I Chose the Plain Girl Instead of the Class’s Top Three Beauties, and Somehow She Became the Heroine - 74

Chapter 74: My Best Friend’s Gave It His All

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《Sora Mukei’s POV》

After school, Akira said something with an unusually serious expression.

“Sora. Teach me about cleanliness and how to create a good vibe too.”

“Sure. First are the basic four—cleanliness, posture, fit, and manners. If you don’t miss these, you’re good enough.”

“Wait, let me write this down. Cleanliness, posture, fit, manners… Alright, starting today, I’m joining the Cleanliness Club.”

“There are only two members, me included.”

1) After-School Mini Lesson (Me → Akira)

I brought Akira over to my place and decided to coach him.

・Hair dryer (strong airflow)

・Comb

・Eyebrow comb & small scissors

・Mini shoe-shine sponge

・Lip balm (colorless)

・Portable lint roller (for clothes)

・Nail clippers

“First, bedhead. Lift the roots, then guide the flow. Drying from the tips first is a no-go.”

I lifted Akira’s bangs from the roots and shaped the flow with my fingers.

“For eyebrows, you just need to tidy them up. Don’t overpluck. Only pluck the ones that stick out of the outline.”

“Just the ones that stick out of the outline… Subtlety is important, huh.”

“Fingertips matter too. Keep your nails short. Then, keep your shoes a quick scrub with the sponge.”

“I can do this. I can totally do this.”

For posture, I had him stand with his back against the wall with the back of the head, shoulder blades, hips, and heels touching. And then, I lengthened his neck slightly.

“Keep your neck long, lift your solar plexus. Your voice carries better this way.”

“You know what? I already feel like my voice has gotten better.”

“Mindset matters. Keeping it up is the hard part.”

“Yeah, this is tough.”

I didn’t know if Akira would keep it up, but I was happy to have someone to work hard with.

2) Shopping for Small Items

From there, we hit a drugstore and a general store. We only bought cheap but effective things.

・Folding comb (pocket size)

・Lip balm (colorless)

・Mini shoe-shine sponge

・Portable lint roller (for clothes)

・Clear transparent file & large clip (for scripts/prints)

・Pocket tissues & wet wipes

・Throat lozenges (unscented)

・Folding umbrella (lightweight)

・Mint tablets

“This should be enough. You’re not carrying them to boost your looks. You’re carrying them to keep order in your daily life. Sure, it might mean you have more things to bring around, but it’s so you can be prepared and considerate.”

“Not trying to look cool, just to stay neat. Got it. Though wow, this adds up! That’s rough for a high school guy!”

“Come tomorrow with everything you learned in order!”

“Roger!”

That was it for the day. The next morning, I kept up my routine again. A LINE message came from Akira: “Routine complete!” with photos (bangs, collar, shoes). When I saw Akira in the classroom, his hair was lifted at the roots, his collar straight, his shoes nicely shiny, and his eyebrows neatly trimmed. He was still the same Akira, but properly put together.

“Good. The fact that you didn’t overdo it is perfect.”

“Master, does today’s me score 60 points for cleanliness?”

“I will give you 75… Maybe 80, bonus from your posture.”

“I’m Akira-sama, a man with room to grow!”

I thought the attitude of genuinely trying mattered most. And Akira—

3) Helping People in Need

To have leeway, I taught Akira that being attentive to others was important too. Whether I myself was doing it well was debatable, but teaching Akira was my way of being considerate.

After school, in the hallway.

Mizuki Kiritani-san’s clear file slipped, and its contents scattered across the floor. As the class representative, she was always handing out class prints. 

“Akira, go help her.”

I nudged Akira’s back.

Akira silently crouched down and quickly clipped the pages in order using a transparent file and a large clip. He reattached the fallen sticky notes to the edges.

“Here, pages 18 and 19 were missing between… Ah, here they are.”

“That helped a lot. Thank you, Takatou-kun.”

“No problem. Well, good luck.”

As a matter of manners, he didn’t linger. Help, one word, then leave. He did it right. After all, people didn’t like pushy guys.

On another day, a light rain started falling. At the shoe lockers, Kiritani-san was struggling to get her umbrella out.

“Akira, hold Kiritani-san’s bags for her.”

“Huh? Oh, I get it now?!”

Akira spoke first so as not to startle her, then approached.

“Kiritani-san, I’ll hold these for a moment. So if you want, you can take that time to open your umbrella.”

“Thank you! That really helped.”

Akira understood my intent and acted on it. Kiritani-san opened her umbrella and he returned her bags to her.

“Well then, see you.”

“Yeah. See you.”

Akira didn’t add any unnecessary words. I thought he was nervous.

Before lunch, Mizuki-san coughed in front of the classroom. Akira took an unscented throat lozenge out of his bag.

“This one’s unscented. Feel free to have one if you want.”

“Huh? That helps. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.”

It might have been a small thing. But by stacking small triggers, you could create opportunities.

“Takatou-kun seems different lately.”

“You can tell too, Hiroko-san?”

As I watched Akira, Hiroko-san spoke to me.

“Yes. He seems more at ease or like he’s really trying.”

“Yeah, Akira’s working hard. I don’t know if he’ll keep it up, but it’d be nice if this became something natural to him.”

“Yeah! I think he’s doing great right now.”

I thought so too. I wanted to support Akira while he tried his best. And doing that made me want to try my best too.

“Hey, Hiroko-san. Do you want to go out together this weekend?”

“This weekend?”

“Yeah. There’s a Halloween event. I was hoping we could go together.”

“Y-Yes! Of course.”

I’d never really participated before, but maybe I’d look into a simple cosplay online. And I was happy I could go on a date with Hiroko-san this weekend. This must be because I had been seeing how hard Akira was trying with my own eyes. 

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