Weren’t You Only Using Me As A Stand-in? [80]

After morning practice with the soccer team, Tanaka Kōta returned to the classroom to find Kitahara Takeru just standing at the door, not going in.

One step closer, and he understood why—Ōtani Shōta was currently wailing like a banshee inside.

Kōta immediately raised his voice on purpose: “Yo! Isn’t that our resident superstar? What’s the matter, stuck at the door?”

Everyone in class turned their heads to look at Takeru.

“Superstar! Gimme an autograph—and a selfie while you’re at it!”

“Kitahara-kun, when’s your official debut?”

“One vote from me, one vote from you—our boy Takeru goes pro tomorrow!”

“No matter how bad the music is, if it’s from Kitahara-kun, I’m buying that album blind!”

The class hooted and hollered, all jokingly demanding Takeru pack up and debut as an idol already.

“Debut? Sounds more like you guys want me to debut in the afterlife!”

Debuting in the morning, trending by noon, issuing an apology by evening, blacklisted by night, depressed at midnight, and falling from a building by the next day.

They wanted him to be a celebrity?

Honestly, Takeru’s backstory had enough dirt to feed every tabloid in the entertainment industry for a year.

And forget the rest—just the fact that he’d acted as a stand-in for all those girls could keep the gossip cycle spinning for weeks.

He wasn’t just scandalous. He was material.

He genuinely didn’t dare get famous.

Wearing a suffering expression, Takeru pressed his palms together. “I get it. I’m sorry. Please—have mercy.”

He swore if something like that ever happened again, he wouldn’t touch a mic.

His mock-plea only made the room burst into even louder laughter.

But he knew they meant well—it was just harmless teasing.

He let them laugh.

They’d stop by lunchtime, probably.

After all, this was Seijo Academy, a private elite high school famous for its college acceptance rate.

Every student here had one clear goal: Tokyo U, Kyoto U, Keio, Waseda—Japan’s top ten universities.

Seijo students were excellent.

Drop them into Toyosaki, Sakakino, or Sōbu High, and while they might not outshine Kasumigaoka Utaha or Yukinoshita Yukino, they wouldn’t lag far behind.

Even so, getting into a dream school wasn’t easy.

Unless you were someone like Kitahara Takeru or Kamikawa Rie—with grades so outstanding you’d basically secured a recommendation for Teikoku University—the rest had to work their asses off to stand a chance.

People didn’t have time to pay you much mind.

Put simply: you’re not that important to them.

Most people just… don’t care about you that much.

“Yo, Takeru. Here.”

After taking a few photos with classmates, Takeru returned to his seat. Kamikawa Rie handed him his driver’s license.

“So fast?” he asked, surprised. He thought it’d take another few days.

“What’d you expect? It’s just a license. A few phone calls, done.”

She sounded casual, but to Takeru it was another reminder of the gap between them.

School was a time-limited utopia.

It forced everyone to appear on equal footing—same uniform, same hairstyles, same cafeteria food. It gave the illusion that everyone was the same.

But once you graduated… that illusion shattered.

For most people, those from different worlds would never intersect again.

Takeru stared down at the license in his hand and chuckled.

“Thanks.”

Last night’s move was reckless—but fruitful.

He didn’t regret it.

If he’d done things the slow way, how long would it have taken to earn 500,000 points?

And during that time, he’d have to ensure none of the girls got bored or dumped him.

Takeru never gambled on variables.

And he definitely didn’t trust human nature.

Call it low, call it shameless—he was going to win this life.

“No big deal. Oh right, if you ever want to go into entertainment, don’t sign with anyone else—I’ve got a relative who runs an agency.”

Kamikawa Rie leaned her head on her arm, resting against the chair.

“It’s not huge, but it’s got all the resources you’d need. You can name your terms.”

Takeru propped his chin with his hand, lips curling. “Any terms? What do I owe in return? Gotta agree to the unspoken rules?”

He didn’t believe in free lunches.

Rie giggled. “Not entirely out of the question.”

Takeru made a show of pondering. “Well, if the offer’s that good, I might just consider it.”

“Really?”

She leaned in close, eyes shining.

“No.”

He flicked her smooth forehead with a snap.

“Ow!”

She rubbed her head, pouting.

“I’ve done so much for you already. Shouldn’t you be falling for me by now? Am I still not good enough?”

Takeru pulled out his phone. “Did I ever ask you to? You could’ve said no.”

A sigma male doesn’t fall into anyone’s trap.

“What’re you looking at?” Rie puffed her glossy lips in irritation but still craned her neck to peek at his screen.

Takeru caught the scent of her perfume and frowned slightly. “Do you mind? Little personal space? Also, you’re blocking my view.”

“Kendo? Why are you looking into something so smelly and sweaty?” she said, staring at the club info.

“Thought I’d join a club. Just to try something out.”

Which wasn’t a lie.

He’d been interested in clubs for a while.

At the start of the term, quite a few had invited him.

But back then he was broke—barely scraping by.

Now that he had money, he had room to think.

“Why kendo? Come play baseball, Takeru!” Ōtani Shōta called out from nearby. “Let’s win Koshien together!”

“What baseball? Come play soccer!” Tanaka Kōta joined in. “You’re fast and have great stamina—it’d be a waste not to.”

Fast?

Stamina?

