Kurumi's School Life Reincarnation: A Sweet and Bitter Love Triangle!?
During an after-school piano session in the music room, Kurumi suddenly finds herself transported to another world. She arrives at 'Kurumi Academy,' a slightly peculiar high school, retaining only the memories of her original life.
Enrolled as a first-year student with the same name, Kurumi Hazakura, she begins a new life full of heart-pounding and exciting events with new friends, all while thinking she used to be a normal high schooler with no special powers.
The most popular boy in class, T
Kurumi's School Life Reincarnation: A Sweet and Bitter Love Triangle!? - Heart-Pounding! Chaos at the Miss Kurumi Contest
The morning classroom gradually grew livelier as students arrived one after another.
"Morning!" "Did you watch that drama yesterday?" "Ahh, I forgot my homework!"
Kurumi stifled a small yawn at her desk.
It had already been a week since she'd wandered into Kurumi Academy.
She felt like she was slowly getting used to the smell of the classroom, the hardness of the desks.
But still, something felt strange.
After all, while all her classmates in Class 1-3 were kind, the faces they showed in unguarded moments were just a little... off.
Almost as if they'd known she was coming.
Though there was no way that could be true.
"Kurumi-chaaan!"
At the sudden loud voice, Kurumi let out a weird "Hyah!" sound.
Honda Takuto came running from the hallway, throwing the classroom door open with force.
His brown hair bounced around in a messy tangle, and the silver walnut earring in his left ear caught the morning sunlight.
And then, of all things, he hopped right up onto the teacher's platform.
"Okaaay, everyone, listen up!"
Takuto spread his arms wide and shouted in a voice that echoed through the entire classroom.
It wasn't even time for everyone to be in their seats yet.
But he didn't care about that at all.
"I hereby make an urgent and important announcement!"
"Huh?"
Kurumi tilted her head.
Her classmates looked up at Takuto, wondering what was going on.
"Next month's Noisette Festival main event, the 'Miss Kurumi Contest'! I hereby, as the representative of Class 1-3—"
Takuto thrust his finger out sharply.
That fingertip was pointed straight at Kurumi.
"—nominate Kurumi-chaaan!!!"
For a moment, the classroom fell completely silent.
The next moment.
"Whoooa!"
"Nice, nice!"
"If it's Kurumi-chan, she's cute enough to win for sure!"
"I second that!"
"Kyaa, Takuto-kun, good job!"
The classroom erupted in deafening applause and cheers.
At her desk, Kurumi's small mouth opened and closed wordlessly.
Her fluffy black bob, about shoulder-length, swayed with her agitation.
Even the walnut hairpin on the right side seemed to glimmer with unease.
Her large, round brown eyes opened wider than they ever had before.
"Wha, whaaaaaat!?"
She finally managed to get her voice out.
"I mean, Kurumi-chan, you're super good at piano, right? With a talent showcase like that, you'll definitely win!"
Takuto jumped down from the platform and ran over to Kurumi's desk.
Then he took her hand and shook it vigorously.
"And besides, don't you think it's the most dramatic thing ever for a girl named Kurumi to become Miss Kurumi!?"
"Even if you say dramatic... me, playing piano in front of people..."
Kurumi looked around for help.
But all her classmates were smiling and clapping.
The girl in the seat behind her called out, "Go for it, Kurumi-chan!"
The boy next to her gave a thumbs up and said, "Hey, we're counting on you!"
Eyes full of expectation.
Sparkling eyes.
Everyone was looking at Kurumi.
—If I refuse here, I'll kill the mood.
—I'll let everyone down.
Kurumi's bad habit of going with the flow reared its head.
"...Um..."
"It's fine! I'll definitely support you! I've got ideas for the costume, I'll help you practice, and I'll even treat you to lunch!"
"What does lunch have to do with anything!?" someone retorted, and laughter rippled through the classroom.
Takuto laughed too. His eyes narrowed into crescent moons.
That smile looked so happy.
So genuinely happy.
Kurumi swallowed the words of refusal.
"...Th-then, I'll think about it just a little."
"Just a little? That basically means you're in, right! Everyone's fine with that, right!?"
"""Of courrrrse!!"""
The whole class chorused in unison.
Which basically meant she had no right to refuse anymore.
Kurumi slumped over her desk.
She let out a huge sigh in her heart.
(I did it again... I just went along with it...)
But deep in her ears, Takuto's voice echoed: "I'll definitely support you!"
His irrepressible smile flickered in her mind.
It was a strange feeling—troubled, but also just a little bit happy.
---
Lunch break.
As always, the area in front of the school store "Konaradou" was packed with students buying bread and rice balls.
Kurumi and Takuto somehow made it through the crowd and sat down on a bench in the courtyard.
The shade of the big walnut tree—the Ookurumi—felt wonderful.
"Here, the promised lunch treat! Two walnut sweet-bean buns!"
What Takuto held out were, once again, steaming hot walnut sweet-bean buns.
The combination of sweet bean paste and walnut pieces was a specialty of the academy.
As Kurumi accepted them, her expression clouded just a little.
Opening the wrapper, Takuto spoke.
"So, I think a dress would definitely be best for the costume. A green dress inspired by the walnut tree! What do you think?"
"Ah, yeah... but for the talent judging, is it really going to be piano..."
Kurumi mumbled through bites of her bread.
"Of course! It's your strongest weapon, Kurumi-chan! I heard a little bit before, and you were seriously amazing. The whole audience will definitely be moved!"
Takuto said it innocently.
But inside Kurumi's chest, things were cloudy.
She loved the piano.
But playing the songs she'd played with her mother in front of a huge crowd felt somehow too special.
