Mash-Up: Anything for Money

Seeing her sisters giving her strange looks, Yotsuba quickly realized that her words had been misunderstood. She hurriedly explained.

"N-no, that's not what I meant."

"You all know about how Hakuto took down all the delinquents in school, right?"

The other four sisters nodded. Seeing this, Yotsuba continued.

"This is how it happened..."

…

About twenty days ago, it was lunchtime. As usual, Yotsuba was full of energy, chatting happily with her classmates.

But there was always someone who ruined the mood. Not far from her, a boy with strangely dyed hair was harassing a quiet-looking girl.

Yotsuba, filled with a sense of justice, couldn't just stand by and watch.

Just as she rolled up her sleeves, ready to step in, she saw Hakuto suddenly standing at the classroom door. 

He scanned the room before locking his gaze on the boy harassing the girl.

Moments later, a slender hand reached out from behind and grabbed the delinquent by the hair, yanking him to the ground.

"Damn it! Who—?!"

Hakuto stood over him, looking down from above.

"I'll give you two minutes. Call your friends."

"Fine! Just you wait!"

It didn't even take two minutes. Four guys had already surrounded Hakuto. No one dared to stop them. 

No one even went to get a teacher. Everyone just stood by and watched.

"Kid, which gang are you with?"

"Honestly, I'm getting tired of hearing that line."

Yotsuba, standing a short distance away, saw Hakuto surrounded and was about to rush in to help, but her friend quickly grabbed her arm.

"Yotsuba, don't."

"But—"

Before she could say more, the sound of a head slamming against a desk echoed from Hakuto's direction.

Yotsuba turned her head and saw that, at some point, three of the four delinquents had already collapsed.

Only the guy with the weirdly dyed hair was still standing, staring blankly at the scene before him.

"Your friends all got beaten up. If you don't take a hit too, that wouldn't be fair, would it?"

Not wanting to break the bonds of their 'brotherhood,' Hakuto kindly approached the last guy.

But just as he was about to make a move, another boy stepped in front of him.

"That's enough. Let's stop here."

"Oh? But when they had me surrounded just now, you didn't step in to stop it, did you?"

With his height advantage, Hakuto looked down at the guy trying to mediate, his aura completely overwhelming him.

"And when your buddy here was harassing a girl in class, where was your 'let's stop here' then?"

"But now?" 

"Now you suddenly want to play the good guy?" 

"What, trying to build yourself a hero persona so you can fit in better with the class?"

Hakuto showed no mercy, ruthlessly exposing the guy's little scheme.

"N-no, that's not it. I just think if this goes on, the teacher will come… and then we'll all get in trouble."

"That's not your problem. Get lost. Unless you want to get beaten too."

In the end, the last delinquent—the one who started it all—also ended up on the ground, groaning in pain.

Yotsuba, standing at a distance, stared blankly at the scene unfolding before her.

Ever since that day, the name Shiratori Hakuto had been etched into Yotsuba's mind.

Back in the present, Yotsuba looked at her sisters, who were listening to her story. 

She rubbed her nose, put her hands on her hips, and mimicked Hakuto's movements from that time, waving her arms and legs dramatically.

"Hakuto was like this, and then like that! And those four guys were on the ground in no time!"

Seeing her sisters' confused expressions, Yotsuba asked in surprise,

"Wait… don't tell me you didn't see it? I remember Hakuto went from class to class taking them all down, didn't he?"

Nino shook her head and spoke first.

"In our class, he took on five guys in the bathroom. That's the incident they talked about at the assembly."

Itsuki said, "I heard my class tried to ambush Hakuto on the street, so I didn't see it myself. But those guys looked absolutely terrified the next day."

Miku added, "Same here."

"So that means I'm the only one who saw Hakuto's heroic fighting in person?"

"Maybe. Anyway, let's go home."

"Whoa! Nino, let me tell you, Hakuto was seriously so cool!"

"Uh-huh, uh-huh."

...

Meanwhile, Hakuto looked at Nino's contact info on his phone and smiled slightly.

"Looks like the first step of the plan was a success."

To be honest, he hadn't expected to get Nino's contact so easily.

He figured his face and his 'delinquent' personality played a big role in this.

Hakuto wondered, "If I showed my tattoos, would Nino scream on the spot?"

As for the whole private tutor thing, Hakuto had his own approach.

Since Nakano Maruo hadn't told his daughters about hiring a tutor, Hakuto decided to take advantage of that and keep quiet about it too.

First, he would guide Nino's studies as a 'friend.' Then, using her as a stepping stone, he'd get the other four sisters to follow along.

Hakuto thought his plan was absolutely brilliant. After all, being told to study by a teacher and being encouraged by a friend were two completely different things.

The former was much harder to accept than the latter.

Imagine if he invited Nino out for a casual outing and just so happened to walk into a library. If he casually sat down to read a book, would Nino just stand there playing on her phone?

No, no, no. She would naturally pick up a book and start reading too.

At that moment, Hakuto could 'accidentally' share some study tips with her or explain a few concepts.

Wouldn't that be perfect?

Way better than barging into their home and declaring himself their tutor!

As for whether she'd agree to hang out, Hakuto was pretty confident.

Judging by today, Nino seemed to have a favorable impression of him. So asking her out for something simple shouldn't be a problem.

"To those deadbeat parents who abandoned me, at least you left me with this handsome face. That's the one good thing you ever did!"

Hakuto silently thanked his absent parents in his heart.

Of course, if this approach didn't work, he still had a backup plan.

Superccalculation mode… activated!

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Check out the other translations too: [Mash-Up: I'm Not A Substitute]

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