Tanaka-san Is Cuter Than the Main Heroine - Chapter 32: Tanaka-san’s a Bit of a Scatterbrain

Chapter 32: Tanaka-san’s a Bit of a Scatterbrain

“Sensei, what if I got the steps right but the final answer wrong?”

“Half points. Two.”

“Then what if the steps are totally wrong but the final answer’s correct?”

“Zero. Mark it as suspicious—might be cheating.”

“Whoa, harsh!!”

While the rest of the class was busy buzzing over quiz scores,

I sat alone, spiraling into deep thought.

All because of what I’d seen scribbled on her answer sheet earlier:

「sumica 0818」

Unless she was in some kind of panic and needed to remind herself of her own password (which… honestly, maybe?),

This had to be her messaging app ID.

But then—

Why give it to me?

Was this her way of responding to what happened at lunch?

Like a soft, subtle “let’s start off as friends” kind of message?

If that’s what it is… isn’t that kinda promising?

No, no, hold up.

Don’t jump ahead. Stay grounded.

What if it’s the opposite—

What if she doesn’t want to talk to me face-to-face anymore,

And this is her gentle way of saying,

“If you need anything, just text. Please don’t talk to me in person ever again.”

In that case, I’ve gone from “friendly neighbour”

To “weird guy who hits you up like it’s a dating app.”

That’s a massive downgrade!!

Maybe she’s just too nice to ghost me completely,

But she’s one polite message away from cutting all ties.

…I mean, I hope that’s not it.

If it is, I’ll be emotionally out of commission for, like, a week—minimum.

Ugh. The more I think about it, the more confused I get.

Why now?

We’ve been on good terms for a while.

If she wanted to exchange contacts,

There were a bunch of more natural, less dramatic chances to do it before this.

So then—why hadn’t I ever asked for her contact info until now?

I-It’s not like I chickened out or anything, okay!?

I mean, getting a girl’s contact is a big deal, alright?

You can’t just walk up like, “Hey, gimme your ID,” right after meeting her!

It’s not something people just hand out like flyers on the street!

You’re supposed to get close first—then ask.

That’s the natural order of things!

A-And I definitely wasn’t scared of being rejected or anything like that.

Plus, when it came to class announcements or homework stuff,

My super helpful friends always had me covered,

So I never really had a reason to ask Tanaka-san directly anyway.

But now that I actually have her ID—

“…Man, I’m really freaking happy.”

Of course I am.

I finally got the contact of the girl I’ve been crushing on for what feels like forever.

Even if nothing comes of it, just the thought of chatting late into the night—

Sharing random stories we’ve never talked about before…

Maybe even seeing little snapshots of Tanaka-san’s daily life through her photos…

Just that idea alone has my heart doing backflips.

This is bad.

My brain’s already spiraling into all kinds of unrealistic daydreams.

Okay. Deep breath. Focus.

This is quiz-checking time. Not daydream time.

I can’t let myself get carried away and start giving off weird vibes.

Snapping myself back to reality, I quickly scribbled her ID onto a sticky note

And got to work checking her answers against the ones on the board.

“Alright, you’re all done, right? Pass your answer sheets to the person in front of you. We’re collecting them now. Make sure they don’t go back to the person who wrote them—can’t risk people changing their answers.”

Perfect timing.

I’d just finished grading when the teacher said that.

Phew. Dodged a bullet.

Looks like I managed to avoid being a burden to Tanaka-san—thank goodness.

I set down the red pen and was just about to hand the sheet to the person in front of me when—

“W-Wait! J-Just a second, please!”

A panicked voice shot out from beside me,

And the next second—crash!

Her chair clattered to the floor.

Every single head in class turned in unison, eyes snapping toward the commotion—

Tanaka-san, frozen mid-lunge, reaching toward the answer sheet in my hands.

“Whoa, what’s up, Tanaka? Something wrong?”

“A-Ah, um, well… I just remembered I forgot to write my name…”

Her face turned beet red as she stammered out the excuse, clearly flustered out of her mind.

“Ahh, gotcha. That’s rare for you, Tanaka. Hey, Kaneko—can you hand that back to her?”

“Sure thing~! I always figured Tanaka-san was, like, totally put-together, but I guess she’s got a clumsy side too, huh? Lowkey kinda cute.”

“A-Ahh… please don’t tease me~… T-Thanks for the answer sheet…”

Thanks to her usual goody-two-shoes rep, Tanaka-san didn’t get scolded or anything.

She just got a few light teases and that was it.

While she hurriedly scribbled something down with her mechanical pencil, face still bright red from embarrassment—

I was face-down on my desk.

Not because I was holding back laughter.

Nope.

It was the crushing combo of guilt and “Tanaka-san is way too freaking cute” that totally wiped me out.

She lunged for the answer sheet earlier to erase her messaging app ID.

She probably didn’t expect it to get picked up and passed forward before she could grab it back.

Which meant—when it looked like it was about to be taken away forever, she panicked hard.

Ugh. I feel awful.

I should’ve had the brainpower to just erase it myself.

Why didn’t I think of that!?

Come on, man.

If your crush’s contacts accidentally ended up in someone else’s hands, of course you’d want to delete it.

It’s like… romance common sense!

Stupid, stupid me.

…That said, though?

Watching Tanaka-san flail in panic was dangerously adorable.

Like, instant heart-stopper levels of cute.

Especially the part where she hid her whole face behind the printout at the end?

Absolute perfection.

Thank you, universe. And also—my bad.

I solemnly swore, right then and there, with my forehead glued to the desk,

That I would try my best to be a little more thoughtful from now on.

Author’s Note:

I originally meant to wrap this arc up in one go, but it looks like it’s gonna spill over into the next chapter too—so we’re pausing here for now!

If the flow still feels off when I review it tomorrow, I might tweak a few bits. Hope that’s cool!

And hey—if you thought Tanaka was even a little bit cute this time, a follow, review, or comment would totally make my day! Thanks for reading!