Don’t Look Back, Megumi Kato [12]

Just as Izumi Yuu was about to head downstairs, the door behind him suddenly creaked open again.

Sagiri poked her head out, then promptly tossed a small bundle of clothes in his direction—clearly the ones she'd just changed out of.

Without so much as checking where they landed, she immediately retreated back into her room, still embarrassed from earlier.

The pile wasn't large: a nightgown, a pink camisole, a pair of panties—and a pair of white thigh-highs.

A soft scent still lingered on them, particularly on the underwear, which even carried a faint trace of milk.

Yes—Sagiri had unwittingly thrown the whole set directly onto Yuu. Her underwear, in fact, had landed squarely on his face.

[These are the girl’s intimate clothes. They still carry her body scent and residual warmth. A degenerate idea suddenly pops into your head—you could hide them away in your room and…]

You even know it’s a degenerate idea, and you still say it out loud?!

Expressionless, Yuu calmly gathered the scattered garments into his hands, grumbling internally.

He wasn’t about to deny that he had a healthy interest in the opposite sex—but this level of perversion? Yeah, no thanks.

“…But wait. Sagiri-chan never wears socks. Why would there be white thigh-highs?”

Frowning, he looked at the faintly scented white stockings in his hand, puzzled.

In all his time living with Sagiri—both in his previous life’s memories and the past half year since crossing over—this was the first time he’d ever seen thigh-highs among her laundry.

[You gaze at the stockings in your hand, and a realization dawns. She must’ve found out about your kink. Wanting to please you, she wore white thigh-highs for the first time. To properly respond to her feelings, you decide to sneak into her room after she falls asleep tonight. You’ll ask her to wear a new pair just for you. But first, you’ll need to buy a fresh set—and considering how delicate her body is, maybe a bottle of lube wouldn’t hurt, either…]

Yuu immediately tuned out the narrator’s increasingly repulsive monologue.

His focus had locked onto something else entirely.

Sagiri-chan found out about my kink and deliberately wore white thigh-highs…?!

His whole body stiffened. The sheer weight of that possibility struck him like a bolt from the blue.

After what happened earlier that afternoon, he was certain of one thing: this scummy narrator had access to information he didn’t—even things about himself. It was like the guy had a god's-eye view of everything, only he used it for sick, unhinged monologues.

Still, the bit about the white thigh-highs… That was true. Which only made it worse. How had Sagiri found out?

Besides the light novel manuscript he’d submitted, there was only one other entity who knew about his tastes—and that was this damn narrator. Assuming, of course, it could literally scan his mind.

He’d never told anyone else.

Frowning, Yuu pulled out his phone and logged into an email account he hadn’t checked in ages.

Sure enough, there was a message from a few days ago. It was from his editor—the publishing house had decided to move forward with his light novel. The illustrator had already been selected.

“Tch… So Sagiri-chan really did it for me?”

He sucked in a breath. The pair of stockings in his hands suddenly felt ten thousand times heavier.

Yuu hadn’t been surprised by the news of publication—ever since he’d crossed into this world, he realized this parallel version of Earth was years behind in terms of entertainment.

Anime, novels, games, music, even film—it was all leagues behind. Even the “masterpieces” from his past life’s Japan didn’t exist here, let alone stuff from certain… sites.

Let’s be honest—“a decade ahead of the industry” wasn’t just a meme.

To help this world’s culture evolve, Yuu had generously “borrowed” a title and passed it off as his own.

Because plagiarizing? Nah—this was cultural preservation.

So after submitting his manuscript, he stopped thinking about it entirely. He knew it’d get picked up.

Sure enough, after some quick internal discussions, the publisher greenlit it.

Now that he’d confirmed Sagiri was assigned as the illustrator, and that she knew he was the author, everything clicked into place.

So Sagiri-chan’s the illustrator for my novel. She knows I wrote it. She read the content… discovered my kink… and wore white thigh-highs just to match my tastes?!

The thought stunned him.

“Well… I guess I haven’t done too bad after all. At least Sagiri-chan seems to like me, even just a little.”

For the first time in a while, a rare warmth bloomed in his chest.

Maybe taking care of her these past six months hadn’t been in vain.

[Now that you’ve uncovered the truth, you decide to hint at your siscon tendencies in your next novel. Maybe add some bolder scenes too—like choking, rope play, calling you “Daddy”…]

That’s not light novel material anymore, you freak!

Yuu immediately cut off the narrator’s twisted fantasy before it got out of hand.

If this keeps up, I’ll have to abandon my literary career entirely!

At the very least, he had no plans to venture into that genre until after he'd conquered the literary world.

Sigh… Anyway, let’s just wash these clothes for Sagiri-chan first.

He gathered up her laundry and headed to the bathroom.

After tossing everything into the washing machine, he finally returned to the living room, sat down at the table, and began eating dinner.

[Ding! You’ve gained +1 Strength.]
[Ding! You’ve gained +1 Constitution.]
(Source: Resisting the narrator’s suggestion to assault Hitori Gotou and not hoarding Sagiri’s white thigh-highs for personal use.)

[Current Stats:]
[Constitution: 8]
[Strength: 9]
[Agility: 8]
[Stamina: 10]
[Charisma: 10]

As the system message echoed in his mind, Yuu felt a tangible surge of energy in his body and mind.

“Huh… So it’s only when I resist the narrator’s degenerate suggestions involving anime heroines that I get stat boosts?”

He looked thoughtful.

If that was the case, maybe he should get closer to more anime heroines… though farming these boosts clearly had limitations.

Over the past six months, he’d only gotten three boosts from Sagiri.

Maybe it required specific scenarios—or had some kind of cooldown.

“Well, whatever. First things first—dinner.”

Yuu shook off the thoughts. As long as he got stronger, who cared how it happened?

[Ding! Congratulations, Host. You’ve completed the first step of dominating the Tokyo literary scene! Reward: 100,000 yen +1 Strength!]

Another message appeared in his mind, and his whole body tensed in surprise.

He pulled up his secondary system interface and grinned in delight.

Yes, in addition to the scumbag narrator and affection meter, Yuu also had a system called “Conquer Tokyo.”

A glowing screen materialized before his eyes.

[Conquer Tokyo System]
Literary Domination Path:
[① Publish a novel – ✅]
[② Sell over 100,000 copies – ❌ (Reward: ???)]
[③ ??? – 🔒]

Music Industry Path:
[① Perform a piece, or have someone perform your original song – ❌ (Reward: ???)]
[② ??? – 🔒]

(More categories: Film, Games, etc.)

If befriending anime heroines unlocked master-level skills, there was no way Yuu was going to pass that up.

After all, aside from literature, his “previous life” advantage might not cut it in other fields.

Music? He didn’t know music theory. His singing sucked.

Games? Total pipe dream—he couldn’t even code.

[Suddenly, a thought flashes through your mind. Maybe it’s not enough to just one-up that four-eyed simp and his crush. Maybe the real giga chad move… is to have his game dev club make a game for you.]

Wait… Was that… a normal suggestion?

For the first time in his life, Yuu actually found himself considering one of the narrator’s ideas.

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This is a fan translation of 加藤惠别回头，我是伦也君 by 故人归 All rights to the original work belong to the creator. Please support them by exploring their original work or sharing it with others if you can. Thank you for reading and supporting my efforts to bring this story to a wider audience!