I Was Reincarnated As the Hated Scummy Best Friend in a Gal Game and the Protagonist Is Useless

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12, The Merging Noise

“Good morning, Yumi.”

“Good morning…”

“You look pale, well, it can’t be helped…”

“Yeah…”

Minako doesn’t know my circumstances, yet she looks at me with sympathetic eyes.

Without being told anything, she had a face that seemed to understand it all.

“……”

“……”

In silence, we head to school.

Seeing me downcast, Minako awkwardly starts to speak.

“I’ll go ahead. Yumi, you need time to think, right? One month is not nearly enough.”

“Y-yeah.”

What is Minako talking about?

Time to think?

One month isn’t enough?

Two phrases that made no sense to me.

As I entered the classroom, all my thoughts went blank and burst away.

Noise mixed into my thoughts.

“…Huh?”

Next to Minako’s seat—Toyotomi Mitsuhide’s seat was adorned with flowers.

“Hey!? What’s the meaning of this!? Who did such a disrespectful prank!?”

“Yumi, calm down.”

I ended up shouting, drawing the eyes of the entire classroom.

Normally, that would be embarrassing.

But now, I had no sense of shame.

I grabbed a friend of Toyotomi-kun who was nearby.

“Hey!? Who did it!? Who put flowers on Toyotomi-kun’s seat!? You’re his friend, aren’t you?”

“It’s gotta be the teacher who put them there…”

“Huh? Why…?”

“You don’t know…? Mitsuhide, he… he died in an accident the day before summer vacation.”

“What…?”

“Come here for a second.”

Minako quickly came over and dragged me away.

What does it mean?

He’s gone?

What do you mean, gone?

Toyotomi isn’t among the group walking down the hallway.

Where did he go…?

“You didn’t know…?”

“I didn’t… He’d message me every day… We promised to hang out a lot…”

“I see, Toyotomi passed away on the day of his surgery. It stopped being broadcasted on TV too… You had no chance to find out…”

Am I dreaming…?

“Toyotomi was crossing at the green light… But he was hit by a truck that ran the red light… There weren’t many external injuries, but the impact to his head—his brain—”

“Stop it, please…”

“…Sorry.”

Toyotomi, who was always so full of life, is no longer in this world.

I can’t understand what everyone is saying.

Even the principal’s speech touches upon Toyotomi’s death.

Hey, why won’t anyone deny Toyotomi’s death…?

“Here’s Toyotomi’s address. Go and offer incense…”

The teacher hands me the address.

I feel like I’m the only one floating in this world.