Chapter 40: Good news! General Manager Sakurai accepted the confession!

Sakurai Saki had trusted that Fujiwara Chika wouldn't spill the news—what he hadn't accounted for was the existence of Kaguya Shinomiya.

By the end of the afternoon, Shuchiin Academy was buzzing.

Extra! Extra! Sakurai Saki of the General Affairs Committee receives his first love letter! A public confession will take place at the old school building after class today!!

In the hallway:

"Sakurai, good luck with the confession later! Even if you're going to turn her down, be gentle, okay? You'll still be classmates." A male student clapped him on the shoulder with genuine concern.

Sakurai blinked. "Yuto? You too?"

It was Sato Yuto, a member of the kendo club.

Sakurai couldn't understand how the news had spread so far, so fast. Only three hours had passed, and yet the entire school seemed to know. Even more baffling—it hadn't been distorted. No wild rumors, no strange twists. Just… the truth.

"I caught wind of it through the grapevine," Yuto said with a grin, eyes gleaming with gossip. "So? Who's the girl? Can you tell me?"

"Don't say it's Fujiwara Chika… or Hayasaka Ai?" His curiosity was sharp and nosy, like a kid checking fantasy football stats. To him, school romance was a game—he was an investor in love stocks.

Incidentally, he was a card-carrying member of the Hayasaka x Sakurai faction.

He'd been rooting for their ship since last year and saw this development as a potential market crash.

"She didn't leave her name," Sakurai replied honestly.

Of course, he knew who it was. The girl was literally floating beside him.

Yakumo Bai gave a dreamy sigh. "If I die without experiencing love… wouldn't that mean I never really lived~?"

She floated lazily beside him, her long white hair drifting like smoke. "When I died, I was pushed from the rooftop. The girl said I stole the boy she liked…"

Ah. So it's a murder case, Sakurai thought grimly.

"A love triangle?" he muttered.

His stomach ached just imagining it.

"But I didn't like him at all!" Bai said, looking honestly exasperated. "He was just a classmate. I treated everyone kindly."

And that was the problem.

Girls who were nice to everyone were terrifying.

It gave boys the wrong idea—paired with humanity's top three romantic illusions, it was a recipe for disaster.

"Anyway," Bai said, clapping her hands, "I want to experience real love this time!"

Sato Yuto patted Sakurai's shoulder again, beaming. "Do your best, man!"

"…I'll try," Sakurai replied, though his tone said otherwise.

She was pushed? I thought she jumped...

Ten minutes later. Behind the old school building.

Curtains in classrooms all across campus had been drawn aside. Dozens of students peered out through the gaps like nosy pigeons.

Club activities? Skipped.

This? This was better than Netflix.

Even the four Nakano sisters had claimed a viewing spot.

In a nearby grove, Fujiwara Chika crouched low behind a bush, disguised like a stereotypical stalker. Detective hat, sunglasses, white surgical mask. She held binoculars in shaking hands, eyes locked on Sakurai Saki.

He stood alone in the clearing, holding a letter.

From the rooftop of the main building, Hayasaka Ai watched as well.

Beside her, Kaguya Shinomiya showed a rare glimmer of curiosity.

Boring. I want to see bloodshed.jpg

Time ticked by.

The tension mounted.

Who was the mystery girl?

But in a world none of the students could see—

Sakurai Saki stood in front of hundreds of ghosts.

They hovered in the air, filling the grove like a transparent audience of the dead. Sakurai looked around with horror.

What kind of social death is this? Not only am I being watched by all of Shuchiin Academy, but I've got a ghost audience too?!

"Hey, hurry it up already!" grumbled a pompadour-sporting delinquent ghost. "You're so slow, this ain't a drama!"

"Youth is such a beautiful thing," sighed a middle-aged uncle ghost, wiping an invisible tear.

"Reminds me of my ex who dumped me. Twenty-three times, actually."

Simp level: God-tier. Sakurai wanted to roll his eyes.

He glanced toward Yakumo Bai, who stood in front of him with trembling hands.

Her white hair fluttered in the breeze, eyes wide with fear.

She opened her mouth. "Um… Sakura-kun…"

Then froze.

Around her, the ghosts sent her encouraging looks. Some clapped. One ghost grandma even waved a support flag.

Several minutes passed before her faint voice reached him.

Only Sakurai—and the ghosts—could hear it.

No one else heard a thing.

From the school's perspective, it looked like… nothing happened.

Everyone waited.

And waited.

Still no one showed up.

Had Sakurai Saki been stood up?

Whispers of pity began to spread like wildfire.

Which girl had done this? So cruel!

Shuchiin's girls looked at Sakurai with sympathy in their eyes. Their gazes softened.

Even Kaguya furrowed her brow slightly.

"She really didn't come?" she muttered.

Hayasaka, still scanning from above, frowned.

"I investigated all afternoon… but found nothing."

If this was a prank… it had gone way too far.

From her hiding spot in the bushes, Fujiwara Chika's expression shifted. Something wasn't right. She peered harder through her binoculars, lips pressed tight.

At the center of it all, Sakurai Saki stood still—quiet, composed—as if the weight of a thousand eyes didn't faze him.

But in reality, he had just finished hearing the ghost girl's trembling confession.

"I like you!! Sakura-kun! Please go out with me!!"

It was loud, heartfelt… and heard only by the dead.

Sakurai Saki exhaled lightly and nodded."…Okay."

That should do it, right? She'd confessed, been accepted. She'd become a Buddha now.

But before he could even process it, a sudden clack rang out.

A window flew open on the second floor.

Sakurai looked up—only to be blinded by a sea of open windows.

One after another, like dominoes, the students of Shuchiin Academy flung their windows wide.

And then—

"Sakurai-senpai!!! I like you!! Even if she didn't come, it's okay!! I'll be your girlfriend!!"A loud voice from a junior girl pierced the tension.

Wait, what?

Sakurai Saki was stunned.

Was I… just comforted?

Realization crashed over him like a wave. Of course. They couldn't see Yakumo Bai. They didn't hear her confession. They thought… he'd been stood up.

No, no no no, this is not how this is supposed to go—

Before he could react, another window flew open.

"Sakurai-kun!! I like you too!!""Me too!!!""Don't be sad, Sakurai-kun!!!"

Like popcorn in a fire, the confessions erupted one after another, bouncing from building to building, floor to floor.

"Sakurai-senpai! I'll make your lunch!""I'll be your girlfriend!!""Me! Pick me, Sakurai-kun!!"

Sakurai Saki stood frozen, caught in a hellish blizzard of declarations of love.

No. Stop. Stop this.This isn't victory—this is social death by affection overload!!

In front of him, Yakumo Bai, having just poured out her heart, slowly tilted her head.

Her expression twisted. Her smile grew stiff, her pupils dilating unnaturally.

Black mist began to rise from her body.

The air turned cold.

She turned toward the school buildings—toward the sea of girls shouting at her boyfriend—and said in a flat, icy voice:

"…They're all calling you theirs."

Oh no.

Behind the bush, Fujiwara Chika trembled.

She clutched her binoculars as her body curled tighter, almost fetal. Her eyes were wide, watery.

She whispered, in utter disbelief, "How could this happen…?"

It felt like a nightmare. Like she was watching the birth of a legendary playboy villain origin story in real time.

And thus, on just the second week of school…

Sakurai Saki accidentally became the boyfriend of the entire female population of Shuchiin Academy.

A day of great joy. A day of great fear.

[Today's Result: Sakurai Saki's Victory!(Gained: ~300 Girlfriends | Lost: Sanity)]

P@treon Rene_chan