I Saved Too Many Girls and Caused the Apocalypse: Volume 4

by Namekojirushi

  “Um, this is the music room,” I said, pointing to the sign above the door.

  “Indeed.”

  “H-Hey, they’re having class right n—”

  Before I could finish my sentence, Rosalind stood up on her toes to peer into the classroom through the window in the door. Several of the students saw us. I could see the “what are they doing?” looks on their faces. Man, this was really embarrassing...

  “Music and art are electives. I think the music class is practicing the school anthem? I take art, so I don’t really know. In art class, we’re studying the history of art and stuff in our textbooks right now.” I sped through the explanation. I just wanted to get away from here.

  “Japanese schools are much tidier than they once were,” Rosalind said as she lowered herself down from the window. “Now take me to the next place.”

  She looked up at me expectantly, her twin tails bobbing as she moved her head. Hmm... She was kind of bossy.

  After that, I showed her the science labs, the study halls, and a few other places. I made my best attempt to explain the different rooms, but all Rosalind said was, “Indeed.” She didn’t seem very interested. As far as I was concerned, I just wanted to get back to class before first period was over. But since I had to walk at her pace, we were going really slow. That, and she sure liked to talk.

  “How old are you?”

  “What is your favorite color?”

  “Why do Japanese people make their children all wear the same clothes?”

  “Are you in love with anyone?”

  Even worse, she’d stop walking every time she asked a question, which made things take even longer. And who asks how old their classmates are? Don’t you usually ask for their birthday?

  Just when I was thinking that first period was a lost cause, she stopped again.

  “By the way, Namidare...”

  “Yeah?”

  “You seem to be on quite good terms with the two girls who sit next to you.”

  “Yeah, I guess.”

  “...So you admit it, then.”

  “Sure? I mean...”

  One of them was a childhood friend, and Iris and I had helped each other out of some pretty big problems, so there was a lot of trust and gratitude between us. I didn’t have any reason to deny that we were on good terms.

  “Hmph.” Rosalind rubbed her chin and sighed.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “It’s nothing,” she said.

  I guess it wasn’t that big of a deal.

  I kept walking Rosalind around the school. She was still holding my arm, but now, for some reason, she seemed to be lost in thought. We just barely made it out of the special classrooms building before it was time to switch classes.

  “All right,” I said, “Let’s head back to class now.”

  At this point, I just wanted to get her off my arm. First period was over and people were starting to come out into the hallways, which meant I was starting to attract stares again. But when I went to unlink my arm from hers, Rosalind pulled on me hard.

  “What are you talking about? We still haven’t gone through the main school building.”

  “But that’s just a bunch of regular classrooms. There’s not really anything there to see...”

  “I’ll be the judge of that. You’re just the guide. Now take me there.”

  “But...”

  At this rate, we’d be late for second period.

  “Or is there some kind of problem?” Rosalind demanded.

  She pulled on my arm harder, bringing me towards her. With our faces this close, a sweet scent stimulated my nostrils.

  “Do you not like being with me, Namidare? Is that the issue, perhaps?”

  “No, that’s not it...”

  “Then you want to be with me,” she insisted.

  “Wait, huh?”

  I wasn’t sure how, but she’d won the argument.

  “Come on, stop being so slow!”

  “...Fine,” I acquiesced.

  I was really wishing I was one of those Japanese people who knew how to put their foot down.

  ▽

  I finally made it back to class near the end of second period. Since I had a good reason, I didn’t get in trouble for being late. And by the time third period started, my day seemed like it was back on schedule.

  Fourth period was gym class, and then it was time for lunch break. I got my lunchbox out and waited for Iris and Satsuki to come back from the locker room. It wasn’t long before they came in... with Rosalind.

  Psst, psst, psst...

  The three of them were whispering to each other. Had they gotten to know each other during gym class?

  “Welcome back, Satsuki, Iris.”

  “Hi!”

  “Hello!”

  “I just saw you two talking with Rosalind. Did you guys play basketball together?”

  If I remembered right, that’s what the girls were supposed to do during gym class today. Satsuki always liked to help people, so I thought that maybe she’d invited Rosalind to her team since she was the new girl.

  “Hmm? No, not really.”

  But Satsuki shook her head.

  “Hmm...”

  Then they just happened to start chatting on the way back to class?

  “Namidare.”

  As I was trying to figure it out, the girl in question walked over to me.

  “What’s up?”

  How many times had Rosalind said my name today? She’d taken some kind of weird liking to me.

  “I’m told it’s time for food now. Take me to this so-called ‘cafeteria’ of yours.”

  “I already showed you where it was. You can make it there yourself, right?”

  “I don’t understand how Japanese currency works,” she said.

  I guess I didn’t have a choice.

  “All right. You just need me to do the math and handle the cash for you, right?”

  “Indeed.” Rosalind smiled, satisfied at my answer. “And after that, why don’t you eat lunch with me too?”

  “Huh? No, I can’t...”

  I looked over at Satsuki and Iris, the girls I was originally planning to eat with. But then...

  “Sorry, Rekka. I’ve actually got something I have to do,” said Satsuki.

