Weren’t You Only Using Me As A Stand-in? [141]

The moment Yozakura Hitomi glimpsed the photo that had been fed into the shredder, she raised an eyebrow.

“You didn’t expose his identity?”

In truth, both she and Rie had known for a long time that Kitahara Takeru was running around under the alias Watanabe Takeru, flirting with women left and right.

Only that idiot Kitahara still thought he was hiding it well.

They hadn’t confronted him earlier simply because, at the time, neither of them gave a damn about the guy.

As for why Rie hadn’t exposed him… that, even Hitomi didn’t know.

But today’s incident had nothing to do with those few photos Rie had thrown on the table earlier.

If it had been just that, Kitahara wouldn’t still be breathing right now.

Rie would’ve already had someone break his legs, chain him up like a dog, and keep him by her side.

No—what really sent Rie into a fury today was that photo, the one that had just been shredded.

Maybe Kitahara had gotten too full of himself. Holding hands, buying gifts—fine. But trying to kiss someone?

What next—was he planning to crawl into their bed?

Unforgivable.

When Rie found out last night, she nearly called in a sniper to blow his brains out.

“If I pulled that photo out,” she said coolly, “it’d prove I’ve been watching him. What do you take me for, Kashiwagi Nagisa?”

She scoffed.

She’d known Nagisa hired a private investigator to dig up dirt on Kitahara from the start.

If she hadn’t allowed it, those investigators wouldn’t have dared leak Kitahara’s info to Nagisa.

Nagisa thought she’d gotten leverage. In Rie’s eyes, she’d just handed herself over on a silver platter.

A girl with a boyfriend, getting all tangled up with another guy—what would people in their circle think if that ever got out?

“You’re just letting him off, then?”

Hitomi didn’t buy that Rie was suddenly being so forgiving.

“Let him off? Are you joking?”

Rie laughed—low and cold.

“I’ve kept all the evidence. When we get married, I’ll settle each and every account with him.”

She wasn’t letting it slide because she was kind. She just didn’t want to show her full hand too early.

Honestly, every time she saw Kitahara talking to some other girl, it pissed her off.

If she could, she’d cut out his tongue.

If she weren’t worried about scaring him off, she wouldn’t even let a female dog near him.

Now that’s more like it~

Hitomi let out a relaxed sigh. She felt the same way.

---

After first period math, a swarm of students surrounded Kitahara’s desk.

Most were boys.

The girls were curious too, but thanks to Kamikawa Rie, none dared get too close. They could only hover nearby and eavesdrop.

“Kitahara! What were you doing with Kamikawa-san in this sacred classroom just now?!”

Ōtani Shōta, the class loudmouth, was the first to demand answers.

“Short as it was, I could’ve done a lot.”

Kitahara lazily popped a lollipop into his mouth and slumped over his desk.

The emotional chaos earlier had drained his brain dry—he needed sugar.

“Maybe your parts are just for show. Big but useless, huh? Don’t they say the longer it is, the softer it gets?”

Tanaka Kōta snickered lewdly.

Typical guys—couldn’t even go to the bathroom without forming a squad.

But ever since that first group trip, Kitahara had been excluded.

Guess that means Kitahara’s really packing…

The girls exchanged glances and sheepishly looked away, blushing.

“You don’t need to know if it works. Just know mine’s bigger and longer than yours.”

Kitahara smirked.

Men understood men.

He couldn’t get them to spend 180,000 yen on a word—but one sentence could crush their egos.

“You green onion bastard, I’ll kill you!”

Tanaka lunged, full of righteous fury.

“How dare you defy your superior! Seize him!”

Kitahara slammed the table. On cue, the class’s PE rep and Ōtani Shōta grabbed Tanaka, pinning him effortlessly.

“What are you doing?! Shouldn’t we all unite and fight back against the Kitahara tyrant?!”

Tanaka looked around, stunned.

The village… friendship… our bonds… have you all forgotten?!

“My girlfriend? Kitahara helped set us up,” the PE rep said flatly.

