I’d Like to Scold the Capture Targets ZCompleted Translations

I’d Like to Scold the Capture Targets

Right now, five men are sitting in front of me.

Why am I doing this, you ask?

When did this all start?

It wasn’t until the [Reverse End] heroine transferred.

Do you know what an otome game is? It is a so-called ‘romance simulation,’ where girls virtually flirt with handsome men.

Honestly, I don’t know because I’ve never played one before, but it looks like you have to clear multiple endings to conclude the game. There are numerous endings to the game, such as a true end, bad ends, normal ends, and a reverse harem end.

Why did I suddenly bring this up? That’s right! The heroine, a transfer student, appeared who embodies all characteristics and qualities required in an otome game.

During the second year of high school, it was mid-April when she showed up and left everyone dazzled and star-struck with her charms.

Her name was Yumemiya Himeko. It suited her well—with thick luscious hair cascading down to her waist and what’s to say about those big, double-lidded eyes! She had cherry-colored lips, and her cheeks turned red at the drop of a hat. She was indeed a stunning girl who deserved to be called beautiful. Eventually, everybody in the school went crazy for her, and it wasn’t long after that she became the star of our school.

Not ‘class’ or ‘year,’ mind you, but of the entire school!

There’s always a crowd surrounding her, like butterflies surrounding a vivid flower—most of them are men typically—particularly buzzing during lunchtime—many of her admirers even came to our classroom to speak to her. Meanwhile, the other girls just gave her icy stares.

However, even when high school boys are just talking to you, you need somebody to reign them in and control them, right? And you surely can’t do that without guts. That’s why it was only a matter of time till ‘they’ came into the picture to straighten out the situation.

‘They’ visited our classroom every single day since Yumemiya-san transferred. From that moment onwards, they fell in love with her as if this was some cheesy romance drama. Yes, it certainly is like the reverse harem end of an otome game.

Ah, who are ‘they?’ Sorry, I guess I didn’t explain.

‘They’ are the center of this academy—model, respected young men—the student council.

I don’t know what it’s like at other schools, but the student council here is imbued with quite a bit of power. Their room is rumored to be more luxurious than even the Directors. What’s even baffling is that they have a private salon room, a dedicated cafeteria space, and are exempted from lectures when they are busy.

The reason behind this VIP treatment for the Richie-Rich is that this academy is attended by children of politicians, conglomerates, and other influential folks. By the way, I also belong to the top-tier category, but please don’t mind it because I’m closer to common folk than most students at this school.

Back to the story—I have no idea how she did it, but Yumemiya-san was lucky enough to instantly get admitted into the student council and then…

(I know that it’s no good, but explaining this whole situation is extremely troublesome and mentally straining, so although I probably shouldn’t, I’m going to omit an explanation here.)

Anyway, in no time, Yumemiya-san had established her reverse harem. I mean, even Cleopatra would be jealous! But that’s not relevant, so I won’t bother cutting study time to cry over it. Believe it or not, I’m just not that idle.

The main thing is ‘they’ became obsessed with the ‘heroine.’ She even had an assistant for her student council duties. Why? Of course, they wanted to give her the privilege that came with being a part of the student council. However, they didn’t want to give her any of the burdens.

Enjoying delicious desserts and teas inside a luxurious room, a full course meal at lunch, taking on everyone’s envy and jealousy of her affiliation, being exempted from class because of so-called ‘work.’

You know, maybe she initially did do some work for the student council. I really don’t know what happened initially, but soon after, the troubling rumors began. That is that the student council officers weren’t doing any actual work; instead, they were busy fawning all over their ‘heroine.’

I’m not too certain about that; I’m not a part of any clubs or committees. But I heard that several documents were never approved, that at schoolwide committee meetings ‘they’ wouldn’t come prepared or worse, skip it altogether, and even teachers couldn’t stop or do anything about it.

The students agreed that it was a terrible situation, but at this school, the individuals in question were in a position of power. The people who could have reigned them in, the teachers, had the wool pulled over their eyes by Treasurer-senpai.

Treasurer-senpai, while seemingly inconspicuous among his handsome council mates, was very capable. He sported long bangs with black-rimmed glasses, both of which were always in the way of his eyes. He’s tall but has terrible posture, and sometimes when he speaks, you can’t quite understand what he says.

Nonetheless, the student council members are not chosen solely on their appearances.

He was indeed a talented person who was on good terms with the other members and always claimed first place in his year. However, he didn’t like the attention; therefore, he passed all public-facing responsibilities to the current President.

Anyway, thanks to Treasurer-senpai—that is, Yukimura-senpai—they’ve managed to successfully slack off without getting caught till now. But those days are long gone.

Well, we can recall the events leading up to this after I am done with my rant, but everyone from the Student Council—except Yukimura-senpai—has been replaced.

