That One Guy Everyone Hates

"To tell you the truth, I already have a plan," I answered honestly. "However, I can try to compromise with her."

Her face brightened subtly. "That'll be very helpful. If possible, I'd like it to be right after school," she smiled brightly, and then back with a hesitant look. "Um, does Yoshikawa-kun mind if I tell my classmates that you're my neighbor…?"

"I have no problem with it, but why?" I asked back in confusion.

[—I can guess.]

I was well known, whether in a good or bad sense. It wouldn't be surprising for Mahiru to figure that out—to realize that it wasn't a positive situation, and that her having known me would have a negative impact on me. Mahiru was self-conscious of her popularity.

[But adding one more wouldn't change much since it was already bad anyway.]

However, Mahiru's response surprised me a bit.

"It's to keep the irritating— ah," her annoyed tone changed to a neutral one. "...What I mean is to make it easier for us to talk in public. I understand that you were troubled by the yesterday circumstances, so I'm relieved that you're fine with this."

[To keep the irritating guy?] I wondered.

I quickly laughed it off. "Fair enough then. But what if it can't be right after school?"

"You can simply send me a message, and I'll arrange the time. If you can't come at all, you can lie that you will come later. He won't bother me anymore when that happens."

[If the possibility of it being delayed, but I could still come, is happening, I could simply lie for her. Mahiru wants me to be with her?]

Since I haven't seen Mahiru at all since yesterday, I could change her diary. The original is like this:

***

Monday, March 11, 2024

-As expected, my looks stood out in class. I fluidly blended in with a few girls and boys of my peers, but there was one guy in particular who wanted to stick so close to me. It was downright uncomfortable. I'm sure the others noticed that too, and tried to shake him off me, but he wasn't one to listen to people. He clearly had something off in his head. Although I was also somewhat at fault for wanting to maintain my image, he was too insensitive to not notice my discomfort.

…

Tueday, March 12, 2024

-This guy again... I unintentionally expressed my interest in sweets, specifically the ones that Yoshikawa-kun had give me when one of the girls mentioned the shop's name. He conveniently used that to go out with me—

***

—anyway, without my interference, Mahiru would have harbored the urge to ask me for help and forced herself to go with this irritating boy in her class, so I changed it so that she lied by putting my name. By that point, all I had to do was set up this particular meeting.

"Is this guy that awful...?" I asked, curious.

"Everybody hates him," she immediately responded, her face flat. "I'm sure Yoshikawa-kun will understand when dealing with him."

"I see…" I muttered. [That makes me curious…]

***

{Ai: Do you have any plans for tonight?}

[Again?] I couldn't help but chuckling to myself.

"What's wrong, Yoshikawa-kun?" Mahiru asked in puzzlement.

Right after school; me, Mahiru—and some ordinary looking guy named Miyahara walked out of the school together to go to the pastry shop. 

I had compromised with Tsugumi pretty easily. Apparently, she planned to go home first and set up a number of arrangements before asking me to go on shopping. I could use that time to accompany Mahiru and this extra. [Which is actually an annoying guy.]

"—hey, I'm not done talking," he spoke with a hint of annoyance as Mahiru turned her attention to me. 

"Oh, I'm sorry," Mahiru awkwardly shifted her attention back to him.

Miyahara—in a nutshell—was an annoying loudmouth. 

Unlike Tokimune, who was loud but entertaining, Miyahara exuded an irritating influence on anyone who listened to him. It's like a talent of some sort.

He directed his gaze at me a bit resentfully, then to Mahiru with that irksome grin of his. "Other days, I play baseball, you know? And when I hit a home run, I—"

Mahiru listened to his ramblings with a stiff smile. Miyahara himself barely paid attention to me. 

I shook my head with a sigh.

His problem is that he's too self-centered and pompous. Miyahara was the type of person who thought that the world revolved around him, and that everything should go according to his thoughts. He must have thought that by flaunting his petty accomplishments, his rather rich background, and his superficial relationship experiences, Mahiru would be wowed and fall in love with him—which obviously wouldn't be possible unless he had some sort of mind control power or something.

