Chapter 36: Jealousy

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Translator: Soafp

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Every classmate's gaze was fixed on me.

Heh. This feeling was strangely nostalgic too.

It really felt like I was back in the classroom.

“H-Hey! Explain it already!”

“…Calm down.”

“Ghh, you're way too calm!”

For a moment, I wondered what he was even talking about. But then I remembered—Nakina, Shinonome, and Sakura were the sort of gyaru girls everyone viewed as representatives of the popular crowd.

Well, one of them was a dark beast who didn't suit the label “sunny” at all.

If people found out that I called those three by their given names, had exchanged contact information with them, and had spent an entire week together while skipping school, of course this would happen.

Especially since the other party was the most hated guy in the class.

Hmm. This had become complicated.

As I considered how to clear up the misunderstanding, I noticed a certain fact.

“You're… Akiyoshi, right?”

“Y-Yeah!”

“My relationship with those girls is…”

“…Gulp.”

“Exactly what you think it is.”

“Pffft!”

Gross.

Spit actually flew this way.

“W-What the hell are you saying!? What I think it is? There's no way!”

“Weren't you suspicious that Nakina and the others had gotten close to me and spent their day off together with me?”

“…Well, yeah.”

“Then you were right.”

“Damn it.”

That's right. When I thought about it carefully, there wasn't even the slightest misunderstanding.

All of them had confessed to me, and I had been Sakura's boyfriend for about a week.

“How did that even happen!?”

“Do I have any obligation to explain it to you?”

“Y-You…”

It would be an invasion of their privacy for me to tell him myself.

If he wanted the details, he should ask the girls instead.

Though, as I recalled, Akiyoshi had been one of the boys who enjoyed Shinonome's incident the most—deliberately watching the video from social media in the classroom. Nakina and the others probably disliked him, so that might be difficult.

Besides, I didn't want this to become an even bigger issue.

It would only bring more annoying attention my way.

I glanced toward the girls, hoping we could settle this peacefully.

Then Sakura gave me a big thumbs-up, as if she completely understood what I meant.

“Yup, yup, that's exactly it! You all knew I was head over heels for Darling, right? Well, it turned out that Darling was Subaru!”

“““!?”””

“And then I confessed, but he rejected me. And on top of that, Nakina and Shi-chan both said they like Subaru too!”

“““!?!?!”””

“So now, we're best friends—but also rivals fighting over Subaru! Got it now, everyone?”

Sakura gave me a smug wink, as if to say, There, I explained everything for you.

Lately, I had started thinking this:

Expecting anything from Sakura was the real mistake.

It was my fault for not agreeing on a story beforehand.

So I gave her a small nod.

---

Rumors traveled fast.

By the time I walked through the halls after lunch, boys from other classes were glaring at me like they wanted to kill me.

Still, perhaps they knew how lame it would be to openly complain. They pried for details, but no one directly criticized me.

After all, there wasn't a single lie in what Sakura said.

If they tried to object, they would basically be throwing a tantrum and humiliating themselves by saying, “I want those girls to like me too, so it's unfair that only you get to!”

At most, they could spread rumors about me on social media.

Things like, “That introverted loser is actually a player.”

Or, “He got dirt on the gyaru girls and is keeping them around him.”

They were the same people who had all ganged up on Shinonome and thrown stones at her when she was being ostracized.

It wouldn't be surprising if they did something like that without hesitation.

But there was one difference from Shinonome's situation: I barely looked at social media, and I had been isolated in class from the beginning.

In other words, no matter what they did, it would deal me zero damage.

If they tried to hurt me physically, I would simply make them follow the same path as Katsurama.

They were already finished.

“Hey, Hatsukade. Did those three seriously confess to you?”

“…Yeah. So what?”

As I walked down the hallway, three girls from my class surrounded me.

That's right—the same girls' group that had spent so much time gossiping behind Shinonome's back.

The girl who spoke to me was… Suzuki, I think.

“W-What do you mean, ‘so what'…?”

Suzuki's expression twitched slightly, but she immediately put on a fake smile and spoke in a friendly tone.

“I still can't believe it, but they admitted it themselves, so there's no way to deny it. But anyway, you should at least stay away from Shinonome.”

“May I ask why?”

“Because her personality is completely awful, obviously. Don't you all think so too?”

As though they had planned it in advance, the other girls chimed in cheerfully.

“Yeah, she's the worst. Isn't she only after Hatsukade because Nakina and Sakura like him, so she wants in too?”

“I know, right? Like she just wants to chase whatever is trending. You know the type—someone who isn't even interested, but makes a move on whoever is getting attention.”

“She just got rejected by Masaki-kun, and she's already moved on way too fast. It proves she'll go after literally anyone. If she really liked Masaki-kun, she couldn't jump straight to Hatsukade, right?”

With a certain degree of admiration, I nodded.

“That's enlightening.”

At that, their faces immediately bloomed into smiles.

“Right? I didn't expect you to be someone who actually gets it, Hatsukade.”

“Thank you.”

“It's nothing. So, stop hanging around Shinonome already. I'm saying this for your sake, okay? You're only wasting your time dealing with a two-faced girl who's fallen that low.”

“If you girls say so, then it must be true. Your perception is remarkably sharp.”

“Hey, don't praise us that much.”

“As expected, birds of a feather can see right through each other, can't they?”

“…Huh?”

“If you took away Shinonome's cuteness, you'd turn out exactly like them. That's what they call self-loathing, right?”

I gave the girls, now speechless despite their frozen smiles, a small smile of my own.

“Come on, then. Tell me more. I'd love to hear the opinions of ugly girls who have fallen so low.”

“…!”

The air seemed to crack with a sharp sound.

When I happened to look up, I noticed Shinonome nearby, her whole face bright red. She must have overheard us.

I gave her a casual little wave.