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Translated by Kamase Megane Translations

PDF by SeriousSeiko from The Game Surgery Team

For those not in the know, Beautiful Days was a published anthology of
fanmade stories/comics/illustrations, similar to the comic anthologies except
centered around short stories. It is strictly non-canon, but it can be fun too!

a note on Chihiro

Namely, an issue that became quickly obvious in translating Beautiful Days and will
pose a problem for all the DR1 stories: What pronouns should I use for Chihiro?

In Japanese it’s much easier to avoid gendering a character than it is in English. In

Japanese these stories completely skip over using any gendered pronouns at all for
Chihiro, iirc, but I don’t have the same luxury unless I make the writing stilted, which I
don’t intend to do. (I tried “they”, and while I support singular they in general, it read
more like deliberately gendering Chihiro as nonbinary, which was not the intention.)

Since many of these stories are from a general POV or Naegi’s POV from before
anyone dies, and there is no indication that any of them are aware of Chihiro’s
secret, I will be using female pronouns in most stories. The exception is the one
story in which Chihiro is the main character, and so because it follows his POV, that
story will have male pronouns.

This note is simply to inform everyone that this is a choice I have made as a
translator and not something that is in the original text one way or the other. Of
course, if I stumble across gendered pronouns while translating that my mind
skipped over, I may come back to edit this post.

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Beautiful Days DR1: Eat Some Rice! ~If Naegi Makoto were SHSL Hot-
Blooded~

Story: Shima Yuki (志麻友紀)

Illustration: Asaki Touru (明咲トウル)

Remember this translator’s note! (DR1 spoilers)

As TTGL was my main fandom once upon a time, this story is particularly charming to me, so
I hope you can enjoy it as well.

Naegi Makoto is Super High School Level Hot-Blooded.

“Eh? Hot-blooded? That’s not what I heard~. Aren’t you supposed to be a regular high school
student with Super High School Level Good Luck and Bad Luck? Whaddaya mean, ‘Don’t
sweat the details!’, w-wait a minute~!!”

Let’s set aside the matter of this black and white stuffed animal headmaster that’s hot on our
heels for the moment…

“I’ll become your assistant, Naegi-kun!”

That morning, after bumping into him in the hallway and having a fumbling reunion straight
out of a love comedy, the Super High School Level Idol Maizono Sayaka made this
proclamation.

Perhaps that was a fateful turning point in her life.

“Thanks Maizono-san!”

Naegi firmly grasped Maizono’s slender shoulders. “Kyah!” Maizono let out a small shriek,
but it wasn’t due to the rough treatment. It was because of the heat in Naegi’s Super High
School Level Hot-Blooded hands. Though they felt hot enough to leave a burn, they wouldn’t
leave a mark on Maizono’s skin. Rather, that heat was the sort of heat that caused warm and
fuzzy feelings to bubble up from the body’s core. In this closed-off school, it would be easy
to freeze in the chill of despair. This warmth was enough to revive the heart and set it aflame.

“Let’s work together to get everyone out of this school!”

“…But, I don’t have any experience as an assistant, so I might not be able to help you, Naegi-
kun…”

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“Well, it’s not like I have any experience with this kind of thing either! But as long as I have
you helping me, Maizono-san, that’s enough! If you only said the words 'do your best’, all of
your fans across the country would all do their best, wouldn’t they? This is no different!”

Sparkle… A refreshing smile appeared on Naegi’s face, making him the very picture of
youth. As if responding to that, a heartfelt smile appeared on Maizono’s face as well.

“Yes! I’ll keep cheering you on and telling you to do your best, to keep the smiles on both of
our faces forever!”

“…That’s no good!”

“Eh?”

“This isn’t just about me! You’re an idol, aren’t you? For all your fans across the country–no,
across the world–you have to keep sending out a yell of 'do your best!’”

“…But, when we’re locked in the school like this, no one can see…”

“That’s not true! Why are you giving up there?! Even without being on the air, people can
communicate emotion! And you of all people are everyone’s idol! If you only think, 'do your
best’, everyone will do their best! The emotion will be conveyed!”

This time, rather than grasping Maizono’s shoulders, Naegi punctuated his speech by firmly
grasping both of her hands. He had no basis or theory, beyond his own words telling her 'your
encouragement will be conveyed!’, but Maizono could feel an excessive amount of energy
bubbling up from within herself.

–This is what it is to be Super High School Level Hot-Blooded…

“You’re right! If I shout out, 'I am here!’, everyone will notice me! Everyone hasn’t forgotten
about me!”

“There’s no way they could ever forget you! After all, you’re the Super High School Level
Idol, Maizono Sayaka!”

“Then, I’ll do my best, and become the Super High School Level Idol Assistant!”

The two of them held hands, laughing and giggling as they span in circles.

And so, Maizono Sayaka became the Super High School Level Hot-Blooded Idol!

But our story doesn’t end there. A single programmer wiretapped(?) their conversation from
her hiding place. “I-I’m sooo moved! Just now, I was blown away by emotion!”

The person who jumped out, headphones around her neck, was the Super High School Level
Programmer, Fujisaki Chihiro. Her petite figure looked more like that of a middle school
student–no, perhaps even an elementary school student–than a high school student. Her wide,
dark eyes, reminiscent of a small animal’s, were glittering.

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“I’m so sorry for listening in on the two of you without permission! B-But that was so
inspiring! I-I, I’ve always been weak, I mean, like this, I look cute, and I’m protected by
everyone, but… I won’t look cute anymore! I want to become strong and sturdy…”

“Why are you abandoning being 'cute’?!”

“Excuse me?” Fujisaki stared blankly back at Naegi after he suddenly raised his voice. The
newly Hot-Blooded Idol Maizono watched Naegi, entranced, as roaring flames leapt up
behind him.

Incidentally, this took place in the hallway of the school dorms, but even with people
speaking so loudly, no one came out to look. In truth, everyone was hiding away in their
rooms, holding their breath. None of them wanted to get involved…

“Isn’t it sad to discard your 'cute’ self?!”

“But if I want to become strong, then being 'cute’…”

“You can become strong even if you’re cute! Become strong while you’re still cute! Why
won’t you try your best for that?! Cute, and yet strong! Strong but cute! This is the universal
moe! The strongest cuteness! Wouldn’t you agree?!”

The conversation had taken a kinda weird turn, but then, “That is correct!” said Yamada
Hifumi, as he leapt out into the hallway. It was the Super High School Level Doujin Artist!
“Strong cuties are this world’s most valuable resource, Naegi Makoto-dono!”

“I see, so you feel the same way! Yamada-kun!”

“However, to be strong and yet cute is a phenomenon seen only in the 2D realm, so
regretfully, in the 3D realm…”

“Why are you giving up there?!”

Naegi’s passion flared up with a BAAAM! and Yamada staggered, saying, “Th-The sun is so
bright to a shut-in like me…” Naegi thrust his finger forward to point at Yamada.

“This doesn’t have anything to do with 2D or 3D! When you draw your manga with passion,
those characters exist in people’s hearts! That’s the same as them being alive!”

“M-My characters, being 3D…?! N-No way, no way…” Yamada trembled in fear, cowering
on the floor, but Naegi set a hand on his shoulder. As Yamada raised his head, Naegi showed
him a smile brimming with affection.

“What are you so afraid of? Aren’t these the characters that you brought into the world?
Then, wouldn’t you say that you are their father and their older brother, that you are family,
that you are siblings?”

“S-Siblings, l-little sister… O-Onii-chan.” This time, Yamada trembled not in fear, but in
delight. His great fat face shook, gradually becoming clearly not the movements of a human,

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but those of a Mysterious Lifeform X. “That’s right! I will protect my little sister with my
own hands! As her Onii-chan!”

“Right! I’m sure you’ll become the strongest Onii-chan in the world!”

As Yamada breathed in sync with Naegi’s hot-bloodedness, his eyes burned with roaring
flames. And so, the Super High School Level Onii-chan… a.k.a. the Super High School
Level Hot-Blooded Doujin Author was born.

“A-Amazing! I can’t believe Maizono-san and Yamada-kun would both change to be 'hot-
blooded’! I-I can become 'hot’ and 'strong’ too, right?! Then I’ll burn while being cute! I’ll
heat uuuuuuuuup!!” After watching the exchange between Naegi and Yamada, Fujisaki
became increasingly 'blown away by emotion’, and she cried out in a voice that was almost
unbelievably different from her normal voice, resounding throughout the school.
Undoubtedly, it was the voice of an animal crying out, as “hot-blooded” as the center of the
Earth.

That was the moment the Super High School Level Hot-Blooded Programmer was born.

In that moment, Fujisaki’s hot-blooded program ran wild, hacking into the school’s
surveillance system, driving Monokuma insane in front of the surveillance monitors, but that
was something that no one was privy to the knowledge of.

Then, that night, it happened at the cafeteria.

“If there is no bread, then let them eat sweets.”

Due to a blunder of Monokuma’s, the stock of bread hadn’t been replenished, and only
sweets were in stock. So declared the Super High School Level Gambler, Celestia Ludenberg,
when confronted with such a situation. Just like the Queen of France declared with elegance,
as if unbothered by the revolutionaries closing in on her.

“You’ve got that wrong!”

Immediately, an “Objection!” resounded throughout the cafeteria, a.k.a. “You’ve got that
wrong!” It was the voice of Naegi Makoto. He closed in on Celeste with intensity as she sat
elegantly in her chair, drinking her tea. Even being closed in on at such close proximity,
Celeste’s expression remained unchanged, deliberately ignoring him. However, Naegi’s
burning eyes shot out heat rays of sorts, and the cup she held cracked with a sharp noise. It
was only to be expected that Celeste looked at Naegi after that, and without a moment’s
delay, he pointed at her.

“If you’re Japanese, then eat some rice!”

“There is no elegance in rice; brioche and tea suit me just…”

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“Of course bread is good too! And I won’t deny the fragrance of tea. But, as a Japanese
person especially, you should know the elegance of rice! Cook Koshihikari rice from
Uonuma in delicious water from Rokkou, pour gyokuro green tea from Kyoto over it, and
enjoy. Wash only the tips of the chopsticks, for tinkling clinks… Even slurping is almost a
soothing sound, when a princess enjoys her ochazuke, and I think that’s elegance!”

“Incidentally, eggplant is only one option for the pickled vegetable!” declared Naegi, giving
Celeste a shock to her system. Until now, her personal favorite had been Versailles, a queen
wearing an elegant Rococo dress… But now, her image was that of a furisode-clad princess
in a Japanese-style castle, sipping ochazuke with a slurp that would be impolite in Western
countries. That was an elegance that defied explanation… is what she thought.

“Th-The Japanese-style world… I had no idea…”

“It’s fine that you didn’t, because you can find out about it starting now! You can find out
about the White Heron Castle and hermitages too! And then, you can become Queen of both
the East and the West, Queen of the World!”

“My, how wonderful! Queen of both the East and the West, Queen of the World! I shall do
so! You are speaking with the woman who has never lost at poker or blackjack!”

Hohoho! Celeste laughed triumphantly.

And so, the Super High School Level Hot-Blooded Gambler was born.

“Are you an idiot?”

Such an insult came from the Super High School Level Baseball Player, Kuwata Leon. But
he is supposedly aiming to become a rock star.

“Hot-bloodedness and guts and stuff aren’t gonna help anything. I could play baseball
without that kinda thing.” The plain truth was that without even a drop of sweat or tears
during practice, he possessed such merit that he was the ace player and the fourth batter,
gaining attention from scouts throughout the world. “There’s no point to that stuff!”

Sweat and tears… He spoke of them with contempt. He was disgusted. By passionate
coaching that went beyond the bare minimum, messy camaraderie, and an almost religious
idealism.

“You’ve got that wrong!”

However, saying only this one phrase, Naegi tossed Kuwata a racquet… Hm? It wasn’t a bat,
but a racquet, for some reason.

“Now then, Kuwata-kun, receive my heated emotions!”

“O-Oi! Why is it a racquet instead of a bat or a glove… Uwaaaaah!!”

What exploded from there was not the Thousand Knocks of Naegi’s love, but the Thousand
Hot-Blooded Serves!! Instead of balls, it was blood oranges that flew hard and fast, hitting

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the wall behind Kuwata and creating pink blood-like stains. It was a ferocious, instantaneous
attack. The wall was dyed completely pink, and Kuwata weakly sunk to his knees into that
pink puddle.

“I-I can’t believe someone like me couldn’t return even a single ball at tennis!” he muttered,
dumbfounded. Even if it wasn’t baseball, he couldn’t believe he could be lagging behind in
any ball-related sport.

“It can’t be helped that you couldn’t receive even a single one. Just now, I hit those with my
love and passion. In contrast, you only paid attention to the racquet, trying to return with
nothing but your technical skill and body. If you’re served something heartfelt, there’s no
meaning to returning it unless it’s also from the heart!”

“From the heart…” This time, Kuwata was astonished. As Naegi looked his way, both his
eyes were burning with roaring flames. It reminded Kuwata even more of that anime that he
hated deep down, that hot-blooded baseball bible. But now, those flames surely dwelled
inside of Kuwata’s heart. Those flames he hated so much he could just die…

“That’s right, Kuwata-kun! You’re aiming for the stars!” Naegi knelt down next to where
Kuwata was crouched, putting an arm around his shoulders and pointing towards the heavens.
They shouldn’t have been able to see anything but the cafeteria ceiling, but for the two of
them looking up, they saw the glittering stars of the night sky. Yes, the stars. “Can’t you see
them? The star of hope, the star of passion, and then, the star of the Prince of Baseball!”

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“Yeah! I can see 'em, Naegi! I’ll be aiming for that! I’ll be a singing, dancing, baseball ace,
fourth batter prince!” At some point the meaning of the stars he was aiming for changed
somewhat, but there were flames in both of their eyes. And then, Celeste, who had just now
become a fellow resident of the star of passion, hidden where she was sitting, covered her
face as she looked over the two of them, tears streaming down her cheeks. Aahh, Celeste-
neechan…

And so, the Super High School Level Hot-Blooded Baseball Player was born.

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“Lame~ Lame~ Lame~ You guys, let me tell it to you straight, you’re L-A-M-E!”

The one shouting this out was the Super High School Level Gyaru, Enoshima Junko. While
the cafeteria had fallen into a lull with the two getting fired up and aiming for the stars, and
Celeste crying sorrowfully, she made a clamor as if to shatter the silence.

“Hard work or endurance or whatever is just gonna make you stinky and smelly, and this star
stuff and eating rice doesn’t make any sense! And if it doesn’t make sense to me, that means
it’s not in style! It’s lame! It’s uncool!”

“Getting so serious~ So uncool~” she said, but she herself seemed seriously desperate. Yes, it
seemed as if she was trying to frantically deny something. So, Naegi gave a gentle smile,
brimming with affection as he spoke.

“That’s right, Enoshima-san.”

“Hahaha! So you admit it, Naegi! You admit you’re uncool and lame!”

“No, you’ve got that wrong! Enoshima-san, despite all that, you’re thinking that it’s
wonderful to work hard and endure! Actually, you want to do it yourself!”

“Wh-What are you saying?! Hard work, endurance, I wouldn’t… Training is, training is…
Training, combat…” Enoshima muttered almost incoherently at Naegi, gripping her
shoulders tightly and swaying, body trembling.

“It’s fine to be uncool! Those who work hard always look beautiful! Yes, even your freckles,
even your flat chest is cute!”

It was hard to tell if he was insulting her or not, but nevertheless, Enoshima’s cheeks turned
red at Naegi’s words.

“My freckles… and lack of chest are cute… I-I don’t know, what kind of face, I should make
at a time like this…”

“I think smiling is fine.”

As Naegi smiled sweetly at her, Enoshima as well gave a sweet smile, free from any worry.
And then, for some reason she took out an army knife and said, “You won’t die; I’ll protect
you…”

And so, the Super High School Level Hot-Blooded Gyaru was born.

Even after that, Naegi’s hot-blooded kindness terrorism continued on.

The Super High School Level Swimmer, Asahina Aoi, and the Super High School Level
Martial Artist, Oogami Sakura, were already athletic types by nature. Without any of Naegi’s

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hot-blooded speeches being necessary, it was just the natural flow of things for the three of
them to grasp hands firmly.

“I knew you two would understand where I’m coming from!”

“Yeah! It’s obvious you’re gonna need hard work and guts and hot-bloodedness to swim!
And I just want a bright smile on my face, as I eat donuts!”

As Asahina smiled, her close friend Sakura nodded with a serene smile of her own. “Hmph,
even my path requires hot-bloodedness. A heart in battle must be perfectly still, with not a
single ripple. Nevertheless, one cannot forget passion!”

They all nodded at once. And so, the Hot-Blooded Swimmer and Hot-Blooded Martial
Artist… were born even more than before.

Then, the transformation into hot-bloodedness for the Super High School Level Fortune
Teller, Hagakure Yasuhiro, was perhaps good timing, or perhaps pure chance.

“Whoa~ Burning up, burning up, my crystal ball’s burning up!”

“That’s it! That future burning with passion is the future of all of us!”

“Naegi-cchi! If that’s the case everyone’s gonna burn to death!”

“That’s wrong! The phoenix goes up in flames, and rises anew from the ashes left behind!
This is that future of reincarnation! The flames of passion will never burn out!”

“…W-Well, my divinations have a 30% accuracy rate. If they were all right, that’d be ESP.”

“Why can’t they all be right?! No, you just don’t think they’re right! Miracles happen to
those who believe in them![1] Eat some rice! And freshwater clam and rainbow trout!”

“Hey… Naegi-cchi! You’re not making any sense. …Well, if it’s right if you think it’s right,
then if I think I got it right, then I got it right!”

“That’s right!”

And so, the Super High School Level Hot-Blooded Fortune Teller was “technically” born.

And then, that night, there was a sauna showdown.

Yes, the sauna room in the dorms. Both the Super High School Level Gang Leader, Oowada
Mondo, and the Super High School Level Hall Monitor, Ishimaru Kiyotaka, were there. And
then, for some reason, so was Naegi Makoto. The Hot-Blooded wedged his way in between
the Gang Leader and Hall Monitor’s showdown…

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“If you cleanse your mind of worldly thoughts, then even fire is cool and refreshing! That’s
what they say, and if my heart is burning, then no sauna is going to feel hot to meeeeee~!!”

The Gang Leader and Hall Monitor were no match for Naegi burning up in a roooooar of
flames, and they collapsed from the heat.

And then.

“You’ve really got some guts! I never met anyone who’d set themselves on fire or anything!”

“Naegi-kun! I, too, felt your burning spirit!”

When the two awoke, somehow inspired, they took both of Naegi’s hands, grasping them.
Naegi, too, was glistening with sweat as he showed them a refreshing smile.

“I felt your passion, too. By now, we are brothers!”

“Then, Oowada-kun, you can be the second oldest brother. I am fine with being the
youngest.”

And so, they pressed up shoulder-to-shoulder, smiling. The sweltering Hot-Blooded Brother
Trio was born.

Then, appearing in front of the last hurdle to overcome, Togami Byakuya, the Super High
School Level Heir was…

“I won’t let you get close to Byakuya-sama! This hot-bloodedness is sweltering! This is the
reason why there’s global warming!”

Super High School Level Negativity… a.k.a. Literary Girl, Fukawa Touko. Even though her
fingertip was shaking as she thrust it forward to point at Naegi, she said, “I-I’m shaking! At
this rate I’m going to lose! No, I mean, I’ve been a loser my whole life, so I can’t lose any
more than I have already!” until it was no longer clear whether she was being pessimistic or
optimistic. “Aaaa~aaaahh~!!” she screamed for no apparent reason, curling up, then suddenly
whipping her head back up to say, “Anyway, if you’re hot-blooded, I’m cold-blooded! I’m
the exact opposite of someone sunny like you, because I live in the shadows!” before
grabbing onto Naegi. “Hard work! Willpower! Oh, how nice~ how nice~. If you do your best,
and keep doing your best, and keep doing your best, you get back exactly as much as you put
in, don’t you! So I gave my readers that tiny bit of hope, but I still didn’t get anything in
return! Not a single miracle happened! No flowers bloomed, no fruit ripened, no dreams
came true, no lovers were brought together! This is the reality of literature! It’s not really a
matter of bad luck~. This kind of thing happens all the time. Most people in this world aren’t
rewarded. 10% of people are successful, 70% are ordinary, and 20% are defeated. Isn’t that
just the way society works?”

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As to be expected of the Literary Girl. The “reality” she was pushing was certainly realistic.
Of course Naegi’s Hot-Bloodedness couldn’t work under the heavy weight of the world… or
so she thought.

“And so what?!”

She was crushed with just that one phrase. Faced with Naegi’s utterly steadfast demeanor and
burning eyes, Fukawa said, flustered, “What! Do you plan on just averting your eyes from
reality?!”

“Reality is reality. What has happened cannot be changed. I’ll acknowledge that.”

“See! No matter how hot-blooded you are, you can’t change reality!”

“Yes, reality cannot be changed. However, if you don’t give up there, and don’t get
discouraged, your burning heart can’t be broken! If you believe there are no endings in life,
you can take on countless challenges!”

“Heehh, but if your life ends while you’re being a challenger like that, then it’s all over!”

As to be expected of Negativity… a.k.a. the Literary Girl. She was now pushing an even
more bitter ending, where “dreams don’t come true”. However…

“It doesn’t matter if it ends. I still wouldn’t have given up or been discouraged.”

“Hehhh, how self-satisfied. Even if not a single person acknowledged you?”

“It wouldn’t come to that! At the very least, I acknowledge myself! If you won’t
acknowledge yourself, then what?! If you don’t tell yourself to do your best, then what?! You
are your own greatest ally! I cheer myself on, and I acknowledge myself. Even at the same
time as you tell yourself 'That’s no good!’ in anger whenever you fail, you lecture yourself by
saying 'Do your best!’ When you still get discouraged and break down in tears even so, you
hold yourself at night as you go to sleep and say, 'You did a good job…’ But as soon as it’s
morning again, and the start of a new day, you rise with the sun and it becomes 'Do your
best!’ again. And then, when your life comes to an end, when you close your eyes, you can
praise yourself by saying, 'You did a really, really good job!’ I have not a single regret for my
life!”

At that time, even though there were supposedly iron plates nailed onto all of the windows in
the school, light poured down from the heavens, illuminating Naegi as he raised one hand to
the sky. Watching this, Oogami Sakura spontaneously let slip a mysterious murmur,
something like “Oohh… Master Ra… oh…”[2]

“Super-positive thinking… I-I can’t do something as terrible as a-acknowledging myself and

praising myself…” Fukawa slumped to the floor. To someone as super-gloomy and super-
negative as her, this was a frightful foe. A demon that would never turn its back…

“It doesn’t matter if you don’t feel like praising yourself; even if you keep looking behind
you, if you keep on doing it, eventually you’ll end up facing forward, and even if you sink

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down into the ocean, if you cut through the Earth’s mantle, you’ll have taken the fastest route
to Rio de Janeiro on the other side of the world!”

Again, whether it was because of him making no sense, or because of his sheer forcefulness,
or his non-consensual Genki Injection!, as Naegi spoke and gripped Fukawa’s hand tightly,
she screamed, “Gyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhh!”

They say even if it’s not a deep-sea fish, human body temperatures feel so hot to a fish that if
you touch them, it will burn… That was the sort of sensation that Fukawa felt. This was the
dazzling, shining light of the sun that Fukawa had kept turning her back on. That light
enveloped her entire body, trembling as it spoke. “Even when you completely turned your
back on the world in your thoughts, you wrote words that moved people! That’s fine! It’s fine
that way! Even if you stay that way, you won’t become any more unhappy than you already
are, and things won’t get any worse! That’s true strength, and it’s wonderful! So if you keep
moving backwards like this, that’s just like if you faced forward and never gave up! Before
you know it, the shadow will turn into light!”

“Fufu… That’s right, the light and the shadows are two sides of the same coin. The stronger
the light, the darker the shadow, so it grows along with the light. I’m that shadow… Forever a
shadow… But, I’ll be a shadow that keeps moving forward without ever giving up!”

And so, the Super High School Level Hot-Blooded Literary Girl was born.

Then, the next one… was even tougher.

“Hard work and willpower… Hmph, how pointless. I’m perfect even without acting so
frantic,” said the Super High School Level Heir, Togami Byakuya. He really was the
textbook example of perfection, and found no use for sweat or tears on the way to success. “I
have already been perfect. Unnecessary heatedness is useless. It is because people are inferior
that they use that hot-bloodedness and the like in order to compensate. I won’t deny you all,
but I won’t be joining you.”

He lounged comfortably in his chair, crossing his legs as he glared down at everyone. He was
the perfect picture of an emperor, a cool beauty who left no room for anyone to say, “How
hot-blooded…” A blizzard barrier of absolute zero could even be seen surrounding him. It
didn’t look like worldly hot-bloodedness or Naegi had anything to grab onto, but…

“You’ve got that wrong, Togami-kun!”

Here it was! A Super High School Level Hot-Blooded sudden plot twist. Even if he had
nothing to grab onto, his fist burned bright red as he sunk his fingers in by force to create a
lead. You might more commonly say that he just bulldozed through, but it’s best not to think
about it too much.

“Why do you think that you’re perfect?!”

“What are you saying? I am perfect, no matter what angle you look at me from!”

“Yes, you’re definitely 'superior’ and amazing. You can study harder than I can, and I’m sure
even your reflexes are impeccable!”

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“That goes without saying. There is nothing I cannot do!”

“So then, do you plan on just doing nothing from now on? If you say you’re perfect, then you
can just lean back in your executive chair and soak up the sun like a senior citizen, spacing
out all day, right?”