Ah, this is such a pain! Why do I have to go through this? All because of that insanely charming heroine and those foolish sheep.

Just a week ago—when I was still unaware of their misdeeds—a class fellow told me that my best friend, Yuika, had fallen down the stairs and was severely injured. As soon as I learned about the accident, I rushed to the infirmary.

Yuika is indeed incredibly clumsy, but she should be careful when on the stairs. When I asked about her injuries, wondering what had happened, the girl who had brought Yuika to the infirmary told me: “She was pushed.”

At first, I doubted my ears.

Then it all became clear. Apparently, the reverse harem heroine and her silly goats were walking near Yuika-chan. Heroine-sama stumbled, and a couple of her idiots rushed to help her, and in that panic, they pushed Yuika-chan down the stairs.

I’ll admit, up to that point, it was merely an accident. But! None of them noticed Yuika-chan and merely walked away as if nothing had happened.

Can you understand my feelings after hearing this story? They hurt my best friend. It may not have been intentional, but she wouldn’t be in this condition if they had just been a little less obsessed with Yumemiya-san.

That’s when I decided to have them apologize. Ah, and by the way, I asked for the Student Council to be disbanded.

Well, about that, it was almost a mistake. After hearing stories from other girls about similar treatment, I just got angrier, and upfront asked the officers to quit.

The week after Yuika-chan’s accident, I stood in front of the Student Council office. We had gathered evidence proving their lack of responsibility and concern towards the people they’re meant to serve. And since Yumemiya-san would have just exacerbated the situation, she was currently being stalled by some other collaborators.

I really did intend to give them their fair share of an earful and make sure to make their lives miserable.



Ring.

Knock, knock.

I mean, why is there even something like a doorbell inside a school? I have a ton of questions here.

“Yes,” Yukimura-senpai answered the door.

“I have something to speak about with the other student council members.”

Smile.

I gave him a bone-chilling smile—as my friends call it—and he stepped aside.

“Please, go ahead.” Hmm, Yukimura-senpai, who stepped back to welcome me in, is a little bit kind.



“Yukkin, who’s that?” asked the first-year secretary, rudely.

Doesn’t he know I’m his senior?

I wonder if he plays the character of a dog, running around the others, wiggling his tiny tail.

“I’m your senior, just so you know.”

This time, it was the student president who spoke rudely. Well, needless to say, he definitely plays the egoistic character.

“I’m sorry for not being polite; both of you are rude to women. What’s going on, Todo-san?”

The vice president looked guarded and precautious despite looking sorry.

This person seems to be the “malice-schemer” character. But he does seem to be the one who has the right to make decisions.

Oh! It must be your first time hearing my name. Sorry, it’s late; my name is Akane Todo.

I’m sorry I haven’t mentioned it until now. It slipped my mind… I was unaware.

“Oh, what’s wrong with you, Todo? It’s unusual for you to come to the student council room.”

This is the adviser’s teacher. I haven’t mentioned him yet, but he’s also one of the “idiot goats.”

He seems to be a popular character who is kind and caring towards everyone.

The second-year secretary kept looking at me silently.

Is he a quiet character? Or is he the clumsy tsundere character who is not good at speaking?

And oh, by the way, I just recalled what my friend told me about him. Perhaps I should have said it when I looked at Yumemiya-san and the others and asked, “Is this an otome game?”.

My friend told me about that, and I didn’t understand what it meant, so I asked my friend to explain.

I borrowed the game but soon got irritated and hence returned it right away.

Huh?

What a bum. No macho characters?

“Todo-san?”

Oh! I got too caught up in my own thoughts. My bad.

“Sorry, so about our concern…”

“Oh, right. What were you saying?”

“Don’t take up too much time, okay? Tell us immediately.”

“I won’t take much time, but for now…”

“Can you sit down?”

“On the floor.”

“What?”

The look he had on his face at that time was priceless and a sight to see! His facial expressions were of a person who didn’t understand what he said. Or, maybe he actually didn’t understand it at all.

After a moment of silence passed.

“What are you saying? Are you stupid? Why do we have to sit on the floor? Or are you going to sit on the floor and ask us to listen?” The first-year secretary said rudely again.

“Don’t be silly,” the president said, as he suppressed his anger through his voice.

“It’s not reasonable. Why are you making us do that?”

The vice-chairman said with an icy look.

“…”

He went silent again, but the eyes of the second-year secretary glared at him like a beast.

The teacher was taken aback, which turned his face pale.

Oh, I don’t want to. But I wonder if their ears had gone bad when they realized their empty heads are useless. How terrible!

“What!?”

I think I mistakenly thought out a bit loudly. My bad.

The second-year secretary moved closer and grabbed me by the collar.

“Stop…” said somebody when I hit the floor.

Who could that be, I wonder?

Of course, it was the second-year secretary.

