Cheap Love

The second round of the swimming competition began. Qiuyue used only half his strength and still took third place.

...That was about right. Not bad. After all, relying only on physical fitness, I only knew the bare basics of swimming.

After the competition, Qiuyue found an empty spot, sat down, and waited for class to end.

But things never went as Qiuyue wished. Someone else came over—Kanji Ike and Yamauchi.

...Why...? I barely even know these two.

"Hey, Qiuyue, why are you sitting here alone? Aren't you going to watch the competition?"

"No, I'm not really interested."

"...Ike, why are we coming over here? There are plenty of empty spots over there."

"But... Qiuyue's sitting here alone, and we'd be sitting somewhere anyway. What's the difference, Yamauchi?"

"Fine, we'll sit here, then. Hm? This is a pretty good vantage point. Did you pick it on purpose? Impressive, Qiuyue."

Yamauchi casually sat down beside him. Watching the girls cheering for Hirata not far away, he exclaimed in admiration.

"Really? Yamauchi, move over."

...Thanks for explaining, but I'd appreciate it if you asked before sitting next to me.

"Ugh..."

Qiuyue sighed from the bottom of his heart.

"Kushida's cute no matter how many times you see her... I really like her so much."

"No, I like Kushida more. She's super sweet, you know? Ike, did you know that when I tripped before, Kushida asked me if I was okay? She really is an angel!"

"Kushida... She really is the best! All right! I've decided! I'm going to date her! I'm going to confess!"

"Ike... Are you serious? No, you're definitely going to get rejected. There's no way you're good enough for Kushida. You're not even as good as me."

Yamauchi thought it over seriously.

"No, Ike! Go confess to her! Once Kushida rejects you, I can confess afterward, and my chances will be way higher! Go on, Ike! Do it for me!"

Qiuyue: (...What is wrong with your thought process? Why do you think you have a chance? You're hilarious.)

"No, no, why are we assuming I'll get rejected? What's wrong with me?"

Ike seemed indignant. He waved his arms around as he defended himself.

"Just think about it. For starters, you're not good-looking, Ike."

"Like you're any better! Even if Kushida rejects me, why would you succeed, Yamauchi?"

Thank goodness. I was at least a little handsome in this life.

"You don't get it. If Kushida's caught off guard by a sudden confession and rejects you, then I'll suddenly appear, and she'll settle for me instead."

"...You... What kind of twisted logic is that?"

"You don't get it, do you? What matters is what's on the inside. There aren't many interesting guys like me."

Yamauchi confidently struck a pose.

"Ahahahaha! Hahahahaha!"

Ike and Yamauchi both looked over at Qiuyue, who'd suddenly burst out laughing. Qiuyue came to his senses.

"Sorry, sorry, haha... Go on, go on. I'll stop laughing... Pfft... Sorry..."

Qiuyue apologized so quickly that neither of them could really say anything.

Ike continued talking to Yamauchi.

"Yamauchi... Are you really that confident about your personality? I think... your personality..."

"Don't worry. Kushida definitely isn't the kind of girl who only cares about handsome guys. She'll notice my good points for sure."

No... If she were here, I bet she'd be throwing up last night's dinner.

"...You've got a point. Kushida definitely isn't shallow like those other girls who all flock around Hirata just because he's handsome."

"That's hilarious."

Oh, shit... I'd accidentally said that out loud. I was done for.

Qiuyue's remark had struck a nerve with Ike and Yamauchi.

"Qiuyue..."

"What did you say? What's so funny? What do you know? Don't think that just because you look decent, girls are going to like you. Only shallow girls care about that."

Yamauchi was even more worked up than Ike.

...I can't take this. I wasn't much to look at in my past life, either, but I've never met anyone who looks as bad as him and thinks so highly of himself. I need to teach him how to act like a decent person.

"Girls' opinions of guys keep getting worse because of people like you. You should be thinking about how to improve yourself instead of sitting here daydreaming.

"And you're the one who doesn't value a girl's inner qualities if you assume girls don't care about a guy's personality.

"Besides, do people like you really think you can beat a handsome guy just by relying on your personality? Are you that confident in what's on the inside?

"Then people get to know you and realize, 'What? There's nothing special about him.'

"Or maybe you're not even as good as the handsome guy. Wouldn't that make you worthless?

"Come to think of it, aren't you just using 'looks' as an excuse to avoid reality?

"Kushida's pretty, right? Cute, right? She has a great figure, too.

"That's why you like her, want to date her, and want to do all sorts of things with her.

"But what do you know about Kushida? What does she like? What does she hate? What's she usually like? What is she like the rest of the time?

"You know nothing. It's only been five days since school started, and you've known Kushida for only five days. Just five days.

"What can you learn in five days? People live for seventy, eighty, even ninety years. Five days aren't even a thousandth of a lifetime.

"Are you really confident enough to say you understand Kushida?

"When you get right down to it, how are you any different from people who only care about looks? Have you ever really valued what's on the inside?

"I know what you're thinking. You'll say it was love at first sight, right? What if Kushida weren't so pretty? What if she didn't have such a great figure?

"Would you still call it love at first sight then?

"Your so-called love at first sight is nothing but lust at first sight. You're just using a fancy phrase to hide your desires.

"If that's really what you call love, then all I can say is that your love is cheap."

Qiuyue's words rang in their ears, leaving Ike and Yamauchi unable to respond for a moment.

But it wasn't because he'd hit the mark. Yamauchi was the kind of person who wouldn't listen to reason. The reason he didn't argue was...

A round of applause rang out from above. Qiuyue looked up.

"Well said. You're quite the smooth talker, Qiuyue. I'm almost falling for you."

Hasebe was up in the stands, applauding as she spoke.

"...Huh...?"

Seeing Qiuyue's confusion, Hasebe explained.

"Did you forget? Sakura's here, too. Sakura and I got our periods, so we didn't have swimming class."

"..."

Qiuyue lowered his head, embarrassed, and avoided Hasebe's gaze.

...This is so humiliating... I never thought I'd be publicly put on the spot like this...

"Don't be embarrassed, Qiuyue. Since I really liked what you just said, I'll specially forgive you for making a bet about my huge boobs~."

"...How did you know?"

"Look at those two blabbermouths beside you. What could they possibly keep secret?"

"..."

The pool arc ends here.

Next chapter, back to the main story.