“You must be joking if you think I would do nothing! To start with, the chair I deserve to sit
in isn’t something as insignificant as the chair of an executive! From here on out, I shall
extend the reach of the Togami Conglomerate throughout the world–no, the world is already
in our grasp; from here on out, please extend your hand into space, Byakuya-sama… not that,
but I shall journey into the economy of the stars!” Togami uncrossed his legs and stood up
suddenly from his chair. The midnight sun was standing here on Earth! [3]

“That’s right, Togami-kun! You aren’t perfect at all! If you were perfect, there would be no
problem with doing nothing!”

“Wh-What did you say?!” Togami was astonished. It was because he couldn’t refute Naegi’s
point. If he were perfect, then he wouldn’t need to move a finger. But he kept himself
moving.

“The moment you think, 'I’m perfect!’ is the moment you’re doomed to never achieve any
more growth! In fact, you start regressing! So you’re right to keep moving forward, and
you’re not perfect! You’re growing, Togami-kun! You keep moving forward and forward
into tomorrow, coughing up blood; you’re beautiful!” As Naegi continued saying such things
to him, grasping both of his hands with a firm and heated grip, Togami no longer looked as if
he might argue. His own sweltering heart eroded him.

“That’s right! I shall not stagnate! I may be perfect, but I shall keep striving towards even
greater perfection!” He clenched his fists, carrying roaring flames in his eyes.

This is where the Super High School Level Hot-Blooded Heir was born.

If even Togami had fallen, there was only one more person left… No, one animal. Maybe we
should just say there was a headcount of one.

Monokuma was surrounded by everyone gathering in the gymnasium, flustered by their

burning eyes. “Why’d you bastards all get fires in your eyes! It’s dangerous to play with fire!
I’m going to wet the bed! Gyaaaaaaahhhhh!!”

Before he even had time to exact a punishment, eye lasers flashed out from everyone’s
burning eyes, and the headmaster was left a burnt and blackened piece of scrap metal.

“Tah-dah~! I won’t die, no matter… how many times you…”

Monokuma began to speak as he popped up on top of the podium on the gym’s stage, but the
hot-blooded group glared at him, and he was burnt to a crisp again, tumbling off of the stage.

15
“Hey! Isn’t it awful to just bust out with 'Fry 'im up!’… right?!”

Monokuma kept jumping out one after another, but they were instantly met with heat rays,
meeting the same fate as the companions that preceded them.

“Quit it alreadyyyy! Suh-toooooop!! I don’t have any spares…”

The final Monokuma fell from the stage with a wobble, and crumbled into dust with a
splatter. Then, as wicked despair fell silent, one would think that this was the advent of hope
in the school, but…

An undisclosed location within the school.

The girl who had been flying solo, and the only one who remained unscathed said, “'Hot-
bloodedness’ is even more of a problem than 'despair’.” Hmph… sighed the Super High
School Level ??? Kirigiri Kyouko.

Keeping herself at a distance, she alone managed to make it through without getting dragged
into that… hot-blooded maelstrom. It was rather strange. To think that energy and heatedness
alone could win against all of the Super High School Level students in succession…

“You’re terrifying, Naegi Makoto.”

“That’s not true, Kirigiri-san!”

“I-It’s here! The hot-blooded monster!” Despite her cool composure, her voice bordered on a
scream. The shutter rose slowly, and with it, the silhouette of Naegi’s petite figure also rose
into view.

“Now then, in the end, you’re the only one left.”

Kirigiri was seized with dread, a shadow falling over her face.

The world was painted over, “Hot-Blooded”…

“Hah! I-It was a dream…”

Naegi woke up with a start, catching his breath. This was the bed he’d fallen asleep in
yesterday. It didn’t seem like anything had changed, in the dorms in the locked-down school.
He had even been woken up by Monokuma’s irritating voice telling them to “Get up, you
bastards!”

16
“What a strange… dream that was.”

Yes, what a strange… no, nightmare that was. To think that he could become so swelteringly,
embarrassingly hot-blooded, take on everyone one by one, and give them that same kind of
energy.

“It was all a dream.”

After reassuring himself of this, Naegi left his room. As he did, he ran into Maizono…

Then, the A/V room. Naegi was the first to watch one of the DVDs Monokuma had prepared
for everyone. As he watched the video intended for him, Naegi’s face grew whiter and
whiter… until it passed through to become blue. His face was sweaty, his hands were sweaty,
and his whole body shook.

There on the LCD screen was what he’d seen this morning, himself, acting so embarrassing
that he wanted to disappear. That figure, so hot and so sultry… Watching him from an
objective standpoint, it was impossible to follow his logic. How could he win arguments by
shoving that embarrassing reasoning down everyone’s throats? No, he couldn’t have been
this embarrassing earlier. There was no way.

This was his dark past.

The video suddenly cut off. Then, he could hear the footsteps of people coming towards the
A/V room.

Was that not a dream, but reality? If there was a video left behind, then that’s right, there was
no mistaking it.

Everyone, everyone… saw me being so embarrassing…

Everyone wanted it to be a dream. There was no way it could be real. If everyone remembers
that…

That was the moment the sinister feeling of mutual killing sprouted within Naegi.

[1] The idiom used in Japanese is 鰯の頭も信心から, which literally means something like
“even a sardine head comes from a faithful heart”. It’s a reference to the Japanese Setsubun
tradition of putting up sardine heads as a superstitious precaution. Anyway, that’s probably
why Naegi tangents off into seafood.
[2] The last line of Naegi’s speech up to this citation is all a reference to Raoh from Fist of
the North Star. Picture relevant to the imagery.
[3] Byakuya’s name is the Japanese word for the midnight sun. Since the context was so
celestial, I assume it was meant to be a pun.

Also, I didn’t bother putting in notes for every single thing mentioned in the conversation
with Celestia, but you can just Google those.

17
Beautiful Days DR1: Fujisaki-san is Trying Hard!

Story: Sasaki Teiko (佐々木禎子)

Illustration: Sayo Ichi (紗与イチ)

Fujisaki Chihiro had admired him since they first met.

He only realized it a little while afterwards. Fujisaki was lauded as the Super High School
Level Programmer, but he wasn’t the prideful type you would expect just from hearing that
title. Rather, he carefully surveyed his surroundings as a slow starter who took his time
figuring out his own feelings.

Hope’s Peak Private Academy, which had as its goal the collection of super-first-class people
of talent from each and every field. A powerful voice, coming from deep in the gut, flew out
from one side of the cafeteria. “Heyyyyyy! A man’s soul lies in his pompadour. You can’t
just touch it. You’re gonna mess up the seeeet!!” It was Oowada Mondo yelling. With his
pompadour, long uniform coat, and baggy pants, the Super High School Level Gang Leader
was the former leader of the gang that controlled the region.

Perhaps he’d already finished eating, since the plate in front of him was empty. As he put his
elbows up on the table, fixing his apparently ruined pompadour by combing through his hair
with his fingers, Naegi Makoto frantically apologized, “S… Sorry. I wasn’t trying to touch it.
I was about to fall over, and I just.” Oh crap! was written all over Naegi’s face. His feelings
were always apparent on his face.

Oowada glared at Naegi, as if trying to intimidate him, clicking his tongue and standing up
from his seat. “I’ll be real generous this time. Next time, you’d better watch out.”

“Yeah. Got it. I’ll watch out.”

As Naegi reflected upon his actions, Enoshima Junko looked askance at them, dissing, “So a
man’s soul can fall apart just by touching it… Sooo annoying. What is with that?” Oowada
just clicked his tongue again with a tch in response.

“Stop right there, Oowada-kun! Didn’t we decide to take care of our own dishes?! What are
you thinking, leaving and abandoning your tray like that!!” Ishimaru Kiyotaka shouted, a
fierce look in his eyes, following after Oowada at a brisk pace as he started walking away. As
the Super High School Level Hall Monitor, Ishimaru would never consider running anywhere
in the school outside of the gymnasium, so he generally moved with strange posture and a
fast walk.

“Shut the fuck up.”

“What was that?! That is inexcusable, Oowada-kun!!”

The two of them were the delinquent and the hall monitor. There was no way they’d get
along. They were both Super High School Level, so neither of them was going to back down.
Every situation was explosive, and everyone else around them was always left in suspense.
18
“…Um, I’ll take care of it for him. As an apology for earlier.” And the one who drew the
short end of the stick in these situations was basically always Naegi.

“Yeah. Sorry,” Oowada declared smoothly at Naegi’s suggestion, and then walked away. The
moment he opened the door, the hem of his coat fluttered, along with the Crazy Diamonds
embroidery.

–Oowada-kun is so cool.

That’s what Fujisaki thought. That’s what he ended up thinking. Oowada’s strength and
daring dazzled him. And he could feel the manifestation of strength at the core of his rule-
breaking behavior.

–I want to try being like that.

Fujisaki clasped his hands over his chest, watching Oowada as he left.

He carefully looked over his own feelings as if he were finding bugs hidden in his
programming, and as a result–he found admiration for Oowada in his own heart. It might be
strange to compare admiration to a bug–but he was so charmed by Oowada’s strength, it
made him more aware of his own frailty than he’d ever been. Those feelings, both sides of
the same coin, disrupted the peace in Fujisaki’s heart enough for his feelings for Oowada to
be considered a sort of bug.

When Fujisaki returned to his own room from the cafeteria, he peered into the mirror. He saw
his own face reflected there, cowering like a small animal. His naturally brownish short hair
flipped up into the shape of a wave facing outwards. His eyes were round and brown. He was
so baby-faced that he’d been mistaken for a grade schooler before, and he spontaneously let
out a sigh at the sight of it.

“I seem… pretty weak.” Even his voice seemed frail, tumbling out in a soliloquy.
“Hmmmm… Well… A man’s soul lies in his hair, doesn’t it? Then, maybe if I styled my hair
like Oowada-kun’s… I’d become strong… Yeah, right,” he muttered, scooping up a lock of
hair in his fingers as he faced the mirror. He crumpled his bangs up into something like a
pompadour. Fujisaki’s hair was as thin as a cat’s, so even if he put it all over his forehead and
raised his bangs, his hair escaped his grasp to fall through the gaps between his fingers. Even
so, he hastily raised them up again and threatened in a small voice, imitating Oowada, “H…
Heeeeeyyyyy…”

As he observed himself in the mirror, he determined one of the reasons he didn’t look strong
was his eyebrows, always sagging in anxiety. He made a scary face and tried again. He
energized his whole body. For some reason, it wasn’t his eyebrows, but his shoulders that
raised, and his brow furrowed. But even so, Fujisaki’s expression was gentle.

“A-A man’s soul lies within my pompadour… it lies within… it lies withiiiin!”

He started speaking more quickly towards the end. His face was bright red at his assertion.
For some reason, he was breathing heavily, as if he’d just been running. And yet he didn’t
look strong at all.

19
“…It’s no use after all…”

How pitiful. No matter how much he tried to mimic him, he might never be able to become
strong like Oowada. He was despondent, mood plummeting, and he let the hand holding up
his bangs fall–

“Upupupupupupu.” Suddenly, Monokuma appeared where there had previously been no one.
He was a cute white bear on one side, and black on the other side, with a red eye and a fixed,
evil grin cutting upwards. Headmaster of the school, he spoke with a characteristic rough
voice that inspired anxiety in whoever heard it.

“Kyah!”

As Fujisaki jumped in surprise, Monokuma said, “Hey hey, Fujisaki-san, what’re you doing
locked away in your room with your breath all erratic~? Are you messing around and it’s so
embarrassing you can’t EVER tell anyone about it? Hey hey, are you messing around, and
it’s so embarrassing you don’t want anyone to know about it~? Haa, haa… My cheeks are
lighting up… Haa, haa…” His body squirmed, writhing.

“It’s not. It’s not messing arouuund!”

“But you’re not gonna deny that it was embarrassing~? Upupupupupupu. Then it was serious
embarrassment~?”

“Huh…?” He became uneasy, realizing that it would be embarrassing if the situation just now
was revealed to other people.

“If it wasn’t just messing around, then you were serious about it, riiight? You were up to
something serious by yourself that was so embarrassing you wouldn’t tell anyone about it.
Aah… I’m kinda out of it~. Upupupupu. You’re turning me on~”

“Um… That’s…”

And, certainly–the root of Fujisaki’s mimicry of Oowada was not messing around, but a
serious sincerity.

“Well then, I’ll be going suddenly!”

Before Fujisaki could try to correct Monokuma’s phrasing, he disappeared abruptly, just like
he showed up in the first place.

Just like Monokuma pointed out–it seemed Fujisaki held “serious” feelings for Oowada that
he “couldn’t tell anyone”. The feelings of wanting to be like him. Was it okay to just do so
superficially? If Oowada’s soul was inside his pompadour, then maybe Fujisaki could
become like him with the same hairstyle.

20
The next day, when he went to the laundry room, Oowada and Hagakure Yasuhiro were
standing there. Oowada was standing tall, feet apart and hands on his hips. Hagakure looked
like he might be chuckling, crossing his arms and staring fixedly at the tumbling laundry.

“Frankly, I can feel the cosmos in the washing machine. It generates cosmic power as it
spins, right?” Hagakure spoke with an energetic fervor, but Oowada had a sour expression,
and it wasn’t clear whether he was listening or not.

Oowada might not have known how to react to the things Hagakure did and said, as the Super
High School Level Fortune Teller could be said to be mysterious, with odd priorities.

“Huh?! If it’s the cosmos, then… Aliens might be coming out of here. No, but it’s a washing
machine, right? But is it possible that there’s a warp mechanism that connects to the
spaceship…?” Hagakure kept confusing himself, holding his head in his hands. Saying things
that were difficult to understand, losing his cool on his own, and then coming to a conclusion
on his own was Hagakure’s usual state of affairs.

“Aah? What the fuck are you sayin’?” Oowada shot back, suspicious. Even his deep voice
was burly.

“Hagakure-kun, I don’t think the school washing machines are connected to space,” Fujisaki
timidly spoke up as Hagakure was tearing at his explosive dreadlocks.

“‘Zat so?”

When Hagakure turned his head to respond, Fujisaki demurely gave his assent with a “Yeah,”
and Hagakure looked relieved.

“For serious?”

“…Yeah.”

Oowada watched over their back-and-forth with sharp eyes, reserving judgment at least on
his face. Feeling Oowada’s eyes on him, Fujisaki flailed internally, unable to calm down.

He’s watching! Oowada-kun is watching me right now!

“Um, Oowada-kun.”

“Aah?”

After receiving a glare back, Fujisaki was a little flustered as he strung together his words.
“Um, you know… Well… Your hair is cool.”

He couldn’t think about anything else since yesterday. So he just came out with it. He felt
like he needed a pompadour with a man’s soul in order to become cool. But the texture of
Fujisaki’s hair made it difficult to form into a pompadour.

21
“Y-Yeah…” Oowada blinked, and then continued, “You get it.” Then, he suddenly combed
up the hair beside his ears, looking away. The corner of his eye seemed a little softer, so he
must not have taken the compliment in a bad way.

“You know, my hair is too soft, so I can’t get it to look like yours. I wonder how you get it to
always look like that.”

“There’s a lotta techniques. It’s a man’s medal of honor, after all.”

When Ishimaru and Oowada got up in each other’s faces during their argument, he’d seen the
tip of Oowada’s pompadour fall apart and get disheveled. So it didn’t seem like it was rock-
hard. He got the feeling he would get stronger if he touched it–“I seeee. Um, hey, would it be
okay if I touched it a little?”

“You can’t. A pompadour is a man’s pride. You can’t just go touching it for no reason.”

So that means you can’t touch it carelessly, but it can fall apart in a fight. You could really
feel the particulars of Oowada’s pompadour aesthetic.

“I guess so. Sorryyy.” Fujisaki started tearing up at the blunt rejection. A man’s soul, a man’s
medal of honor, a man’s pride. It seemed there were many various things packed into the
bangs of a pompadour.

Fujisaki apparently looked deeply crestfallen. An awkward expression appeared on Oowada’s

face as he said, “Sorry. You can’t touch my pompadour, but when we get out of here I’ll let
you touch my ride, so you gotta forgive me.”

“Your ride?”

“My bike. I barely ever let anyone ride it, but you seem like you understand what I’m talkin’
about a little. My bike’s a good bike.” Oowada had such a lively look in his eyes as he talked
that Fujisaki also got starry-eyed as he listened.

“Will you really let me touch it?”

“Aah. A man never goes back on his word. But it might get bad if the other guys in the gang
catch you. We just gotta make sure we ain’t caught.”

–I guess it would be shameful if they thought Oowada-kun knew someone weak like me.

Fujisaki hung his head, and Oowada scratched his cheek lightly with a finger as he said, “If
they catch you, they’ll uh… Well, it’s, y'know. The Crazy Diamonds is a pretty hardcore
gang, so we don’t let women in. Still, some of the other guys in the gang have mascots, and
some of the others say they want one too.”

“Mascots?”

As he repeated it with a blank look on his face, Hagakure to his side nodded, saying,
“Grapes!”

22
That’s muscat. Even Fujisaki knew this wasn’t about grapes.

“You’re kinda, y'know, so those kinda guys’ll get hyped up about it.”

“She’s kinda what?” Hagakure forced himself further into the conversation.

“Do you gotta harp on every little thing? What I mean is, Fujisaki’s… cute.” He sped through
the last word more quickly, as if it pained him to say.

“Grapes aren’t a thing that’re cute or not!”

“Aah? No one’s fuckin’ talkin’ about grapes.”

Oowada shot back at Hagakure. Hagakure crossed his arms, and after a brief moment of
hesitation said, “Oh, I get it! You weren’t talking about grapes!” while nodding forcefully.

“Yeah. We’re talking about his bike.”

After Fujisaki spoke, Hagakure agreed honestly, “That’s good then! Vintage hobbies are the
best!”

“Ohhh, so you get it too, huh? Some of the gang go with American models, and even if
they’re a little old, those bikes are their life partners.”

“They sure are international if even Americans devote their life to them. 5-7-5, right?”

–I wonder if he’s confusing “bike” with “haiku”.[1]

Fujisaki’s eyes kept wandering between Oowada and Hagakure’s faces, comparing them
during their miscommunication. But they were smiling as they conversed, and he didn’t want
to go out of his way to point out the mistake.

Then, from behind him, he heard a voice that sounded like slightly rusted metal. “Hey, what’s
with the peaceful harmony~? Rude. What a tooooootally rude conversation! You’re supposed
to be more bloodthirsty, so having a nice chat with smiles on your faces is gonna make
everyone lose their self-awareness! That’s the problem with kids these days! Mutual killing,
let’s enjoy, are you okay? Poem by Monokuma.”

Deep wrinkles appeared between Oowada’s brows in an instant. “Shut the fuck up!!”

As Oowada’s murderous intent shot up, Monokuma said with an eerie laugh, “Upupupupupu.
And here I thought I might finally tell you an embarrassing story about Fujisaki-san. Hey
hey, guess what I saw yesterday. You know Fujisaki-san, well, I saw her doing THAT in her
room with her breath getting all erratic!”

An embarrassing story…

–He’s going to tell them about how I was practicing acting like Oowada-kun in front of the
mirror yesterday!!

23
They might laugh at him for doing something like that while being as weak as he was. What
would happen if Oowada was shocked? Fujisaki covered his face with both hands, feeling
like he wanted to run away.

However.

“I told you to shut the fuck up! I don’t give a shit about your stories!! I’m a man who only
believes what he sees!! Get the fuck outta here!!” Oowada shouted at Monokuma.

Monokuma said, “Dejectionnn,” and put on a timid face before extinguishing himself.

Oowada continued, calling out to Fujisaki. “Oi. You… y'know. Don’t cry.” He was
apparently flustered, thinking that Fujisaki might have started crying after covering his face
with his hands. The tip of his pompadour was drooping. He was bent over at the hip, peering
into Fujisaki’s face. “If that Monokuma bastard tries to say anythin’ to ya, I’ll shut 'im up.
Don’t worry about it.”

–Nooooo. Don’t say thaaat, Oowada-kun.

Stricken by Oowada’s chivalry, Fujisaki really did start wanting to cry.

“It’s okay. I’m not cryiiiing.”

He removed his hands from his face, and Oowada seemed relieved as he said, “Okay.”

“Umm, thank you, Oowada-kun.”

“I didn’t really do nothin’. I just couldn’t stand the shit comin’ outta his mouth.” Oowada
averted his gaze away from Fujisaki.

The longing for Oowada in Fujisaki’s heart swelled up even more. His gaze was rooted
firmly on Oowada’s profile, as it looked somehow embarrassed.

24
As Fujisaki gazed at him wordlessly, Oowada continued idly, “As a man, there’s some things
I can’t forgive.”

“I seeee.”

The underlying principle behind everything Oowada did was that it was done “as a man”.
How simple and bold Oowada was. Fujisaki’s chest burned and trembled. Passion passed

25
between people. Oowada’s zeal for “manly posturing” was spreading throughout Fujisaki’s
heart.

After talking for a bit longer, Oowada left the laundry room. Left behind, gazing after
Oowada as if in a trance, Fujisaki murmured, “I want a hairstyle like thaaat…”

The hairstyle wasn’t the problem. He knew that. But–Fujisaki didn’t have anything else of
Oowada’s that he could quickly copy and imitate. If he could at least get the hairstyle
down…

Hagakure, hearing this, responded, “Huhhh? That’s no hairstyle. Or like, Oowada-cchi’s

hairstyle is some kinda French bread, like a croissant or something. There’s a 30% chance
Oowada-cchi’s got bread growing out of his head!!”

“…Bread?”

“He doesn’t want you to touch it 'cuz there’s bread inside!”

“…Bread, huhhh.” It was an absurd theory. But even Fujisaki could bake bread. Even if he
couldn’t become manly right away, he could bake bread!

–It seems like there’s lots of different things packed into a pompadour.

There was no doubt that the ideal pompadour style was if you could put bread in the center
and lightly set the hair on top of it, so it wouldn’t fall apart easily, but once you were in a
fight with someone, the tip would fall apart.

It was worth trying. That’s what Fujisaki thought.

Fujisaki went to the library to look for books on baking bread. There were plenty of recipe
cards in the kitchen, but none of them explained how to make croissants or baguettes.

The Super High School Level Heir, Togami Byakuya, was there reading in the library.
Togami made a pretty picture as he sat in his chair, turning the pages. But, fixing Togami
with a passionate gaze, the braided and sailor-uniformed Fukawa Touko shouted suddenly,
“What! There’s no trespassing in the library without being a hindrance to Byakuya-sama, so
what are you doing here? Eeeegh! You lovable little rodent!” trying to chase Fuijsaki out.

Usually, Fujisaki would cede to Fukawa without argument.

–But today I’m trying my beeest!

I mean, I want to become closer to Oowada-san, if only by a little bit!

“I wanted to look for books with bread recipes,” he said, easily refuted, but vehemently
responding to Fukawa.

26
“N-Not only are you cute, but you’re trying to make homemade bread… You aren’t trying to
attract Byakuya-sama’s attention, are you? I mean, I’m… an ugly bitch who can’t do
anything else so…” Fukawa said, with a dark melancholic voice as if she were slithering on
the ground. She made sure not to meet Fujisaki’s gaze, staring instead at a point somewhere
behind him.

“That’s not true! You’re the Super High School Literary Girl who has written such wonderful
stories. I think you’re amazing!”

“Wha…!”

Fukawa froze after she was complimented. Fujisaki thought, “Now’s my chance!” as he
continued, “I’m sorryyyy. I just want a book about bread, and then I’ll leave right away,”
standing before the bookshelves with a keen eye.

He had planned on browsing quietly, but because his conversation with Fukawa was so loud–
Togami looked up from his book, fixing Fujisaki with a sharp, cutting glare. “Ignorant
commoner. You’re an eyesore. Go away.”

“Th-That’s right. Go away already!”

As Fukawa backed up Togami’s words to urge Fujisaki out, Togami stated, “You too.”

“Huh?!” Fukawa said, at a loss for any other words.

After having somehow found a book about making bread in a corner of a bookshelf, Fujisaki
said, “Thank you very much. Excuse me,” before bowing and leaving the library.

Recipe book in hand, he headed towards the kitchen.

If there was anything in abundance in this school life, it was the ingredients. It had all the
cookware you could need, too. And there was plenty of time to spare.

Celestia Ludenberg and Yamada Hifumi had beaten Fujisaki to the kitchen.

“Your royal milk tea is ready.”

Yamada thrust out his limbs to present the black tea, swelling up like an expanding balloon,
but as Celeste brought the cup to her lips, she said, “Oh my. How tepid.” She furrowed the
brow on her beautiful, doll-like, well-kept face. In an instant, she splashed the contents of the
teacup onto Yamada’s head.

"Uwah! Hot! Hothothot! Eek~”

As Yamada squatted down, scratching at his head, Celeste declared, “It’s not hot. Do you
understand?” Then, her tone and expression did an about-face. “It’s fucking tepid! This
temperature’s fucking tepid! Maybe this way your body will absorb the temperature of royal
milk tea so you actually remember it! You FUCKING BITCH!”

“Y-Yes. My deepest apologies. I remember now. I remember now, Mistress. Oiiink!”

27
It was just another average day for Celeste and Yamada. They shared a world just for the two
of them that Fujisaki didn’t wish to intrude upon.

“Yamada-kun, are you all right?” Fujisaki still asked in a small voice, out of concern for
Yamada.

Very passionately, Yamada stood up and said, “Whaaaat, I’m fine with just that. Your
worries are unnecessary,” but immediately Celeste flung back, “Who gave you the right to
stand up, you pig!”