[Right now, he's probably thinking of looking more impressive in Mahiru's eyes to "beat" me. How childish.]

I indifferently interrupted his story. "It looks like Ai is asking me to hang out later. Before that, I had a shopping appointment together with a girl from my class. But now, there's the thing with you and me visiting the pastry shop. Heh, it just feels kind of funny that my existing reputation might be going in a more unsavory direction because of this string of events."

Mahiru seemed glad I interrupted, while Miyahara was visibly peeved.

"—ah, Ai? Ai Hoshino?" she quickly tilted her head.

"Yes," I smiled dryly. "You may not know this, but until a few days ago, she was just living in the room next to me, one door away from yours."

"What?"

It was Miyahara who blurted it out in exaggeration.

Mahiru had a surprised expression on her face as well.

I have gotten permission to talk about all this from Ai.

"You remember when I gave you the cake back then?" I said, ignoring Miyahara. "I so happened to get acquainted with her when I wanted to say hello to all the apartment residents."

I told her how she accidentally revealed her identity, me not knowing her because of my background, and her actions on the first day of school that were quite a nuisance to me. Even Miyahara silently listened.

"She seemed attached to you," Mahiru mumbled.

I shrugged my shoulders. "Well, you can ask her directly why."

[I didn't want to say that I was the reason for her entering this school in the first place.]

She didn't try to dig more. 

"—wait, you guys live in the same apartment?" Miyahara blurted out.

Mahiru smiled sweetly. 

I snorted. [Now I know why she wants me to be with her.]

"Yes, Yoshikawa-kun just lives next door to me."

His expression turned irritated in an instant. I held back my laughter.

But as much as I wanted to make fun of this rascal, we had arrived at our destination.

The building was among the clean alleys, and although it was crowded with customers, it wasn't boisterous.

One could see the inside of the shop from the clear glass wall. The owner of the shop appeared to be a youthful woman who had a pleasant demeanor, at least from the first time I interacted with her. More than that—

"Um, Yoshikawa-kun?"

—there was Onodera—the only heroine I hadn't interacted with yet—as the daughter of the shop owner.

I raised my eyebrows in surprise. 

"Onodera-san, do you work here? —actually, I take that back. Your name is practically the same as the shop's first name."

'Onodera Wagashi Konfekushon/Onodera Sweets Confections' is the name of the shop.

She giggled sweetly. "Right, I'm the daughter of the owner, after all. I usually help out when I have time."

She was dressed in a typical all-white chef's outfit, working alongside a number of other people in cake decorating.

"Oh, are they acquaintances of yours?" one of the workers interjected.

Onodera nodded. "They attend the same school as me, and one of them is in the same class."

"I see," the slightly older man smiled kindly. "You can spend your time exchanging with them. You don't have to help out in the first place, especially after getting tired from school. You're far too kind."

"Hehe, I don't have anything else to do, though, so it's fine."

Miyahara was about to open his mouth to say something, stopped, then clicked his tongue as he went to look at the cakes on display. [What's his problem?]

Well, someone like him are better off ignored. I returned my attention to Onodera.

"Your shop's pastry is great. I first came here a few days ago, but I don't see you back then," I casually said.

Mahiru immediately smiled in agreement. "When Yoshikawa-kun gave me one of them, it was indeed wonderful. It's not a bad habit to try them once in a while."

"I'm glad to hear that," she smiled a little shyly. "Although I didn't exactly make them."

"But I saw you decorating them just now?"

"It's a different matter, and I'm quite confident in it," she put on a smug look, at least for her.

Mahiru looked around a bit. "I came here to order strawberry-flavored cake. There seemed to be a lot… I'm having a little trouble choosing now."

"Don't worry!" The shopkeeper lady, Onodera's mother, interjected excitedly. She was an energetic woman. "I can give you descriptions of every good one. Haha, Kosaki got acquainted with this handsome boy and pretty girl? Not bad."

"P-please don't complicate matters, Mom," Onodera said a little begrudgingly.

Mahiru and I smiled dryly.