Chapter 37 - Hope

A few days later, Ryousuke's days returned to his routine. Waking up, morning exercise, eating, going to school, studying, and going home.

He saw that Kawajima and Mayu's relationship was getting closer, Mayu said to him on chat. Which was certainly a good thing.

As for him and Kawajima, they were also still having their usual exchanges. Exchanging books and also sharing their opinions about books.

He also noticed that in the chat, somehow Kawajima seemed more aggressive than usual. Normally, he would be the one to get the conversation flowing between them, but these days, Kawajima had also started asking things like, 'what is your favorite food?' or, 'what is your favorite book?'. Anyway, she's been taking more initiative in their interactions.

Maybe it was because he and Mayu had helped her and she had become more open to him. He thought.

They also promised to meet again on the weekend, to exchange books of course.

For the club activities, he was still memorizing the lines of the character he was playing, the evil landlord. The drama club would be performing this play next week, so he would memorize it in his spare time, and when the club activities started, he would do the acting with the other members.

'One more week'

Today was Thursday. Ryousuke walked towards the club room and entered it. "Good afternoon."

With a greeting here and there, he walked towards the members of the acting division which was his division. "Ohhh, father, mother. Why are you doing this!"

It could be seen that there, they were memorizing and practicing their dialog lines. Especially Ichiba the cheerful girl, she was loudly reciting her lines. Ichiba, this cheerful girl, somehow managed to get the main role as princess Terestia.

"Take it easy princess, I will always be by your side"

"Arnold..."

The one who replied to the dialog from Ichiba aka the princess was Takaki, a man with a look similar to Giont from Dorazemon from the anime of his former world. Although he looked like that, in the eyes of the people of this world, he was a very handsome man.

"You are the princess of this kingdom, Terestia! Don't you dare go against me, who is both the king and your father!" King Ravelino, played by Chief Akira, spoke.

"Yes, that's right. My daughter Terestia, you must accept this arranged marriage" Queen Rosa, played by secretary-chan, continued.

"But, I also have... ", well, something like that. His role as the evil landlord is actually less important than these four roles, which will have the most dialog and action. So, he waited for the time to act to arrive, they were currently still in session one, and he only appeared in session two.

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"Fuuh... That was fun"

On the way home from the club, Ryousuke said with satisfaction. Their practice today was also hot, full of tension and intrigue, but still fun.

"Right~~? Huhu, I'm going to surprise the audience later with this amazing acting as a princess!"

"Yes yes, whatever you say, Ohime-sama"

"Una~~ don't be like that. Is the costume division busy too?"

Four people, including himself were currently walking home. That was him, Ichiba Una Duo, and finally Takaki.

"Yes, indeed. I have to make a princess costume for you, but that's okay, it's all for the sake of our beloved Ohime-sama after all"

Una replied. Indeed, the costume division would always be busy with their costume making. It could be said, the costume division was the busiest division behind the scenes for now. In contrast, the equipment division was the most free at times like this, but would be very busy during the performance.

"Aaa~~ Una, I love you!" Ichiba hugged Una showing their closeness as friends. If this was done between men, he would have looked at them with disdain. But since they were both women, he did not mind. It was common, after all, for girls to hold hands or make other contact to express themselves.

"Hai hai" Una patted Ichiba's head, looking like a mother soothing her child.

"Me too-"

"Takaki, don't say anything"

"ehhh~~"

That idiot, although he did look handsome in front of the people of this world, but asking to be hugged was still too much.

He pulled Takaki back, so that he was walking beside him. Just let the two girls do their own thing.

Reaching the front gate, a luxurious black car could be seen waiting. It was a pickup for Una, after all, she seemed to be a rich kid.

"Then see you tomorrow, Toru-kun, Takaki-kun" she said, bowing slightly to the two of them.

"See you tomorrow, Toru-kun! Takaki-kun!" Ichiba also continued. Since Ichiba was going to hitch a ride in Una's car.

"Yes, see you both tomorrow" he nodded and replied.

"See you tomorrow Ichiba-chan~, Kazuki-chan!"

They both nodded, and got into the car. Una's personal driver also did not forget to greet the girl. And after that, they left.

Ryousuke and Takaki, left alone, also said goodbye to each other and returned to their respective homes.

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Hahh... A tiring day, indeed. Going to school in the morning, and returning home almost at night like this was tiring. But this kind of life was more fulfilling.

Lying on his bed while playing the game, he made useful use of the remaining time in the evening. Daily missions, side quests, and parts of them, he completed. All thanks to the five-star claymore, his character had become very strong.

*tining!

Just as he logged out of the game and was about to continue reading a book, a notification sounded.

'oh yeah, it's about the time' he thought. Looking at the clock and remembering that this was the time he and Kawajima had agreed to chat with each other.

He stood up, walked to the bookshelf and took a book from the shelf. It was titled, 'why am I alive? ' a book about the experiences of a woman from this world. With her ugly face, she was bullied and tortured from a young age, making her suicidal.

He had almost finished reading it. There were only two chapters left. He picked up the book and sat on the chair.

Staring at it for a while, he then opened the lime app and saw the sender. As expected, it was Kawajima.

[Good evening, Toru-san. How was your day today?]

Ryousuke smiled at the contents of her chat. The content of the message asking about his day, showed that Kawajima had indeed started to grow and ask more questions. Unlike her old self who was only passive.

[Good evening, Kawajima-san. Nice day, I guess? Well, a little tired too]

[Is that so? Please don't work too hard. You should also take care of your body]

[hahaha, take it easy. My body is strong anyway]

[Mouuu~~]

They have also gotten used to teasing each other like this. Normally, Kawajima would always be stunned and would reply to her messages after a while. But now, she could even fight back a little.

"huhu... Nice."

Everything he saw in Kawajima, no. Everything he saw in Midori right now, was exactly what he wanted.

Everything was good. And he was happy about it.

Looking at the book in front of him, he made a promise. He wouldn't let anything bad happen to his friends.

Ryousuke wanted his friends to live a quiet and peaceful life. It was just like the wish he wanted for himself when he was reborn in this world.