Weren’t You Only Using Me As A Stand-in? [116]

It had rained that morning, so Kitahara Takeru skipped his usual run. After messaging Yotsuba to cancel, he rolled over and went back to sleep.

He didn’t get up until after seven.

Grabbing a bottle of Evian from the fridge, Takeru glanced out the window.

The rain had cleared up. The sun was back, and with it, a blast of lingering summer heat despite the season. Puddles still dotted the ground outside.

He filled the kettle and headed to the bathroom to brush his teeth while waiting for the water to boil.

Even as he brushed, he found time to check his phone and reply to some messages.

Opening Line, he was immediately greeted with a flood of unread texts.

He tapped on Kamikawa Rie’s chat first.

The photo showed her lying on her bed, long, slender legs bare and stretched out.

Her arches were elegant, the curves of her feet smooth and well-proportioned. The soles had a healthy pink hue and a soft sheen. Her toes curled naturally, graceful and inviting.

Those delicate lotus-like feet looked almost edible, like soft-serve ice cream tempting him with every detail. Each toe, pale as lotus root and smooth as jade, glistened as though they’d been carved, triggering every nerve in Takeru’s body.

By the time he snapped out of it, he realized he’d been staring at Rie’s leg photos for far too long.

Damn it!

With his mouth full of toothpaste, he couldn’t say anything out loud, so he cursed silently.

Furiously, he typed:
[Sending this kind of thing first thing in the morning—what exactly are you trying to do?]

It was worth noting: Kitahara Takeru was a young man in the prime of his life. Full of energy.

Seeing photos like that, he couldn’t help but… react.

He quickly spat out the toothpaste and, without even washing his face, dropped to the floor to knock out fifty textbook push-ups—anything to burn off some of that energy.

“…48, 49, 50!”

When he finished and picked up his phone again, he saw Rie had already replied.

[Rie]: Heard you’re into legs. I’m not there in person, so I figured you could make do with a picture or two.

[Takeru]: Slander. Absolute slander.
[Takeru]: Wanna test me? I’ll report this straight to the central government!!!
[Takeru]: (Image.jpg)

[Rie]: So? Was it nice to look at?

[Takeru]: Meh.

[Rie]: Saying that after pulling your pants up, huh? Bold of you.

[Takeru]: Why are you even up this early?

[Rie]: I’m not~
[Rie]: Still lying in bed, eyes half-closed, texting you like this.

Takeru’s fingers paused over the screen.

He could almost picture it: Rie, half-asleep, fumbling around for her phone on the bed, squinting at the screen while trying to type through the haze of sleep.

His expression softened slightly. He typed:

[Takeru]: You could’ve replied after you were properly awake.

[Rie]: Nope!
[Rie]: Your messages—I want to reply right away.

Even Takeru, whose heart had been sealed behind layers of emotional concrete, felt it skip a beat.

The cracks were starting to show.

[Rie]: So? Heart racing yet? Feel like you have to be with me now?

[Takeru]: I was a little moved—until you said that. Now the feeling’s completely gone.

[Rie]: It’s fine. I’m just a first-year. I’ve got plenty of time to wear you down.

[Takeru]: Alright, I won’t bug you anymore. Go back to sleep.

[Rie]: Okay, going back to sleep~ Ah, right—Takeru, one last thing.

[Takeru]: What is it?

[Rie]: Today’s Rie also really, really loves you 💗 Mua~

Takeru stared at that message a while longer, then put down his phone, turned on the tap, and splashed his face with icy water.

By the time he emerged, the kettle had already finished boiling.

He tore open two packets of instant noodles and poured them into bowls, added the hot water, and dropped down to the floor again for another round of push-ups.

Takeru could cook—and he ate well—but he hated hassle. If it wasn’t absolutely necessary, he wouldn’t bother lighting the stove when alone.

While waiting for the noodles to cook, he vacuumed the whole apartment.

After eating, he still had energy to spare, so he kept cleaning.

Takeru wasn’t a neat freak. In fact, he was pretty lazy. But when it came to his own living space, he liked to keep things at least decently clean.

Once the place was tidy, he moved on to his home workout.

Following the bodyweight training schedule he’d gotten from the system, Takeru started doing 45-second sets of mountain climbers.

Three sets of those, followed by ninety push-ups split into three rounds, and forty crunches later, he was so drained he didn’t want to move a finger.

Lying flat on the floor to rest, he eventually got up and pulled out a red study guide from his bedroom to go over past University of Tokyo entrance exam questions.

When the clock hit 8:30, he finally took a shower and headed out.

He had plans today—with Kitagawa Marin.

...

It had rained just this morning, but now the sun was blazing. Cicadas screamed from the trees, and the rising humidity made the air feel even hotter.

Unwilling to deal with crowded trains, Takeru hopped onto his motorbike and rode straight to Ikebukuro Station—the site of the convention.

After parking, he pulled on a baseball cap and walked toward the east hall entrance, only to be met with an enormous, snaking line of people.

Probably only an event like this could lure this many shut-ins out of their dens.

Just as he was pulling out his phone to call Marin, he heard her voice.

“Takeru! Over here!”

He looked up to see Marin near the front of the line, bouncing on her toes and waving her arms wildly.

“Excuse me, coming through—pardon me.”

Takeru muttered as he squeezed his way through the crowd.

The heat was already unbearable, and with this many people packed together, the air was thick with the stench of sweat and body odor.

He felt like that shower had been for nothing.

As he pressed forward, someone suddenly groped him from behind.

The hell? Dude, I’m a guy. Are you that desperate?

He cursed inwardly, but with the crowd this dense, there was no way to tell who it was. All he could do was charge ahead like a wild boar, forcing his way through.

“No matter how much you pay me, I’m never doing this again,” he grumbled when he finally reached Marin.

He was in a foul mood—after all, he’d just been groped every which way, by both men and women.

One particularly heavyset guy with a scruffy beard had even leaned in and said, “Bro, you smell so good~”

Takeru had immediately covered his ass in fear.

The last time he’d been this freaked out was on a trip to Chengdu.

Pro tip for anyone planning to head to Chengdu to chase girls: don’t. The moment you arrive… you become the girl.

“What’s wrong, Kitahara-kun?”

Marin tilted her head, puzzled by his expression—and the fact that he was holding his butt.

“I just got…”

Takeru told her about getting groped.

“Goose goose goose—!”

Marin burst out laughing, making honking goose sounds.

“Takeru, you smell so good~”

She teased, leaning in close and sniffing him dramatically.

But as she inhaled, her expression suddenly shifted—she’d actually caught a whiff of something pleasant.

---

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!