Chapter 48: Sweet Secrets
A near-death promise over a broken engagement and a fresh start.
A certain group of girls chatting by the well.
"I’ve decided to form my own faction. Shirai-san, what do you think?"
"…Sigh. I’d advise against it. Even if you did form one, it’d fall apart within three days."
"N-No it wouldn’t! If I combine my abilities with the Kongou family’s prestige, then surely—!"
"That’s precisely why it won’t work, dear."
"…………?"
"As long as you cling to ability and pedigree, all that awaits you is ruin. I, for one, am not enough of a romantic to believe that ‘that’ kind of miracle will happen more than once."
"‘That’…? What are you talking about?"
"…My apologies. But I believe even you must’ve heard about her—"
Immediately after, the thunderclap of a Railgun echoes.
Prologue: Assessing the Situation Is Important — Lost_Remnant.
Episode 40: Sweet Secrets — Secret_Face.
"Kamijou! Become my husband!"
—September 14th.
On that day, the greatest shock of Kamijou Touma’s life struck him.
It all started when he finished school and returned home, like always—right around the time he received a message from Reicia Blackguard, a close friend and the leader of one of Tokiwadai Middle School’s top factions. That message was the beginning of everything.
He accepted Reicia’s assertive invitation—“Please come alone”—with a laid-back “Wonder what that’s about~” mindset. And then, the moment he arrived at the park, she opened with that bombshell declaration.
"Huh… eh!? Husband!? Wait, wha—Reicia!?"
It was only natural for Kamijou to be shaken.
Certainly, Kamijou Touma holds a significant position in the world of Reicia=Blackguard. Even he, despite his memory loss, is aware of that much.
They had a bond that could be called comrades-in-arms. On August 21st, they fought side by side to save ten thousand Sisters from the strongest esper, Accelerator. And then on August 31st, he even helped save someone precious to Reicia.
There probably isn’t another guy who’s this entangled in her life. But—even so, when did a flag like this ever get raised? Kamijou couldn’t help but wonder.
Sure, you could argue that after going through all that, it wouldn’t be strange for a teenage girl to catch feelings—but still. Thanks to his constant misfortunes, this pitifully unlucky guy, Kamijou Touma, had long since stopped believing anything romantic could happen to him. So this whole situation hit him like a bolt from the blue.
"…I made sure to express myself as plainly and concisely as possible, so even a dense boy couldn’t mistake my intentions."
The one who had dropped that emotional bomb—Reicia=Blackguard—sighed in exasperation at Kamijou’s stunned reaction, as though she couldn’t believe it.
Kamijou took a moment to really look at the girl who had just proposed to him in such an outrageous fashion.
To put it bluntly—she was stunning.
Her first impression wasn’t great. While she was undeniably beautiful, her sharp eyes, sullen expression, and seemingly uptight mannerisms gave her an unapproachable vibe.
She seemed just like the snobby, high-strung rich girl you'd find in a manga—like one of those classic “villainous noble ladies.”
But once you got past that surface impression, it was clear she had remarkably rare beauty.
Her long, radiant blonde hair looked as if it had been spun from gold thread, clearly maintained with great care, even to an amateur eye.
Her porcelain skin was impossibly smooth, and whether from nerves or emotion, her cheeks were faintly blushing—a hue that sparked an urge to protect her.
Her slender fingers, wrapped in long gloves—white on the left, black on the right—exuded a mature elegance hard to believe from a middle schooler.
And the bare strip of skin between her high socks and skirt, in contrasting colors from the gloves, would’ve made any of Kamijou’s classmates collapse on the spot.
As a high school boy, Kamijou naturally found his eyes drawn to her chest.
Below the cascade of drill-like curls brushing her shoulders—
Put simply, it was a bust that defied her age. Even by high school standards, it had destructive power. For a guy, just seeing that was already an attack.
"…Very well. If you didn’t understand the first time, I’ll say it as many times as it takes. Kamijou—"
"I got it! I got it, okay!!"
Still, he couldn’t have her shouting love confessions repeatedly in a public park. Kamijou hastily stopped her and glanced around. Thankfully, it didn’t seem like anyone else had overheard.
