Chapter 197: Something Feel Off
Ebina’s words left the Service Club feeling a little wistful.
Nobody wanted to bring it up, but it was true. This might be their last winter together, and some of them might never see each other again.
When people say goodbye, nobody really thinks we’ll never meet again. But heading off to schools scattered across the country and slowly drifting apart is how most high school friendships end.
“Why so gloomy? We’re all taking the Tokyo exams, right? We’ll definitely see each other all the time!” Yui did her best to lift the mood.
Ebina chimed in. “Exactly. And even if we can’t meet in Tokyo, there’s always Chiba.”
“Chiba’s tiny! We’ll probably bump into each other at the mall someday.”
Nobody pushed the topic any further.
Then Yukino’s cool voice cut through the quiet. “Miura, you’re making those chocolates for Hayama, aren’t you? He hasn’t accepted a single one since elementary school.”
Hardly anyone could be as blunt as Yukino.
Miura looked annoyed and answered stubbornly, “You’re talking about other girls. I’m different.”
Oikawa found it a little funny, and the corner of his mouth curled up slightly.
He didn’t think Miura would succeed. Hayama had a lot of admirers, and Miura had always been his shield.
But a shield is just a tool.
From a certain angle, Oikawa thought Hayama was kind of despicable, or at least nowhere near as gentle and straightforward as he was.
Then again, Oikawa was hardly a gentleman himself.
“Good luck,” Yukino said, giving Miura a cold glance before turning her full attention back to her light novel.
Which meant, naturally, that the job of asking for details fell to Oikawa and Yui.
“Don’t be mad, Miura. Yukinon doesn’t mean anything by it. I think you’ve got a really good shot! Think about it. You’re the only one who gets along with Hayama this well, right? You’ll make it.”
Yui really was too kind.
Anyone could tell from her face that she didn’t think Miura’s confession would work either, but she comforted her anyway, against her own gut feeling.
People like her really were perfect friend material.
“Okay, hold on a sec!” Oikawa clapped his hands and stood up. Once he had everyone’s attention, he said, “Ladies’ tea party is officially over. So, Miura, what exactly do you want us to help with? Setting up a chance for you to confess?”
Miura flipped her blonde hair, still a bit proud. “I’ll handle that part myself.”
“Then what do you want the club to do?”
“Make chocolate…” Miura started to stammer. “I… I can cook a lot of things, but chocolate just isn’t on my skill list. So I want you guys to help me pick a good recipe and actually make it. I mean, you made that cake at the Christmas party, and I thought it was… kind of good, I guess!”
Oikawa froze for a second, then asked blankly, “You were at the Christmas party?”
“Of course I was. Oikawa, I was helping take photos of the elementary school kids.”
Oikawa honestly couldn’t remember. He waved a hand. “Fine, let’s say you were there.”
“What do you mean, let’s say! I was there! Does being a famous author mean you get to look down on people?” Miura felt like she was being brushed off, and by Oikawa of all people, which lit a fire in her chest.
Even without the famous author title, Oikawa was a big name at Sobu High. But Miura still instinctively saw him as the nobody on the sidelines he used to be.
“Famous author?” Yui tilted her head, then explained, “Miura, you’ve got it mixed up. Oikawa isn’t some famous author. ‘Copycat-sensei’ is just a friend of his.”
“…”
The Service Club fell silent again.
Everyone was staring at Yui, which made her squirm. “Did I say something wrong?” she asked quietly.
“No, you’re right. You’re totally right.” After a brief pause, Ebina quickly stepped up next to Yui and pushed up her glasses. “Miura just remembered wrong. She keeps mixing Oikawa up with Copycat-sensei.”
“How does that even happen?” Yui burst out laughing. “Oikawa sleeps all day. There’s no way he’s as hardworking as ‘Copycat-sensei.’ But I bet if Oikawa wrote light novels, he’d give ‘Copycat-sensei’ a run for his money!”
Thanks. You’re a real sweetheart, you know that?
In that moment, Oikawa’s expression was a complicated mess. He couldn’t tell whether he wanted to laugh or cry.
Once that topic was behind them, the club went back to discussing the chocolate.
Barely a few sentences in, Yui raised her hand. “Miura, don’t worry. Leave the chocolate to me!”
“That won’t be necessary. I still think Oikawa and Yukino are more reliable.” Miura’s words sent Yui’s eyes sinking sadly to the floor.
“We’ll ask Kawasaki for help. She gave us a lot of pointers on the cake last time. With her helping, the chocolate will be way easier.”
That was Yukino, making a sensible suggestion.
Ebina nodded along. “I can’t believe I forgot about Saki. Her cooking is seriously amazing. She’s given me tons of homemade snacks, and they were all super good.”
“Is Kawasaki really that good?” Miura sounded doubtful. She figured Ebina was exaggerating.
“Yes.” “Absolutely.”
Yukino and Oikawa answered at the exact same time. They glanced at each other, then quickly looked away.
“Before Valentine’s Day, I’ll dig up some info on chocolate. Then we can ask Kawasaki about the technical stuff.”
Oikawa looked over at Ebina and Miura, and both of them nodded.
Before long, the Service Club settled back into its usual quiet. Oikawa took a sip of tea and stretched. “Slacking time’s over. Clocking out.”
“See you tomorrow.” He drained the last of his tea, rinsed the cup, and got up to head for the door.