“Oiiink!”

–It’s my fault such terrible things are happening to Yamada-san, because I spoke up.

In truth, he wanted to save him, but if he tried, Celeste would just bully Yamada even further.
Understanding this, Fujisaki hung his head, saying, “Sorryyyyy. Pleeease let me use this a
little.” After turning them both down, he gathered his ingredients and started to sift the flour
on the counter. Celeste’s jeers and Yamada’s screams dominated the kitchen for a little while
longer.

“What is it that you are making?” At last, Celeste seemed bored of kicking Yamada, coming
up to Fujisaki’s side to ask. And then, before Fujisaki could even answer, Celeste placed a
hand on the recipe book set to the side, gazing down at it and murmuring, “Bread… is it?”

“Fujisaki Chihiro-dono! There is already bread in the pantry, so for what reason do you dare
bake bread?” asked Yamada, as he also drew closer to Fujisaki, pushing up his glasses with
his finger and peering over at Fujisaki’s handiwork.

“Ummmmmm…” His hands froze as he wondered how to respond. He tilted his head and
said, “Well,” looking back at Yamada standing next to him.

In his mind, he had constructed a flowchart of “I want to become like Oowada-kun” to “I

want to copy his hairstyle” to “I thought I would try putting bread in the center to fortify the
bangs”… But it would be a little absurd to go through that whole explanation over again.

–Why in the world am I baking bread? Thinking it over, I get the feeling that it’s kind of
strange…?

“Ummm…” Fujisaki hesitated, watching Yamada.

“Hmmmm…” Yamada hummed, his eyes closed tightly for some reason.

“…Yamada-kun, what’s wronggg?”

“I’m 2D only, 2D only, 3D nothing, 2D only.” Yamada muttered an enigmatic incantation, an

expression of anguish appearing on his face as he said, “Ggnnnnnn.”

Then–

Celeste said calmly, in a cold, icy voice, “I want a replacement for my tea.”

28
Yamada’s eyes flew open as he said, “Yes. I shall get that for you right away!” taking on the
tone of a servant before running off to get the milk to brew the royal milk tea.

He measured the ingredients, sifted the flour, mixed it together and kneaded. As Fujisaki
kneaded the dough until it was tightly packed, Yamada’s glasses lenses flashed, watching
over Fujisaki’s handiwork with great interest.

Holding her re-brewed royal milk tea in one hand, Celeste also seemed ready to eat as she
said, “There’s nothing like freshly baked bread.”

I’ve come this far, so I have to bake it…

Even if he had come back to his senses partway through, he’d found himself in a situation
where not baking the bread was an unacceptable choice.

And what’s more–even Asahina Aoi and Oogami Sakura entered the kitchen.

“Hey hey, let’s make donuts. Donuts are so good~. They’re the food of the gods~”

Asahina looked like she was devouring the yeast-fermented, swelling dough with her eyes.

“Donuts, huhhh,” Fujisaki parroted, looking down. Those were pretty far removed from
Oowada’s hairstyle. Though they were delicious.

Perhaps seeing through Fujisaki’s bewildered confusion, as he looked between the dough and
Asahina, Oogami declared with gravitas, “Asahina. Fujisaki is putting much effort into
making bread. I believe that in order to honor the effort she has expended thus far, we should
allow her to make whatever bread she was originally planning on.”

“Whaaaa~? But I guess you’re right. Fujisaki-chan wanted to eat bread, didn’t she. So make
bread this time, and let’s make donuts next time.”

“Yes. I shall make your donuts, Asahina.”

“Yaaaay!”

A carefree smile appeared on Asahina’s face, and Oogami nodded deeply. Asahina and
Oogami were close friends, and could communicate well. Their friendship was solid.

“So, how long does it take to make bread?” Celeste said, neglecting to read the atmosphere.

“It looks like you knead it, let it ferment, shape it, let it go through a secondary fermentation,
shape it again, and bake it. It takes about three to four hours, I think.”

“Secondary fermentation!” Yamada’s nostrils flared in excitement. It was a mystery what

could be so exciting about this phrase.[2] He became all the more excited by the motions of
kneading the dough. “My blood’s rushing! Excuse me for a moment.” Yamada rolled up his
sleeves, joining in on the bread-making. Without even waiting for Fujisaki to respond, he

29
collected up the dough in his hands and shouted, “Molding bread and molding figures have a
lot in common! MY BODY IS READYYY!”

“Is that so?” Fujisaki had nothing else he could say in response.

Yamada molded intricate masses out of the dough, one after the other. Eyes wide, watching
Yamada’s effortless planning and prowess, Fujisaki also started making croissants, as he had
originally planned.

“Fujisaki. Try hard.”

“Right! Go, fight, win, Fujisaki-chan!”

The two athletic-type girls cheered Fujisaki on as he made his croissants–and then baguettes
too. To the side, Celeste showered Yamada in mockery, but for some reason that was difficult
to understand, he kept making bread with unnaturally high artistic merit.

The instant the piping hot, freshly baked bread was taken out of the oven, everyone suddenly
raised their voice in awe. The delicious smell of bread tickled their noses. Yamada clutched
his chest, and Asahina jumped for joy. Oogami praised Fujisaki, “You did well. Fujisaki, you
accomplished your goal admirably,” while Celeste ordered Yamada with a smile, “Fetch me a
new cup of tea.”

On the outside, it looked crisp, with faint burn marks here and there, but generally in good
condition. He touched one with the oven mitts on. The insides were puffy, and it seemed like
they would pop and squish if squeezed tightly.

There wasn’t any way to stuff hot bread in one’s bangs without leaving a burn. And Fujisaki
didn’t really feel like he should put the bread in his hair anymore anyway. He’d tried so hard,
and made the bread together with everyone cheering him on, so everyone should get to eat it.

–But I do want Oowada-kun to eat it…

He’d strayed from his original intentions, but this was the fruit of his labor. Fujisaki had
made this bread full of his own passionate emotion. His desire to become strong!

Ding dong, bing bong. The sound of the chimes rang throughout the kitchen. The air shook,
and everyone simultaneously pricked their ears to listen.

“Hey guys, there’s some bread baked for you. Everyone gather in the cafeteria!!”

The contents of Monokuma’s broadcast were completely harmless.

The cafeteria table was crowded with plates to serve the bread. Despite it being bread that
had been intended to be put on someone’s head, it really did look best on plates.

30
“The bread looks delicious. …Though there are also some pretty elaborately shaped loaves
here.” Naegi always expressed the most straightforward impressions.

“You’re right. Freshly baked bread smells so good. But I’ve been eating so much lately that I
feel like I’ve gained some weight, so I don’t know what to do.” Maizono Sayaka revealed her
very stereotypically teenage girl worries. Straight hair without a single kink, and a sailor
uniform. A squeaky-clean beauty, she was a member of an idol group popular nationwide.

Kuwata Leon came up from behind, extending a hand as he said, “Takin’ the tastiest lookin’
one!” before yoinking one of the pieces of bread. He tossed the croissant in the palm of his
hand a few times before taking a bite. With his red hair put up in a punk rock style, and a
large number of piercings, he was, despite appearances, the Super High School Level
Baseball Player. “Ow, it'sh hot! Thish’s TOO freshly baked! OW, hot! It’s hot! ’S tasty but
it’s HOT!!” He’d tried taking a bite, but he apparently burned his tongue in the process, and
flipped out for a bit as he drank some water.

“Hmm. Bread. I see,” Kirigiri Kyouko murmured, gently touching the bread with her gloved
hands, looking entirely like her body temperature was just naturally low. Kirigiri was able to
defuse the tension in any situation, always calm and composed. “Some of them don’t look
like bread at a glance. But I suppose they’re all bread,” she said, examining one of the pieces
of bread Yamada made.

And then–

When Oowada appeared in the cafeteria, Fujisaki presented him with a different plate,
holding croissants and baguettes. “Oowada-kun, I did it. I put my soul into these manly
croissants and baguettes.”

Oowada’s eyes widened in surprise as he looked at the bread that was suddenly put before
him. “Manly?!” He kept looking at the bread, dubious.

“I made them.”

–What should I do? Is he not going to eat them?

Fujisaki’s heartbeat rang out in his chest.

31
“What. You givin’ 'em to me?” Oowada said–picking up a croissant. He opened his mouth
wide, and took a big bite.

“Ah…”

It’s hot… Maybe?

“’S tasty. What is this? This is way more tasty than any other bread I’ve had.” Oowada kept
taking bread from the plate and eating it, one after the other. And just like that, he ate them
up, and the plate was left empty. It only took about five minutes.

“I spent so much time sifting flour, kneading the dough, letting it rise, and baking the bread…
I can’t believe you ate it all in five minutes. That’s amazing, Oowada-kun.”

In the end, “amazing” was all he could think of it. Oowada ate up all of Fujisaki’s worries
and trial and error in just five minutes. He reached out his hand without hesitation, stuffed his
cheeks full of deliciousness, and gulped it down–

“Huh… What is it? S-Sorry. Should I have spent more time tasting it as I ate it? Thanks for
the food. I ate it all because it was so delicious.”

“Mm-mm. I’m happy. It’s an honor for you to have eaten it. Wasn’t it hot? Are you okay?”

32
“Of course it was hot. …Didn’t you say your soul was dwelling inside of it? Eating it before
it gets cold is just what a man does.”

“My… soul.”

“Yeah. I’ve understood your soul!” Oowada flashed a bright, sparkling smile.

“You felt my soul, Oowada-kun? Mine… from someone like me…”

“Don’t talk about yourself that way. It was delicious. It was so damn delicious.” Oowada met
Fujisaki’s gaze, and nodded forcefully.

With just that, Fujisaki could die happy. Oowada had given a lot to Fujisaki, without knowing
it. He’d given him courage, hope, and everything he needed to raise his head high and live
without apologizing for it.

Oowada panicked as Fujisaki was moved to tears. “What? Why are you crying?”

“I’m just… happy.”

“Huh?”

“Oowada-kun! What have you done to Fujisaki-kun?” Ishimaru made his way briskly
towards them, flaring up at Oowada.

“I didn’t do anything!”

“But is Fujisaki-kun not crying?!”

“Shut up. What? You wanna go, fucker?!”

They got right up in each other’s faces, glaring and shouting at each other. Just as they started
grabbing at each other, Fujisaki said haltingly, “No, you’re wrong. You’ve got it wrong,” but
it was about as effective at getting them to stop as a Maltese’s howls would be at getting a
larger dog and a wolf to stop snarling at each other.

And so this riot continued–up until Togami, the last one to arrive at the cafeteria, encountered
Oowada and Ishimaru grabbing onto each other near the door, said, “What? You’re in the
way,” and glared at the both of them…

END

[1] In Japanese the word they’re using for bike/motorcycle is “baiku”, which is very close to
“haiku”.
[2] In another bit of wordplay that is difficult to translate, the phrasing used in “secondary
fermentation” has the same beginning as “2D” (二次発酵, niji hakkou vs. 二次元 nijigen).

33
Beautiful Days DR1: Pigtail Paradise 1

Story: Mizusawa Nana (水澤なな)

Illustration: Asaki Touru (明咲トウル)

Remember this translator’s note please!

“Y'knooow, can you really even believe this?” The one who suddenly came out with this in
the cafeteria was Enoshima Junko.

“What’s wrong, Enoshima-san?” Maizono asked in return, tilting her head slightly as she sat
across from her.

“I’ve been thinking, aren’t there kind of a lot of people wearing this look?”

“Wearing what?” Maizono looked around the table at Enoshima’s words. Excepting
Enoshima and Maizono, there were five other people sitting there: Kirigiri Kyouko, Asahina
Aoi, Fukawa Touko, Celestia Ludenberg, and Fujisaki Chihiro.

“Can’t you tell by looking? It’s the hairstyle, the hairstyle! How come out of seven people,
three of them are wearing pigtails! I’m gonna be totally real here and say that it’s seriously
annoying.”

Celeste snapped back, “Oh my, how very regrettable. Though it is an annoyance for me as
well. Pigtails are the trademark of a Gothic-style character such as myself. A bitch-style
gyaru like you can just volumize it, or curl it, or do whatever you want to it, can’t you?”

“Huhh?! What was that–?! Who are you calling a bitch, you sow!”

“Now now, no fighting. It suits you both, so it’s fine!” Asahina stepped in between the
dangerous pair.

Fukawa, watching the back-and-forth with a sidelong glance, let slip a complaint. “Uuugh…!
Are you calling this hairstyle pigtails? Aren’t mine braids? And even if you have a problem
with them…”

“Huh, buuut… if it’s done up in two parts, isn’t that what makes pigtails?” Fujisaki
interjected in a timid tone of voice.

“You be quiet! Byakuya-sama is the only one who can talk back to me! I’ll kill you!”

“Eek…! I-I’m sorry…!” Fujisaki trembled violently at Fukawa’s abrupt change in demeanor.
In her fright, she clung tightly onto Kirigiri’s arm next to her.

“…Don’t worry, you won’t be killed. Why don’t you calm down a little? More importantly,
it’s pointless to get so invested in your hairstyle. If you hate wearing it so much, why don’t
you try shaving it all off?”

34
Enoshima’s eyes filled with anger at Kirigiri’s flat proposal. “Huhh?! No way, riiiight? I
don’t need you butting in here!”

It was Asahina’s voice that shattered the dangerous atmosphere at the table. “Oh, well then,
let’s decide who’s the Queen Pigtailer! And then, whoever wins earns the right to wear
pigtails!”

–And that’s how everyone ended up in pigtails.

“Of course they suit me. I’m the Super High School Level Gyaru, after all.”

As Enoshima jerked her chin up, Celeste protested, “If that’s what you say, then they suit me
even more naturally. I am an orthodox pigtail character.”

35
“Ahhhh, okay okay! They suit you both just great. I think my usual ponytail might fit me
better after all.”

“Ufufu. That’s not true. They suit you very well too, Asahina-san. I don’t have much volume
to my hair, so they don’t really suit me.”

“Is that so? I think they’re something only a professional idol could pull off.”

36
“Thank you, Kirigiri-san. They suit you a lot too.”

“H-Hmph! What! You’re getting pretty close there, complimenting each other on your
appearances! N-Not like you’d do it to someone like me!” Fukawa flared up, having put her
braids up higher than usual.

“Uhhh, um… That’s not true. They suit you, too,” Fujisaki said, still frightened, and Fukawa
averted her eyes.

37
“H-Hmph! I don’t want pity from a girl like you who barely has long enough hair to put in
pigtails!”

“N-No waaay…”

Just as the mood was getting dangerous again, someone new pushed her way through. “What
has happened to all of you…?” It was Oogami Sakura. Seven sets of eyes pinned her down.

“S-Sakura-chan, what’s with that hairstyle…?!”

Oogami’s long and usually unkempt hair had been pulled into two beautiful pigtails.

“…Aahh, this? The wind is strong today. I simply tied it up so it would not pose a hindrance
to my training.”

Asahina went over to Oogami briskly, taking her left hand and hoisting it over her head.
“You’re the winner!”

“What? What do you mean?” While Oogami was still dubious, the other six people gave a
sparse round of applause.

END

38
Beautiful Days DR1: Super High School Level Present

Story: Iori Saki (伊織 咲)

Illustration: Fujiwara Ryou (冨士原良)

(This old translator’s note again! Also, this story actually has more DR1 spoilers than any
other in the anthology.)

When I opened the door to the classroom that evening, no one was there.

The students of Hope’s Peak Private Academy all excelled in their Super High School Level
talents, and just this morning everyone had been noisily chatting in this very room, but now
that class was over, everyone had probably gone off to practice and brush up on their
respective talents.

“Haahh…” I sighed, shivering slightly from the chilly air in the room.

The divine blessing of a single talent. I was jealous of everyone else who was able to refine
theirs. There’s no way I could do the same with my own ability. Super High School Level
Good Luck, Naegi Makoto. That’s me.

Just getting accepted into this school in the first place was “Good Luck”. But I wanted
something else–I didn’t just want good luck for myself; I wanted the power to help and
encourage other people, like everyone else.

I reached out with my empty hand and closed it tightly, as if grabbing onto something.

That’s when it happened.

Suddenly, a clattering sound caused my back to tense up. Cold sweat running down my skin,
I timidly searched around the classroom. Doing so, I saw long black hair swaying out from
under a seat in the very center of the room.

–Wh-Who’s there?!

I shrunk back without thinking, starting to run away, but the sight of a hairpin stopped me in
my tracks.

“…Maizono… san?”

“Oh, Naegi-kun.”

39
It was my classmate, Maizono Sayaka, whose face peeked out from underneath the desk. It
looked like she was searching for something under there. But the Super High School Level
Idol’s expression was unusually dark, unlike the smile she always wore.

“What’s wrong? Did you lose something?”

“Mm, this morning I swore I put something in my desk, but now I can’t find it…” Maizono-
san looked like she was barely holding back tears even now. It must have been something
very important.

“Can I help you look for it?”

“Huh? But…”

After Maizono-san’s slight surprise, I hastily continued, “Ah! Only if you want me to,
though!” Maizono-san and I had attended the same middle school before coming to Hope’s
Peak Academy. But I was an extremely ordinary middle school student, so there was no way
I could talk to a popular idol like her, and even though now we were normal classmates at
this school, I still hesitated to associate with her.

But Maizono-san said, with equal haste, “No, that’s not it! I would just feel bad if you were
busy.”

“Oh, no way. I don’t have anything to practice… I’d like to help you out if you’d let me.”
With just those few words, the smile returned to Maizono-san’s face, and she no longer
looked like she was about to cry. My shoulders relaxed in relief. “So what can’t you find?”

Maizono-san looked a little embarrassed, and her gaze dropped to the floor as she opened her
mouth. “Well, you see…”

“Hey, Kirigiri-san.”

The botanical garden at the top of the school building. Kirigiri-san was looking down at a
Western book in the shade of the Southern trees, before I called out to her, and she raised her
pale eyes to meet mine. “Oh, if it isn’t Naegi-kun… Did you need something?”

In contrast to the warm air of the botanical garden, Kirigiri’s tone of voice was cold, and her
expression was steely. I faltered for a bit, but I didn’t think Kirigiri-san held any ill will
towards me or anything. This was how she acted around everyone.

So I told myself not to be scared, as a good luck charm, and continued, “I have a favor to ask
you.”

Instantly, her eyes started searching me–they felt scrutinizing, but I held fast and withstood it
until she spoke. “What favor?”

40
“U-Um, I want you to help me look for something that got lost.”

“Something that got lost?”

“Yeah. I was just thinking, this is the kind of thing you’re best at. It’s probably impossible
relying only on my own luck.”

“Hmmm, so even Super High School Level Good Luck can lose things. So what did you
lose?” Her voice was as monotonous as ever, but it seemed as if she would accept the request.
As I answered the question she’d prompted me to, her eyebrows furrowed slightly.

“…Homemade cookies?”

Her voice was dubious, colored by the question of why I would have made cookies.

“Oh, I’m not the one who made them. Maizono-san made them…”

“–”

It felt like the temperature in the botanical garden dropped instantly. Kirigiri-san’s cool gaze
was colder than ever, piercing through my face. –Huh? Wh-What happened?

While I was at a loss, Kirigiri-san sighed, “…I see.” Her gaze fell back down towards her
book. “If they’re homemade, she can just make more. Bye then.” As soon as the conversation
was over, her white fingers started turning the pages.

I couldn’t make myself talk to her any more than that, once she started shutting everything
out and immersing herself in the world of the book again.

“I wonder what got into Kirigiri-san…” It had seemed like she was going along with things at
first, but suddenly she’d changed her mind. She’d changed completely right after I’d
mentioned “homemade cookies”, so did that rub her the wrong way somehow?

I’d thought Kirigiri-san’s level-headed judgment would be good for finding something that
was lost, but it couldn’t be helped. Now that I couldn’t expect her support, I tried to consult
another classmate, Hagakure-kun.

“HmmMMMmmmMMMmmm…”

41
Sitting on the couch in the rec room, humming and peering into a clear, palm-sized crystal
ball, Hagakure Yasuhiro-kun was the Super High School Level Fortune Teller, and the next
likeliest after Kirigiri-san to be able to find missing items. Watching him from behind, I
couldn’t see anything but the distorted reflection of his large dreadlocks in the crystal ball,
but surely the Super High School Level Fortune Teller Hagakure-kun would be able to see
something there–or at least, that’s what I thought.

“Iiiiii can’t see anything.”

At those four words, I pitched forward some before I could stop myself. “Huhhh?!”

“I can see something kiiiinda brownish and fluffy though.”

“…Isn’t that just your hair…?”

“Ohhhhh! That’s gotta be it! Ha ha haaa!” Hagakure-kun laughed heartily after he spoke, but
this wasn’t the time for that!

“You can’t tell where the cookies are?”

“I get it. But right now it’s kiiinda hard to see anything, so can’t you hit up someone else
first? I’ll work something out in the meantime.”

“Someone else like who…?” I went through my classmates in my mind, but I couldn’t think
of anyone else that would be good for finding missing things.

“Ishimaru-cchi’s in the dojo.”

“Ishimaru-kun?” By Ishimaru-cchi, he meant the Super High School Level Hall Monitor,
Ishimaru Kiyotaka.

I had admittedly tried searching the classroom with Maizono-san, and hadn’t found anything.
Cookies couldn’t just walk off on their own, so if they weren’t in the classroom, then
someone must have stolen them. There’s no doubt that Ishimaru-kun would help out if it
involved a theft in the classroom.

“Mm, you’re right. I’ll try asking Ishimaru-kun. But I can’t believe you just knew he was in
the dojo. Was that some divination of yours?”

Hagakure-kun just said “Nnnah?” in response to my question, shaking his head. “I just saw
him earlier in the hallway passing by.” He smacked me a few times on my back, where I’d
become tense without realizing it, and put an arm around my neck, raising his thumb to show
me. “My divinations may only have a 30% accuracy rate, but like they say, seeing is
believing! I saw it with my own eyes, so you know it’s true!”

“…” I wasn’t sure whether that 30% accuracy rate was supposed to be high or low, but I
couldn’t think of anything else to say in response, so I said, “W-Well, I’ll be off then,”
tottering out of the rec room.

42
Just as Hagakure-kun’s eyewitness account claimed, Ishimaru-kun was in the dojo. Our
classmates Kuwata Leon and Oowada Mondo were there with him too. Kuwata-kun was in
the middle of the archery range with a ball, and Oowada-kun was standing where the archer
should, wielding a bat. It looked like they were playing baseball, although maybe they were
courting divine retribution by doing it in a place intended for archery… Ishimaru-kun looked
like he was keeping watch over them, like some sort of supervisor, standing off to the side
with his arms crossed and his feet apart. As sparks flew between Kuwata-kun and Oowada-
kun, Ishimaru-kun wore a stern expression, but that was how he always was, so I went over to
talk to him, thinking he might just be a spectator.

“Um, Ishimaru-kun. There’s something I’m worried about…”

“Worried?! What is it, Naegi-kun?!! Now, tell me everything!!”

Maybe Ishimaru-kun’s Super High School Level Hall Monitor blood got boiling, because he
seemed suddenly eager as he listened to my story.

“What! A theft in the classroom?! That’s impermissible! Completely impermissible, Naegi-

kun!! If the morals of our class have been thrown into disarray, we must rectify them
posthaste…!!”

“Right? So I was wondering if I could get your help, Ishimaru-kun.”

“Indubitably! Resolving this matter is my mission as Hall Monitor–no, my destiny…!!”

Relieved by his emphatic words, I started heading towards the classroom, inviting, “Then
should we start by checking out the crime scene?” But Kuwata-kun’s voice calling out from
the archery range stopped us in our tracks.

“Whoa whoa whoa, what about our showdown, Ishimaru?”

“Naegi, you bastard! Don’t get in the way of a man’s competition…!!”

“Uh… A man’s competition…?” I had thought they were just getting really fired up about
baseball, but now it seemed like it was more of a baseball showdown between Kuwata-kun
and Oowada-kun. And Ishimaru-kun was apparently their witness.

“Oowadaaaa! You’re a hundred years too early to challenge me at baseball!!”

“Don’t fuck with me! I’d lose my pride as a man if I only won against people who were at a
disadvantage!!”

“You ready to strike out on a hundred straight pitches?!”

“Bring it on! You’re gonna cry when an amateur sends a ball flying over your head…!!”

43
“…” I found myself at a loss, faced with the burning intensity of a fight between men. …No,
I mean, I’m a man too, but, mm, I kinda… can’t really get involved in all that.

“This certainly is a legitimate showdown between men! I shall watch over your hundred-ball
competition from an impartial standpoint! Naegi-kun, I offer my sincere apologies, but this
competition was a prior engagement. But as soon as this is over, I shall rush to your side
without a moment’s delay!!” Ishimaru-kun said, before once again folding his white-clad
arms and standing with his legs apart.

So when exactly is a hundred-ball competition going to be over…

If a baseball game has three people get three strikes each inning right away, that’s still only
81, so 100 balls would take longer than if it were a real baseball game. Even if Kuwata-kun
was the Super High School Level Baseball Player, Oowada-kun’s pride as a Super High
School Level Gang Leader wouldn’t let him back down easily in a fight.

Thinking to myself I couldn’t rely on them to finish this before the day was over, I still just
left them with a “Well, I’ll be counting on you then,” before heading back into the school
building.

“How’s it going, Hagakure-kun? Can you see anything?”

When I returned to the rec room, Hagakure-kun had his arms crossed, tilting his head. I
peered at his crystal ball, and where previously it was clear and reflecting Hagakure-kun’s
dreadlocks, it was now pitch black.