“Stop it. Todo knows judo and aikido.”

The secretary froze in her place when the teacher came back to his senses and announced this.

“Why…”

How does the teacher know that? And, why did I lose to the woman? Why?

“Todo and I are childhood friends.” Said the teacher

The teacher explained the first question; let me explain the second one.

“Todo’s father is indeed the president of a small company, but her maternal grandfather is the founder and existing chairman of Kondo Group. That is how she learned martial arts to protect herself in critical situations like these. She’s much stronger than average folks like you. You guys can’t win.”

Ah! But I wanted to explain all this! What a shame.

That’s right. My family members and I, in many ways, may appear a lot like the common folk. However, my maternal grandfather is one of the five big business leaders in Japan. He loves my mother and me unconditionally and never wants us to get hurt or see us in pain.

He taught me judo and aikido; more recently, I also learned Kendo to equip me for bad times. My maternal grandfather made sure that my mother and I were prepared for any dangers that lay ahead of us.

I think it’s faster and much simpler to hire an SP. However, all this is the result of respecting my opinion; I do not want to be bound by such ordinary people.

Well, I don’t care about myself, so let me try again for those who are dumbfounded.

“So, will you sit down? On the floor. There’s something you need to hear. Be clear that I don’t want to waste my time here….hurry up and do it.”

Smile.



Witnessing them reluctantly sitting on the floor, I called out to Yukimura-senpai.

“Yukimura-senpai, if you don’t have any urgent work, I would like to borrow the student council room for a while.”

“No, I’ll stay here.”

Oh, how unexpected. He was still here. Hmm, maybe he also wants to take this opportunity to share his feelings and complain.

I don’t know why, but It all seemed very interesting. I never imagined him as that kind of character.

Then again.

“Why do we have to sit down?”

I was displeased.

You can’t have an impatient man, can you?

“Instead of sitting down, I would like you to kneel down. Not to me, but to my friend.”

I explained it to those who didn’t understand the meaning.

What did we do?

What did we not do?

When they heard that.

“Isn’t that a coincidence? How can you say it’s our fault?” They complained.

“Don’t you think the timing was too perfect for it to be a coincidence? Don’t you think it makes more sense to suppose that you ran into each other instead of it being a coincidence?”

“But I didn’t do it on purpose…”

“Should you be forgiven if it wasn’t on purpose? You didn’t apologize, though? Or is this something a teacher would say? Besides, if this were done on purpose, I would have made you leave school immediately without setting up a forum for this ongoing discussion.”

“In a quiet voice earlier, you told me that you didn’t see it, the first-year secretary. I certainly didn’t see it myself, but there were some witnesses? How odd is it for you to get rid of Hosei and the students without affirming what Yumemiya-san said?”

These words took the target characters’ breath away.

Sadly, the captivated characters ruthlessly punished the students who said that Yumemiya-san had been harassed or had been talked to harshly. Without listening to the people’s stories themselves.

Girls indeed envy Yumemiya-san. There’s no surprise why; she was treated like a princess by the school’s long-cherished student council members. Maybe she was actually harassed.

But Hosei-san would never do such a thing. She may get along with the captivated sheep well, but she has a loving girlfriend. There is no reason.

I think it was a nuisance even to Yumemiya-san. The elegance, sophisticated gestures, and absolute trust of others are implausible for a heroine to mimic.

I guess that’s why Yumemiya-san wanted to get rid of it—using her captivated targets.

However, Hosei is famous amongst the bewitched characters. He couldn’t be entirely excluded; it’s as close as getting suspended and being stuck at home.

Even so, the stupid drooling goats turned all the girls in this school into foes.

“Alright. I admit. I have made a mistake.”

Oh, vice president. It’s nice that you wanted to apologize, but…

“I don’t think you should apologize. Even if your friends forgive you, I won’t forgive you. I’ll make you apologize again and again until I deem it acceptable.”

“Of course, I won’t apologize like that. You sprained your leg and hit your waist, didn’t you? I sincerely apologize.”

Well, I’m quite reluctant and grudging, but the rest of the people seemed convinced.

I mean, it almost seems that they want to get over with it and pick up Yumemiya-san.

So, I have decided to drop the bomb in the end!

“Well then, I have to set up a scene where I apologize tomorrow, and oh yeah, soon this room will no longer be yours, so I suggest you clean it up early.”

I was surprised by this and ended up freezing again.

What a lousy performance, right?

“Akane, what kind of…”

Teacher, I’m at school, so don’t expect me to act like a childhood friend.

“Thank you very much. I will call back the student council members to the principal’s office tomorrow.”

I think it will be accepted soon. We have received approval from more than two-thirds of this school.

Ah, the advisor will let you down, too. It wouldn’t make any sense if you were there.

“And I’ll tell this to my grandfather as well. I’ve already warned you several times, but you never listen. You have nothing to complain about, have you?”

