Life In The Reverse World

“Family. Of course it’s the Family blessing charm.”

Harutaki fished one of the omamori out from the outer pocket of his JanSport backpack—the one he had prepared for Ayaka and the others. Holding it up in midair, he showed the bright green Family charm to Nogami.

“The charms I bought with Shihou are also Family charms. After all…” Harutaki paused briefly, then continued, “…my parents are away most of the time, and I have three younger sisters to look after. And Shihou… well, she has a different view of her family. So if a blessing charm could help us a bit, all the better.”

“Hehe, Hoshikawa-kun really takes family seriously, huh~”

Minako teased, tilting the corners of her lips and giving him a long, assessing glance before leaning toward Nogami to pick her charm.

“Eh—” Sae began, “I thought Harutaki would buy a Love (Romance) charm, since you and Izumi have always…”

But Nogami cut her off mid-sentence, a stiff, scornful smile tugging at her lips, her voice trembling ever so slightly.

“W-What do you mean by… me and him!? But Sae’s right, that stupid dog’s almost seventeen and still hasn’t had a girlfriend. Hmph… so pitiful…”

Well… if necessary, she, Nogami Izumi, could sacrifice a little for her “dog” and help him out.

Of course, the latter half of that sentence she could never actually say out loud.

This had nothing to do with whether Chouko, Sae, or Minako were present. Deep down, she knew that if she used that as a reason to start a relationship, her connection with Harutaki would no longer feel… pure.

She didn’t know the right word for it—“like”? Or “love”?

“Like” shouldn’t come mixed with anything else, she thought. But she had never dated anyone before, never truly liked anyone, and her understanding of “like” was shallow at best.

Does liking someone truly mean ignoring appearance, personality, and background?

Even if it seems pure, she wondered, then what would really make a person like another? What qualities could make one heart choose another?

Although Nogami had never liked a human, she did have things she liked—

Beautiful dolls, emotionless, loyal, truthful, and completely under her control.

And… her childhood neighbor’s Shiba Inu, “Sakura.”

Dogs’ feelings toward humans were probably pure, at least that was her belief.

After she fed Sakura a few chicken legs and meat strips, stroked her a few times, every time she passed by her neighbor’s house, Sakura would wag her short, perky orange tail and run out to greet her.

Yeah… she even loved to pee on her, often wetting her skirts, drawing repeated apologies from the neighbor lady.

But Nogami thought, that was the dog’s way of showing affection to someone it cared about, right?

Would that perverted dog Harutaki ever… pee on her too?

The thought made her shiver.

Gross.

“Anyway… even if you bought a Love charm, I wouldn’t hold it against you.”

“Eh… why do I have to consider Nogami-san’s feelings when buying a romance charm? Let’s not dig too deep into that,” Harutaki said lightly, sighing. He had no idea how to comment on her contradictory words.

Just as he tried to change the topic, a mischievous idea popped into his head.

This was bad—really bad. How come, in such a short time, he was already picking up naughty habits from Chouko and Fuyuno?

Setting aside his secret desire to see Nogami flustered, did Chouko and Fuyuno really have no part in this at all?

“But according to Nogami-san’s logic, you’re actually supporting me getting a girlfriend, right?”

He deliberately looked toward Chouko.

Because Chouko was sitting next to Nogami, everyone else—including Sae, Minako, and Nogami herself—assumed Harutaki was looking at Chouko.

“Izumi, your dog’s about to run off, huh? Better tighten the leash, or some bad guy outside might snatch it away.”

She, Chouko probably didn’t count as an outsider, right?

“Speaking of ‘tightening the leash,’ I saw some YouTube dating advice videos,” Sae said, pulling a chocolate protein bar from somewhere, tearing off the wrapper, and biting halfway through.

Chew, chew.

Glug.

She swallowed and, under the watchful eyes of the four others, spoke at a leisurely pace:

“Step one: To capture a man’s heart, you must first capture his stomach!”

“Oh… oh.”

Nogami nodded nervously, as if taking her seriously.

