“Huh?”

“What the heck is your problem all of a sudden?”

“Hey.”

“Could you stop using Riko as an excuse to get close to Yoshida-kun just because you like him?”

“W-What…?”

The moment Yua pointed that out, the girl leading the group turned bright red and stumbled over her words.

It seemed Yua had hit the mark.

“Ooh, Yoshida, so it’s you!”

“Haha, nice one!”

The boys immediately realized the attention had shifted away from Riko.

Without missing the opportunity, they started teasing the boy named Yoshida instead.

“Knock it off already,” Yoshida protested with genuine annoyance.

But the more he reacted, the more amused the other boys became.

“I don’t even like an ugly girl like her anyway!!”

At last, Yoshida finally snapped.

The moment he shouted those words, the expression on the lead girl’s face darkened.

“Huh?”

“That’s a pretty awful thing to say.”

“More importantly, Narumi…”

“Who do you think you are?”

Seeing the situation turn against their leader, the other girls immediately directed their anger toward Yua.

Yua, however, merely looked at them as though they were something utterly pathetic.

“You girls are really defending someone like her?”

“Even though she talks behind both your backs whenever one of you isn’t around.”

“Huh?”

“T-That’s…”

“She doesn’t.”

“Wait.”

“You hesitated just now.”

“Are you seriously saying you two badmouth me whenever I’m not around?”

“I’ve never done that.”

“If anything, what about you?”

“I-I never did either.”

“She’s the one who says those things on her own…”

One of the girls turned to look at their leader.

“Come on.”

“Don’t believe anything Narumi says.”

“You know she’s lying, right?”

Even as she said that…

Everyone knew this girl constantly talked behind other people’s backs.

Including the girls standing beside her.

“You’re the worst.”

“Don’t talk to me anymore.”

“So you were only doing all this to get a guy’s attention?”

One by one, the girls began distancing themselves from their leader.

Based on how she’d always behaved, they were convinced she’d been gossiping about them too.

Now abandoned by her followers and mocked by the boys she’d relied on…

The leader found herself completely alone.

“You guys are seriously the worst!”

Shouting that, she stormed out of the classroom.

Silence settled over the room.

A moment later, the warning bell rang.

“Yua.”

“Shouldn’t we head back to our classroom?”

“Yeah.”

“See you later, Riko.”

“Yeah.”

It was easy to forget because he’d faded into the background…

…but Otaku-kun had been standing beside Yua the whole time.

Although all he’d really done was nervously watch everything unfold.

“Narumi-san…”

“Was that really enough?”

“Yep.”

“It was a complete success.”

Yua nodded with a satisfied smile.

“The boys used to make fun of Riko.”

“But once she suddenly became cute, it got a lot harder for them to do that.”

“Is that really how it works?”

“It sure does.”

Yua was exactly right.

The boys had gone quiet because Riko’s makeover made it difficult for them to keep mocking her.

After all…

It was Otaku-kun who had done her makeup.

Since a guy had unintentionally created makeup that appealed to other guys, it was only natural that it worked even better than if another girl had done it.

“Whenever Riko tried talking back before…”

“The boys would jump in and make fun of her too.”

“Yeah.”

“They all joined in yesterday.”

“So as long as we could get the boys to stop, even just a little…”

“We’d only have those girls left to deal with.”

“Those girls” referred to the group led by the class’s self-appointed queen bee.

“But…”

“How did you know she liked Yoshida-kun?”

“Oh…”

“Let’s just call it a girl’s intuition.”

Yua grinned mischievously.

The truth, however, was a little different.

Because she talked to practically everyone, Yua had friends all over the school.

One of them had attended the same middle school as that girl.

It was from her that Yua had learned everything.

Apparently, she’d pulled the exact same stunt back then to get boys’ attention.

“But…”

“Won’t this just make the bullying worse?”

“I don’t think so.”

“Her friends already abandoned her.”

“I doubt she can do much by herself.”

Even as she said that, Yua still looked a little uneasy.

