SH – Chapter 5 – Ready to Fully Embrace the Role of a Villain

Having received permission from the student council president herself to sneak into the girls’ dormitory, I was diligently wiping the windows of the girls’ dormitory early in the morning, as if I were a janitor.

The cover-up that was relayed to the students was “Due to Louis-kun’s lack of seriousness, he will be responsible for cleaning both the boys’ and girls’ dormitories to rebuild himself both mentally and physically.”

Not only the girls’ dormitory but also the boys’ dormitory had to be cleaned, but I’ll just accept this as a necessary expense.

I only needed access to the girls’ dormitory, but that would probably be too suspicious, so I was also assigned to clean the boys’ dormitory.

By the way, the reason I’m cleaning in the early morning is that Irina isn’t in her room at this time due to her morning training.

For someone who doesn’t want her efforts to be revealed, it’s convenient to train in the early morning when everyone else is asleep.

After this, the preparations for the third phase of the plan will be complete.

I will be playing as the villain and Irina will be playing as the pitiful individual whose efforts are ridiculed.

The public perception will be that of a despicable guy mocking someone’s hard work vs a diligent girl who has had her efforts undermined.

Well, bonus points if Allen were to reprimand me and console Irina during the act.

It feels uncomfortable to be fighting against my oshi, but my goal is to make the heroines smile and avoid triggering any death flags.

This is the most I can do as an incompetent mob character.

I’m not someone who can stand on the stage of the story, and the idea of replacing the protagonist is so far-fetched.

In the end, it takes a protagonist to save them.

That said, I made sure to check the surroundings of the girls’ dormitory and the various escape routes, before executing the plan.

—However, when I was executing the plan…

It seems that I failed to consider something.

Just as I was packing a part of Irina’s study notes into my bag, unbelievably, Irina returned.

The moment our eyes met, rather than showing signs of affection, I was met with a murderous intent that would be capable of killing me on the spot.

It wasn’t the “will kill” kind of murderous intent, but rather the “must kill” kind.

When faced with such an intense gaze, I took a step back.

What was fortunate was that I had already finished packing the preparation and review notes into my bag.

However, at the same time, luck was not on my side.

The preparation and review notes were hidden in her room, and for some reason, the hiding spot was deep within the dresser’s underwear compartment.

Why would you hide them there?! There were definitely better hiding spots available!

In other words, I was holding Irina’s underwear in my hands.

Not to mention, there were also numerous underwear scattered all over the floor.

Yeah, there is no way to explain this away.

I forced open my stiffened mouth and attempted to start some small talk for the time being.

“Uh, h-hi. What a coincidence to meet you here of all places. The weather is nice today, and, uh, I feel lucky to be able to encounter the beautiful Irina-san.” (Louis)

While I spoke, she stared at me with an extremely cold gaze and then calmly responded in a chilling voice. 

“Isn’t that obvious? After all, this is my room.” (Irina)

“R-Really? I, uh, didn’t realize that. My apologies.” (Louis)

Irina started to slowly approach me, as I continued to back away into a corner near the window.

“Uh, well… you’re not going to forgive me, right?” (Louis)

“Isn’t that obvious? You must be pretty delusional if you think you would be forgiven.” (Irina)

Yep, I have no other choice.

I opened the window wide and yeeted¹ myself out of it.

“F-Farewell!” (Louis)

“Ah! You… Wait!” (Irina)

Phew, thank goodness this is a second-floor room.

If it were the fourth floor or higher, I would have definitely been done for.

I ran as far away as I possibly could from her.

… Seems like I managed to escape somehow.

“…Haha. No matter how ready I am to become the villain, it still hurts to be looked at with such cold eyes by the heroine I like.” (Louis)

But this is the path I have chosen.

This is probably the best way for her to find happiness.

Even in the game, Irina seemed to carry a particular burden of unhappiness.

Moreover, even once you reached the happy ending, her bad reputation had not been resolved.

Naturally, this makes you want to see the true ending, right?

Basically, in [YamiKyuu], there are often remains of a shadow in the hearts of the heroines, even in the happy ending.

While there was a strong demand for a True Ending, the development team didn’t go through with it.

As a result, I have never seen the heroines truly smile from their hearts.

Just once, even just once, I wanted to see it.

As an otaku, and as a fan, I wanted to see it happen.

—There’s no turning back now, I suppose.

[Even if I bear all the hatred and resentment, I can at least make them happy.]

Up until now, this was just a vague thought, but this time I can finally feel the determination within me.

＋＋＋

— Irina von Luccaria’s PoV—

On the first day after summer vacation, I had a conversation with a certain boy.

He was lazy and apathetic², the kind of person who mocks the concept of effort itself.

Yet, this boy was observing me closely and oddly enough, seemed to be well aware of my efforts.

He probably possesses keen observation skills.

The boy seemed to understand my pain and replied to me with soothing words.

