After My Girlfriend Dumped Me, I Got Reincarnated As A High School Student. That Part’s Fine—But Why Are All My Ex-Girlfriends Here Too? - Chapter 4 – Yuta Misumi’s New Game: He’s Not Strong At All

“Wait, hold on—what do you mean by that…?”

“Exactly what it sounds like,” Rio said, her tone oddly casual for what she was about to drop on me. “Right now, Yuta, you’re already dead. The only reason you can exist here is because of my acquaintance—and the one who killed you, let’s just call them… X.”

“That name is way too chuunibyou—”
“Did you say something?”
“Eek! N-no, nothing at all! Terrifying…”

“Anyway,” she continued, “since this world was created by my acquaintance and X, your very existence depends on it. If the world disappears, poof—you’ll move on to heaven.”

“Ugh…” I groaned. “But wait, what’s that got to do with this ‘get a girlfriend before graduation’ thing? Don’t tell me—”

“I think you’ve got it.” Rio’s smile was innocent, but her eyes glinted with mischief. “Apparently, the condition for this world’s stability is that you must get a girlfriend before graduating high school.”

“…You’ve gotta be kidding me.”

“So!” she said, clapping her hands together. “You might as well give up and go get yourself a cute girlfriend already!”

“Yeah, sure, it sounds like that’s the only way to survive…”

“Right, right, see? You catch on quick—”
“But I refuse!”

“Eh…?”

“Listen, Rio. High school romance is a fantasy. Letters in shoe lockers? Ninety percent chance it’s a prank or a fake confession. And if the sender never shows up, it’s probably because some guy wrote it as a joke. Valentine chocolates? Urban legend. That whole ‘second button’ thing? Guys just rip it off themselves to look cool. And that Christmas ‘date invite’? Always just a class reunion in disguise! Source: me.”

“…Wow.”

“No, wait—hang on…” I rubbed my chin, trying to think. “If this is a new world… maybe I’m different now.”

Maybe I’d been reborn with some secret hidden talent—finally, a chance to be the overpowered protagonist of a new life!

“Oh, don’t worry. You’re exactly the same as before,” Rio said flatly.

“‘Don’t worry’? That’s the opposite of reassuring!”

“You’re such a pain, you know that…?”

“Hold on… maybe…”

“Oh boy,” she sighed. “That’s your ‘I just thought of something stupid’ face.”

“How rude! Hear me out. I’ve already got Hii-chan, don’t I!?”

“I knew it! Why would you even bring your sister into this!?”

“Think about it! Same last name, living under the same roof—technically, that’s practically like a married cou—”
“Yeah, no. That’s not even remotely the same thing.”

“Aw, come on…”

“You’re such a siscon.”

“Could you not say that so seriously?” I groaned.

“Anyway…” Rio crossed her arms. “Didn’t you ever have a girl you liked back in school?”

“Well… yeah. Back in middle school, there was this tomboyish girl in my class. Her name was Asahi Kanda.”

“Oh? Were you close?”

“Pretty much. She had lots of guy friends, probably because she liked shounen manga more than shoujo ones. She was cheerful and easy to talk to. We even hung out at my place once—me, her, and another girl friend of mine. Played games and everything.”

“Wow! Sounds like you were pretty popular!” Rio grinned.

“Yeah, except she completely destroyed me in a fighting game. I picked the main character, and she wrecked me with the heroine. My pride as a man didn’t survive that match…”

“Ouch.”

“Still,” she said, tilting her head, “you must’ve meant something to her. I mean, she wouldn’t just go over to your house for nothing.”

“You’d think so, right? But when we reconnected in high school through social media… she’d changed. Completely. The tomboy thing? Gone. The shounen manga she loved? Said she wasn’t interested anymore. It was like she’d turned into a totally different person.”

“Oof…”

“She said she was about to get dumped, so I asked if there was anything I could do to help. And she said—word for word—‘There’s nothing you can do. Don’t think you can fix my problems.’ Just… shot me down with pure disgust. Yeah. That one stung.”

“Wow… okay, but wasn’t there any happier story? Like someone confessing to you or something?”

“Actually, yeah. Once.”

“Ooh, do tell!”

“Her name was Sachie Toyohara. Four years older than me. We met at a drinking party through mutual friends after I started working. She told me I was the only one for her, totally serious about it. But now she’s Mrs. Yukie Sawamura.”

“Wait—what!? That escalated way too fast! How did that even happen!?”

“That’s just how love is,” I said with a bitter laugh. “You drink, you laugh, you forget everything for a while… and when the buzz wears off, reality smacks you in the face. Sometimes, you even wonder if any of it really happened.”

“I see…”

“That’s why I said Hii-chan being there for me isn’t entirely a joke.”

“There you go again…”

“I’m serious. I actually confessed to her once.”

“What!?”

“She turned me down, of course. She already had a boyfriend at the time.”

“Ah… that makes sense.”

“But even then, she accepted my feelings. She thanked me. And now, even though she’s literally my sister in this world, she still calls me ‘big brother’ and treats me kindly. Honestly, she’s too good for me.”

“…That’s sweet,” Rio murmured softly, smiling in a way that, for once, actually looked angelic.

See? She could make that kind of face. Way better than the usual exasperated scowl.

“Don’t think I don’t notice that you’re mocking me,” she said, cheeks puffing slightly. “You still doubted me earlier, didn’t you?”

“Hey, I believe you now, don’t I?”

“Still, it bugs me somehow…”

“Anyway,” I said, scratching my head, “so I guess me being family with Hii-chan now means—”
“That and your weird fantasies are completely different things,” she cut in firmly.

“…Damn.”