Chapter 22: Beautiful Girl, Learns the Secrets Behind the School

After dinner, I was lazing around on my bed.

Man, I’m tired today.

Maybe it’s because it was my first time staying at school until the afternoon.

Then—knock, knock—someone tapped on my door.

"Ayumi-nee, I’m coming in!"

That was my little brother, Kaname. Before I could even answer, the door swung open and he stepped inside.

"You didn’t even wait for me to say it’s okay. You’re supposed to wait before coming in! What if I was changing or something?"

"Hmm... lucky, maybe?"

I sighed and sat up on the bed.

"So, what do you want, Kaname?"

"I came to hang out. Is that bad?"

"Not really."

As I replied, Kaname plopped down next to me.

He’d always been attached to me—even back when I was a guy—and I’d always looked after him too. But ever since I became a girl, his attachment has gotten... weird. Whenever we play games together, he sits way closer than before. Sometimes he pats my head. During spring break, he kept finding excuses to go out with me.

...Well, not that I went out much anyway!

Mom used to call me a siscon when I was a guy, but now it’s totally Kaname who’s turned into a full-blown brocon—no, wait, a siscon.

Honestly, I don’t even know how to handle him anymore.

"Alright, Ayumi-nee! Let’s take a bath together!"

"What do you mean, ‘alright’?! We stopped doing that ages ago!"

"I re-enrolled!"

"That’s not how that works!"

I stood up, pushed Kaname toward the door, and shoved him out of my room. Then slam—I shut the door hard.

"You’re so mean! I bet sometimes you want to take a bath with me again, like old times!"

"Uh, not really?"

"Thud—"

I mean, saying ‘thud’ out loud like that... what am I supposed to do with that?

Kaname lingered outside my room for a while before finally going back to his own.

He has these impulsive moments sometimes, and every time it happens, I have to wonder how to deal with them.

He’s probably just at that age where he’s starting to take an interest in the opposite sex. Since I suddenly turned into a girl, maybe that’s thrown off his whole sense of me as his sibling. I don’t want to be harsh on him—he is my little brother—but some of his behavior feels... a bit beyond normal sibling affection.

It’s a shame, really. He’d actually be a good-looking guy if he just kept his mouth shut. Why are so many people around me like that?

I flopped back onto my bed and reached for my smartphone on the charger. The screen lit up, showing a flood of new messages.

Since it was my first time ever owning a smartphone—heck, even a cell phone—I didn’t check it often, so message overflow like this happened a lot.

The five of us in the Cooking Club shared a group chat, and all the unread messages were from there—mostly from Moeka-chan and Sakurako-chan.

They were talking about today’s club recruitment orientation and the welcome party for new students—things like which clubs seemed fun, what the seniors were like, and gossip about the student council president. Nonstop chatter.

Ryōji and Yoshikawa chimed in here and there, but the girls totally dominated the conversation.

After scrolling through everything, I reached the latest message at the bottom.

Moeka: Ayumi-chan, you here?

Can they tell when I’ve read it?

I’d been a loner for so long that I didn’t really understand how these apps worked.

But seriously, having everyone see your read/unread status sounds like such a pain.

Ayumi: Here.

My reply was short and simple. That flick typing thing? Way too hard. Just typing two characters already felt like an achievement.

Moeka-chan, Sakurako-chan, Ryōji, and Yoshikawa all replied with a cheerful “Good evening!”

Honestly, just being greeted like that made me a little happy.

Sakurako: Ayumi-chan, let’s do our best in the Cooking Club together!

Ayumi: Yeah fur shure.

And... I completely typoed it.

That’s embarrassing. But no one said anything. They’re so nice!

Since we were already talking about the orientation, I decided to ask something that had been on my mind.

Ayumi: By the way, what’s that “Princess” the Microcomputer Club senior mentioned?

Tōgo: rumble... rumble...

Okay, there’s really no need to write out sound effects in chat.

The once-lively group chat suddenly went quiet.

Huh? All I did was ask a question, but now it feels like I said something I shouldn’t have...

Even though it’s just text, silence like this still feels awkward.

Ryōji: You really want to know?

Ayumi: Is it something bad to know?

Sakurako: Not bad, but... it’s kinda shocking.

Ayumi: ?

I didn’t get it, but it seemed like everyone else knew. Now I really wanted to find out.

Before I could type “Tell me,” Ryōji sent me a link.

I tapped the URL, launching my browser.

The page that loaded was titled: Mikawa High Unofficial Web.

What’s this? “Unofficial”? So it’s not run by the school itself?

At the top of the screen were various site sections: Event Announcements, Club Promotions, Test Trends (Past Exams), Unofficial Forums, Campus Features, and so on.

Despite the “unofficial” tag, the site was surprisingly well-made.

If the school’s official website was meant for outsiders, this one was clearly made by and for students.

The test section especially looked useful—maybe not exact repeats, but good practice for mock exams.

So yeah, it seemed like a pretty handy site for students. I was grateful Ryōji had shown it to me—but... why now? Maybe just knowing about it made life at this school a lot easier.

I switched back to the messenger app.

Ayumi: I opened the unofficial site. What is it?