Are you sure that’s not sarcasm?

Takeru thought about his morning runs—he hadn’t beaten Nakano Yotsuba even once.

“We made Koshien three years in a row,” Ōtani sneered. “What about your soccer team?”

“Dead last every year.”

“New players every season. Ever made it to National Stadium?”

“Still the same old mess.”

“Seijo soccer’s trash. Even you could play wing. You?”

“Soon you’ll lose to Sakakino, then Toyosaki. Who else can you lose to?”

This banter sounded eerily familiar.

Like he’d heard it before.

Tanaka Kōta’s face turned red.

It was true—Seijo’s soccer team sucked.

Still, as a team member, he clenched his jaw and barked, “That’s why we need people like you!”

“Seijo’s revival starts with us!”

In his mind, things couldn’t get worse—only better.

Like flunking a test so bad that any improvement looks amazing.

“Alright, alright, I’m not interested in either,” Takeru said, slapping his book on the desk to shut them up.

He only wanted to join the kendo club because he’d acquired [Swordsmanship: Mastery].

Not because he was passionate about it.

If he really wanted to test himself, he could just challenge the club instead.

But he didn’t want to piss off a bunch of senpai.

He wasn’t afraid of trouble—but he didn’t like stirring it up needlessly either.

“Fine.”

Tanaka and Ōtani backed off.

But before they left, they still added, “If you change your mind, come find us.”

“Sure.”

Takeru smiled and nodded, but truthfully?

If the system didn’t give him baseball or soccer skills, he wasn’t touching either.

Why join if you suck?

Just to get laughed at?

Speaking of which, I think the system store refreshed today.

He opened the interface.

Money: 100 yen = 1 point
Stats:
Intelligence – 100,000 pts
Charm – 100,000 pts
Stamina – 100,000 pts

Skills:
• Beginner Tea Art – 100 pts
• Skilled Bartending – 1,000 pts
• Dribbling Proficiency – 10,000 pts
• Master-Level Evasion – 100,000 pts
• God-Tier: Field Vision – 1,000,000 pts
• God Card: Lin Dan – 1,000,000 pts

(Next refresh: 716h 46m 53s)

Tea art?

Nope. He wasn’t cultured enough to care.

Bartending?

Unless he planned to work a bar? Also no.

Could maybe show off in front of girls, though.

Dribbling Proficiency? Hopefully that meant basketball.

Not… anything else.

But he didn’t want to join the NBA either.

Even if he had handles, he couldn’t dunk, couldn’t shoot threes, and had no defense.

Next.

Master-Level Evasion?

Now that sounded useful.

Master Evasion + Sword Mastery = God Mode.

God-Tier Field Vision?

Literal wallhacks.

Eyes in the back of his head.

God Card: Lin Dan.

The badminton legend himself.

No introduction needed.

The GOAT.

Even if you’re born a genius, trained since childhood, win every game… you’d get to the finals and lose to him.

The only thing that could beat Lin Dan… was a curtain.

Shame about the points, though.

Takeru really wanted that card.

Too bad the cost wasn’t worth it.

He wasn’t going into badminton.

After thinking it over, he chose [Master-Level Evasion].

It had high real-world utility.

[Ding! Skill acquired: Master-Level Evasion].

Done.

Now to open his reward from last night’s random stat roll.

He hoped it would go to Intelligence.

[Ding! +1 Charm].

Charm again?

Disappointing.

His charm was already high enough.

He’d really wanted to be smarter.

[Charm: 9 → 10]
[Ding! Charm maxed. Passive skill unlocked: Freyja’s Allure].

Freyja?

As in, the Norse goddess?

The system popped a note:

[Freyja’s Allure: As the goddess of beauty and love, her charm transcends gender].
(Special Reminder: “Boys should remember to protect themselves too!~”)

Takeru: “……”

What the hell is that supposed to mean?!

Say it to my face!

Before he could stew further, the bell rang.

Their math teacher—thinning hair and all—entered and began handing out test papers.

Takeru took the sheet from the student ahead, setting his thoughts aside for now.

Time to focus.

---

Noon. Private Toyosaki Academy.

Kasumigaoka Utaha rested her chin in her hands, staring blankly at the sky.

“Senpai? Utaha-senpai?”

The persistent voice in her ear made her want to snap shut up.

But she held it in.

Because it wasn’t Kitahara Takeru—it was Aki Tomoya.

“What is it, Aki?”

“You okay? You’ve been totally out of it today.”

Tomoya handed her a pineapple bun he’d fought tooth and nail for at the school store.

“My dog ran away.”

She took the pastry and bit into it, her tone laced with quiet fury.

“…Dog?”

Tomoya blinked.

“When did you get a dog?”

He thought he knew everything about her.

But this was news to him.

“A mutt that came sniffing around, glued itself to me, then vanished for a whole damn day after I ignored it.”

Her wine-red eyes burned silently with anger.

A whole day.

She’d waited all day for Watanabe Takeru yesterday.

It was like he’d been swept away by another woman—completely disappeared.

And the worst part?

She realized that aside from her phone, she had no way to reach him.

No number. No address. Nothing.

It was like he didn’t exist.

If it weren’t for the messages on her phone and the gifts he’d left behind…

Kasumigaoka Utaha would’ve thought she’d imagined him entirely.

---

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!