Volume 5 Chapter 1 The Vice-Captain’s Big Secret Spot
Edited by: Kanaa-senpai
Hayase Misaki. A girl who had only just been put into the same class as him for their third year. The very moment Hirose stumbled to catch her as she fell—it was an unfortunate, or perhaps a rather fortunate, encounter. Her skirt had flipped up.
What immediately assaulted his vision wasn’t just a glimpse of cute, pink underwear. Oh no, it was a large mole near the base of her left thigh, a spot that seemed to be about the size of a hundred-yen coin.
”Um… what exactly was it that you saw…?” Misaki asked.
Hirose stammered and asked what she meant. There was no way he could honestly answer that question after seeing not only her thigh, but her underwear as well.
”…Takanashi. Come and see me for a minute during lunch, okay?” Misaki finally muttered.
She never got a direct answer about what he’d seen, only delivering that short sentence. Feeling an undeniable pressure from her tone, Hirose could only nod.
* * *
Waiting right outside the classroom, Misaki spotted him and sharply tilted her chin, making a silent gesture for him to ‘follow me’. The destination turned out to be the exterior of the school—right by the tennis courts.
”Hardly anyone comes here during this time,” she explained.
”I guess so. I rarely come near the tennis courts myself, so it feels kind of new,” Hirose admitted.
”Sit on that bench over there.”
”Okay…”
She was roughly a hundred and sixty centimeters tall, just a bit taller than Hibiki. Her milk-tea colored ponytail swayed with every step, a distinctive feature that made her the idol of the male members of the tennis club.
”Here, this is for you.”
”Eh… thank you,” Hirose replied.
What she held out from a plastic bag was a chocolate sandwich roll and a carton of coffee milk.
(I thought this was going to be a quick chat, so I left my bento in the classroom… wait, isn’t this the setup for having lunch together!?)
Unable to refuse the offering, Hirose took the items from her.
”Ah, um, can I just send one quick message?”
”Hm, sure,” she allowed.
Hirose took out his phone and messaged Hibiki, letting her know he couldn’t eat lunch with her. Her reply was succinct: ‘You’re cheating.’
Cheating—well, he’d already done that countless times. And she knew about it. Lately, she’d even told him he didn’t need to report it, though he still made sure to tell her when he used his Gift.
”So, um… about what happened during the last break…”
”—I’M SORRY! I saw your panties!” Hirose blurted out.
He had decided to apologize preemptively before she could start yelling.
”Idiot! That’s not what I’m talking about! I don’t care about the panties!”
”You don’t?”
”No, I don’t… Ugh! Now I’m just feeling embarrassed because you brought that up! I wasn’t even going to talk about that!” Misaki accused.
”S-sorry…”
Misaki’s face was bright red; she seemed to be fuming.
”Th-that’s why… you saw it, didn’t you… not the panties, but… the mole?”
”Uh… yeah. I think so. I saw it, maybe,” Hirose confessed.
”Haaaaaaaaaah…” Misaki pressed a hand to her forehead, letting out a deep, shuddering sigh.
”You’re the first guy in this school who’s seen it…”
”Really?”
”I was going to put it on in the bathroom before my club activity, since we don’t have P.E. today. …I usually put a nude-colored athletic tape or a bandage over it,” she explained.
”…So, the girls on the team see it when you change for practice?”
”That’s about it,” she confirmed.
A mole the size of a hundred-yen coin—it certainly would stand out. Misaki admitted she had tried to skip swimming classes whenever possible, and when she couldn’t, she’d used an extremely secure, non-peeling tape.
”It’s okay. I won’t tell anyone,” Hirose vowed.
”Are you sure…?”
Misaki looked directly at him, touching her own thigh through her skirt. In her eyes, there was a mixture of slight fear and vigilance.
Her burden must be heavy: avoiding swimming suits, hot springs, and pools—any situation where she has to show skin. Hirose was reminded of the deep-seated anxieties of Koharu and Kirino, who also resisted showing their skin in public.
”Maybe Takanashi has a Gift that lets him see people’s hidden anxieties? And then he uses that to take advantage of cute girls and… turn things ‘like that’…”
”You’re letting your imagination run wild! I told you I wouldn’t do anything like that!” Hirose protested.
”But you’re not denying that you have a Gift,” she pointed out.
”Guh…”
Hirose’s secret slipped out during the conversation. Misaki had already been suspicious about the constant gathering of beautiful girls around him, wondering if a Gift was at the heart of it.
”I won’t press you for answers, but…”
”…Also, one thing I’ve been wondering about: is your leg okay?” Hirose asked, quickly changing the subject, looking down at her foot.
”Oh, this? It’s fine, nothing serious. More important than me is… no, never mind that,” Misaki corrected herself.
