flstandardbreds Ch. 117.1 - Sae, the “Best Bro,” Strikes from the Shadows Pt1
Ch. 117.1 - Sae, the “Best Bro,” Strikes from the Shadows Pt1
The slightly tipsy warmth of early summer drifted into the classroom on a gentle breeze.It slipped through the wide-open windows, brushing past desks and flipping through the pages of textbooks and exam papers spread across them.
Flap, flap.
The crisp rustling of paper blended into the lively chatter of the break between classes. Books closed by the wind seemed to be telling the students to enjoy this short moment of rest—stop worrying about homework and studying for a while.
However…
Smack.
A small stack of worksheets suddenly landed on Harutaki’s desk, snapping him out of the comfortable haze of campus life.
“Hey there, student. You look pretty free right now.”
“I’m contemplating the meaning of life,” Harutaki replied lazily. “So I wouldn’t exactly call myself free.”
He looked up to see Ren, wearing his usual bright smile while studying him curiously.
“So… did you reach any conclusions?”
“The past is already gone. What matters is focusing on tomorrow.”
“Unfortunately,” Ren said, still smiling, “unfinished worksheets are still unfinished. People have to make up for their past mistakes or oversights.”
“…Could you say that more clearly?”
Harutaki pushed the stack away with visible annoyance.
“Make-up homework.”
Damn it…
He’d barely enjoyed a single break since returning to school.
“…Does Shihou-san also have to do it?” he asked hopefully.
If she had to make up work too, doing it together might be more efficient—
—or they might both end up not doing anything at all.
“Shihou-san was absent for special circumstances. Considering various factors and her usual grades, the teachers decided she doesn’t need to make up the assignments.”
That made sense, Harutaki thought.
Homework was useful for average students as practice and review, but for top students it could just waste time unless it was specifically tailored to their level.
But hearing that…
He suddenly felt a bad premonition.
“Ren… these worksheets wouldn’t happen to all be—?”
“Yep. Classical literature.”
Ren clearly knew something, and his polite smile almost broke.
“Ahhh… that bastard teacher. This is pure jealousy—abuse of power!”
“I don’t know about jealousy,” Ren said, “but Asama-sensei did say that if your next literature exam score improves, you won’t have to make up the homework.”
“…You could’ve mentioned that earlier!”
Harutaki shoved the stack of papers straight into his desk drawer. Out of sight, out of mind. His mood immediately improved.
The youth and school life he wanted to enjoy definitely did not include homework or exam prep.
“Everyone else is chatting happily while you sit here all quiet,” Ren said. “Anyone would worry.”
He really was considerate.
Harutaki had been thinking about how to deal with the situation between Nogami and Chouko, so he wasn’t in the mood for casual conversation.
Seeing his silence, Ren seemed to misunderstand and joked:
“Hey, we’re sixteen or seventeen-year-old high school guys. Don’t act like Asama-sensei—the gloomy single office worker type. Girls will hate that.”
That guy gets hated because he wants to date high school girls!
“No problem. Even if girls hate me, I still have you, Ren~”
“Please don’t. That’s disgusting.”
Ren twitched his lips in exasperation.
Then he held out his fist with a smile and gave a small whistle.
“It’s only been three days, but… welcome back.”
Even though only three and a half days had passed, Harutaki felt like he had lived through an entire week of long, wonderful experiences.
Maybe that was youth, he thought.
Sometimes it slipped by unnoticed. Sometimes it felt incredibly full. And when you recalled those memories later, you couldn’t help smiling.
He stood up and bumped fists with Ren.
“Alright. To celebrate, I’m adding an extra pork cutlet to lunch today~”
“Save me a piece.”
“I brought souvenirs from Kyoto.”
“Then you can have all my pickled vegetables.”
“Don’t you usually dump those on Haruto instead?”
“That’s true, but… please don’t talk about him like he’s a dog that eats leftovers. That’s too pitiful.”
“…Pitiful for the dog, or pitiful for Haruto?”
They stared at each other for a moment—then burst out laughing.
…
After Ren returned to his seat, Tazaki quickly came over.
Compared to how he looked a month and a half ago, Tazaki had cut his hair and stuck to his exercise plan. He looked much fresher now.
Harutaki hadn’t really noticed the change before leaving Tokyo, but after only three days apart, the difference was striking.
He still carried a bit of that awkward introvert vibe, but the greasy creepiness from before was gone.
“Great Harutaki-sama! You’ve finally returned! Your radiance once again shines upon Class 2-3!”
“…What’s with this cultist worshipping an evil god vibe? You can drop the honorifics.”
Watching Tazaki bow dramatically, Harutaki thought the guy had indeed learned a little about communication.