Ōtani turned away, expression pained. “Sorry, Kōta. Kitahara’s agreed to be my wingman. I can’t spend another Tanabata alone with my five fingers…”

“I want to see action. I want to join the war zone, fight on the frontlines with my bros!”

None of the other boys said a word, but most had benefited from Kitahara’s “services” in one way or another.

Tanaka looked around—his despair was real.

So I’m Gin… and everyone around me’s a goddamn mole.

Kitahara crossed his legs like a mob boss. “Take him away. Arubaito him.”

“Wait—Kitahara-sama! My king! My lord—I was wrong!”

The boys ignored his pleas and dragged him toward the mop bucket. One pried open his legs—

SLAM!

“What do you think you’re doing?!”

A harsh scolding rang out.

It was their homeroom teacher.

Tanaka Kōta had never been so happy to hear that old lady’s voice.

Kitahara raised his hand with a smile. “Just a little roughhousing between friends, sensei. Nothing serious.”

Ōtani Ayuko, their middle-aged homeroom teacher, adjusted her brown-framed glasses. She glanced at Kitahara, then at Tanaka, who was still suspended mid-air, and said as if nothing had happened:

“This term, Aoba will participate in a seven-school joint exam with Shuchiin, Sōbu High, Arayata, Kamikawa, Private Idan, and Advanced Nurturing High School.”

“…Sensei…”

Tanaka looked up at her, desperate. Wasn’t she going to stop this?

Ōtani gave no reaction.

Ōtani Shōta patted him on the back, full of pity.

“Give up. Kitahara scored third nationwide on the last mock exam. The school gave Ōtani a bonus because of him.”

Tanaka’s vision darkened.

Corrupt. This whole school is corrupt.

He wanted to call in a government sweep on Aoba. They’d haul in dozens.

Ōtani finished explaining the joint exam, then turned to Kitahara.

“Kitahara, come with me for a moment.”

“Yes, sensei.”

Kitahara stood, pushed in his chair, and followed her to the faculty office.

“Kitahara, here already?”

“Good morning, Yamazaki-sensei.”

“Want an orange?”

“Yes, please.”

“Hey, Kitahara. Transfer to my second-year class.”

“That depends on whether homeroom’s willing to let me go.”

As he walked through the faculty room, teachers waved, joked, and handed him snacks.

Kitahara was the golden student—bright, obedient, never caused trouble. Teachers adored him.

Ōtani Ayuko was no exception.

Her usually stern face softened as she looked at Kitahara like a proud parent.

After he finished chatting, she handed him a notebook.

“This time, the test covers the entire high school curriculum. It’s going to be tough. These are likely topics I compiled—go over them. If anything’s unclear, call me.”

“Thank you, sensei.”

Kitahara opened it on the spot and started flipping through.

This kid…

Ōtani shook her head fondly.

She added, “You’ll be facing Shirogane Miyuki, Shinomiya Kaguya, and Shijō Maki from Shuchiin… Yukinoshita Yukino from Sōbu… Doma Umaru from Arayata… Adagaki Aki and Uesugi Fuutarou from Kamikawa… Komi Shōko from Private Idan… and Horikita Suzune, Sakayanagi Arisu from Advanced Nurturing.”

Kitahara’s hand froze.

Shinomiya Kaguya, Shijō Maki, Komi Shōko, Doma Umaru, Adagaki Aki, Yukinoshita Yukino—

Why are they all people I know?!

“Sensei… just to confirm, we’re taking the test at our own schools, right?”

Ōtani replied matter-of-factly, “Of course not. There’s a centralized testing center.”

Kitahara: “…”

He looked up.

He could almost see a glowing red kanji hanging over his head:

【危】—Danger.

No way… there's no way they’d all get assigned to the same test site, right?

With this many students, that’d be way too coincidental.

…Right?

---

T/N: LMAOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO ALSO HORIKITA? no way is she the smartest in that school...

This is a fan translation of 不是说只拿我当替身的吗？by 雪碧加冰. All rights to the original work belong to the creator. Please support them by exploring their original work or sharing it with others if you can. Thank you for reading and supporting my efforts to bring this story to a wider audience!