The Most Beautiful Girl in the School Asked Me to Act as Her Boyfriend, So I Accepted, But Gradually

Chapter 23

If I win.

Translated by Dawn

If I win.

“I challenge you to a match! If I win, let Mizutani and Satomi go!”

““…..””

I looked at him, forgetting to shake Satomi off.

Even Satomi, who was supposed to be a childhood friend of Yamamoto’s, looked blankly at me.

I see, then it was no wonder I was surprised.

“Just out of curiosity, what are we competing on?”

I was curious, so I asked him about it.

In this day and age, one would never expect anyone to suggest a dueling match.

“The match is the upcoming midterms!”

“…Huh? Is that okay?”

I thought Yamamoto was going to say that we would play baseball or something like that.

If it was baseball, I wouldn’t have had a chance, but if it was an exam ranking, I guess I could do it.

To be honest, he didn’t seem that smart.

Yamamoto’s voice interrupted my thoughts.

“Yeah. If we compete in other things, it would be unfair to one of us. In that respect, the test is equal. Of course, you’ll accept this match, won’t you?”

“Sorry, I won’t.”

“….Wha, t!?”

Yamamoto looked astonished.

Was it really that surprising?

If I accepted Yamamoto’s offer as it was, there was no merit for me to accept the match.

…No, wait.

If I think about it, wouldn’t this be a once-in-a-thousand chance?

Satomi was not going to let go of my arm again, and I probably would not be able to clear up the misunderstanding.

I knew very well from our previous conversations that Yamamoto’s assumptions were strong.

Besides—Satomi told me that Yamamoto judges his opponents based on their specifications.

If this was correct, Yamamoto would be convinced as long as I made it black and white in the competition.

In any case, I couldn’t pretend to go out with Mizutani until I graduate, and I would have to make good use of this situation…

“Listen to me, Yamamoto. Your proposal doesn’t give me any advantage in accepting the match. If I lose, I lose both of them, but you have nothing to lose, isn’t that unfair?”

“That’s… come to think of it, you’re right…”

I continued to say to Yamamoto, who was thinking with his hand on his chin.

“So, how about this? If I win…Yamamoto will stay away from Mizutani at all costs.”

“…..”

At my suggestion, Yamamoto was momentarily speechless.

He inhaled deeply and then nodded gravely.

“…I understand. I will accept your offer on that condition. However, you must keep your promise. If I win, you definitely leave Mizutani and Ayaka alone.”

“Yes, yes.”

I’d never have touched either of them in the first place, though.

When it came to Satomi, we even still didn’t get along with each other.

“I’m going to win for sure! Wait for me, Ayaka!”

After leaving that last remark, Yamamoto ran off somewhere.

Wait a minute, aren’t you going to take the train?

“Tsuyoshi probably rides a motorcycle. He said he always rides his bike on trips.”

As I stared at the back of Yamamoto’s head, Satomi, finally freeing her arm next to me, said.

Oh, I see…wait, that’s not important right now.

“Why did you grab my arm?”

I glanced at her, remembering the source of the misunderstanding in the first place, and Satomi looked away.

Perhaps it was the setting sun, or perhaps it was something else, but her cheeks were flushed—

“…I thought maybe if I did that, Tsuyoshi would get jealous.”

“…You’re such a pain, after all.”

If anything, she was more troublesome than Yamamoto.

But that development just now had become, in a sense, what Satomi wanted.

Even though it was an added bonus for Mizutani, Yamamoto was willing to have a match with me.

I had my own reasons for accepting the match, so it was inevitable, but somehow I couldn’t accept it.

This time, Satomi was aware of the situation and had no particular objection.

In a sullen manner, she turned her head down and said, “I-I’m sorry…”

“…it’s fine. So, that guy will keep his word, right?”

“Yes, I’m sure of it. Tsuyoshi has a lot of pride.”

“As expected.”

“More importantly, are you going to be okay accepting that match? I don’t know what your rank is on the previous test, but how can you guarantee that you’ll win?”

“Guarantee…well, it’ll work out somehow.”

The other person was Yamamoto…and when I said that, Satomi looked at me anxiously.

“I wonder if it’ll work out…Tsuyoshi looks like that, but he’s pretty smart.”

“Eh, really?”

“Yeah. Last year, he was ranked around 10.”

“….”

No way. That kind of guy was ranked 10th in his grade?

And he was on the baseball team, the most competitive club in our high school?

This must be a bug or something.

Satomi’s expression was a mixture of dismay and disgust as if she sensed something when she saw my silence.

“…You didn’t underestimate him because of his image, did you?”

“…hahaha, of course not.”

“I hope so.”

Satomi took a breath and switched to a serious face.

“I’m rooting for you this time, Aizawa. If you don’t win, I don’t think Tsuyoshi will give up on that thieving cat. I can’t help you with your studies because of my academic ability, but if there’s anything you want me to do for you…please don’t hesitate to ask.”

I nodded, and Satomi turned her back to me.

“See you later, Aizawa. Today was fun, in its own way.”

After watching Satomi’s back as she headed back through the turnstiles, I sighed.

Many things happened today.

But I felt like everything had been blown away by the last event.

That was how strong the impact of my encounter with Yamamoto was.

But 10th in the grade, huh?

That was bad. I’d always been in the 20th. I wasn’t doing too bad, but I’d never been in the single digits.

If I wanted to beat Yamamoto, I might have to be prepared to lose some sleep.

He said that we were both equal in the match, but he was always putting himself in his own strong position. It was my fault for underestimating him. No one would think he was the type of guy who got good grades.

Well, when was the midterm exam again?

I think I had scheduled it in the calendar app on my phone.

I opened the desired app and checked.

Eight days from today, which was a week from next Monday, was the date of the midterm exam.

…It’s soon, isn’t it?