VI / VS the School’s Idol
—–It was after school.
Izumi Sumie was slouching listlessly at his desk.
In front of him was Amasaki Amane. There were textbooks open in front of the two of them. It was their usual study session.
And as usual they had their textbooks open…but today seemed different somehow.
Even after the classroom emptied out, Izumi showed no sign of getting up.
Writhing like a dying man, he was groaning to himself,
“How did it come to this…”
It was due to the strange events of that morning.
Izumi had suddenly received a love confession from a transfer student, causing an uproar around him. Satou in particular was being unbearable. The loudmouth boy who had witnessed the confession bomb from point-blank range immediately started spreading gossip about the incident. That’s probably the reason he’s unpopular, but no one points that out to him. Everyone’s so nice.
As a result, from that morning on, Izumi had been constantly teased by his classmates. And having grown exhausted and frustrated, he ended up at this after-school study session.
Finally in a quiet place to regain his strength, Izumi sat up straight.
“Geez. Everyone’s overreacting. It was just a confession, but they’re really going overboard with it.”
He sought Amane’s agreement.
But the look she gave him was one of profound contempt.
“Hmm? What’s that? That’s what you’d expect from Mr. Popular, right? You’re just used to this kind of thing?”
“Huh? Amane, are you in a bad mood or something?”
“Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooot reeeeaaaallllllyyyyy?????”
“What did I do wrong!? Stop with that creepy glare!”
Izumi realized the girl before him was not his ally.
While giving him a cold look, Amane twirled her hair with her finger and kicked him under the desk. Ow, that really hurt.
“Izumi-cchi, you’re kinda playing innocent, but you’re not completely against it, are you?”
“Hey, don’t say stuff like those other jerks.”
“But Satou-kun said you acted really suspicious when she confessed to you.”
This time, Izumi was genuinely annoyed at Satou’s unruly behavior.
“Don’t just blindly believe what he says. He keeps embellishing the rumors so much that the original story is unrecognizable.”
“Well then, what about the rumor that one of the hundred girls you played around with in elementary school transferred here?”
“That kind of thing is an obvious lie! How much of a player could I have been in elementary school!? You don’t actually think I’m like that, do you!?”
“You’re always saying stuff like ‘All the girls are crazy about me,’ so yeah.”
“I can’t win!”
Izumi was in agony.
“Look, with that girl, I was just showing her around the school grounds once. I have no idea why she’d confess to me over something so minor.”
“Really? Knowing you, you probably hit on her right away like ‘Hey there, cute little kitten♪'”
“…………”
“Hey. Answer me. Don’t look away.”
A critical hit.
His reaction was as good as an admission that she had hit the bull’s-eye.
(Wait, was THAT really it? You’ve got to be kidding me…)
As Izumi broke out in a cold sweat, Amane twirled her hair and said:
“Well, it doesn’t really matter to me who you date.”
“What’s with the passive-aggressive comments then?”
“That’s why, I said it doesn’t matter. Congratulations with the cute transfer student.”
Her stubborn attitude prompted Izumi to sigh.
“Look, no matter how cute she is, you don’t just start dating someone because they confessed to you.”
“Eh!? Why not!?”
“Whoa, don’t lean in like that. It’s freaking me out…”
Izumi sighed again.
“Relationships between guys and girls should start when you really know and understand each other, right?”
“Sheesh. Were you born in the Showa era or something?”
“Don’t give me that look! At least say I’m from the Heisei era!”
“But you’re always saying such flirtatious stuff, so…?”
“That’s just joking around! Ugh, let’s just study already.”
Izumi took out his reference book for studying with Amane from his bag.
As she watched him, a glimmer of hope arose in Amane’s heart.
(……Could this be him confessing his feelings for me?)
That must be it.
The sudden love confession that morning from the mysterious beautiful transfer student.
And now Izumi, who presumably doesn’t have a girlfriend, is stubbornly denying any relationship with her.
The conclusion is that……..
—He’s taking this chance to make a move on Amane!