“Huh?! What does this mean?!”

“I thought I’d try and divine the general circumstances of the cookies’ surroundings,
wherever they are right now.”

“The cookies’ surroundings?”

“Yep. And when I finally got it, it ended up like this.”

“Like this…” What if they were already thrown into the incinerator and burned up…? I
turned pale considering the worst case scenario, but that’s when Hagakure-kun told me.

“They were still in the box, so the surroundings were totally dark–!”

I slumped, losing all my energy at that answer. What the heck…

44
“So that means no one’s eaten the cookies yet!”

“At least divine the surroundings of the box that the cookies are in then!!”

“I-I was thinkin’ that I was gonna try doin’ that right now…”

You clearly only thought of it just now, didn’t you? It was painfully obvious by the way
Hagakure-kun was trembling.

“But, Naegi-cchi, it’s not like this was a totally useless divination, right? The cookies were
shaking around a little while ago.”

“Shaking…? So someone was carrying them somewhere?”

“Yeah, like that. Maybe they’re gonna start eating them soon!”

I was taken aback by that one sentence. Maizono-san had told me that the cookies were in a
wrapped box. Maybe the culprit had determined from the wrapping paper and the weight of
the box that they had sweets inside, so they took them from the classroom to go eat them
somewhere.

The culprit couldn’t be Kuwata-kun or Oowada-kun, who were having their manly
showdown, or Ishimaru-kun who was serving as their witness. It couldn’t be Hagakure-kun
either, since he was right there. It had to be someone else.

“Actually, I heard the girls were gonna have a fancy tea party?”

That one sentence propelled me to rush out of the rec room.

–They could be eating Maizono-san’s cookies right this moment…!

They needed hot water and tea supplies for a tea party, so there was a very high probability of
them being in the dorm cafeteria. After rushing out from the rec room, I frantically ran down
the stairs towards the cafeteria, and ran into someone on the landing.

“Ouuuch…”

“S-Sorry! Are you okay?!”

The person I’d run into was my classmate, Enoshima Junko-san. I’d just bumped into her
shoulder, but her slender body still couldn’t withstand that, and she’d fallen backwards onto
her behind.

“I was in a hurry. I’m really sorry,” I said, holding out a hand, but my eyes were drawn to the
pretty suggestive amount of thigh being shown from under Enoshima-san’s short skirt, and I
hastily added, “S-S-S-S-Sorry…!” before turning around to face the other direction.

45
As I was trying to reinstate reason and forget about that brief yet revealing glimpse of pale
thigh, I suddenly felt the brush of fingers against the nape of my neck.

“Huh? Enoshima-san?!”

“Oh no~ You’re turning red, Naegi~”

“That’s not true!”

“So you say, but even the back of your neck is bright red. How cuuute! Why were you in
such a rush~?”

“I-It’s not that important. I’m really sorry for everything!”

“Huhhhh? Junko’s not gonna forgive you if you don’t tell Junko why~” I could tell she was
totally playing around with me by the way her voice suddenly got more high-pitched and
childish. But the truth was, not even worshiping at the Super High School Level Gyaru’s feet
would be enough to get out of this. As Enoshima-san stroked my cheek, toying with me, I
gathered my resolve and told her everything, before asking, “You didn’t happen to see the
cookies in the classroom, did you, Enoshima-san?”

“What, are you suspecting me or something, Naegi?” Enoshima-san narrowed her eyes,
heavy with makeup and suspicion, and I frantically waved my arms in denial.

“I didn’t mean that I suspect you exactly, it’s just I’ve been asking everyone in the class so I
thought I would ask you too…”

“Ohhhh, so thaaaat’s how it is.” Enoshima-san let out a barking laugh. “You’re soooo dumb.
Of course I’m not gonna shove cookies in my face.”

“Huh?”

“Didn’t you see? My legs, my face, my whole damn fine body. How hard do you think I have
to work to keep this up?”

“Uh… Huh?”

“I worked for this. I count calories for every meal. I’m not gonna stick something as fattening
as cookies in my mouth without even thinking.”

“Um, okay?” I always just ate whatever was in the cafeteria back in middle school without
really thinking about it. “I thought girls liked sweets, though.”

“I love, love, looooove them. But I won’t even eat the sweets that I loooove so much. I have
to stay on a restricted diet, and I can’t forget to take care of my skin, and I have to make sure
I don’t get too stressed out, so I have to make sure I get enough sleep.”

“Girls have it pretty rough…”

“You bet. It’s tough to stay cute. So I have nothing to do with that.”

46
“I see… Sorry for wasting your time.”

“I don’t mind though~? But I didn’t know you and Maizono had that kind of relationship~”

“Huh?! B-But we don’t?! The cookies weren’t a present for me!”

“Hmmmm? Is that so~? So I wonder if Maizono really was going to give them to someone
yesterday? But she seemed really happy making them~?”

I-I guess… she was probably planning on giving them to someone.

“Naegi, you’re baaasically a good guy at heart, so I think if you tried just a liiiittle harder to
study up on what girls are thinking, then you’d be on the right track, okay?” Then she struck
a charming pose, as if someone had a camera out, said, “Bye then,” and left.

Maizono-san didn’t tell me anything about it, but I wonder what she was planning on doing
with those homemade cookies. They must have been a present, but who was she planning on
giving them to?

I was heading down the stairs, thinking about it, when I saw my classmate Fukawa Touko-
san from behind in the second floor hallway.

Huh? That cart she’s pushing around, does it have a teapot on it?

“Wait a minute, Fukawa-san!”

But it seemed as if she didn’t hear me, since she kept pushing the cart with a smirk on her
face, and disappeared into a room. It was the library. Are they planning on holding the tea
party in there, even when there’s no eating or drinking allowed in the library?

I hurriedly chased after her, and found only two people alone in the library, with Fukawa
pouring some tea, expression overflowing with ecstasy. The person sitting near her, reading a
business magazine, was our classmate Togami Byakuya-kun. As Fukawa-san gently pushed
the tea towards Togami-kun, he reached out for it without even raising his head, saying,
“Good work.”

“Hey, Togami-kun…”

I was sorry to intrude, but I called out regardless, and Togami-kun flicked his eyes slightly in
my direction without otherwise moving, watching me over his glasses. “If it isn’t Naegi.
What do you want?”

“Um, food and drink are supposed to be banned in the library…”

“So what?” Togami-kun responded without hesitation, sounding from his tone of voice alone
as if he already knew that without my saying anything.

47
“Well, so, food and drink here…”

“My throat was parched, so I had something brought to me. Is there something wrong with
that?”

“Uhhh… The moisture might be bad for the books…”

“Hah!” Togami-kun scoffed at my opinions. “These books were all donations from the
Togamis. If they become damaged, I’ll just buy replacements for all of them. So there’s no
problem, is there?”

Togami-kun was the Super High School Level Heir, and the successor to the Togami family.
It was true that Hope’s Peak Academy was a private academy, and it would probably be good
for them to have sponsors, but…

As soon as he stopped talking, Togami-kun had turned his gaze back to his magazine, so I
scrambled to hold my ground. “Hey Togami-kun, I wanted to ask you, did you pick up any
sweets in the classroom earlier?”

“What? Sweets?”

“That’s right. There were some homemade cookies with some cute wrapping paper–”

“Byakuya-sama would never do such a thing!” Fukawa-san cut off my explanation from off
to the side with a high-pitched shriek. “Do you think Byakuya-sama is the sort of person who
picks up what other people have dropped?!”

“Be quiet, Fukawa.”

“–!”

After pacifying Fukawa with just those three words, Togami-kun continued, “I don’t make a
habit of picking up what other people have dropped, and I have no interest in amateur
confectionery. Healthcare is the foremost concern for those in leadership positions.”

Now that Togami-kun had mentioned it, I could see his point. Really, I couldn’t imagine
Togami-kun picking up anything that had dropped in the classroom, let alone eating it. The
most I could see him doing would be kicking it out of his way.

“Is that all the business you had with me?–Who said you could drink some of that?”

“Eek!”

It seemed like Togami-kun had noticed that Fukawa-san was stealthily pouring herself some
tea behind his back, while she was forbidden from using her words. She froze, rooted right
where she stood, like a dog who had been ordered to stay. Togami-kun’s imposing words are
admittedly pretty powerful, but are they really enough to command absolute obedience? I
know Fukawa-san has a thing for Togami-kun, but… I really don’t understand how girls feel
after all.

48
“Actually, you came from the kitchen, didn’t you, Fukawa-san? Did you see anyone else
making tea there?”

“…”

“Naegi is asking you a question. Answer it.”

“Y-Yes…! Ce, Celeste was in the cafeteria!”

“Celeste-san?”

By Celeste-san, I meant Celestia Ludenberg-san, another classmate, who was a young lady
with Gothic style and curled pigtails. She carried herself like nobility, and she seemed like
exactly the type to have an elegant tea party, surrounded by roses.

“Now that you mention it, it seems like Celeste ate the last of my favorite imported cookies
the other day. I heard she might have been treating them like they were her own.”

“Huh?!”

So is Celeste-san the culprit who took them, because she ran out of the other cookies?

I thanked Togami-kun and Fukawa-san, and ran out towards the cafeteria.

“Oh my, could it be Naegi-kun?”

I leapt into the dorm cafeteria, and just like Fukawa-san had said, Celeste-san was elegantly
drinking tea alone. My eyes quickly darted to the table, but I was a little relieved to find that
there weren’t any cookies there.

“Whatever is the matter? What business could possibly cause you to be so out of breath?”

“Um, Celeste-san, did you see any cookies in the classroom?”

Celeste-san parroted, “Cookies?” as if taken aback. “…Well, I have no recollection of any…

But why do you ask?”

I explained the sequence of events thus far, and then said, “I thought maybe someone would
know something about it, so I’m going around and asking everyone.”

“My,” Celeste said. “So you came in a flurry to see if I had perhaps eaten them?–You must
be joking. I would not put a cookie in my mouth if it was made by just anyone off the street.
The cookies I was always eating were those imported from their countries of origin.”

49
Now that she mentioned it, I was pretty sure she was right. I saw her drinking tea a lot, but
her teacakes were always the imported kind, with European words on the packaging.
“Togami-kun told me you ate the last of them.”

“I suppose I did. I thought the might of the Togami Conglomerate might be able to take care
of things, despite the circumstances. But if there are no cookies, then let them eat macarons.
Is there a problem with that?”

That line sounds like a certain queen’s… But for her to act as if it was a perfectly normal
thing to say suited Celeste-san, and I responded, “I-I guess… Haha,” with a strained smile.

I really don’t get girls…

I returned to the school building from the dorms, and went up to right in front of the
classroom, when I realized. I’d been running around the whole school, but I hadn’t found any
clues, bringing the investigation to a dead end. I even went around and asked plenty of my
classmates about it, but I didn’t get any valuable information. But the cookies couldn’t have
just gotten up and walked out of the classroom on their own, so they must have been taken
out by someone in our class…

There were still a few classmates left. At this rate, I thought, I may as well go around and ask
every one of them about it. Maybe it was Oogami-san, in the gymnasium nearby. She was the
Super High School Level Martial Artist, so she was adamant about always training
independently in the gym. I couldn’t imagine her supplementing her diet with anything but
protein, but if she was maintaining a huge body like that, she had to get hungry.

But when I visited the gym, it was an unexpected voice that greeted me. “Ohhh, Naegiiiii,
what’s uuuup!”

“Huh? Asahina-san?”

In the hall outside of the gym, there was Oogami Sakura-san, Asahina Aoi-san, and Fujisaki
Chihiro-san. Since the Super High School Level Swimmer Asahina-san and Oogami-san
were both athletes, they stuck together a lot, but the Super High School Level Programmer
Fujisaki-san joining them made for an odd combination.

“After practice, I got hungry~ I thought I would go buy something to eat, and I stumbled
across Fujisaki-chan, so I invited her too~ Wanna come too, Naegi?”

They were sitting in a circle, like they were at a sleepover or something, everyone with their
own drinks, and sweets piled up in the middle. –Wait, sweets?

“L-Let me see that!”

I broke into their circle, and Fujisaki-san watched me with wide-eyed anxiety like a small
animal, asking, “What’s wrong, Naegi-kun?”

50
I dug around in the pile of sweets between them, finding that quite a large chunk of it had
already been eaten, but there were cookies there too. These are…

“Asahina-san, what are these cookies…?”

“Who knows? I think I probably bought them when I was going shopping. But I also brought
a lot of stuff that was in my desk in the classroom, so maybe not?”

“You had a lot of sweets in your desk, didn’t you, Asahina-san?”

“Right, right. I shoved a lot of sweets I got from other people in there, so I got Fujisaki-chan
to help me get them~”

“…While you were doing that, Asahina-san, did you happen to drop some of the sweets in
the classroom…?”

“Oh, yeah. I couldn’t carry all of it in my arms, so they tumbled all over the place~. But
how’d you know about that, Naegi?”

Asahina-san’s desk was right next to Maizono-san’s. She’d dropped the sweets she had been
trying to carry, and got Fujisaki-san to help pick them up and carry them over here–and in the
process, Maizono-san’s sweets, which hadn’t been dropped with in the first place, had gotten
picked up with the rest of it. In other words…

“The culprit who took Maizono-san’s cookies away was you, Asahina-san…!”

“…Huh?” Asahina-san stared blankly at the finger I was pointing at her. Reasonably so, since
she hadn’t actually been trying to run off with the cookies.

“Naegi-kun, what do you mean, Maizono-san’s cookies?”

After Fujisaki-san asked, I explained while everyone else listened quietly, but finally,
Oogami-san spoke firmly.

“–You are wrong, Naegi. It was not Asahina.”

“Huh?”

“Asahina was with me the entire time. The only things she put into her mouth were brand-
name sweets. I would not allow suspicious sweets from any unknown maker to be placed into
my own mouth.”

“Whaaa…?!”

51
After Oogami-san’s assertion, I dug through the empty wrappers, and saw that, yes, all of
them had stickers indicating the manufacturer. So that meant that Oogami-san’s explanation
was correct.

Craaap…!!

“That’s awful, Naegi-kun! Acting like everything food-related is my fault!”

“I-I’m sorry, Asahina-san…!!”

Asahina-san grumbled, but after I practically prostrated myself in earnest apology, she
seemed mollified. “Well, I am always hungry, so I can see why you would suspect me~. If I
really had picked up those cookies, I probably would have eaten them without realizing after
all…”

It was a good thing the person I mistook for the culprit was Asahina-san. If it had been one of
the hot-blooded boys they would have beat me up, and if it had been Togami-kun or Celeste-
san, they probably would have held a lifelong grudge.

“But Naegi, what’s with the whole, ‘The culprit was you’~? Are you watching too many
detective shows?”

“Uh, well, hahaha…”

“Seems kinda fun. You should tell me about it!”

The conversation grew lively, and before I knew it I got dragged into the girltalk, but two
cold words snapped me back to reality: “–You idiot.”

I turned around and saw someone standing in the doorway into the gymnasium hall, arms
crossed…

52
“Kirigiri-san…?”

It was her, even though I thought she had brushed me off back in the garden.

“Come with me,” Kirigiri-san said with the barest of vocal inflection, before quickly turning
on her heel to go.

53
I followed Kirigiri-san to our destination: the data processing room on the fourth floor.
Usually it was just where Fujisaki-san practiced her programming. But Fujisaki-san had been
in the gym hall on the first floor, and there wasn’t anyone else who would need to use the
data processing room, so it should have been empty.

Sure enough, the lights were off in the room, but a faint light was still coming from inside.
Wondering what it could be, I moved in closer to find a computer running. And someone
sitting in the seat in front of it.

“Yamada-kun…?”

A short shriek in the darkened room came from another one of my classmates, the Super
High School Level Doujinshi Author, Yamada Hifumi. “N-Naegi Makoto-dono! Wh-Wh-
Wh-What b-b-b-business might you have with me…?”

“Yamada-kun, why don’t you turn the light on?”

“Awawa, it slipped my mind entirely…!”

Suddenly, the room was flooded with light. It seemed like Kirigiri-san flipped the switch. –
Ah! A small, wrapped box was sitting next to the computer that Yamada-kun was using.

“–Yamada-kun, what is that?”

“Th-This is–!”

“Something you picked up in the classroom?”

“I-I did pick it up there, but I was thinking I would take it to Ishimaru Kiyotaka-dono
later…!”

Admittedly, the archery range was an odd place for Ishimaru-kun to be, so if Yamada-kun
was saying he was keeping it until he found him, the story did line up.

“Then what’s that strange transparent bag?”

When I looked closely at what Kirigiri-san was pointing out, I saw the box was covered in a
clear bag. It was beautifully wrapped in red wrapping paper, but on top of that there was
another, clear bag. It really was strange.

“You knew they were homemade by the Super High School Level Idol, so you used that to
avoid leaving any fingerprints, didn’t you?”

“Th-That’s…!”

54
“And you brought them all the way to the data processing room in particular because you
were planning on boasting about it to someone, weren’t you?”

This school was so full of Super High School Level students that I kept forgetting
perspective, but fans would probably be drooling over anything homemade by Maizono
Sayaka, the Super High School Level Idol. There were probably plenty of people who would
be willing to openly beg for it.

“Uh, but didn’t Yamada-kun only like anime characters?” I didn’t really get doujin, but
Yamada-kun knew a lot about anime, and loved 2D anime characters. A 3D idol should have
been outside of his range of interest.

But I guess that question ignited the flame in Yamada-kun’s otaku heart, because he stuck out
his chest as he said, “Maizono Sayaka-dono may be a real live idol, but she’s so spectacularly
popular that she’s almost become an anime character! My friends and I can’t stop arguing
about when her anime adaptation is going to happen–”

“…Hmmmm, I see.”

Kirigiri-san’s sub-zero tone of voice caused Yamada-kun to cower with a long shriek, and he
confessed to everything.

“The wrapping paper is intact, so the cookies should be, too.”

After successfully retrieving the cookies, I returned them to Maizono-san. It seems that at
lunch, Yamada-kun picked up the cookies from Maizono-san’s desk by chance, and, realizing
that they were homemade, stealthily took them up to brag to his online friends about them.
He was careful not to even leave any fingerprints while he had them, so the cookies inside
should have been fine. The silver lining to all this was that Yamada-kun was used to handling
collector’s items.

Maizono-san took them from me, saying, “Thanks for getting them back,” but when she took
them out of the clear bag, she turned right around to hand them back to me. “Naegi-kun, if
you want, will you take them?”

“Huh? But weren’t you giving them to someone else…?”

Maizono-san shook her head. “Actually, I wanted to send them to my idol friends who should
be performing abroad right now, but I would have needed to ship them today for them to
make it in time, so I just sent them something else. Though I don’t know if they’ll actually
get it,” she said, smiling weakly.

…Ohhhh, I see. So that’s why she was looking so hard for them.

55
So long as we didn’t know the situation outside, she didn’t have any guarantee that any
presents would reach her idol friends from here. But she believed that they would reach them,
and so made the cookies. –But her hopes couldn’t be fulfilled.

“I’m sorry I didn’t find them in time. Even though you went to all the effort of making them
for your friends…”

“No, not at all!” Maizono-san denied hastily. “I was so happy you spoke up today! …U-Um,
I’m really eternally grateful to you, not just for today, but for all the kindness you always
give me.” Then she ducked her head in embarrassment, but finally, she raised her head to
speak again. “–Thank you for everything, Naegi-kun.” She wore a smile more extraordinary
than any she’d ever shown on television.

“You really helped me out, Kirigiri-san.” By the time everything had been pieced together, it
was already nighttime. “It wasn’t in time for what Maizono-san was trying to do, but we were
able to resolve everything without any problems.”

Kirigiri-san glanced at the wrapped box in my hands, narrowing her eyes in scrutiny. “…Are
you sure she wasn’t intending to give those to you?”

“Huh?! There’s no way she would have made them especially for me…!”

“Is that so? But the two of you seem very close.”

“That’s just because we went to the same middle school!” Maizono-san was just a classmate,
not a friend close enough that I would expect to get any presents from her.

“It’s pretty brazen of you to say that after accepting them.”

“She just gave them to me as thanks…”

“Is that so? Would she send something so high in calories to her idol friends, who are on very
strict diets? Not to mention we haven’t gotten any news from the outside world this whole
time, so why would she suddenly send off a present?”

Huh? Actually, didn’t Enoshima-san say the same kind of thing?

“But idols probably burn a lot of those calories while performing, and the present might have
gotten to them. …I’m sure she wanted it to.”

“I can’t really say. But if you consider the idea that she originally intended to give the
cookies to you–everything makes perfect sense.”

As long as the cookies wound up in my hands in the end, I couldn’t deny her story. But
Enoshima-san and Kirigiri-san were probably overthinking it. I really wasn’t good enough
friends with Maizono-san to get a present from her.

56
“Well, whatever the case, watch out for her using you as much as possible from here on out.”

“Using me… You’ve got that wrong. Maizono-san isn’t that kind of person.”

After my rebuttal, Kirigiri-san just came back with a contradictory, “Is that so?”

“And I don’t think I was being used.” I had been running all around the school looking for
those cookies all day today, but it hadn’t been a problem at all. I talked to a lot of my
classmates, and it felt like a more productive day than usual. “Making Maizono-san happy
honestly made me happy too. My talent is different from everyone else’s, and it’s not really
useful or inspirational to anyone, but there are still things I can do.” I wanted to do something
for everyone, but I had been empty-handed. But now, those hands were holding cookies full
of Maizono-san’s gratitude. “I’m glad I found out that there are things I can do even without
any special talent.”

Kirigiri-san had been quietly listening to me by my side, but finally she let something slip. “–
You’re too soft, Naegi-kun.”

“T-Too soft…”

It wasn’t really a compliment… but maybe it was weighing on her.

“Thanks for worrying about me, Kirigiri-san.”

I looked over at Kirigiri-san nearby as I spoke. She hid her eyes a little, as if averting her
gaze. …Huh? What’s wrong?

“…That’s why I said you would be used.”

“Huh?”

After her response, quiet enough that I couldn’t quite catch it, she took something out of her
pocket. “Take this.” It was a simply wrapped small box.

“Huh…? Can I open it?”

Kirigiri-san nodded, and when I opened it, there were small cookies lined up inside. They
were all shaped differently; the one on the far right was a star-shaped cookie.

“They’re countdown cookies. It’s a foreign custom to eat one a day leading up to a Merry
Christmas. I’m giving them to you.”

–Becoming happy bit by bit every day.

In the midst of indefinite days of despair, it felt like she was maybe sharing a bit of happiness
with me. I didn’t think Kirigiri-san was the Super High School Level Pastry Chef or

57
anything, but I was still very happy. It even felt like she was telling me that special talent
wasn’t the only thing that could make people happy.

“Th-Thank you! Kirigiri-san!”

Seeing Kirigiri-san’s expression after I said that made me feel warm even in the cool night.

Next page

Beautiful Days DR1: I’m Just A Bit More Optomistic Than Other People!

Scan & Translation: kamase-megane

Cleaning & Typesetting: manlyronpa (thank you!)

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59
Next Page

Beautiful Days DR1: Handle With Care

Last of the Beautiful Days comics.

Scan & Translation: kamase-megane

Cleaning & Typesetting: manlyronpa

Redrawing: mamoru-itou

Thanks to both of you!

60
61
Beautiful Days SDR2: The Lazy Adventures of Nanamin the Mercenary

Story: Onogami Meiya (小野上明夜)

Illustration: Asaki Touru (明咲トウル)

Finally this is done. I may take another brief break from Beautiful Days because I didn’t
actually finish the stuff I wanted to last week lol, but I’ll be back to slowly chugging through
stories soon.

Today, some cheap three-note music was coming from the pitch black screen. More casually
called chiptune, the somehow nostalgic melody introduced the pixelated characters appearing
in the center of the screen. For eyes used to looking at the realistic CG nowadays, that rough
look had a greater charm. To facilitate understanding even with the restrictions on the data,
the characters were super-deformed with heads the size of their bodies, and after they ran
freely around the screen, they finally lined up in the lower middle. At the same time, with a
flashy “dun da da duuun” sound effect, the title logo appeared over the line of characters. A
deliberately cheesy font spelled out the title, “THE LAZY ADVENTURES OF NANAMIN
THE MERCENARY”.

“Yeah, this is what a game should feel like!!” Nanamin, or Nanami Chiaki, smiled in
satisfaction as she looked down at the latest handheld game on the screen.

Hotel Mirai, on Jabberwock’s First Island. Since three meals a day were being prepared in the
restaurant on the second floor, everyone on the Hope’s Peak Academy School Field Trip of
Mutual Killing visited this building at roughly the same time every day. The first floor was
the lobby, but as there was no need to go to the unstaffed reception desk, generally people
passed through without stopping. Today, however, upon noticing Nanami innocently sitting
on the couch in the corner and looking down at the small screen, Hinata Hajime called out to
her.

“Nanami, you’re playing a handheld game today? You even have Monomi with you.”

Nanami’s life was comprised of eating, sleeping, and gaming. Usually at this hour, before
dinner, she would be clinging to one of the games already set up here, doing some endless
Nagoya Attacks or something, so it was a bit surprising.

“Ah, Hinata-kun. I wouldn’t say I’m playing the game so much as bug-hunting.” Nanami
raised her head in greeting only for a brief moment before looking back down at the screen.

“I’m a helper!” Monomi, beside her, seemed somehow proud, but it didn’t look like she was
doing anything but looking at the screen along with Nanami. Seemingly unable to parse the
jargon, Hinata furrowed his brow.

“…Bug…?”

