I’m Spying on the Heroine in an Otome Game World 4121 min read
Volume 3 | Chapter 10: October (Up) – Part 2
We returned to our classrooms when the theology lecture ended.
All my classmates were really noisy, chattering amongst themselves. They all seem quite interested in the good-looking priest we saw earlier.
I feel fine now but, for some reason, I felt absentminded right after the lecture. It wasn’t just me but everyone else felt the same too. What was that sensation exactly? Unfortunately, no student knew the answer either.
“He was really cool…” Yumi-chan said, spellbound. She is a fangirl and likes good-looking men.
“You’re right. But aren’t priests not allowed to marry? Hey, Kamura-kun…” If I’m remembering correctly, a catholic priest is not allowed to marry unlike a protestant pastor. I tried to bring up the subject with Designer-kun, but—
“Kamura-kun? Hey~?” I waved my hand in front of Designer-kun’s eyes. It took a bit before he snapped back awake and blinked his eyes repeatedly.
“H-Huh? What was I doing just now?” Designer-kun asked.
“You were staring into space. Are you okay?”
“Ah… yeah. I’m fine. My mind just felt clouded when I saw the new Father…”
“Everyone felt the same way. He really was beautiful to the point you couldn’t help but stare with fascination,” I commented.
“Huh? Shiori-chan, you too? And me? How do you feel about me?” Designer-kun joked.
“Kamura-kun is good looking but that Father is a little bit too beautiful. Maybe it’s because he’s foreign?” I replied.
Despite that, Designer-kun still looked like something was off.
“…Really, what’s wrong?” I couldn’t help but ask.
“Ah… nah. I just have this hazy feeling… I wonder why too,” he said, tilting his head. Since he, himself, didn’t know the reason why, there’s no way I would know either.
It didn’t take long before the second period started.
However, Iinchou didn’t come back. I guess his religious allergy must have been really bad. Well, no, he was feeling under the weather, so it might be better if he left for home early today. Hmm, I’ll check on him later.
Once the second period ended, I went to the infirmary.
Speaking of infirmary, I immediately thought of Suzuki-obaachan sensei. Yet when I went inside, I couldn’t find her anywhere. Maybe she went to the washroom?
There are three beds in the infirmary room. The one furthest in the room had the curtains drawn. When I peeked inside, I spotted an Iinchou-like person lying down. The reason why I use ‘Iinchou-like’ is because that person wasn’t wearing glasses. In the past, Iinchou joked that I might not be able to recognize him without glasses before… I don’t think he meant it in this way.
I mean, I did think he had handsome features to begin with, so yeah. ……His sleeping face is really good-looking.
“Iinchou, are you okay?” I called out to him.
His eyelids twitched. Ah, his eyelashes are super long.
I wonder if he’ll wake up, I thought, and decided to call him once more. “Iinchou…?”
He slowly opened his eyes and blinked a couple of times. Iinchou then scrunched his eyebrows before he slowly moved his hand to the bedside.
…I think he’s looking for his glasses. I reached for his glasses, which were left at the side table. When I attempted to hand them to him, Iinchou sat up with energy on the bed.
He moved his face close to mine until our noses were a few centimetres apart. Iinchou blinked a few more times before he uttered, “…….Ah, it’s you, Niimi-san.” He seemed to reach some understanding and moved back, putting his glasses on. “Hm? What is wrong? You look all stiff,” he eventually asked curiously as he looked at me.
…….I was surprised because you were so close all of the sudden.
“Iinchou, you can’t recognize someone unless you look that close?” I asked.
Iinchou tilted his head. …….And then he suddenly laughed.
“Hey,” I complained, glaring at him.
Iinchou held his stomach as he laughed and apologized at the same time. “Sorry, sorry, I was really close, wasn’t I? It’s my fault. I mean, my eyes are bad and I was still half asleep? It was rude of me to do something like that to a girl who hasn’t even had her first kiss yet. Let me apologize.”
This guy’s so rude. You haven’t apologized one bit.
Actually, don’t decide that I haven’t kissed anyone before. …Not that I have kissed anyone yet.
“Iinchou, did you not get enough sleep?”
