Pseudo-Harem Academy: I Can't Stop Acting Around Senpai!
Nanakura Rin has a problem: whenever she's around Eiji-senpai, the boy she likes, her mouth moves on its own—and out comes a flawless tsundere, little-devil, or clingy-girl performance. One girl playing every heroine role? To Eiji, that's comedy gold. To Rin, it's armor. Ever since a middle school play went horribly wrong, she's been terrified of letting anyone see the real her—especially the senpai who calls her "the ultimate harem" without a clue.
But when the drama club announces a romance p
Pseudo-Harem Academy: I Can't Stop Acting Around Senpai! - Club President Descends, Doubling the Lover Role Scenes!? ~When I Tried to Show My True Self, Somehow I Turned Into a Cool Girl and Hurt Senpai~
The drama club room after school. Tucked at the end of the third floor of the second building, this converted storage room still smelled of old wood and dust. The posters from past performances plastered across one wall looked faded in the evening sun. Outside the window, the camphor tree in the courtyard swayed in the breeze.
Nanakura Rin stared at the script on the long table. On the cover, in Iwata Tsuguhito's round handwriting: *Love-Struck Multiple Personalities*. Two weeks left until the culture festival.
(Lover scenes with senpai... there are going to be more of them...)
She couldn't get Iwata's declaration from yesterday out of her head. Rin traced the corner of the script with her finger. The paper felt slightly cold.
"Rin, what's wrong? You've got a serious look on your face."
Eiji, who had been reinforcing a set panel in the corner of the room, set down his hammer and looked over. His bright brown hair glowed softly, translucent in the sunlight pouring through the window. His dark brown eyes were narrowed in their usual friendly way.
" N-nothing at all! You should focus on your work, senpai!"
Rin instantly switched to her tsundere-chan voice. Her heart was pounding. Just knowing Eiji was watching made the real her retreat.
"Oh, tsundere-chan's in full force today! Proof you're fired up for the culture festival."
(No. It's not being fired up. This is my armor.)
Rin opened the script. The pages fluttered. It was the scene where the heroine, Lilina, acts spoiled with Eiji.
—*Clack.*
The club room door flew open.
"Hey, everyone! Sorry to keep you waiting!"
In came Nakayama Motokuni, the drama club president. Tall, with handsome features. His blazer hung off one shoulder, and he was grinning. He'd been called to the staff room a lot these past few days, so it was his first time at club in a while.
"President Nakayama, you made it today."
Rin let out a breath of relief. While Nakayama was gone, the club's atmosphere had been somehow tense.
"Yeah. Finally finished the culture festival paperwork. And today, I've got something important to discuss."
Nakayama lowered himself into the folding chair across from Rin. The old chair creaked.
"Something important?"
Eiji set his hammer on the floor and sat down next to Nakayama.
"Two weeks until the culture festival. I want to make this a more serious romance drama."
Nakayama's voice was as light as ever. But his eyes weren't smiling.
"A serious romance drama, you say?"
Rin's voice trembled slightly.
"That's right. As it stands, we won't grab the audience's hearts. We're the finale of the culture festival. We've got to make it the best stage possible."
Nakayama flashed a grin. His handsome face sparkled absurdly in the sunset.
"So what are you planning?"
Eiji leaned forward.
"We double the lover scenes between Rin and Eiji."
Rin stopped breathing.
" Wh... double...?"
"Wait a second, President! That's a bit much..."
Eiji's eyes went wide too.
"What's wrong, Eiji? You don't like it? You get to play Rin's lover even more."
Nakayama peered into Eiji's face.
" I-it's not that I don't like it... but Rin would be uncomfortable!"
Eiji glanced at Rin.
"What about you, Rin? With your acting, more lover scenes shouldn't be a problem. You're the drama club's hope, after all."
Nakayama's eyes fixed straight on Rin.
(Hope. That word again.)
Rin looked down. She gripped the hem of her skirt tightly.
"...Do you think I can do it?"
Her voice was so small it surprised even herself.
"Of course you can. I guarantee it. Besides, more lover scenes will make your acting shine even brighter. Make the audience fall in love."
