How To Ruin A Love Comedy – Chapter 148

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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Nekorune
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“Ah! Matsuda-kouhai! Hanazawa-kouhai!”

At the energetic voice coming from behind, Miyuki, Tetsuya, and I turned around.

Chinami was approaching with quick, small steps. Perhaps because she had just been about to go to the cafeteria, it was noticeable that she was holding two peach-flavored drinks in her hands.

Behind her was Renka.

Perhaps remembering what happened yesterday, she looked tense, unable to even look at me properly.

Chuckling inwardly, I watched Miyuki bow deeply with a bright expression.

“Hello, Senpais.”

As soon as Chinami reached us, after nodding a greeting to Tetsuya, she placed a 500ml drink carton into Miyuki’s hand. Miyuki, accepting it without thinking, tilted her head.

“Are you giving this to me?”

“Yes. It looks like you just finished eating, so please have this as a palate cleanser.”

“Weren’t you going to drink this, Senpai?”

“I can certainly spare this much for my kouhais. I can just buy another one.”

“Then I’ll gratefully accept it!”

Perhaps Chinami liked Miyuki’s consistently cheerful demeanor? Giggling, Chinami completely forgot about going into the cafeteria and started chatting with Miyuki.

Meanwhile, Renka came closer and exchanged waves with Miyuki. I shot Renka a mocking grin, making sure others wouldn’t notice.

“Ugh…!”

She grimaced intensely, as if she’d seen something unpleasant.

Tetsuya, moving over to Renka’s side, asked with concern.

“What’s wrong?”

“Ah, it’s nothing… I just feel a little sick…”

“Ah… Then shouldn’t you skip the meal and rest?”

“It’s because I saw something unpleasant.”

“Something unpleasant…?”

“Something like that. How’s the food today?”

“It’s the same cafeteria food as always.”

“Ha… I should have packed a lunch. I’ve lost my appetite…”

As Renka said this, her gaze was fixed on me. Why does she keep racking up bad karma like this? What does she plan to do later?

It wouldn’t be right not to teach her a lesson, would it?

“Well, kouhais, I’ll get going now! See you during club activities!”

Chinami, having finished her conversation at some point, waved brightly and walked away.

Watching her enter the cafeteria with Renka, Miyuki turned towards me.

“Nanase-senpai always has such high energy, doesn’t she…? And somehow, I feel like I need to look after her. It seems like she might just trip if left alone.”

Chinami does tend to evoke protective instincts.

I’m glad Miyuki likes her. I hope she keeps feeling that way.

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Whenever Renka enjoyed a show she watched, she would write a review on an anime community site. She would often leave a short review along with a star rating, but sometimes she also wrote very long, detailed reviews or columns.

Since she was very active, generally didn’t criticize works unless there was a major flaw, wrote straightforward reviews, and was kind, her nickname was well known within the community, and most users liked her posts.

Accessing the large site called ‘AnimeShare’ on my phone, I registered an account and looked for the review section. Since I already knew the nickname Renka used, I was able to find her most recent post without much difficulty.

[The protagonist Tanjiro’s journey was moving.]

[Rating: ★★★★☆]

[Likes: 5102] [Dislikes: 121]

It was a post briefly reviewing an anime that had recently gained popularity. The author was [Run Ino-chan], the cute nickname Renka used for her activities on the site.

The profile picture showed a cute female character smiling with one hand stretched upwards; that must be the character named Ino. Renka had clearly created that nickname by shortening her last name, Inoo…

It was obvious she had laid a trap, intending to make people mistakenly think she liked that character and ensuring they could never guess her real identity. Assuredly, no one looking at that nickname and profile picture would think of the surname ‘Inoo’. Except for me, that is.

Sitting on a bench on the school grounds’ hillock, I glanced around to see if anyone was nearby.

Then, I left a comment on Renka’s post.

[That guy isn’t the protagonist, he just got carried. Rengoku and Zenitsu are the real main characters. Did you even watch it properly? You know nothing about manga.]

Would Renka go home and see the comment after club activities ended? Or, since the post was quite old, would she not check every single comment? In that case, it seemed better to just send her a private message. Just as I was thinking that, a private message arrived in my account.

[Hello, MK-san. It’s great to have a character you love, but putting down other characters only provokes backlash from their fans. I added a note at the very bottom of the review stating it was my personal opinion, and I hope you’ll take that into consideration. Seeing your join date, you’re new, right? Let’s both enjoy our time here, okay? q(@‘7°@)]

It was Renka’s reply. She had taken the bait immediately. Since she was taking a short break, it seemed she had logged on just to kill time and happened to check the comments… Seeing how perfect the timing was, it really felt like this was fated to be.

But why was she being so docile here? I had expected a barrage of curses, but instead got a long message intended for guidance; this was making me go soft.

And what was with that meek-looking emoticon? Take off the mask, you shrew.

Smacking my lips, I tapped on my phone.

[Sorry.]

[It’s alright. In my early days of being a fan, I also intensely liked one character like you, MK-san, so I understand the feeling. Welcome to AnimeShare. If there are any manga or anime you’ve enjoyed, feel free to introduce them. By any chance, do you have any works you could recommend?]

