V1C1 Part 1

Chapter 1 – The Rumored Senpai

Volume 1

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I remember.

I remember the first time I saw her, I thought she was as cute as a doll.
She was, in a word, a beautiful girl that everyone could recognize.
There are many ways to describe her charm, but for me, her big eyes and deep-colored pupils that seemed to absorb me were very impressive.
She was bright and pretty for her age and looked a little more mature than I, a junior, would have liked. That was Tsukasa Katase, the senior who was rumored to be the most beautiful girl in the school.
After school one day in May, when Golden Week had passed and I was finally starting to feel like a high school student…

[Nacchi, Nacchi, look, Katase is walking.]
[Don’t call me “Nacchi.”]

My name is indeed Chiaki Nachi, but I do not remember having such a nickname. In the courtyard looking down from the third floor, I saw Katase Senpai passing by with several of her classmates. She must be very popular among third-year students and is always at the center of the circle.
This reminds me of the time before, but since then we haven’t had a chance to look at each other or even look at each other closely. It was probably just an illusion caused by my gazing into her eyes.

[She’s cute again today. I’ll take a picture of her]

He then took out his cell phone from his uniform pocket.

[Don’t do that, it’s rude.]
[Don’t worry about it, she won’t notice.]

In the end, he started pointing his cell phone at her without listening to my voice of restraint. I guess this is how the awareness of portrait rights gradually fades away. Well, you can’t take a good picture from this distance anyway.

I stared at Katase and the rest of the group as they walked away.

[Oh no, they’re gone.]

My friend next to me mumbled in regret.

[It’s okay because you got to see her.]
[ I want to talk to her up close personally for once. …… Maybe I’ll just go all out and confess.]
[ Relax, she doesn’t know anything about you.]
[I know, right?]

and he dropped his shoulders.

[All right, then, you go.]
[Why?]
[No, you’ve got a cute face. You’ve got more chances than me.]

Why don’t you just leave my face out of it?. My babyface and height which is below average, are my complex. I thought to myself.

[‘I’ve been in love with you for a long time. Please go out with me?’ I don’t believe in girls who say yes to that.]

Think about it. Who would say yes to a confession of love from someone they’ve never met before? The person who confesses may know the other person, but for the other person, it’s the first time. If there are any, they are either the product of a momentary thought of “it’s okay” or a rare case of “I like him too”. It’s a rare case.

[Even so, I hear there are at least few men a month who are crushed. So what is Nachi’s plan? ]
[Katase senpai sure is cute. At least to be friends with her.]
I intently clenched my fists.
[……]
[……]
[……]

I spun around on my heels and walked away from the window to the classroom door.

[Are you leaving?]
[No, I’m going to the bathroom. You can go back first. I will catch up with you.]

I waved a hand over my back and left the classroom.
A few minutes later, as I was leaving the bathroom after finishing my business.

[It’s Katase ]

A few students came in talking.

(Katase?)

The name sounded familiar. There is only one Katase that I know. Of course, there are plenty of people with the same surname, so there’s a good chance that the “Katase” in this conversation refers to another Katase-san (or Katase-kun). But either way, I was curious about the details, so I hid behind the half-opened door of the private stall, trying to hide my presence. The door opens inward, so no one will find me unless they peek inside.
What I heard was a disturbing conversation in an undignified voice.

[We’ll get her into the club room. They’ll never know.]
[What if she makes a scene later?]
[Just do what you have to do and take pictures and you’ll be fine. No girl is going to run to the police knowing she’ll get her pictures exposed.]

Eventually, the students finished their secret conversation and business and left the bathroom. After a short pause, I also left the room.

[……]

As I washed my hands at the sink, my ears picked up the footsteps of the students and checked the direction they had gone. It was in the opposite direction of my classroom.
I looked up and saw a familiar face in the mirror. For a few seconds, I stared at the mirror’s inhabitant who had the same face as mine, and then I walked out into the hallway – where I stopped.

First, I look towards my classroom.
I turned around and looked at the other side of the hallway.
There were fewer students than at recess, but it was filled with a bustle of openness. It was an ordinary after-school hallway.
Yes, except for the disappearance of those who seemed to be plotting something nefarious.

[Well, time to get going.]

Not to my classroom… Of course, I’m going to head in the opposite direction of the classroom.

[We have a couple of problems, don’t we?]

I muttered as I walked.
The first was whether the things they were talking about were going to be implemented right now. The other is whether the “Katase” mentioned in the story is the Katase senpai.
I thought about it for a while, and then I realized.

[No, neither of them is a big problem.]

The former is fine if it was a waste of time, and the latter is a trivial matter. It doesn’t matter if you know the person or not if there is someone there who is going to get hurt badly.

[What’s more important is the fact that I lost sight of him. Besides, I haven’t seen them in person in the first place.]

Yes, I had hit on a very fundamental problem: I had lost sight of the target I was supposed to be tracking.

(Oh, didn’t he mention something about a club room?)

Remembering that, I got my destination for the moment. The club room would probably be the clubhouse of the athletic club next to the school grounds. I changed my shoes and left the school building. On the way, I passed by the kendo hall and borrowed one of the shinai (TN: wooden sword) swords for practice.

I was about to head for the clubhouse when I came to the front of the gym.

[Whoa!!!]

I bumped into a male student who jumped out from the side. The momentum was so strong that we were both thrown off and ended up falling on our buttocks. He seemed to be a third-year senior.

–Now, here’s a bit of trivia.
The uniforms at Seirei Gakuen High School are blazers for both boys and girls, and the boys’ ties are divided into dark blue, dark green, and light red for each grade. The current first-year students use the light red for all three years, and the new first-year students entering next year will use the dark blue used by the current third-year students. They are used one after the other.