Nakayama stood. The folding chair creaked again.
"And there's no way we're not using this face, right?"
Nakayama stood before the mirror on the club room wall. He stared at his own reflection.
"Yep. Looking good today too."
Eiji burst out laughing.
"President, you never change."
Rin couldn't help but laugh too.
"But I'm serious about this. Let's make the culture festival the best romance drama ever."
Nakayama turned from the mirror. His eyes were different now—dead serious.
"Me and Rin doing more lover scenes!? Yes!"
Eiji was genuinely thrilled.
Rin's face flushed, her feelings a tangled mess.
(More lover scenes with senpai. I'm happy. But I'm scared.)
Deep in her chest, love and anxiety churned in a whirlpool.
—The next day after school.
At Nakayama's direction, practice for the lover scenes began.
The script now had more scenes of the heroine acting spoiled with her senpai, and of the senpai holding the heroine close.
Just reading the script made Rin's face burn.
"Alright, let's run it from the top. Rin, Eiji, ready?"
Nakayama held his script and looked at the two of them.
"Yes."
"Ready whenever!"
Eiji answered energetically.
"Good. Then from scene three. The part where Lilina acts spoiled with Eiji."
Rin opened her script.
"Lilina, what's wrong? You seem down."
Eiji read his line from the script.
Rin took a deep breath.
" ...Senpai, I just feel... kind of lonely today."
Rin put on her spoiled-girl voice. The ends of her words wavered softly.
"Lonely? Why?"
Eiji read his line.
" Because you've been talking to other girls all the time lately, senpai."
Rin stared into Eiji's eyes. Her heart was pounding.
"Other girls... ah, you mean Kiri?"
Eiji read his line.
" ...So it's true. Even though I love you so much, senpai."
Rin read her line. Her face was hot.
"Lilina, you're special to me. I won't give you to anyone."
Eiji read his line.
Rin's chest tightened.
(This is just a line, but when senpai says it in his voice, it feels like he really means it.)
"...Senpai, please look at me more."
Rin read her line. Her voice shook.
"I am looking at you. Always."
Eiji read his line.
" ...Huh."
Rin forgot to read her next line.
Eiji's eyes were serious, direct—and Rin couldn't move.
"Rin? What's wrong? Did you lose your line?"
Nakayama called out.
" Ah, sorry! One more time, please!"
Rin hurriedly looked back at her script.
(No good. When I look into senpai's eyes, I can't think about anything.)
Practice continued.
"Rin, today, could you try doing it not as the character, but as yourself?"
Eiji suddenly said that.
" Huh... as myself?"
Rin's eyes went wide.
"Yeah. Your acting's always amazing, but sometimes I'd like to see the real Rin too. I mean, I don't really know what the real Rin is like."
Eiji scratched his head.
Rin's heart leaped.
(Senpai says he wants to see the real me.)
She was happy. But at the same time, scared.
" ...Okay, I got it. I'll try."
Rin gave a small nod.
(The real me. Showing the real me in front of senpai.)
Rin took a deep breath.
—Then, a memory from middle school flashed through her mind.
The school play. Rin had the lead role.
She was so nervous she forgot her lines.
The audience's stares were painful.
"What's that?" "Did she forget her lines?"
Murmurs, murmurs.
Rin stood frozen on stage, all alone.
—The terror from that moment came rushing back.
Rin's body locked up.
No words came out.
She looked at Eiji's face.
Kind eyes.
But those eyes overlapped with the audience's eyes from back then.
(No. If I show the real me, I'll fail again.)
Rin panicked.
And in that instant, she performed Cool-chan.
" ...I'm not interested. That kind of thing is such a pain."
A cold voice echoed through the club room.
Eiji looked startled for a moment.
Then he gave a wry smile.
"I see... sorry, I pushed you."
Eiji's voice was a little subdued.
(No. That's not it. Senpai, I'm sorry.)
Rin screamed inside.
But she couldn't put it into words.
" Let's stop here for today. Rin seems tired."
Nakayama said quietly.
Rin nodded, still looking down.
—After practice.
Rin went out to the courtyard alone.
