Genjitsu de Rabukome Dekinai to Dare ga Kimeta? Vol. 1 Ch. 4 Pt. 2

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Translation: learning2tl

Editing/Proofreading: chelly

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Chapter 4 – Who Decided That Episodes from the Past Will Be Effective?

Part 2

“Alright. It’s nice and breezy here, isn’t it?”

Sitting down on the steps of the open door at the side of the gym, Tokiwa stretched widely.

During lunch breaks, the gym’s left open for everyone to use. Usually, people would come to exercise. But maybe because lunch had only just started, it wasn’t being used by anybody.

The hustle and bustle from the school building were far away, and the air around us was quiet. There’s probably no need to worry about the eyes of others here.

“…So, what did you want to talk about?”

I sat down next to him and quickly raised the subject.

“Ah… well, you know. Just something about yesterday.”

Tokiwa stopped his hands that were trying to pry open his bento and began to speak in his usual relaxed tone. But there’s somewhat an awkward expression on his face.

“I happened to meet Ayano-chan after club activities, you know? It was hot, so the conversation led to us going to a convenience store to get some ice cream.”

“Huh…? Seriously?”

That being a coincidence… was very difficult to imagine.

But I had only asked her to do Patrol Investigations, and I’m sure that hadn’t included any kind of investigation that would have put her in contact with Tokiwa.

“So, yeah. We stopped at a nearby store for a quick chat and then parted ways… but this time, I bumped into Ayumi.”

Hmm…? Katsunuma was there?

“And then, well… Ayumi told me many things about Ayano-chan.”

Tokiwa showed some hesitation before continuing.

“Ayumi said that… it seems like Ayano-chan has been going around talking to a lot of people lately. And also, they’re all guys.”

“Huh…?”

Wait. Wait, wait!

I didn’t know anything about that, you know?!

“W-Where did she hear that?”

“Hmm, I don’t know the details. But apparently, Ide and Anayama were saying something like, ‘I was approached by a cute girl lately, and it’s troubling. My long-awaited season of popularity has come…’ And well, it seems that in both cases, this cute girl was Ayano-chan.”

What did you say…?

The two classmates just mentioned might differ in their tendencies with one being the playboy type and the other the otaku type, but both of them have a loose tongue.

At the same time, each of them was also a central figure in the groups that had hung out with Kiyosato-san.

“In fact, one of Ayumi’s friends saw them talking… and according to them, she was acting super familiar…”

That’s when it hit me.

Could it be that Uenohara…

“Ayumi is also the type to worry, so… she kinda misunderstood and told me to be careful of Ayano-chan trying to cozy up.”

Tokiwa’s expression suddenly changed as if realizing something, and he waved his hand from side to side.

“Ah, by the way, to me it was the usual Ayano-chan. It’s not like we’re talking about anything weird! Like, have you hung out anywhere recently? Stuff like that.”

─ Yeah, it’s as I thought.

Uenohara had been doing Face-to-Face Investigations ahead of me.

“That’s why I told Ayumi that it’s all a misunderstanding. I thought that you might know something about the circumstances, class rep. That’s why I wanted to talk to you.”

“…Sorry. I only just found out about it as well.”

“Hmm, is that so…”

I clenched my fists as I cast a sidelong glance at Tokiwa, who scratched his cheek with a troubled expression.

─ Just as Tokiwa said, the exchanges with each individual probably aren’t a big deal. I’m sure she was just trying to get a feel for things through the chit-chat, and she isn’t the kind of person who would give the game away in a conversation like me.

The problem was that the individual cases had been pieced together in a biased manner.

How the targets were all men. The act of going around and talking to multiple people in such a short period. The fact that Uenohara was a close friend of mine. And how the one who caught hold of it was Katsunuma, who’s in a hostile relationship with me.

The combination of all these elements had resulted in the undesirable interpretation of Uenohara’s behavior as “a weird girl who randomly goes around talking to the boys in a different class.”

The truth can’t be revealed when it’s for investigation purposes, and even to try to come up with some excuse, I’d have to show some evidence to make it credible.

Having said that, it would be too risky for the Plan to ignore it and continue working as before.

No. More importantly, if things get any worse, her reputation will…

Realizing that my breathing had become shallow without my knowledge, I took a deep breath to calm myself down.

Despite all that… so far, there hasn’t been any sign of word spreading.

If it’s purely a topic within the Katsunuma group, then by taking early action, we may be able to avoid it becoming a problem.

Whatever it is, I’ll have to first confirm the specifics with the person at the center of it all…

Deciding this, I started tapping another message to Uenohara for us to meet.

“Yikes…”

─ But then.

Tokiwa suddenly took out his phone and muttered to himself with a frown.

“Now what…?”

I asked, having a bad premonition.

“Ah, well…”

Tokiwa scratched his head, looking unusually uncomfortable.

“I don’t really have a problem with this kind of thing either, but…”

Speaking hesitantly, he held out his phone to me.

Displayed on the screen in the sender field of the messaging application was the name “Katsunuma Ayumi.”

Along with the text “This is proof.”

─ Attached was a video that showed Uenohara chatting with a boy in a friendly manner.

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