A Stand-In of the Same Type (cont.)

Was this because he'd been forcibly pulled out of the battlefield without completing the mission objective, sending everything back to the very beginning of the mission to start over?

Taking the third cup of coffee from the server, Mikage Touji blew on it out of habit before taking a small sip. "So, Cha—cough, Kushida, do you have any other questions?"

Questions? Of course I have questions! Explain how you turned that bitch Horikita into this, you bastard!

Even though her mind still hadn't quite caught up, her desire to take down Horikita Suzune overpowered all reason. As a result, Kushida Kikyou still hadn't realized that her cover was practically blown.

In just a few short exchanges, she'd already let too many behaviors slip that didn't fit her usual persona. If Mikage Touji hadn't pretended not to notice, a sharper Class A student would probably have already sent the class group chat word that she might be a counterfeit angel.

"It's like this. Didn't I tell you just now that I wanted to be friends with Horikita, but she keeps ignoring me? So I wanted to ask you to help me."

With Mikage Touji having left her a little muddle-headed, Kushida Kikyou had abandoned all the usual preliminaries for asking someone for help and started speaking her mind.

Mm... She was speaking her mind in the literal sense.

She cupped her hands in front of her chest, and the pair of ample white breasts shifted with her movements. Just looking at them, anyone could tell how soft and delicate they were.

Unfortunately, this sort of move had absolutely no effect on Mikage Touji.

As if! Horikita-imouto had at least given me 500,000. You think showing me this is enough to make me betray my beloved friends and brothers-in-arms?

No way. Not even if you paid me more—unless you added a million.

Besides, I had leverage over you. You were lucky I wasn't ordering you around. And now you had the nerve to try to boss me around?

All things considered, when the bad woman asked him for help, Mikage Touji decisively refused.

"Kushida, I understand how you feel about wanting to make friends, but honestly, I don't have any good ideas when it comes to Horikita." Mikage Touji awkwardly scratched his head. "After all, I've known her for less than a day. You've known her for a month, so you must know her better than I do."

I already know that! I'm asking how you managed to get further with her in less than a day than I did in a month! Kushida Kikyou roared inwardly.

"Then how did you become friends with Horikita?" Kushida Kikyou asked with a stiff smile.

"Oh, I know her brother. Strictly speaking, her brother introduced us." Mikage Touji kept brushing her off.

"..."

The veins on Kushida Kikyou's hand stood out. Did I seriously have to go make friends with Horikita Manabu, too?

Of course she knew Horikita Manabu. She didn't know much about him, but there was no doubt he was far more impressive than Horikita Suzune. Dealing with one Horikita Suzune was already hard enough. Now she had to add Student Council President Horikita Manabu to the mix?

"How did you get so close to Horikita?" Kushida Kikyou still wouldn't give up, trying to bypass the Horikita Manabu problem and find another way.

Kushida Kikyou was determined to get to the bottom of it, making Mikage Touji rub the rim of his coffee cup in annoyance.

Seriously, Cha Cha, what had Horikita-imouto done to make you obsess over her this much?

This wasn't just a matter of not liking her anymore. Where had this twisted, indescribable mix of love and hate come from?

But Horikita-imouto didn't even have any friends. How could she and someone as sociable as you—

Wait!

A cold glint flashed in Mikage Touji's eyes. He'd spotted something.

Cha Cha, who seemed friendly and kind on the surface but had accumulated too many negative feelings inside, and whose outside didn't match her true self...

And Horikita-imouto, who seemed cold on the surface but was even colder on the inside, her words and actions perfectly aligned...

Could it be... that Cha Cha was actually jealous of Horikita-imouto?

A twisted Horikita fangirl?

Mikage Touji tilted his head toward the cafe's yellow-lit pendant lamps and sucked in a sharp breath.

Hiss—

Hadn't he seen this scene somewhere before?

This twisted feeling, at once hostile and yearning...

Nagumo, you and Kushida would probably get along pretty well, wouldn't you?

Horikita-nii, Horikita-imouto, your family really did have a lot of sins to answer for.

If it had been someone of the opposite sex, I wouldn't have said anything. Maybe I'd even have congratulated you on the spot. But how did you manage to attract the attention of two people of the same sex at the same time?