She sat on the bench beneath the camphor tree.
The sunset dyed the courtyard orange.
"I wonder what the real Rin is like... I feel like I'm always just seeing her characters."
Eiji's voice came from behind her.
Rin's shoulders jumped.
She turned around. Eiji was standing there.
" Senpai..."
"Ah, sorry, that was a weird thing to say! You can just be yourself, Rin!"
Eiji gave an embarrassed laugh and waved his hand.
"...You like my acting, don't you, senpai."
Rin's voice was small.
"Yeah, I do. Your acting is amazing."
Eiji said it easily.
Rin's chest ached.
(Of course. What senpai likes is the me who's acting. Not the real me.)
"...Thank you. Well, I'll be going now."
Rin turned her back on Eiji.
"Yeah, see you tomorrow."
Eiji's voice dissolved into the twilight air.
As she walked, Rin looked up at the sky.
Stars were beginning to twinkle, one by one.
(I might have hurt senpai even more.)
A throbbing pain pulsed deep in her chest.
—The Nanakura house.
Rin lay on her bed in her room.
Staring at the ceiling, she replayed the day in her mind.
Eiji's words: "Could you try doing it as yourself?"
And the cold words she'd thrown back.
"I'm such an idiot..."
Rin murmured.
—*Slam!*
The door flew open.
"Big sis, listen!"
Her little sister Ayaka came bursting in. Behind her was her friend Moe.
" Hey, at least knock!"
Rin scrambled upright.
"Big sis, how was today? You practiced with Eiji, right?"
Ayaka said, bouncing on her toes.
" ...Yeah, I did. But when I tried to show senpai the real me, I turned into some weird character instead. He might hate me now."
Rin looked down.
"You're you, big sis. You don't have to act cool."
Ayaka took Rin's hand.
"But nobody wants to see the real me..."
Rin's voice trembled.
"Rin, you looked super pretty today!"
Moe said innocently.
Rin felt just a little saved.
"...Thank you, Moe."
Rin patted Moe's head.
—*Ping.*
Her phone chimed with a notification.
She looked at the screen. It was an email from Nakayama.
*If tomorrow's rehearsal doesn't show results, we may have to change the program. Be prepared.*
Rin's body froze.
" ...Change the program."
Rin clutched her phone.
(Because of me, the club might fall apart.)
Terror raced through her whole body.
Rin burrowed under the covers.
"I'm such an idiot..."
Tears spilled over.
She couldn't stop them.
—The next day.
The club room after school.
Rin stood before the mirror.
She looked at herself in the glass.
"Who am I...? Tsundere-chan? Cool-chan? Or..."
Rin murmured.
—*Clack.*
The club room door opened.
"Rin-senpai, hello."
Shirasawa Kiri, a new member, came in. Her black hair, a little past her shoulders, was tied back in a single bundle. Her large eyes fixed straight on Rin.
"Kiri, hello."
Rin looked away from the mirror.
"Rin-senpai, actually, I went to the same middle school as you."
Kiri said that out of nowhere.
" Huh... same middle school?"
Rin's eyes went wide.
"Yeah. You were the star of the drama club in middle school, and so kind. I saw your performance and decided I wanted to join the drama club."
Kiri smiled brightly.
Something stirred deep in Rin's chest.
(Kiri knows a senpai I don't know. There's a senpai I don't know.)
A sense of exclusion and jealousy took hold of her heart.
" ...I see. I didn't know that."
Rin said in a cold voice.
"Rin-senpai, what's wrong? You look pale."
Kiri peered worriedly at Rin's face.
" ...It's nothing. Don't worry about it."
Rin looked away from Kiri.
And left the club room.
"Huh, what's wrong with Rin-senpai?"
Kiri's voice came from behind her.
Rin walked down the hallway.
The sunset poured through the hallway windows, stretching Rin's shadow long.
(I was cold to Kiri too.)
Regret squeezed her chest.
(But I couldn't stop myself. When I thought about there being a senpai I don't know...)
Rin looked out the window.
The camphor tree in the courtyard swayed in the evening wind.
Two weeks until the culture festival.
Rin's heart lay in pieces.
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