The teacher turned pale as soon as he heard these words.

Regardless of how little interest he has in the “reverse heroine” or her bewitched admirers, he is still a childhood friend, not a stranger.

Therefore, I consciously asked him to behave appropriately as my teacher so that he doesn’t get any special treatment… although I was careful around him, it was still useless.

“It is nobody’s business who you fall in love with; however, you have changed since you fell.”

“I can’t say I’m blind.”

“You are now like a slave of Yumemiya-san. Is your head broken, or have you gone crazy? If you want to take care of her so much, do whatever you like, but I won’t allow you to involve this school’s students. You better prepare yourself.”

“I’m sorry to have taken up your time. Well, then… Oh, right! Yukimura-senpai won’t be asked to come again anymore, so please take a sigh of relief and don’t worry. I’m sorry to have interrupted your work. Goodbye.”

Bow.

I left a lot of enthralled targets dumbfounded and went home.



I wonder what the captured characters are doing.

I’m still a student council officer.

Actually, the day after I gave them an earful, apart from apologizing to Yuika-chan, they also gave me a visit.

To think they visited me so early in the morning…how troublesome. Am I busy, though?

I thought to myself, they weren’t afraid?

They suddenly started kneeling and in the exact same place, wearing the exact same clothes, as yesterday.

But there was a difference; this time, they were rather desperate and not reluctant.

“Please don’t call us at the principal’s office. That’s the only thing I ask for!” the president asked sincerely.

The others said that they have changed their minds and would like to just concentrate on work.

However, all this, the recall, the entire situation; it’s not just for me. That’s why it’s impossible. I told you that…

“No, Akane’s words will convince other students! Whatever little time we have is enough. Give us a chance to prove ourselves!”

“By all means,” the teachers and the captivated characters asked me.

Well, I’m not so bad; that’s why, if the other students can convince me, I promise to give them a month’s extension. I’m quite sure that everyone else won’t disagree.

“If Akane says so,”

And so, I agreed.

There’s no way! I feel overwhelmed to know how much people, these people, trust me. And thereby, I provided them the conditions for their last chance.

“The first condition is to remove Yumemiya-san from the executive assistant position.”

“That’s reasonable.”

“The second is for all students to vote if everyone has improved within the one-month extension period. If the result shows that things haven’t changed for the better, we will instantly initiate the student council election. Bear in mind that none of the captured characters can run for candidacy.”

Everybody accepted these two conditions. Honestly, it was a bit unexpected.

I expected at least some objection or protest from the first-year secretary, but everybody seemed to have a mysterious attitude, unlike yesterday.

Operation recall was a huge success!



Almost a month has passed since the incident.

Finally, the voting day was upon us—sometime next week—but I’m not worried.

They seem to have actually changed their minds and behaviors from that day on, referring to not only the work of the student council but also the internals of other committees and club activities; they have been receiving help and advice as well from the council members.

Gradually, the students’ trust is being restored. Hence, if we continue like this, we won’t be asked for re-election.

However, there’s only one problem…

“Good morning, Akane-san. I have come to give yesterday’s report.”

The vice president stood next to my desk.

Ever since the lecture day, they daily come to me in the morning or after school.

At first, I was impressed, but frankly, after a week, I got sick of it and found it troublesome.

Additionally, even on days when there are no lessons, they have a tea time session in the student council room and call it “Watch-keeping.”

I want to go home immediately, though…

There’s that “Watch-keeping” tea time today as well.

“A-chan, do you have enough tea?”

“Move your hand away. Akane, if you don’t have enough sweets, I’ll get more.”

“Both of you keep quiet. Akane, you can’t seem to take it easy, can you?”

“Akane, hmm.”

I don’t need a bamboo sword, Second-Year Secretary.

“Why is everyone calling me Akane? I don’t want that…”

Well, nowadays, the student council room is always like this after school.

Don’t forget that Yukimura-senpai is there staring quietly, though.



I don’t know what kind of ending Yumemiya-san will have, but I am pretty sure it will be similar to this.

In reality, the role of reverse end heroine can be achieved by a woman who is indecisive and beautiful, and I think, in the end, the person who’ll be in trouble is herself.

Let’s end the otome game with this, okay?

Right?

Smile.

Epilogue

I haven’t received the report yet – it’s not necessary in the first place – but I usually meet Yukimura-senpai during lunch break.

Because…

“Their reports alone may be exaggerated, right? So, let’s do it together.” said my seniors. I kind of agreed, but…

Because I was like, “I see!” when my senior said that, we have not been working on the reports together.

Hey, it’s too close!

Please sit a little further apart!

Don’t look at my face!

Don’t touch my cheeks!

It looks like now I have to fix these seniors’ characters…

I’ll lecture all of you when the time comes!

Sequel?