Throughout the day, she and Otaku-kun repeatedly peeked into Riko’s classroom during every break.

Fortunately…

Yua’s worries proved unnecessary.

No one bothered Riko for the rest of the day.

After classes ended, Otaku-kun decided to skip club activities and head straight home.

He’d gone to Yua’s house early that morning, and the lack of sleep was finally catching up to him.

Leaving the classroom, he changed into his outdoor shoes and walked through the school gate.

After a short distance…

He spotted a familiar face.

It was Riko.

Normally, since they already knew each other, he could have simply greeted her.

But Otaku-kun still wasn’t used to talking to girls.

‘If I just walk over and talk to her…’

‘She might not like that.’

Even now, his opinion of himself remained painfully low.

In the end, he decided the safest thing to do was simply bow his head slightly as he walked past.

“Hey, Otakura.”

“Ah, yes?”

Just as he tried to pass by, Riko called out to him.

“Um…”

“Himeno-san.”

“Did you need something?”

Himeno was Riko’s family name.

Her full name was Himeno Ruriko.

Because she was so small, people often teased her by saying her name sounded overly cute.

“Don’t call me Himeno.”

“I don’t really like my name either.”

“Just call me Riko.”

“Ah…”

“Okay.”

“Riko-san.”

Because of that, she let people she was fairly close to call her Riko.

Apparently…

Otaku-kun had now been promoted into that category.

“So…”

“What did you need?”

“Well…”

“Thanks for everything today.”

“You and Yua planned all that to help deal with those idiots, didn’t you?”

“You knew?”

“I just figured.”

“Yua was acting weird.”

“So I guessed it was something like that.”

“I see.”

“But honestly…”

“I wanted to help.”

“So you don’t have to worry about it.”

And he meant it.

He’d genuinely enjoyed doing Riko’s hair and makeup.

He’d even gotten the chance to experiment with all kinds of cosmetics.

He was already thinking about how the experience might come in handy for his hobbies later.

“Um…”

“And one more thing.”

“Before…”

“When you weren’t around…”

“I called you creepy because you’re an otaku.”

“Yua got mad at me for saying that.”

“I said all that without really knowing anything about you…”

“So…”

“I’m sorry.”

Riko finally apologized.

The reason she kept stumbling over words like “um” and “well” was obvious.

She wasn’t used to apologizing honestly.

She simply didn’t know how.

After finally getting the words out, she lowered her head toward Otaku-kun.

Watching her do that…

The expression around his eyes softened.

Perhaps it was because he was sleepy.

Or perhaps it was because everything had gone so well.

Either way…

His guard was completely down.

Standing there, Riko—who was more than a head shorter than Yua—reminded him of his own younger sister, who had become much colder toward him recently.

“You don’t need to worry about it.”

As he said that…

Otaku-kun gently patted Riko on the head.

“…Huh?”

“Ah…”

Realizing what he’d just done, Otaku-kun instantly pulled his hand away.

But it was already too late.

Riko glared at him with the eyes of a wild beast.

“Hii…”

A tiny squeak escaped his mouth.

“Hey, Otakura!”

“Eek!”

“I-I’m sorry!”

Completely overwhelmed by Riko’s intimidating aura, Otaku-kun instinctively raised his arms in defense.

However…

No punch ever came.

Slowly, he opened the eyes he’d squeezed shut.

“Honestly…”

“Just don’t ever do that in front of other people.”

“Y-Yes.”

“And if you do it in front of Yua…”

“I’ll make you regret it.”

‘So…’

‘Does that mean it’s okay if nobody else is around?’

The question crossed his mind.

Naturally…

He kept it to himself.

After all, things had finally calmed down.

Saying something like that would only make Riko angry all over again.

“That’s all I wanted.”

“O-Okay.”

“See you around, Otakura.”

After waving goodbye to Riko, Otaku-kun rested a hand on his chin and tilted his head.

“Did I put blush on her during the makeup…?”

The slight redness lingering on Riko’s cheeks…

…was probably just his imagination.