“See you, Oikawa.” “See you tomorrow.”
Yui and Yukino were packing up their bags too. From what he could hear, they were making plans to go clothes shopping this weekend. Oikawa wasn’t interested.
When he slid the club room door open, a blast of cold air hit him.
So did a familiar figure, one that never failed to give him a headache.
“Oikawa-senpai, good evening! Yui-senpai, Yukino-senpai, so nice to see you again.”
Iroha Isshiki slipped past Oikawa and walked right into the club room.
Oikawa decided to sneak out without a sound. But the second his foot crossed the threshold, he heard Iroha’s pitiful voice behind him. “Senpai, can I borrow a little of your time? I have a favor to ask.”
He turned around.
Iroha’s face was full of pleading, like she’d been wronged in some terrible way.
“Tell me what it is first.”
The moment he came back inside, Iroha broke into a sweet smile and blinked at him, like she’d known all along he’d help.
“Valentine’s Day is coming up, right? But how do I put this…” For once, Iroha hesitated, fumbling over her words. “I want to confess to the person I like on Valentine’s Day. So I was hoping you guys could teach me how to make chocolate. And also… how do I find somewhere private, so the person I like can hear my whole confession without anyone around?”
Yui and Yukino both looked troubled.
The first part was easy. The second part was the real problem. It sounded like Iroha wanted to confess in secret.
“I didn’t realize Hayama was that popular,” Yukino muttered.
“No, it’s not him. It’s a different senpai. I… I really like him.” Iroha smiled sweetly, tilted her head a little, and leaned toward Oikawa.
It was a cute move, but for some reason it felt dangerous.
“Oikawa-senpai, I’m so sorry about this.”
Oikawa: ???
What did any of this have to do with him?
Right then, Iroha spoke again. “A while back, I asked senpai to be my confession practice partner. But in the end, I never confessed to Hayama-senpai.”
“Confession practice partner?”
Yukino’s voice was flat. Oikawa suspected the space heater had died, because there was no other way the room could have gotten this cold.
“Yep. Oikawa-senpai is such a nice guy. He said yes right away. We did an escape room and played pool. Look, this is the sports center I went to with senpai last time. The courts are seriously amazing!” Iroha pulled out her phone and showed Yui and Yukino a photo of her and Oikawa together.
The Service Club dropped to freezing.
Yui was the worst of all.
Her glare was murderous. She’d been wondering why Oikawa knew that sports center so well last time. Turns out he’d already been there.
“Ahem. What are you making up? ‘Said yes right away’? You pestered me every single day! I only agreed because you wore me down!”
“Oh, oh! That’s right,” Iroha said immediately. “He was forced. Totally forced.”
Oh no. That only made the misunderstanding worse.
Oikawa looked at Iroha’s mischievous face and brought a chop down on her head.
Then he said a quick goodbye and bolted, not waiting a second to hear any reply. He couldn’t stay in this place any longer.
…
..
The Next Day—
On social media, Clannad was still going strong, sitting in the top ten trending topics almost every day.
All the tragic details of “Copycat-sensei’s” life kept hitting people’s feeds, and plenty of netizens felt deep sympathy for a seventeen-year-old they’d never even met.
People on the internet always want to believe good things can happen. They love the idea of someone saving themselves.
And right now, “Copycat-sensei” was obviously that person.
An orphan turned world-famous author. It was, without a doubt, a story of personal heroism and self-redemption.
A number of media outlets had even reached out, saying they wanted to make a biopic about Copycat-sensei. They wanted people to look up to him, and to give those stuck in the lowest points of their lives some hope that they could keep going.
Of course, Oikawa turned them down without a second of hesitation.
Damn it. The current situation was already annoying enough. A documentary on top of that?
Oikawa really wanted to shout at everyone that he’d only made it by cheating. He was really a transmigrator!
_ _ _
Meanwhile, in the “Fan Club” group chat, all twenty-something members were in shock.
What was going on? What the heck was this?
The results were way, way better than they’d planned. Worse, it felt like the wind had changed direction and was now completely out of their control.
[Justice Bringer]: “Uh… did we maybe go a bit too far?”
[Hades]: “Kinda feels like it.”
[Habibi Struggles]: “Wait, weren’t we supposed to take down that old bastard? Why does this feel like we’re just hyping him up? At this rate, Clannad won’t just hit a million copies. It might hit two million.”
[Sleepless Cat]: “Something’s off. I can’t say what, but something is really, really off!”
The chat went wild. They argued over everything they’d done so far. The plan itself and the way they’d carried it out were fine, honestly. The problem was that it had worked too well.
So well that none of them could have imagined it, and so well that it was starting to feel kind of humiliating.
Then Kentaro spoke up again.
[Kentaro (Admin)]: “Guys, relax, no need to panic. This is a ‘killing with kindness’ strategy. So don’t worry. The higher he climbs, the harder he’ll fall. Just keep on hyping him.”
The group quickly calmed down. Kentaro nodded in satisfaction. That was exactly the effect he’d wanted.
He’d figured it out by now.
He had no real grudge against Oikawa. The guy even considered him a friend, so there was no reason to keep trying to smear him like before.
Instead, Kentaro started scheming about how to push Clannad’s sales even higher. If Clannad sold more, wouldn’t getting extra signed copies out of Oikawa be a piece of cake? He could sell them, or gift them to the girl he was trying to hit on.