Ugh! What a Jerk

At last, Nebula Kotetsu's eyes lit up.

He spotted a green figure in the corner, focused entirely on doing dumbbell curls.

So, having found his target, he reached out and shoved the pretty face blocking the doorway aside.

Muto Ayaka: !!?

Onlookers: "(ｷ｀ﾟДﾟ´(ｷ｀ﾟДﾟ´(ｷ｀ﾟДﾟ´)!!!"

Quite a few boys' hearts clenched. Seeing their goddess treated so roughly, they wished they could rush over and comfort her. If they hadn't been at school, some of them might already have taken action in the name of "justice."

The girls' eyes widened, their faces alight with the excitement of witnessing some juicy gossip. A few even looked envious.

Why couldn't that have been me?

What would Muto Ayaka do? Blow up? Or fly into a rage?

Neither.

Muto Ayaka stood there, stunned, silently staring into space.

At that moment, she finally understood.

It turned out she didn't mean much to Nebula Kotetsu at all.

The treatment she'd enjoyed as his girlfriend had disappeared the moment they broke up.

Ugh! What a jerk!

While everyone was lost in their own thoughts, Nebula Kotetsu had already reached Might Guy.

Wearing a green bodysuit, legs spread apart and one hand braced on his knee, Might Guy was doing dumbbell curls with complete focus. No matter how noisy things got around him, he paid no attention.

That was, until a pair of feet entered his field of view.

Only then did Might Guy look up, without stopping his exercise.

The moment Nebula Kotetsu's face came into view, Might Guy's eyes widened and his pupils shrank to pinpricks—all in 0.05 seconds!

Then, utterly startled, he sprang off the bench, letting out a shrill, bizarre cry.

"G-Ghost!!~"

Nebula Kotetsu's face went dark.

He stepped back to avoid the falling dumbbell. Watching Might Guy leap three feet into the air, he finally understood why the other boy had run off that morning without so much as saying hello.

Still, he couldn't make sense of it.

"You're the ghost!"

He'd been mistaken for a Sprite plenty of times, but this was the first time anyone had called him a ghost.

At the sound of his voice, Might Guy jolted again where he'd landed on the bench. Then he came to his senses. He looked at Nebula Kotetsu, who'd just spoken, then at the astonished faces of their classmates. It took him a long moment to grasp the truth.

"Y-You're a person?"

Nebula Kotetsu: "...Of course I am."

"And how do I look like a ghost?"

Might Guy let out a huge sigh of relief. He wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, then said,

"If you're not a ghost, why were you out so early?"

"Your face is so pale. No wonder I thought you were a ghost."

Nebula Kotetsu's eye twitched. "That's just my naturally pale complexion!"

"Ever heard of fair skin?"

Might Guy shook his head matter-of-factly. "Nope."

Nebula Kotetsu was at a loss for words.

"Fine, forget it. I went out early this morning to... to exercise."

Might Guy: "(￢_￢)"

Nebula Kotetsu: "What's with that look?"

Might Guy: "I'm skeptical."

"I have a feeling you weren't out exercising." Stretching his arms and legs, the old man in the village square would've put in more effort than you.

He said with conviction, "Besides, there's no spark of youth in you."

Nebula Kotetsu: "..."

He never would've guessed that Might Guy wouldn't be so easy to fool.

Looking into Might Guy's clear, wise eyes, he furrowed his brow and suddenly realized something.

"You... don't know who I am?"

Might Guy: "Am I supposed to?"

Nebula Kotetsu was speechless.

As the Ninja Academy's most notorious dead-last, with girlfriends and ex-girlfriends in every year, he was practically public enemy number one among the boys. How could there be anyone at school who didn't know him?

A moment later, looking at Might Guy's still-clear eyes, Nebula Kotetsu accepted the truth with a sigh.

Fine. Someone really didn't know him.

All his classmates knew him because the girls lusted after him, and the boys hated and envied him. But none of that seemed to have anything to do with Might Guy.

Might Guy's world seemed entirely cut off from things like "good looks" and "relationships between boys and girls."

Besides, Nebula Kotetsu remembered that Might Guy was a bit face-blind.

Seeing him like this, Might Guy grew puzzled instead. He crossed one arm over his chest, cupped his chin with the other hand, and searched through his memory.

After a thorough search, he concluded: he didn't know him.

"Have we met somewhere before?"

"Are you..."

Nebula Kotetsu gave up on getting him to recognize him.

"I'm Nebula Kotetsu."

Might Guy's face lit up with realization. "Oh~"

"So you're Nebula Kotetsu."

Only then did Nebula Kotetsu think that made sense. "You've heard of me?"

"Yeah, that's right." Might Guy nodded. "At school, I keep hearing people say things like 'Let's gang up on Nebula Kotetsu,' 'Let's take Nebula Kotetsu out together,' and 'Kill Nebula Kotetsu.' I thought I was hearing things. So you're Nebula Kotetsu."

Nebula Kotetsu gave a dry laugh. "That's right. It's me."

Might Guy: "By the way, what did you come looking for me for?"

"Is it because I didn't recognize you this morning?"

Nebula Kotetsu shook his head. "Not really."

For a moment, he wished he actually knew some Youth Quotes. If he'd learned the thousand most popular Youth Quotes in advance, maybe making friends with Might Guy wouldn't have been such a hassle.

He thought it over, then suddenly had an idea. Glancing at the crowd of onlookers, he leaned close and whispered into Might Guy's ear.

Might Guy looked puzzled at first, then his eyes lit up.

"You want to challenge me!?"

His delighted voice rang out through the classroom.

Only a second later did Might Guy realize that Nebula Kotetsu had whispered, so he probably shouldn't have shouted.

He was just about to apologize when Nebula Kotetsu waved a hand, looking exhausted.

"Forget it."

"No need to say anything else."

"After school, I'll meet you at the same place as this morning."

Might Guy nodded, then stuck out his thumb and flashed his White Fang.

"Don't worry! I'll be right on time!"

Nebula Kotetsu left before the bell rang.

After he was gone, Might Guy eagerly imagined the showdown after school, not noticing as the room grew darker and darker.

When he finally realized what was happening, he found himself surrounded by girls.

"Wh-What are you going to do?" Never before had so many eyes stared at him at once, and Might Guy felt a little nervous.

"Tell us!" asked a girl whose looks were decent enough. "Where's this 'same place'?"

"Yeah! Hurry up and tell us!"

"Tell us!"

A cute girl leaned toward Might Guy and gave him a sweet, tender smile she'd never shown him before. "Please, won't you tell us?"

Might Guy: "(*°▽°*)"

While he stood there at a loss, a two-hundred-pound girl slammed her palm down on Might Guy's desk.

"Don't you dare go after my Nebula!"

"And tell me where the place is in secret. I'll go fight him for you."

Might Guy trembled with fear.