Still, only acting normal around him wasn’t enough. True progress would come when Tazaki could talk to anyone without shrinking away.
“Um… Harutaki-sama. Were you with Shihou-san during the three days you missed school?”
“Huh? Even you know about that?”
Tazaki seemed to notice his confusion. He pulled out his phone, opened the browser, and showed him a bookmarked thread on the school’s anonymous forum.
[Scumbag Hoshikawa supposedly knocked up a class beauty!]
Yesterday was Chouko's safe day… right?
…Right?
Strangely, Harutaki found himself more worried about whether the rumor could become reality.
[Scumbag Hoshikawa absent for three days—stabbed after his cheating got exposed!]
Did Nogami post this!?
He shuddered.
[Photos of the archery club beauty during practice leaked!]
“…Hmm?”
When he saw that thread at the bottom of the bookmark page, Harutaki paused—then turned slowly to Tazaki.
“Tazaki?”
“P-please understand… you told me to appreciate the beauty of real girls…”
“I don’t remember telling you to look at stuff like this.”
He tapped the screen and opened the thread.
“And… This is clearly secretly taking photos, isn’t it?”
The post used the word “leaked,” but the photos were clearly taken from questionable angles.
They were just normal shots of someone drawing a bowstring—images that could’ve been used for archery club promotion.
But the way they were taken was clearly not legitimate.
Secretly taking photos was still secretly taking photos.
And uploading them to the school’s anonymous forum without permission was pretty awful.
Still…
Harutaki thought about it.
Physically, he didn’t need to join a club for equipment or training.
But mentally? He did want some activity to sharpen his mind.
Archery actually sounded pretty nice.
Beautiful girls to admire, and the discipline might help keep his thoughts from constantly drifting toward doing certain things with Chouko.
“Well, I think you’re right,” Tazaki admitted.
“But…”
He scrolled down.
“Everyone in the comments seems pretty happy about it. They’re asking the uploader for more.”
This forum really was a trash can.
With that thought, Harutaki pulled out his phone, logged into the forum, found the thread, and took a screenshot.
Then he sent it to Asama-sensei.
He remembered the teacher had a moderator account—should be easy to delete the post.
Watching him, Tazaki sighed with admiration.
“That’s so like you, Harutaki-sama.”
Tazaki was probably remembering how Harutaki helped him during the bullying incident last month.
“My moral standards are pretty high.”
And flexible, he added silently.
Tazaki nodded vigorously.
“Exactly! There’s no way Harutaki-sama is some cheating scumbag building a harem.”
“Haha… yeah… no way…”
“…You don’t sound very confident.”
“Oh right. I almost forgot—I brought you a souvenir from Kyoto too.”
Harutaki smoothly changed the subject and pulled a deep-blue omamori charm from his bag. The word “Health” was printed on it.
He handed it to Tazaki, whose face immediately lit up with gratitude.
“It should work for about a year.”
But after accepting the gift, Tazaki suddenly looked suspicious.
He leaned closer and whispered:
“You’re changing the subject, aren’t you?”
If you noticed, don’t say it!
“I think you need to retake Ren’s communication lessons.”
“Don’t worry, Harutaki-sama! You saved me before—so I, Tazaki Takibee, will support your dream of building a harem!”
“…Seriously?”
Harutaki stared at him in disbelief.
“Of course not. Did you really think someone could build a harem in real life?”
Tazaki could make jokes now?!
Harutaki was more surprised by that progress than the comment itself.
So Tazaki had been moving forward too.
“In many famous light novels,” Tazaki continued seriously, “even if several popular girls appear, modern urban stories usually end with one winner and a bunch of losing heroines.”
Already losing and still called “loser heroines”… that sounded cruel.
“So…?”
“So even light novels can’t pull it off. There’s no way you could either, Harutaki-sama.”
Tazaki clearly didn’t believe in Harutaki’s “harem ambition.”
“But novels exist to fulfill people’s fantasies, right?” Harutaki asked. “Isn’t there… you know… a modern harem type?”
“So your interests have moved from little sisters to harems now.”
“I was just asking…”
“I get it. ‘A friend asked,’ right?”
Tazaki pushed up his silver half-rim glasses, speaking excitedly.
“If we’re talking about modern harem fantasies, there’s actually a super popular light novel right now called—”
“After Reincarnating and Getting a System, I Enjoy Campus Life While Surrounded by Beautiful Girls and Reach the Peak of Life.”
“…Just hearing that title makes me not want to open the book.”
“Well, that’s fair,” Tazaki admitted.
“But the illustrations inside are super sexy and really good!”
“…Yeah. That sounds about right.”
……
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