Weren’t You Only Using Me As A Stand-in? [20]

At exactly six a.m. the next morning, Kitahara Takeru woke up.

As soon as he opened his eyes, he realized his mind was disturbingly clear.

Not like some cartoonish transformation where a knock to the head turns you into a math genius who sees everything in geometric formulas — but he could definitely feel something had changed.

It was like a mental switch had flipped. All the math problems that used to make no sense now came effortlessly to him.

So this is what 8 Intelligence feels like? Terrifying.

Takeru felt like getting into the University of Tokyo was now a sure thing. Hell, he was even starting to seriously consider Stanford, Harvard, Cambridge.

Let’s start small. Goal: first place on the next nationwide exam.

That was the bar he set for himself.

Last time, he placed third.

The only two ahead of him had been Shijō Tei and Shirogane Miyuki.

Coming from a background of small-town grind culture, Takeru cared a lot about test scores.

This time, he intended to beat them both.

After a quick wash-up, Takeru took Tiny out for a walk.

Another clear day.

He arrived at the pavilion where he’d arranged to meet Nakano Yotsuba.

When he got there, she hadn’t arrived yet.

Takeru sat down on a bench and started eating breakfast, feeding bits to Tiny in between bites.

She didn’t keep him waiting long — maybe five minutes — before she came jogging over.

“Sorry I’m late!”

Panting, Yotsuba bent at the waist in front of him, hands on her knees, catching her breath.

“No worries. Yotsuba, did you eat yet?”

Yotsuba answered honestly. “Not yet.”

Usually, it was Nakano Nino who handled breakfast.

But Nino loved to sleep in.

Unless there was a promise made the night before, she’d sleep straight through to noon.

Which meant breakfast in the Nakano household usually didn’t exist.

They just grabbed some bread and went on their way.

“If you don’t mind, have mine. I made too much.”

Takeru had been waiting for her to say that.

He handed over the breakfast bag he’d prepped ahead of time.

Yotsuba immediately shook her head, waving her hands. “It’s okay! I’m not really hungry.”

Gurgle—

Right on cue, her stomach betrayed her.

“Uhh…”

Yotsuba looked embarrassed.

She hadn’t expected her belly to sell her out like that.

She was usually fine skipping breakfast!

“Go ahead and eat. I’m having mine too.”

Yotsuba was never good at turning people down.

With no way to refuse, she mumbled a “thank you!” and took the bag.

When she touched it, she noticed the breakfast was still warm.

She sat beside Takeru and opened it.

At first glance, it looked like a funny-shaped rice ball — round and kind of flat. She figured he just didn’t know how to shape them properly.

But when she took a bite, she froze.

There was… fried dough inside?

And not just that — was that pork floss? Ham? Pickled mustard greens?

Her brain was processing, but her mouth was already chewing automatically.

Then — a full-body shiver ran down her spine, and the bunny-ear bow on her head practically sprang upright.

Eyes shining, she gasped, “This is delicious, Kitahara-kun! What is this?!”

The soft rice wrapped around hot, crispy fried dough — chewy yet tender, warm and flavorful — the taste was divine.

Better than any rice ball she’d ever had.

Takeru grinned. “Told you.”

“Mmm!” Yotsuba nodded furiously.

“It’s called cífànbāo — or steamed rice roll. It’s a street food from Jiangnan in China. Super tasty.”

Takeru loved this stuff.

Cífànbāo and grain pancakes were his never-get-tired-of-it duo.

“Try this too.”

He poured warm soy milk into the lid of his thermos and handed it over.

Yotsuba didn’t hesitate this time.

With one hand holding the rice roll and the other cradling the steaming soy milk, she gently blew across the surface. The steam drifted up into the cool morning air.

A couple of sips later, her body was warm, the drowsiness of early morning melted away.

“This is really good.”

Her eyes sparkled.

And her pretty little lips now had an extra shine to them.

The morning breeze drifted through the trees, carrying the fresh scent of new leaves. Birds chirped intermittently in no particular rhythm — an awkward but charming melody.

On the bench, Takeru and Yotsuba looked like an old married couple enjoying breakfast together.

Tiny, crouched by their feet, looked like he was on the verge of tears.

You guys are both eating?!

I haven’t even had breakfast yet!

“So full, so full…”

Yotsuba patted her belly in satisfaction.

It had been ages since she’d eaten something that made her this happy.

“Let’s jog slowly today,” Takeru suggested.

“Okay.”

Yotsuba dutifully cleaned up the trash, and the two of them started jogging around the manmade lake just like usual.

Unnoticed, the sun had risen steadily over the horizon.

Fresh oak leaves danced in the wind.

At 7:00, they waved goodbye and each went home.

...

After a quick shower, Takeru left the house and took the train to school.

On the train, he ran into Komi Shouko and Katsura Kotonoha again.

This time, though, he was far from them and surrounded entirely by men — safe and sound, with no risk of being accused of harassment.

One hand on the overhead strap, Takeru pulled out his phone and typed in his alias: [Watanabe Takeru].

The results loaded instantly:

[Lonely? Home alone with no one to talk to? Perfect substitute boyfriend Watanabe Takeru — 24/7 companionship.]

Takeru’s hand holding the phone trembled slightly.

System. You there? Care to explain this?

Last night, before Shijō Maki left, he’d finally figured out where she’d placed her “order.”

The damn system had secretly launched a whole side app — and was aggressively advertising it through spam texts.

Shijō Maki had probably clicked on it in a half-asleep daze and submitted a request.

Understandable.

Daytime brain and nighttime brain are two different people.

Morning: Hehe~

Afternoon: Hehe~

Midnight: How long must I wait to be in your heart…

Also, why does this website look like a shady adult site?!

The system’s flat voice rang out:

[Support feature.]

Your support feature is sending sleazy midnight texts to innocent girls?!

Takeru actually laughed out loud.

Only a total ditz like Shijō Maki would fall for that. No normal person would ever—

He stopped mid-thought.

[Date Target: Katsura Kotonoha]
[Activity Summary: Why did it turn out like this…? I fell in love for the first time. I made a lifelong friend for the first time. Two wonderful things happened at once. I should’ve been happy — it should’ve been perfect. So why… why did it become like this?]
[Activity Time: Arrive before 4:00 p.m., May 10]
[Location: Rokuten Shopping Mall (Tap to navigate)]
[Crush: Itou Makoto (Tap to view profile)]
[Reward: 5,000 points]
[Accept mission?]

Takeru looked over at Katsura Kotonoha, who stood quietly and gracefully not far away.

Then he looked back at the system pop-up.

And fell silent.

Another little dumbass just placed an order.

---

T/N: ohoho i wonder if utaha will find out teehe ALSO DID HE NOT RESPOND TO UTAHA? LMAOO

this was the food they were eatingbtw

This is a fan translation of 不是说只拿我当替身的吗？by 雪碧加冰. All rights to the original work belong to the creator. Please support them by exploring their original work or sharing it with others if you can. Thank you for reading and supporting my efforts to bring this story to a wider audience!