The Original Protagonist Keeps Showing Interest

Kyle came looking for me first the next day.

It was after class.

I was alone in the emptied lecture hall, packing up my books, when Kyle, leaning against the doorway, raised a hand.

"Got a minute to talk?"

I checked the surroundings first.

Lydia had gone to the faculty office because of a message from the Holy Kingdom.

Erika was at the training grounds.

Selene was in a student council meeting.

Noel's familiar was curled up asleep by the window.

Not exactly a situation where I could call for backup.

"About what?"

"It's a little awkward here."

Kyle pointed toward the hallway.

So he wanted the two of us to go somewhere quiet.

That was strange.

The dating-sim protagonist asking to meet somewhere without people around.

Normally that would be a flag for an event.

The problem was that I was the one being pursued, not the one doing the pursuing.

"We're not going far, right?"

"Yeah. Just to the Central Garden."

"We take a path with people on it."

The professor had told me not to seek Kyle out on my own.

This time he had come to me first; I hadn't approached him.

And if it was a garden full of people, it wouldn't count as private contact either.

Even if we got caught, it probably wouldn't be a big deal.

Kyle laughed.

"If Lydia heard that, she'd really think I was suspicious."

"She already does."

Not me—Lydia.

The original saintess route didn't even look salvageable anymore.

There were quite a few students in the Central Garden.

I deliberately chose a bench with plenty of people around and sat down.

Kyle didn't take the seat across from me; he sat right beside me instead.

I casually shifted one seat over.

Kyle followed.

I moved again.

He looked at me like I was being weird.

"Why do you keep putting distance between us?"

"Personal safety bubble."

"What did I even do?"

"Nothing yet."

That was how a harem master always talked before he started conquering someone.

Kyle sighed and scooted all the way to the other end of the bench.

"This far enough?"

"Yeah."

Only then did I feel a little better.

"So what did you want to talk about?"

When I asked, Kyle's expression changed.

The smile faded a little.

"I saw you training in the garden yesterday."

Kyle spoke first.

"So you were watching."

"I wasn't deliberately spying. I was just passing by and felt the wind."

"Then why didn't you say anything and just leave?"

"The vibe between Erika and Lydia wasn't exactly one I wanted to walk into."

That part I understood.

Once those two started arguing over my training methods, even Selene couldn't easily step in.

"You closed your eyes and still dodged Erika's movements."

Kyle said.

"That was ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠reading the future, right?"

"I was sensing the wind."

"Even though you couldn't see?"

"When someone moves, the air moves too."

Kyle seemed to turn my answer over in his head a few times.

Was he wary of my ability?

Or was he checking because it was a power that never existed in the original?

Either way, it wasn't ordinary curiosity.

"Can you see the future?"

That question again.

"No."

"Not at all?"

"Not at all."

"But you knew there was a magic circle under the lake."

"I told you I didn't."

"And you suggested investigating the tower first, didn't you?"

I narrowed my eyes.

That detail hadn't been made public.

The official announcement only said I had contributed to the investigation.

The fact that I had pointed to the upper levels before we even entered the underground waterway was known only to the people involved in the inquiry.

"Where did you hear that?"

Kyle paused for a moment.

"I overheard the professors talking."

"Again?"

"I just happened to hear them mentioning your performance when they were discussing the tower."

Kyle didn't look away.

If anything, he met my eyes straight on.

"I'm less interested in how you knew and more interested in why you keep moving first every time something happens."

"Moving first?"

"At the lake, and at the tower."

"Both were accidents."

"Can coincidences like that keep stacking up?"

Why did my credibility drop every time I told the truth?

Kyle thought for a moment, then asked again.

"If something dangerous happens again, are you going to jump in?"

"Why are you asking that?"

"Because I get the feeling you'll move first this time too."

At first I had tried to put the original story back on track.

I had tried to shove Erika's route onto Kyle.

I had tried somehow to keep Lydia's route alive as well.

The results had been disastrous.

Erika had dueled me.

Lydia had grown wary of Kyle.

Selene had started watching Kyle and me by turns.

Noel had kidnapped me.

The more I touched the original routes, the more they fell apart.

That didn't mean I could just ignore danger right in front of me.

"I'd rather avoid it if I can."

"But?"

"If something dangerous is happening right in front of me, I can't just stand there and do nothing."

Kyle didn't answer for a while.