62
“Do you mean debugging, Nanami-san? So you’re finding and fixing the bugs, or errors, in
the program.” Joining the conversation from the side was Komaeda Nagito, a refreshing
smile appearing on his face. As the holder of the talent of Super High School Level Good
Luck, he relied on that luck to the letter, and perhaps because of the difficulty he faced with
the bad luck that visited him to balance out the excessive good luck, he took great interest in
the talents of the other students.

“Yeah, that’s right. Right now I’m playtesting the game I made. Monomi-chan was just
giving me her thoughts.”

Having seemingly pieced together the situation from all the different words flying past him,
Hinata looked deeply interested. “You really are the Super High School Level Gamer,
Nanami. You’re debugging a game you made?”

“It was easy. There are lots of free game-making programs now.” These days, indie games
and the like were no rarity. There were even some sold by commercial publishers. Nanami
didn’t think this much was a big deal, but the talent-loving Komaeda’s eyes began to light up.

“Hehh, amazing, as expected of Nanami-san! Hey, if you like, could you show it to us?”

“It’s fine; here.”

“Oi, lay off, Komaeda; don’t get in her way. You might mess it up, you know?”

Hinata had a sullen expression, but this was what she had been hoping for. She thought it was
about time to get the opinions of someone other than Monomi, and especially Hinata
Hajime’s.

“It’s okay, it’s not an Active Time Battle system.”

“…Active…?”

“That’s right, if even someone like Monomi has an opinion worth listening to, then our
opinions should be even more important, right?” Komaeda, who loved talents, was extremely
sharp-tongued towards those with no talent.

“Komaeda-kun, dat’s howwible!”

…For a variety of reasons, well, whatever, is what Hinata’s face seemed to say as he peered
to look at the screen along with Komaeda.

The opening was long over, and now the screen was in the middle of gameplay. Just like the
title screen, the play screen was all pixels. There was a bar counter placed on the upper half
of the screen, and a pink-haired SD character on the other side of it. Excluding the special
event directions, there was nothing else displayed on the screen other than “HERO
DISPATCH FACILITY”.

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“‘The Lazy Adventures of Nanamin the Mercenary’…? Are you the protagonist of this
game?” Hinata questioned after reading aloud the title displayed at the very top of the screen.
The pink-haired character had bobbed hair that looked like it flipped out at the tips, the
spitting image of the girl before him.

“Yeah, well, I guess. The player controls the hero who gives out mercenary work, 'Nanamin’,
and she gets advice from the helper character 'Usamin’, picks out what skills are needed for
each quest, and dispatches heroes who have them.” Next to Nanamin, there was indeed
Usamin, with prominent rabbit ears. There probably wasn’t any need to ask who the model
for this one was. “If the dispatched heroes handle the quest well, then you’re okay. If you
clear lots of quests, save up enough EXP and money, get your preparations in order, and
finally beat the Demon King Shirokurokuma, then you beat the game.”

As Nanami was explaining, a generic NPC appeared from the bottom of the screen, and
informed the person across the counter of their quest, i.e. the dispatch details. This was still at
a very early stage in the game, so they wanted something very simple: collect 3 Medicinal
Plants from the Novice Meadows. She selected “Accept” from the choices in the upper-right
corner of the screen.

“Basically, you leave the important part up to the others. That’s so like you…” Hinata smiled
bitterly, but Komaeda cut in.

“That’s not true; it’s hard to be the conductor. This is a game that Nanami-san made, so if
you don’t carefully consider the aptitude of each hero you dispatch, you’ll hit a roadblock
before long, won’t you?”

“…That’s right. Each hero character’s ability points are pretty extremely unbalanced, so the
difficulty level is high. Once you dispatch a character you can’t call them back, and you have
to leave the actions up to the characters during quests, and if characters die they become Lost
and there isn’t any way to revive them. You could say that for a first-time player, it might be
death at first sight[1],” Nanami responded, gently averting her gaze in her uncertainty.

By death at first sight, she meant that often, when first starting the game, the player will be
forced into a stalemate by some trick. Too-powerful bosses or a difficulty level with tricks
that rely on RL luck, punishing incompetence by sapping away your drive to play the game at
all.

“But it’s okay. There’s a bailout option just for beginners.” Rather than explaining it, she
went into the menu, and selected the option for viewing the potential dispatch heroes at a
glance. There were 15 in all, with all sorts of jobs and skills. “You should just select the All-
Purpose Straight-Man Warrior Haajime first. With his special skill Straight-Man Reflect, he
can undo any mistakes that the other characters make.”

“…Oi, Nanami.” Hinata seemed as if he had realized something, but Komaeda smiled.

“Hehhh, he even has an antenna on his head! What an interesting character. Though he
doesn’t have any other distinguishing characteristics. On the other hand, this Nagitto
character’s fluffy white hair and hooded robe are easier to understand.”

64
“I guess, but Haajime is useful. He works the best with the Russian Roulette Sage Nagitto.
Nagitto has extremely high luck, and he can even use powerful magic without any MP, but he
takes heavy recoil damage and falls into the red pretty quickly. But if he’s in a party with
Haajime, Haajime’s Lightning Rod Antenna will activate.”

The game was still on the Hero Dispatch Facility screen, but after accepting the request and
dispatching heroes, another oblong screen popped up on the lower half of the screen. Amidst
the verdant scenery of the Novice Meadows, it showed Nagitto raising a staff and casting a
spell, Haajime collapsed by his side, blinking red. Plainly speaking, he was on the verge of
death.

“Look, he protected him.”

“Great job, Nanami-san. It says you cleared the quest!!”

“So basically, these characters are modeled after me and Komaeda, aren’t they?!” Unable to
stand it anymore, Hinata cut in with a grand gesture, and Komaeda smiled happily.

“Hinata-kun, or no, perhaps I should be calling you Haajime in this instance? You really are
the Super High School Level Straight-Man!”

“You’re wrong! Don’t just say whatever you want just because I don’t remember my talent
yet!! You’re Super High School Level Insensitive!!”

As the four of them got noisier, Hinata’s loud voice was the first to be heard by the others
filtering in. It was almost dinnertime, so everyone was passing through the first floor on their
way up.

“Oh, what’s that, Nanami, are you playing a new game? Eh? You made it? Seriously?”

65
“An imaginary world brought forth by the Queen of Cyber-Sport herself… Hmph, how
intriguing.”

Souda Kazuichi and Tanaka Gundam peered at the screen with deep interest. Souda was
interested as a mechanic, and Tanaka was interested as a fan of nerd wish fulfillment
fantasies, but it seemed they were at least united in the fact that they were interested in the
game at all.

“Ohhh, I have been informed that Japanese video games are the height of entertainment!
When the mustachioed plumber does away with the perilous mushrooms to save the world,
the fun does not stop!!” Sonia Nevermind, with an interest in Japanese culture, was also
starry-eyed. Souda ate up her favorable reaction.

“Ah, you like video games too, huh, Sonia-san! Wh-Which character is your favorite? Mine’s
probably the Mildly Delinquent Blacksmith, Ichikazu.”

“Well, the Beastmaster of Chaos, Charmuro[2]… is so cool! His companions the Ham-Hamz
are also very cute!”

“Hmph… A-As to be expected of the Holy Mother of Darkness; I shall say that you have a
discerning eye… Thank you.” Averting his eyes from Sonia’s innocent delight, Tanaka
wound his scarf around his face. As Souda wore a pitiful expression, Hinata and Komaeda
gently patted his shoulders.

“Hoh, a video game that Nanami made? Hmph… You dare to buck the trends. It may only be
a beta, but I have the feeling that it shall mature into something marketable, so you might
want to consider that option.”

“Hehhh, cute pointy graphics! Is there a rhythm game part?”

“Is there a dating part and an undressing part? Especially the undressing part?”

Togami Byakuya spoke like a producer, while Mioda Ibuki and Hanamura Teruteru were
distracted asking about their own niche interests. They may have been less passionate than
the last three, but they seemed more or less interested.

These six were each motivated by their own personal curiosities, but there were also those
who just stayed on the edges of the crowd from the beginning, aware they were out of their
element.

“So you can make your own games too, Chiaki-chan! That’s amazing. I can do maintenance
on my camera at least, but otherwise…”

“I like games where you squish Mr. Ants! Ahhh, buuut, it might be worth squishing this
character or that character too… Just kidding!!”

“Oohhh, Saionji-san, why are you staring at meeee…?”

Koizumi Mahiru, Saionji Hiyoko, and Tsumiki Mikan weren’t very familiar with video
games at all. They glanced briefly at the screen before heading straight up to the second floor.

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“A video game that Nanami maaade? Hmph, I’m a little interested, but I’ll restrain myself. I
can’t have my eyesight going bad. Only one hour of video games a day!!”

“I’d get tired just staaaaring at that tiiiiny screen too. More importantly, it’s chow time!!”

Nidai Nekomura, whose body was his asset, and Owari Akane, appetite incarnate, also both
disappeared into the restaurant.

“…My apologies. I also do not know much about video games. However, is this what they
call pixel art? This character is fairly cute… No, it is nothing.” Pekoyama Peko had only a
vague understanding of video games in the first place. She looked reluctant to leave behind
the sight of the SD characters, but she also went up to the second floor.

“A video game? Hah! Pointless! I can’t believe you can do something like that when you’re
in a life-or-death situation.” Scorning the crowd gathered around the game, Kuzuryuu
Fuyuhiko also hunched up his thin shoulders and left.

“Evewyone had their own opinions.”

“Yeah, you’re right.” Taking all of their distinct early opinions to heart, Nanami went to
accept the next request for the sake of the remaining crowd. This time, the challenge was “Eat
all the giant tempura!”

“What do you think, Monomi-chan?”

“Well, if dat’s the quest, I think the Genius Pervert Cook Hanamuraa and the Sumo Heir
Byakutei are well suited.” Sound advice. Nodding, Nanami first selected those two
characters.

“Then, let’s add Haajime for support.”

“Is Haajime okay? Did he recover from all the damage he took before?”

As Hinata watched attentively with apparent unease, a cafeteria scene appeared on the lower
half of the screen. The three chosen characters scurried around here and there on top of the
giant tempura and its conspicuously enlarged pixels. In a sudden attack partway through it
seemed as if Hanamuraa might get scooped up by a ladle, which was another twist, but thanks
to Byakutei’s Authoritative Arm Thrust it did not come to pass.

“Woohoo, good old Byakutei-chan, as cool as everrrr!! Stunnimazing!!”

“Honestly, even though he’s a man, I’ve fallen for him. No, perhaps I should say… because
he’s a man? Nfufu!!”

As Mioda and Hanamura squealed profusely, Togami coolly estimated, “He only used the
right power at the right time, didn’t he?” while Komaeda laughed, patting Hinata’s head as he
said, “Ahaha, the Authoritative Arm Thrust pushed Hanamuraa out of the way, but in
exchange, Haajime fell into the tempura oil instead!”

67
Next was the “Kidnapped Ham-Hamz” quest. This time, once again following Monomi’s
advice, she chose the Beastmaster of Chaos, Charmuro, and the Common Senseless Queen,
Never.

“Please use Ichikazu too!”

Due to Souda’s selfish wishes, she also chose the Mildly Delinquent Blacksmith, Ichikazu,
and then Haajime for support. First, they had to subdue the demons that kidnapped the Ham-
Hamz, and after that, the second stage of the quest was to subdue the Ham-Hamz themselves,
after they transformed into demons due to being exposed to the demonic miasma.

Charmuro embraced the completely transformed Ham-Hamz, quietly shedding tears. Never
embraced him in turn, letting tears of her own fall. Their tears mixed together and fell onto
the Ham-Hamz, bringing them back good as new, and the mission was complete.

“Thank goodness…” Perhaps because the simple presentation of nothing but pixels and
words made it all the more heartwrenching, Sonia’s eyes grew watery.

“…I am truly glad…” Tanaka was apparently so moved that he forgot to put on his
exaggerated airs, his eyes also watery.

“Ichikazu did stuff too, Sonia-san! Like… cheering them on!!”

“Haajime did stuff too, didn’t he?! Until Charmuro could use his certain death technique, he
took all of the hits, right?! Thanks to that he just barely has any HP left, again!!”

Souda and Hinata each tried to make their appeal, but it didn’t really seem as if they managed
to reach the pair beyond their haze of deep emotion.

“Hmmmm… Then, next up.”

As Nanami started to get a new quest, Hinata stopped her. “Nanami, let’s not go overboard
with the game, and at least get some food for now.”

“Mm, I guess.” At his insistence, she saved the game for the moment and turned off the
power on the system. The group filed up the stairs into the restaurant.

After dinner was over, Nanami went back into the first floor lobby and turned the power back
on. Monomi plopped down next to her, recreating basically the same scene as before they ate.

“Are you still playing that game?” Hinata called out to her, astonished, on his way back to his
cottage.

“Yeah. Ideally I want to play through it several times to debug it properly. So I can beat the
game without letting anyone become Lost…” Her voice became slightly less enthusiastic,
and this time it was Komaeda who smiled in an attempt to cheer her up.

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“As expected of the Super High School Level Gamer! I forgot to give you my opinions
earlier, but we’ll hang out with you too, right, Hinata-kun?”

Of course, those who showed no interest from the start, and even those who seemed
somewhat interested, had headed back to their cottages before anyone knew it. It was getting
late, and perhaps they had grown tired of the monotonous gameplay that neglected heroes
after they were dispatched. These four were the only ones left.

“Komaeda-kun, you say some good things sometimes! Hinata-kun, you definitewy have to
join us, please!”

“Hinata-kun, is it okay? If you could, please.”

Komaeda was one thing, but Monomi and Nanami both asking him the favor had an effect.

“…I guess. I have something to say about how you treat Haajime too.”

Hinata idly murmured, and Komaeda laughed and said, “That’ll have to come up,” before
they all peered down at the screen once more. Feeling their gaze upon her, Nanami watched
Nanamin on the screen.

“Then this time, let’s challenge 'Protect the Peace of the Beach and Swimsuits!’ Monomi-
chan, what do you think we should do?”

“I think any girl characters would be a good idea.”

“Got it. Then, we already dispatched Never earlier… Then the One-Woman Band Ibukissu,
the Sadistic Dancing Queen Piyoko, the Busybody Artist Mahiruma, and the Sexy Clumsy
Nurse Mika will go.”

“Then obviously you should bring Haajime for support!”

“Oi, give Haajime a break once in a while!”

Before Komaeda even had the chance to suggest it, Haajime was also chosen. An ocean scene
spread out across the lower half of the screen, displaying demons in squid and octopus forms.

“…Hey, Nanami. Could this plot be…”

“Yeah, if you mention the beach and swimsuits, it’s a guarantee that there will be a scene
where swimsuits fall off.” Nanami was calm, but Monomi turned red, suddenly hugging the
screen to try and cover it up.

“Y-You mustn’t see!! At weast wait until college for something wike… Aah?!”

“You say that, but if you don’t look then you can’t help bug-hunting.”

Komaeda lifted Monomi up so she couldn’t protest, breathing onto her plush ears. His fingers
pet and ruffled her fluffy body. “Or perhaps, Monomi, you’d like to see a scene where
something of yours falls off instead…? This hand, for example.”

69
“Not allowed, gory scenes are too much for high school students!!”

As Monomi wriggled and struggled, Nanami went through the event text.

“Nanami, uh, is this, okay to watch?” Hinata was fidgety and frank, but his eyes didn’t leave
the screen.

“It’s okay, it’s not that arousing.”

As countless squid- and octopus-like tentacles attacked, the curtains opened on the promised
scene.

“…It’s true that if the graphics don’t change and it just says 'Kyaaa! Give me back my
swimsuit!!’ then I don’t feel anything.” It was even less arousing than expected. Komaeda
nodded at this healthy teenage boy remark.

“I guess not. Well, you’re just supposed to compensate with your imagination. Ah, look,
everyone’s acting like it’s Haajime’s fault the swimsuits fell off, and it triggered an event
where his comrades all hit him!! But it’s just words, so you don’t feel anything!!”

“Speak for yourself!!” Hinata spit out, even more angry in his dejection, furrowing his brow
and looking at Nanami. “Hey, Nanami. Um… I get how you see me. But that’s all the more
reason for you to make me seem cooler in the video game, at least. Please?”

“I guess you definitely don’t seem very cool.” Haajime was continually relegated to a support
role, but the the real protagonist was Nanamin, so even Nanami wasn’t taking him seriously.
“But it’s because Hinata-kun is this kind of character that the game is able to progress… I
think.”

The story wouldn’t progress if it was just Nanamin, secluded behind her counter and not
going on any adventures. It was because there were the 15 heroes, particularly Haajime, that
the story worked.

“Haha, you admitted that it was Hinata-kun.”

When Komaeda interrupted and ruined the mood, Hinata came back with a half-hearted “Shut
up.” Averting his eyes, he continued, “I guess. Well, then, it can’t be helped. If someone
didn’t take the short end of the stick, you couldn’t get out of some of these situations.”

“That’s right, Hinata-kun. Ah, sorry, looks like Nagitto was careless again.” While Hinata
had been looking away in his awkwardness, Nanami had accepted a new quest, and Haajime
was immediately in the red. “This could be bad.” Nanami’s expression didn’t change, but her
tone had a suspicious sense of impatience.

“Hey, in this video game, if someone becomes Lost you can’t revive them, right?!”

“Now now, Hinata-kun, this is just a video game, all right? And look, I think Nagitto has
revival magic, so don’t worry!!”

70
“Komaeda-kun, if Nagitto uses that magic, this time he’ll be the one who’s Lost though…?
And it’s time for you to let me go alweady…”

“Got it.”

“Bweh?! I didn’t say I wanted you to drop me so I hit the floor!!”

While all this ruckus went on, Nagitto just barely managed by the skin of his teeth to use
healing magic without the need for revival magic, and Haajime managed to avert the danger
of becoming Lost. Hinata, who had been left in suspense from taking it too personally,
heaved a sigh and let his shoulders droop. “This is bad for my heart… It’s almost 10 o'clock,
so I’m going back to my cottage already. You guys go back soon too, okay?”

“Yeah, I will.” Nanami nodded slightly, standing up and abruptly asking Hinata a question.
“That’s right, Hinata-kun, other than your treatment in it, did you have anything else
concerning you about the game?”

“You really don’t feel like hiding who you modeled everyone after anymore, do you.” Hinata
stared at Nanami, eyes narrowed, and spent some time thinking before pointing out, “In the
first place, don’t you think the title is kind of a lie? The protagonist just dispatches heroes;
she doesn’t go on any adventures.”

“…I guess. It’s okay if the title is a lie.” Nanami smiled faintly, picking up the sobbing
Monomi from the floor, and holding her gently.

For a while after that, Nanami and Monomi laboriously continued their speedrun. Hinata and
Komaeda spoke up from time to time, expressing their opinions on one thing or another. But
in the end, the two of them still couldn’t keep up with Nanami’s zeal.

Even as Nanami was left all alone, she didn’t stop playing, aiming for the best ending.
Discussing various things with Monomi, she passed through the quests with prudence. The
“Springtime of Youth Out of Bounds!” quest was cleared with the combination of the
Minimum of Corruption, Kuzuhiko, and the Braided Swordswoman Pepeko. “An Evening
Together by the Riverbed” was left to the Heavyweight Trainer Nyanmaru and the Wild
Brawler Makkane. Of course, the support role was left to Haajime each time.

But as time went on, the quests became more difficult and more specialized. She opposed it
by accumulating EXP and raising levels, raising money and preparing better equipment, but
there was a limit to the quests. At last one hero fell, and then another, and then…

“…Aaaahhh. It ended up like this after all.”

“Chiaki-chan…”

As Nanami’s shoulders slumped quietly, Monomi gently held her in her soft arms.

Hinata passed by, once again, Nanami and Monomi sitting on the sofa on the first floor of the
hotel, looking down at a handheld game screen. Lately, he’d frequently gone past without

71
saying anything so as not to disturb them, but today he noticed some unfamiliar background
music, and stopped in his tracks.

“Nanami, are you starting a new game this time?”

“Ah, Hinata-kun. No, it’s still the same one.”

“Is it? But I’ve never heard that music.”

The Lazy Adventures (etc.) was selling itself in the style of the classics, and so there weren’t
very many different BGM tracks that played in it. The one that played during the Hero
Dispatch Facility was a poppy tune that could be said to be the main theme. Then, the music
changed when dispatching the heroes for the quest, and during battles an up-tempo rock tune
raised tension.

However, now, the song coming from near Nanami’s hands was somehow sad, a solemn
piece. It was almost like a requiem.

“The screen is different too. The characters are Nanamin and Usamin, but this isn’t the Hero
Dispatch Facility, is it?”

“But the title is the same.” Komaeda unexpectedly leaned in from the side.

“That’s right. True to the title, Nanamin and Usamin have left the counter and started on their
adventures.”

Up until this point, the style was to show the dispatch on the lower half of the screen, but
Nanamin and Usamin were walking around, finally on a true dispatch mission.

“What, did you finally give Haajime a rest? But it’s unbalanced if it’s just you two, isn’t it?
Put in the Heavyweight Trainer Nyanmaru or someone.”

“…Mm-mm. I can’t do that.”

Perhaps the way her voice cracked stirred up some kind of emotion. Hinata’s expression
changed.

“…Sorry. Do you mean that Nyanmaru’s already…”

“…”

“Oh, but, if you need fighter-types, there’s Makkane and Kuzuhiko and Pepeko too, right?”
Trying to encourage Nanami, Hinata named off several heroes in succession, but Monomi
shook her head gently.

“Nobody else is left.”

“Huh? You can’t mean…” With a look of surprise, Komaeda stretched out his fingers to take
control of the game system in Nanami’s place. In the command screen, the hero dispatch list
was displayed. There were no more heroes available for dispatch.

72
“In the second half of the game, the difficulty level ramps up even more,” Nanami began
explaining, voice still cracking from time to time. “I tried hard and barely made it, but the
Elite Despair Four… ah, four people are randomly chosen from the heroes who died along
the way. While I was fighting them, everyone else who had survived became Lost too. So
there’s nothing else to do but just use Nanamin and Usamin by themselves to defeat the
Demon King Shirokurokuma.”

So the organization of the screens changed, and so did the background music. As Hinata
pointed out, two magic users made the party imbalanced, but as there wasn’t anybody else, it
couldn’t be helped. When she was writing the code, she knew that sooner or later it would
end up like this.

“…Sorry, Nanami.”

As Hinata hung his head, Nanami gave him her usual faint smile. “Don’t worry about it,
Hinata-kun. It’s okay, I mean, this is just a game, right? We can do it over and over again.”

“I-I guess so. This is your first time making a game. You can change how strong the
characters are, and change the story, and do whatever you want.” Perhaps because he was
relieved by the smile, Hinata smiled himself as he agreed. This time, it was Komaeda’s
expression that changed.

“You’ve got that wrong, Hinata-kun.”

“Huh?”

“…Yeah, that’s right. It’s like Komaeda-kun says… maybe.” Nanami gave a troubled smile.
She knew Hinata was fretting over her, but that had no bearing on this conversation. “Works
can sometimes exceed a creator’s expectations… I think. Once a game has been put into
motion, even the Game Master can’t easily change the results…”

Nanami certainly did create the video game called The Lazy Adventures of Nanamin the
Mercenary. She picked the title, she picked the characters, she prepared the sprites, she
arranged the BGM, she set up each quest and event, and determined the flow of the game as a
whole. There was no mistaking the fact that she was the creator of the game.

But just like in the real world, once a world is created, it doesn’t go according to the creator’s
expectations. If, unable to stomach that fact, they fine-tuned everything like Hinata said, and
forcefully altered the flow, it would just be incompatible with what was born.

“…I see.”

Hinata dropped his shoulders, and Nanami lowered her head.

“Sorry if I made you feel bad.”

“No, video games are your specialty. Sorry for running my mouth when I don’t really know
anything.”

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Hinata saying not to worry about it was a great relief. Words that shouldn’t have been said
just tumbled out, spurred on by that expression.

“–That’s not true, I mean, maybe you’re the one who’s right, Hinata-kun.”

“Huh?”

“Actually, I’ve done this game over time after time. But… it always ends up like this.”

She tried all sorts of methods. Even adding Haajime as support each time was a strategy
developed after spending some time around the block. Thanks to that, she had been able to
safely progress the game, but no matter what, the victims always started popping up during
the fight with the Elite Despair Four.

“I thought maybe there was some way I could do it with the characters’ abilities and the story
like this, but I guess I can’t. Maybe I have to get down to changing the basics, like you said,
Hinata-kun.”

She’d tried tweaking stats and the order of quests too, but it wasn’t enough to make any
significant improvement. Maybe she was just a gamer after all, and she didn’t have any talent
in creating games–in creating a world.

“It might be impossible for all of these characters to find their happy ending together…”

“Nanami-san…”

“Chiaki-chan…”

Komaeda and Monomi called out to her at the same time. Nanami felt even more ashamed in
the face of their anxiety.

But Hinata suddenly cleared his throat, adjusting his tone of voice. “Hey–Nanamin.”

Startled by his serious tone, she raised her head, and met Hinata’s gaze as he stood, chin tilted
slightly up.

“It’s okay. The truth is, I… The truth is, I, Haajime, have been hiding a special cheat ability.”

“Huh?”

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As Nanami blinked in surprise, Hinata wiped his sweaty palms on his sides, continuing, “Y-
You thought I was just Lost, but actually I was alive! With my power, I also revive all the
other characters, and when you two are in a pinch in the fight with the Demon King, we come
to save you!! How about that!!” His cheeks were slightly red, and he was speaking more
quickly than usual. He huffed, roughly sticking out his chest, but the antenna on his head
standing up sharply conveyed his inner tension.

