Things had indeed gone wrong for her back in middle school.
To win her friends' favor, she'd basically avoided doing anything that might upset them. In other words, she had to hide what she really thought, and that made her miserable. So she'd chosen to write her honest thoughts on a blog.
Then—
One day, someone discovered the blog. Everyone found out what she was really like, and they started attacking her. When she realized what was happening, she exposed everyone else's secrets, destroying all their relationships.
Best friends turned against each other; the truth came out about brothers cheating with each other's girlfriends; a classmate was doing compensated dating; a teacher-student affair had resulted in a three-month pregnancy—and so on, and so on.
And just like that, her middle school blew up.
Her family even confined her to the house. She didn't come to this school, this new place, until then. She'd wanted a fresh start, but she'd continued with the same old routine.
And to keep things from blowing up, she stopped writing her blog.
But—
The pressure had doubled.
After all, writing the blog had been a way to vent. Now that outlet was forbidden, and the students at this school were completely different in number and caliber. They were better than those in her middle school class, but there were still some difficult people to deal with.
Like Nakano-kun, whom she'd only met yesterday.
It had taken a lot of effort to handle him today.
"But at least I've maxed out my favorability with Nakano Yuu now."
She murmured to herself.
[Perhaps you're being a little too optimistic.]
But then a voice suddenly sounded in her mind.
Kushida was so restless that she didn't pay the voice any attention.
[Nakano-senpai's attitude toward you isn't maxed out.]
The voice was still there in her mind.
Wait.
Kushida Kikyou finally realized something was wrong. She wasn't muttering to herself or letting her thoughts wander. There was... really something inside her mind!
"I'm Kushida Kikyou," she suddenly said, her expression turning sweet and cute, like a little angel's.
[That's right, you are Kushida Kikyou. Or would it be better if I called you Kushida-senpai? That would make me seem more polite.]
The voice in her mind sounded again.
"..." Kushida could now be sure that something was really wrong.
Had she finally broken down, just like in middle school, after keeping up all those relationships and secrets for so long?
And now that she'd come to a new high school, she was still the same.
Nothing had changed.
Things seemed even worse now. Maybe because she wasn't writing her blog, her mind had finally given out?
She might as well have gone to the railing where nobody passed by yesterday and kicked it a couple of times to blow off some steam.
[This isn't multiple personality disorder or mental illness, Kushida-senpai. You do seem to have some issues, but your symptoms are still mild compared to mine.]
The voice in her mind didn't stop.
Kushida's heart tightened.
[I imagine you're very surprised right now, even though you haven't shown it on your face.]
"..." Kushida.
Kushida found the voice really annoying.
It was as if it could see right through her, like... well, it reminded her a little of how she felt when facing Nakano Yuu.
"I'm probably just too tired. I should go get some sleep," Kushida murmured.
[Resting won't help. I don't think I'll just disappear.]
[Still, it's nice to meet such a cute and silly Kushida-senpai ahead of time. It's nostalgic.]
But the voice in her mind kept speaking.
Kushida confirmed once again that there really was something wrong with her mind.
A mental illness, and its name was multiple personality disorder.
A new personality had suddenly split off from her.
And this personality really was messed up. She called herself Amasawa Ichika, a White Room student who would enroll as a first-year next year.
Kushida didn't really understand what it meant to be a White Room student, but she could tell that the other girl claimed it was an institution that produced geniuses.
Heh.
If such an institution really existed, why would there be any need to label anyone a genius?
But it did remind her a little of Ikusei High School. This was only the second month since she'd enrolled, and she already knew what the school was really like. Kushida wasn't just playing some friendship game, either; she was also analyzing how the school operated.
For example, the class rankings, the competition between classes, and how they all had to shine during the Special Exam each month if they wanted to earn spending money.
These were all measures intended to cultivate students through competition.
But she was getting off topic. Kushida now thought this new personality was crazy.
The past she'd made up for herself and her background were both pretty messed up.
According to Amasawa, she was a child conceived through artificial insemination, with unknown parents. She'd been placed in the White Room right after birth and given elite training. And she'd come from two years in the future.
The reason she called Kushida "senpai" was that next year she would enroll as a new student in Class 1-A, then be expelled two years later.
That was why she was from two years in the future.
She was an expelled student from two years later.
But her story was a bit much.
After being expelled, Amasawa had found her parents.