However, for some reason, there is no color distinction in the ribbon ties for girls. To match the pale blue checkered skirts, the ties were also uniformly colored in pale blue for all grades.

The third-year senior who bumped into me had a pathetic look on his face.

[What’s the matter, Senpai……?]

[It’s not my fault. I just called her when they ordered me. I can’t help it because I can’t go against them]

He seemed to be very distraught. I didn’t question him, but he made excuses and crawled away.

So, is it behind the gym?

I grabbed my shinai and went around to the back of the gymnasium, where I found the worst, and in a way, the most predictable, situation unfolding: four boys surrounded Katase Senpai, who was up against the wall. It’s a relief that it hasn’t turned out badly yet.
So the M.O. is this. The senior who just ran away must have been threatened by these guys or something and summoned Katase Senpai. As it turns out, this is a regular event. He will go like “I’ve been in love with you for a long time.” And then, at some random point, these guys come out and are about to attack her.

They are despicable.

They’re pissing me off.

[Get away from Senpai!]

I shouted as I ran out, shinai in hand.

The first thing I did was to hit the guy in front of me who turned around at the sound of my voice. I had no experience in kendo, so I didn’t know how to swing a shinai, so I used the swing of a baseball bat to hit him in the stomach as hard as I could. The surprise hit seemed to do quite a bit of damage, and the guy blew away in a big way. However, my trusty shinai was also broken.

[What the hell are you doing?]

I had no reason to answer the question. It’s not that I don’t have time for that.

[Katase-senpai, run!]

After a moment’s hesitation, she immediately began to run, seemingly understanding the situation.

[Wait!]
[You’re the one who should wait.]

I clung to his waist and dragged him down to the ground, throwing him forcibly.

[You bastard, how dare you to interfere! Don’t think you can get away with this.]

And so, their target changed to me.

About 30 minutes later, I was lying on the ground in a heap.

(You’re good at this, aren’t you? I guess you’re good at beating people up without killing them.)

I was outnumbered. I’ve never been in a fistfight before, and there’s no way I could beat those guys in a four-on-one fight. I remember the part where I was shackled and took five shots to the stomach and four to the face, but I don’t remember the rest.

(The hands and feet are not moving. The rest of the body can move. …… Oh, it seems that several ribs are broken)

I checked the damage while I was down.

At any rate, my whole body ached. In particular, my ribs, which seemed to be cracked, hurt like hell every time I breathed and moved my diaphragm. I don’t think I can move for a while.

But that’s okay. Katase-senpai is safe.

I mumbled to myself and found a newly damaged area. The inside of my mouth seems to have been cut quite a bit. The edges of my mouth must be swollen as well. It’s very difficult to speak.

I’m going to have a hard time eating tomorrow. …… ouch.

I let out a deep sigh, forgetting about my ribs, and was hit with a lot of pain. Am I an idiot? After enduring the transient pain, I closed my eyes and tried to calm my body down and recover from the fatigue.

And then–

[Are you okay ……?]

With that voice, I felt something cold against my mouth.

[……?]

I was surprised by many things, such as the fact that someone had come to such a place and the fact that the cold thing that had been put on my mouth had seared my wound.

And most of all, I was shocked to see that it was Katase senpai who was there.

[S-senpai, why are you here ……?]
[I was worried about you. Oh, just stay still.]

I was about to get up, but she restrained me. It seems that the senior is wiping the wounds on my face with a wet handkerchief. She wiped my mouth and cheeks in turn.

This was the first time I saw Katase-senpai up close, who I usually only saw from a distance.

She looked worried and apologetic, but her charm was not diminished in the least. It seems that really cute people are cute no matter what expression they have.

[Are you okay?]
[No, as you can see, I don’t think so.]

It is a hundred percent lie to say that you are fine in this state. Lying, which is obvious to everyone, will only embarrass the other person.

[I feel like I’m in pain all over. And exhausted? Also, it seems that I was able to take the 4th and 5th. ]
[eh, fourth and fifth……]
Senpai didn’t seem to understand what I meant and asked me back as if she was troubled.(TN: neither did I)

[Well, I’m just kidding. I was just trying to sound cool. I don’t even know what number was hit at all.]

[I’m sorry ……. I’m sorry that this happened to you because of me. ……]

It’s cute, but when she apologizes over and over again, I feel like I’m bullying her and feel bad about it. Moreover, my senpai is starting to look like she’s about to cry.

[Don’t worry about it. It was something I did on my own. I just happened to overhear them talking. If I didn’t do anything now and later found out that senpai had been in a terrible situation, I would regret it. ……]

I don’t even know what I mean. The incoherence was embarrassing, and I turned my eyes away from senpai and turned to the sky, which began to become dull.

[No, and it’s not that I saved you because you’re my senior. I probably would have jumped out even if it was a stranger who was being hunted by an old man. I’m that kind of guy.](TN: Little lost in the reference).

I turned my face away and secretly looked at senpai with just the corner of my eyes. It seems that such incomprehensible words couldn’t make her feel better, and she was still in a somber mood.

[So, senpai, in this kind of situation, please don’t apologize, but say ‘thank you’. I’ll be happy if you do.] (TN: Damn you MC, trying to act cool)

At that moment, Katase-senpai was taken aback.
Then she narrowed her eyes and smiled softly.

[You’re very kind ,aren’t you? Thank you …….=

Then, she brought her face to mine and kissed me lightly on the cheek.

「○×△◆☆□♀♂●☆～～！！！」

That was the biggest shock of the day.

(I didn’t think we’d get close enough to cause such a mishap. ……)

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TN: Damn. That was long.. I can’t guarantee when the next chapter will be as I am doing this at my leisure. Please feel free to point out any issues. I haven’t gotten time to edit it properly.

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