Realizing that Kushida Kikyou might be feeling a jealousy even she herself didn't recognize, and knowing it would be hard to get away, Mikage Touji began to think.

All in all, he didn't want to help either of them.

If he helped Horikita-imouto, he might set Kushida Kikyou off one day. He'd get nothing out of it and lose a video.

Helping Cha Cha was even less likely. She looked easy to fool, but there was no real benefit to be had. At most, she'd give you a little eye candy.

The problem was... how could he get out of this strange battlefield between the two of them?

Cha Cha clearly wasn't going to let him leave. He had to find a way to make her back down...

Make her back down... I've got it!

"A way to get along with Horikita?" Mikage Touji tapped his fingers on the table, pretending to think. "I remember she wants to get into Class A. Maybe you could start there, Kushida. Like, work together to raise your Class Points or something."

Kushida Kikyou's smile froze.

Wasn't that the same as her own earlier plan? What she wanted was a shortcut to getting close in a single day!

"Isn't there a more direct way?"

Mikage Touji sighed and looked at Kushida Kikyou with a helpless expression. "Kushida, you shouldn't think like that. Friendship is like wine. It needs time to mature before it develops its flavor. It's not some weird cheating app that can max out someone's affection with the press of a button."

"..."

Then how did you manage it? Spit it out already!

Kushida Kikyou wanted to grab Mikage Touji by the sleeve and yell the question in his face.

A sense of exhaustion welled up inside Kushida Kikyou. Was this person really clueless about what she was asking, or was he playing dumb? That was the only reason he could be so impervious to reason.

Wait! Playing dumb...

Kushida Kikyou's battered brain finally began to work again. Scenes of all the times she'd been thrown off balance played through her mind like a reel.

No matter how you looked at it, it was all too convenient. He could have explained everything at once, but instead he'd dragged it out, each time hitting her right where it hurt...

If she remembered right, she'd first met him at Keyaki Mall, shopping with an upperclassman...

The oddball from Class A. If his personality really was that strange—or if he really were so clueless that he couldn't understand what she was implying—how could he have gone shopping with an upperclassman within a week?

Was it all because of his face? That was ridiculous. When she'd first met him, his personality and the way he spoke had seemed perfectly normal.

A suspicion surfaced in Kushida Kikyou's mind.

Could this guy... be a substitute like her?

A flicker of uncertainty flashed in Kushida Kikyou's eyes.

"Is something wrong? Are you feeling unwell? Is there anything I can do?" Mikage Touji asked gently, his voice full of concern. "If you don't feel well, you should go to the infirmary as soon as possible."

"No, it's nothing. I just suddenly thought of some things Horikita does in class."

That strong sense of déjà vu... Wasn't this one of her usual tricks?

Ugh... It was kind of gross. Was this what she usually looked like to people who knew the truth?

More and more certain of her guess, Kushida Kikyou lowered her head and used her spoon to put the ice cubes at the bottom of her cup into her mouth. The coldness cleared her mind a little. Peering through her bangs, she secretly watched the person across from her.

Mikage Touji slurped his coffee and asked casually, "Kushida, are there any other friendly students in Class D besides you?" As he spoke, a troubled look appeared on his face. "The students in Class A all say I'm weird, so none of them want to hang out with me."

Crack—!

The ice cube in Kushida Kikyou's mouth shattered with a crunch. She came to an immediate conclusion: If this is an act, I'll cut off my head and let you use it as a bowl!

Tsk...

Kushida Kikyou clicked her tongue inwardly.

She'd let her guard down. She hadn't expected there to be another student in this year who was like her, pretending to be a harmless-looking model student in Class A.

While she'd been out there striking one target after another and racking up victories, he'd appeared before her as prey and played her for a fool! As expected, the best hunters took the form of their prey.

After seeing Mikage Touji for who he really was and rethinking their earlier conversation, Kushida Kikyou's expression changed.

If that was really the case, then her persona might already have all but fallen apart in front of him.

Damn it!

She had to put the matter of Horikita Suzune aside for now. Her most urgent priority was to confirm whether he'd discovered who she really was.

