Chapter 6: The curse of forced youth choices

The time goes back to before he received the curse.

Whistling, I rode my bike through the cherry blossom lined streets and arrived at my school, Keteru Kerosene High School (with a moderate deviation score).

The baseball team seemed to have just finished their run around the perimeter, and I passed through the school gate at the same time.

“Hey, guys!　We’re having a welcome party for the first years today!　All hands on deck!”

The captain of the baseball team called out to the rest of the team behind him.

“Sounds great!　Let’s do it! Let’s do it!”

“Thank you for doing this for us freshmen!”

The club members replied with bright smiles, but the sceptical me could tell. Only about 20% of them were really happy. The rest of them are just forcing themselves to act like it.

They probably don’t want to go, and in fact, some of them may be uncomfortable.

“Why don’t they just say something?”

In order to please their seniors and friends, they hide their true feelings and say “Jezus”.

It must be very stressful for them. Thank you very much for your hard work.

“If you live a solitary life, you don’t have to deal with such hassle. Just like me.”

I parked my bike in the school’s bicycle parking lot and headed for the shoe box.

I took out a pair of shoes with “poop” and “penis” written on them and put them on without hesitation.

I didn’t want to go through the trouble of erasing every single prank note.

Even if I did, it would be written again the next day.

I enter the classroom of Class 2D.

I don’t greet anyone, and no one greets me.

“Hihihi…… stabbed and stabbed……”

“Kekeke….You’re looking nice and shiny.”

I put the vase away on my desk and put it back on the shelf behind me, under the stares of Shogo Onigashira, the so-called yankee in my class, and his friends.

Then, I removed the thumbtacks from my chair and dumped the half-eaten bread in the bin.

This is my routine every morning.

In general, this would be called “bullying.”

But I have a mental advantage because I look down on the idiots who do such childish things. I never felt bullied in the slightest.

“Hey, hey, listen, listen!　There’s a fortune-telling store that opened recently, and I hear it’s really good!　It’s called Talsoma Doki Doki Fortune Telling House!

“Seriously?　Then let’s go there today!”

I could hear the voices of the girls in my class.

Fortune-telling, you say?　Nonsense ……. That stuff is just a legitimate scam. It should be extinct from this world immediately.

The seventh day of the new semester was over as I was filled with hatred for fortune tellers.

I got on my mom’s bicycle and set off to home.

There is a mountain called Hell Pass on the way, and there are always bikers on the road.

Even though they have expensive bicycles, all of them are slow and obstructive. I passed many of them.

Every time I did, they would say, “Bakana!?” “I’m losing to that bike?!” “Doping!?” It’s not only annoying, but it’s also a lose-lose situation.

After an hour of riding over the Hell Pass, I arrived at my town.

As I was cycling in front of the station, I saw a suspicious-looking street vendor.

A sign said, “Talsoma Doki Doki Fortune Telling House”.

“Ah, so that’s the fortune teller I’ve been hearing about.……”

I walked past her with contempt in my eyes for legitimate scammers.

“Oh!　You’ve got eyes as rotten as a river ditch!”

I didn’t expect her to call out to me, so I inadvertently stopped.

If I had just walked on by, my fate would not have been ruined.……

“Mmm, how rude of you to talk to me when you’re a legitimate con artist, huh?”

“Hahahaha!　The other fortune tellers are con artist, but I’m real!”

As I got closer, I realized that this fortune teller was young and cute.

She had round eyes, beautiful brown hair, and huge breasts. The beret she wore on her head was also charming.

“I know you don’t like to participate in things.　Especially the ones Japanese people do.”

“Yes, it’s embarrassing to watch. The ones where they propose are the worst.”

“Yeah, …… karaoke, barbecues, Instagram, drinking parties, baseball…..”

“Stop it!　I get allergic rashes!”

These are all things that make me vomit.

Just hearing the words makes me feel sick.

“Hahaha!　You’re the real deal!　It’s my job to teach these boys about love and youth!　Then here I go….dong!”

The fortune teller held out her hands to me.

“……Eh?　What is it?”

“In order for you to live a youthful life, I’ve placed the curse of [forced youth choices] on you!　If you ignore the choices, disaster will befall upon you!　So enjoy your love and youth!　Bye bye!”

“What?”

I was worried that she might have done something to me, so I checked my chest, stomach and feet, then looked at the fortune teller again.

“…… Eh?”

Incredibly, the store itself was gone, let alone the fortune teller.

