Don't Call Me By My Username! - Chapter 10

When February started, the days where everyone gradually became more and more restless kept increasing.

I didn’t have much to do with it, but the girls were busy with a large event called Valentine’s Day. They were busy making homemade chocolates and sharing information about new products from popular stores.

In addition to that, the day overlapped with a winter skiing study tour, so everyone was talking about it all day long.

Kazuki, for example, had recently been binge-watching a lot of ski videos and DVDs as preparation, and he explained to us the knowledge he learned from those videos.

For Yuki, his parents used to take him to ski when he was little, so he must be able to slide down with ease.

“Listen, Takumi. If we aim for *Slope magic, there might still be a chance even for us!”

“Slope magic, you say . . . No, it’s impossible. We never even tried skiing before.”

“If you train your body properly and do image training, you’ll be fine.”

. . . Somehow, I didn’t think it was something we could learn with image training alone.

He told me “If you’re always like that, you’ll never be popular”, but it was none of his business. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t be someone like Yukiya. I also knew all too well what the girls thought of me, so I couldn’t bring myself to feel excited about this.

Well, even though it was a school event, ski trips were something to look forward to. My family was made up of typical indoor people, so I was always envious every time Yuki went on trips with his family. I still remembered when I had pestered my parents by begging them to go on a trip at least once, and had ended up troubling them instead.

That reminded me, I had to pack soon. I could manage ‘thick socks’ somehow, but it was also written that I would need waterproof gloves, a hat, et cetera et cetera.

I didn’t even have a suitcase.

Even just thinking about it, there were so many things that I had to buy.

As I let my mind wander, I turned on the room’s light, which was as cold as a refrigerator. Looking around the cluttered room, I sighed at the unchanged scenery.

“Hey, why’s it always me?”

“What is?”

It had been a week since the events in the reference room. Now I had to help organize, or rather clean up this room after school for whatever reason.

It wasn’t that I was doing it because I liked it. Akira directly asked me to do this, so I had no choice. I knew that if I refused, he would expose what had happened on that day.

“Why don’t you ask the girls instead of me?  Wouldn’t they be more than happy to do this if they could be with you?”

I glanced at Akira as I put the book I had received from him back on the empty shelf, and asked about something that had been bothering me for the past few days.

Girls were usually better with keeping things neat and tidy. In the first place, I wasn’t an organized type of person, and I would rather not be stuck cleaning a dusty room every day while face to face with this person.

Working on it with a cute girl would probably be more efficient.

“Because I can get more work done when doing it with Haru.”

“. . . What? That can’t be true.”

It had been a week now, yet there was still no end in sight. Although the number of books had decreased, there were still many cardboard boxes piled up on the floor. As well, some of the books were moldy and dusty, making them unusable.

“If I’m alone with a girl, things can get troublesome.”

“. . . You mean ‘accidentally’ doing nasty things?”

“Well, something like that.”

“Isn’t that fine with you? I mean, you’re actually a pervert who likes girls.”

“Don’t say it in such a condescending way. I don’t like girls who throw themselves at me so persistently.”

“What are you saying? You’re a person who fished for girls on a dating app and brought them to a hotel on the first meeting.”

“That’s because Haru is the innocent type and looks cute. I’m completely down for doing lewd things on the bed.”

“Wha . . . !”

I tried to reply sarcastically, but he smirked at me, causing my mind to go blank. There were so many things I wanted to say, but I couldn’t speak at all, causing my lips to slightly tremble.

“It would have been great if you had a little more sex appeal.”

I had a bad feeling and tried to keep my distance from him, but it was too late. Akira stood up quickly and approached me, shoving his hand above my head as if to block my escape.

He slowly closed the gap between us and lifted up my chin with his cold fingertips. The action made my breath get caught in my throat. When he stared at me, I was reminded of what happened on that day and my cheeks flushed.

“Wa- wait, you’re too close! Stop talking nonsense and get this over with!”

I shouldn’t have let myself be caught in his pace. To cover up my flushed cheeks, I turned my face away and pushed Akira back with both hands.

“I’m tired, so let’s take a break for a bit.”

“Let’s do something fun.”

He put his face close to my ear and whispered sweetly, as if to breathe into my ear, sending a shiver down my spine.

“Wha- what nonsense are you— ”

“—Ah, so you’re here after all.”

Suddenly, the door opened.

I turned my gaze toward the familiar, tired voice and saw Mr. Masuda standing there, leaning against the doorway.

I was relieved for a second, but then I returned to reality. In this situation, wouldn’t it be weird for us to be misunderstood?

I didn’t want him to think that I had an unusual relationship with Akira!

“I- I’m just—”

“. . . Tooru. What’s the matter? I was on the good part just now.”

“Come on. Won’t it be troublesome if you did immoral things at school?”

“Wait, this is a misunderstanding! I mean, we don’t have that kind of relationship . . .”

I wanted to run away from this situation altogether, but I couldn’t help but interrupt the conversation.

Though, I wouldn’t be able to answer right away if he were to ask what kind of relationship we did have.

Seeing my downcast eyes downward and my mumbling, I could tell Akira was trying to hold back his laughter. At the same time, I noticed that Mr. Masuda was . . . doing the same thing while holding the door.

Huh? Did I say something funny?

“I think I kind of understand why you like Watase so much . . . I guess I’ll call him Haru, too.”

“No, you can’t!”

A firm voice sounded and suddenly I was pulled by the shoulders with a yank. I didn’t even have time to avoid it.

“I’m the only one who can call him that.”

“Yeah yeah, I already know.”

No, no, no! I’m not Haru! And what was with that declaration?! Mr. Masuda was also too easily convinced!!

There were so many things to comment on that I didn’t know where to start.

“Anyway, Tooru. Didn’t you have business with me?”

“Crap, I almost forgot. I always told you to bring your phone with you. I was looking for you because I wanted to check something about the upcoming study tour.”

“Sorry. I left it in my bag.”

I’ve always thought about it, but these two were so close to each other.

Wait, didn’t he call Mr. Masuda “Tooru” earlier?

I wondered why. Tooru wasn’t an uncommon name, but something about it bothered me for some reason . . .

“Sorry, I’ll have to go. You can just go home now.”

“Ah, okay.”

His cold hand patted my head, then he left the room in an apologetic manner.

I leaned back against the wall of the suddenly quiet reference room and looked out the window. I could catch a glimpse of club members in jerseys exiting the gymnasium, which was still brightly lit. Perhaps Yuki was among them.

“Hah, I’ll go home . . .”

I turned off the light and left the room. The sky, which had been orange until a moment ago, had somehow turned to indigo before I realized it. The moon, beautifully split in half, was shining brightly.

T/N – slope magic is a saying that people usually find the opposite sex dressed in ski wear on the slopes more attractive than they actually are. In the same way, people are more attracted to the opposite sex when they are dressed in clothes and in situations that are different from their everyday life.

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