I Was Reincarnated As the Hated Scummy Best Friend in a Gal Game and the Protagonist Is Useless

31

13, Toyotomi Mitsuhide’s Mother

I transfer trains, wandering to the destination address.

Using my smartphone app, I quickly find Toyotomi’s house.

When I press the intercom, a woman comes out.

She must be Toyotomi’s mother.

“Hello! My name is Kurisu Yumi. I’m a classmate of Toyotomi… Mitsuhide. I’ve come to offer incense…”

“Is that so. Come in. Mitsuhide would be happy.”

“Thank you.”

I’m so sad, I really want to cry in my room.

But I have to face reality.

Visiting the home of the person I liked for the first time.

But he’s the only one not here.

I offered incense and prayed.

It finally felt real that Toyotomi-kun had passed away.

As I was about to leave after finishing everything, Toyotomi-kun’s mother stopped me.

“Kurusu-san, could we talk for a little bit?”

“Yes… If I’m okay.”

“It’s because it’s you. You were the only one of Hidetsugu’s peers who came to offer incense.”

“Is that so…”

Toyotomi-kun wasn’t unfaithful, nor did he have someone else he liked.

I felt relieved, having misunderstood the whole situation over the summer break.

“Hidetsugu mentioned he liked someone. Seeing you, I wondered if it might be you.”

“Ha ha, is that so… I liked Toyotomi-kun too… Sorry, I misspoke, I loved him.”

Hearing this, Toyotomi-kun’s mother smiled joyfully and then started to cry.

“That boy, he couldn’t do kendo, which was his passion, and lived like an empty shell.”

“I understand… I fell for Toyotomi-kun because of kendo, and after his injury, he lost his shine…”

“But, it seems a girl was the reason he was able to recover.”

“Eh…?”

I thought Toyotomi-kun had brightened up again as time healed him.

Since his down period was short, it seemed like he didn’t have many regrets.

“A girl who’s frail but comes to school every day, laughing happily, her strength shone brightly, and he started saying she was beautiful and cool.”

“That’s…”

I didn’t think Toyotomi-kun even knew I existed until we were in the same class.

After all, his recovery was last year’s news…

“He said, ‘Since I can’t do kendo anymore, I’ll find something else! What do you think is a hobby that’s popular with girls?’ It’s not something you’d normally tell your parents, right? When I suggested ‘Maybe guitar or magic?’ he decided to learn magic…”

Toyotomi-kun’s mother, perhaps overwhelmed, took out a handkerchief to wipe her tears.

“Did he ever show you his magic tricks?”

“I saw them. They were so cool, I was mesmerized. I’ve been interested in Toyotomi-kun since I first saw him in the kendo club. Before I knew it, I had fallen for him… I wish I had confessed my feelings sooner and become his girlfriend…”

My school life is filled with things left undone.

I don’t think I can truly smile from the bottom of my heart anymore.

—

“Hey, I went to Toyotomi’s funeral, and I heard something really sad…”

“You were friends since elementary school, weren’t you?”

I overhear idle chatter about Toyotomi-kun in the school corridor.

I don’t know much about Toyotomi-kun’s friends, but if they attended the funeral, they must have been close.

It was truly by chance that I heard it.

Such conversations are better left unheard, yet I found myself listening intently.

—Unaware of the intense regret that would follow.

“It seems he might have been saved if he had managed to take a defensive stance… It’s a terrible story, considering Toyotomi couldn’t even raise his arm above his shoulder.”

“Wow… If he hadn’t been injured, he might have survived. That’s so sad.”

…Huh?