Chapter 9: Wasting time.

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Translated and Edited by: luccayn.

Common Honorifics:
-san: A polite suffix, but not excessively formal.
-kun: A common suffix among friends and younger people.
-chan: A common suffix among people you're close with, mostly used for feminine nicknames and girls, since it's cutesy and childlike.
-senpai: A common suffix and noun used to address or refer to one's older or more senior colleagues in a school, workplace, dojo, or sports club.

Work has been a bit hectic as of lately, sorry for the unstable updates.

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T/N: My term is over, so I’ll be picking up the pace shortly. Also, I’ll be returning to the other series I’ve paused the translation for. Thanks for the patience!

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“What’s up, Kou-kun? You called me out of the blue.”

“Well, it’s just…”

It was lunch break when Tsukino told me, rather forcefully, “I’ll call you, and don’t hang up! Kou-kun and I will talk while you listen!” and ran out of the classroom.

Honestly, there’ll likely be more intimate conversations between the two which I don’t want to know about. In the first place, all possible paths she can take are outlined in the manual she has, so I don’t even need to be there.

Is there something weird going on then? Honestly, the sheer amount of stuff that can happen in a place as small as a classroom baffles me. Truly mysterious, really.

…In any case, they all should focus on class. I learned three new English words just last period, y’know?

“Have you noticed anything strange about our classmates lately?”

“Strange? How?”

“…Ever since the day Takatsuki spoke up to me, they’ve all been blatantly messing with me.”

Oh?

I couldn’t hear any of the usual school hubbub, so they were probably in the less-populated area behind the school, around our second warehouse.

“What do you mean, ‘messing with you?'”

“Th-They now throw things at me. Not just that, every time I open up my locker I see slips of paper calling me a cheater, coward, and other things. The icing on the cake was a condom I found in my desk drawer…”

…Heh. He’s being bullied now? Hilarious.

“Still…” I sighed.

Honestly, I expected something like this to happen. After all, now that people realize a guy living in a perfect dream world has his own vulnerabilities, they’ve started to vent their jealousy and resentment in the form of harassment.

If you think about it calmly, it’s almost something like how a genius is bound to attract some resentment for their prowess. Well, if it were just that, I might’ve felt a bit sorry for him. Though in his case, it’s the condescending way he talks, and his emotionless, unresponsive behavior that fanned the fire. That paired with the fact he didn’t have one male friend.

In other words, his weird harem situation was only “allowed” by our classmates because he was an athletically and academically gifted guy. I’m sure his losing in a verbal fight against a loser like me opened the flood gates. It’s obvious.

…But that’s a separate issue. Bullying is just f*cking dumb, let me make that clear.

While I do understand why the weak relieve their stress this way, I don’t think they’re being nearly smart. I’d rather tell them to work on bettering themselves rather than patting their backs for the idiot behavior. They’re just wasting their time with useless sh*t. Youth is shorter than one might think, after all.

“Maybe you should tell the teacher.”

“I can’t do that now, can I? We don’t even know who the culprit is. Besides, it might cause trouble for you and the other girls.”

Dude, that ain’t gonna happen. If this culprit wanted to cause real damage to you, it would be more effective to just go after the girls from the very beginning. Yet they didn’t do that.

If I were the one harassing Hareta, I wouldn’t give condoms to him. Instead, I would put morning-after pills in each of the girls’ tables apart from one, thus dumping all the blame onto her. That would make him helpless and irritated. Enough so that I think this random assailant has at least thought about something like this.

…Or am I just seeing ghosts where there are none?

In any case, as long as he understands it’s unlikely this culprit will go after the girls, it’s fine. Even the shadiest of introverts have their own morality, I guess.

“If that’s the case, why call me?”

“You’re the only one I can turn to, Michiru. You’re the kind of girl that can defeat Takatsuki. Remember?”

“Do you think I can handle this?”

“I… I don’t know what to do. Please…”

I never thought the pieces would fall into place so well. Honestly, it all happened so according to plan it made me shiver for a second. In fact, I don’t think there has ever been a time in my life when things have gone so smoothly.

It’s said a military strategist can get addicted to their own schemes. I can understand that feeling of almost drowning in your own accomplishments very well. And boy, it feels good.

You did well, Tsukino. Hareta will be yours without a shadow of a doubt.

“…Hm?” Did she just feel something weird was about to happen, so she insisted on having me listen in? So she went from being hopelessly infatuated to a girl of action? Damn, if that’s the case, her growth is quite something. Bamboo shoots would have nothing on her.¹

I immediately realized I ended up actually drowning in my own strategies and got over-reliant on them. Sighing, I muttered, “Now, about Hareta…”

Glancing around the class, I noted just how ordinary it really was. So ordinary, in fact, you could say it’s the same one you could find anywhere in the country. And that was uncommon. I mean, it’s surprising just how a world so ordinary can exist when there’s no harem shenanigans going on. Just a mundane, everyday life.

Honestly, it felt out of place, considering that just a few days ago, Hareta and his group were shamelessly giggling, flirting, and making a fuss as if in their own romcom.

Still, my eyes danced around the room. That person innocently laughing with their friends might be a perpetrator. Maybe that other one playing with their phone. Or maybe even one of the girls, innocent as she may seem, might be one of the culprits. And maybe tomorrow I might become the target…

As I thought over every possibility, I felt bile rising up from my stomach. This nauseating feeling which whirled and writhed was ever-so-similar to what I experienced back then.

Even if the bullying never goes out of line, and they don’t suffer direct harm, just the intensified hatred Hareta is being hit with might become a source of stress for Tsukino. She loves him dearly, after all. In such a situation, I wonder if she’ll be able to maintain a sound state of mind.

…This is all really messed up, isn’t it?

(Shinji-kun, what should I do? I feel there’s nothing I can help him with.)

(Haha, I dunno. Tell him to power through it for now or something.)

Having muttered just that, I hung up the call and left my seat.

Tsukino, enjoy this fleeting sense of superiority for being the one he sought for help and comfort. Just bask in your success for now.

Then, I informed Nagahime — the health committee member in our class — that I was going to the infirmary and left the classroom.

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1 — Honestly, this whole paragraph here really confused me, despite cross-translating on various sites. Sorry if I couldn’t manage to bring this one to a good state.
Well, just know that the idea is that he’s almost proud of her growing out of her “helpless girl” shell. That’s enough to get the gist of it.

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