Mash-Up: I'm Not A Substitute

Realizing his mistake, Takashi cursed himself internally.

"Didn't Miss Shijo just call you by your name?"

Nagisa narrowed her eyes into slits, scrutinizing him with a sharp gaze.

'He's lying!'

She and Maki never addressed each other by surname, let alone full name.

'I should hire a private investigator to look into him.'

Nagisa had already made up her mind, but she didn't expose him right away. Instead, she put on an expression of realization.

Thinking he had fooled her, Takashi relaxed a little.

"Have some soda, Kitahara-kun. You're sweating."

Nagisa pushed a glass of iced cola toward him.

"Thank you."

Takashi accepted it and took a sip.

"Kitahara-kun, which school do you attend?"

"Aoba Private High School."

Aoba, Kitahara, silver-haired handsome boy...

As these clues pieced together, Nagisa immediately recognized him.

Her mouth slightly parted. "You're that so-called 'once-in-four-thousand-years handsome boy'?"

"Please, I beg you, don't say that."

Hearing that title, Takashi wanted to dig a hole in the floor and disappear.

"Once-in-four-thousand-years handsome boy?"

Maki was taken aback. She glanced at Takashi, her eyes filled with disdain.

"Him?"

Maki admitted he was somewhat good-looking.

But if she pulled out a picture of Watanabe Takashi, how would Takashi even compare?

Her verdict: Inferior to Watanabe Takashi!

Maki scoffed. "He looks utterly ordinary to me. Nothing special."

'She's actually a nice person—she even complimented me.'

Instead of being angry, Takashi was oddly pleased.

Everyone knew that the highest praise a man's looks could receive was being called "ordinary" or "rat-faced."

Annoyed by Maki, Nagisa shoved another burger into her mouth. "So why do people call you 'once-in-four-thousand-years handsome boy'?"

"I was chosen to give the freshman representative speech during the opening ceremony." 

"Since I hadn't written a speech before, I went to the teachers' office to borrow past speeches. That's when I happened to run into the principal."

"The principal took one look at me and joked, 'You're the most handsome student I've taught in over forty years.'"

"Somehow, that got out. And as the story spread, it got more and more exaggerated until it became what you just heard."

Takashi was quite frustrated.

Because of this nickname, he spent the first few weeks of school being gawked at like a giant panda.

Upperclassmen girls constantly gathered outside his classroom.

He had unwittingly become the public enemy of all the male students.

Even students from other schools came over just to take a look at him.

"Pfft!" "Pfft!"

Maki and Nagisa turned away, their shoulders trembling.

"What's so funny?" Takashi protested.

Even someone as good-natured as he was had limits.

…

"What's so funny?"

Across the table from Takashi, Akari saw Maki and Nagisa laughing. She even stopped eating her ice cream and glared in their direction, feeling a sour jealousy in her chest.

'He's never been that patient with me.'

She realized Takashi was incredibly biased.

His attitude toward others was completely different from how he treated her.

"Look at her. She says she doesn't care, but she's staring at him all doe-eyed."

Takamiyama Saki chuckled at Akari's bitter expression.

She kept insisting she didn't care about him, yet her gaze never left him.

Saki was about to point it out to Ohashi Natsumi when she turned and saw her other best friend staring at Takashi with the same creepy intensity as a train pervert ogling a schoolgirl.

Natsumi put a finger to her lips. "Shh, don't interrupt me. I'm imprinting his image in my mind for tonight's dream material."

Saki: "..."

What's even the point?

Someone who's never done it before won't even be able to dream about the actual deed.

…

Inside a luxury apartment in Hamamatsu.

A trail of scattered clothes led from the living room to the bedroom.

After ten intense minutes, Saionji Sekai picked up her clothes from the floor and got dressed while speaking to the man lying under the covers.

"Your phone has been ringing nonstop. Aren't you going to check it? What if it's Kotonoha calling?"

"Not interested. She's just going to ask if I'm home yet, what I'm doing, and then tell me what she had for dinner. It's the same conversation every day—I practically have it memorized."

Itou Makoto's voice held a faint trace of impatience.

"She won't even let me touch her. It's like I'm some kind of monster."

"I don't think I can take it anymore."

Sekai stared at him, momentarily dazed.

He felt like a stranger to her now.

She still remembered how ecstatic Makoto had been when he first started dating Kotonoha Kotonoha. 

He had wanted to announce to the whole world that she was his.

When did things start to change?

"Sekai, don't leave tonight. Stay with me."

Before she could dwell on it any longer, Makoto wrapped his arms around her waist from behind, his voice gentle and coaxing.

It was the same tenderness he had once shown to Kotonoha.

Sekai loved this side of him.

No—she was addicted to it.

As they gazed into each other's eyes, their lips naturally met once again.

…

"Beep... Beep... Beep..."

In the empty classroom of Sakakino Academy.

Kotonoha kept dialing Makoto's number, hoping he would pick her up.

No matter how many times she called, all she got was a busy tone.

Eventually, his phone turned off entirely.

A wave of panic and helplessness spread through her chest.

It was already 8 p.m.

The school was so quiet she could hear a pin drop.

In the pitch-black classroom, her senses were heightened.

Her mind began to wander.

The sudden drop in nighttime temperature made her shiver.

"What should I do?"

She had no idea.

Her boyfriend wasn't answering.

Her parents were abroad.

Her little sister was on a school trip in Fukushima.

She was completely alone.

She had no idea what to do.

"RING RING RING!!!"

Just as Kotonoha was drowning in despair, contemplating whether to call the police, a piercing ringtone shattered the silence, making her jump.

She checked the screen—an unknown number.

'Could it be Makoto?'

Maybe his phone was broken, and he was calling from someone else's.

Without hesitation, she answered.

"Makoto? Is that you?"

"..."

There was a second of silence.

Then, a deep and magnetic voice effortlessly cut through the quiet night, reaching straight into her soul.

"No."

"Good evening, Miss Katsura. I am your reserved stand-in boyfriend—Takashi."

"I've been waiting at our arranged meeting place, but you never showed up. Did something happen?"

Having just left Maki and Nagisa, Takashi was walking home while setting things up to cancel the appointment.

If he accepted the job but didn't complete it, he wouldn't be able to take another one.

"I... I've been locked in."

"Huh?"

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Check out the other translations too: [Mash-Up: Anything For Money]

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