I Won't Be a Loser

Now that everything at school had been dealt with, Haruto no longer had to worry about any socially disastrous situations befalling him. A heavy burden lifted from his chest, and he finally let himself relax.

Seeing Setsuna waiting for him at the door of his apartment, Haruto, feeling lighter, couldn't help but let his playful side take over.

Scooping her into his arms, he carried her inside, kicking the door shut behind him. He walked straight to the bed, pulling the curtain closed with one hand.

As the setting sun dipped below the horizon, plunging the room into darkness, Haruto finally stopped moving. Holding Setsuna tightly in his arms, he let out a deep, relieved sigh.

"Mmngh..."

Setsuna, who had finally caught her breath, slowly opened her eyes. She reached up, her fingertips brushing against Haruto's cheek, feeling the smoothness of his skin. Then, she rested her head against his chest, draping herself over him.

"Did you take care of everything at school?"

"Yeah. I asked two friends to help, and we caught the culprit. I had a little chat with her, and she promised not to pull anything like this again."

"...Her?"

The difference in pronunciation between "he" and "she" didn't escape Setsuna's ears. She had already been suspicious, and now, hearing Haruto's confirmation, her curiosity deepened. Slowly, she lifted her head to look at him—his eyes were half-lidded in exhaustion, his head resting against the pillow, completely at ease.

"Yeah. A girl. At the start of the semester, something happened that made her develop feelings for me. She wanted me to fall for her, so she followed some ridiculous 'love spell' she found online."

"..."

Setsuna didn't say anything. Instead, she adjusted her position, her arms wrapping gently around Haruto's neck. Pressing herself closer, she lowered her gaze and simply looked at him.

"I asked her about the incident at the apartment, but it wasn't her. That means whoever stole my underwear was someone else. Two different people, one at school and another here."

Setsuna's expression flickered slightly. She was more interested in asking about the girl, but since Haruto seemed reluctant to dwell on it, she let it go. Lying against him, she soaked in his warmth before quietly asking,

"No leads?"

"None. I'll just have to be more careful for now—dry my clothes inside instead. Also, it's about time. Mai-san should be home by now, right?"

"Mm..."

Haruto tightened his embrace around Setsuna, his fingers tracing slow circles on her smooth, pale back. Then, sitting up, he gently set her down on the bed before walking toward the window. Pushing aside the curtain slightly, he glanced at the neighboring apartment.

The lights in the Kiyoura household were on—Mai had returned home.

"I'll get dinner ready. If she hasn't eaten yet, tell her to come over and join us."

"...I'm going to take a bath."

"Alright."

As Haruto flicked on the room's lights and started picking up scattered clothes, Setsuna walked into the bathroom, shutting the door behind her.

Small apartments like his had their downsides—if the bathroom door wasn't closed properly, the steam would seep into the main room, making everything damp. Without proper ventilation, mold could easily spread.

Watching Setsuna disappear into the bathroom, Haruto washed his hands and made his way to the fridge, scanning its contents before selecting ingredients for dinner.

"Come to think of it, I was supposed to buy new underwear today."

But in the rush to catch the culprit, he had completely forgotten.

"Oh well. Tomorrow's fine."

Shaking his head slightly, he pushed the thought aside and focused on preparing their meal.

By the time dinner was nearly ready, Setsuna had finished her bath and dressed. Following Haruto's instructions, she went next door to inform her mother.

At that moment, Mai was already in the middle of cooking dinner herself. She had seen Haruto's darkened apartment and noticed that her daughter wasn't home, so she had a good guess as to what was going on. Not wanting to intrude, she kept to herself.

Just as she was finishing up her potato stew, she heard the door open. Setsuna walked in and let her know Haruto had prepared dinner.

"..."

Mai glanced at the pot of simmering stew and hesitated for a moment. In the end, she decided to finish cooking it.

"You go ahead. I'll bring this over when it's done."

"Need any help?"

"No, I'm fine. You, on the other hand, should take it easy."

Setsuna didn't blush or get flustered at her mother's teasing. That kind of embarrassment had disappeared long ago—ever since she had openly told her mother that she and Haruto had made their decision.