“No… it’s nothing like that. I just didn’t feel well when I thought I had to see Father Michel’s face.”
Iinchou’s unintentional words made me tilt my head in confusion. “You know the priest’s name quite well?”
“Ah.” Iinchou stiffened with an expression that said ‘oh crap’. He then made a face like he was surrendering. “Niimi-san, I actually have something I wanted to talk to you about.”
However, the moment Iinchou said those words, the warning bell rang. We promised to talk about whatever it was after school. For the time being, I returned to our classroom. As for Iinchou, he decided to sleep for another hour in bed since he had the chance to. I pray that he doesn’t get addicted and gain a new habit of skipping classes.
Now then, regarding what Iinchou had to say, it unfortunately had to wait until tomorrow.
It’s not like we have forgotten but we were still in the middle of Cultural Festival preparations. Our Class B was doing a Halloween café on top of making a movie. We had a mountain of things to do; it was havoc.
Maria-jou was absent today, so nothing could be filmed. We couldn’t do anything about that, so we set our attention to other things.
According to the movie team’s report, it was going smoothly with the exception of the CG and Tsuchiya-shounen’s scenes. I hope to leave those two parts in Kyouko-jou’s hands.
“Ah, crap. We need to retake Itou-kun and the others’ scene,” Kyouko-jou said as she clicked her tongue.
“Why?”
“It’s not consistent with the scene beforehand… I wonder if we can fix it with CG. See here? Terakado-kun plays Frankenstein who gets hurt and then leaves the scene. Yet he shows up in the scene after he’s supposed to have left. I wonder if I can get those boys to act again. Hey, costume team~ Itou-kun and the others’ costumes haven’t been remodelled yet, right?” Kyouko-jou called over to Yumi-chan.
Yumi-chan shook her head. “We fixed the length of Itou-kun’s a bit. Also, Terakado-kun’s costume was on the large side, so…”
We planned on altering the costume sizes of the monsters that appear in the movie so that they can be reused for the café on the day of the festival.
“If it’s just the length then it should be fine. Are the rest fine?” Kyouko-jou asked.
“Do you need Terakado-kun’s costume too?”
“No, I don’t need it. We need to retake a scene that doesn’t include him. We might as well get it over with today. Do you know where the Neo Candle members are?” Kyouko-jou looked left and right for the boys.
Another classmate of ours answered, “They’re practising in the second music room.”
“What are they doing in a busy time like this~!”
“I think they’re practising now cause it’s busy?”
For the sake of Neo Candle, I would like to say they aren’t running away from Cultural Festival preparations at all. In fact, they are doing they’re very best for their performance.
“Want me to call them?” I suggested. “I also wanted to check how their rehearsal is going. It’s good timing, I think.”
Kyouko-jou nodded and asked, “Can I count on you?”
Not long after, I set off to the second music room.
Neo Candle is currently making their final preparations for their live performance on the day of the festival. This band was created in the beginning of the school year. Now they were finally going to stand on stage. This was a once-in-a-lifetime thing, so I’m getting nervous too even though I’ll only be on the sideline cheering them on.
Kazu-nii was appointed as their main vocalist. He has joined their practices two or three times a month since June. Itou-kun and the other boys have complained, saying they wanted him participating more often.
It was almost the day of the performance, so Kazu-nii should be practising with them too…
“I didn’t hear a single thing about this!? Why did you include this song in your list!”
I heard yelling the moment I opened the door.
I assumed they should be performing, but it turns out they were having a meeting instead.
“You can’t exclude this song when you think about the songs of Candle in their early days,” Terakado-kun explained, disgruntled.
“That’s right, Sensei~ Why are the other songs okay but this one is not okay?” Itou-kun pointed out.
“……You said you’ll leave the songs to us,” Hayashi-kun added.
They both looked confused. Satou-kun also looked lost as he checked his instrument.
“Th-There are many other songs, aren’t there? Anyways, anything but this song…… Well, it’s fine if I’m not the one singing this. Can’t Itou do it instead?” Kazu-nii grumbled some more.
