I Want to Fall in Love After Getting Reincarnated as the Heroine on the Verge of a Bad Ending, but My OP Older Brother Won’t Leave Me Alone!? - Chapter 77
Translated by: ShinigamiTori
Chapter 77 ? Towards the Music Festival 4
One day after school, with less than a week left until the music festival, I was practicing with Moses-kun, who plays the violin.
Despite causing quite a bit of trouble due to my complete lack of expertise, he graciously accompanied me without a single complaint. I hope to continue our friendship in the future.
“It’s gotten quite late, I’m sorry.”
“No worries. Thank you for staying with me until this late.”
We’ve just finished our practice and are now heading towards the school gate together. The sky was already dyed red, and there seemed to be almost no students left inside the school.
“Anyway, Wainwright-san, you’ve improved quite a bit. You must be practicing hard.”
“Thank you! I’m putting in a lot of effort.”
Normally, I would be modest, but I nodded my head firmly because I really was trying my best considering the hellish training from Arnold-san.
Although I’ve been making rapid progress due to the intensity, Arnold-sensei is genuinely terrifying.
“Why can’t you do it no matter how many times I say it? Maybe my teaching style is bad. What do you think?”
“Ah… um… I’m sorry…”
“I’m only saying this because I believe Rene-chan can do it, okay? Sorry for being so harsh.”
After pushing me to the extreme both mentally and physically, he turns surprisingly gentle. The stark difference between the carrot and the stick is so intense that it’s frightening[1]. While I’m grateful, I swear never to bring up music-related topics with Arnold-san again.
Lately, even in my dreams, I’ve been tirelessly practicing the piano. Now that I think about it, I remember studying even in my dreams during the exam period. Maybe the current me is being pushed to the same level as back then.
But since I’ve taken it on, I want to give it my all until the end. Besides, I was really happy to be able to do something that I couldn’t do before.
“But I’m sorry. Moses-kun is so good at the violin, but because I’m your partner, we probably won’t be able to compete for a prize.”
“Don’t worry about it, if I want a prize, I can just enter a competition. This is more fun than practicing under pressure, and it’ll be a memorable experience.”
“T-Thank you for your kind words… I owe you one.”
His kindness struck me greatly. There’s a limit even to being handsome. I felt like I could understand why he was popular with the girls in our class.
“Besides, when I mentioned that we’re practicing together, the other boys in our class envied me.”
“Eh?”
“Wainwright-san is pretty popular, many people think you’re cute.”
“…!?”
While Rene is certainly cute, I never expected such a development. When I think back to when I first started attending this academy, I feel like I’m going to start crying tears of joy. At this rate, the day when a romance flag accidentally gets triggered feels imminent.
As I unconsciously walked, humming a tune, Moses-kun opened his mouth and said, “Oh, right.”
“About the seats for the music festival, I wonder how it’ll be arranged.”
“I’m curious about it too. I guess we’ll find out when we get to the hall that morning?”
“Yeah. It seems like we won’t know until the very last minute.”
The reason why romantic events tend to occur at music festivals has something to do with the seating arrangements on the day. The seats are paired, and the school determines those pairs randomly.
Since it doesn’t take into account grade, gender, or rank, this seating arrangement can lead people to meet and even fall in love.
“I wonder who will sit in the Destiny Seats.”
“Yeah… I wonder.”
When he casually said, “Destiny Seats,” I almost cringed involuntarily, but it’s not his fault. I should probably get used to these tacky names that come out as if they were perfectly normal.
These embarrassing “Destiny Seats” are apparently the seats in the blind spots. Sitting there makes it easier to become particularly intimate. It somehow feels impure.
Last year, a male upperclassman and a male junior who had just met sat there, and unbelievably, they became a couple right after that. That’s the kind of effect it apparently has.
While I don’t necessarily want to sit in that seat, as someone who doesn’t often interact with people other than their classmates and friends, I hope for a good encounter.
Yutte-chan, who seems to be overly enthusiastic, reportedly visits the temple multiple times a day, offering prayers. It’s like a fantasy world version of making repeated pilgrimages.
If by any chance there is a God watching over all that effort, I hope they guide Yutte-chan to meet someone wonderful.
“I’m looking forward to the music festival.”
“Yeah. Let’s definitely make it a success.”
Then, he walked me back to my carriage, and I headed home.
???
After finishing dinner, I was playing the piano in the soundproof room within the mansion when Julius showed up. He said he had come to listen to me play the piano.
Having his back against the wall, he silently listened for a while and looked so picturesque that I wanted to tease him by saying he looked like a famous painting.
By the way, although I’m always practicing with Arnold-san, who perfectly fits my type, the constant attention from someone like Julius is too overwhelming.
“Um, I can’t concentrate because you’re so dazzling.”
“Are you that conscious about me? How adorable.”
“Julius always looks like a painting, no matter where you are or what you’re doing. Hey, try making a pose like you have a stiff neck, like this.”
“Neck…? Rene, you’re a bit different, aren’t you?”
In the end, I couldn’t concentrate on practicing because I was too bothered by Julius, so I decided to end the session early and accepted his invitation to have tea in his room.
Translator Notes:
1. The use of “Carrot” and “Sticks” refers to an expression of offering a combination of rewards and punishment to induce behavior. It’s named in reference to a cart driver dangling a carrot in front of a mule and holding a stick behind it. The mule would move towards the carrot because it wants the reward of food, while also moving away from the stick behind it, since it does not want the punishment of pain, thus drawing the cart. ?
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