At that moment, I was caught off guard by his sudden kind words, and it caused my heart to feel greatly disturbed.

But when I reflected on what happened later, I started to consider that there might be some reason behind his lazy demeanor.

Louis—

He doesn’t have a surname. This by itself is a subtle indication that he was a commoner.

In other words, he is nothing short of a genius who managed to achieve the impossible task of securing a slot in the school despite being a commoner.

When I realized that, my perspective of him changed.

He probably worked tirelessly behind the scenes as much as I do, and yet just like me, he received a bad reputation for not revealing his efforts. 

I don’t understand why he doesn’t show his efforts openly.

But there must be some reason… Recently, I found myself starting to think that way.

Not too long ago, he was entrusted with the role of a janitor for the girls’ dormitory and he apparently snuck into my room.

While I was busy training early in the morning, he used this chance to sneak into my room to steal my underwear.

Turns out that, he was just a stalker.

All the faith I had built up until now quickly turned into contempt.

I felt betrayed.

…It’s better not to trust others after all.

It’s better to avoid interacting with others.

While thinking about this, I went to check which underwear had been stolen from me but—

“…Huh, why? Why hasn’t any of it been stolen?” (Irina)

Strangely enough, not a single piece of underwear had been stolen.

Instead, a part of my preparation and review notes that I had hidden deep inside was stolen.

…Why?

I’m baffled.

Wasn’t he sneaking in for my underwear?

Why would he steal my notes instead?

I don’t understand.

It doesn’t make any sense.

Perhaps, by chance, he stumbled upon the notes while trying to steal the underwear, and out of curiosity, took them.

But if that’s the case, then why weren’t the underwear taken too…?

Somehow, I could tell that he had done that with some kind of intention in mind.

But I couldn’t make out what those intentions were.

However, I didn’t have to think about this for long.

Because, the day after the intrusion, Louis had somehow ended up as a villain, while I had turned into the pitiful girl whose efforts were mocked by him.

At that point, I finally realized.

He wasn’t trying to hurt me.

On the contrary, it was quite the opposite.

Louis was framing himself as the villain, with the intention to clear my bad reputation.

The notes that were supposedly stolen were actually revealed to everyone by him.

Moreover—

“Hey, look at this! Irina here has to take notes! Haha, isn’t that stupid! Why would she even need to do that?” (Louis)

Louis also has a reputation as bad as mine.

He must have known that earnestly explaining my efforts to everyone wouldn’t have much impact.

That’s why he framed himself as the villain while making my efforts known to them.

After all, humans tend to favor the good while punishing the evil.

They like stories where the hardworking heroes defeat the villains who mock their efforts.

And, as if following that story perfectly, those around us are being incited.

Everything seems to be manipulated within the palm of Louis’ hand—

Not only that but recently, I felt that people around me were looking at me slightly differently.

Was that orchestrated by him as well…?

I deeply regretted it.

I ended up denouncing³ him without knowing or trying to find out why he had taken the risk of sneaking into my room.

I also gave him a disdainful gaze yesterday.

When I did that, he had a very sad expression on his face.

And… this turn of events is likely according to his plan as well.

Within the school, the voices denouncing Louis started to increase rapidly, while in contrast, voices of sympathy and support for me started to grow.

There is no doubt that he has envisioned this in his mind.

Those voices spread at a terrifying speed, and in response to that, the student council suddenly made an announcement.

[A male student by the name of Louis recently intruded into Miss Irina von Luccaria’s room during disciplinary cleaning. This is an unacceptable behavior. While it is possible to expel him for this, we believe that both the student body and Miss Irina herself would find that unsatisfactory. Therefore, it has been decided that a duel between Louis and Miss Irina will be held. The headmaster will be in attendance, and the severity of the punishment will be determined based on the outcome of this battle.]

A paper bearing such a statement was posted on the bulletin board within the school.

They probably didn’t consult me because they knew I would oppose it.

In the end, everything was in the palm of his hand.

If I were to crush Louis here, the surrounding students would think of me as a hero who has defeated the villain. And even if I couldn’t bring myself up to completely crush him, they would still think of me as a merciful hero who forgave the villain.

Whichever way it went, I would be recognized by those around me, and my bad reputation would be erased.

I don’t understand why he is going to such lengths for me.

But he is basically throwing away everything for me.

That’s all I need to know.

—Even if the whole world turns against him, I will continue to believe in him and admire him.

I could sense the emergence of such feelings deep inside my heart.

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TL notes:

Thanks for reading!

Luckily for our MC, Irina is smart enough to piece things together. I’m glad this misunderstanding didn’t have to drag on for long.

Obviously, the devs of this game kept a shadow of darkness inside the heroine’s good ending so that they could make a sequel!

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Footnote:

1. Yeeted means threw. I mean, I didn’t really have to use this term, but I wanted to.
2. Apathetic means showing or feeling no interest, enthusiasm, or concern.
3. Denouncing means publicly declaring to be wrong or evil.