Chapter 192: Is the School Festival a Martial Arts Competition?
Translator: imperfectluck Editor: vb24
Everyone had their own story.
This was quite ordinary logic. Seiji was feeling the truth of this maxim after he learned that the twin sisters had joined the Morals and Discipline Committee and that the delinquent duo had some type of relationship with the cooking club.
While he was busy with his own affairs, people that he knew were also leading their own lives.
Seiji briefly explained how he met Kahei Watari and Takashi Kobayashi to Chiaki and Mika.
He didn’t mention the part about the Juumonji mafia group and only told them about how he saved the two delinquents.
"So you save more than just beautiful girls or beautiful boys." Chiaki came to such a conclusion when he finished.
Seiji was rendered speechless.
Just what was up with that remark of hers!?
"You make it sound like I’m only willing to help beautiful people…"
"I thought that you were such a person, but now I know you aren’t. Congratulations, how wonderful! Congratulations, how wonderful~"
"What’s with your congratulations!?"
While retorting forcefully, Seiji used his chopsticks to speedily steal a rib from Chiaki’s lunch and placed it in his mouth.
"This is to make up for the harm you’ve caused to my delicate heart."
"Will that be sufficient payment?"
"It's not enough! I still want your fried egg and your takoyaki!"
"Okay okay~ you can have them~~" Chiaki smiled rather gently.
Mika blinked upon witnessing this scene.
"Seiji was confessed to," she began abruptly, "by a beautiful girl named Yukari Asamiya. It was a truly amazing confession."
Chiaki’s expression froze over.
"Yukari Asamiya…" She regained her composure and thought about this person. "I’ve heard about her, the ‘Princess’ of Year 1, Class 3."
"You know her?"
"‘Princess?’"
Seiji and Mika both entered their curious modes.
"I’ve only heard some stories about her. This girl… if it wasn’t for Natsuya Yoruhana’s existence, in our freshman year, Yukari Asamiya would definitely be the number one most popular girl in our grade."
"Oh…"
"Eh…"
Seiji and Mika both revealed expressions full of surprise and amazement.
"Neither of you two pay much attention to rumors, so it’s only natural that you didn’t know. Allow me to fill you in."
Chiaki pretended to put on some teacher’s glasses and lifted up her chopsticks, waving them around like a whip.
"For all the girls and boys in our freshman year, there’s a publicly acknowledged popularity ranking for the top ten."
"For the girls, the number one rank solidly belongs to Natsuya Yoruhana. The student council president and scion’s points are so far in front that it could be said her popularity exceeds that of the next nine girls combined."
"Number two is the student council vice president Hitaka Shuho, our president’s so-called ‘servant.’ Some people believe that she shouldn’t really be number two, as she’s only there because of her association with number one. But it’s an indisputable fact that Shuho-san is ranked number two, regardless of the reason behind her popularity."
"Number three is Yukari Asamiya. To sum up her as the ‘Princess…’" Chiaki pointed at Seiji with her pretend whip and said, "She’s a weaker version of Seigo Harano!"
"Hah?" Seiji and Mika made twin exclamations of astonishment.
"A weaker version of…"
"Me?"
Chiaki nodded as she twirled her pretend whip.
"Her classmates in Year 1 Class 3 give her the review of beautiful, regal, honest, and direct. As for her stories, I’ve heard many regarding how she helped other people or generously solved their problems for them. In summation, she’s an outstanding yet humble person who helps others of her own volition and can be direct yet not overly blunt at the same time."
"This… she really does sound rather like Seiji." Mika looked at the boy beside her.
"Yep, although her stories aren’t as ridiculous as the ones about Seiji, her overall style is quite similar, which is why I said that." Chiaki nodded as she pointed with her whip once more. "And stories aside, just looking at people’s evaluations of them, apart from the fact that she and Seiji are different genders, everything else is almost exactly the same."
Seiji couldn’t find any words to say at this.
"As for the boys’ popularity rankings, Seigo Harano is approximately in fourth place right now, but I expect that he’ll be able to jump to number one soon, since he defeated the ‘twin witches.’" Chiaki chuckled. "This incident has far more influence than you two can imagine, as it can be said to have overturned the entire relationship web among all the second-year high schoolers!"
"In such a short time, its effects have already become noticeable, and it will continue growing."
"Another way to say it, Seiji, is that your name is going to eventually spread through the entire second year! You only had some fame as the ‘destroyer of clubs’ before, but now you’re becoming rather famous as the ‘magic-devouring dragon!’"
"I expect that stories about the ‘magic-devouring dragon’ will spread out through the entire second year, before gradually becoming known to the entire high school; perhaps it will even spread to the middle school section."
"So, rejoice, Seigo Harano-sama! Your legend shall be known by all, and you shall take the venerated position of the number one most popular boy!"
Chiaki opened up her arms and acted as if she were performing in a play.
"It seems like I’m supposed to be happy about it… but I somehow can’t bring myself to do so." Seiji smiled wryly.
"Magic-devouring dragon…" Mika muttered to herself, glancing at Seiji's side profile.
Although it sounded rather embarrassing if she accepted it… it actually seemed rather cool!
The double pigtailed girl’s face began to flush red.
"That’s about all I know, and it’s mostly based on hearsay, so take it with a grain of salt." Chiaki stopped acting like she was a lecturer. "By the way, how was the result? Seiji, did you accept the ‘Princess's’ confession?"
"How could I? I only met her for the first time just earlier." Seiji sighed. "While I’m happy to be confessed to, accepting… and entering a relationship with a girl I just met for the first time isn’t something I can do."
"What a pity—she’s the third most popular girl in our grade."
"That sounds rather strange… since I didn’t know about such a popularity ranking. But even if I knew, it’s still the same, isn’t it?"
"Tsk, such a narrow-minded man."
"Does this have anything to do with narrow-mindedness!?"
Chiaki kept giggling in response to Seiji’s retorts.
"Your first confession is from a girl who’s ranked number three in our grade; it shows how incredible of a person you are. I really look forward to who else you might end up facing in the future."
"Now that sounds even stranger… stop making it sound like it’s a martial arts competition!"
"From a certain perspective, the school festival is a martial arts competition. There’s plenty of competitors (boys and girls) participating in duels (confessions)."
Seiji couldn’t respond to this.
"Participant Seigo Harano has started off by defeating someone as strong as number three and is about to march towards the top of the school!"
"Stop saying it like this is the beginning of a hot-blooded action manga!"
This was too much for him to handle.
…
After lunch, Seiji read through the love letters.
He mainly wanted to see if there was anyone who requested to meet him during the school festival… and there was.
Seiji wrote down all the times and places, and discovered that there would be no accidents… er, overlaps, which was good.
He just needed to go to all those places at the appropriate times.
He already survived the number three’s attack… er, a more appropriate way to put it was that after experiencing a confession like Yukari Asamiya’s, he was now more resistant to confessions and felt that he could deal with them.
After that, it was time to call Peach-sensei!
Seiji dialed the number he had previously saved on his cell phone.
The call connected.
"H-Haruta-kun…" a weak female voice stammered from the other end of the call.