Itou-kun frowned. “I’m fine with singing it but…”
It looks like Kazu-nii had something against the songs Neo Candle decided. He sure is making trouble just before the live. This is also why he should have participated in their practices more beforehand.
“‘Your Call~ You are my Treasure’ is a normal love song, isn’t it? What do you have against it?” Itou-kun raised a very good point.
This song was from the early days of Candle. It was made when they were still an indie group, so it wasn’t played on TV after they had their major debut. However, it’s a popular song that is still being sung in karaoke even today. Many of Candle’s songs were hard to sing while ‘Your Call~ You are my Treasure’ was relatively easier to sing.
The lyrics were of a man doting on his lover, depicting peaceful, ordinary days. This said lover behaves somewhat young that fans discussed about it.
“Don’t trip,” the man would warn. “I’m not a child!” The lover would rebut before immediately tripping on the bumpy road. Another example would be how the man teases his lover, telling her she’s like a kid with how she holds her cup with two hands. The lover would then desperately try to hold the cup with one hand. Still, she couldn’t manage it, so in the end she held it with both hands, blowing to cool the drink down. Basically, it was this kind of pleasantness that was sung.
“That song is what you call black history……. Shit……” Kazu-nii grimaced deeply as he mumbled under his breath.
Itou-kun glanced up with a troubled expression. “Huh? Niimi?”
It looks like they finally noticed me. The four members of Neo Candle turned at once to see me.
“Kyouko-chan said she wants to retake a scene with everyone but Terakado-kun. If you could, please go visit her,” I said passing along the message.
Itou-kun sighed. “Guess we got no choice. Let’s go. Niimi, sorry but could you keep an eye on Sensei, so he doesn’t run away?”
“Sure,” I nodded in agreement.
The four left their instruments and exited the second music room noisily. I don’t think Terakado-kun needs to go, but, oh well. I’m sure having an extra pair of hands will be helpful.
I was left together with Kazu-nii who was fighting with himself as he held a microphone in one hand.
“That’s why I said participate while they plan out their concert.”
“…….You think all of this has nothing to do with you,” Kazu-nii complained.
‘Your Call~ You are my Treasure’ was, of course, written by Kazu-nii. On top of that, this song feels different from the rest.
Back in the day, many people thought Kazu-nii was cheating on his girlfriends because those girls acted way differently than the lyrics. Well, let’s put that aside.
This so-called ‘lover’ does act like a child because it’s only normal. I was the model — that is, it was me back in elementary school. As such this song isn’t about doting a ‘lover’ but rather doting a ‘little sister’-like girl. Let me declare this: this song is in no way a love song.
Incidentally, Masaki was the one who named the song. I’m sure he doesn’t know who the so-called lover was based on either.
“Put yourself in my shoes. I have to hear you sing this song,” I said with astonishment.
Kazu-nii called this song his black history, but it’s also black history for me. I mean, the things I did back in elementary school get dug up one by one. I had a lot going back on then, so getting treated like a kid annoyed me. I got worked up and ended up trying to act like an adult.
“……I want to punch the me who wrote this song back then…” Kazu-nii mumbled out before he crouched down. “If I sing it now, I’ll definitely let something out. It’ll turn into a different song. I don’t have the confidence I can hide it…….”
“Huh? Let something out?” What the heck is he saying?
Kazu-nii continued to hold the microphone as he lay down on the floor, staring at the ceiling. “……I was in high school when I wrote this song. The same as Neo Candle,” he said with a far-off voice like he was recalling the distant past. “Back then, I was… pretty frantic in my own way. My parents passed away when I was in middle school, and I had to live in Grandpa’s place. I thought that a high school nearby would be good, so I changed my first choice of high school to Seika Maria……”
Come to think of it, I haven’t heard Kazu-nii speak of his past quietly like this. Neo Candle asked me to watch him until they come back, so I might as well keep Kazu-nii company.
I sat down on the floor beside Kazu-nii. “It was high school when you started the band, right?” I asked.
