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

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11. Advice to the Girl in the Cage

On the next school day, the first thing I did was go to apologize to Emi.

About how my father threw away my swimsuit.

How I can no longer go to the pool.

How I can’t stay after school for a casual chat anymore.

And that I need help…

“…………I see! Then, let’s do our best!”

“…Huh?”

Emi smiled and held my hand.

It was the same gesture she made when I first met her.

“Let’s put the pool refusal on hold. Don’t worry, we’ll manage with a small but elite team.”

“Will we make it in time…?”

“There’s still nearly a month left. Don’t worry, Hidetoshi-kun and I will manage somehow!”

“R-really…? It will work out…?”

“Eternally, with the power of me, you, and Hidetoshi-kun combined, we’ll solve it.”

Emi declared with a strong will.

Even in such a small body, there stood a child more solid and stronger than myself.

“I’ll buy the same swimsuit and deceive Madoka-chan.”

“No, I should be able to handle that much…”

“Is that so?”

The thought of actually having it bought for me filled me with an overwhelming sense of guilt.

“But in return, Eternally. This will be our secret, just between us. Not a word to Mr. Jumonji or Risa-chan, or anyone else.”

“Yep! Got it! If Emi says so, it’ll be a secret just between Emi and Akechi-san.”

“Yes! Let’s do that!”

Emi smiled brightly with a grin.

I never thought Emi could be so reliable.

“If you break the promise, I won’t forgive you…”

————

“I’ve heard from Emi. From today on, it’ll be the two of us, Emi and I, helping you, Mr. Miyamura.”

“Akechi-san…”

During lunch break, it was decided that the three of us would use the library for our strategy meetings.

Mr. Jumonji and Risa and the others won’t be involved, as Akechi-san spoke of heading towards a happy ending for everyone.

“For now, I’d like to hear about your father’s circumstances.”

“Understood…”

About moving after entering middle school.

The fervor of my father’s studies.

The bad habit of discarding friends as unnecessary.

The means of unleashing violence.

My mother never goes against my father.

I talked about such things.

“Unforgivable…!”

“Akechi-san…?”

“That’s too cruel!”

Akechi-san was fuming with anger at my father.

Emi rushed over to Akechi-san and said, “Are you okay?”

When I asked about her unusual behavior, Emi made eye contact with Akechi-san and began to speak.

“Hidetora-kun was also abused by the uncle who took him in. That’s why Hidetora-kun sees his uncle in his eternal father.”

“Let’s make it a success! Break out of the eternal family’s cage and head towards the future you want to pursue!”

We were in the same situation…

I see…

Akechi-san had experienced the same pain.

He’s someone who would understand me.

He’s someone I can trust.

He’s someone who can solve this problem.

—I will be freed from my father’s curse.

“Please, be careful…”

“Eh?”

I was ambushed at the school gate on my way home.

But the person waiting was someone very unexpected.

It was the girl I had seen before, with a coffee cup hair tie in her hair.

Tanigawa Sakuya-san… was it?

“In the library… I overheard the conversation… I’m sorry…”

“Ah, ahh… you heard that? Sorry for making you listen to my weird family issues…”

The girl was timid.

I empathize with her struggle to talk to people.

…Why would someone who struggles to talk to people speak to me?

“Please… be careful… your father…”

“Ah, yeah! Don’t worry! I’ll definitely solve the problem with my father!”

“…Please take care of your father.”

“Yeah! Sure, he’s a bit naggy, but I do care about my father! Well then, I have to go home soon.”

She seems shy, but she’s probably a good person too.

This school is full of good kids, it’s truly a comfortable place to live.

I have a feeling I might even become friends with Tanigawa-san.

I decided to hurry home by 5 PM.

“Please be careful… those two are devils… more so than the scum that pretend to be friends… please cherish your father… I pray that blood won’t rain down…”

From noble mtl dot come

The girl, her body scarred, prays for the safety of a stranger she hardly knows.

So that they won’t become a victim like her father, like herself…

Since that incident, she could no longer call her own father ‘Master’.

It was a term of endearment she had been proud of, her favorite way to address him.

But now, calling him ‘Master’ reminds her of those devils, and it terrifies her.

On her first day of middle school, when she saw the girl with chestnut twin-tails, it shredded her heart to the point she felt like vomiting everything in her stomach.

The conversation in the library was so frightening, she wanted to scream, to prevent another victim at all costs.

But that act was forbidden by a vow that would cost her the father she loved.

“If only the ‘Gift’ would disappear…”

Her pained voice became the wind and vanished…