  “Huh?”

  “Me too!” said Iris.

  “Whaaat?”

  This was rare, not to mention weird.

  “Oh dear. Looks like this is perfect timing for you, huh, Rekka?”

  Even R, whose default expression was robotic, seemed a little surprised.

  “So yeah, eat lunch with Rosalind,” Satsuki insisted.

  “Okay...”

  “Bye!” Iris called as she walked away.

  The two of them left the room, leaving the other two of us behind.

  “Now let us go,” Rosalind said.

  “I don’t mind going with you, but...”

  I wished she would stop grabbing my arm.

  For Rosalind, this was probably just a typical “escort,” but I didn’t think it made any sense to treat me like a British gentleman. I could see the other boys in the class staring at me. Their eyes seemed to say, “Now he’s even hooking up with the transfer student?” Some of them were cracking their knuckles.

  “...Anybody want to come with us?” I said, hoping to lighten the mood a little. But Rosalind just started pouting.

  “Namidare. By ‘us,’ I meant you and me.”

  She only made things worse. I realized staying here any longer would just mean more rumors, so I ran out of the classroom, dragging along Rosalind, who was still clinging to my arm.

  “You’re walking too fast.”

  It was the same thing she’d said this morning, so I slowed down as we headed for the cafeteria.

  “Hey, why did you decide you wanted to eat lunch with me?” I asked.

  “The reason is extremely simple. Out of all the people here, you’re the one who’s easiest to talk to,” she replied.


  Well, I was the one who’d shown her around, after all.

  “You’re so popular! Go you!” R cheered half-heartedly.

  I glared at her to shut her up.

  We eventually made it to the cafeteria.

  “Hmm... There are so many types of bread here. Do they have red bean jam buns?” Rosalind asked as she inspected what was for sale.

  “You know about those, huh?”

  I’d thought that red bean jam was something unique to Japanese sweets, but evidently even a foreign girl like Rosalind knew about it.

  “I only know them by name. I’ve always wanted to try one.”

  Rosalind bought herself a cream bun and a red bean jam bun, and I got some English tea for each of us out of the vending machine. She then announced that she wanted to go to the roof.

  “We’re not going back to the classroom?”

  “I want to eat up there,” she replied.

  Well, I didn’t really feel like going back to the classroom, so it was fine by me.

  A cool breeze swept across my face as I stepped out onto the roof. The weather was good, and thanks to the wind, it wasn’t too hot. It was the perfect day to eat outside.

  I sat down next to Rosalind on the bench.

  “Did you bring your own lunch, Namidare?”

  “Yeah. Satsuki made it today.”

  “...Satsuki makes your lunches?”

  “Yeah. Satsuki and another girl take turns.”

  “Another girl...?”

  Rosalind seemed shocked for some reason, but I ignored her and started to dig in.

  “Come on, you should eat too,” I said.

  “I-Indeed...”

  Her expression was still a little stiff, but Rosalind stuffed a straw into her little container of tea and began to sip.

  Slurrrp...

  “Eww.”

  “Not even giving it a chance, huh?”

  She’d barely even taken a sip. I was a little surprised.

  “If I ever meet the person who decided to call this tea, I’m going to kill them.”

  “That’s a little extreme, isn’t it?”

  “I’ll start with you.”

  “Why?!”

  “You committed a grave sin in making me drink this.”

  “Wait, wait, wait!” She sounded like she was joking, but her eyes looked dead serious. “Here, calm down and try this red bean jam bun.”

  I ripped open the bag for the bun she hadn’t eaten yet and forced it into her hands.

  “...”

  She stared at me, then at the bun, then back at me... and finally decided to eat the bread before she made any attempt on my life. It might just have been because her hands were full, though.

  Her tiny mouth took a big bite out of the round bun. If she didn’t like it, was she really going to kill me...? I waited nervously for her to finish.

  “It tastes like nothing.”

  “You just haven’t gotten to the bean jam yet! Take another big bite!” I yelled.

  She took a second bite with her tiny mouth, this time surely deep enough to reach the jam. The bite was a little too big for her, and her cheeks plumped up like a chipmunk’s as she chewed.

  “...”

  “Well?”

  Chomp.

  She took another bite without answering me. This time, she carefully chose a part where there was jam. The jam, at least, she seemed to like. I sighed in relief as I began to eat my own lunch once more.

  ▽

  After school, at the shoe lockers near the front entrance of the school...

  “Namidare.”

  “Again...?”

  “Why do you look so annoyed?”

  “No, sorry. I was just thinking that we keep running into each other.”

  “Of course we do. We’re in the same class.”

  “Hmm... That’s not really what I meant.”

  I couldn’t exactly tell her that I was getting a little sick of her after she’d dragged me around all day. I was your average Japanese person—extremely reticent and unable to speak bluntly about what was on my mind.

  “Well, it doesn’t matter. Let’s go home together,” she said.

  “Yeah, I guess that’s okay. But...” I held my index finger out as if to make a point. “No arm-holding.”

  “No? Why ever not?”

  “Not outside.”

  “Hmph...” Rosalind’s eyes narrowed unhappily.

