Chapter 70: Nagase Aya and the Useless Guy
The cultural festival ended, and the substitute holiday was over.
Here at Hokusho High School, there's still a lingering festival buzz in the air.
Even among the students' conversations,
"The maid café..."
"Miss Hokusho..."
"But you know, according to the rumors..."
"The crying yakisoba at the festival is one of the school's seven mysteries m..."
There's a lot of talk about the festival, but here—
There were guys here who liked girls even more than three meals a day, and cared way less about the finished festival than that...!
First-year building, hallway.
Yamamoto: "Oh, Kuzu-kun?"
Kuzu: "Hey! Yamamoto-kun!"
These two are greeting each other, but in truth, they don't get along at all.
Each one is secretly thinking, This guy's a useless pretty boy with just a good face.
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Yamamoto Masaki
First-year, Class 4, soccer club. His parents run a fairly large used car dealership.
A rich, aggressive type of handsome guy. His favorite body part: legs.
As you know! He's the guy who stole Mishima Satsuki, Kousuke's ex-girlfriend.
He's in the same class as Kousuke.
His specialty in flirting is showing off his reliability in stylish and grown-up places like dart bars, night pools, or clubs—even though he's a high schooler—and then winning girls over with expensive gifts.
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Kuzu Tatsuo
First-year, Class 2, tennis club.
Gentle prince-type handsome guy. His favorite body part: chest.
As you know! He's the guy who stole Yukari Tomonaga right before she started dating Kousuke.
He went to the same middle school as Tomonaga-san.
His specialty in flirting is getting close by listening earnestly and closing the distance, then using various tricks to create dramatic situations and sweep girls off their feet with his performances.
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Yamamoto: "I heard! Congrats! You started dating Tomonaga-san, Miss Hokusho, right?"
(You've got a girlfriend now, so stop talking to girls, all right?
She's that so-called slut who got famous for her diet, right?)
Kuzu: "Thanks! Miss Hokusho... she's amazing, right... I plan to support her by her side. Having a girlfriend doesn't really change anything, you know?"
(My girlfriend's Miss Hokusho! She beat your girlfriend!
Doesn't matter, right? Even if I have a girlfriend, I'll still flirt.
Plus, Yukari-san's got huge boobs, you know?)
To others, the sight of these two talking looks like a refreshing scene between two handsome guys that makes all the girls swoon, but...
Yamamoto: "In front of that huge crowd... that was super dramatic, you know? Stuff like that actually happens?"
(You made that big declaration in front of everyone—just be satisfied with her, all right.
Doesn't it seem kinda fake? That's totally your move, isn't it?)
Kuzu finally steps in to stop things,
Kuzu: "Hey, Nagase-san? Could you stop with the simultaneous translation thing?"
Nagase: "Oops, my true feelings slipped out! Wait, was I wrong?"
When Nagase Aya laughs with a bright "Ahaha!", it's as if flowers bloom all around her.
She'd been listening in on Kuzu and Yamamoto's conversation, then translating it for her best friend and class rep, Takahashi-san, who was standing beside her.
Kuzu: "Nagase-san! You've got me all wrong!"
Yamamoto: "Yeah! I don't think that way either!"
Nagase: "Yeah, yeah, both of you have girlfriends now, so don't go inviting me out to hang anymore, okay?"
She says it brightly with a laugh, but Yamamoto and Kuzu sense her rejection and look a little troubled.
See you!
With that, Nagase walks away with Takahashi-san.
Takahashi: "But the two of them are really handsome, aren't they? Aya, they both tried to hit on you, right?"
Nagase: "...Yeah, it was a pain."
Nagase scrunches up her face in an "ugh" expression.
Even that face is so charming that Takahashi-san can't help but sigh.
Takahashi: "You're so lucky, Aya, being so popular."
Nagase: "It doesn't mean anything if you're only popular with the wrong guys. More importantly, you must not get close to those three!"
Wait, did someone join the two guys from before?
"Why?" Takahashi-san asks.
Nagase: "Seriously, you'll end up pregnant if you're not careful, okay?"
Nagase Aya goes on to explain how those two, plus one more, are all totally obsessed with hitting on girls!
I've been hit on over and over again—it's such a pain!
Takahashi-san asks anyway, "So, what kind of stuff happened?"
Nagase: "Listen! Those two would take turns coming over to flirt with me, right? After giving me compliments, they'd ask if the other guy had come yet, right? Then both of them would say, 'That guy's a total womanizer who only thinks about getting girls, so you shouldn't go out with him, Nagase-san!' They both say the exact same thing!"
Takahashi: "Whoa, Aya? Calm down?"
Nagase: "Exactly! They're exactly the same! Their opinions of each other, the trash talk, even their preferences! What is that? Are they brothers? Did they have the same ex-girlfriend, so they're basically siblings now?"
Takahashi: "Aya? Aya? Easy there."
Nagase: "I really hope one of these days those guys get stabbed by some girl they pissed off."
Takahashi: "Aya? You shouldn't say things like that!"
Nagase: "Okaaay! Yikes, here comes number three! Are they going to hit on me again...?!"
From the other end, Sahori-senpai waves as he comes over...
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Sahori Toshinobu
Third-year, former basketball club.
Pushy, sleazy handsome guy. His favorite body part: butt.
As you know! He's the ex-boyfriend of Tendou Airi.
His specialty in flirting is persistently showing up, keeping up with girls over LINE and on social media, breaking down their defenses, then moving in with invitations to dates or aggressive meal attacks for a sudden close-up.
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—Sahori: "Hey, isn't that Nagase-chan? Club activities today? How about hanging out with me? Huh?"
Nagase Aya grabs Takahashi-san and runs away!
She mutters quietly to herself so Takahashi-san can't hear,
Nagase: "With Kousuke-kun in that state... there's no way I can do anything that could be misunderstood..."
Nagase Aya—a girl rumored to be the year's top beauty and talented in both academics and sports, a member of the girls' basketball club and student council secretary.
Cheerful and outgoing, there are always people around her.
Not only is she beautiful, but her smile is captivating, and her healthy, defenseless charm always makes her the center of attention.
But in the near future, Nagase Aya's nickname will be—
"Useless Guy Magnet"
(lol)
That nickname came about because every guy who tried to flirt with her ended up crashing and burning as a useless guy.
Friendly and sociable, she'll at least listen to your problems.
Of course, she'll never go on a date or anything, though.
Nagase Aya protests that it's like she only gets attention from useless guys! But every guy who's tried to flirt with her ended up with a reputation for being useless...
Nagase Aya's best friend, Takahashi-san, puts it like this:
Takahashi: "Yeah, all the sleazy guys who come to hit on Aya end up getting suspended or picked up by the police! If a normal guy just asks her out for a date or a meal, it's usually fine, but the rate of weirdos is crazy high and those guys just keep crashing and burning!"
Of course, Kuzu-kun was also one of those who, until recently, had been hitting on Nagase Aya pretty hard.
Nagase: "...Tomonaga-san and Kuzu-kun at the beauty contest... What they did to Kousuke-kun... I can't forgive them...!"
Nagase Aya starts working through the student council to get Miss Hokusho stripped of her title.
All to bring down Yukari Tomonaga and Kuzu Tatsuo.
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It was a roundup of useless guys.