The Heroines All Regretted It

Still...

Yoru never had any intention of helping her.

He stayed on the first floor for a bit, waiting to see if the rain would ease up. It didn't. It only got colder.

Holding the umbrella, he decided to head home even if it meant getting a little wet.

As he moved, Eriri was startled.

"Huh?"

She thought Yoru had stayed there with the intention of helping her.

But then he just walked off.

"Hey, wait! Wait!"

Eriri was stunned, but quickly snapped out of it and rushed forward.

Only to be driven back by the downpour.

The bean-sized raindrops actually stung a little when they hit.

"What is it?"

Yoru frowned and turned back from the rain.

Does Eriri really want to share the umbrella?

Want me to help her?

No way.

Yoru scoffed silently.

"Um… I…"

"Can you… walk with me for a bit?"

Eriri hesitated, stammering.

She was clearly asking for help, yet it sounded like some kind of shy confession.

"Walk with you?"

Yoru didn't hear clearly, but could guess what she meant.

"Uh-huh."

Eriri nodded hard, staring at the fat otaku in front of her.

She figured, since she was already asking so earnestly, Yoru wouldn't possibly refuse. He should be thrilled, right?

'If only it were someone else.'

Eriri sighed inwardly. Even now, she couldn't stop thinking how disgusting it was that it had to be Yoru.

"No."

Yoru shook his head without hesitation.

But after saying that, he didn't walk away immediately. He stayed put, wanting to see how this proud little girl would react.

A strong gust of wind suddenly tilted the umbrella.

Rain slammed down furiously, drumming loudly against the umbrella's surface.

Eriri took a step back in disbelief, her mouth open wide. She even forgot about the cold for a moment.

He rejected me?

Rejected by a fat otaku?

Shouldn't a guy like him be overjoyed to be this close to me?

They'd dream about this, wouldn't they?

As a doujin artist, Eriri knew her audience all too well.

"Sawamura, do you really think that looking down on me, calling me a gross fat otaku all the time, wouldn't piss me off?"

Seeing her like this, Yoru wasn't in a hurry anymore. He mocked her instead.

Hearing that, Eriri wanted to get angry. But when she looked at Yoru, for some reason something came to mind, and she held it in.

"Heh."

Yoru gave a smug little laugh and turned to walk away.

Whatever. Call me petty or whatever.

To most people, his reputation was worse than just "petty" anyway.

His life was already bleak.

"Wait! I'll give you money, okay?"

"Just lend me your umbrella!"

Yoru had already turned to leave, but at the last second, Eriri suddenly thought of her trump card and clung to it like a drowning girl to driftwood.

Who doesn't like money?

"Money?"

Sure enough, Yoru turned back.

If Eriri was offering money, that changed things.

In his eyes, she was just a conceited girl who looked down on him—not someone like Utaha or Kaguya.

If it were them, no amount of money would've convinced him to help.

Back downstairs, Yoru closed his umbrella.

"How about thirty thousand yen? Just help me once, okay?"

Looking at Yoru's massive body, Eriri remembered the scenes from her nightmare and took a step back.

She couldn't help but start to feel anxious and afraid.

She was a delicate little girl—Yoru's size could crush her, and she wouldn't even be able to resist.

He wouldn't… do something, would he?

Her imagination ran wild with fear again.

"How about this, Sawamura—you roll your eyes like usual, look all arrogant, and beg me. Then I'll give you a free ride."

Yoru said with twisted amusement.

Didn't she love looking at him with contempt?

"You… What kind of condition is that!?"

Eriri stomped her little foot in shame and anger.

"Fine, don't want to? Then forget it. Isn't this what you usually do to me?" Yoru wanted the money too, after all.

"I'll give you fifty thousand! And I'll apologize too! Deal?"

Eriri was conflicted. She knew exactly what kind of disgusting thoughts this fat otaku was having.

He was doing it on purpose!

"Fine."

Yoru hesitated a moment, then nodded.

What an unexpected windfall.

Fifty thousand yen—that's a fifth of a fresh graduate's monthly income after taxes.

Practically free money.

To a high schooler like him, even with a decent family background, it was a fair sum.

"No—eighty thousand. But I have one condition."

Now that he'd agreed, Eriri first felt relieved, then immediately added her condition.

She didn't want to stand under the same umbrella as this disgusting fat otaku. Their bodies would definitely touch.

Eriri was loaded. She didn't care about money!

"Let's hear it."

Yoru looked at her oddly, wondering why she wanted to give him even more money.

"Lend me your umbrella."

"I'll run outside, buy another one, and bring it back to you. Okay?"

Eriri was shivering from the cold, her lips turning pale.

"Your umbrella isn't big enough… for the both of us."

Yoru nodded. He wasn't too worried Eriri would run off with the money over eighty thousand yen.

With his large frame, if he went out in the rain, he'd definitely get soaked.

He could have her buy him a raincoat while she was out.

There were stores nearby—it shouldn't take long.

After that, Eriri reluctantly muttered an apology, and the umbrella was handed over to her.

Eriri left, braving the wind and rain with Yoru's umbrella over her head.

As he watched her figure vanish into the downpour, Yoru felt the cold sink in even deeper.