  For a moment, there was a serious tension between us, but...

  “Gotcha!”

  “Ack!”

  It ended with my defeat.

  “That’s better. Now let’s go.”

  “...Right.”

  I didn’t have the energy left to argue anymore, so I started to walk with Rosalind on my arm anyway.

  Now that I thought about it, I was so busy dealing with her today that I didn’t have time to talk to Satsuki and Iris about Sunday. I would need to get the scheduling and stuff all worked out tomorrow. I told myself that just making the plans wouldn’t cost me anything.

  “Namidare, I still don’t know this city well. Show me around.”

  But there she went again...

  Fine. Did some mysterious power dictate that I was going to spend my day being dragged around by a bossy princess? That had to be what it was. Definitely.

  And I was too much of a wuss to refuse, too.

  “What’s wrong? Hurry up.”

  “Right, right. As you wish, my princess,” I said without really thinking about it.

  Her expression completely changed.

  “...Namidare...”

  Her haughty attitude and arrogance were gone in the blink of an eye, and she was now whispering my name like she was in some kind of dreamy trance. Her red eyes looked up at me, moist with tears.

  “Huh? Is there something on my face?”

  I didn’t understand why she was looking at me like that, so I said the first thing that came to mind.

  “N-Never mind!”

  But Rosalind cut me off, then let go of my arm and quickly moved away from me. This only confused me more.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “I said never mind!”

  “But...”

  “Be quiet! I said never mind, so never mind it!”

  “...?”

  What a weird girl. She was fine when she was holding my arm, but the minute she let go, she started to blush.

  “Y-You can show me around some other time.”

  “Okay.” I sighed in relief.

  “Why do you look so happy?” Rosalind glared at me.

  “Oh, um...”

  “Just so you know, I’m not letting you out of this. Oh, I know! You can show me around on Sunday. We’ll spend the whole day together.”

  “What?!”

  The timing was so perfectly awful, I didn’t know what to do.

  “Hold on! I’ve got plans on Sunday!”

  “What...?” One of Rosalind’s eyebrows twitched. “Do you mean with those Satsuki and Iris girls?”

  “Y-Yeah, that’s right... How did you know?”

  “Intuition.”

  “A woman’s intuition is a scary thing, huh?” R said, as blasé as ever.

  But I had to agree.

  “W-Well, anyway, I’ve got plans with them, so I can’t go on Sunday. Maybe next Sunday?”

  “...”

  I offered a compromise, but Rosalind ignored me.

  “O-Okay, well, see you tomorrow!”

  She only seemed more upset now, so I ran off to get away from her as quickly as I could.

  ▽

  “Sir Rekka! Wake up!”

  “Harissa...?”

  I woke up to the sensation of someone shaking me. Harissa was standing over me, wearing her apron.

  “Good morning, Sir Rekka.”

  “Yeah, morning... Gimme another five minutes...”

  “It’s time to wake up though!”

  Harissa ripped off my blankets with a smile before I could succumb to
the temptations of sleep once more. Lately it felt like she was showing less and less mercy... but maybe that was just because I was so lazy.

  “Hmm...”

  Have you ever wondered if there are fairies that live in your covers that make you sleepy? Maybe that’s why when the blankets come off, you suddenly stop feeling so tired. That’s how it was for me. At least, it was usually. When I sat up, I still felt a little out of it today.

  “Sir Rekka! If you don’t get ready quick, you’ll be late!”

  “Huh...? Gah, you’re right!”

  I’d woken up about ten minutes later than usual. But now that I was completely alert, I jumped out of bed and hurriedly began to change.

  “Okay, I’ll be waiting downstairs,” Harissa said.

  “Thanks.”

  “Oh, by the way...”

  “Hm?”

  Harissa sounded a little hesitant, almost like she had something to say but didn’t really want to say it. I turned around and looked at her.

  “Sir Rekka, is there any chance you had a fight with Satsuki yesterday?”

  “Huh? Why?”

  “Well, um...” She started mumbling. “Satsuki didn’t come to make you breakfast this morning.”

  “Huh...?”

  ▽

  Before I left for school, I decided to go next door to the Otomo residence to check in on Satsuki.

  “Huh? Satsuki left the house a while ago. She didn’t come over to your place?” Satsuki’s mom seemed confused too when I asked about her.

  She wasn’t sick or anything... So why didn’t she come to my house this morning?

  “So she went to school by herself then? I wonder what happened...”

  “Well, I can ask her at school, I guess.”

  I bowed to her mom and headed for school myself, wondering all the while what was going on.

  When I got to class, Satsuki was already in her seat. So was Iris.

  “...?”

  Normally when I came in, Iris would make a scene. Sometimes she’d even jump up and give me a hug. But today...

  “Oh, good morning, Rekka.”

  That was all I got.

  “Yeah... Good morning.”

  It seemed like something might be up with her too. Today was shaping up to be a weird day.

  “Morning, Satsuki.”

  “Good morning, Rekka.”

  I exchanged morning greetings with Satsuki. Normally we came to school together every day, so it was really rare for us to say good morning like this.