Kiraware Yūsha ni Tensei Shitanode Aisare Yūsha o Mezashimasu!

[Hated Hero, Apologizing]

School, after the days off.

I decided to meet the girls on the list after classes.

Of the two days off, I’d spent the first going on a date with Tayte.

The following day, Tayte had to return home as she had a business to take care of, so I’d spent the whole day cooped up in my room formulating an apology plan. I’d requested Marina, Priim, and Rebecca, my three maids, for assistance and asked them to tell me what kind of people were the girls on the list, and thus I was able to come up with a detailed plan.

In the process, I noticed some points of commonality shared by the girls on the list that the three maids had put together.

Which was, they had a quiet personality or had few friends.

This led me to believe that (former)Barrett had been targeting girls who couldn’t firmly reject him if he hit on them. It wasn’t an exaggeration to say he was a despicable personified.

Still, why would Barrett target such girls?

Considering his tyrannical behaviors in the original storyline, it would be no surprise even if he were to hit on any girls regardless of who they were.

As I was thinking, the Holy Sword, the blessing I’d been gifted by God during the Divine Gift Ceremony, came into my vision.

Speaking of which… the original Barrett became more unrestrained after the Divine Gift Ceremony—or in other words, after he obtained the Holy Sword.

…That was it. The Holy Sword.

It wasn’t until he became the Hero chosen by the Holy Sword that the original Barrett behaved so arrogantly toward others. He was from a well-renowned household, yes, but still, he couldn’t be so wanton… however, his getting chosen by the Holy Sword broke him free of all his restraints.

If that truly was the case, I might still be able to salvage the situation.

I could still start over.

And that began today.

◇◇◇

With renewed determination, the first one I had to apologize to was, of course, Melia.

“Melia. Can I have a few words with yo—”

“Stop right theeeeeeeeeere!”

When I asked Melia to talk in private, Kleine, as though it was natural, accompanied us.

Once we’d moved to the garden on the rooftop, I apologized to Melia for everything I’d done and bowed deeply.

““…………””

Melia and Kleine remained silent.

The quiet Melia appeared to be taken aback by the fact that she was receiving an apology itself, whereas Kleine appeared speechless by the fact that I had bowed down and apologized.

“You… what are you scheming this time?” Kleine eventually asked.

“I’m not scheming anything. I sincerely want to apologize for the thoughtless and stupid things I’ve done. You may not believe me, but… I’ve changed. I—truly like Tayte.” I said firmly.

“!” Kleine, still with a look of suspicion on her face, looked back at Melia.

Melia was the victim here.

And the answer given by Melia was—

“Very well… I forgive you.” Melia said smilingly.

“—! T-thank you!”

“?! M-Melia?!” Kleine approached Melia, pushing me aside in the process. In truth, I was really taken by surprise because I didn’t expect she’d receive my apology so positively.

“Are you sure about this?! After all the troubles he’s caused yo—”

“However, I can tell he genuinely treasures Tayte now…” Melia’s voice was a little soft, as usual, but there was a conviction… or should I say, heaviness, in the words she gave while looking straight at me. “As Tayte’s friend, I wish her happiness. And now, I believe I can entrust that wish to you.”

“M-Melia…” It appeared that Kleine couldn’t say anything before her straightforward statement. She turned to me and said, “…I will give it to you straight, I still don’t trust you.”

“That’s fine. I’ll prove it to you through my actions.”

I had expected it, but it appeared it wouldn’t be so easy to convince Kleine.

However, Melia seemed to realize, if slightly, my change (though more accurately speaking, I was now a completely different person). I thought that she was a weak-willed girl because she always hid behind Kleine, but that didn’t seem to be the case.

According to the conversation we had after that, Melia herself had only thought: “He must be doing this on a whim,” when (former)Barrett had first asked her out. Surely, his usual frivolous attitude had made her think so. However, she couldn’t turn him down to his face, so she had been keeping a loose relationship with him.

At that point, she was already in that relationship with Kleine, and she didn’t even regard him as a partner, it seemed, however… seeing me with Tayte together at the Horticulture committee made her think I had changed, apparently.

Anyway, with this, my relationship with Melia had straightened up nicely, and it had given me a little confidence.

I doubt it would go this smoothly with everyone else, but I was determined to sincerely apologize to each and every one of them and straightened up my relationships.

After parting with Melia and Kleine, I proceeded to make the rounds of the girls on the list and apologized to each of them within permissible time.

Some of the girls responded that they didn’t want to ever see me again, whereas some were so frightened that I couldn’t hold a proper conversation with them, but still I faced each of them and apologized for everything I’d done straightforwardly.

By the end of the day, I was able to meet with most of the girls.

Their reactions were varied, but it appeared there was no one that was genuinely in love with Barrett. Some girls had taken it as I’d been reformed by the Holy Sword, giving me a glimpse of the unexpected effect of the Holy Sword.

At this rate, this matter would end smoothly. At least, I sure hoped so…