I Became a Beautiful Girl, but I’m still an MMO Junkie

Chapter 88 : Returning To Trauma

Since seeing Akane-chan among the girls, my thought process momentarily stopped.

“Hey, Yuji…you’re completely surrounded!”

“Matoi-kun, hand over the hostage quietly… Wasn’t that?”

“Don’t say anything that will provoke him!”

“Her safety is at stake, you know!?”

“Well, we have no choice. It seems like Matoi-kun is in big trouble!”

“Anyway! Yuji! Calm down and hand over the girl!”

The voices attacking Yuji around me snapped me back to my senses.

I watched as the swimming club members and the girls from the brass band slowly approached us, cautiously opening the balcony door. Akane-chan looked worriedly at their movements from inside the classroom.

“Y-Yuji didn’t do anything wrong! He’s my friend!”

I shouted out in defense of Yuji. The students who had come closer to me for a moment stopped moving. I took that chance to run away from them.

“Yuji didn’t do anything wrong! We’re just friends, it’s nothing! It has nothing to do with you guys!”

Pushing aside the surprised onlookers, I made a mad dash to escape the classroom, trying to avoid Akane-chan. Just being around her made my heart race and my breathing difficult.

Then, the memories came flooding back – the humid evening sun and the stench. To escape them, I kept running.

“Yuji, do you enjoy taking advantage of such a young girl’s weakness?”

“You’ll pay for this! Lolicons must be punished!”

“I am innocent!”

“Matoi-kun, you’re the worst!”

“Take this! The butterfly punch taught by the swimming club!”

“And here’s the crawl chop!”

“The diving headbutt!”

Although I heard some commotion behind me, at least Yuji’s misunderstanding was resolved.

Desperate to get away from Akane-chan, my heart pounding and struggling to breathe, I ran down the hallway.

“Haa…haa…”

I finally made it to the corridor, holdinlg onto the helm of the unfamiliar habit I was wearing.

If I could just get here, everything would be okay.

I slowed down my pace as my legs felt like they were about to give out and I staggered along.

‘Why was Akane-chan at school during summer vacation? She wasn’t supposed to belong to any club activities and had no reason to come to school. So why…’

To catch my breath, I leaned against the wall, trying to hide from the sun’s rays. Then I realized that this spot, which was hidden from the outside in this corridor, was the place where I had made my embarrassing confession to Akane-chan.

“Ugh, what kind of punishment is this…”

Even though I had unconsciously come here, I couldn’t help but complain. The trauma of that time, with Akane-chan’s surprised face, came vividly to mind. But I took a deep breath and calmed my agitated emotions. Anyway, I had to leave this place quickly and go back to my sister’s.

“Um, are you okay?”

But fate was cruel. A voice like a rolling bell was directed at my back. I wanted to run away, but I wanted to hear that beautiful voice even more. These conflicting desires whirled around in my head, and I couldn’t do anything.

“Are you lost?”

The girl quickly walked around in front of me, making a small sound with her indoor shoes, and sat down, lowering herself to my level. She looked worried as she asked me if I was okay.

“I’m a student at this school. My name is Akane Miyanouchi. If you don’t mind, you can call me Akane Onee-chan. It would make me happy.”

She seemed a little anxious, but she was trying her best to be friendly and kind. She had chased after me, worrying about me, even though we were strangers.

“Um, is that outfit… are you a sister?” She looked at me with her jet-black eyes. Cute, kind, worried. Various emotions surfaced in me, but as I looked at her up close for the first time in a while, I felt like there was a great distance between us since the day I confessed to her and embarrassed myself. It was a painful feeling… But I realized once again that I loved Akane-chan so much that I was about to cry.

‘Hmm… This situation is definitely bad.’

“I’m sorry for suddenly talking to you like that, it was my fault,” said Akane-chan, looking worried as my eyes began to well up. She gently took both of my hands in hers.

“I’ll always be here to support you. I’m by your side, okay?”

I didn’t know how to handle this. Holding hands with Akane like this was making me feel so happy, but there was an awkward tension in the air and my mind was blank.

I couldn’t just say something like “Hey, it’s me, Jintarou!” That would only confuse Akane-chan. I was already feeling overwhelmed.

“Um, are you okay with being called Sister-chan? Or are you maybe related to someone in the school?”

I finally had to speak up, realizing that staying silent won’t help. I couldn’t keep burdening her like this. I’m a man, after all, I need to act with dignity!

But even as I scolded myself, my mouth felt heavy and hard to open.

“Yes…” It wasn’t a total lie, since I was affiliated with the school, as a current student.

“Oh, so it’s true that our school’s president made donations! That must be the connection to the chapel being built on campus!” Akane-chan’s smile was blindingly beautiful and it made my body sway.

“Are you okay?” Akane-chan caught me as I stumbled, but that only made things worse.

Her pleasant shampoo fragrance tickled my nose and it was hard to deny how much I enjoyed it.

‘I should ask my sister later what kind of shampoo to buy. But that’s not important now. I need to stay focused!’

My mind was screaming for me to regain my composure, but my body wouldn’t listen.

“Hmm, did you say something?”

I felt like a pervert. Quickly, I shook my head to deny it.

“I wonder if we’ll have morning assemblies and prayers like they do at religious high schools?” Akane tried to find a common ground and ease my tension. It was not normal for someone like me to be at this school, so she was trying to make me feel more comfortable by ignoring the oddities and slowly finding out more about the situation.

‘If I had something I wanted to ask, It would be why Akane-chan is coming to school during the summer vacation…’

“Aka…”

I swallowed the words I was about to say.

With the way I am now, speaking like this would only cause confusion as to how Futsu Jintarou interacts with others.

‘Dangerous.’

My thoughts were becoming scattered.

‘Calm down.’

“There’s a foul odor here, isn’t there?”

I tried to restrain myself, but the words that came out of my mouth were terrible.

“Huh? Am I…smelly?”

Akane-chan hurriedly moved away from me.

‘Oh, no, it’s actually the lingering scent of a sweet fragrance.’

“No, it’s not you. I heard that someone recently defecated here…”

‘Wait.’

‘What am I trying to ask?’

“It seems like a certain student defecated here, right?”

Time stood still.

Akane-chan’s face was filled with surprise to the point where I thought I was having a hallucination.

‘Ah… That face.’

I saw Akane-chan’s shocked face, which I thought I had buried in the depths of my memory, once again…and I looked down.

“It’s disg

usting, isn’t it?”

‘Stop it.’

“To scatter impurities in this sacred place of learning…”

‘Stop.’

‘Why did I say something like this from my own mouth?’