Knowing that Mai would bring over the stew later, Setsuna returned to Haruto's apartment and relayed the message.

Haruto glanced at the food he had prepared and nodded. He had already considered the possibility that Mai had started cooking, so he hadn't made too much. With the stew, the portions would be just right for three people.

As the two of them finished setting the table, about ten minutes later, Mai arrived with the pot of stew. Setsuna opened the door for her, and once the food was served into bowls, the three of them sat down for dinner.

"Did you take care of everything at school?"

During their post-meal conversation, Haruto updated Mai about the situation at school.

"And your apartment...?"

"It wasn't her. Someone else did it. No leads yet, so I'll just have to be cautious. From now on, I'll dry my clothes inside."

Haruto didn't seem too bothered. Drying his clothes inside or outside didn't make much of a difference to him. As long as they dried properly, it didn't affect his daily life.

"So, there's no way to catch them? Whoever did this must've known where you live, right? There aren't many people at school who would have that information."

Mai's sharp observation made Haruto nod in agreement.

"Is it true that not many people knew about it? And considering how little free time anyone has, the window for committing such an act was pretty narrow. That day, I stayed at school a bit longer than usual, so I got home later than normal. It was probably during that time that the culprit acted."

Between two students still attending school and a working woman who usually came home later than both of them, none of them had the time to stake out their apartment to catch the culprit red-handed in the act of stealing underwear.

"Compared to what happened at school, the stolen underwear is honestly not that serious. To be fair, even if we reported it to the police, it'd be pretty hard to catch the thief."

Kiyoura Mai understood well how difficult it was to apprehend culprits in cases like these. Most of the time, the best chance of catching them was for the victim to remain alert and catch them in the act when they tried again.

Since this incident had only happened once, it was hard to tell if the culprit was a serial offender or if it had been a random crime.

Regardless, Haruto wasn't about to start deliberately hanging his underwear outside just to tempt the culprit into striking again.

"For now, as long as I dry my laundry indoors, they won't have a chance to steal anything else. So, let's just leave it at that. If I don't hang my clothes outside, it probably won't happen again."

With the situation at school resolved, and the only remaining issue being a single missing pair of underwear, both Haruto and Mai agreed that it wasn't worth the trouble of going to the police. As long as they took precautions, there wasn't much else to be done.

After chatting for a while with Mai and Setsuna, the mother and daughter left Haruto's apartment and returned to their own.

Now alone, Haruto quietly tidied up his room.

For the next few days, life at school was peaceful. Every morning, he'd walk into the classroom, sit down, and check his desk. Everything was clean—no more worrying about discovering some humiliating "gift" that could destroy his reputation.

Reflecting on everything that had happened, Haruto started focusing more on his studies. He paid closer attention in class and gradually settled into the role of a student.

A person's mindset is often influenced by their environment. Surrounded by young students, Haruto naturally avoided talking about things that didn't fit his current lifestyle.

Friday passed quietly, and by Saturday afternoon, after school, Haruto went out with Yoshii Akihisa and Sakamoto Yuuji as a thank-you for their help. The three wandered around the area before choosing a ramen shop to settle in.

"Pork bone ramen, double chashu."

Haruto placed his bag down and called out his order to the ramen chef. Then he turned to the other two.

"Order whatever you want."

After checking the menu and confirming that the prices weren't too high, Yoshii and Sakamoto relaxed.

"One seafood ramen!"

"Extra spicy beef ramen."

With their orders placed, they set down their bags and started chatting about school.

"It's already April. Just two more months until summer vacation."

Yoshii was the type to always look forward to holidays, already counting down the days to summer even though the semester had just started.

"By the way, has Yoshida tried talking to you again?"

Sakamoto glanced at Satoru.

"Yoshida... Saki?"

Haruto blinked, a bit surprised that Sakamoto had brought her up.

"Not really. I ran into her once on Friday morning at the shoe lockers, but that's about it."

"Man, good-looking guys really have it easy. Girls just flock to you. So, how many admirers do you have now? Let's see… There's the eldest Nakano sister, Ichika, she's definitely one. Then there's the blonde beauty, Sawamura Eriri. And now Yoshida Saki too. That makes three, at least."