”I see. I just saw the tape wrapped around it and wondered if it was okay. You have a tournament coming up, too,” he noted.
”You’re right. It should heal up properly before the next tournament,” she affirmed.
Misaki, as the Vice-Captain, was preparing for her final inter-high school athletic meet. She had competed in the Kanto Regional tournament but hadn’t yet reached the National level.
”Well, then. Sorry for taking up your time,”
”Yeah…”
As Misaki stood up from the bench, a slight shadow of sadness crossed her face. Hirose impulsively called out to stop her.
”Hayase-san!”
”Hm, what is it?”
He wanted to give her at least some sense of hope or an option.
”—One of the skills that comes with my Gift is ‘Mole Removal’!”
That was the outrageous confession he made to Misaki.
* * *
(What do I do, what do I do, what do I do, what do I do, what do I do!)
Hirose stared at Misaki’s back in the same classroom, utterly consumed by regret over what he had just blurted out.
‘—Takanashi, stop making fun of me. There’s no way you have a convenient Gift like that.’
She had pierced him with a sharp look and utterly refused to believe in his Gift.
(I haven’t built up any trust with Hayase-san yet… I was just lucky before. I gained their trust through someone else, so they believed in my Gift. But this time…)
”Haaah…”
Hirose slumped onto his desk, letting out a deep sigh of despair.
* * *
”Misaki—what’s wrong? You’re off today. You’re ruining that cute face of yours,” the Club Captain said, throwing an arm around her shoulder after school ended. Misaki managed a wry smile; her lack of focus hadn’t gone unnoticed.
”The final High School Tournament is coming up soon, you know? We still have the National Sports Festival, but if you have a problem, you should talk about it now,” the Captain encouraged.
”Yeah… thanks,”
Misaki tried to shake off her gloom with the Captain’s words, but the cloudy feeling remained.
During a break, she sat on the bench to drink her sports drink—the very spot where she had talked to Hirose at lunch. The memory of their conversation flooded back.
‘Mole Removal’… what is that? How could a mole just conveniently disappear?
But as she calmed down, a clearer picture of Hirose’s personality began to form.
He wasn’t arrogant, despite being surrounded by beauties. He held a perfectly normal position in the class. But he got flustered and anxious when talking to people he wasn’t familiar with—that was his true self.
Would a person like that really lie? He doesn’t seem like the type to lie just to cheer someone up.
If the mole could really be removed… could I wear a swimsuit and go to the beach?
She hadn’t worn a swimsuit since elementary school, avoiding the ocean and hot springs ever since. It was all because she never wanted anyone to see that mole.
”Just once. Just once, I think I’ll ask Takanashi to explain it properly…”
She didn’t exactly believe him yet. But the sight of his serious, earnest face when he’d made the confession was an image she just couldn’t shake.
Misaki stood up and went back to practice. The next day, she resolved to speak to Hirose again.
—
Summary:
Hirose sees Misaki’s secret, a coin-sized mole on her upper thigh, during a fall, leading to an awkward lunch meeting by the tennis courts. Misaki, the popular Vice-Captain, confronts him, not about the underwear, but the mole, which has caused her years of anxiety and avoidance of the beach. Hirose, in a panic, blurts out that his Gift has a ‘Mole Removal’ skill, but Misaki doesn’t believe him. Back at practice, she can’t shake the memory of his earnest face and decides to seek him out the next day, her hope subtly reignited.
—
Character Insight:
Hirose is driven by a genuine desire to help beautiful girls with their hidden anxieties, even if it means exposing his secret. Misaki’s popularity hides a deep vulnerability centered on a physical flaw she sees as a mark. She’s pragmatic but willing to believe in the absurd if it offers a solution to her long-held pain.
—
Behind the Scene:
This chapter kicks off the sports arc, introducing Misaki as a new girl with a hidden anxiety that Hirose’s multifaceted Gift is uniquely suited to solve. Her doubt about the Gift creates a new narrative challenge for Hirose, who usually has an established relationship of trust before revealing his power. The mole acts as a concrete symbol of the hidden, non-obvious flaws his ‘Beauty’ Gift must address.
Notes:
• Hayase Misaki – The class representative and a member of the tennis club. Misaki is known for being outspoken and blunt, preferring to say exactly what she thinks. Have a milk tea colored long hair ponytail, and a large, conspicuous mole near her left inner thigh.
• Kirino – Strikingly beautiful with blue long hair (F, 168cm), Kirino is gifted with ice magic and feels isolated because of her appearance. Hirose’s Beauty skill helps her improve her self-image and social comfort, directly affecting Kirino’s relationship with her family and classmates.
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Edited by Kanaa-senpai.
Thanks for reading.
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