"So, um… Reicia? That’s right, isn’t it? What exactly was that just now…?"
"As I said—" "…Aah, if you don’t mind, I’d like to explain the details myself."
Suddenly—
The forceful energy surrounding Reicia rapidly softened.
Like the vibe had shifted from an overbearing middle school cousin to a calm, friendly college-age neighbor.
"…Shiren."
—Reicia Blackguard had a split personality.
Kamijou had heard that after a falling-out with a close friend, the emotional trauma caused Reicia to shut down mentally—and it was from that pain that this new personality, Shiren, had been born.
A lot had happened, but now she seemed to have settled into the role of a gentle support persona who helped rein in Reicia’s impulsiveness.
"Truth be told… it seems I already have a fiancé."
“Pffft!?!?”
Caught off guard by the sudden revelation, Kamijou couldn’t help but spit out a laugh.
Realizing immediately afterward that it wasn’t exactly a laugh-worthy piece of information, he looked visibly awkward. Still, Shiren, perhaps expecting that reaction, didn’t seem particularly bothered and continued.
“I only learned of it myself after that recent incident was resolved… but apparently, around three years ago, my father made a verbal agreement. That once I came of age, I would be—well… the man in question is fifteen years older than me.”
“Fifteen!?”
Reicia clasped her hands in front of her and lowered her gaze.
“He’s the young president of a company in partnership with the Blackguard Conglomerate. He’s fairly well-known in the cybernetics industry, but having divorced his previous wife, he decided that I would make a suitable second wife.”
“What the hell is that…?”
It wasn’t that Kamijou thought being divorced was a bad thing, but someone who says “Well, I got divorced, so let’s just marry the next one”—that didn’t strike him as someone with a healthy view on marriage.
Maybe it was prejudice, but Kamijou couldn’t bring himself to trust that kind of man with someone he cared about. And sensing those thoughts, Shiren gently spun her fingertips in the air and added,
“So, the two of us discussed it and… as expected, I simply couldn’t go through with a political marriage with this person…”
“W-Well, yeah, obviously…”
Kamijou figured he’d react the same way if someone suddenly told him to marry a woman fifteen years his senior. Of course, if it were the dorm manager type—easygoing, a little clumsy, and naturally charming—he might actually lose sleep over the decision, but…
“No, wait! Being forced to marry someone you barely know for family reasons just isn’t right!”
He quickly smothered those impure thoughts and aligned himself with the girl before him. He had at least that much decency.
More than the age gap, it was just that the suitor left a bad taste in his mouth.
That aside—
“But still, how does that turn into me becoming your husband?”
“That… was a misstep in Reicia-chan’s phrasing. To be precise—it would be as a stand-in husband.”
Shiren raised her face, offering a sheepish smile.
“If I really don’t want this engagement, I can reject it. But simply brushing off a verbal agreement between our families with a ‘my daughter doesn’t like it’ could cause a number of issues.”
“…???”
For an ordinary student like Kamijou Touma, things like duty and social appearance didn’t quite register.
Sensing his confusion, Shiren clarified,
“As it stands now, it’s a deeply unwelcome promise. But at the time, I didn’t reject it outright. So it would be natural for them to say, ‘You agreed back then!’—wouldn’t it?”
That made sense, Kamijou admitted.
Still, he believed that if someone doesn’t want something, they have every right to say no. But Shiren, ever responsible and considerate, likely avoided doing so to preserve the other party’s dignity.
“That said, a verbal promise is still just that. It holds no legal weight, and based on what I’ve heard, they’re not exactly serious either. Which is why—I thought that if I just had a proper excuse, it could all be resolved. And that is—”
“Making me your pretend husband?”
“…Yes.”
Shiren bowed her head, as if ashamed.
“I understand this is an unreasonable request. But… among the people I can rely on, you are the only one, Kamijou-san…”
“Mmm… even so, I mean…”
For the first time, Kamijou showed clear hesitation.
Mainly because… he’d been through something quite similar only two weeks ago.
In that case, it had been Misaka Mikoto, another girl from Tokiwadai Middle School. To help her deal with an overly persistent admirer, Kamijou had played the role of her boyfriend. But afterward, he was left with a lingering, inescapable guilt.