Yoshii counted on his fingers as he listed them off.

Haruto just chuckled, shaking his head.

As soon as the conversation turned to girls, it inevitably took a weird turn. Since Haruto didn't respond much, Yoshii and Sakamoto started discussing their preferences instead.

"Honestly, I think bigger girls are cuter."

Yoshii declared shamelessly, stroking his chin with an air of deep thought.

Sakamoto nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, can't really argue with that. At least you have a normal sense of aesthetics."

"No, I don't mind them being big, but too big is a bit much, right? I prefer something smaller—like just the right size to fit in your hand. Isn't that better?"

Haruto voiced his opinion casually.

Yoshii fell silent. Sakamoto looked thoughtful.

Then Yoshii sighed, shaking his head.

"Haruto … you just don't get it."

He spoke with the conviction of a true enthusiast, ready to lecture him. With a serious expression, he leaned forward, determined to educate Satoru.

"Only kids prefer small! Real men love big ones, Haruto!"

The ramen chef, who had been quietly preparing their meals, shot a glance at Yoshii. Meanwhile, Sakamoto lowered his head, pretending not to know him.

Haruto, regretting his decision to engage in the conversation, glanced at Sakamoto, but he too avoided eye contact.

Yoshii, undeterred, continued his passionate speech, even using ramen as a metaphor to illustrate his point. It wasn't until the chef finally cut him off that he stopped.

"Sir, that's enough. There are other customers here."

"…Oh."

Yoshii fell silent and finally started eating.

When they finished their ramen and went to pay, both Yoshii and Sakamoto instinctively reached for their wallets. Even though they had said Haruto would treat them, they were still ready to split the bill.

However, Haruto stopped them.

"We agreed I'd treat this time. Just let me cover it, and you guys can treat me next time."

After a moment of hesitation, they nodded and let him pay.

Leaving the ramen shop, the three of them headed to a nearby arcade under Sakamoto's suggestion.

The arcade was bustling with noise and excitement. It wasn't really Haruto's scene, but since he was already there, he figured he might as well look around.

While Yoshii and Sakamoto immediately got absorbed in a fighting game, Haruto wandered around and stopped in front of a claw machine. Inside was a large stuffed bear.

'Would Setsuna like something like this? Well, there's nothing else here that really interests me, so I might as well give it a shot.'

Inserting a coin, he carefully maneuvered the claw, then pressed the button.

Clunk.

A soft thud signaled his prize dropping into the collection bin. Haruto crouched down and pulled out a black-and-red stuffed bear—the mascot of Kumamoto.

"That was easier than I thought."

He glanced at the claw machine again.

With his confidence boosted, he kept playing.

Before long, his coins dwindled while his collection of plushies grew. Eventually, he had to ask a staff member for a bag to carry them all—seven or eight small plushies and two large ones.

By the time he returned to the arcade, carrying a large bag, Yoshii Akihisa and Sakamoto Yuuji had just finished their match.

"You've gotten stronger, Akihisa."

"Hmph, you've improved quite a bit too, Yuuji."

"The score?"

Haruto approached and casually asked after hearing their conversation.

"12 to 2."

Akihisa stood up, radiating the aura of a victor.

"You got 12 wins?"

"No, Yuuji did."

"..."

"By the way, that's a lot of plushies. Were you playing the claw machine this whole time?"

Akihisa's gaze landed on Haruto, noticing the large bag he was carrying, packed with stuffed toys. Yuuji also seemed surprised.

"You won this many?"

"Here, take one each."

Haruto casually pulled two small plushies from the bag and handed them over. Neither of them refused and gladly accepted the gifts.

Since their allowances weren't exactly generous, the three of them didn't stay at the arcade for too long. By around 2 PM, they decided to leave.

With his hands full carrying the bag and plushies, Haruto wasn't in the mood to continue shopping, so he parted ways with his friends and headed home early.

However, just as he neared his apartment, he unexpectedly ran into someone.

A woman dressed in an elegant kimono stood silently in front of the building, her fair hands delicately holding a small folding fan. She gazed up at Haruto's room, seemingly lost in thought—completely unaware that Haruto himself was watching her from a short distance away.