Ryōji: Open the “Campus Features” page.

Got it—so that’s what “校内特集” means.

I reopened my browser and returned to the Mikawa High Unofficial Web.

Reopening things over and over was kind of annoying, but I guess that’s the price of a small screen.

I tapped the section labeled Campus Features.

(Side note: I know it’s supposed to be called “tapping,” but I still just say “touching.” Smartphone lingo is way too full of Katakana for me...)

The Campus Features page was laid out like a forum, with the hottest posts pinned at the top.

I scrolled through the list—until one title caught my eye:

About the ‘Princess’ Among This Year’s New Students.

That must be it. I opened the post.

Attached was a photo from the entrance ceremony’s waiting line. A red circle was drawn around someone—but it was hard to see clearly on my phone’s small screen. I pinched to zoom in on the image and—

"Wait—that’s me!?"

So the “Princess”... was me?

...W–wait, hold on a sec! What’s that even supposed to mean!?

I scrolled further down the thread.

It was set up like an anonymous message board, so I couldn’t tell who posted what. Naturally, even the person who started the topic was using a handle—no way to identify them.

Someone else had commented, “Details, please.”
No, no, no! We do not need details here!

A few minutes later, someone uploaded a close-up photo—of my face. There was a black bar over my eyes, but it was definitely me.

The black bar just made me look like a criminal or something!

Well, that wasn’t even the main issue.

After that close-up went up, the thread exploded.

Comments poured in every few seconds—“She’s so cute,” “Like a doll,” “Hurry up and find her class,” “Title confirmed—she really is like a princess.”

And then, a few minutes later, someone posted, “The Princess is in Class 1-A.”

And the chaos doubled.

Uh... what happened to privacy again?

I switched back to the messenger app.

Ayumi: There are tons of pictures of me posted there.

Sakurako: W-wasn’t me, okay!?

Moeka: Not me either!

Yeah, I wasn’t really suspecting them... I mean, I didn’t think they’d do that kind of thing—probably.

Besides, there were photos showing all four of them too, so it clearly wasn’t anyone in this chat anyway.

Ryōji: You’re super popular now 😏

Ayumi: This isn’t funny! They need to take those down!

Ryōji: It’s fine, isn’t it? No harm done so far.

Ayumi: It’s creepy! Having random people secretly take photos of me!

Moeka: I mean, Ayumi-chan, you’d totally get photographed just walking down the street.

Ayumi: Why!?

Sakurako: You just have this aura, you know? Like you grew up in some fancy family. You’re cute in this really pure way.

Tōgo: She’s got that soft, gentle vibe that makes people want to protect her.

Moeka: So yeah, “Princess” is the perfect nickname for you!

Please stop flattering me. Seriously.

The group kept chatting—saying stuff like they wanted a version of the photo without the black bar over my eyes.

And wow, they all type so fast! I couldn’t even get a single word in!

Ayumi: So... that thread’s just gonna stay up like that?

Ryōji: Only the original poster or the site admin can delete it.

Sakurako: It’s just hype for now. Let it be. If anything serious happens, we’ll tell a teacher.

sigh Posting someone’s photo online without permission is definitely not okay, though...

But I guess since my eyes were censored and my name wasn’t shown, maybe it’s fine? These days, people post their own photos on social media all the time, and it rarely turns into an issue.

Alright then, I’ll just pretend it’s not my problem. Think of it as something happening in another world.

Ayumi: Didn’t see a thing.

Tōgo: Good call. Let the noisy ones keep making noise.

Moeka: Besides, we’re the only class that gets to tease the real Ayumi-chan in person!

For the record, I’d really prefer not to be teased at all!

But... well, it’s only the third day since school started, and I’ve already learned there’s no point arguing with them. So I’ve given up.

"Ayumi—time for your bath!"

Mom’s voice called up from downstairs.

Ayumi: Gotta go take a bath for a bit. Be right back.

Ryōji: Live commentary from the bath, please. Be as detailed as possible—what you’re washing, and where.

Ayumi: Absolutely not!!

Moeka: Aww.
Sakurako: Aww.
Tōgo: Aww.

Ayumi: Why are three of you reacting like that!?

Moeka: Then at least send us a photo!

Ayumi: Even less happening!!

Ryōji: Fine, then I’ll just imagine Ayumi in the bath in vivid detail.

Ayumi: Please don’t do that either...

Once everyone had said their “have a nice bath” messages, I reached to turn off my phone screen.

But before I did, I switched back to the unofficial website.

Whoa... even more comments now. People are really losing it.

Still... reading all the “she’s cute” comments gave me a tiny, warm feeling inside.

N-no, it’s not like I’m happy about it or anything! I’m a guy! They’re just underestimating me!

I scrolled a bit further. Let’s see... “This year’s Miss Contest is gonna be wild.”
Nope! I’m not joining! Not ever! Wait—there is a Miss Contest!?

And... “I wanna kiss her, lick her,” seriously?

...Yeah. I’m not gonna think about it. If I care, I lose. I’ll just forget this whole website exists.

...Except when exams come around. The past test section might actually be useful.

I turned off the screen and set my phone back on the charger.