Kazu-nii nodded. “You were still young, so you probably don’t remember. We devoted all three years of high school to our band. Masaki was the most passionate and seriously aimed to enter the showbiz world. I didn’t set my eyes that far. If I could eat with my music then that was fine with me, I thought. I also thought that instead of saving tuition fees to enter university, it would be better to be self-reliant as soon as possible. ……Now that I think back, I was really young.” Kazu-nii sounded quite like an old man for a moment there. “But then that happened to you and……. I was really sick of it all. I fought with Masaki and quit the band. I managed to get a scholarship for university and Aunt and Grandpa both said they will support me. I decided to depend on them, which led to me becoming a teacher safely. So, yeah, it ended up fine.”
I recalled those days as I listened to Kazu-nii reminisce.
I was in third year of elementary school back then. It was before my birthday, so I was 8 years old at the time.
I was once kidnapped.
Well, it wasn’t anything that serious.
One day, Candle received a major debut offer. However, this offer was only for Kazu-nii. The other members got jealous and started to harass Kazu-nii.
Meanwhile, I was like a little sister to Kazu-nii, so he doted me. The members of Candle stole me away and confined me at some building for two days. Luckily, I had my water bottle at the time. It was painful not being able to eat for two days but I was able to be rescued without suffering from dehydration.
I don’t know the details of the incident, but the ringleader was probably Masaki. After this incident, Kazu-nii broke off all his relations with Masaki. …….Come to think of it, Masaki hit on me when I encountered him at karaoke at that time. He kidnapped me, yet he still flirted with me? Is he shameless?
“It’s amazing what you did that back then,” Kazu-nii commented, gazing at me.
“Did what?”
“Persuading Masaki and the others. You said ‘I’ll help settle your quarrel, so tell him your feelings face to face!’ to them, right? They reflected after that and brought you back to apologize. Well, we had already called the police, so it was a big mess for a while.”
“Yeah……” I smiled tiredly. It’s amazing how he remembers. “I actually misunderstood the situation. I thought for sure that girls with one-sided love towards you were trying to harass me. So I really meant was: if you like Kazu-nii then you should properly confess to him. If it’s hard to say, I’ll say it for you, so let me out already. I don’t think I could have used big words like settle a quarrel.”
“……Huh?”
“There’s no way I would have known what’s going on with your band, am I right? Back then there was this popular shoujo manga where the rival character vented out her anger on the hero’s little sister. In the end, the more she vented her anger, the more the hero hated her. So I thought I’ll try saying the same thing the little sister said in the manga,” I elaborated.
“……You confused reality with that manga?”
“Yeah. Plus, my water bottle was empty then. I was also hungry and unsteady on my feet. I just learned from school that humans will die without water. I was nervous, wondering how many days can pass before I die. At first I thought about escaping from the window, but it didn’t work out well. Kazu-nii, you should properly tell Masaki and the others that if you neglect someone and not feed them, they will actually die.”
Now that I recall it all, I’m getting pissed off. It might have been better if I had punched Masaki when we met. I have to say, it’s amazing how they managed to debut. I mean they kidnapped and confined a child. Was it because they were all minors? Or because we didn’t sue them? Wait, weren’t they taken to police custody though?
I was a kid back then, so I didn’t know any of the details.
“……You were an uncute elementary schooler,” Kazu-nii mumbled.
“What are you talking about? I was a cute enough elementary schooler that you wrote a song about me,” I pointed out.
Kazu-nii got depressed again after hearing my words. You only need to sing it once, so just obediently get it over with.
Now, Kazu-nii is really good at singing. He was especially good with Candle’s songs. Well, it’s probably because he was their vocalist to begin with. Kazu-nii quit the band in high school and would then invite girls to karaoke to woo them in university. He would then sing those high-level Candle songs and appear even cooler than before.
“When I think back, it was back then… no matter who I dated, it didn’t last long…” Kazu-nii said as he stared absentmindedly at the ceiling.
Yeah, I think the problem lies with you.
Now then, I have been keeping watch for some ten minutes now. Finally, Itou-kun and the other boys returned. Shortly after, they restarted their practice session.
“Since I’m here, how about rehearsing from the beginning?”
“You sure? Then we’ll do just that.”
For a second, I thought I saw hopelessness and desperation on Kazu-nii’s face. Even if I did, it has nothing to do with me. Kazu-nii, make sure to practise a lot to prepare for the real thing.