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Nanami said nothing, but to her side, Komaeda clutched his stomach, doubling over in
laughter. “Uwaahh, that’s the cheesiest of cheese!! You sure are embarrassing, Hinata-kun!!”

“Shut up, Komaeda!!”

Hinata’s face grew even redder, and Komaeda shrugged his shoulders, suggesting, “Well,
then, when Nagitto falls into a predicament, he uses the last of his strength, straining his
voice to use his revival magic, awakening the revived Haajime’s cheat… How’s that sound?”

“You asshole, you’re just trying to take the good part for yourself… And if you do it like that,
wouldn’t that make Nagitto the only one who can’t be revived? Then obviously it would go
like, Haajime revives you later too, and then I’m supposed to thank you with tears in my
eyes, right?!”

As Hinata urged him not to escape through death, Komaeda shrugged his shoulders. “Thank
me? Good grief, Hinata-kun, you’re completely blurring the line between reality and the
video game.”

“Shut up, stop avoiding the subject! Having a comrade you thought was dead get revived and
having everyone stand together is a more ironclad rule than swimsuits falling off at the beach,
isn’t it?! We shouldn’t just leave it out!!”

“You’ve got that wrong. Don’t underestimate the demand for character death.”

A happy ending riding on a single sacrifice is delectable, Komaeda refuted in an absent-

minded voice.

“S-Stop fighting, you two!”

Monomi cut in hastily to try and break them up, but Hinata and Komaeda’s dispute was pure
incandescence. They couldn’t at all agree on what would be the most dramatic way to defeat
the Demon King.

“Chiaki-chan, what should we do… Chiaki-chan?” Looking up at Nanami, who was smiling
ear-to-ear for a rare once, Monomi tilted her head.

“No, it’s nothing. I was just thinking, Haajime really is amazing.”

Truthfully, Nanami had been thinking it was about time to quit playing this game. Even if it
was a game made by herself, the Super High School Level Gamer. No matter how disastrous
the circumstances, it couldn’t be a perfect stalemate. Even with just Nanamin and Usamin, it
was possible to subjugate the Demon King.

She had tried seeing the ending like that once, but it just made her feel lonely. If Nanamin
and Usamin seized victory after the sacrifice of a large number of their friends, it would just
end with them rebooting the world again in order to give new hope to their surroundings.

But, as Hinata said, this was a game. It was a simulation of the real world. It was because it
was an imaginary imitation of the world that it was all the more in this position.

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“You’re right. At least within the game, hope is required…”

No matter how much it was derided as stale, trite, or deus ex machina. At the end of a heart-
breaking, painful story, wasn’t it the natural reaction to want to see a light at the end of the
tunnel?

“And even the world of the video game is part of reality… I think!”

In which case, the hope born in the imaginary world should also have the potential to topple
despair.

“Nanami, I agree with that!”

It seemed even in the middle of his heated argument with Komaeda, he still heard her voice.
As Hinata gave his passionate agreement, Nanami kept smiling ear-to-ear, nodding.

END

[1] As is elaborated on right afterwards, “death at first sight” is a specific Japanese video
game term. It refers to video game situations where a player is almost guaranteed to die the
first time they play, only learning through experience the tricks to avoid their demise. Most of
the examples provided by the internet seem to be in reference to specific bosses or stages (I
don’t think this term necessarily refers to things as relentless as Kaizo Mario, for example).
In this case I believe it just means that the learning curve is steep. Nintendo Hard.
[2] If you’re wondering why Gundam’s fantasy name is the only one that doesn’t sound like
his real name, it’s because his is just a namesmush of two actual Mobile Suit Gundam
characters, Char and Amuro. While I didn’t bother embellishing or “translating” the names
for the other characters (except Sonia), this one was necessary to preserve the reference.

77
Beautiful Days SDR2: Monokuma and Monomi’s Daily Life

Story: Mizusawa Nana (水澤なな)

Illustration: Asaki Touru (明咲トウル)

Since this story centers around Monokuma and Monomi, fair warning that it is absolutely full
of abuse: verbal, physical, and occasionally edging on sexual.

Ding dong… bing bong, the chimes sounded lightly throughout the island. Hearing the last
note, Monokuma struck his pose for the camera, reclining back in the rattan chair. A smile
appeared on his asymmetrical, monotone face, liable to rouse unease in the people who saw
it, with its mix of cuteness and atrocity.

“–Errr, this is an announcement from the Hope’s Peak Academy School Trip Executive
Committee. Good morning, everyone! The tropical weather is perfect again today~! Now
then, let’s go out and give it our all today~!” As he threw out his lines, he tilted the Hawaiian
cocktail glass in his hand.

After making sure to get all of this, Monomi flipped the switch on the video camera to turn it
off, wiping the sweat from her brow. “…Phew~” Her head was filled with the satisfaction of
a job well done.

However. That satisfaction was erased in an instant. Because of Monokuma’s bellowing.

“Fast! Too fast! Faster than necessary! The right answer would be to linger on my ear-to-ear
grin for FIVE MORE SECONDS before cutting it off! But why did you cut it off when you
did instead? That shouldn’t be humanly possible!”

Cold sweat appeared on Monomi’s forehead as she was pressed with a rapid-fire
interrogation. “Huh? Huh? Huh? Humanly??? …I mean, I guess I am a magical girl, but
awen’t I a cute wabbit mascot?”

“You’re about one trillion, eight-hundred and twenty million years too early to talk back to
me!”

“Where did such a magnificent yet unbalanced number come fwom?”

“Don’t sweat the details. If you’re gonna play the straight man for me, I wish you would at
least be as sharp about it as Hinata-kun is. Geez, I’m gonna start hating you if you don’t have
a single scrap of sense! If you can’t even turn the camera on and off for me properly, I’ll be
way better off with nothing but selfies. This is just one of the things you need to kill yourself
for to make it up to me! Do a cross-shaped cut in the gut without anyone else standing by to
put you out of your misery!”

“Eeehhhhh?! I-Is it really as bad as you’re saying it is?”

“Of course it’s as bad as I’m saying it is. Geez, I thought I’d go out of my way to let you help
with my daily routine, but you can’t even do something this simple.”

78
“I didn’t even want to help, but you decided on your own to abduct me and make me help
anyway! You ogre! Demon! You’re no bear–!”

“Shuuut uuuup. Geez, I can’t believe you talk back to me on every little thing even though
you’re just a UCI.”

“…What’s a ‘you see eye’?”

“Obviously it stands for Useless Clumsy Idiot.”

“Eeehhhhh~?!” Monomi fell to her knees on the floor, heartbroken, breaking down into tears.
“Y-You’re howibble. I didn’t think you had vewy good intentions, but I thought the
bwoadcast was for the sake of the school, so I decided I had to help anyway… You hurt me
sooo much!”

“Hmmmm. If it’s something I hate so much that it causes me heartburn, I don’t care what it
has to say, though.”

“Eeeehhhhhhh! I twied to be indiwect and not say I hated you flat out, but you still went that
far?! Your heart is not a bear’s at allllll!”

“Sure it is. But I have such a pure and innocent soul that I cannot tell a lie.”

“That’s a lie! You liar~!”

“…Oh, maybe I do tell white lies. But that’s just to people I hold in higher regard than a
Paramecium.”

“Are you saying I rank lower than a single-celled ciliate–?! Weeehhhh~ Wehhh, wehhhh!”
The tears streaming down Monomi’s face formed a pool of water around her, and the
dampness caused mushrooms to proliferate on her body.

“Uwaah… What an annoying wet wipe. Isn’t that fly agaric and destroying angel there…? I
can’t believe how much you’re cultivating… Geez, you just caaan’t be helped.” Monokuma
drew nearer to Monomi, and softly dropped down on a knee. He looked almost like a knight
serving his queen. Monokuma softly extended a hand, and gently plucked the mushrooms
growing on Monomi’s body.

“…Uh, Monokuma…?”

Monomi, momentarily surprised, looked up at Monokuma and called his name. As she
opened her mouth, a fly agaric mushroom was forcefully shoved into it.

“Mmmggggg~! Whad’re you doinnnggg! It'ff poiffon! Thiff iff a poiffonous

muffrooooom~!”

“Come on now, keep eating it up! Didn’t you grow this mushroom yourself? It’s just like
your own child. Coooome on, c'mon, c'mon!” Monokuma wrenched open his detested
Monomi’s mouth, and once again started pushing in the uprooted mushroom bit by bit.

79
“Nnngggggyaaaah~~~! Pweaff fffttoooopppp! I'mb dyiiiing~! I'mb gonna diiiieeeee~!”
Monomi protested with tears in her eyes as Monokuma pinned her down and straddled her
back, guffawing.

“Ah ha ha! Take it! Keep slurring your speech like you’re in a porno!”

“Fftop~! Pweaff fftop~!” Monomi somehow managed to escape from Monokuma’s grip,
spitting out the poisonous mushroom in her mouth. “…*cough*! *cough* *hack*! Y-You’re
howibble! Were you twying to kill me~?!”

“You don’t know how to listen–! Littering is strictly prohibited on this island, so I was just
trying to find a way around that. …Oh, but if we put a domestic violence scene like this in,
maybe this book won’t be able to be published?”

“Huh? What won’t be pubwished?”

“It’s nothing, really. …Now then, since I’ve taken out my stress on this KGMP, maybe it’s
time for me to work hard as headmaster again today,” Monokuma said, flumping down into
his chair.

“…What’s a KGMP?”

Casting a glance over at Monomi as if she were just a stone by the roadside, Monokuma
declared, “Isn’t it obvious? It stands for Klutzy, Gullible, Masochistic Pig.”

“…!!!? Wight after you twied to kill me, dat’s how you talk to me?! Dere’s a limit to how
heartless you can be! Les Misérables!”

“That’s the plural form, so instead it should be Le Misérable. Geez… To think I’d have to
explain something so rudimentary to you. Aaahhhh, yuck, bleh. This is why you’re a
KGMPDABJS.”

“…I won’t dare ask what KGMPDABJS is an acwonym for. I don’t want to suffer any more
lifelong twauma that will never heal.”

“Ohhh, okay, okay, I get it. I got sick of bullying you, so I don’t care. And anyway, it looks
like they’re on the move, so as the headmaster, it is my duty to watch over them carefully,”
Monokuma said, watching the monitors that were lined up top to bottom and left to right.
They were showing the feeds from the security cameras placed throughout the island. One
showed the inside of the restaurant, where a large number of students were gathered.
“Upupupupu… Gathering in the restaurant to exchange information, huh? That’s sooo
cliché.”

“Dere’s nothing wrong with being faithful to your roots! Evewyone’s being sewious!”

“Well, I mean, there’s no point in getting all buddy-buddy. If you think about what’s going to
happen after this, the fact that they’re acting like they’ve got this solidarity right now is just
laughable. I can’t help it. I wonder what I should do~. Maybe I should make a digest version
so that we can all look back and laugh about it later. Upu! Upupupupupupu!” Monokuma
turned his back on Monomi, who was glaring at him furiously.

80
“You weally are the worst! I pwomise, I will definitely pwotect evewyone from your evil
deeds!” she said, attempting to leave the room, but she was called back by a forceful tug on
her ear.

It was from a comically massive fish hook.

“It hurts! Owowowowowowowowow…! You’re tearing it! You’re tearing my charm poiiiint!
Pwease let it gooooo~!!” Monomi somehow managed to detach the massive fish hook with
her short arms, and gently stroked her ear. “You hooligan~! Dis is an abuse of power! I’m
going to sue!”

“Why are you making such a big deal out of this? Didn’t you say you would help me since
I’m busier than usual today? Are you saying you forgot, even though it was just a few
minutes ago? You KGMPDABJSFFKBCX!”

“Dat sounds longer! I don’t wanna hear what it means! I don’t wanna heaaaarrrr!”

“As long as you don’t listen to what I have to say, it’ll keep getting longer. If I run out of the
alphabet, I’ll use the hiragana syllabary, and Sanskrit.”

“Eek! Even Sanskwit?! I-I get it. It’ll be fine if I help you, wight? If I help you! …So what
should I do?”

“I’m gonna hit the tanning machine for a bit, so keep an eye on the monitors for me.”

“……………..Huh? The tanning machine?? Why???”

Monokuma stood up with a rustle, turned his body to show his black half, and struck a pose
like a model in Paris Fashion Week. “Obviously I wanna preserve this beautiful monotone!”

“………………Huh? Then, what about the white half…?”

Monokuma turned around, showing his white half this time. “Of course I’m gonna whiten
that for life. Look at this finely textured, soft, fair skin, without a single stain or wrinkle!”

“You said 'skin’… But isn’t dat fur?”

As Monomi mumbled, a large upper-straight combo smacked into her chin. “Shut
uuuuuuuuup!”

“Kyaaaaahh~~! Dat’s foul play——————!” Monomi’s voice echoed as she crashed into
one of the walls. “Dat’s howwible! Don’t you know that hurts!”

“Well, duh, it was supposed to hurt. If only you weren’t so picky about my meticulously
maintained monotone skin, you wouldn’t have ended up in this situation. You reap what you
sow.”

“I just called it fur because it is fur… Boo hoo hoo…” Monomi tottered to her feet, wiping
the tears from her eyes.

81
“So like I said, I’m gonna be going half into the tanning machine and half into the whitening
machine, so I’ll leave the rest to you.” Monokuma left those words behind, leaving without
waiting for Monomi’s response.

“Boohoo… Sob… Why me…” On the verge of tears the whole while, Monomi gathered up
the poison mushrooms, dried up the puddles of tears, cleaned up the glass that Monokuma
had left behind after drinking from it, and so on.

Then, she sat in front of the monitors, and began her conscientious surveillance. The
countless screens showed the students all having their own conversations and going about
their own business.

“Ummmm, I wonder what evewyone’s up to~. …Nidai-kun and Owari-san are arm
wrestling…? I guess Hinata-kun is with Komaeda-kun. Now dat I think about it, they’ve been
together fwom the beginning. In the restaurant, dere’s Saionji-san giving Tsumiki-san some
Monokuma-level verbal abuse… Aaahhh! I can’t help but feel for her. I feel some kind of
sympathy or something for Tsumiki-san. …Ummm, Mioda-san, Sonia-san, Koizumi-san, and
Nanami-san are all strolling through the farm, and it looks like Souda-kun is following
behind them. …Dat seems kinda like stalking. Maybe I should watch out for him.”

Monomi bobbed her head in a nod, before searching for the remaining members.

“Ummm, next… Togami-kun is lonely, walking around in Jabberwock Park by himself, and I
guess Tanaka-kun and Hanamura-kun are both at the Rocketpunch Market. …Hm? Dat’s an
odd couple. Well, dat’s fine. …Oh, the last two are at the poolside… I found Kuzuryuu-kun
and Pekoyama-san! Those two are… oh, it looks like they were just passing by.”

In this vein, Monomi earnestly continued to watch over the students’ actions.

After what felt like the blink of an eye, the images on the monitor screens started to be dyed
with the colors of the setting sun.

“It’s alweady this late… I’ve been sitting for so long, my whole body is stiff. Maybe I should
exercise a widdle. Upsy-daisy!” Monomi sprung down from the chair with a bounce and
started to stretch. “One, two, three, four! Two, two, three, four! One, two…” She swung her
limbs front to back and left to right, like in radio exercises, loosening up. “Two, two, three,
four… There! Pheeew! I worked up a good sweat.”

Monomi sighed deeply, and leaned far back into the chair again–or, at least, she tried to–but.

“Huh? Huh? Huuhhhhhh?!”

The back of the chair, that should have been there, was now gone, so she tumbled down
backwards.

“Owowow–! …Why did I fall down?”

82
“That’s 'cuz you’re stuuuupid!”

When she turned towards the mocking voice, Monokuma was there, the back of the chair in
his hands.

“Monokuma, when did you…!”

“Hm? Just now. You call and I appear, dun-da-da-dunnnn, y'know.”

“I didn’t call you though!” Monomi rose to her feet, pouting and rubbing her head where
she’d hit it.

But then. Monokuma forcefully slammed his hands against the wall, boxing Monomi in.
“…Wha, th-this, could this be… the kabe-don I’ve heard rumors about?!”[1]

Monomi opened her eyes wide in surprise. And as she did, they suddenly got a white, viscous
fluid glooping and pouring into them.

“Kyaaaaaah~! My eyes, my eyeeees~! You put something in my eyes–!”

“Hm? This? This just so happens to be… tah-dah! The leftover whiteniiiing esseeeence!”
Monokuma showed off the classy packaging of the whitening essence with gusto.

83
“Noooooooooooo! Why would you pour dat in dere–! And dat weird fake stuff smells
reeeeally strong–!”

“Whaaat? I took a totally refreshing break all on my own, and my skin got even more
beautiful, so I just thought I’d take my cute little sister’s red eye and turn it into a beautiful
white eye~”

“Stop–! You’re the one who went and gave me a red eye, so what are you doing changing it
now! Anyway, I’d rather it matched the black eye, so I really don’t want a white eye!”

“…Tch. You got me.”

“Don’t click your tongue at me–! And how many times do I have to tell you dat I’m not your
little sister, Onii-chan–! Generally, if you really thought of me as your cute little sister, you
wouldn’t hit me with an upper-stwaight combo!”

“…Well, y'know. I think you woulda been cuter if you had a yellow body with a red checked
ribbon, and you were a straight-laced little sister, but just a little clumsy.[2] But in reality,
you’re just a shameless hussy who hasn’t even stopped wearing diapers at your age.”

“Are you talking about those cat robot siblings that came from the near future?! You’re
making me mad! Dis is gonna be copywight infwingement! Their legal department won’t be
silent!”

“…Awwww. I wanted to try saying stuff like 'My little sister can’t be this cute,’ or 'Heavens,
my younger sister is so endearing as to be problematic!’”

“Arrrrgggghhhh–! If I’m not cute, then it’s not pwoblematic, so it’s fine! And YOU’RE the
one who plucked my pwetty and cute wings and put me in dis diaper in the first plaaaaace–!
Even though YOU’RE always nakeeeeed–! I’m leaving! I’m leaving alweadyyyyy–!”

Monomi did an about-face and tried to leave the room, but she heard the sound of something
cutting through the air behind her.

“…Huuhhhh?!”

Monomi pulled out whatever had just pierced into her ear. It was an arrow from a crossbow,
with a string attached.

“What a shame! I was going for a headshot, but I guess I’ve really gotta work on my aim.”

“I’d die! I’d die instantly if you’d hit my head! And it still hurt when it hit my ear! You
manslaught… I mean, rabbitslaughterer! Hunter! Matagi!”[3] Monomi took the arrow she’d
pulled out of her ear and threw it to the ground.

“Thanks for all the compliments.”

“They weren’t compliments! They were cwiticisms! Geez, why are you doing this!”

84
At that, Monokuma suddenly started fidgeting, touching the claws of his index fingers
together.

“…Cweepy. Way too cweepy. What’s with dat pose?”

“Weeeeellllll. I just finally got some new costumes just a little while ago, and I thought I
would show them to you.”

“…Costumes? What do you mean?” Monomi asked suspiciously, before Monokuma flashed
her a wide grin.

“They’re media-worthy costumes, of course. From now on, every day, from dawn until dusk,
we’ll have to greet people and report on murder cases and stuff, right? So we’ve got to stand
out and express ourselves so all the viewers out there don’t get bored. The C and T
demographics are even more fickle than the F1 and M2 demographics.[4] As content
creators, we have to have the dedication to production that goes all the way down to the nitty
gritty details.”

“Don’t use such obscure jargon when all you’re doing is talking about viewer
demogwaphics! …Hey, when did you drape dat pink cardigan over your shoulders?! Were
you trying to be the producer of a TV station?! Do you think just because he’s made a
comeback in recent years dat kids in their teens are gonna get that joke?!”[5] Monomi
grabbed the pink cardigan and tossed it off to the side.

“Tch! Quit your yammering… Well, whatever. At any rate, I stocked up on a white seashell
bikini, a red plugsuit, a blue and yellow pear fairy look[6], a black Chibat-o-man costume[7],
some dresses from Nezumiland’s hit animated film Snow Sisters, and a few others, so lemme
show those to you.”

“I get the feeling dat dis list is skewed towards either the world-famous or highly specific
extwemes! And aren’t some of those near the end kinda biased towards a specific
pwefecture?”

“It’s fine, it’s fine. Now try this on first.” Monokuma held out the seashell bikini.

“…………………………………..Huh? Why me?”

“Well, that’s because I would look objectively bad in it. Isn’t it obvious? C'mon, make it
quick. Reflect upon the old saying, time is money, and don’t delay even a second! Hurry up!”

“Huh? Huhhh? Huuuhhhhhh?”

“Look, take off that indecent diaper and put this on straight away! C'mon c'mon c'mon
c'mon!!”

“Noooooo~! Stooop~ iiiiit~! This is sexual hawassment–! Dooon’t~ doooo~ iiiiit~!” A long,
high-pitched scream resounded throughout Monokuma’s room, but no one came to the
rescue.

85
Ding dong… bing bong.

The clear tones rung out throughout the now thoroughly dark island.

“…Errr, this is an announcement from the Hope’s Peak Academy School Trip Executive
Committee. It is now 10 PM. Please relax and let the sound of the waves lull you into a
peaceful sleep. Now then, sweet dreams, everyone. Good night…”

Komaeda Nagito heard the broadcast from the poolside, where he was talking to Hinata
Hajime. “Hey, Hinata-kun. Didn’t the broadcast just now seem a lot more fun than normal?”

Hinata furrowed his brow. “…Did it? Wasn’t it the same stupid broadcast as always?”

Komaeda chuckled, bringing a hand to cover his mouth. “Nah. Monokuma kinda seemed like
he was having a lot of fun. Maybe something good happened.”

“Even if that’s true, it’s none of my business. …Let’s head back to our rooms.”

“Yeah, I guess we should.”

The two of them abandoned the poolside, so that only the sound of the wind over the surface
of the water remained.

END

[1] Kabe-don is the Japanese trope of, well, doing exactly what Monokuma is doing here,
except in a more sexually charged way.
[2] This is Doraemon’s sister, Dorami.
[3] Matagi.
[4] The Japanese TV industry apparently has different labels for viewer demographics by age
and gender. C is children aged 4-12, T is teenagers aged 13-19, F1 is women aged 20-34,
and M2 is men aged 35-49.
[5] I assume this is about this guy. (小石田純一)Unfortunately, for those of us who are not
Japanese, age has nothing to do with how much we’re not gonna get this joke.
[6] This is Funassyi. A pear shaped mascot
[7] Chibatman. The name in the story is distorted a little, presumably to avoid copyright.

86
Beautiful Days SDR2: Pigtail Paradise 2

Story: Mizusawa Nana (水澤なな)

Illustration: Sayo Ichi (紗与イチ)

A small kerfuffle was happening in the island restaurant.

“Hey hey heyyy~! What’re you doing, Hiyoko-chan!”

“Would you let me go, Saionji! I’m telling you to let me go!”

Saionji Hiyoko was using both hands to pull at the hair of both Mioda Ibuki and Pekoyama
Peko. Perhaps because of Saionji’s body type, she just looked like a kid throwing a tantrum in
a candy shop.

“Iiii toooold yooouuu! I told you I’d let you go if you get rid of these pigtaaails!”

“Hold on! What are you doing, Hiyoko-chan?!” Koizumi Mahiru entered with both hands on
her camera, but she came over to mediate in surprise.

“Boooo. I mean, these two were kinda irritating, ripping off someone’s hairstyle like thaaat.
Koizumi-onee, you tell them off toooo!”

Mioda and Pekoyama’s expressions both grew sharp at hearing Saionji’s words.

“I didn’t rip anything off!”

“…That is unthinkable.”

“My, my. Whatever is the matter?”

“What’re you guys doin’ so early in the morning! A fight? Then I’ll back you up!”

The next people to come in were Sonia Nevermind and Owari Akane.

“Owari-san, why are you so agitated…”

“Y-You shouldn’t fiiight…”

And then, Nanami Chiaki and Tsumiki Mikan joined up with them as well. It was a
masterpiece of eight girls gathered together.

“Shut uuup! It would be irritating if anyone said it, but it’s extra irritating from you,
Tsumiki!” Saionji said over her shoulder, glaring at Tsumiki.

“P-Please! Why am I the one you have a problem with?!”

87
“You’re groooss!”

“Th-That’s so cruel…!”

“Hey, Hiyoko-chan, if you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all. And you
shouldn’t be pulling on people’s hair, should you?”

“Booo. I tooold you, it’s pretty cheeky for them to wear pigtails even when they don’t suit
them at aaaall!”

“How many times must I tell you that these are not pigtails…!”

“Ibuki’s aren’t either! I don’t want you to pigeonhole this toootally hip hairstyle into the
pigtails box!”

“I’m not wrong! Tying it up in two parts is copying me! I won’t forgive you!”

“Goodness, we’re making no progress this way. Then, why don’t we all try wearing pigtails
for once, and let whomever is most suited to them be the one with the right to wear them?”
Nevermind proposed as if it was a brilliant idea, but not a single person nodded along.

“…I think that’s probably not going to work,” Nanami cut in with a calm voice.

Just as the atmosphere started to turn towards them being able to work something else out, an
intrusive voice shattered it all in an instant. “Stop iiiit! No fightiiiing!” It was the self-styled
“Magical Girl” Usami, floating in on her fluffy white wings. “I heard evewything! Answering
to your passionate request, I’ll have evewybody twansfooorm! Chichin puipui, chinchin
puipui! Hi-yaaah! Pigtails for evewybodyyy!”

