Tanaka-san Is Cuter Than the Main Heroine - Chapter 33: Tanaka-san’s a Sticker Addict

Chapter 33: Tanaka-san’s a Sticker Addict

“Alright then.”

Time passed, and now it was just past 7 PM.

I found myself locked in an intense stare-down with the smartphone on my desk.

The screen showed a stylish, beach-themed icon.

And right below it:

Sumika Tanaka.

Looks like the ID Tanaka-san gave me earlier today was legit.

Well, obviously. She handed it to me herself, so I never doubted it.

Still, seeing it show up like this… felt kinda surreal.

Why did Tanaka-san even give me her contact?

I tried asking her after class, but she completely dodged the question.

So yeah—still no clue.

“…Is it okay if I add her?”

Honestly, I had no idea what the right move was.

I mean, if she gave me her ID, that’s gotta mean she at least sees me as a friend… right?

But when I think back on everything that’s happened, I’m not so sure she has a good impression of me.

Let’s not forget—I’ve got a criminal record of blatantly ogling her boobs.

If the roles were reversed, I’d definitely want nothing to do with someone like me.

And to make matters worse, I totally freaked out earlier today and shouted when that ball almost hit her.

She was standing right beside me… I probably scared her off.

So yeah—there’s just no way she sees me in a positive light right now.

Wait, hold on.

What if… the reason she gave me her ID was because she doesn’t want to talk to me directly anymore!?

Like, “From now on, let’s just chat over text, okay?” or something?

Oh no. Oh crap.

That’d mean I actually lost progress with her.

I groaned and buried my face in my hands.

“Guess I’ve got no choice but to start from negative and work my way up!”

“…No, wait. Didn’t I already decide I’d give it my all!? Come on, me!”

I slapped both cheeks with a sharp smack, trying to snap myself out of the spiral by remembering the vow I made during lunch break.

I’d always planned on starting from a deficit anyway.

No way I was gonna throw in the towel just ‘cause my pride took one little hit.

Revved up again, I finally tapped the “Add Friend” button.

And once the screen switched over to the chat window, I rode that momentum and fired off a quick message:

[Looking forward to chatting with you!]

“Phew… Mission accomplished.”

All I did was send a single text, and yet I felt this massive wave of accomplishment wash over me.

Just as I flopped onto my desk with a big sigh of relief—

Ping! Ping!

My phone chimed with incoming notifications.

(No way she replied that fast. Probably someone from class.)

Figuring it wasn’t urgent, I let myself sink into the soothing warmth of the wooden desk and let my brain reboot.

Thanks to that totally legit desk aromatherapy or whatever, I managed to bounce back in a few minutes.

And when I finally peeked at my phone to see who’d messaged me—

‘Let’s get along, nya~’ [Cat Sticker]

‘What are you up to right now, nya~?’ [Cat Sticker]

“Wha—!?”

The sender… was Tanaka-san.

I nearly fell out of my chair in shock, barely managing to hold it together.

“She’s… s-she’s way too cute!!”

But yeah… I still hadn’t recovered from the shock.

The hand holding my phone was trembling like crazy. 

Sure, it might sound like I’m overreacting to a couple of cute stickers—but please, hear me out. Really think about it.

When you get a message from someone, don’t you instinctively read it in their voice inside your head?

Which means…

Right now, my brain is playing back Tanaka-san’s voice, saying things like “Nyaa~!” in full-on cat mode.

Mentally? I’m done for.

My willpower bar’s hanging by a thread—barely ten percent left, if that.

And even if my brain didn’t auto-play it in her voice, just the fact that Tanaka-san is casually throwing around cat stickers is enough to nuke half my sanity on its own.

[Doing homework right now.]

Okay, yeah. Total lie. I already finished everything.

But if I just said I was lazing around doing nothing, I feel like that’d tank my score with her.

So… I fibbed. Just a little.

And then—bam.

‘You’re so responsible, nya~’ [Cat Sticker]

Too cute.

Like, dangerously cute.

Tanaka-san is seriously… an angel.

Thanks to that message, my motivation to study suddenly shot through the roof—even though I didn’t actually need to anymore.

