Volume 3 is just one plot twist after another. Kobayakawa, who at first seemed like he was willingly sacrificing himself and getting left out by the class just to keep the guys from getting too close to Kanie, actually had a totally different agenda, he wanted to become the MC's close best friend. Ouji, who everyone thought had turned evil and was trying to steal Mikoto away from the MC, turned out to just be a victim of Kobayakawa's blackmail. To keep the MC's dad from getting fired by Ouji's dad, Ouji went along with pretending to try and take Mikoto away. But in the end, the MC manages to uncover the truth. The moment where the MC really steps up to protect the people he cares about is honestly so touching. He doesn't hesitate at all to take down anyone who messes with the people who matter to him.
Characters:
MC: Ishii Kazuki
Main Heroine: Hidaka Mikoto
The bastard: Amada Teruhito (thought of himself as a romcom protagonist since he was a kid)
Heroine 1: Ushimaki Fuuka
Heroine 2: Iba Kouki
Heroine 3: Kanie Kokoro
Heroine 4: Hitsujitani Miwa > Vtuber name: Hanatori Miyabi
Others:
Support character: Tsukiyama Ouji
MC's sister: Ishii Yuzuki
Heroine's friend: Kitami Sae
Koshimizu Yukari
Kobayakawa
Yoshikawa
Oouchi
Miwa
Note: Fukahire Soup
★ The MC (Ishii Kazuki) keeps dreaming about the bad stuff from his past life, before he went back in time. Back then, he got accused by Amada Teruhito, someone he'd always considered his friend, of taking pictures of Ushimaki Fuuka while she was changing clothes. Because of that accusation, Kazuki got bullied at school. No physical violence, but people kept dumping trash on his seat and the whole school treated him coldly. Tsukiyama Ouji, Amada's best friend, kept inviting Kazuki over to his house, but Kazuki always turned him down. Eventually, Kazuki's dad got fired from his company and had to take a job at a delivery distributor with brutal hours. Because he was exhausted and dozed off while driving, Kazuki's dad ended up in an accident that killed a female student. Right after that, Ouji came to Kazuki's house. He begged Kazuki to come back to school and kept apologizing over and over, since he felt responsible, Kazuki's dad had gotten fired because of Ouji's own dad, who owned the company Kazuki's dad worked for. Ouji apologized and promised he'd protect Kazuki this time around. But Kazuki never forgave him.
▶︎ Volume 3 has two main things going on. The first event focuses on a problem one of the heroines, Kanie Kokoro, is dealing with. The second event is about the conflict involving Tsukiyama Ouji.
◇ Kanie Event
★ In class there are a few different girl cliques. One's led by Hitsujitani Miwa, and the other one's where Kanie Kokoro belongs. Back when Kanie was still Amada's heroine, she tried to bring Kazuki down. But Kazuki got back at her for it, and after that three guys, Kobayakawa, Yoshikawa, and Ouchi, started getting close to her. Because of that, Kanie got labeled as a girl who likes flirting with guys, and her classmates started avoiding her, especially the other girl groups. After Kanie stopped being Amada's heroine, Kazuki felt bad for her and asked one of the girl groups to look out for her. Since then, Kanie's basically become the "mascot" of that group. The guys who used to hit on her got the cold shoulder from the group. Over time though, they managed to blend in a bit, even if they still kept some distance from Kanie. Even so, they're still looking for chances to get closer to her.
★ While Kazuki's working his part-time job at a convenience store with Mikoto, Tsukiyama Ouji and some classmates show up to see him. Ouji wants to invite Kazuki to a study session on Saturday or Sunday. Kazuki flat out refuses though, he's got a solid reason for not wanting to go to Ouji's place. After Ouji's group leaves the store, Kanie suddenly shows up alone to talk to Kazuki. She asks for a bit of his time once his shift's over.
★ Kanie wants to ask Kazuki for help with a problem she's dealing with, it's about Yoshikawa and Ouchi being way too close to her. She can't ask the girls in her own group for help, because one of them likes Yoshikawa, and the group leader has feelings for Ouji. And even though Ouji's known for being helpful, Kanie still can't ask him either, since that could cause jealousy and mess up the friendships within their group.
★ Kazuki ends up agreeing to help Kanie, but he brings in Ushimaki and Iba to deal with it too. Iba feels kind of awkward getting involved with Kanie again, since he still feels guilty for leaving her to deal with her problems back when she was Amada's heroine.
★ Iba tags along to the study session at Ouji's place to protect Kanie from Yoshikawa and Ouchi's inappropriate behavior. But that ends up causing a misunderstanding instead, Ouchi starts thinking Iba has feelings for Kanie, since every time Ouchi tries to get close to or touch her, Iba keeps pulling her away.
★ This whole thing finally gets resolved when Kobayakawa, one of the guys in the group who's always seemed to struggle fitting in, confesses in front of the whole class that Yoshikawa and Ouchi being overly pushy with Kanie was all on his orders. In reality, he never told them to do that at all. Kobayakawa only made that confession because he was following Kazuki's advice to try and change, even knowing it might end up hurting himself.
