A Man's Tears Hold High Value
Practice had begun, one way or another.
I'd been a little thrown off at first, but the more I thought about it, the less reason there seemed to be to mind. Her grip on reality was, admittedly, a little concerning — but she was pretty, and though it felt a bit crude to say so, her figure was… mm, extremely, extraordinarily excellent….
"Chan! Shall we start practicing too? Even if I have to burn this body of mine to ash, I will absolutely…."
"You're still doing that, huh…. Look, skip that stuff. Let's introduce ourselves first… though you already know my name."
"Ah — what an honor! M-my name is Lee Nabom! My parents named me that because I was born in the spring!"
"Is that so? It's a really pretty name. ……But why is your hair…."
"Wow! Thank you so much. But what did you say after that?"
"Nothing, I didn't say anything. Just — we're the same age, so let's drop the formal speech."
"How could someone as lowly as I possibly…."
"Because it makes me uncomfortable. You don't want to make me uncomfortable, do you?"
"N-no, absolutely not! Casual speech! I'll use casual speech!"
"Good. Heh."
I was starting to get a handle on how to deal with her. Whether it was really okay to treat a classmate like this remained an open question, but still.
Class time was fixed, and with so many people needing to sing even a short song, practice time was extremely tight. So we jumped straight into it.
Truth be told, I was fairly confident in my singing. But then — of all things.
Nabom sang beautifully.
It wasn't that her technique was overwhelmingly sophisticated. Rather, she had a distinctive tone that made full use of her lovely voice, and it was incredibly captivating. I spent the entire practice session half-entranced without even realizing it. I had no idea how thoroughly she'd stolen my attention — I only snapped out of it when the teacher announced that time was up.
One by one the other kids took their turns, and ours was drawing near.
"Chan… I'll do okay, right…?"
"I'm the one who should be worried…. You sing so well I'm afraid of getting compared…."
"There's no way! Compared to you, I'm worth less than an ant's droppings!"
"…Didn't we agree to stop that?"
"Ah, right! Th-then a cicada's droppings…!"
"…Sure. I don't know what difference that makes, but if it works for you…."
"Mm, hehe!"
Ah. Her singing had raised my affection for her so high it was becoming a problem. Even that side of her was starting to look cute.
"Next — Chan, get up here already. Didn't the teacher say to wait and come out when it's your turn? Honestly, you two are so busy cooing at each other you can't even hear her, can you?"
Before I knew it, it was our turn. I stood up from my desk and walked to the front of the classroom with Nabom. Time must have been short, because the moment we stepped forward the music started. We began singing along with the intro.
It felt like a dream.
To be able to spend a moment like this with Chan….
"When I open my eyes in the morning, your face rises before me."
"I want to spend this night with you."
The boy I'd fallen for at first sight last year — the one I'd longed so desperately to speak with even once — and now we were singing face-to-face, eyes locked on each other.
The sheer unreality of it made tears well up even as we sang a love song.
And then, before I knew it, the song was over. Chan hesitated, looking a little embarrassed, then slowly stepped toward me.
And he hugged me.
Ahh… to bestow such a reward upon someone who had contented herself every night with nothing more than photos taken from afar….
Ahh, Chan….
I will serve you… for the rest of my life….
Ah… it's a little wet….
Hehe. Tonight is going to be very exciting.
"Ah… it's a little wet…."
Pretty, my ass. She really was a complete lunatic.
Her eyes had looked a little off even while we were singing, so I'd hesitated slightly before hugging her — and the moment I did, her gaze went completely unfocused. A little pat on the back and she was spouting that kind of nonsense.
If I hadn't come from a reversed world, this would have been an instant one-way ticket to handcuffs. Did she have any idea how terrifying a weapon a woman's — no, a man's — tears could be?
Even now the kids around us were shrieking and losing their minds, though Maru had apparently stepped in and done her best to explain it away as a White Day present. For once, I was grateful. Thanks, Maru.
Haa….
After a long, eventful day of school and my part-time job, I finally made it home.
On the way, I'd bought some chocolate specially. Not because I was craving sweets or anything like that — I'd just suddenly remembered how much I owed the teacher from a week ago, and even though White Day had already passed, I decided to give her a small gift.
I'd never made handmade chocolate before, but these days YouTube had tutorials for everything. As long as I had the ingredients, I'd figure it out somehow.
Melting the chocolate, dumping in the sugar, shaping it, letting it set — there was a lot to do, but thinking about how happy the teacher would be made it feel pretty rewarding.
