The Crown Prince Who Raises Alt Characters

#Chapter 301 Cat Pago (14) - Changing Perspectives Influence. How much one can control and shake other people. The girl named Kisaragi belonged to the category of having extremely powerful influence. The advantage that comes from being a transfer student, and moreover, a beautiful girl with a mysterious atmosphere who appears very pretty to everyone except Popuri. The wealth and refinement that can be seen from her daily commute to and from school with a professional driver's escort. In contrast, while Popuri's appearance itself wasn't bad, she didn't have the kind of bewitching beauty close to magical charm like Kisaragi. Due to her basic tendency to avoid mixing with people, she wasn't even nominally someone with strong positive influence. If Popuri had been alone, she probably would never have been able to stop Kisaragi from spreading dangerous sorcery to her friends. However, when Hinosaka took Popuri's side and led the atmosphere, Kisaragi couldn't carelessly achieve her intentions. Just as Popuri couldn't beat Kisaragi in terms of influence, Kisaragi also couldn't beat Hinosaka in terms of influence. Whether it was proposals to go together to an abandoned factory where people had burned to death in groups, proposals to perform strange ritual ceremonies together, or any other devious schemes, the Hinosaka defense blocked them all. Normally, when someone blocks proposals this specifically and consistently, people around might find it strange or conversely sympathy might arise, but Hinosaka managed to smooth over even that for the most part. '...Does she have some kind of hypnosis app or something?' Such remarkable performance that Popuri seriously entertained such doubts for a moment. The problem was that because of this, Hinosaka had properly drawn aggro from Kisaragi. And the enraged transfer student's retaliation was extremely insidious. "Everyone!! Hinosaka fell down the stairs!!" Popuri, who had been worrying about how to deal with that monster transfer student somewhere out of others' sight, was startled by that news. The other students were equally surprised and worried. Various information flew around amidst all kinds of commotion, and the summarized content was as follows. Hinosaka was going down the stairs when she suddenly lost her balance and swayed greatly. She somehow managed to grab the handrail next to the stairs, but something went wrong with her wrist at that time, and since the nurse's office couldn't handle it, she went to the hospital for proper treatment. When they looked closely at the spot where Hinosaka fell, there was some kind of puddle of water pooled there. The teachers were furious and searched around asking who had dangerously spilled water in such a place without cleaning up afterward, but no one said they did it and there were no witnesses either. Hearing that, Popuri deliberately looked at the transfer student in the next seat with half-opened eyes, blurrily. Unlike the convenience store ghost from before, this one only showed its supernatural form when looked at normally, so she wanted to check how its human appearance looked. "What should we do... Hinosaka-san should be safe." The transfer student, who was praised as a beautiful girl, was mingling with the students while muttering such words with a pitiful expression and sympathy filling her pretty face. But what Popuri saw when she opened her eyes properly was different. The face of the monster, grotesquely swollen and spitting black filth from its mouth, was filled with a giggling smile as if extremely delighted. Popuri felt a violent impulse to take out the baseball bat from her bag and grip it, but the gazes around her prevented this. "Everyone! I'm fine! Perfectly fine!!" The next day, Hinosaka came to school normally. Friends expressed concern at the sight of her with a cast wrapped around her wrist, but everyone soon giggled at Hinosaka's cheeky appearance as she claimed this was all minimal damage made possible thanks to her excellent athletic ability. Even Kisaragi laughed. Though with her ghost face, she was glaring menacingly at Hinosaka. The second incident occurred the next day. "Ahhh!!" A scream that suddenly rang out during class. When both students and teacher turned their gazes in surprise, there was Hinosaka bleeding profusely from the hand that wasn't in a cast. "What's wrong!?" When the teacher checked in surprise, inside Hinosaka's desk drawer. Three or four razor-sharp cutter blades were precisely installed in positions that were hard to see at a glance. It was a work that blatantly revealed malicious intent to cause injury with deliberate planning, no matter who looked at it. "Who is it!? Which bastard pulled this kind of prank!!" The teacher was indignant and began searching for the culprit, but naturally, this time too there was no one who came forward saying they were the culprit. "Hanamori, didn't you see anything?" The teacher asked Popuri. It wasn't particularly a question with malicious intent or interrogation. He probably just asked because Popuri sits right next to Hinosaka. But at that moment, Popuri didn't miss the slight unease and suspicion that crept into her surrounding friends' gazes. It wasn't as if there was any particularly plausible evidence or anything. It was probably just her image. Since she's a bit gloomy and doesn't talk much with others. In Popuri's field of vision, the transfer student's figure came into view, looking this way with an overtly mocking face. Probably she only looked like that to Popuri's eyes, while appearing with completely different faces and expressions to others' eyes. Just when Popuri, momentarily enraged, was about to point at the transfer student saying that she did it. -Meow! A cat's meow heard from somewhere outside the window. Hearing that, Popuri was startled and suppressed the words she had almost let out. The suspicion is certain. But there's no evidence. If Popuri pointed out the transfer student as the culprit here, but what if the transfer student had a solid alibi? What if other friends said they were with her? Immediately, Popuri would emerge as the prime suspect. For trying to pin her own wrongdoing on an innocent person. This couldn't be overturned even if the victim Hinosaka herself came to defend her. "No, I didn't see anything." "Is that so. Damn, really. In this day and age, pulling this kind of prank..." The teacher flapped the area around his shirt collar as if anger was surging, and asked various