The guy in question had actually been surprisingly earnest. And even if he hadn’t been, Kamijou didn’t feel right about deceiving someone like that. That kind of thing—he felt—should be resolved by the person at the center of it.
Of course, if things did go south, he was prepared to step in, right hand clenched and ready.
Sensing Kamijou’s reluctance, Shiren started to fumble, slightly panicking—
“A-ah, b-but if that’s the case—”
“Shiren, this is exactly why you’re useless.”
That was when the switch flipped.
With a confidence that seemed ready to declare war on the world, the girl Reicia surged forward, practically shoving her frustration at Kamijou.
“Kamijou.”
A pair of aquamarine eyes suddenly closed the distance.
The soft pink of her slightly pouting lips caught his attention more than he expected. With Reicia standing about five centimeters shorter than him, when she closed the gap and looked up like that, Kamijou’s entire field of vision was filled with her face.
For someone like Kamijou—someone almost entirely inexperienced in romantic interactions, let alone with women—this kind of proximity hit him with more impact than he’d like to admit.
“...W-What is it?”
Reicia poked a finger into his chest.
“Try. To. Understand.”
That was all she said.
Of course, if Kamijou Touma could understand everything from just that, he’d probably have built himself a harem empire by now.
So Reicia continued, as if guiding him step by step.
“It’s true that we don’t have any other suitable men to turn to. But… do you really think that’s the only reason we’re asking you?”
She looked up at him, eyes glinting with that same mischievous sharpness reserved for revealing secrets.
“This role of a husband? It means deceiving not just the suitor—but also my own parents. In other words, you’d become my officially recognized fiancé. Even if it’s temporary, and the role is dissolved later on, for a time… you would be that.”
“……Yeah, I guess that would be the case.”
“If, by some chance, we fail to communicate the end of the role properly to my parents, then… it might just get taken as reality. And then you’d actually be my fiancé. That’s the kind of risk we’re talking about here.”
“A-ah, and of course by ‘risk’ I mean a risk for you, Kamijou-san! Not that we’d be unhappy with such an outcome or anything—”
“...Shiren, you don’t need to spell out everything. Kamijou understands that much, surely.”
At that point, Kamijou finally began to grasp it.
The possibility that “the act” might not stay an act. —In other words…
“…You’re saying that even knowing that risk, you’re still okay with it. Or rather, you don’t even see it as a risk. You’re saying that—especially Shiren—is willing to go that far.”
She took a bold step forward.
“So, Kamijou, if I’ve said this much, surely you can understand a maiden’s heart—”
“W-w-wait!! Reicia-chan what are you saying all of a sudden!? Um, Kamijou-san, this is—”
“It’s okay, Shiren. You don’t have to say anything more.”
Even Kamijou couldn’t miss the message when it was that direct.
That if it somehow turned into a real engagement, they would accept that. Because that’s how much they—how much she—trusted him.
“You really… trust me, don’t you?”
.................................................................................................
“…Um.”
It was hard to say which of the two had whispered that.
But Kamijou, entirely unaware of the atmosphere that had just turned ice-cold, instead wore a proud, almost smug expression as he continued speaking in his self-satisfied “cool guy” tone.
“If your parents do misunderstand and think it’s real, you’re trusting that I won’t just run away. That I’ll stay and help sort things out. Untangle the knots and fix things. That’s why you’re asking me. Because you believe in me… Geez, being a senior really is an honor. If this was just a spur-of-the-moment thing to dodge responsibility, I’d have said no. But if you’ve thought it all through like that… I can’t turn you down.”
“……………………”
At that point, Reicia—and likely Shiren too—had both emotionally checked out, but Kamijou didn’t notice.
Still, he gently took Reicia’s hand.
“But listen. If the guy turns out to be reasonable and understanding without needing to be tricked, I’m backing out. I don’t feel right about lying to a decent person. If you’re okay with that condition… then sure. I’ll be your husband.”
For Shiren, the only possible response to that spiky-haired idiot was:
“…Ah, yes. Thank you… very much……”
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