stopped, looking up in confusion, meeting Chika’s light blue eyes.
“Tsukimi-san, my next question might be a bit intrusive…”
Chika gathered her courage and slowly asked, “Is there something happening between you and Hoshimiya-chan?”
Kanade’s gaze shifted uncomfortably; he replied, “No… nothing happened…”
But Kanade’s reaction clearly implied that something was indeed wrong, making Chika more certain of her suspicions.
“Tsukimi-san, could it be that you…”
—It seems I really can’t hide it?
Kanade thought to himself.
After all, someone as passionate about the supernatural as Nagi
would previously rush to the self-research club right after school every day.
Suddenly, from one day onwards, she had become absent without leave.
Regardless of how outsiders looked at it, they would surely think it was a quarrel with her childhood friend, wouldn’t they?
“Could it be that you… couldn’t help but… do it with Hoshimiya-chan that night?”
“…… What? No, wait!?” Kanade suddenly raised his head.
What greeted his eyes was a blushing Chika.
“Wow… So, it really is like that!!!” Chika covered her blushing face with both hands.
“No, no, no! It’s a misunderstanding! It’s not what you think!?”
Once Kanade’s brain comprehended the implications of Chika’s words,
his face turned red at an observable rate.
“You’re lying, because Tsukimi-san, after staying overnight with Hoshimiya-chan that night, the atmosphere between you two suddenly became awkward the next day…”
“No, no, no! Although it sounds like that’s indeed the case, the truth is definitely not what Amiya-senpai thinks!”
“Not what I think… Could it not be mutual feelings? Or is it that Tsukimi-san couldn’t help but unilaterally—”
Chika’s expression looked as if she had suddenly understood something, as though connecting the dots.
“So Hoshimiya-chan hasn’t come to the self-research club these past few days?!”
“Why has it turned into this kind of explanation!? Chika-senpai, please calm down first!”
This is the corridor; if the story of “Tsukimi Kanade” forcefully taking down “Hoshimiya Nagi” spreads, Kanade might just be buried underground by wrathful boys from the whole school the next day.