The allocated amount of time Neo Candle had in the Cultural Festival was 30 minutes. When I think about how they have to carry their instruments and get ready, they only have about 20 minutes to perform.
It’ll be a lot of work for Itou-kun and the others, so me, Iinchou, and Matsumoto-kun will be helping out with the setup on the day of. It’s actually quite hard to carry everything from the second music room.
Right, right, we prepared VIP seats for Mizusaki-senpai like we promised. While we were at it, we decided to invite the other student council members. Speaking of Mizusaki-senpai, if he is there then his fan club members will probably come too. We didn’t reserve seats for them, so it’s probably better to secure some random ones for them. I could only pray that they don’t scream Mizusaki-sama and ruin the performance.
Everything was progressing smoothly at the moment, but I can’t say there were no problems at all. After all, for as long as Kazu-nii performs as a vocalist, there was a chance of an event triggering.
The Hibiya event in the game is apparently about how Masaki jumps into Neo Candle’s live performance. In other words, Candle gets mixed up into the concert and the audience gets even more excited. It’ll be a nuisance, so I really hope it doesn’t happen.
I mean, think about how Itou-kun and the other boys did their best until today to challenge the stage. Yet they get their show stolen away by someone else at the climax. I’ll be super pissed off, you know? I mean, yeah, Masaki is a celebrity. If he shows up, people will get excited. Despite that, I’m going to tell him to control himself.
I told Kazu-nii to tell Masaki not to show up no matter what. If Masaki had something to discuss with Kazu-nii, they should do it privately. If Masaki doesn’t show up, the event won’t happen. It’ll be killing two birds with one stone.
The Neo Candle rehearsal went by smoothly.
Kazu-nii will only sing 3 out of 6 songs. Itou-kun will also be a vocalist. According to Kazu-nii, the students were the protagonists for the Cultural Festival. It’ll be a problem if a teacher stands out too much.
To begin with, this live was meant to introduce Neo Candle, so I don’t see the issue with Kazu-nii not showing up at all. I honestly felt this way. However, Itou-kun and the others made their band because they fell in love with Kazu-nii’s singing voice.
At first Kazu-nii spoke with them with the intention of only making a guest appearance and singing one song. In the end, Kazu-nii was to sing half while Itou-kun sings the remaining half.
Personally, I feel more relieved when I hear Itou-kun singing. Kazu-nii’s voice was too luring. It was to the point that he could charm my mother who is a married woman.
I’ll be honest and say that I want to cover my ears when I hear Kazu-nii singing.
Actually, isn’t my current situation really bad? Isn’t it weird how I’m the only one in the audience listening to this? My back felt itchy, and my ears felt hot.
Kazu-nii finished singing ‘Your Call~ You are my Treasure’ and brought the rehearsal to an end.
All four members of Neo Candle had red cheeks as they made mixed expressions. Kazu-nii was in the centre, holding his head in his hands.
“…Hey, let’s change the song. Is there any other song we can prepare for starting right now?” Itou-kun asked the other members.
“…….How about ‘Sandman’? The newest song. They haven’t sold the music score yet but I’ve practised by ear, so I think we can make it,” Hayashi-kun answered.
Satou-kun nodded. “I agree. To begin with, having ‘Your Call~ You are my Treasure’ as the last song is lacking in excitement. Sensei, you okay with that? Hey, you okay there, Sensei~?”
“Why is the guy who sang the song squirming instead?” Terakado-kun asked as he stared at the troubled Kazu-nii with disgust.
“If we play this song at the festival, I think all the girls in the auditorium will fall in love with Sensei. In fact, I think guys will fall in love too,” Satou-kun added.
“More importantly, is Niimi okay? Hey, Niimi,” Itou-kun called out to me with concern.
Ugh… no more. I want to go home. M-My ears…….
I borrowed Itou-kun’s hand and somehow managed to stand up.
“I have only one thing to say. Hibiya-sensei,” I pointed my finger at Kazu-nii. “Singing with that voice is a complete crime.”
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TL note: At least you don’t have to sing that song, Shiori… It’s still probably embarrassing to death!
