The Guy Who Messed Up Is Gradually Doing His Best - Chapter 10

Since it’s been a while since I’ve been to school, I’ll leave home a little earlier than the scheduled time.

Wow, last night was tough. I tried to iron my uniform after pulling it out of the closet, but while I used to weigh over 120 kilos, now I’m barely 70 kilos, and it was way too loose and didn’t fit. I panicked and immediately contacted the teacher.

It was around 7 PM, but the teacher came right away and took me directly to the school-designated uniform shop, where they had already contacted me.

The ready-made item on display, which is not for sale, doesn’t fit perfectly, but it’s better than being too loose. I’ve decided to borrow it.

Since I took measurements, I just have to wait until the proper uniforms are ready. But it took so long to take the measurements that it was almost 8 PM by the time I finished.

I thought about inviting them for tea as a thank you, but they went back to school saying they had work left to do.

From the way they seemed quite flustered, there must have been a lot of work left to do. Yet, they rushed over to me and thinking about it, I definitely want to express my gratitude in some way.

As I get closer to the school, the number of students gradually increases. Well, that doesn’t mean any of them come up to me. They just stare at me from a distance. No, some students are fidgeting too. That person looks suspicious, their movements are a bit robotic, it’s kind of funny.

I pinch my thigh tightly so no one notices and somehow manage to hold back my laughter.

While I was doing that, I could see the main gate. Since I had only come to school once for the entrance ceremony, it felt somewhat familiar. It felt nostalgically proper.

“Hmm.”

——Sensei…?

The teacher went out of their way to wait for me in front of the main gate. They’ve been taking care of me since yesterday.

There are a few upperclassmen over there, but since I don’t know them, I’ll greet the teacher first.

“Sensei! Good morning!”

“Gouda-kun, good morning. I’m glad you came properly. Thank you.”

“What is that? I’ll come properly.”

After I glanced at the upperclassmen and gave a slight nod, the ones who greeted me were Ichinomiya-san, the president of the student council and a third-year student, Sakurada-san, the vice president, Aikawa-san, the secretary, and Matsuyama-san, the treasurer.

————

“Hey, hey Kokoro! Did you see Kazuya-sama yesterday? He was super cool!”

“Hey, Notsuchi. Good morning! It was the one where Kazuya-sama was dancing, right? Of course, I saw it!”

“Yeah, that’s it. Wait, is that Tsukune? It’s rare to see Kokoro with Tsukune. Have they already been talking?”

“Eh!? I-I am…”

“Haha, Tsukune wouldn’t see it anyway… I just borrowed the notebook because I forgot to do my homework. Here, thanks~”

Yokoshimana Kokoro took the notebook and moved away from my seat to return to her own.

The person sitting in the seat next to me, Oshii Nochi, immediately took out her smartphone from her pocket.

From the way she is talking earlier, she’s probably going to watch the video of the popular handsome netTuber, Sawakaze Kazuya-kun.

Since he started streaming videos, there’s hardly a day when we don’t hear about him, and his popularity at this school is incredible.

“Haa. It would be better if men just disappeared.”

I am Kirishima Tsukune. I’ve hated men since I was a child. Men are arrogant, selfish, and self-centered.

Moreover, I don’t like the attitude of thinking that women are just replaceable accessories or something.

I respect my mother, who runs a company and raised me. Occasionally, a fat man appears before her, who seems to be my father, but he doesn’t even look at me and arrogantly begs my mother for money.

“I’m breaking up with you.” This was my father’s catchphrase, someone I had only met a handful of times. Whenever my mother would even slightly retort, he would leave, hurling angry insults. But when he ran out of money, he would come back with a nonchalant face, asking for more.

Why? I always thought, “Why is she forgiving such a man?” But when I turned 16, my mother taught me.

The fact that she is married to a man makes it easier to gain social credibility, and for a mother who runs a company, it seems that even such a father would result in a greater social loss if they were to separate. This is just a pretext; it seems that she can’t help but have the desire to be desired by a man as a woman.

If you experience it, you’ll understand what my mother said about her sexual history, something I never wanted to hear. But I will never become like that. I don’t even have any interest in Sawakaze Kazuya-kun, who everyone says is cool.

“Hey there. What’s with the long face since this morning?”

“Satsu-chan? Good morning.”

In front of me, who was staring blankly at the blackboard, my best friend, Makino Sachiko, appeared.

“Yeah. Good morning. So, did something happen?”

“Um, well, you know, today, wasn’t Gouda Taketo-kun supposed to come to our class? The teacher mentioned it yesterday.”

“I see. Tsukune hates men, after all.”

“Y-yeah.”

I only saw Gouda Taketo once at the entrance ceremony, but he was a rare male who was famous even at our school for being a net celebrity.

I think most of the students at this school were registered. I wasn’t, though.

That Gouda-kun apparently caused a huge uproar by insulting Sawakaze Kazuya-kun, who appeared like a comet and quickly gained popularity.

This school also has a type of man who has never been seen before. Many students became fans of the slender, handsome Sawakaze-kun, and out of anger at Gouda-kun’s insults, they canceled their registrations as a form of retaliation.

Moreover, there were quite a few students who took pleasure in repeatedly harassing me with every conceivable act of vandalism, such as showing up at my house, breaking windows, throwing rotten eggs, pushing my mother down hard, and taking turns ringing the doorbell and running away for an entire day.

Yokoshimana and Oshii were the same. Apparently, for about two months, they were harassing him every day, saying they were doing it for Sawakaze-sama’s sake.

Everyone in this class knows because I was proudly talking about the previous day’s activities while laughing loudly.

But after two months (the departure of the exposed netTuber was a big factor), the controversy had almost completely subsided, the school gradually regained its calm, and recently, it had returned to its usual routine, just like before Gouda-kun’s scandal.

But a few days ago, rumors spread that Sawakaze-kun had started attending school, and since finding out that it was true, the entire atmosphere of the school has turned gloomy.

I’m really fed up with all these problems involving men. I thought, “Not again.” Today, it’s the same with Gouda-kun coming to school.

Compared to the school that Sawakaze-kun attends, the situation has been declining, with more and more students losing motivation to study. Feeling a sense of crisis, the student council and teachers took action.

What surprised me was that, basically, male students are used to remote learning. There’s no way a guy would willingly come to school. Yet, there was a cooperative male student. I was astonished.

“Haa, it would be better if men didn’t come.”

“Well, well, he (Gouda-kun) has changed. He was really trying hard.”

Satsu-chan took her phone out of her pocket and was trying to show me someone’s video. But,

“Here it comes, here it comes.”

“Tsukune, later.”

When a few classmates hurriedly rush in from the hallway, Satsu-chan also hurriedly returns to her seat.

“Good morning, everyone.”

Immediately, the homeroom teacher, Niiyama-sensei, and a male student entered. The once noisy classroom fell silent.

I, too, was taken aback. The only time I saw him at the entrance ceremony, he was a man as fat as my father. But now, he was a tall, slender, and quite handsome young man.

The teacher is saying something, but I can’t hear it. Just staring at him makes my face flush.

“My name is Gouda Taketo. I will be attending once a week starting today. I apologize in advance for any inconvenience I may cause as I get used to school life. Thank you for your understanding.”

His voice, which doesn’t convey any arrogance, is pleasant to hear. I can’t help but follow his every gesture with my eyes. Why, why, despite having hated men so much, what has happened to me? What have I become?

But now, I feel like I might understand the meaning of what my mother used to say.