Translator: Tsukii
Editor: Aia
Read at Watashi wa Sugoi Desu!
Chapter 16
Arisu-chan became my girlfriend.
She showed me her affection so clearly, even a guy like me could understand.
I vaguely felt that there was no one who could substitute for me for quite some time. And because she told me straightforwardly, I was finally able to make a decision.
I would no longer hesitate. In the end, I was the only one who could take care of Arisu-chan properly.
So, she had always loved me.
Upon reflection, it seems like ever since we enrolled here, I had done something terrible to her. From Arisu-chan’s perspective, it must have looked like I was trying to force her onto someone else. Of course that would make her uneasy.
I was the one who made Arisu-chan sad.
Yet, despite that, she didn’t give up and continued to love me one-sidedly.
There was no way I wouldn’t like a girl like that.
Arisu-chan slept peacefully beside me.
She was always cute. I always thought of protecting her.
If it was for her smile, I was sure. I would do anything for it.
But I’m sleepy.
I embraced Arisu-chan and drifted back to sleep.
It had been three days since I had been able to sleep so calmly.
I realized the quality of my sleep was completely different depending on whether Arisu-chan was next to me or not.
The next time I woke up, it was already nearing noon.
“…Hm?”
“Good morning, Haruto-kun.”
Arisu-chan was already awake. She smiled at me.
She really had a beautiful face. I still couldn’t believe we got into a lovers’ relationship.
“Good morning. Sorry, I overslept. Are you hungry?”
“No, you are the most important thing to me after all.”
“Thank you, but I’m fine now. I was able to recover from all the fatigue I accumulated on the deserted island.”
Well then, I guess I should get ready.
I quickly finished my routine and grabbed Arisu-chan’s makeup set and curling iron.
Now that I think about it, I didn’t write anything about the morning preparations in the ‘Arisu-chan memo,’ did I? There were still some things I could add.
I felt guilty doing so, but when I asked Kamuro-san to take care of Arisu-chan, I made use of my knowledge of the original story.
I even lied about how I recorded the moment she shoplifted, thereby putting a collar on her.
It was something that absolutely needed to be carried out, even if I had to cheat. A situation where Arisu-chan was left all alone haunted my mind. I couldn’t afford to do anything else unless that was resolved.
When I consider both Arisu-chan and I’s mindsets towards each other, the price to recompense Kamuro-san didn’t feel expensive at all.
By the way, the method I used heavily referenced the time Arisu-chan seduced Kikyou-chan. Arisu-chan didn’t have a recorder with her back then, after all. I learned that when confronting someone who had something they didn’t wish to be spread publicly, such a bluff was effective.
As I was thinking about that, I finished setting Arisu-chan’s hair.
I had reached the level where I could do this perfectly without thinking about it.
“Thank you very much… As I thought, you are amazing.”
“Is that so?”
Let’s apply some lotion on her skin…
Ah, that’s right, I shouldn’t forget to put some sunscreen on her too.
This springy and smooth white skin was a treasure, so I would like to avoid anything that turned it rough.
After that, I spread the base lightly and apply some foundation.
…Arisu-chan’s skin was great to begin with, so natural makeup was enough.
“Okay, it’s done. You look cute today as well. I’m not sure if it is done well, though.”
“As long as Haruto-kun considers it cute, then it is good no matter how it looks. That is the most important to me. Everyone else is secondary.”
It was quite embarrassing when I heard her say that with a smile on her face.
If it were the Arisu-chan from before, she would have instead used a more euphemistic expression.
As I thought, was it because we became lovers?
After finishing the preparations, I immediately added it to the Arisu-chan memo.
Skincare was a must… make sure to apply sunscreen on sunny days…
“Will that memo ever be used in the future?”
Arisu-chan peered into my face as my pen flew across the page.
It was something I wrote up when I still thought of entrusting Arisu-chan to someone else.
Certainly, the likelihood of its use was less now.
“U~hn, well, I guess it won’t be used if it’s not necessary. Even if I wrote it as a memorandum, I doubt I’d be able to forget it since I would be doing it every day anyway. If it would be used, it might be after I die…”
I realized I misspoke after I said it, but it was too late.