In reality… half of her heart had already given up.

She didn’t cook. Ever. Luxury bentos every day—how could she compete?

She wasn’t even aiming to capture Harutaki’s stomach—if he didn’t capture it first, it was already a win.

“Step two: Directly control a man’s second brain!”

“S-Second brain?”

Nogami’s head practically sprouted a question mark.

Her grades were excellent—top ten in the year—and she had actually paid attention in health class, but… a second brain for men?

“Of course… the testes.”

Sae’s words immediately plunged the unused classroom into awkward silence.

“…”

Even Minako, who knew her friend was bold and careless, had not expected her to say something like that here.

There was a boy in the room—Hoshikawa Harutaki!

This wasn’t like the three of them alone at home anymore.

“Sae… uh… you… you…”

Nogami’s face was burning, her mind a total mess. She forgot everything she had intended to say just moments ago.

Test… testes…

Her thoughts flashed back to the time she and Harutaki had squeezed into the narrow space between walls, pressed tightly together, and he had… used his “phone” against her stomach—

H-How does one control something like that?!

Most teenagers learned about “sex” in middle school. Some from health class, some from R16 movies or magazines. Nogami was no exception.

Moreover… Sae had even handed her such a manga before, teasing that there was even better stuff in her room.

“T-That… that’s hard to control, right?”

Chouko’s face flushed red as she clearly remembered last night’s incident.

“No matter how skilled Harutaki is, boys are at a disadvantage in those matters. You just have to squeeze him thoroughly—”

“Sae, that’s starting to look like you want to snap my neck.”

Seeing her bronzed skin and the twisting motion she made, Harutaki couldn’t help but comment.

Also… Sae clearly didn’t treat him as an outsider at all.

He knew girls could be brazen in private conversations, but here in this classroom, with him present, openly talking about controlling a “second brain” and “squeezing thoroughly”—was that really okay?

“Matters between boys and girls can only be done with someone whose feelings are mutual!”

“Wow… Izumi is surprisingly pure…”

“I… I’m just… just…”

Sae’s “bomb” had hit Nogami right in the heart, and the heavy cruiser sank immediately.

“If Izumi can’t do it, I can handle it. Hehe… using Harutaki should feel a lot better than using my fingers!”

“You really don’t see me as an outsider.”

Harutaki, for his part, had no particular feelings toward Sae—she hadn’t left him with any romantic impressions.

Some people preferred gaming with friends over spending time with girlfriends.

Sae was exactly that type of friend.

“No way!”

Nogami reacted fiercely, pinching Sae’s smooth bronzed cheeks while scolding her:

“You can’t just do this recklessly and become a shameless girl! Only with someone whose feelings are mutual!”

“I think Harutaki and I do have mutual feelings.”

“Tch… don’t get cocky. That stupid dog Harutaki could never understand a girl’s heart.”

She curled her lips in disdain, clearly disbelieving Sae.

Harutaki looked at her stubborn expression and thought: Nogami, you’re easy to read.

“Hehe, Izumi, just watch,” Sae said proudly, turning toward Harutaki.

“Harutaki, guess what I want to do right now?”

Really confident, huh.

He considered his friend’s personality and habits, and cautiously asked:

“Want another Asahi chocolate protein bar?”

“Bingo!”

“Ugh…”

Nogami let out a tiny wail, then quickly regained composure, arguing back:

“Y-You can’t possibly understand Hoshikawa’s feelings, Sae!”

“I’m guessing he’s thinking of starting a harem, putting all of us in this classroom onto his bed… right, Haru-taki-kun~?”

Truly, a friend with “mutual feelings”!

But for this kind of thing… he sneakily glanced from the corner of his eyes—

If he nodded, Nogami would probably execute him on the spot.

“Eh? Sae, why are you including yourself? I only like beautiful girls.”

“…Little… bro~ maybe your definition of ‘beautiful girl’ is a bit… off?”

“….”

As expected, he had to clutch his side and flop onto the desk to relieve the pain.

…