–And so, instantaneously, everyone ended up in pigtails.

88
Saionji was the same as before. Pekoyama was in unbraided pigtails. The horn-like twists
were untied in Mioda’s hair, and her hair in the back was pulled up into straightforward
pigtails. Nevermind and Tsumiki’s long hair was pulled up into beautiful flowing pigtails.
Koizumi, Nanami, and Owari had kinda cute pigtails barely scraped together from their short
hair. Everyone looked at each other and laughed a little.

“A very noble duty, Usami-san.”

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“Yep! Leave this kind of thing to Usamiii!”

Nevermind’s words of thanks smoothed out the atmosphere, and instantly a sense of unity
was born. Another new intruder got mixed in.

“Uwah. A herd of pigtails in a place like this! What’s the occasion? Some kind of Fanservice
Day? No, I won’t conduct any boorish interrogations. I’m a very tolerant man! At any rate,
it’s nice! The charm exuding from the napes of your necks from your Lolita-esque look!
Aahh, I understand. You want me to warm those up, don’t you? Well, come right at me! I’ll
attend to all of you together! Now! Now now now now!” Hanamura Teruteru came out from
the kitchen, with drool and a nosebleed as he spoke heatedly.

All eight girls silently removed the ribbons and ponytail holders from their hair.

The next morning, Saionji’s voice resounded throughout the restaurant yet again.

“Noooo! I don’t like pigtails anymooore! Give me a different kind of hairstyle, Koizumi-
onee~!”

END

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Beautiful Days SDR2: Hanamura Teruteru’s Pervert Paradise

Story: Mizusawa Nana (水澤なな)

Illustration: Sayo Ichi (紗与イチ)

Do I even need to tell you that this has some scandalous erotic descriptions and skeeviness on
Hanamura’s part in it?

“My Four Dark Devas of Destruction… You ought anticipate with pleasure a supreme feast,”
Tanaka Gundam murmured as he walked with a gallant gait, and four hamsters poked their
heads out from his scarf, nodding and raising their voices as if in agreement.

“Squeak!”

“My apologies. To think that I would allow the emergency food reserves to be flooded out…
The time is fast approaching. Soon, you shall obtain an impeccably nutritionally balanced
meal.”

“Squeak squeak!”

Tanaka arrived at Rocketpunch Market and carried himself directly towards the pet goods
corner, picking up some hamster food from the shelf of small animal items. “Ohhh, this is it.
Hammie Wholesome Selection. Combining grains, meat, sweeteners, dairy, minerals,
vitamins, and even yeast, this food has the perfect balance of nutrients. Not only that, but it’s
even fortified with folic acid! Spectacular! This shall be a fitting source of nutrients for my
Four Dark Devas of Destruction!”

Tanaka showed off the bag, and the hamsters raised their voices, seemingly also happy.
“Squeak squeak squeak!”

As he casually browsed through the other merchandise, Tanaka’s eyes landed abruptly on
something else. “What! Do they even have the Small Animals Like-Like-LOVE Baby Corn
Set? This is an item that the Four Dark Devas of Destruction’s deadly arsenal cannot do
without. It seems this Rocketpunch Market is only posing as a mere supermarket, for its
inventory is so complete it carries items beyond the imagination. It should not be taken
lightly…” Tanaka gripped the bag of small, dry corncobs and bowed his head, overcome with
emotion.

A familiar voice entered his ears. “Oh my goodness, what is this~? How very strange. This
selection just won’t do. If you’re going to call yourself a market, you need to fill out your
inventory more carefully. I guess it’s just not worth it unless it’s a market on par with
Aoyama’s or Azabu’s, or Hiroo’s at the very least. At least if I want to get full marks for
satisfaction with the royalty and celebrities that serve as my clients.”

That familiar voice, so beautiful and clearly conveyed to his ears, spoke words completely at
odds with its vocal quality. It seemed its owner’s impressions of the inventory were the exact
opposite of Tanaka’s.

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“What is this eerie sense of malice…?” Still holding the hamster food, Tanaka walked
towards the source of the voice. After passing several rows of shelves, he arrived at the
cosmetics corner.

There he found Hanamura Teruteru. He was reclining in a swimsuit on a vinyl beach chair
that he must have gotten from somewhere. And the red swimsuit covered incredibly little. In
spite of this getup, he still faithfully wore his usual toque blanche chef’s hat and red
neckerchief. Surrounding him were several containers of beauty products, scattered about.

“…What is your purpose here?” He would have liked to have passed by without being seen,
but the scene before him was so bizarre that he raised his voice without thinking. Humans
seek to understand that which they fear.

“Oh, if it isn’t Tanaka-kun!” Upon confirming Tanaka’s identity, Hanamura whipped his
short arm up to give a salute. Even though the furrows on Tanaka’s brow were deeper than
ever before, Hanamura gave a perky smile in return, without a single crease on his face. “You
on an afternoon stroll, too? On a day with weather as brilliant as this, you simply have to go
shopping. I’d rather shop at a more avant-garde establishment, but this is the only store on the
island. I just have to be open-minded and make do. That’s just the sort of allowance a city
slicker like me has to accept making.”

The furrows on Tanaka’s brow grew even deeper. “…I care not for your boasts. Will you
offer a straight answer as to what it is you are doing?”

Hanamura raised his fine fingertips, slender in comparison to his body type, and combed up
his bangs with them. “Oh, Mr. Impatient, aren’t we? How will you ever find love when
you’re in such a rush all the time? Love can only be cultivated by slowing down and having
some talks that seem unimportant at first.”

“…I do not seek such things. I ask only what it is you are doing in such sinister attire. Could
it be a ritual you are performing to bring about the ruination of the Earth?” Certainly, the
scattered products were arranged around Hanamura such that he looked as if he were at the
center of a magic circle.

“Tanaka-kun, not only are you Mr. Impatient, but Mr. Bashful too. Well, it’s fine. I’ll tell
you. Nfufufu… I’m getting ready to carefully, thoroughly slick up everyone’s bodies with
sunscreen and tanning lotion, dipping into every nook and cranny!”

Now that he mentioned it, looking closely, it was empty bottles of tanning lotion and
sunscreen that were scattered on the floor, and Hanamura’s bare skin was slick and shining
with the fluids.

“How baffling… Why do you not choose for yourself alone?”

Hanamura clicked his tongue thrice, wagging his finger like a windshield wiper in front of his
face. Tanaka considered siccing the Devas on him, but since eating foul meat would be bad
for their health, he cast that idea aside. “I can’t just let everyone bake in the powerful rays of
the sun we have here, can I? So I feel as if I need to go through everyone one by one, and
come up with a personalized choice for each. For example! Sonia-san has an undeniably fair
complexion. She needs SPF 50 PA++++, to cut down on powerful UV rays. Her inner thighs

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in particular are probably so pale that her blood vessels are visible, so they’ll need to be
painted very diligently.”

“…And you plan on being the one to do so?”

“Nfufu… Of course. I’m the one picking it out, after all.”

“…The Gates of Hell opening up would be no more troublesome than you.”

“There you go again. Isn’t it a perfect choice? Next, for the fair-skinned Saionji-san, I think a
milky type would suit her. She’s short, and has less surface area, so she gets the finest
quality. Nfufu.”

“…And you plan on covering her with it entirely?”

“Of course! My godly hands are waiting to make her moan.”

“…It is a man with limitless impudence who calls himself a god.”

“Nanami-san seems almost inorganic, sooo… I’ll give her a very organic floral scent. She can
lie down and play some video games while I get her back. I’m sure she’d react with some
nice little jolts every so often! …Aahh, I’m getting turned on!”

“…Why not try cooling your head instead?”

“Right, right! For the individualistic Mioda-san, I think this type with glitter in it would be
good!”

“…Is there any point to it having glitter in it?”

“Not really. It’s just fun when you put it on, right? Her pale limbs will be coated in glitter. Of
course, I’d apply it for her as gently and softly as if I were decorating a cake. Soooo slowly
that it’s completely even, without any imperfections!” Hanamura demonstrated by making a
lewd gesture with his needlessly beautiful fingers.

“…When God created this Earth, it seems he bestowed upon us many unnecessary things.
Perhaps that voice and those fingers are wasted on a fellow of your sort… Sheer absurdity.”

Hanamura paid no mind to Tanaka, continuing, “And then, for Pekoyama-san and Koizumi-
san and Owari-san, I think tanning oil would be better than sunscreen. Their light brown skin
would shine magnificently. I’ll sprinkle the thick liquid all over their body and spread it out
to cover them completely. For it to sink from the surface deep down into the skin, I need to
rub it! And rub it! And rub it some more!”

As Hanamura rubbed the tanning lotion onto his own shin with an expression of ecstasy,
Tanaka took several steps back. The Devas looked pale from where they were poking their
heads out of his scarf.

“So that’s what I’m thinking for the girls. Nice picks, right?”

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As Hanamura smiled in satisfaction, Tanaka asked unnecessarily, without thinking, “…For
the girls? Then are you also rationing them out for the boys?”

“Of course! You shouldn’t discriminate by gender! I am the very manifestation of the
benevolent spirit! Look, this is for Hinata-kun, right? This is for Komaeda-kun, right? And
this is for Kuzuryuu-kun, and this is for Nidai-kun, and this is for Souda-kun, and this is for
Togami-kun. And of course there’s one for you too, Tanaka-kun!”

“…!”

Tanaka’s eyes widened, and his whole body went rigid. Hanamura’s eyes gleamed, and he
grabbed Tanaka’s hand at the speed of light.

“Release me, you fiend! What are you planning?!” Tanaka snapped out of it, kicking him, but
Hanamura had no intention of letting go.

“Nfufufufu… This is for you, Tanaka-kun. You usually hide your skin, don’t you? It’s bad
for someone like you to suddenly get a sunburn. So you should use this baby oil to tan little
by little. You have plenty of muscle, so I’ll carefully rub it along those muscles. Running
along your lymphatic system, practically licking you!”

“…I told you to release me from your grip. Did you not hear me?”

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“Shall we try it out now? No, we simply must. Straight away! Now, now, now!”

As this man smeared in oil and wearing only his swim trunks approached him, Tanaka’s body
was covered in goosebumps from head to toe, and he desperately attempted to ward him off.
But whether he kicked or smacked him, he showed no signs of being warded off.

“Release me, demon! I am telling you to release me!”

“That again~! Don’t be shy; you just have to let me take close care of that body of yours~!”

“You must be joking! Fall into Hell, you incubus!” Tanaka brandished the 3-kilo bag of
hamster food, striking Hanamura in the head. The bag tore open, flinging solid hamster food
to scatter across the ground around them.

“Huh? How odd… A cute angel that looks just like me is playing the trumpet and throwing
rose petals? And what’s this? I think I can see some kind of large river behind him…? And,
oh my goodness, could that be Gramma and Grampa over there…?! What’s all this now?
Huh? Could this be…?” Hanamura’s eyes spun, and he fell down on the spot.

“…Without a doubt, that was the River Styx. Rest in peace.”

“Squeak squeak squeak–!”

Tanaka and the Four Devas gently laid their hands on Hanamura, as he lay collapsed in his
swimsuit, and then left the vicinity.

Ever since that day, whenever everyone was assembled, Tanaka refused to stand next to
Hanamura.

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Next Page

Beautiful Days SDR2: I Just have Waaay Better Luck Than Other People.

Another Beautiful Days comic!

Scan & Translation: kamase-megane

Cleaning & Typesetting: manlyronpa (thanks again!)

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97
Beautiful Days SDR2: Super High School Level Friendship

Story: Onogami Meiya (小野上明夜)

Illustration: Fujiwara Ryou (冨士原良)

(I’m still on vacation and am already posting this way later than I finished it, so I’m not
going to reread it for mistakes as thoroughly as I usually do. Please don’t hesitate to point
out anything that seems weird! Otherwise, please enjoy the final story of Beautiful Days!)

Some time had passed since the School Trip of Mutual Killing began on Jabberwock Island.
Those who were intended to be classmates at Hope’s Peak Academy had only just barely
gotten acquainted. It was awkward at first, but now that they were familiar with each other’s
respective personalities, they had started to group off with those they got along with the best.

This was made clear by the seating arrangements at breakfast every morning. Lacking any
instructions, the Japanese students had fallen naturally into alternating seats between boys
and girls, but now they had begun to finalize who sat next to who. Amidst the clinks of
utensils and plates, the restaurant on the second floor of the Hotel Mirai was filled with the
sounds of idle, pleasant conversation.

“If it weren’t for the Mutual Killing, this might be a normal school trip…” Or maybe it was
like lunchtime at school. Back in middle school… As Hinata Hajime spaced out, sorting
through his fuzzy memories, a tall figure came to stand before him. His antenna stood on end,
expressing his tension.

“Good morning, Hinata-kun!” That characteristic swaying hair and bright voice had to be
Komaeda Nagito. Perhaps because of his eccentric special talent, more than being close to
any particular person, he seemed to swim through the group as aimlessly as his hairstyle. But
lately, it was Hinata he was following around at random, asking, “By the way, Hinata-kun.
Haven’t you remembered your talent yet?”

“…I don’t remember.”

In response to Hinata’s blunt sullenness, Komaeda only calmly sat down in the seat across
from him, where Souda Kazuichi had been sitting up until just a moment ago. Incidentally,
Souda had gone off to see Sonia Nevermind, interrupting her conversation with the other girls
to offer the gentlemanly suggestion of “Shall we get dessert?” which Sonia refused with a
smile. He seemed to be happy enough given the circumstances.

“I see; that’s too bad,” Komaeda murmured, seemingly genuine, before beginning to eat his
food. Hinata poked at his salad, glancing over at Souda, who was still stubbornly talking to
Sonia.

If only he would get back here already, then maybe he could do something about this
awkward atmosphere. If he would even just talk to me then at least I’d have an excuse to get
up from my seat. Or just anybody, even Saionji Hiyoko, picking apart everything, that would
be fine.

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But Hinata’s wishes were in vain, as just a few minutes later, Komaeda asked the same
question again. “So how about it? Have you remembered it yet?”

“I told you, I don’t remember.” His tone was even more clipped than before, but Komaeda,
ever nonchalant, was unperturbed.

“I see; that’s really too bad.” He sighed, as if he really did find it unfortunate from the bottom
of his heart. Whenever he looked so dejected, Hinata’s unease would transform into sheer
irritation, and so he glared at Komaeda.

“Souda may take the cake, but you’re pretty stubborn too, Komaeda. You’re the one who said
something in the first place like, there’s no rush, so why are you so…”

“I mean, yours is the only talent we still don’t know, Hinata-kun. Thinking ahead, we need all
the useful information we can get, right? For someone like me, who doesn’t have any better
talent than something as insignificant as good luck, I have a great interest in everyone else’s
Super High School Level talents!”

Crap, Hinata thought, too late. Komaeda’s eyes were starting to get a dangerous glint to
them.

“For now, we could try thinking about if you have the same sort of talent as one of the
others.” Ignoring Hinata, who had now completely missed his opportunity to get up out of his
seat, Komaeda waved his fork in the air and commenced his reasoning. “Super High School
Level Cook… That can’t be it. I’ve never seen you try to cook, Hinata-kun.”

“We have our food prepared for us like this every day, so I don’t need to. It’s pointless.” His
own reply was snappish enough to make himself wince, but the rebuttal was still casual.

“But I think Hanamura-kun makes his own stuff on the side? Although, in his case, he has
seduction as an excuse. Then, Super High School Level Heir… Mmmmm, that can’t be it
either. No offense, but unlike Togami-kun, you just don’t look like an heir at all, Hinata-
kun.”

No talent as a cook. No talent as an heir. These words, eliminating possibilities, wore down
Hinata’s pride and made him impatient. “I get it, I can’t cook and I don’t have any leadership
skills!”

As Hinata flared up, voice becoming more rough, he could tell that several of the others were
looking over at him in surprise. But Komaeda, the person it was directed at, just cheerfully
assented, “You’re definitely lacking in weight and force of presence, too. But doesn’t it
bother you too? Not knowing what your own talent is?”

He was hitting Hinata where it hurt, staring at him fixedly with those almond-shaped eyes,
while Hinata found himself unable to argue. Komaeda’s hair swayed freely, his attitude was
frivolous, and he never showed anything one could grab onto, but when it came to talent…
when it came to hope, he was bizarrely straightforward. Enough that he easily upset Hinata,
who had lost the anchor of his own talent, unlike everyone else.

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“I told you I don’t remember!! Lay off already!!” The instant he slammed the table,
overcome by emotion, a loud noise rang out that surprised even himself. Even Owari Akane,
who had been entirely focused on stuffing roast beef into her mouth since early morning,
looked over with her eyes wide.

“Wh-What have you guys been doing… Are you fighting? Geez, that’s boys for you…”

Koizumi Mahiru spouted out her usual phrases in shock. But Kuzuryuu Fuyuhiko seemed
pretty smug as he said, “Looks like you guys are really gettin’ into it.”

“Aha, sorry, Hinata-kun. Are you mad at me?” In the now quiet restaurant, Komaeda’s
apology rang insincere. Hinata had already been made aware again of his own awkwardness,
but that nonchalance was adding insult to injury.

“…Do you even need to ask?” As Hinata silently started to get up, Komaeda gave him a
bitter smile. And then he picked up his tray and nimbly stood up from his seat.

“Sorry for getting in your way. I’ll go away now, so you can sit back down, Hinata-kun. I’m
really sorry.” He quickly lowered his head, and moved away from the table alone. But in the
end, Hinata also stood up from his seat, leaving his half-eaten breakfast behind, and exiting
the restaurant.

After the uncomfortable breakfast incident, Komaeda stopped tagging along with Hinata. He
stopped peppering Hinata with the questions from before, and didn’t come over to chat. He
even stayed out of Hinata’s sight. Perhaps he was deliberately eating meals at a different
time, since today, too, they didn’t cross paths at breakfast time.

“That guy takes everything to the extreme…” Squinting in the strong morning sunlight,
Hinata muttered to himself with a weary expression. He looked over at the cottages lined up,
for no real reason, and finally looked straight ahead again, letting out a sigh.

Then, he felt something poking into the sweat-stained back of his shirt.

“Nwah?!”

He whirled around in shock, and saw that the one who surprised him was a girl, leisurely
tilting her head. It was Nanami Chiaki, the one who always looked sleepy, maybe because
she played too many video games.

“What’s wrong, Hinata-kun? Did you need Komaeda-kun for something?”

“N-No, I mean, it’s not like I NEED him for anything!!”

He waved his hands in a broad gesture of denial, and Nanami rubbed her eyes as she pointed
out, “Really? But you’ve been standing in front of Komaeda’s cottage. For a loooong time,
out in the heat… right?”

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“…Does that mean you’ve been here too? At least put your hood up properly so you don’t get
heatstroke.” Nanami was an indoors type, always stuck to some kind of gaming console. If
the sun’s rays were even making him a little dizzy, then there’s no way it would be good for
her to stay out in them for long. So he gave a warning that made Nanami blink in surprise,
before she obediently pulled up her cat-eared hood.

“Mm, thanks. Anyway, Hinata-kun. Could it be that the argument you had with Komaeda-
kun the other day has been weighing on your mind?”

His head slumped automatically at the awkwardness of her hitting the bulls-eye. “…Were
you listening to that?”

“Everybody could hear it.”

Nanami usually played the fool, but when she played the straight man, there was no escaping
her serious expression. For the time being, Hinata ushered Nanami over in front of Togami’s
cottage nearby. At least there they would be in the shade.

“I think I might have been pretty immature myself. But ever since then, I haven’t even seen
him,” he said reluctantly, casting a glance over at Komaeda’s cottage next door. “With
Komaeda, you can’t tell if that guy’s shameless or delicate. But if it’s my fault that he’s
shutting himself up in his room then, I dunno, it leaves a bad taste in my mouth, you know?”

Komaeda was generous by nature, and he could show a lot of consideration for others, but
sometimes he spouted some shockingly negative stuff without batting an eyelash. He’d been
acting pretty frivolous last time too, but was that really how he felt deep down?

“Not to mention, he’s not the kind of person who’s close to anyone in particular. He hangs
out with the boys and the girls just the same, but he acts kind of like an outsider… He just
fawns over everyone’s talents without thinking of himself as another person with the same
kind of talent…”

“To put it simply, you’re worried about him.”

Hinata faltered in response to that frank summary. “Well, I mean, up until then, he just
wouldn’t leave me alone. It’s strange that he’d suddenly stop coming around.”

“You’re a kind person, Hinata-kun. Maybe your talent is as the Super High School Level
Helper.” Nanami giggled, a gentle expression on her face.

“Lay off, or it might actually come true.”

When he thought about where he stood with the other intensely individualistic members of
the class, he feared she might not be wrong. He waved it off with a grimace, and she smiled a
little again, before adopting a thoughtful expression, like she was racking her brain.

“Mmm, but, you don’t have to worry about Komaeda-kun… I think.”

Hinata smiled bitterly at her surprisingly cold response. “I guess you’re too unpredictable for
me to understand, too. But I can’t help it.”

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“I mean, when you’re not around, Komaeda-kun’s asking around about your talent, Hinata-
kun.”

Hinata headed towards the beach as the sand shone white in the lively sunlight, echoing his
bellows. “Quit messing around, Komaeda!!”

“Hinata-san!” The one who answered him wasn’t Komaeda, but Sonia, who had been talking
to him. Abandoning her habitual queenly composure, she dashed up, kicking off the sand, and
began firing off words like a machine gun. “What an awful evil magistrate you are, Hinata-
san! You were far too cold and heartless to Komaeda-san when he was full of nothing but
pure interest in your talent!!”

“She’s right! You’re a total meanie-weenie-head, Hajime-chan!!” Even Mioda Ibuki came
from the side to back Sonia up. “Maybe Nagito-chan really was totally tactless. But he was
just thinking of you, Hajime-chan!! That means it was his friendship power!! When you’re
faced with a burning soul like that, then bam, you should suddenly remember at leeeast one
or two talents!!”

With Sonia’s intensity being dialed up, Mioda’s intensity dial basically always on this setting,
and both of them drawing closer, Hinata became overwhelmed. On top of all that, Souda
came out from behind the two of them, shooting him a glare that smacked of bitterness as he
said, “Hey, Sonia-san’s trying to talk to you, asshole…!!”

“Ahaha, sorry, Hinata-kun.” Komaeda himself also drew closer, looking somehow
apologetic. “I was too persistent the other day, and I made you mad. So I thought I would try
asking everyone else if they noticed anything, instead of bothering you any more. People with
Super High School Level talents would have a different perspective than me!”

“…That again…”

Before he could reference the now-familiar self-deprecating language at all, Sonia called out
forcefully, “Hinata-san!” as she peered in his face. Those eyes, clear as a jewel, drew nearer
into his personal space, and he reflexively leaned back from the force of her gaze. “Do you
not wish to remember your own talent, Hinata-san?”

The straightforwardness of the question just made it even more piercing to his heart. “No,
that’s… Of course it’s bothering me. I want to remember for myself too.”

“Therefore! Is this not the perfect time to become as one with Komaeda-san, and combine
your powers to remember?!!” When she made her argument with her queenly charisma in full
throttle, there was no way he could say no. As Hinata was left unable to answer, Sonia
pressed harder. “That was rather well-said, don’t you think? Don’t wait until your parents are
dead and gone to seek to resolve your regrets!!”

“They’re totally unrelated to this situation!!”

“She means you should live with no regrets!!”

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“Mmmm, I guess that’s the gist of it anyway.”

Komaeda casually agreed with Mioda’s blunt summary. Just as Hinata was about to shoot
back with something like It was your fault in the first place! he heard a voice from behind
him that was so low, it felt like it was crawling along the ground. “Looks like you’re getting
along pretty well with Sonia-san, Hinata…”

It was Souda, eyes filled with jealousy. Faced with the ominous intensity of that anger flying
at him, Hinata frantically started explaining, “No, see, I’m talking to Mioda too.”

“Can it! You don’t need to tack on more boasting!! Shit, should I have gotten hit by some
amnesia too? Men of mystery must be popular…”

“Hey, you realize I didn’t get amnesia so I could be more popular, right?” Even if he lectured
Souda on how he shouldn’t overlook that, Souda wasn’t willing to listen right now.

“Put a lid on it!! Anyway, Sonia-san, please just leave it to the genius mechanic!! I’ll get this
guy’s memory back in a flash!!” Souda was a pain when it came to romantic relationships,
but he too possessed a Super High School Level talent. “Just wait a bit,” he said, dashing off,
but before too long he was back, carrying a mysterious machine that looked like a pair of
large headphones. “Try this on, Hinata.”

It looked like it was supposed to be worn on the head, but Hinata kept his hands where they
were, nervously asking, “Wh… What is this?”

“A Memory Regeneration Machine, obviously.” The straightforward name betrayed the depth
of Souda’s anger. “Just put it on. Then just wait three minutes, and your memories will come
back.”

“What, is it like cup ramen or something?!” The explanation was also a little too rudimentary.
Before Hinata could protest further, and without waiting for permission, Souda started setting
it up on Hinata’s head. Then, when Sonia and Mioda came over, curious to see what was
going on, he turned to them with an extraordinary smile on his face.

“Now, please watch! Sonia-san in particular!! This is Hinata’s Memory Regeneration

Spectacular!!”

“Don’t turn somebody’s amnesia into a show!!”

Standing behind Hinata, Komaeda smiled brightly and said, “Hinata-kun, that machine really
suits you!” The instant Hinata remembered, that’s right, he’s the one I came to bring my
complaints to–a sound like a cheap, cartoonish explosion rang out, and the Memory
Regeneration Machine shattered into pieces.