★ After Kobayakawa's confession, Yoshikawa and Ouchi realize their behavior had gone way too far and could've made things worse for their position in class. They're still able to blend in with everyone since people assume they were just following Kobayakawa's orders, but they still end up having to leave Kanie's group. Kobayakawa, on the other hand, gets left out by the class because of it. But now, he actually ends up joining Kazuki's group instead.
◇ Ouji Event
★ Ouji keeps trying to get Kazuki to come over to his place. But Kazuki stubbornly keeps turning him down every time. Eventually, Ouji does something totally out of character for him, he threatens Kazuki, saying his dad's job at Ouji's father's company would be at risk if Kazuki doesn't do what he wants. Since Kazuki still refuses to budge, Ouji ends up forcing Mikoto to come along with him instead. Mikoto has no choice but to go along with it, since refusing could get Kazuki's dad fired from Ouji's dad's company.
★ Mikoto starts being seen with Ouji a lot, which makes the whole class atmosphere tense. Usually Mikoto's always right by Kazuki's side every day, but now she's suddenly hanging around Ouji way more. Iba tries to call Ouji out for taking things too far, but Ouji just ignores him. Things at Kazuki's house start feeling quiet too. Normally, Mikoto would come over every morning to help cook with Kazuki's mom and head to school together with him, but now that whole routine's stopped.
★ Kazuki starts wondering what's really behind Ouji's actions, why he'd go this far, and what he's actually trying to get out of forcing Kazuki to come to his house. That train of thought brings back memories of his past life, when Ouji also kept inviting him over, even back when Kazuki was cornered by accusations he didn't actually do. He also remembers how Ouji apologized to him over and over back then, even bowing down and promising he'd protect Kazuki this time.
★ Kazuki keeps piecing together clues to figure out the real reason behind Ouji's actions. The last clue comes from Kanie, who mentions that Ouji's dad loves him a lot and worries a ton about how he's doing at school. Whenever they had study sessions at Ouji's place, his dad would always ask about how Ouji's doing in school, every time Ouji wasn't around to hear it.
★ On the second day after Ouji forces Mikoto to be with him, Kazuki finally decides to put a stop to all of it. He's figured out the main reason behind Ouji's behavior and plans to give Ouji what he actually wants so everything can get resolved.
★ After school, Kazuki goes up to Mikoto and asks her to walk home with him. Ouji immediately steps in to stop him though, since he wants to take Mikoto with him instead. In front of the whole class, Kazuki firmly tells Ouji to stop everything he's been doing. He also demands Ouji stop threatening him, especially about his dad's job at Ouji's father's company. Everyone who overhears the conversation immediately gives Ouji a cold look, clearly disappointed in what he's been doing.
★ But Kazuki's not doing this just to take Ouji down. He's figured out that Ouji did all of this on purpose because he actually wants to get left out by his classmates again and stop being the center of attention. Ouji's real goal is to get back into Kazuki's group, something that's impossible as long as he's still surrounded by a ton of people.
★ Turns out there's a plot twist behind all this. Ouji was willing to act totally out of character because he was actually under Kobayakawa's threat. The threat wasn't aimed directly at Ouji, it was actually about Kazuki. Kobayakawa threatened that if Ouji didn't do what he said, he'd go tell Ouji's dad a fake story that Kazuki had been bullying Ouji at school. Given how much Ouji's dad loves him, he definitely wouldn't just sit there if he heard something like that, even if it wasn't true. That's exactly why Ouji forced Kazuki to come to his house, he wanted to introduce Kazuki to his dad as a close friend. If his dad knew Kazuki was actually his friend, then Kobayakawa's fake report threat wouldn't work anymore.
★ The biggest reason Kazuki kept refusing to go to Ouji's house is because he genuinely sees Ouji as his friend. He didn't want to meet Ouji's dad, since to him that would feel like using Ouji's family status for his own benefit. Kazuki didn't want their friendship to get tainted by that.
★ As for why Kobayakawa did all this, even going as far as threatening Ouji, it's because he wanted to become the protagonist's best friend. In his eyes, Kazuki's basically already a protagonist since he's surrounded by all these pretty girls. Kobayakawa knows he'll never actually be the protagonist himself. So instead, he wanted to at least be the best friend who supports the protagonist, helping Kazuki get closer with the heroines and solve all kinds of problems. Unfortunately though, the way he went about it was just completely wrong.
★ Kazuki tells Kobayakawa to stop getting involved with him or messing with the people who matter to him. But since Kazuki actually understands where Kobayakawa's coming from, he doesn't just leave him hanging. Instead, he introduces Kobayakawa to Hitsujitani Miwa, the VTuber, so Kobayakawa can help out as staff supporting her VTubing activities.
but where for spoiler Light Novel VOL.4 ??