Of course.

If he knew Eriri was still thinking of him as a disgusting fat otaku, still worried he might do something to her, he wouldn't have wanted to earn that money.

He might not even be able to hold back his emotions.

Ever since Yumiko triggered something in Yoru, something had changed inside him.

Eriri held up the umbrella with both hands, walking through the torrential rain.

Shuchiin's drainage system was well-designed, so there wasn't much water pooling on the road.

But the rain was just too intense. It didn't take long for her shoes and calves to get soaked.

A gust of wind hit, and the already-shivering Eriri almost lost her balance and toppled over.

"So cold—!"

Eriri felt like her brain had frozen solid, gone completely blank.

Like a low-grade automaton, she trudged step by step toward the gates of Shuchiin.

The rain slammed against Yoru's umbrella, the force pressing down its top before it bounced back.

What should have been just a few minutes of walking took Eriri over ten minutes to reach the front gate.

Now, she was sniffling hard, the only thought in her mind being to get home and take a hot bath.

She pushed forward through the storm, unable to feel warmth anywhere on her body. Her soft lips had turned pale and blue.

"Achoo!"

Already not in great health, Eriri let out a violent sneeze and nearly collapsed.

Just then, a taxi returning from the shopping district passed by and noticed her standing in the rain.

Because Tokyo's public transportation is so convenient, taxi fares tend to be expensive, so most customers were unsuspecting tourists.

But when it rains like this, many people can't use public transit and don't want to get drenched, so business picks up.

Beep beep—

The driver stopped the car a short distance in front of Eriri, hazard lights flashing and nearly invisible through the rain.

"Miss, it's warm inside the car! There's heater!" the driver called out loudly.

Eriri was nearly frozen stiff, her mind moving sluggishly.

It took her a few seconds to process what he said before she instinctively walked over and climbed into the taxi.

Inside was dry and warm, with heated air filling the space.

After closing the door, Eriri gave the driver her address, her voice trembling.

The driver couldn't even hear her clearly the first time.

"Achoo—achoo—achoo—!"

She sneezed several times in a row, then leaned back against the seat and shut her eyes, visibly miserable.

Her forehead was burning hot, yet her body was ice cold. She couldn't feel any warmth.

The driver turned up the heat and pulled out of the area with his fog lights on.

Eriri, her head frozen and sluggish, seemed to have forgotten something important—or maybe she'd just gone completely numb.

Meanwhile…

Yoru was still crouched where Eriri had left him, hands stuffed inside his uniform jacket for warmth.

"So cold… Why isn't Sawamura back yet…"

"It's almost dark…"

For the first time, Yoru's thick fat wasn't doing anything to help.

He pulled out his signal-less phone and checked the time. Just after 5 PM.

But it was already as dark as 7 PM. Visibility was getting worse.

Another ten minutes passed. Yoru figured Eriri should've returned by now.

As he waited, shivering, he started doing warm-up exercises.

"Hoo…"

"If Sawamura isn't the culprit, then who is?"

"I thought the girl with the golden treasure box above her head was the bad one, so I assumed Sawamura was the culprit."

"But then both Kato-san and that completely unfamiliar Hayasaka girl had it too, so that theory's out."

"Hoo… So frustrating!"

Yoru muttered to pass the time while doing mountain-climbers on the ground to stay warm.

The sky continued to darken.

There was no sign of the storm letting up…

Another ten minutes went by, and Yoru couldn't sit still anymore.

He stood up, staring in the direction Eriri had left, his expression gradually turning grim.

"Did something happen to her?"

"Or… did she ditch me?"

Once that thought came to mind, he grew more and more suspicious.

She'd been gone over twenty minutes.

At a brisk pace, the station was only about ten minutes away.

"She ditched me?!"

Yoru took a step forward, only to be hit by a blast of cold wind and rain. The chill slammed into him, making his whole body tremble. He instinctively stepped back.

"She still hasn't come back?"

Yoru figured if he waited any longer, it'd be completely dark soon.

Still clinging to hope that she'd return any second now, he waited a few more minutes—but his expression grew worse.

Did she really ditch me?

Yoru struggled with the thought before finally realizing he couldn't keep waiting.

With the storm making visibility awful, waiting any longer would mean walking home in pitch black.

He couldn't just grope his way home in the dark, could he?

"Damn it!"

Thinking about Eriri's usual condescending look, Yoru cursed and cautiously stuck out his hand.

Raindrops struck his palm hard enough to sting.

If he ran through the rain like this, he'd be soaked in under ten seconds.

But he couldn't wait anymore.

Cursing Eriri under his breath, Yoru grabbed his bag and hurried upstairs.

In front of the Service Club room, he set his bag down by the door and tucked his phone inside it. Holding a wad of cash, he left the bag behind.

"Hope the trains aren't suspended…"

He quickened his pace, rushing around the school's club building, looking for anything that could shield him from the rain—all while stewing in anger over Eriri's broken promise.

She'd forced him to brave the storm and stumble home in the dark.

A few minutes later…

Yoru found a discarded piece of cardboard. He raised it over his head, gritting his teeth, and dashed into the rain.

In theory, it seemed like it might help.

Reality was cruel.