Arisu-chan grasped my head with both hands, and I couldn’t move.
She brought her face close to mine and our lips met… It was a pretty deep kiss.
My mind was filled with Arisu-chan.
I could clearly feel the warmth of her lips and my heart raced.
She didn’t let go for about 20 seconds.
When I was released, our eyes met.
I could see deep darkness there.
Those heavy, dark eyes matched well with her next words of despair.
A chill ran down my spine and cold sweat dripped down my forehead.
“There’s no need to make assumptions of what will happen after you die. The moment you die is also the moment I die. I will absolutely go after you, okay?”
“S-sorry. I said something inappropriate.”
I apologized profusely, scared and apologetic.
I realized how terrible it was, even as a joke.
…I guess it was bad of me to make her think I might die.
After hearing my apology, she made an expression as if she just came to her senses.
After pretending to think for a while, she smiled gently.
“Fufu, I’ll be taking this, okay?”
“Aah, sorry about that. It’s a little embarrassing, but please take it.”
I gave the memo to Arisu-chan.
I wrote a lot of stuff there, so it was really embarrassing, but it couldn’t be helped.
“…I will always love you, so let’s be together until we die, okay?”
Arisu-chan intertwined her fingers with mine and whispered in my ear.
All I could do was nod silently.
I wonder what happened just now. Although it was completely my fault, why did she go that far…?
It seemed that I still haven’t fully understood everything about Arisu-chan.
At the restaurant, we finished our first meal of the day after having skipped breakfast.
I decided to take a seat near the deck and drank coffee as I watched the scenery.
Arisu-chan sat beside me. Our shoulders were touching and I held her hands in mine.
It seemed becoming lovers made her less reserved.
As we walked to our spot, we walked with our arms entwined and she would embrace me suddenly.
Her physical contact was more intense than before.
I was extremely happy about it, so there was no problem.
“Even so, there are surprisingly a lot of people here. I was expecting less.”
“You’re right. There’s not just Class A students, I can also see the Class C students.”
Arisu-chan looked around and looked irritated. Perhaps she preferred it if it was just two of us all alone.
Come to think of it, I recalled that, except for Ryuuen and some of his close aides, most of Class C was just having fun on the deserted island and dropped out afterward, as was their policy.
…With about half of Class A and almost everyone in Class C dropping out, they were living as they wished on the ship. Historically, this shouldn’t have happened. It makes the deserted island exam questionable.
As we relaxed, a girl approached us.
“Hello. May I speak to you for a moment?”
If I recall correctly, she was…
“Just sit over there.”
“Thank you very much.”
For the time being, I told her to sit on the sofa opposite us.
Arisu-chan, surprisingly, seemed to be interested as well and observed the girl’s movements with a sharp gaze.
The girl sat on the sofa, and as she did so, put away the book she was holding into her bag.
She called the store clerk and ordered a cup of tea.
“My name is Shiina Hiyori from Class C. You are Sakayanagi-san and Takashiro-kun from Class A, right?”
Shiina Hiyori. She was a girl from Class C and someone who was always found reading in the library.
“Exactly. That said, the title of Class A will only be until the end of this week, though.”
“Fufu, that’s interesting. I’m sure you two are the only people who can make jokes about it.”
…She’s sharp.
She already realized that neither I nor Arisu-chan were interested in the competition to be Class A.
I quickly realized.
Shiina-san was a similar type of person to Arisu-chan.
And she… came to talk to us knowing that.
“…Shiina-san, why are you interested in us?”
Arisu-chan asked.
She seemed to have figured out most of it already.
“To be honest, it’s more of my intuition. As you can see, it’s not just my Class C, but a lot of Class A students dropped out as well. I just felt that the two of you gave a different atmosphere from the rest, so I couldn’t help but call out to the two of you.”
So that’s how it was.
Shiina-san could be considered a maverick in Class C; a person cut off from the rest of the class.
