After class, Shinji waved goodbye to his classmates.
"I should probably study for the Imperial Academic exam today... Seriously, that na sounds like it's straight out of a manga."
As he walked, he reached the front entrance and noticed soone standing there.
"Huh? Is that... Hanekawa?"
He mumbled without thinking, taking a step back, eyes locked on the girl staring back at him—her eyes glowing with irritation.
"It's been a while, Motohama-kun. Do you still rember ?"
She greeted him, her tone laced with... sarcasm? Irony? Shinji couldn't tell. All he knew was: he was screwed.
"Uh, Hanekawa-san, I..."
Shinji felt like crawling under a rock. He knew he had to apologize. Even though he had Tsubasa's number, they hadn't spoken a single ti—and yeah, that was totally on him.
It's not like Shinji had zero experience with won in his past life. He'd had a girlfriend or two. But in this world? Things were... trickier.
For example:
Let's say you get the number of a cute girl after chatting her up at a bar or sothing.
Do you wait a few days before texting her? Or do you ssage her right away?
If you go ahead and text her—what do you even say? Just "Hey"? And then what? If she replies with another "Hey" and you can't keep the convo going, she'll just get bored.
That was Shinji's dilemma.
He'd kinda hoped Tsubasa would just forget about him. He didn't know how to deal with her.
But now, standing face-to-face with her, he felt his nerves spike.
"So you do rember ... I guess that's sothing. Still, the fact that you ignored for so long—It kind of hurts, you know?"
She pouted, a sad smile creeping onto her face.
"Am I that much of a bother to you?"
"No! It's not like that at all! I just... didn't want to bother you! You—huh?"
Shinji froze mid-sentence when he noticed the small band-aid on Tsubasa's left cheek. There were also a few scrapes on her face. She looked like she'd been in so kind of accident.
"What happened to you? Where'd those scrapes co from? Are you okay?"
He rushed over, examining her closely.
With Shinji's face so close to hers, Tsubasa got a little flustered and gently pushed his hands away.
"You think you're a bother? Are you stupid? Why would you be a bother to ? I was the one who approached you in the first place, wasn't I? If I thought you were annoying, I wouldn't have done that."
"I..."
Shinji had nothing to say—because she was totally right. He stepped back and quickly bowed.
"Please forgive . I acted like an idiot. I'll do whatever it takes to make it up to you."
Tsubasa blinked in surprise at the sudden apology. Passersby had started to notice and were now whispering among themselves, which only made her more embarrassed.
"Ah, please get up."
She quickly pulled him back up. Now that she understood why he'd avoided her, she felt a little better. Just a little. She was still kinda pissed.
"You said you'd do whatever it takes to earn my forgiveness, right?"
Shinji nodded with a determined look in his eyes.
"Then... wanna go to the library with ?"
"Huh?"
Shinji let out a dumb little sound. Honestly, he was expecting so dramatic or impossible request—girls can be pretty extra when they're mad.
Seeing his silence, Tsubasa nervously twirled a strand of her hair.
"If you're busy, we can go another ti..."
"No, it's fine. I've got ti."
Tsubasa's eyes seed to light up for a second before she turned away—hiding the smile that had crept onto her face.
anwhile, as Shinji continued being blissfully unaware, Japan's social dia was going crazy over a certain soone.
"Hey, did you see this month's CutieBeauty?"
"I did! Who the hell was that guy standing next to Miwa-chan?!"
"He seems like a normal guy, but... he's seriously cool, isn't he?"
A fashion magazine just dropped, featuring a photoshoot with models Ai and Shinji.
There were tons of subscribers, mostly young won, since Ai—being a super popular model—was featured. But their attention ended up stolen by Shinji, who appeared beside her in a two-shot photo spread.
"That shoot was probably done at a nearby mall, but... do you think he's local!?"
"He looks about our age... maybe he's a high school student too?"
"Whaaat!? If that's true, I'd be so jealous of the girls at his school!"
"I might beco a fan..."
"I an, that smile is lethal, right? Okay, props to the photographer too!"
And it wasn't just random fans who were talking—so people actually knew Shinji.
"Wait... this is Shinji-kun, isn't it!?"
"No way—are you serious!?"
"Isn't he the student everyone says totally changed overnight?"
"Yeah, yeah! He's in my class, and he's super cool! He was amazing during P.E. the other day!"