Angels playing trumpets descended over Amane’s head. She went into a lovey-dovey daze and said softly:
“I see… Yeah, that’s just like you, Izumi-cchi. Of course, I knew that all along.”
“Huh? What’s with you? You were kicking me just a minute ago.”
“Sorry about that. I’ll treat you to a delicious crepe later, so forgive me♪”
“Well, I guess I don’t really mind that much…”
Confused by Amane’s sudden improvement in mood, Izumi opened his notebook.
“Anyway Amane, I have a part-time job later, so let’s get studying…”
……Just as he picked up his textbook,
“What are you doing, Izumi-kun?”
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a girl’s voice came from behind him.
Startled, he turned around to see it was Nanao Nanase, the subject of the rumor.
She placed her hands on Izumi’s shoulders and peered over at the desk. Looking up at her face so close to his, Izumi’s mouth twitched.
“Oh, hey. What’s up?”
“I was called to the staff room, but I saw you were still here.”
“Ah I see. But you shouldn’t just casually walk into another class like that.”
“You’re right,”
Nanao smiled sweetly.
“May I join you, Izumi Sumie-kun?”
“……Sure, I don’t mind.”
And from across the desk,
the other student made a snide comment.
“Amane-chan is here too, you know.”
It was an annoying thing to point out.
But Nanao didn’t seem bothered at all as she smiled back.
“Ah, excuse me…”
She turned her gaze to Amane and her eyes went wide in surprise.
“Oh, aren’t you Amane-chan?”
“Huh?”
Before Amane could introduce herself,
Nanao happily grabbed her hand.
“You’re the model Amane-chan right?”
“Yes, that’s right, but …… “
When Amane answered in a slightly overwhelmed manner, Nanao smiled and folded her hand.
“You’re really popular even in my hometown. You’re so cute in person too!”
“…………”
Amane was silent for a moment,
then nonchalantly flipped her hair back with her palm.
“Well of course!”
It was a textbook hair flip!
How shameless she was. All her wariness toward her supposed romantic rival had vanished, replaced by an “Aw, you’re so sweet!” kind of attitude.
With her presence now welcome in the classroom, Nanao looked at the desk again.
“So what are you two doing staying late?”
“Oh, well…”
Izumi started to explain normally, but stopped himself.
“……Amane’s just helping me study a bit.”
That’s right.
While it wasn’t actually the case, the official story was that Amane was tutoring him. He would maintain that facade even with the new student Nanao.
Nanao seemed to accept that at face value.
“Wow Amane-chan, you’re good at studying too. Amazing.”
At that sincere praise, Amane…
“Well of course!”
…acted conceited.
Apparently oblivious to Izumi’s deadpan stare from beside her.
“Anyway, that’s what we’re doing, so see you later Nanao.”
…Izumi tried gently shooing Nanao away.
It made sense, since this was supposed to be his study session getting tutored by Amane. Having Nanao there could undermine Amane’s Image, so her presence wasn’t particularly welcome.
But then,
“Oh, that’s right. Can I join your study group too?”
“”……Huh!?””
An unexpected rebuttal.
But not noticing their bewilderment, Nanao continued smiling:
“The lessons here are a bit ahead of my old school. If it’s not too much trouble, could you teach me too?”
“It’s not that it would be a bother…”
Izumi thought about how to handle it.
It would be weird to flat-out refuse her, and he had no special reason to prioritize Amane’s studying. Maybe he could just include Nanao this time while pretending to get tutored by Amane until his part-time job.
Just as he started leaning toward that approach…….
“You should turn her down!”
“Huh? Amane, what’s wrong?”
“No, what about you Izumi-cchi!? Do you really think it’s okay!?”
“Well don’t you think it’s not okay…?”
Amane’s vehement objection caught Izumi off guard.
(Is she that worried about people finding out she’s not a good tutor…?)
Izumi considered that slightly off-base theory as he pondered a solution. Meanwhile, Nanao simply looked perplexed.
“I’m sorry, would it be inconvenient if I joined you?”
“Uh, well…”
Now directly questioned, Amane…
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