WataMote Chapter 73

Chapter 73
Information
Volume Number	Volume 8
Chapter Title	Because I'm Not Popular, I'll Be Unprepared
Published	February 19, 2015
Previous Chapter	Chapter 72
Next Chapter	Chapter 74

私がモテないのはどう考えてもお前らが悪い!

Watashi ga Motenai no wa dō Kangaetemo Omaera ga Warui!

No Matter How I Look at It, It’s You Guys' Fault I’m Not Popular!

Synopsis

After feeling insecure about her classmates' nightwear in the previous chapter, Tomoko, while in a communal bath, sees another girl standing and inwardly remarks that all the other girls have groomed what is "underneath" those pajamas as well.

Tomoko silently sits in her group's room with Yoshida and Yuri. Yoshida soon leaves to do something which Tomoko assumes to be smoking. Yuri hears her phone receive an incoming message, looks at her phone, then angrily puts it away. Mako enters the room and asks to talk with Yuri in private. Yuri reluctantly agrees and leaves the room with Mako.

Tomoko sits alone and bored for a moment, but she then decides on something she can do. The scene shifts to a smiling Uchi leaving her friends to come to the room to grab her belongings. She enters the apparently empty room and hears a noise from the bathroom. She takes a look to see Tomoko with a pair of scissors. She retreats as first Yoshida then Yuri return; sweating, she tells them individually that she "just came back to grab my stuff."

As Yoshida and Yuri quietly sit, Uchi notices Tomoko's pants on the floor. Without removing her smile, she grabs Tomoko's pants, obtains what she came for, then quickly tosses Tomoko's pants into the bathroom. In the bathroom, Tomoko sits with her scissors shivering when, to her delight, her pants are tossed in.

Maintaining her smile, Uchi vows as she leaves to try her best not to associate with any of them for the entire field trip. The narration reads, "That's not something you should be doing during the school field trip. . . ."

Characters

In order of appearance:

• Tomoko Kuroki
• Hina Nemoto
• Yuri Tamura
• Masaki Yoshida
• Mako Tanaka (unnamed)
• Emiri Uchi

Referbacks and Forwards

• This chapter is a continuation of the previous one.
• Chapter 178 makes clear that Tomoko was staring at Hina as she stepped out of the bath.

Cultural References

• Japanese Onsen: traditionally separated by sex and each bathe and relax in the nude.
• Personal Grooming: As a public service, WataMote Wiki provides the following safe links: this linktranslates this study of Japanese preferences; while this link reports on and translates this survey of 1,000 Japanese women between the ages of 20 and 69. However, as a more recent article from the first site suggests, trends may be changing. 

Memorial Moments

• Tomoko and personal grooming.
• While subtle, Uchi knows what Tomoko is doing, and knows Tomoko is "trapped" in the bathroom without her pants, and she quietly saves Tomoko from embarrassment.
• Yuri and Mako's rift.

Quotes

• "She looks like some kind of delinquent… She must have run out of cigarettes or something. What scum." – Tomoko

Gallery

Ucchi wordlessly saves Tomoko.