[Do you like adult manga too?]

[I don’t exactly like them, but I don’t avoid them either.]

[Do you know a work called ‘Master’s Secret’?]

[First time I’ve heard of it. Is it a manga? Or an anime?]

[Manga.]

[Thanks for the recommendation. I’ll try checking it out this weekend.]

Would she really read it? It was a rather hardcore ‘training’ type of story. Her post history was mostly shonen manga reviews, but after going through various things with me, reviews of adult works gradually became more frequent…

Imagine Renka, once a sincere and pure user, eventually falling to the point where she reviewed nothing but ‘training’ genre works… Isn’t that strangely hot?

I also grew curious about the expression Renka would make when she found out not only that I had discovered her community activities, but that we had even been exchanging private messages.

After deleting the comment I had written while lost in my own dark fantasies, I headed down towards the club room when I spotted Renka coming out, fiddling with her phone, and called out to her.

“Captain.”

“Gasp…?!”

Renka hastily hid her phone behind her back. Her reaction was quite extreme. Surely she hadn’t been looking up the title I mentioned, had she?

“What…? Aren’t you working? Stop slacking off…”

“I finished everything and was just taking a quick break. What about you, President? Aren’t you working?”

“W-we’re on break too…”

“Oh? Then why did you come outside?”

“To get some air…”

“I see. By the way, Captain…”

“What is it…?!”

“During lunch, you said I was unpleasant, didn’t you?”

At my low voice, Renka flinched and straightened her posture abruptly. As if determined not to be intimidated by my aura, she tensed her eyes and replied.

“That’s right. You are unpleasant.”

“Are you going to keep hurting my feelings?”

“…What do you expect me to do about it…”

Treat me kindly.

“You’re impossible to treat kindly… Just look at the things you do to me…”

“You liked it too, Captain.”

“L-Liked it? What are you talking about…?!”

*tap tap tap*

A sound, like something being tapped, came from somewhere around Renka’s waist, who had flared up and was talking back defiantly.

Wondering what it was, I looked over, and saw her arm, hidden behind her back, fidgeting. It seemed she was tapping the back of her poor phone because she felt quite awkward being alone with me. Was she dwelling on what I’d vaguely said yesterday about liking her?

Was that why she was embarrassed? How cute…

Stepping right up close to Renka, I watched her flinch and step back, then opened my mouth, gazing at her intently.

“Captain…”

“What…?!”

“When are you going to make your last wish?”

“I don’t know…! There’s still plenty of time left, so don’t rush me…!”

“I never rushed you. Why are you misunderstanding?”

“…”

“But for your last wish, couldn’t you cosplay for me? As a bunny girl or a nurse this time.”

“…You’re really shameless… It’s my wish, not yours, okay…? Stop talking nonsense and get back to work.”

“Captain.”

“Ugh… Why do you keep calling me…?!”

As she turned back towards the club room door, huffing, I raised both hands as if to show I had no intention of fighting and said casually, as if just passing by:

“No reason. I’m going back to work now. You work hard too, Captain.”

“…Just get lost already.”

Stop swearing at me all the time. Should I punish you with a confession?

Giving Renka a smirk, I went up the hillock and collected the dry laundry.

The weather was cold. My dick was feeling cold too. You should start warming it up soon, Renka.

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*poke poke*

Feeling a dainty poke on my back, I turned around, and—

“Kyaah!”

Chinami let out a scream and started to fall backward.

Chinami’s body had bumped against my arm. I quickly caught her by the waist, steadied her upright, and started patting her butt as if to wipe off the dust from it.

“Are you okay?”

“Ngh…? Um… Matsuda-kouhai, I didn’t actually fall after all…”

Chinami’s voice became quieter than a mosquito’s buzz due to the unexpected physical contact.

Shrugging nonchalantly, I said: “It was just a force of habit. Anyway, what’s up? Is there something you need?”

“No, it’s not that… I came to tell you in person that we might not have much time for this week’s massage.”

“Why?”

“The weather suddenly got much colder, so I have to go buy winter supplies with my parents.”

Heh… This is inconvenient. My second potential father-in-law and mother-in-law, if you keep interfering like this… might I start having wicked thoughts? Perhaps I should wonder about your marital relations…

No. Let’s not think such wicked thoughts. I should think of this positively: before I could enjoy the massage-slash-bedroom session with Chinami, I was suddenly reminded by God himself not to act too hastily, that there were other things I needed to do.

“I see. Then is next week okay?”

“Yes… Any time from next Monday onwards is fine. But, um…”

Chinami trailed off, turning her head to look down at her own rear. Watching my hands, which were still wiping all of the non-existent dust, she continued, her face flushed red,

“I mentioned that I didn’t fall…”

“There was dust on you, so I was brushing it off.”

“…Is that right…?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

Finally, patting Chinami’s bottom lightly twice more, I stood up. Then, cupping the cheeks of Chinami, who didn’t know how to react, I pressed them firmly with both hands and gently bumped my forehead against hers.

“Whah are you dohing…”

What do you think I’m doing? Just charging up some energy.

I need to gather plenty of this energy before Renka comes and interrupts.

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