Such a person found us, we, who were clearly cut off from the rest of Class A. It seemed her interest was piqued because of it. In a sense, we could probably be considered similar types of people.
While we were talking, Shiina-san’s tea arrived.
“…I’m grateful that I can freely enjoy these things onboard. I don’t have much leisure in terms of points after all.”
“I guess Ryuuen extorted points?”
“Although he won’t go that far, it’s true that Ryuuen-kun collected points from other students.”
The same also applied to Honami-san’s class.
They adopted a “50% taxation” rule. It meant that the students were to present half the points they obtained to Honami-san.
The moment I found out about this, I thought it was too cruel. However, not only did nobody in her class complain about that, there were even some who presented her with 60% to 70% of their points instead. It was taken to be something natural, like offering something to a god. Although it wasn’t something that Honami-san brought up, I still couldn’t help but feel a little disgusted about it.
At present, Honami-san continued to achieve the best results. She managed to overturn two special exams, and since it was guaranteed her class would become Class A by a large margin, it was natural the situation would escalate.
…Well, it was something they decided on their own, so I guess it was okay since they were happy with it.
“I see, I guess Ryuuen might do something like that.”
“Oh my, you don’t seem particularly surprised.”
Comparing it to Honami-san, I didn’t feel particularly surprised at Shiina-san’s story.
Not only that, I even felt that Ryuuen’s method of making people obey with force was considerably healthier.
“Shiina-san, do you have any intention of aiming to be Class A?”
“Well, do I…? Yes, I do.”
Shiina-san answered in the affirmative to Arisu-chan’s sudden question.
I see. So that was where we were completely opposite.
“Fufu, I see. Please do your best. Unlike us, Honami-san is strong, you know?”
It was Arisu-chan who made her strong, though.
“…I guess the fact that Ichinose-san doesn’t have such an atmosphere is also her strong point.”
“Honami-san has a unique talent. If you visit her class once, you will realize how abnormal it is.”
I was convinced by Arisu-chan’s explanation.
Certainly, Honami-san’s charisma, or rather, her ability to attract people, was terrifying. Even if it was true that she continuously left great results, it wouldn’t be enough to make everyone in her class gladly present her with half of their points.
For example, if I did the same, I couldn’t make everyone like me like they do her. I think Arisu-chan would also have a hard time achieving it and so would Ayanokouji. The combination of her appearance, personality, and the results she produced, the situation turned out thusly.
On the other hand, Honami-san’s weakness—being too good of a person—would get her caught in a tactic and entanglement that would overwhelm any opponent.
At present, that part was compensated by Arisu-chan’s help.
However, it was none other than Honami-san’s own talent that made her single-handed dictatorship possible.
Honami-san was a genius when it came to unifying people.
What Arisu-chan did was maximize the potential of that genius talent. It was like the relationship of a movie director with a lead actress.
In other words, Arisu-chan’s intention was…
“Thank you very much for the enjoyable conversation. Please take care of me from now on as well.”
“Yes, I’ll greet you if we meet in the library.”
“Please do. When that happens, I will recommend some books to you.”
After chatting for a while, Shiina-san returned to her room.
Before we knew it, other guests had already left so I was left alone with Arisu-chan.
“…She is an interesting person. Perhaps she could be considered a dark horse in this competition.”
“I think her observational skills, or rather, her ability to see people is amazing.”
“Yes. If a person like that becomes serious, I think it will be fun.”
Her remarks indicated that it was someone else’s business.
I couldn’t help but burst out laughing since it sounded so much like Arisu-chan.
“Ahaha, interesting. I guess Shiina-san is just part of the cast.”
“That’s right. Does Haruto-kun find it interesting?”
“Of course. Arisu-chan always entertains me.”
“I’m glad then,” said Arisu-chan.
Then, she drank the leftover coffee and smiled.
“The most important thing for me is to make you enjoy this school. For that sake, I don’t care what happens to everyone else.”
I couldn’t help but laugh again because of the way she said that.
…As I thought, I couldn’t win against her.
That was what I thought as I gazed at the deserted island where the survival exam continued.
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