Chapter 35: A Love Rival? He Won’t Give Up!
Fuyunagi Shizuku sat down with a serene expression.
She swept back her long black hair, letting it flow behind her like a cape.
I could almost hear a dramatic flowing-cape sound effect coming from it.
She had the expression of utter completion, as though she had just finished running a marathon or conquering a mountain.
“Haa…”
She looked utterly enchanted.
Her cheeks were flushed in bliss, her expression soft and hazy with a dreamy daze.
It’s practically the ‘Sage Mode’ you enter after making love.
Well, in her mind, it wasn’t far off from that.
“I–I mean… wow, Shizuku, you’re something else…”
“Eh…? What do you mean…?”
“What do I mean? I’m talking about how serious you are about Majima.”
“It seems my feelings for him still aren’t getting through to you, Nagisa? Fine! I’ll explain them to you again so you won’t get any strange ideas about Taku-chan from now on!! Listen carefully! Taku-chan is—”
“Waaah… waaaah, stop! Stop!! I get it! It’s fine! I understand already!!”
Sakurada Nagisa hurriedly stopped Fuyunagi Shizuku from starting her second round with exaggerated actions.
She thought she understood—but she hadn’t realized it was this extreme.
She loved Sado Kengo too, but if someone asked whether she could match that level of intensity… her confidence wavered.
Determined not to lose, Sakurada Nagisa renewed her resolve in a rather unconventional direction and turned to face her own feelings.
And gradually the classroom regained its liveliness.
Fuyunagi Shizuku’s feelings, no, her overwhelmingly heavy feelings made every male student realize, deep in their bones, that they could never afford to casually get jealous of Majima again, unless they wanted to get… well, obliterated.
And Kuzuryuu was…
“…Ah…”
He was still frozen in place.
The homeroom teacher told him to sit down, but he remained standing as the teacher finally gave up and started class.
For Kuzuryuu, being rejected was an unprecedented experience.
It was something that wasn’t supposed to happen to him.
He had a good face and excellent grades. He excelled in sports and had great common sense, making him highly adaptable—a trait he boasted about.
His father was incredibly wealthy, so his future was guaranteed.
Girls would flock to him like flies without him even having to approach them.
Therefore, they were worthless.
If they were attractive enough, he’d keep them as lovers until he got bored and then easily discard them. If he found someone better, infidelity was a daily occurrence for him.
He had grown up with such values.
So when his father showed him the photo of the girl he was to be engaged to recently, lightning struck within him.
At first, he suspected it might be a doctored or AI-generated image.
After all, modern AI images can produce pictures indistinguishable from the real thing.
Even if the images were AI-generated, it wouldn’t have been surprising.
Because the girl in those photos was that beautiful.
Her name: Fuyunagi Shizuku.
What a pure, gentle name… as if it reflected the very essence of her heart. A beautiful… exquisitely beautiful name… Haa… so beautiful…
Kuzuryuu Souma had never before found the opposite sex attractive.
It was his first love.
So he wanted to possess her.
He asked his father to transfer him to the school she attended and looked forward to their budding romance, indulging in various fantasies.
“Taku-chan is the one and only boy who stole my virginityyyyyyyyy!!!”
If a woman already had someone, he figured he could just steal her away, and he prided himself on not being the kind of guy who fussed over whether she was a virgin or not.
But… but still…
Had anyone ever shown him such blatant indifference before!?
Had anyone ever looked at him with such contempt!?
And on top of that, this girl, this woman had insulted everything about him.
His face, his height, his looks, his grades, his athletic ability, his wealth—she dismissed it all as nothing more than gifts from his parents!
Everything he possessed came from his parents’ generosity!
Gifts from my parents?
And what’s wrong with that!!
Being born to wealthy parents is proof of my incredible luck!! Which means it’s part of my strength!
I pulled UR in the parent gacha—so of course I was born with everything: looks, height, brains, athletic ability, money—all of it was mine from the moment I came into this world!!
And anyone who denied such a perfect being as himself was nothing but an insignificant trashy girl!!