“*cough*! *cough* *hack* *cough*!!”

“Aiyah, Japanese Drifters!!”[1] Covering her ears to protect them from the noise of the blast,
Sonia watched wide-eyed as Hinata coughed up black smoke.

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“A-Are you all right, Hinata-kun? Thank goodness; you’re a little singed, but it doesn’t seem
like it’s anything serious.” Komaeda, familiar with injury, wiped off the soot from Hinata’s
face, but Mioda clutched her stomach and burst into laughter.

“Ahaha~ Not bad! Ibuki’s kinda into the explosive punchline!! At first glance you seem like
a man of mystery, but in reality, you’re just a man of mistakes! That’s the good stuff–!!”

“Shut uuuuuuup!!”

Souda looked like he was on the verge of tears from the hit to his pride, but Hinata was the
one who really wanted to cry. Hinata shook off Komaeda’s hand, ignored Souda’s frantic
excuses, and left them both behind.

Komaeda chased after him, shyly asking, “How is it, Hinata-kun? Did… your memories
return?”

“More like I probably could have lost more! Goddammit, I’m not sticking around here! I’m
going back to my room!!”

If only he really had forgotten about Komaeda. He was walking back to the cottage,
spreading out his aura of anger as he went, when a girl with uneven black hair called out to
him. “U-Ummmm, Hinata-saaan, is now a bad tiiiime?”

“Tsumiki…” Once he recognized her as Tsumiki Mikan, Hinata softened his demeanor a bit.
She was timid on the best of days, so it was obvious why she called out to him even when he
clearly looked so sullen. She was the Super High School Level Nurse, after all. “Are you
going to patch me up? Thanks, but, I’m really not hurt that bad.”

“The only thing I can use to help you out is some baaad medicine; I’m sorry for being
boooorn!!”

“If you already know the medicine is bad, then I completely refuse!!” he retorted reflexively,
internally cursing his own naïveté. Hinata felt a little like crying again when, beside him,
Komaeda shrank back apologetically.

“Sorry, Hinata-kun. I was a little overly desperate when I was asking around, so…”

“Yes, that’s right! That Komaeda-san! He was so, so seriooous… Lately, medical
professionals have been stressing the importance of mental health.”

“So why don’t you stress the importance of my mental health…?” Hinata muttered weakly.
Tsumiki ignored him, looking down at the small syringe she now suddenly had in her hand
with fascination.

“Heheh, it’s all right… It will only hurt for a liiittle bit… But, the after-effects might last for
the rest of your life…”

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“Hey?!” When he extended a hand to try and press her on that disturbing statement, it was
caught by her flexible fingers. There was a damp, cool sensation that made him nervous for a
moment, and he felt her gaze traveling up his short-sleeved arm, seeking a target.

“Ehe! I spot a thick vein! Now, Hinata-san. It will just be a little prick, okaaay?”

“Not okay! I don’t mind a prick that lasts for just a little bit, but I do mind after-effects that
last for the rest of my life!!”

Hinata shook his head back and forth, but Tsumiki looked at him with a smile like she was
trying to pacify a spoiled child. Unlike Komaeda, she was very straightforward about her
self-deprecation, but in the end, she was still a student whose talent was recognized by
Hope’s Peak Academy. She was strongest on her own turf.

“Like I said, it’s okay; the risk is less than 70%… Ahyan?!”

But, she was also a klutz.

“Ah, hey, Tsumiki?!”

While she was still grabbing onto Hinata’s arm, Tsumiki’s foot slipped on the sand, and both
he and Komaeda had to hurriedly avert their eyes from her magnificent display of clumsiness.
Just like every other time, her tumble was suggestive enough that they couldn’t help but
suspect she was doing this on purpose.

“Ahhhh…” As an added bonus, her expression couldn’t be described as anything but

tempting: the area around her eyes was faintly red, and she was even drooling a little. “I’m
okaaaayyyy… Eheheh, the stars are so pretty tonight…”

Perhaps her wrists had gotten twisted around when she fell. Syringe stuck in her right hand,
Tsumiki gazed out at the ocean, tripping balls.

Hinata exchanged looks with Komaeda, and for once, they seemed to be on the same page.
That is, they both left, pretending they hadn’t seen anything.

“How desperate did you sound again when you were talking about me behind my back?!”

“Weeeell, no one can resist the jumping kowtow.”[2]

Hinata was exchanging covert whispers with the brightly smiling Komaeda when the world
turned dark in front of his eyes. He looked up, startled, and saw a massive chest blocking his
path.

“Whaaaaat, are you trying to pull a fast one?!!” It was Nidai Nekomaru, a large, very
muscular man who coincidentally suited the beach well. Next to him was Owari, her brown
skin glistening.

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“Mmmm, but, memories are very delicate things. If we have to pull a fast one on someone in
order to get them back properly, the ends will justify the means.”

Komaeda argued back, the way he always did. Even a hasty “Ah, you idiot!” was added too
late.

“Hah! Poppycock! The way to fix amnesia is obvious, eh Owari?!!”

“Yeah!!” Owari answered powerfully, before they had the chance to escape. “Of course you
gotta do some intense exercise for shock therapy!!”

“It doesn’t have to be intense exercise, does it?!” Hinata retorted instinctively, and it was too
late to regret it. Hinata had lost his opportunity to escape, and Nidai gripped onto his wrist
with resounding laughter.

“Don’t go spouting nonsense!! You’ll get your memory back, AND you’ll have done some
training, so you’ll be killing two birds with one stone!! Let’s go, Owari!! First, let’s run from
one end of the beach to the other!!”

“Put some muscle into it, Hinata! Your feet’re gonna sink into the sand. Readyyyyy, go!!” As
soon as she said it, Owari broke into a run at terrifying speed. Not to be outdone, Nidai
relaxed his muscular grip on Hinata and followed after her.

“Hinata-kuuuun, do your beeeest!!”

Was this a result of his ability, too? When Hinata heard Komaeda cheering him on from
higher ground, from where he was shrewdly watching the spectacle without concern, he
thought to himself, One of these days, I’m going to kill you.

The sweat streaming down his entire body made a person-shaped puddle in the sand. As
Hinata crouched down, wheezing from deep in his throat, he made note of the conclusions he
had come to. “S, Sprinting at full speed, isn’t, gonna, make my, memories, come back, or
anything…!”

“Hinata-kun, are you all right? Here, I brought you some water.”

Hinata snatched the cup that Komaeda was kindly holding out to him, draining the contents
of the cup in one go before glaring over at him. Incidentally, after Hinata had collapsed after
two trips around the beach, Nidai and Owari had easily abandoned him with a dismissal of
“How sloppy,” continuing their training without him.

“Th, This is, your, fault…!”

“Hmph! You seem to be suffering, Hinata Hajime.”

Just as he tried to yell with his scratchy voice, Tanaka Gundam called out to him with timing
that almost seemed planned. He was the kind of guy who put a lot of thought into dramatics,
so maybe it really had been planned.

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“…What? Don’t tell me. You’re gonna use some kind of weird magic to make my memories
come back?”

“Correct. With my ability, I may intervene with the Akashic records, and peruse the poetry of
forgotten history.” Tanaka nodded, brimming with confidence, and then thrust forward his
bandaged left hand, a wicked smile appearing on his face. “Now, remember, Hinata. The
days in which my right arm of shadows ran together with the Antenna of Fury across the
scorched earth…!!”

“Don’t fabricate memories that never existed in the first place!!” Thankfully, Tanaka was the
Super High School Level Breeder, not Delusional Nerd, so probably he couldn’t actually
fabricate memories. Even knowing that, he couldn’t help shouting in response. His body and
willpower were both already at their limit, so he wished that people would stop meddling in
his affairs one after the other.

“Hmph. Fabricate, you say…? It is not impossible that you would wish to believe that. The
memories of that abominable battle–whoa?!” As Tanaka shamelessly kept unfurling his
delusions of previous incarnations, a short figure collided with him indirectly from behind.
The hamsters wrapped up in his scarf tumbled out at the impact, and Tanaka cried out in a
pathetic voice, “Jum-P! Cham-P!”

“Weak. What an amateur final spurt. Hey, outta the way.” Brushing Tanaka aside, Kuzuryuu
appeared, along with Pekoyama Peko, for some reason.

“…Yes. It certainly was clumsy.” Kuzuryuu had an aura of impropriety, and Pekoyama was
ready with her shinai. You couldn’t get anything but a bad feeling from them.

“W-Wait, you guys. What are you planning…?”

“That Komaeda bastard wouldn’t shut the fuck up. So I thought I’d shut him up a little
myself.” And yet, it was Hinata that the both of them were looking at.

“No, Kuzuryuu-kun, Pekoyama-san!”

Komaeda tried to cut in to stop them, but Kuzuryuu smiled thinly, saying, “Ain’t you the one
who begged and bowed your head even though I kept telling you to lay off, earlier?” As
expected of the Super High School Level Gangster, he was still forceful, even when his
height forced him to turn his face up to look at him. “It’s a request a man made to me when
he went so far as to bow his head, so I’m gonna feel awkward refusing it. Right, Pekoyama?”

“Yes. And I also have an interest in Hinata’s talent. I do not believe he is someone
experienced with the martial arts, but considering his chest measurement…” Behind her
glasses, Pekoyama’s eyes had a dangerous glint that sent a chill up Hinata’s spine. An
average man was no match for the Super High School Level Swordswoman, and if she
seriously threatened him, he got the feeling he wouldn’t survive it.

The point was, these two had the same idea as Nidai and Owari did. That is, they thought
causing bodily harm would make his memory return. This was no joke. And now that
specialists at violence like these two were entering the picture, this was going to turn into a
school trial.

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“Stop! Even Souda and Tsumiki wound up hurting me, but my memory still doesn’t seem to
be coming back?!” He tried to stop them, ghastly pale, but they silently closed in on him.
Like he said before, Kuzuryuu didn’t seem to be doing this for Hinata so much as he was
trying to snap Komaeda out of his depression as quickly as possible. This really was
Komaeda’s fault. His stomach clenched in anger again, but then, his goddesses of salvation
appeared.

“W-Wait, wait, what? I wanted to see what all the fuss was about, but… What in the world
happened to you, Hinata? You’re in shambles.”

“Why don’t you take a last picture to remember him with after he’s gone?”

It was Koizumi and Saionji. Saionji seemed to have come more to encourage them to swing a
decisive blow, but Pekoyama looked a little guilty now that the other girls were right there.
She lowered her shinai, saying, “No, we were planning on leaving him even more in
shambles, but…”

“Huhhh?! Peko-chan, why… Oh, is this about that thing Komaeda was talking about, with
the sliding kowtow?”

“Did you go that far?” Hinata immediately interjected, but Koizumi stood in front of him, as
if protecting him.

“Stop it. This is stupid. I’m no expert here, so I can’t say for certain, but I really don’t think
memories are something that will come back if you just hit someone, are they?”

“Koizumi…” Her honest theory was a little too honest, but it brought warmth to Hinata’s
ragged chest. Her innate kindness was dazzling before her Super High School Level
photography ever was. “Thank you. You’re the only person who’s said something like
that…”

“S–! Stupid, what, isn’t this obvious?” Koizumi’s cheeks flushed the same color as her hair,
and she whipped her head around to avert her gaze. It seemed that the Onee-loving Saionji
bred a little jealousy after this exchange.

“What, whaaaat, are you trying to act like some kind of tragic hero so you get everyone to
feel sorry for you?!!” It was charming how her kimono flapped around, but her cold
expression was terribly sadistic. Someone who was a connoisseur of that particular taste
would probably water at the mouth to see it.

“Quit it, Hiyoko-chan. It looks like Hinata really doesn’t remember…”

Koizumi’s soothing seemed to have the opposite effect. “Whaaaat?!” Saionji pouted
childishly, before hiding her mouth behind her sleeve, shooting Hinata a significant look.
“Hmmmmmph! He’s just trying to act important. Don’t you think maybe his talent is
suuuuper pathetic, and so he’s just pretending not to remember~?”

Those words pierced Hinata’s chest, perhaps deeper and more powerfully than even Saionji
had intended. Because Hinata himself had the vague fear that that was true. He absolutely,
positively was not pretending. But if he still didn’t remember, even after all that, then maybe

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his talent was an inconvenient memory for him. For example, what if it was like Saionji said,
and his talent was so insignificant that he would feel embarrassed to even say it out loud?

“That’s not true, Hinata-kun! I believe you have an amazing talent!!” Komaeda called out in
concern as Hinata fell silent. In that moment, Komaeda was the one person he didn’t want to
hear that from. Hinata’s skin was pretty thick in general, but in the end, Komaeda always
managed to get under it. Sure, that was just because he believed Hinata had a Super High
School Level talent. That was why he threw away his pride and went around asking everyone
about it, too. But what if he went to so much trouble to prove it, and then found out Hinata’s
talent was worthless? It was a no-brainer. He probably wouldn’t follow Hinata around
anymore. And of course, he wouldn’t be concerned about him anymore.

Hinata was sick of it. Both Komaeda doing whatever he wanted, and himself, for
understanding that that was just selfishness, but hurting himself with his own imaginings
anyway. “…Shut up.”

“Hinata-ku–”

“Shut up, shut up, everyone shut up!!”

“Hinata-kun?!”

Hinata ran off with a loud shout, not looking at anyone. Using up the very last of his strength,
he ran at full speed back to his own cottage.

Even the light, southerly night breeze flowing in from the open window rubbed him the
wrong way.

“…Ahhh, shit!”

Sick of rolling around on the bed, too, Hinata grabbed his blanket and sat up. It was
completely dark outside, and a glance at the clock told him it was nearly 9 PM. Since
abandoning himself to his anger, running down the beach and secluding himself in his
cottage, he’d missed both lunch and dinner, but he didn’t feel hungry at all. Even though he’d
been exhausted body and spirit by being led around by the nose so much.

He didn’t feel like doing anything anymore, but if he went to sleep, he’d end up having
nightmares. The dark haze causing Hinata to lose the hunger in his belly had taken human
shape, crowding around Hinata as he cowered, asking innocently, What’s your talent? What’s
your talent? What’s your talent?

“It’s all his fault…!”

Just as Hinata was about to fling his blanket at the wall in anger–

“You’re in there, aren’t you, Hinata-kun? I’m coming in.”

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He heard the door open, and was hit with the light filtered through swaying hair. Hinata
silently watched, as who else but Komaeda came to stand before him. The blanket made a
ridiculous fwump noise as it slipped from his grasp, but he didn’t care about that right now.
“Komaeda?! You… How did you get in here?!”

“Pretty careless of you, Hinata-kun. Looks like you forgot to lock your door.” Shrugging his
shoulders like he was the one who had been burdened, Komaeda gave himself away easily.
“Everyone else was looking for you, too, but I guess they were too apprehensive to even try
opening the door… Or maybe it’s thanks to my talent, since I wanted to see you so badly.
And now here I, ooh, guh…?!”

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Komaeda was suddenly grabbed at the base of his neck, face twisting in pain. Hinata glared
with hatred at that pale face.

Komaeda’s talent was luck. The power to obtain his desired results by transcending the law
of causality altogether. And he was showing it off right now, right in front of Hinata. There
was no way in hell Hinata felt like forgiving him.

“It’s thanks to your talent, huh? Then that means you stepped in here knowing you were the
one responsible for this whole situation, didn’t you?” The fabric of Komaeda’s shirt dug into
the back of his neck from Hinata’s hold on it. Imagining that pain offered Hinata a cold
tranquility. “I want to remember what my talent is, too. No–I want that more than anybody
else.” He didn’t need Komaeda pointing it out to him. He was living surrounded by people
with personality and talent abounds, so there was no way he wouldn’t feel conscious of it at
least once in a while. What could he do, he wondered? What kind of talent did he have?

He didn’t even care if it was Helper or whatever, like Nanami had suggested. He wanted
someone to tell him. He wanted to be recognized. You’re a splendid student of Hope’s Peak
Academy, and this is your talent.

“But, Komaeda. You should know better than anyone else, shouldn’t you? Talent is what the
students of Hope’s Peak live for. It’s basically what gives their lives value. But I still don’t
remember mine. Only me…!!” He tightened his grip on Komaeda’s shirt. The fabric dug
even deeper into the flesh at the back of Komaeda’s neck, and it was probably painful for
Komaeda, but it dug into Hinata’s fingers just the same, so it was painful for him too. But he
still didn’t feel like letting him go. “It’s not something I need people clumsily butting into, or
mocking me for. Right? Shouldn’t you know that already? But you still…!”

“–I’m sorry,” the childish apology spilled from Komaeda’s mouth. The malice drained from
Hinata, and he loosened his grip automatically, as Komaeda made a terribly admirable face.
“Sorry, Hinata-kun. It’s just like you said. It was my fault. I apologize. I’m really, really
sorry…” Komaeda spoke in a voice the likes of which Hinata had never heard before, and so
he let go of him entirely. Komaeda’s stretched out collar looked stupid, but his expression
was completely serious. “But don’t worry. No matter what kind of talent you have, it will at
least be better than the piece of trash that’s my good luck!!” His admirable expression did a
180, and suddenly, a familiar gleam filled his eyes. “I love the hope that’s born from
everyone’s shining talents, so I got carried away into stubbornness. I won’t do anything
uncalled for anymore, so I’d like you to please find it in your heart to forgive me. Oh, you
probably don’t want the ugly sight of someone like me around anymore. Then, I really am
sorry, Hinata-kun!!”

Komaeda turned on his heel as soon as he was done speaking, and left the cottage.

Having been left alone in the blink of an eye, for now, Hinata just picked up the blanket that
had fallen on the floor, returning it to its original position. However, he didn’t lie back down,
but simply sat on the bed for a while, mulling over the back-and-forth he’d been having with
Komaeda just a moment ago.

From the next day on, Komaeda stopped pursuing the matter of Hinata’s talent.

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It wasn’t just that he refrained from asking Hinata himself, like he did before. Nanami
informed Hinata that he’d stopped going around and asking everyone else, too. He actually
stopped avoiding Hinata, too, greeting him if they crossed paths, and occasionally eating
meals with him.

Just like how he acted with everyone else.

“…He really is a selfish prick.” Hinata sighed softly as he looked at the chair where
Komaeda had been sitting up until just a moment ago. Excepting Kuzuryuu, who liked to
pretend he was a lone wolf, everyone else was still eating, but for some reason, Komaeda had
shoveled his meal into his mouth at an alarming speed and left.

Even without that swaying hairdo bobbing around, breakfast was as bustling as ever. Since
Komaeda didn’t have anyone he was particularly attached to, he didn’t leave a strong
impression on the overall atmosphere of the place whether he was there or not.

“Maybe my talent really is Helper…”

Listening to Tsumiki’s cries as she was teased by Saionji, he thought instead of the boy who
wasn’t there. Tsumiki had Koizumi and Mioda with her, so she was probably fine for now.

Komaeda’s talent, Good Luck.

It was a frightening talent that brought him great fortune aligning with his intentions, only
when an equivalent misfortune was forced upon him along with it. Kinda like a preachy thief,
he thought idly, before countering himself with You’ve got that wrong![3] Mioda’s sensitive
ears and language sense must have had an effect on him. Not only did Komaeda have a talent
that was difficult to control, he had more of an interest in others’ talents than anyone else did.
Unlike Hinata, he was aware of what his own talent was, but at the same time, he looked
down on himself for it, putting himself down with a bright smile on his face.

He was a pain in the ass who took a lot of effort to deal with. But maybe Hinata wasn’t the
only one who got a glimpse of that side of him.

–He has to pay for his luck in misfortune afterwards. He knew that, but he came into my
cottage. But I just grabbed him and twisted his collar and tormented him.

It was the karmic justice Komaeda expected from his talent when he came to apologize.

Hinata furrowed his brow, looking down at his hands, reliving the pain from the fabric
cutting into Komaeda’s skin and his own. The instant he shook his head to try and shake off
the memory, he noticed something outside of the window.

“Komaeda?”

Beyond the lined-up roofs of the cottages, he saw a khaki hoodie floating above the white
beach. Komaeda was standing underneath a palm tree.

“Oh, Hinata-kun, where are you… *yawn*” Nanami called out to Hinata when he stood up,
and he smiled briefly, waving to her.

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“You’re sleepy because you’re full, aren’t you? Sit down, I just remembered something I
have to do real quick.”

Hinata left the restaurant jogging, and before long he was at the beach. Yesterday, nearly
everyone had been here causing a huge fuss, but today there was only Komaeda.

“Hey, Komaeda…”

“Stay back!”

As soon as he called out to him, he was met with a sharp command. At first he fell
speechless, and his stomach clenched in irritation. He felt himself a little narrow-minded for
it, but he couldn’t help thinking of how much Komaeda had already pushed him around and
upended his life lately. Just when he thought he shouldn’t have come after him, and he should
have just let it go–

A coconut crashed into Komaeda’s head from the palm tree with a great loud
boooonnnnggggg.

“Owow… All right, it’s okay now. What is it, Hinata-kun?” Komaeda smiled and drew
closer, rubbing at the large bump.

“N-No, I just… You ate super quickly and left, so I was wondering what was up…”

“Aahh, today, it was all my favorite things for breakfast. I thought there were going to be
aftershocks soon, so I left, so that I didn’t drag anyone else into it. But I think it’s fine now,”
he said, unreserved, gazing in wonder.

In that moment, Hinata felt the scales of his heart–before, as unsteady and erratic as
Komaeda’s hairstyle and behavior–fall decisively to one side. He took a short breath, and
then broached the topic as calmly as he could. “–Hey, Komaeda. About my talent…”

“Huh? Oh, it’s fine, sorry. I wasn’t trying to intrude in your business,” Komaeda interrupted
to answer preemptively, looking apologetic from the bottom of his heart. It seemed that, just
like he’d promised, he really had no intention of digging for Hinata’s talent.

For as much as Komaeda had persistently, one-sidedly pushed Hinata around, his meek
behavior now was embarrassing. Maybe I really am the Super High School Level Helper, he
thought self-deprecatingly, his stomach tying itself in knots. “I was thinking about why I
can’t remember my talent, and uh… maybe, possibly, it might be a talent I can’t use without
you.”

“…Huh?”

“Look, like, Super High School Level Friend or, something, like that.” He’d apparently been
staring unconsciously. As soon as he noticed, he looked down at the tips of Komaeda’s shoes.
Sweat suddenly started running down his back, but if he told Komaeda that he was

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embarrassed, Komaeda would probably get unnecessarily timid in return. So he forcefully
raised his chin again, awaiting a response, coolly locking eyes with him.

“What? How embarrassing.”

“…What the hell?!”

Hinata’s tone of voice abruptly did a 180, but Komaeda was exceedingly calm. “I mean…
You seem pretty embarrassed, Hinata-kun. Your face is all red, you know?” he pointed out
with a serious expression, and Hinata could feel his cheeks getting gradually redder and
redder. He ducked his head hastily, but heard a mystified voice chasing after him to follow up
with, “Can’t you please give me a break, already? It’s true that I love you and everyone else
overflowing with talent, and I’m happy that you would consider someone like me as a friend,
but no matter how much–”

Suddenly, another boooonnnnggggg rang out, interrupting the fluid speech, and Komaeda
promptly collapsed.

“H-Hey, Komaeda?!”

“…Uuugh…”

Another bump could be seen swelling up on top of the previous bump on Komaeda’s head.
He should have been used to these regular payments of bad luck, but it seemed that they had
more of an effect coming one right after the other. Hinata reached out a hand to help
Komaeda up, but Komaeda narrowed his eyes at Hinata, pouting. “…What are you grinning
for? It’s kind of creepy.”

“Well, y'know.” Even Komaeda’s bitter words just had the opposite effect right now. Hinata
gazed down at the two coconuts that had rolled onto the beach, laughing under his breath. “If
you suddenly got visited by bad luck, then that means that you were happy about our
conversation just now, weren’t you?”

Komaeda silently shook off Hinata’s hand at the intense teasing. By the way he sulkily turned
his head away and walked off, he was clearly angry. That made Hinata even more amused,
and strangely happy, so he followed after him.

“Hey, do you want me to patch you up?”

“It’s fine. I’ll get Tsumiki-san to do it.”

“Don’t be like that. We’re Super High School Level Friends, aren’t we?”

“That was all you! Don’t drag me into it!!”

The more Komaeda got irritated, the more Hinata couldn’t stop smiling. He even felt like he
finally understood why Komaeda cared about him at all.

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Komaeda, who always went overboard flattering everyone around him, constantly saying that
he didn’t even come up to their feet. His extreme humility became a wall between him and
everyone else, concealing his true feelings.

But now, Hinata felt like he could see the other side of the wall, just a little. Beneath the mask
of devotion, or even religious fanaticism, there was the glimpse of a smile, of someone who
was moved to be taken seriously as a friend, of nothing more than a boy around his age who
pouted when he was teased.

Maybe one day, I really will become Super High School Level Friends with this guy. Hinata
followed after Komaeda, holding that small hope in his heart.

[1] The Drifters were a band that had a very popular comedic variety show. Quoting from the
article: “Its low-brow humour and slapstick comedy made it popular with children much to
the dismay of parents.”
[2] Jumping dogeza (kowtow) is apparently a thing. Though it’s a comedic meme. Sliding
dogeza is here too.
[3] “Preachy thief” (説教強盗, sekkyou goutou) was coined for a specific criminal, Tsumaki
Matsukichi, who broke into people’s homes, tied them up, and then lectured them about how
they should avoid crime in the future as he robbed them. I felt there were a number of ways
this could be taken in context, so I decided to preserve the full reference.

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Thanks for reading!

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