Still, the guilt from lying started creeping in…

So I pulled out my notebook and textbook from my bag and did a few practice problems to make up for it.

Weirdly enough, my brain was firing on all cylinders. I was solving stuff way faster than usual.

‘What’s your favorite food, nya~?’ [Cat Sticker]

[Hamburg steak and fries. What about you, Tanaka-san?]

‘I like fish, nya~’ [Cat Sticker]

[Oh yeah, salmon’s the best. Whenever I go to a sushi place, that’s all I eat.]

‘Same here, nya~’ [Cat Sticker]

After that, my conversation with Tanaka-san just kept going.

For some reason, she only used stickers the whole time.

But strangely enough, it didn’t feel awkward at all.

If anything, it was kind of amazing—because in my head, I got to fully enjoy the mental image of a nyan-ified Tanaka-san.

Absolute 10/10 experience.

That said… there was one thing starting to bug me a bit:

We’d been chatting for over two hours straight.

I mean, don’t get me wrong—I was loving every second of it.

But from a “how close are we really?” standpoint… yeah, I had no idea anymore.

(Maybe… maybe she doesn’t hate me as much as I thought?)

That tiny hope slipped into my brain, just for a moment.

Not that I had the courage to ask her anything like that directly.

As we kept messaging, she finally sent a sticker of a sleepy little cat along with: ‘Time to sleep, nya~’

I glanced at the clock—already past ten.

Yeah, definitely bedtime.

Reluctantly, dragging it out as much as I could, I typed a simple: [Good night.]

BZZ-BZZ!

The next second, my phone started buzzing with an incoming call.

“Huh… Wait, wha—Tanaka-san!?”

At first, I was totally ready to grumble, like—Who even calls this late!?

But then I saw the name on the screen and let out the dumbest noise imaginable.

Was this… a misdial?

Maybe she meant to hit “Back” and accidentally tapped the call button?

That had to be it.

I waited a few seconds, expecting the ringing to stop on its own…

But nope—it just kept going.

(Wait… is she caught up in something serious or dangerous!?)

A sudden wave of anxiety washed over me.

Just in case, I quickly tapped the call button and brought the phone to my ear.

“Hello?”

“Eh!? Nakayama-kun!? I’m so sorry! My sister hit the call button by accident—I’ll hang up right away!”

“Oh, come on, Sumika, don’t lie—‘Waaahhh!’—Hey, stop it!”

The voice coming through the speaker sounded way more cheerful than I’d expected, and I let out a relieved breath.

Phew. Okay.

At least it wasn’t some kind of emergency.

Honestly, I wouldn’t have minded staying on the call a little longer…

But since it sounded like an accidental dial, I replied with:

“Oh, got it. That’s a relief, then. If everything’s okay, I’ll hang up now.”

I reached for the end call button—

“W-Wait, please!”

Tanaka-san’s panicked voice made me freeze.

Huh? Did she forget to say something?

Or—wait—was this about to turn into a confession!?

“Hmm? What’s up?”

I asked, trying (and mostly failing) to keep my heart from pounding out of my chest.

“Ah, um, uh…”

Her voice faltered, clearly flustered.

Then, after a short pause, in the tiniest, softest whisper—

“…Good night, Nakayama-kun.”

It wasn’t the wild fantasy I’d just hyped myself up for.

It was something simple. Ordinary.

But the way Tanaka-san said it—with that quiet, gentle voice—it honestly felt like some kind of top-tier ASMR.

My heart went into overdrive.

Still, no way was I letting her find out.

“Yeah… good night, Tanaka-san.”

I made sure to reply in my usual, calm voice.

“…!? Th-Then I’ll be going now. Sorry again—my sister was the one causing trouble.”

“Hey! I didn’t even— beep!”

And just like that…

The call ended—peacefully? Maybe?

But me?

My heart was still going wild in every possible way.

“Man… did I blow my cover at the end there? Her ‘good night’ was way too powerful. There’s no way I’m sleeping after that. Gahh, she’s just too cute!”

And so, with the clock inching closer to midnight,

I rolled around on my bed in pure emotional agony.