"Omg, tell everything!"
"I can't believe a guy this good-looking actually exists... Honestly, he's hotter than any idol or actor I've ever seen on TV."
"Right!? I thought the sa thing!"
"No, like, there's no need to even compare."
He was already pretty well known around Kuoh Academy, but now, Shinji's na was coming up in another scene entirely.
"Ai-chan!"
"Oh! André-san, good morning."
"Good morning. The magazine with that photo of you and Shinji-kun is flying off the shelves—orders are flooding in."
"Eh!? Wait, seriously?"
Even Ai and André, who had done the shoot with Shinji, were talking about him again.
"Yeah, I've been a photographer for a while, but this is the first ti a magazine with one of my photos is selling this well."
"Wow... Shinji-san's really sothing, huh..."
"What are you saying? Your popularity's been skyrocketing too, Ai-chan! The agency director was laughing his ass off with all the sudden work piling up."
"Ah-hahaha..."
Ai gave a bitter smile, imagining their agency director losing it over the situation.
"But Shinji-kun really is incredible. Just one photoshoot and everyone's talking about him. So, Ai-chan... why don't you make a move on him?"
"W-What!?" Ai's face went red. "T-That's impossible! I an, Shinji-san is really nice and he did help when that male model was harassing , but... he's so cool, he probably already has a girlfriend."
"Ara, who knows? But it's not every day you et a guy like that. If you get the chance... you should make a move."
Ai tried to respond, but André had already walked off, leaving her murmuring to herself.
"Jeez, André-san... But if Shinji-san really doesn't have a girlfriend..."
The buzz around Shinji kept growing—and he still had no idea. What would happen tomorrow when he showed up at school? He had no clue.
"That was actually kind of fun,"Shinji murmured to himself as he walked.
Thinking back to the ti he'd just spent with Tsubasa in the library, he couldn't help but smile.
He'd expected her to make so ridiculous demand or pull sothing weird once they got there, but nope. Nothing like that happened.
They just picked a quiet corner where nobody would bother them. Tsubasa pulled out her notes and started studying, occasionally tossing him a question.
"How've you been?""Did you know you're the hot topic at school right now?"
Questions like those slipped from her lips as she juggled her study materials and worked through practice problems.
Shinji was honestly surprised. She managed to keep up the conversation and focus on her studying at the sa ti.
Taking advantage of the mont, he decided to ask her about the whole Imperial Scholar thing.
"How do you know about that?""Huh? I was selected to take the exam," he replied.
Tsubasa's eyes widened in shock. That was the last thing she expected to hear. After collecting herself, she started explaining everything she knew about the topic.
"I was offered the chance to beco one too, but I turned it down. I wouldn't even know what to do with all that free ti."She gave a bitter smile as she said it.
anwhile, Shinji was deep in thought. Becoming an Imperial Scholar sounded ridiculously complicated... but from a different angle, it was actually kind of perfect.
Unlike the mbers of the Occult Club who could co and go from school freely, he needed a legit excuse if he wanted to do the sa.
"Hey, wanna study together? I've made up my mind. I'm gonna take the Imperial Scholar exam too."
"Huh? I don't mind studying with you. But... why the sudden change of heart?"
"Eh?"
Tsubasa's cheeks flushed red as she quickly avoided Shinji's gaze.
"...It's because of you, dummy."
She mumbled it so quietly it wasn't ant to be heard—but Shinji's senses, sharper than the average human, caught every word.
He blinked, confused.What's up with all these girls suddenly falling for out of nowhere...? he wondered.But then he shook his head—he was definitely overthinking it. Tsubasa probably just wanted to be close to him because he was her only friend. Yeah, that had to be it. Best not to jump to weird conclusions.
"Did you say sothing?"He pretended not to have heard.
"Nope. Nothing. I just feel like... now's the right ti. I'll be leaving the academy soon and heading to university. I want to get into a good one, have a solid future."
Tsubasa quickly changed the subject.
And so, the two of them spent nearly the whole afternoon studying together. When they finally wrapped up, Shinji offered to walk Tsubasa ho—but she politely declined, saying she was fine on her own. He didn't push it. It seed like she really wanted to be alone.
Feeling a little unsure, Shinji headed toward the station.
"The next train should be coming soon, right?"
As he waited and let his thoughts wander, sothing strange caught his eye.
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