Chapter 56

(A/N Notes: I'm out of drafts with this chapter, I'll try to write more this week, but I don't think I'll be able to)

-

2 years ago

-

Yamada was "menacingly" standing near a park still in his "bad guys are popular with girls" phase, but he had learned his lesson from last time, and it was… To not involve himself when a real delinquent is messing with a girl because he could still clearly remember the pain he had felt that day.

"…" <Alright, it should be fine today. I even came to another town to make sure that I wouldn't accidentally bump into that guy again as well>

He continued standing there, but seeing that he wasn't getting any girl, he began to walk to another place. Yes, it was totally because he wasn't getting any girls, and not because the people around were starting to look at him with weird stares. Yup, totally not because of that.

Then as he walked, he passed by a cafe, where inside by the window, he saw a really cute red-haired girl with curly messy hair tied in a low ponytail, she also had a single streak of blonde hair near her right eye. And of course, Yamada decided to aim for that girl who was completely out of reach for him.

And so he entered the cafe and sat down on the free chair right across the table.

"Hey, girl"

"Yes?"

The girl had a rather troubled face when she saw Yamada, especially because his appearance brought back memories from her past that she really wanted to leave buried deep down in the past.

"Did your boyfriend leave you hanging?"

Yamada only said that, because of the untouched cheesecake that was already at the table when he sat down, so without a second thought, he cut a piece of the cheesecake with a spoon and ate it, causing the girl to start sweating as she made a despairing face

"Aaaaaaahhh…"

"…" <Huhuhuh… It appears that I hit the mark, now all I have to do is say even more bad guys things, and I'll get her to go out with me! And perhaps I might even be able to take my first step into adulthood!… Man, this cheesecake is really good>

Yamada who was feeling really proud of himself, took another bite of the cheesecake. Showing that he was completely unaware of the girl's face filled with worry as she looked in the direction of Yamada's right side.

"Is that cheesecake good?"

"Yes, it is. And I didn't even have to pay for it!"

"Glad to hear it, now let me help you eat it faster"

"Huh? Buguh!?"

Yamada's head was then forcefully pushed forward, making his face go right towards the cheesecake. Yamada could feel the slightly cold temperature of the cheesecake on his face, alongside the hardness of the plate hitting his face. Then his face was lifted causing the cheesecake to fall from his face, and allowing him to see who was the person that had pushed his head down.

And then he saw that it was the same guy as last time.

"Eh?"

"That's what you get for eating my cheesecake"

And with that, Takeru began dragging Yamada out of the cafe to give him one hell of a beating. As for the girl, she just placed one of her hands on her chest and sighed in relief that Takeru wasn't angry at her.

"I'll bring another cheesecake for Takkun on the house"

"Thanks, Ichiro"

"You're welcome, Akari-nee"

The girl was Takeru's older sister, and right now she was trying to bury her bad memories back

"…" <That weird boy is definitely in his chunni phase, I hope he gets over it soon… … … God, I was so cringe back then…>

.

.

.

1 year ago

-

"… Maybe I should stop with this delinquent act…"

That was all Yamada could say as he sat on a bench in a shopping district, it had been almost three years since he started his bad guy act to get popular with the girls, but so far, all that he got was two beatings from the same short boy.

"… Maybe I was wrong, and bad boys were never popular to begin with…"

"Mama, that boy is saying some weird stuff"

"Don't look at him, he's definitely in that phase right now"

"… … …"

The little kid and his mother's words pierced Yamada's heart to its core.

"…" <Okay… Just one last time! If this time I don't get a girlfriend, I'll stop this act for real! And instead, just do the normal high school freshman act! Alright, let's go!>

And with that, Yamada got up from the bench as he shone with confidence, and he immediately found his target, a mature-looking and gorgeous red-haired woman. So he made his way towards her and promptly started hitting on her.

"Hey, are you alone, babe?"

"Nope!"

The woman gave a short reply she showed a bright smile.

"You appear to be alone to me, how about we go hang out a little?"

"Ahaha! that's a good one, a youngster acting like a delinquent trying to make a move on me. In any case, I'll refuse your pickup line, and you should really start moving away now"

The woman said that with no hint of intimidation, instead all that she had was a bright smile, as she found Yamada's cliched advances funny.

"Don't say that, I'll even take you to a cafe"

"You should ask my son if he'll even want to have you accompanying us"

"I don't think a little boy will have the courage to refuse the invitation I'm giving you"

"Is that so? Then why don't you ask him? He's standing right behind you"

"Huh?"

At hearing that from the woman, Yamada turned to look behind him, and he saw the same boy from the last two times, looking at him with very murderous eyes.

"…" <Crap…> "Run!"

At seeing the danger behind him, Yamada dashed away with Takeru dashing after him, from Yamada trying to woo his mother. As for Takeru's mother, Emily, just looked at Takeru dashing after Yamada with a nostalgic smile.

"Aah… That brings me back to my high school days…"

And Emily began reminiscing about her delinquent years, and about how often she would chase after delinquent boys from trying to woo her or because they threatened her to become their girlfriend. Those were some of her favorite memories, so she was really happy seeing that Takeru properly grew up to be like her.

.

.

.

Back to the present

-

"Haa… Haa… Haa… Whew… He doesn't appear to be chasing after us"

Yamada and Daichi were both breathing heavily after running quite a lot after their accidental encounter with Takeru.

"Yamada… Do you know, Tanaka-san by any change?"

"… … … I don't want to talk about it"

"… Haa fine, so can I go home now?"

"Please don't, I don't think I can handle… Tanaka-san alone" <I need you to become my sacrifice if we accidentally meet him a second time>

"… Why do I feel you just thought of something evil right now?"

"It's just your imagination, now let's go to that cafe. Your sister asked us to buy something from there, didn't she?"

"I think she did"

"Then let's go"

And with that, Yamada and Daichi now made their way to a certain cafe, which a group of girls was also making their way to.