"Come to the Iron Fist of Destruction's domain at noon tomorrow, can you make it?"
"O~~K!"
Seeing that his message had been delivered clearly, Hakuto let out a sigh of relief. At the very least, he could settle Rikka's request before heading to Hoshino Umi Academy.
"Does Lord Hero have any other orders, death?"
For some reason, Hakuto felt that Sanae treated him with an unusual amount of respect. Could this be some sort of hierarchical distinction exclusive to chuunibyou?
"That's all."
"Oh right, my Servant occasionally does some strange things."
"Hm? Strange things?"
As soon as Hakuto finished speaking, he saw Sanae suddenly start spinning her twin tails like a whirlwind.
"Thunder God's Hammer Tornado!!"
Her golden twin tails swirled around her, creating an aura that almost felt like an actual electric tornado!
And then, in the very next second, she ended up getting completely tangled in her own hair, collapsing onto the ground like a little bird with broken wings.
"I... I can't move..."
"I was asking a question, but you really didn't have to demonstrate it on the spot..."
Damn, this was peak chuunibyou. An even purer specimen than Takanashi Rikka had appeared!
That was Sanae!!
Hakuto sighed. Dealing with one chuuni fool was already exhausting—now he had to deal with two!
Well, at least once this club matter was settled, it would no longer be his problem. He still had to head to Hoshino Umi Academy.
Back in class, Hakuto occasionally glanced at Hachiman sitting beside him, a peculiar look flickering in his eyes.
Hachiman felt shivers down his spine under Hakuto's gaze, goosebumps rising all over his body.
"Hachiman, are you interested in joining a club?"
"Not at all! Absolutely not!"
Hachiman knew Hakuto had an agenda, but he hadn't expected it to be this.
"Don't be so quick to refuse…"
Hakuto still wanted to try and scam Hachiman, but the guy wasn't falling for it at all.
"No way, no matter what you say, it's not happening."
"… Really?"
"Really."
"I recall Komachi messaged me a few days ago, asking me to take her out shopping…"
And just like that, under Hakuto's threats and temptations, Hachiman reluctantly prepared to join Rikka's club, albeit with some expectations.
As for Houtarou, Hakuto didn't even need to put in much effort—after all, for him, a club was just another place to slack off.
"Still one short…"
Truthfully, unless absolutely necessary, Hakuto didn't want to drag in people he wasn't familiar with just to fill out the numbers for Rikka's club.
And so...
"I thought Junior-kun asking me if I wanted to join Takanashi's club was just a roundabout way of hitting on me."
"Do you really think I would do something that boring, Senpai?"
Since Hakuto couldn't find anyone better, he had no choice but to consider Utaha, someone who hadn't joined a club and wasn't particularly interested in them.
"For Senpai, it's just changing locations to write, so it shouldn't be much of a problem, right?"
"That's true, but… what do I get out of it?"
"How about I waive one commission fee for you?"
A benefit? No way. Hakuto would never just give something away for free in his life!
While waiving a commission fee might seem like a gain for Utaha on the surface, in reality, once this arrangement became a habit, she would essentially become his regular client.
So in the end, it looked like Utaha was winning, but Hakuto was the one profiting.
Hilarious!
I broke the defenses of professional shogi player Kuzuryuu Yaichi, made the student council president of Hoshino Umi Academy suffer losses—have they ever gotten anything out of me?
"Are you free this weekend?"
"Definitely not on Saturday. As for Sunday… it depends. Unless, of course, Senpai wants to go explore a haunted house at night again, then I might be able to make time on Saturday too."
"I'll join the club."
Utaha yawned and accepted Hakuto's proposal.
She then waved her hand dismissively, returned to her seat, and promptly laid down on her desk for another nap.
Seeing that the matter was settled, Hakuto breathed a sigh of relief.
Now, he just needed to reach out to the Nakano sisters, and then he could head to Hoshino Umi Academy without any worries—ready to unleash his talent (and get paid).
Time passed quickly, and before he knew it, school was over for the day.
During lunch, Rikka's club was successfully established. Hiratsuka was easy to talk to; as soon as Rikka gathered enough members, she approved the club without hesitation.
Now that Rikka's club situation was resolved, Hakuto could shift his full focus to his tutoring job.
"Speaking of which… Nakano Nino probably doesn't still holds a grudge against me, right…?"
Hakuto glanced toward Nakano Nino, who was packing up her things in the classroom.
Ever since he had refused to give her his contact information, they hadn't interacted at all.
It made sense, though. While Nino was a looks-focused person and had a natural fondness for bad boys, Hakuto was essentially her kryptonite.
Still, even so, she had her own pride. Being publicly rejected when asking for contact information must have stung her ego a little.
Hakuto wasn't sure—if he went up to Nino now, would he get utterly humiliated?
"Huh? You, someone who doesn't understand girls at all, are supposed to be my tutor? I absolutely refuse!"
Just imagining how he was about to get stonewalled made Hakuto instinctively scratch his head.
All the boomerangs he had thrown in the past were coming back to hit him square in the forehead.
This morning, he had scrambled for excuses to be late, and now, he was dealing with this tutoring situation.
"Sigh… I was never some social genius. I was just forced into it."
There was no choice. No matter how awkward it was, Hakuto had to go talk to Nino. Who would turn their back on money?
As Nino finished packing up and prepared to leave the classroom, she suddenly paused when she saw Hakuto standing at the door.
Lowering her head, she pretended not to see him and attempted to walk past.
But just as they were about to brush shoulders, Hakuto spoke.
"Nino, do you have a moment to talk?"
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Check out the other translations too: [Mash-Up: I'm Not A Substitute]
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