After gathering her thoughts, Kushida Kikyou began to test him.

"Um, Mikage, I've thought it over, and Horikita's just like that. You can't force things between friends."

Mikage Touji seemed relieved. "I'm glad you can see it that way."

"Yeah!" Kushida Kikyou nodded firmly. "But I'll keep trying. I'll definitely get Horikita to add me as a friend."

"I believe you can do it," Mikage Touji encouraged her passionately, his voice full of conviction. "Other people might think your goal is unrealistic, or even meaningless, but that doesn't matter. Life isn't defined by others. The bonds between people are like seeds buried deep underground. Everything you do will become nourishment for your friendship, and one day, it will sprout."

Kushida Kikyou's eyes grew misty. She reached out and took Mikage Touji's hands. "Mikage..."

Mikage Touji clasped Kikyou's little hands in return and answered with deep feeling, "Kushida..."

In a corner on the right side of Patere Cafe, two master actors held each other's hands and began putting on a performance.

From time to time, their eyes met, their gazes intertwining, as if they'd both entered each other's hearts and understood exactly what the other was thinking.

In reality, each of them was thinking...

Kushida Kikyou: Damn him, feeling me up like that! That smooth back-and-forth in the conversation was like the kind of seamless transition you'd get from a passive ability you'd forgotten to turn off. You're definitely a substitute like me. And even I can tell our synchronization is way too high. I refuse to believe you haven't noticed. You've figured out who I really am!

Mikage Touji: Wow, so soft~ Cha Cha, I was wrong about you. Not only do you give me some nice eye candy, you even throw in a little sweetness now and then. Can't hold back anymore, huh? This is the genuine Archangel Aura I copied from Ichinose. You'd better get out of here while you still can, or I'll take you down, you knockoff.

After a while, the two of them let go at the same time, having achieved their respective goals. They chatted for a bit longer, each smiling and hiding their own agenda, before smilingly saying goodbye.

At the cafe's checkout counter, Mikage Touji was the first to take out his phone, eager to pay for their drinks.

"I'll pay. We've still got plenty of points in Class A."

Kushida Kikyou refused to back down. She took her phone out of her bag and said reproachfully, "How could I let you pay? I'm the one who asked you for help, so of course I should pay."

"But I didn't manage to help you, did I?" Mikage Touji said with a guilty look. "So let me pay."

"No, no, that won't do. I've thought about it a little, and I think what you said just now was right." Kushida Kikyou smiled brightly. "So that's not true, Mikage. You did help me."

"Let me pay!"

"I will!"

"I will!"

A man and a woman fought over the right to pay, like middle-aged women shoving red envelopes at each other during New Year's visits.

In the end, unable to agree, they settled the dispute by splitting the bill.

Outside the cafe, on the school path.

"Well, I'll be going now, Kushida. If you ever need my help with anything, just contact me." Mikage Touji waved to Kushida Kikyou with a gentle smile.

"Mm." Kushida Kikyou nodded firmly, wearing her trademark sweet smile. "If there's anything I can help you with, don't hesitate to ask. Just let me know."

Pure smiles appeared on both their faces, making passing students sigh at the beauty of friendship.

After a few intermittent goodbyes, the two turned and walked in opposite directions. Their smiles vanished at once, and they cursed under their breath.

Fake!

After walking a little way, they both turned into the nearest secluded corner, braced themselves against the wall, and bent over at the same time.

"Ugh—!"

Mikage Touji wiped the sweat from his forehead, his face turning green as if he'd swallowed a dead cockroach.

How did Cha Cha manage to smile at people she wasn't interested in every day without making herself sick?

Thankfully, he'd only had to put on that act once.

He'd finally gotten away from Cha Cha. The process had been hard to describe, but at least the result was good.

If he hadn't had a sudden idea at the time and remembered that greasy act from the blond student, then copied Ichinose's angelic aura, he might still be stuck in the cafe with Cha Cha holding him hostage.

Elsewhere.

Kushida Kikyou took out a tissue and wiped the corner of her mouth, then slammed a fist into the wall beside her, gnashing her teeth.

Damn it! Not only had she failed to get her hands on a way to get close to Horikita Suzune, but someone might have found out who she really was.