Then she'd been in a car accident and become a vegetable. Even as a vegetable, she could still hear what was going on around her. And, unfortunately, she'd overheard that the accident had been deliberate. Her younger sister was in poor health and needed an organ transplant.
So her own organs had become the backup supply.
They hadn't been used yet only because her sister's body hadn't completely broken down, which meant she was still lucky enough to be safe.
After all, transplanted organs had to be fresh and healthy. If nothing changed, the only thing waiting for her was death.
Perhaps because she was in a vegetative state, her mind had become unusually active, and her will to survive had grown especially strong. Then, just ten minutes ago, she'd discovered that her consciousness had traveled through time and arrived two years in the past. She hadn't possessed her own body, though. Instead, she'd possessed Kushida Kikyou, the senpai she'd once met at school.
Wasn't that awful?
Kushida thought this Amasawa Ichika character had a problem.
Or maybe it took a serious case of paranoia to come up with a backstory like that for herself.
Still—
Whether it was being a newborn conceived through artificial insemination or coming from two years in the future, none of it seemed real.
And the other girl's explanation was even harder to accept.
[Although you think I'm another one of your personalities, I can't deny that I'm attached to your body right now. It's pretty interesting, too, but I don't think this arrangement suits me.]
[After all, our intelligence levels are completely different. I don't want to become a part of you.]
That was going too far. It was as if she were calling Kushida Kikyou an idiot.
Kushida, who had excellent stats herself, was deeply offended.
But—
[Kushida-senpai, although I haven't enrolled yet, I can tell you what your future holds.]
[You'll be expelled one month before I am.]
Hmm.
So if the other girl really was from two years in the future, she was going to tell Kushida about her future?
Kushida didn't want to hear any of it.
Or rather, what the hell?
She was going to be expelled even before this cocky girl!
Kushida Kikyou didn't believe it at all.
[It seems you still think I'm just another one of your personalities. Then let's test it.]
The new personality called Amasawa Ichika proposed a new idea.
"How do we test it?" Kushida asked warily.
[Even if you split into another personality, you still have to share this body. That should limit your intelligence and academic ability, since ordinary people use only a very small portion of their brains.]
Kushida couldn't deny that. It was like someone buying a computer with a 4060 graphics card, then only playing Stardew Valley or some adult game on it. The 4060 would go completely unused.
[Proving that I'm not one of Kushida-senpai's personalities is simple. Academic ability.]
[This body belongs to Kushida-senpai, but I have my own thoughts. So all I have to do is prove that I can solve problems Kushida-senpai can't.]
In other words, she wanted to try some difficult math problems?
Someone once said you could do anything when you were angry, but no matter how angry you got, you still couldn't do math.
That was something.
Kushida was already starting to feel lost.
No.
She should say that deep down, she was still determined. She still couldn't tell whether the new personality was just another part of herself or a junior from two years in the future who had really come back.
But either way, she had to fight back.
Because—
This was her damn body. If this other personality—or that junior—took control of it and started doing whatever she wanted, exposing Kushida's secrets and all, it would be far worse than her blog being exposed in middle school.
Meanwhile—
"It's pretty late, but Kushida-san is still quite active."
Since he had access to Kushida's friends list and Nakano-kun couldn't sleep, he checked her location via GPS.
P.S. I'll make a few changes, since Sakayanagi's body really isn't very good. It won't have much impact, and only the heroines will change. You can think of it as a bit of playful fun between the male lead and his harem. Also, the male lead has transmigrated twice. It was pretty obvious in the first chapter: he thought the scene after his transmigration seemed familiar. So there's no chance of anything shocking happening during the blank year or him being a cuckold. I'll fill in what happened during that year after I finish writing the second year.
Kushida: I'll be expelled by Nakano Yuu? Impossible, absolutely impossible!
Nakano-kun couldn't sleep, so he checked Kushida-san's location via GPS.
After all, it was only fair.
She could check his location, so it was perfectly normal for him to check hers when he couldn't sleep, right?
But—
Kushida's location showed up as the library, and since the library was a public place, he probably wouldn't find anything incriminating.
So Nakano-kun had no intention of leaving his dorm.
But—
Just as he was about to put his phone down, Nakano Yuu noticed that he'd received a message from Kushida.
Kushida Kikyou: Nakano-kun, are you asleep?
Nakano Yuu didn't reply.
Kushida Kikyou: You're actually still awake, aren't you, Nakano-kun? If you checked your phone, the message would show as read, and on my end, it says "read."
Before you continue