Chapter 4: CH 4

I was so captivated by Shirayuki standing serenely in front of me that I didn’t even care about the cold orange juice in my hand.

The way her silver hair swayed in the wind was enchanting, and her blue eyes, which looked at me intently, were so beautiful… I realized again how much I love her.

(However, she will end up with the protagonist and I’ll remain the hated character…)

Thinking about such things made me feel depressed.

So what if I was reborn in this world, when I cannot even touch the girl I love, it all seems futile to me.

If it’s so pointless then why don’t you like Arashi, hop on her and mess with her voluptuous body— a nasty voice echoed in my mind.

(That’s one thing, sure. But I told you… that I love Shirayuki and I don’t want to hurt her, let alone make her hate me.)

That’s my conviction and a feeling that won’t change.

Well, since I’m already hated, and my wish won’t come true… but even so, I won’t do anything that will hurt her from now on.

“… By the way, why are you here?”

After thinking about various things, I finally asked her.

Shirayuki still had an expression on her face that made it hard to tell what she was thinking, but she was beautiful even in that way, I couldn’t help but admire her even more.

“I happened to find you jogging. But on second thought, orange juice isn’t good for someone who’s trying to lose weight.”

“… Ah.”

Shirayuki stuck out her tongue and smiled, took the juice from me, and handed me another bottle of sports drink she had.

“It’s a low-sugar sports drink. Would you like some?”

“… Okay.”

I took the sports drink from her, still stunned.

I always carry some change to buy drinks, but I never expected to receive a drink from Shirayuki… I expressed my gratitude after saying thank you.

I opened the lid and gulped it down to cool down my body… but in an instant more than half of it disappeared into my stomach.

“… Tasty.”

I never thought that a mere sports drink would taste so good… Shirayuki seemed to be watching me intently as she drank her orange juice, and she also muttered how delicious it was with a lovely expression.

“I haven’t really drunk anything like orange juice before. But I’ve had a change of mood lately, and I’ve started to like it,”

“… Really?”

… Is this a dream?

I, as Arashi Gundo, am having a normal conversation with her… Could it be because the original story hasn’t started yet so it’s okay? No, it can’t be, because in my memories as Arashi, I vividly recall her rejecting me.

… I don’t understand, I really don’t know, what’s going on?

“Gundo-kun”

“Whoa!?”

Suddenly being called by my name, I let out a crazy voice.

Feeling embarrassed, I looked down, but Shirayuki didn’t seem to react to my reaction, and her expression remained unchanged.

“Jogging may indeed be effective. However, if you force yourself to run, with that much weight on your legs, you may hurt yourself. Besides, Gundo-kun, looking at how tired you are, it’s obvious that you don’t exercise, right?”

“Exercise, huh.”

Anyone looking at this body would know that much.

Maybe, but I wonder if Shirayuki avoided saying it directly and said how tired I was, she shouldn’t have any reason to care about me… but, that makes me a little happy to think so if she does.

“I think you should start by walking instead of running. Or you could try the gym in front of the station.”

“… Ah~”

The gym in front of the station… that’s in the game, as I recall.

That’s where the main character was introduced to Shirayuki when he said he wanted to work out a little.

It’s certainly better to have someone watch you exercise a little bit than to try to force yourself to lose weight.

“The gym in front of the station, yeah. I’ll give it some thought.”

“Good. By all means do so.”

As expected, she’s not going to say “Do you want to go together?” like she did with the protagonist.

With a wry smile about that, I asked her again.

“Hey, Shir…I mean, Hououin.”

“It’s a long surname, you know? You can call me Shirayuki.”

“… Eh?”

“Did I say something strange? After all, you’ve called me that many times.”

“…Yes, that’s true.”

What’s going on? Does this mean that she’s allowing me to call her by her name now?

Still, it would be inappropriate for me to call her by her name in school… if I did, I wouldn’t know how people around us would react.

(The protagonist has gone through a lot as well…)

In the story, the obstacles aren’t just limited to Arashi, but also to those who don’t recognize their relationship and cause trouble.

The first of them are the ones who called me fat in the morning, but that just shows how popular Shirayuki is, and at the same time, she’s so beautiful that men can’t wait to get their hands on.

“Why is this? Until now, I… “

I’ve been bothering her so many times.

Even though she treated me as a positive thing without considering my appearance, Arashi must have misunderstood and caused trouble for Shirayuki… Of course it wasn’t me, but now that this body is mine, I’m not indifferent, so I’m worried.

“Gundo-kun, you know I’m smart,”

“… Ha?”

“Right now, you’re moving your body because you want to change your current situation, right? Doing something you’ve never done before means that there was some change within you, right?”

“That’s…”

Clearly she was referring to my current situation.

Of course, she wouldn’t have noticed that I wasn’t originally Arashi, but still, I felt like she was the first in this world to have someone notice my change.

“It’s true that you used to be a nuisance a few days ago. But now, I have to say, I don’t feel that unpleasantness from you anymore.”

“………”

Well, I was really happy to hear that.

However, I had a happy dream of having s*x with you yesterday— and naturally I can’t tell her that, but I feel very sorry inside.

“Gundo-kun”

“!?”

And before I knew it, she came in front of me.

Only I was reflected in her blue eyes, and she looked straight at me and said,

“I don’t deny hard-working people, nor do I mock effort,”

“…”

“I too have worked hard again and again and again… cried many times, but I still can’t hold on to what I want.”

She said with a serious expression.

Even if someone is as important as she is, there could be something that she can’t get… it’s not necessarily strange, but what could she want so much? Judging from her tone, it’s not the protagonist, right?

“Even though he whispered words that make me happy so many times, he never came to see me and kept repeating the same thing.”

“… Shirayuki?”

” … I’m sorry, I talked too much.”

“No… that’s fine.”

I was a little scared of her just now.

After that, she left with a word of encouragement, but as for me, I was confused by the unexpected turn of events, but later I became excited again.

“Huhu… I can’t believe I got to talk with her… It’s not a dream, right?”

However, that did not make me feel any differently about her.

I was just touched by the fact that I could talk to her and at the same time grateful that she noticed my change, even if it was slight— it was Shirayuki who noticed it first.

I don’t know, I’m so happy that I can’t do anything about it.

“Okay, let’s just take it easy and go for a walk… If I rush and break a bone, it’ll be for nothing.”

It was then when I was about to go for a walk, feeling no longer exhausted.

“…?”

I felt a strong gaze and turned around, but there was no one there.

After shaking my head, I started moving my body again.

And needless to say, I had tremendous muscle pain the next day.