"What if you misjudge?"

"Then I'll fix it when the time comes."

"No plan at all, huh."

"I can't see the future. How am I supposed to make a perfect plan?"

I thought of the monsters I had seen at the lake.

Without Erika ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠and Lydia I wouldn't have been able to do anything.

Conversely, if I hadn't lifted the lake, we might never have found the magic circle.

Whether it had been in the original or not didn't matter.

In that moment I had done what I could, and as a result everyone had survived.

Kyle's expression eased for a second.

He looked almost relieved.

"What's with that face?"

"I was curious what kind of answer you'd give."

"So you were testing me?"

"Sorry."

He apologized so readily that it was hard to stay mad.

"Then what about me?"

Kyle asked.

"From your point of view, what do you think I should be doing?"

An easy question.

What the original protagonist was supposed to do.

Meet the heroines, raise their affection, clear each of their routes.

"Get along well with the heroines."

Kyle's eyebrows went up.

"Heroines?"

"Ah."

Mouth.

Please stay shut at least during the important moments.

"I mean... the girls."

"Which ones?"

I held up my fingers one by one.

"Erika."

"Okay."

"Lydia."

"Lydia gets wary the second I even try to approach her."

"That's for you to figure out."

I folded the second finger.

"Selene."

"I've barely spoken to the student council president."

"Noel."

"I haven't even properly seen her face."

The original protagonist's conquest progress was in shambles.

At this rate it might not be entirely my fault.

Maybe Kyle had social issues of his own.

From his perspective, the four names I had picked had almost no connection to him.

Erika, who was more interested in dueling me than him.

Lydia, who blocked him from even getting near me.

Selene, whom he had never properly spoken to.

Noel, whose face he had never even seen.

It looked less like a blind-date list and more like a restraining-order list.

Still, in the original he had broken through all of them.

A harem master wasn't a harem master for nothing.

"Why those four?"

Kyle asked.

"Because that's how it originally..."

Because that was their role.

I stopped myself mid-sentence.

If I explained that, I would also have to admit I knew this world was a game.

"I just thought you'd get along well."

A pathetic excuse.

Kyle didn't laugh.

"With all four of them?"

"That's your strong point, isn't it?"

"First I've heard of it."

Apparently the harem master himself had no idea about his own talent.

"Then what about you?"

Kyle asked.

"Why did you leave yourself out?"

A chill ran down my spine.

Was he looking for a new conquest target because things weren't progressing with the existing heroines?

If so, the candidate was painfully obvious.

A transfer student who didn't exist in the original, had no family, and kept running into him in the middle of every incident.

In a dating sim, it wouldn't be ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠strange to treat her as a hidden heroine.

No, wait.

Why was I calculating the possibility myself?

I scooted all the way to the end of the bench.

I knew it.

This guy was trying to add me to the conquest list too.

"Why would I be included?"

"Sudden formal speech?"

"I'm establishing distance."

Kyle laughed like he couldn't believe it.

"I was just wondering why you only named those four."

"Because I wasn't originally there."

The words slipped out.

Kyle's smile stopped.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean I wasn't at the academy. Not on the enrollment list or anything."

I scrambled for a cover story.

Kyle looked at me.

This time for a long while.

I looked away first.

I never should have started this conversation.

I had tried to check whether Kyle was suspicious, and now I was the one who looked more suspicious.

"Cheongha."

He called my name again.

"I'll believe you when you say you can't see the future."

"Only now?"

"But I still think you know something."

Same here.

You're hiding something too.

We stared at each other.

It felt like an intelligence war to see who would uncover the other's secrets first.

The problem was that neither of us looked particularly talented at intelligence work.

Then a bell rang from the main building.

Every student in the garden looked up at once.

Huge magical letters unfolded in the air.

Students began murmuring.

The Magic Exchange Exhibition.

I had no memory of seeing an event like this in the game.

Whether it was something that never appeared in the parts I had skimmed, or something I had simply forgotten after rushing through, I couldn't tell.

For someone who could no longer trust original-story information, both meant the same thing.

I had no idea what was about to happen.

Beside me, Kyle's expression hardened for the briefest moment.

It was so brief I might have imagined it.

"What's wrong?"

Kyle stood up from the bench.

"It's nothing."

Nothing again.

The more that guy said it was nothing, the deeper my suspicions grew.