It was like showing the most important part of herself to strangers, and that was terrifying.
"...That song is a little..."
"Huh, why? You're so good at it. Oh, I get it, would a flashier song be better? Then let's practice!"
Without noticing Kurumi's anxiety, Takuto rattled on rapidly.
"Oh, but there's not much time until the contest, so we'll have to train super hard starting today! Let's book the music room after school! I'll help too!"
Kurumi looked down.
She couldn't say what she wanted to say.
This wasn't how it was supposed to be.
But Takuto looked so happy.
Seeing that face, she couldn't bring herself to say "I really don't want to."
The sweetness of the walnut sweet-bean bun felt just a little heavy in her stomach today.
---
After school.
The moment the chime rang, Kurumi fled the classroom as if escaping.
"Huh? Kurumi-chan? Hey, wait up!"
She heard Takuto's voice from behind, but she didn't turn around.
Sorry, Takuto.
I just want to be alone for a bit.
Her feet naturally carried her to the second floor of the new school building.
A large set of double doors at the end of the hall.
A wooden sign with rounded letters reading "Forest of Pages."
—This place was wrapped in the same gentle quiet as that other day.
With a creak, she opened the door.
The soft scent of old paper.
Floor-to-ceiling bookshelves sliced the afternoon light into thin strips.
At the counter, the part-time teacher, Takamori Sawa-sensei, sat reading a book.
With her usual gentle smile, she merely glanced at Kurumi before returning her gaze to the page.
Kurumi walked deeper and deeper inside.
A single-person desk by the window.
There, he was.
Kurogane Reiji.
His jet-black, slightly long straight hair fell with his bangs covering his left eye.
His sharp, cool eyes were fixed intently on the paperback in his hands.
On the index finger of his right hand, a small callus. Formed from reading too many books.
Even as Kurumi approached, he didn't look up.
But he had definitely noticed her.
Without a word, Kurumi sat down in the seat next to him.
Only the faint sound of her bag being placed on the desk echoed.
Outside the window, the leaves of the Ookurumi in the courtyard rustled in the wind.
For a while, silence continued.
Reiji turned a page.
Kurumi traced the grain of the desk with her finger.
A minute? Two? Maybe more had passed.
"...Hey, Kurogane-kun."
Kurumi opened her mouth.
Reiji didn't take his eyes off his book.
"...I've ended up having to enter the Miss Kurumi Contest."
Reiji's finger stopped for just a moment.
But he immediately turned the page again.
"The truth is, I'm really scared. Playing piano in front of everyone... it might be impossible for me. And everyone's expecting things, so I couldn't refuse..."
Kurumi blurted it all out at once.
After saying it, she thought, oh no.
Being told something like this out of the blue would just be a bother.
Silence.
The wind gently rattled the window glass.
Reiji slowly closed his book.
Still, he didn't look at Kurumi.
"...You should just do what you want to do."
His voice was very small.
But she heard it clearly.
"What I want to do... I don't really know."
When Kurumi murmured that, Reiji turned his face toward her for the first time.
His sharp black eyes gazed steadily at her.
That gaze was cold, yet somehow, it felt like he was looking deep inside her.
"...If you don't know, then you can just wait until you do."
Reiji said it curtly and returned his gaze to his book.
Just those few words.
But Kurumi's heart pounded loudly.
So loudly it surprised even herself.
It wasn't like Takuto, pushing her forward with a "Do your best."
It wasn't comforting her with an "It'll be okay."
Just, "you can wait."
That soaked into Kurumi more deeply than any other words could have.
(Reiji-kun is always like that.)
That time before too, when the books had come crashing down, he'd cleaned them up without a word.
Awkward, and a person of few words.
But incredibly kind.
Gazing at Reiji's profile, Kurumi felt a warmth spreading through her chest.
It was a strange feeling, one she'd never felt before.
"...Thank you."
Kurumi said it quietly and stood up.
Reiji said nothing more.
Kurumi left the library just like that.
With a creak, the door closed.
Silence returned.
At that moment.
"...Reiji, you bastard. That's not fair."
From the shadow of a bookshelf, Takuto emerged.
His usual cheerful expression was gone.
His slightly droopy brown eyes now held a shadow as they followed Kurumi's departing back.
Takuto had been looking for Kurumi.
After school, he'd gone to reserve the music room, thinking they'd practice together right away, but Kurumi had already left.
So he'd thought, maybe here, and came to the library.
And then.
He saw Kurumi's soft smile as she talked to Reiji.
What was this?
When she talked to him, she always looked so troubled.
Takuto bit his lip and muttered quietly once more.
"...She's never shown me a face like that."
Deep in his chest, a sharp pain squeezed tight.
It wasn't that he wanted to hate Reiji.
But right now, he couldn't help feeling frustrated.
So that Kurumi wouldn't notice him, Takuto quietly left the library.
Leaning against the hallway wall, he let out a huge sigh.
(I want to be the one to help Kurumi-chan too.)
The walnut earring in his left ear glinted faintly.
---
Silence visited the library once more.
By the now-empty window, Kurogane Reiji lifted his face from his book just one more time.
The title of the closed book was, as always, "Theory of Parallel World Intersection."
He gazed at the seat next to him where Kurumi had been sitting.
It felt as though just a little bit of her warmth still lingered there.
"...Until you find what you want to do."
He murmured it in a voice that wasn't quite a voice.
And then, he sank back into the world of his book.
---
Outside the library window.
The Ookurumi in the courtyard swayed heavily in the afternoon breeze.
The sound of leaves brushing together, softly, softly.
As if it were quietly listening to the rustling of three hearts.
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