In other words, I was born in a peeeeeerfect condition!!
In other words, for this woman to deny someone as peeeeeerfect as me makes her nothing more than a boring, worthless, trash-tier girl!
Then as the higher being that I am—!! It is my duty to educate this insolent little nobody and make her understand!!
Yes!!
This is unconditional love, the kind bestowed by one who has upon the poor, miserable ones who have not.
Fuahaha! Muahahaha!!!
Reaching that wonderfully self-satisfied conclusion, Kuzuryuu sat down with elegance and confidence.
As a romantic rival for Fuyunagi Shizuku, Takuma hadn’t considered him a threat at all—to a surprising degree. However, watching the hundred different expressions on his face after he froze up, Takuma was keenly reminded that in every other aspect, he was going to be a real pain.
Character Summary (non-official)
- Majima Takuma / Taku (真島 拓真 / タク) — Taku is an utterly average high school boy in both appearance and ability. His hair and uniform are always neat but unremarkable, giving him the classic “background character” characteristic.
- Fuyunagi Shizuku (冬柳 雫) — Fuyunagi Shizuku is a stunning black-haired high school beauty with a mature, graceful aura. Her long, silky hair, elegant posture, pure and innocent atmosphere, and impressive figure—including her large chest—give her an appearance so gentle and comforting that a tired working adult might instinctively want to cling to her and call her “Mama.” Her looks alone make her feel like a UR-rarity heroine. At school, she’s admired as a pure, wholesome, and almost ideal girl—popular among girls, constantly confessed to by boys, and always at the center of her class. In private, however, Shizuku reveals a selfish, bratty, and emotionally unstable side. She’s clingy, easily upset, mentally fragile, and relies heavily on her boyfriend for emotional support while demanding secrecy and setting controlling conditions in their relationship.
- Sakurada Nagisa (桜田 凪咲) — Sakurada Nagisa is a gyaru and one of the central members of Fuyunagi-san’s friend group. With light-brown hair, piercings, and perfectly applied bold eye makeup, she has a flashy style but is undeniably beautiful—cute enough to stand out even among the popular girls. Sado Kengo’s current girlfriend.
- Natsume Kano (夏芽 華乃) — The class president. A dignified, serious beauty whose pure appearance gives her a charm distinct from Fuyunagi-san. She prioritizes efficiency, logic, and rationality above all else, resulting in a rigid, no-nonsense personality that makes her unpopular with most classmates.
Sado Kengo (佐渡 健吾) — A high-spec soccer club member who once acted as Shizuku’s fake public boyfriend. He is now Sakurada Nagisa’s actual boyfriend.
- Katou Susumu (加藤 進) — The textbook “protagonist’s best friend” character. He’s a founding member of the self-proclaimed “Unpopular Men’s Club”. Although he’s extremely jealous of Takuma for landing a girlfriend like Fuyunagi—thus “betraying” the Unpopular Men’s Club (a group Takuma never actually agreed to join)—Kato remains loyal to him despite both his jealousy and the negative public opinion surrounding Takuma.
- Fuyunagi Reiko (冬柳 澪子) — Fuyunagi Shizuku’s mother. A stunningly beautiful woman whose refined looks make it obvious where Shizuku inherited her charm. Beneath that elegance, however, lies a strict and controlling parent with deeply traditional values. Reiko is determined to restore the Fuyunagi family’s former prestige, and she sees arranging Shizuku’s marriage as a necessary step toward reclaiming their past glory.
- Fuyunagi Kanemasa (冬柳 兼政) — Fuyunagi Shizuku’s father. A highly capable and successful man who even took the Fuyunagi family name in order to marry Reiko. Despite the family’s rigid traditions, Kanemasa is the one person who genuinely supports Shizuku, encouraging her to live freely and choose her own path—including whom she loves. The only reason Shizuku’s mother and grandfather don’t openly oppose his stance is because his success and value to the family make him too important to antagonize.
- Kuzuryuu Souma (久豆流 創真) — Fuyunagi Shizuku’s arranged marriage partner.