Chapter 40: Honesty

"Ah . . . " Mika suddenly recalled her harsh treatment of the previous Seiji .

That was right indeed—why had she forgotten the way that she used to treat and insult that fat otaku?

As the memories surged back into her mind, Mika became increasingly embarrassed .

Her face was scorching hot to the touch .

The way she used to angrily shout at Seiji was similar to how Seiji had lectured the twins a few minutes ago .

So similar . . .

Considering how she was exactly the same way before, she was unqualified to judge Seiji . . .

Mika covered her burning face with her hands as tears seeped out the corners of her eyes .

"I'm the worst . . . I'm terrible . . . I . . . "

She absolutely had to apologize to Seiji!

. . .

"What?"

When Mika suddenly apologized to Seiji out of the blue, Seiji had no idea what was going on .

He had no clue how he should respond to Mika as she seemed extremely embarrassed and depressed, but he noticed that Chiaki, who was standing behind her, was trying to conceal her laughter .

"Chiaki . . . you must have said something weird to Mika, right!?" Seiji instantly saw through her .

"Chiaki?" Mika looked behind her and abruptly noticed that her friend was now laughing openly .

"Hahaha, sorry . . . I didn't think that you would think this much into it . Haha, you're so cute, Mika!"

Chiaki couldn't stop her laughter .

Mika was stunned for quite a while; even though she wasn't sure what was going on, judging from her friend's laughter, her mischievous friend must have played a prank on her again!

"Chiaki! I'm gonna get angry!"

"Sorry . . . but, haha, Mika, I'm guessing that you still don't know what's going on . Honestly . . . "

"Hmph . . . waah!" Mika puffed out her cheeks: "Fine . . . I'm just an idiot!"

She whacked her good friend lightly with her fists as she said this .

'What a party . '

Seiji calmly watched the two girls that were now playfighting with each other .

It took quite a while for them to calm down .

Chiaki gave Seiji a brief and simple explanation that easily helped him understand what happened . Her explanation almost rendered him speechless .

"I see, no wonder Mika was entrapped by you . . . "

He then looked over at Mika and inwardly remarked on her simple-mindedness . However, her naivety was also one of her cute points .

"Mika, you don't need to feel apologetic to me at all . After all, your anger towards my previous self was rightly justified . . . The old me was human scum; your anger and loathing was all due to my own faults, not because you're a bad person . Maybe there are some people out there that believe you shouldn't insult others in any situation, but I disagree; sometimes, insulting others is a method of protecting oneself . . . It's much like protecting yourself from an evil person that's threatening you—there's nothing wrong with self-defense . That's why you weren't mistaken at all, and you don't need to apologize . " Seiji smiled gently .

"But . . . " Mika wanted to say something .

"Besides, during lunch break," Seiji interrupted her, "I admit that perhaps my attitude went a bit overboard, but the words I said then were what I truly wanted to say . Even if I remained completely calm throughout, I would still say the same things to those twins . For me, that was my method of expressing my distaste towards those wicked twins, and perhaps the method wasn't entirely correct, but I don't regret anything . Objectively speaking, Mika, from your standpoint it seemed like I was saying something so ridiculous to two beautiful girls that I never even met before . You thought my words were overly harsh as they haven't even done anything that merits such a severe lecture . For you to feel shaken and even doubtful is only natural . "

"I . . . I didn't . . . " Mika was shocked and tried denying Seiji .

"I . . . I didn't . . . " Mika was shocked and tried denying Seiji .

Seiji smiled as he looked at her .

"You're a kind, simple girl, Mika . But . . . I'm not exactly who you think I am . I used to be a depraved otaku, and even though I've changed myself, I don't believe that I'm a nice, kind person . The true me . . . is different from the me in your imagination . My apologies for disappointing you, but... this is the real me . "

Seiji opened his hands to display his sincerity to the pigtailed girl in front of him .