“Oh no ……I must be very tired. Let’s go home and get some sleep.”

I took off the center stand of my bike and got on it.

“Um, I’m sorry, student. Where is the post office located?”

A wrinkled old lady spoke to me.

{1 (Take the old lady to the post office.)}

{2 (draw the old lady a map.)}

I think I’ve lost my mind. The options keep popping up in my brain.

I feel sick and I want to go home and rest.

“Excuse me, old lady. I’m feeling a little under the weather right now…….”

“Oh, well, I’m sorry to hear that. Take care of yourself.”

The old lady left.

I started pedaling my bike. I immediately noticed something strange.

“Oi oi…… something’s starting to rattle.”

I got off the bike and examined the tire.

“Damn, there’s a nail in it!”

I believe there was a bike shop nearby.

I pushed my bike and started walking.

Boom!

A tremendous impact from the side knocked me and my bike over.

“Ugh…… what the hell……?”

“It’s a deer!　It’s a rampaging deer!”

“A rampaging deer!　The mountain is angry!”

D-Deer…….?

This was the first disaster that befell on me.

But I’m the type of person who doesn’t believe in the supernatural at all.

At that time, I still didn’t believe that it was due to the power of the curse.

After confirming that I hadn’t broken any bones, I pushed my bike to the bike shop.

“I’ll have to change the tube. 1000 yen.”

“I understand. Please do it.”

I didn’t have a part-time job, so the 1,000 yen payment was painful for me.

But if I don’t fix my bike, I’ll have to take the bus to school. That would cost me even more money. I had no choice but to dismiss it as a necessary expense.

I decided to kill time at the bookstore next door until my bike was fixed.

I found myself browsing through games, air guns, bird watching, photo books of tree crows, and other contents of my choice, and before I knew it, several hours had passed.

“Crap!　It’s already that time!　–Oh, is that ……?”

A cute girl with a black bob hair. It was Sakurako-sensei.

It’s rare that she’s already finished work at this hour. Didn’t she join the track team today?

–Nn, she picked up a book.

I walked up to the teacher to check the title.

“Fumu Fumu… ‘How to Teach Even Idiots in an Easy Way without Making Them Angry’.……”

“Nn, Yagami-kun?”

Crap. I said it out loud.

“Good evening, Sensei. By idiot part, do you mean D-group?”

Although Keteru Kerosene High School is a reasonably advanced school, it is obvious from the pranks they play on me that they are full of idiots. The teachers must be having a hard time. –At any rate, I’m a good and smart kid.

“You’ve got it wrong.”

“Hahaha. Well, you have to say that because of your position, don’t you?”

If I called a student in my class an idiot, I would be immediately burned.

I would never tell her, but I think she did the right thing.

“Himari.”

“Yes?”

“The idiot is my sister, Himari.”

“Ah…… I see.”

Himari Rurikawa. She’s the monkey known as the “red dot mass production machine” because of her horrendous test scores.

There was no way that such a stupid girl could have passed our high school entrance exam.

Her father is a wealthy man, so everyone thinks that he used his connections and bribes to get her into the school.

“I’ve hired tutors, but they never stick with her. She doesn’t want to listen to the lessons at all, and she doesn’t talk well, so they quit immediately. Yesterday, I hired the 32th tutor.”

“That’s tough. Well, it’s true that you might have to be very mentally strong to deal with that bitch.”

Sakurako-sensei’s cheeks puffed out.

“It’s my sister!”

“I-I’m sorry……I will change “bitch” to “puffed-up bitch…….”

“You haven’t changed at all!　…… Oh, by the way, Yagami, you were eighth in your grade at the end of last year. You’re also mentally strong. I’ll pay you 5,000 yen a time to tutor Himari.”

Five thousand yen?　That’s an unbelievable amount of money for a high school student!

But it’s a different story when it’s that puffed-up bitch girl. Just when I thought I had to leave…

{1 [“With pleasure!”] (Take the tutor job.)}

{2 [“If you’re willing to be my tutor for the night.”] (Take the tutor job)}

Again. It’s …… in my brain again.

No way, is what that fortune teller said true?

But I don’t want to tutor that bitch, even if it kills me. I knew I had to get out of here.

“I’m sorry!　The old man from the bicycle shop is waiting for me.　Excuse me!”

“Ah, wait…”

Without looking back at the teacher, I dashed to the bicycle shop.

Then I gave the old man a 1,000 yen bill and hurriedly got on my bike to go home.