Yes. It was rewarding work.
…Or it would have been, if certain people hadn't shown up.
"Hey! Open the damn door! You little mutt — when are you sending the money?!"
The moment I finished, loan sharks came banging on the door, shouting at the top of their lungs. Apparently, in this reversed world, I hadn't been paying on time.
"For fuck's sake — if your parents took a dump and left, isn't it your duty as their kid to clean it up? No wonder people say the apple doesn't fall far. You can't do a single damn thing right."
"…I'll send it right away, so cut the crap and leave, you bastards. Don't run your mouths in my house."
"Aigoo, feeling a little dirty about it, are we? Then maybe pay on time before we have to come out here? Saves both of us the headache."
"……."
"Though I guess… coming from parents like that, you never got a proper upbringing, did you? Pathetic little freak. Your face is decent enough — why don't you sell that body of yours to pay off the debt~ Oh, wait. How about I hold you right now? How much do you want?"
"…I said shut up and get out. And keep my parents out of your mouth. If anyone's going to curse them, it'll be me."
"Heeey~ Look at him, playing the devoted son. You that fond of the brats who abandoned you? If it were me, I'd have killed them myse―"
"You son of a bitch!"
I couldn't take it. I lunged and drove my fist straight into that bastard's face.
— Thud!
One hit to the face and the loan shark was streaming blood from his nose. Damn, that felt good, you piece of shit.
"Ghk?! Y-you fucker. Hey, what are you standing around for?! You see me get hit? Break one of his arms! We go easy on this little shit 'cause his face is cute and he thinks he can die on us!"
I'd charged in because I couldn't stand hearing my parents come out of that filthy mouth — but what came next was obvious. One-on-one might have been different, but three-on-one was unwinnable. Especially since those bastards had brought their damn bats.
So what did I do?
I ran.
What else was I supposed to do? I couldn't actually let them break my arm. If my arm got broken I couldn't work my part-time job, which meant I couldn't pay, which meant they'd come back again. A shortcut to making my life even more miserable.
Thankfully, thanks to my upgraded body, I only took a few hits before I managed to get away fast.
"Ah, shit. I think I took one to the head somewhere in the middle. Feeling a little dizzy."
The loan sharks would probably be waiting at the house, so there was no going home tonight. I prayed there was at least enough money in my pocket for an internet cafe — but all I found was the boxed chocolate I'd just finished making. I must have shoved it in my pocket without thinking when the loan sharks showed up and startled me.
"Haa… completely useless. This fucking…."
I walked with no destination, fighting back the tears that kept trying to break free. Maybe coming to this reversed world had changed me somehow — lately it felt like I was crying more often.
Before I knew it, I'd wandered into a quiet, deserted place. Whether it was empty because it was night or because this area was always empty, I didn't know — but what mattered right now was that there was no one around. If there was no one around, crying would be a little less humiliating.
"Haa… sniff… but what am I actually supposed to do? I don't even know how long those bastards will wait. Where am I supposed to go…?"
I couldn't tell whether I was crying because I felt sorry for myself or felt sorry for myself because I was crying — and right around the point where that causal chain stopped making sense, I heard someone's voice nearby.
I nearly bolted, thinking the loan sharks had tracked me this far, then realized the voice was somehow familiar and calmed down a little. I was rapidly turning over who it could be when the other person noticed me first.
"Chan? Chan! What are you doing out here? Why are you crying — blood, blood?! Ch-Chan! What's that blood on your head?!"
Thankfully, it was the teacher.
It was a little strange how she always seemed to be nearby whenever I was crying.
"Chan! Does it hurt a lot? Where — what happened? Can you tell Teacher about it?"
Ahh. A bad idea was starting to take shape.
I wasn't normally this kind of person. Doing this would be a huge imposition on her. You weren't supposed to do this to someone who was being kind to you.
And yet the bad idea kept coming. Kept coming.
I shouldn't. I really shouldn't….
"Teacher…. Would you sit next to me?"
"…Huh? Oh. Sure. Can you tell Teacher what happened?"
"What do you think of me, Teacher?"
"Well… of course I think you're a kind, adorable student…."
"Is that so?"
Right. Come to think of it — was it really so wrong for me to want something too?
Wanting someone to lean on, wanting to be loved — that was only natural.
So….
"Teacher, I heard you were thinking about getting a pet."
What I was doing right now was a perfectly normal thing to do.
"…Then how about me? Instead of a dog or a cat… would you try raising me?"