"I'm just an otaku . An otaku isn't someone that's good . An otaku isn't someone that's evil . An otaku just does what he wants to do, what he likes to do, and ignores others' opinions . Lastly, every otaku in the world is different, so I can only represent myself . That's all . "

Seiji retracted his hands and had a deep smile on his face .

Mika Uehara's eyes seemed slightly unfocused .

Chiaki, who was also listening to all this, could only smile helplessly and shake her head .

"Mika, Seigo's already been quite clear with you . You need to figure out the rest on your own . Maybe . . . it will be rather difficult for you, but you already know what you should know, and if you make an effort, you should be able to understand . I can't . . . always be beside you, explaining things to you . "

After speaking, Chiaki patted Mika on the shoulder and left .

Then, it was time for afternoon classes .

. . .

After classes .

Seiji grabbed his backpack and looked in Mika's direction .

The pigtailed beauty was also observing him, but she instantly averted her gaze when their eyes met .

Seiji smiled wryly before looking at Chiaki who laughed and mouthed a word at him .

"Idiot . " That was the word that she mouthed .

"Idiot . " That was the word that she mouthed .

This "idiot" contained such deep meaning... At the very least Seiji failed to figure it out .

Was Chiaki saying that he was an idiot? Or that Mika was an idiot?

Or both?

Well, forget it .

He waved at Chiaki, said goodbye to Mika, and prepared to leave school .

This long, fatiguing day was finally over . . .

Or so he thought...

As soon as he had taken a few steps out of the classroom, Seiji detected that someone was following him .

The two people following him weren't attempting to conceal themselves, and they actually sped up and approached him .

"Harano-san . . . "

They were the delinquents of his class: the purple-haired Takashi Kobayashi and the tall one, Kahei Watari .

They flanked Seiji from his left and right .

Upon seeing their behavior, Seiji knew what was going on .

He must have been recognized by them!

He could only laugh at himself mentally, but on the surface he remained unaffected .

"Harano-san . . . please come with us," Kobayashi whispered to him .

"What if I don't?"

"Then they'll come looking for you directly," Watari said in a grave tone .

Seiji raised his eyebrow .

"Then they'll come looking for you directly," Watari said in a grave tone .

Seiji raised his eyebrow .

He didn't ask who "they" were, since he could guess .

Even though he could probably attempt to feign ignorance, it seemed meaningless .

"Fine . " Seiji made his decision . Even if trouble came looking for him, he wouldn't retreat from it .

Watari and Kobayashi continued walking past him, and they intentionally walked in front of Seiji . To the other students, it seemed as if they coincidentally happened to walk past Seiji .

'Are they trying to look out for my reputation?' Seiji suddenly thought as he observed their backs .

Watari and Kobayashi were famous delinquents in school, so any student walking together with them would obviously attract a lot of unwanted attention . The way they were purposefully putting distance between themselves and Seiji could only be explained as acting to protect Seigo Harano's reputation .

As he came to this realization, Seiji's opinion of the duo greatly improved .

Watari and Kobayashi walked out the front gate of the school and turned down a street after walking for a bit .

Seiji followed them wordlessly .

After some more walking, they reached an empty construction lot .

There were three black passenger cars parked there, and a row of men in black suits were standing in an orderly formation in between the cars . In front of the men was a red-haired man wearing a dark red jacket and black leather pants . Beside him was a blonde girl with curly hair . She wore a brown windbreaker together with a dark blue one-piece dress and black stockings .

Watari and Kobayashi halted approximately 10 meters before reaching them and turned around to look at Seiji .

Seiji also stopped .

Everyone's attention was focused on Seiji .

"Is that him?" The red-haired man tilted his head and asked .

" . . . There's no mistaking it . " The blonde girl stared at the handsome boy as her pretty face tinged with a hint of red, "I absolutely wouldn't make a mistake . "

Upon hearing this, the red-haired man looked at Seiji and smiled so widely it seemed that his mouth was about to split open .

The next moment, he suddenly rushed towards Seiji!