questions to other students as well, but there was still no plausible testimony. That was the end of it. There were no rumors circulating that Popuri might have actually done it, nor did she become a public enemy among the students. There might be one or two people who harbored doubts or suspicions inside, but 'just the quiet kid in the next seat' was too weak a reason to say it openly. ...Though it would have been completely different if Popuri had pointed out the transfer student as the culprit. Looking at the transfer student's face as she licked her lips as if strangely disappointed made Popuri feel like she might swing a baseball bat right away, so she turned her gaze toward the window. The white cat with heterochromatic eyes was not visible. That was quite disappointing. *** They say even Buddha's patience lasts only three times. But Popuri's patience wasn't that deep. Therefore, she came to a conclusion. "Alright, shall we kill her." She had been holding back until now. She had held back a lot. Because it seemed like she wouldn't be able to handle the consequences otherwise. But what was the result? Hinosaka's right wrist got wrecked and her left hand got torn to shreds by blades. And that was even the price for taking Popuri's side and controlling public opinion. Up until now it had ended with just getting hurt, but if this kind of insidious behavior continued to repeat, then her life might truly become endangered. At the very least, she wouldn't be able to attend school normally. And when that happens, it becomes that monster transfer student's world. The moment the restraining device called Hinosaka disappears, there will be more than enough people who will fall for that monster's manipulation and perform dangerous suicide shows. Whether considering friendship, responsibility, guilt, or from the perspective of survival threats, she had no choice but to act here. So, she would stop it here. The aftermath... her future self would handle it. Probably. "Cool your head a bit. Stupid girl." Just then, something flew toward Popuri's feet along with a blunt voice. After confirming the appearance of the white cat with heterochromatic eyes, Popuri checked the object near her feet and made a puzzled sound. "Glasses case? You said you'd look into how to deal with that transfer student, and this is it?" "Precisely, it's the contents that are important." At his tone that seemed to say 'just open it and see,' Popuri checked the contents as instructed. There was no twist like it appearing to be a glasses case but actually containing something else. Because there really were glasses inside. The lenses were rather large, and the frame design was somehow tacky, though she couldn't pinpoint exactly how to describe it. "How am I supposed to use this? Oh, wait! If I put this on other people, can they see the true form of supernatural beings or something like that?!" Popuri spoke with a slightly excited voice. How much mental anguish had she endured from always seeing things different from others alone. If only she could use this to make other people see the transfer student's 'real' appearance too...! "No, those glasses don't have that kind of effect. In the first place, in this world that seems like it's been deliberately designed by supernatural beings to mess with people, there's no way such a conveniently helpful tool for humans would exist." "...Then what?" "The effect of those glasses is the opposite of what you want. Instead of showing the truth, it actually reinforces lies. The first person you see while wearing those glasses will appear extremely pretty and handsome to the wearer." Popuri's expression suddenly contorted. "Are you kidding me right now? How the hell am I supposed to use something like that? What am I supposed to do by seeing that monster bitch as pretty?" Even at Popuri's sharp reaction, Pago continued his explanation without concern. "The most troublesome part for you right now when dealing with that supernatural creature is that its existence is legal." "It has proper identification, leads a normal school life, and is accepted by people as part of society. Even its harm comes from inducing people to perform suspicious rituals or trying to drag them to dangerous places, not from wielding any extraordinary powers itself." "Look at the way it targeted that large dog-like girl this time. Creating a puddle on the stairs, hiding blades in the desk drawer. Well, there's a possibility it actually conjured water out of thin air, but even if it uses such abilities, it means it can only pull off pranks at a level that's 'not physically impossible even for an ordinary person.'" Popuri frowned and fell into thought for a moment. And she caught on to what Pago was trying to say. "...In other words, if I just cover my eyes appropriately and then look, it's practically no different from 'a human who's clever enough to do insidious things without getting caught easily'?" "Exactly. And this world is overflowing with ghost stories where humans become the subject of fear and make other humans their victims." The moment she heard Pago's words, several ghost stories came to mind in Popuri's head as well. The ghost story where someone felt fear in the middle of the night but was reassured when their dog licked their hand, only to discover the dog was dead and written on the wall in blood was 'It's not just dogs that can lick hands.' The ghost story where someone rode an elevator with a man, and the moment they felt relieved that he got off on a lower floor instead of the same floor, the man showed a knife from outside the elevator and ran up the stairs. Various keywords began fitting together like a puzzle in Popuri's mind. A supernatural being that receives society's protection and is essentially no different from a human. Glasses that can prevent recognizing that supernatural being as supernatural. Ghost stories of humans threatening humans. Popuri is a ghost story expert. Naturally, among the stories of humans threatening humans, she also knows about the attribute that boasts almost the strongest level of prestige. That existence that commits criminal acts without a care but never gets caught, is suspiciously competent and eerily has high physical abilities, and possesses perfect stealth, tracking, and surveillance capabilities. Popuri let out a sigh she wanted to make. And came to a conclusion. "Alright, let's try it." From now on, she would be 'a yandere stalker who absolutely loves the mysterious beautiful transfer student.'