After finishing the basic paperwork in the faculty office, the eight of us who had arrived in Tengu City from Korea were split into four pairs and sent off to the classes assigned to us. I was paired with Younghee by lottery, and during the exchange student project, I would be taking classes in Class 2-4.
“You’ve only just arrived in Japan, so everything must feel pretty unfamiliar, but don’t worry too much~. The kids in Class 2-4, where I’m the homeroom teacher, are a little full of personality, but they’re all good kids~.”
The one speaking to Younghee and me as we walked down the hallway with smiles on our faces was a petite woman wearing thin-rimmed glasses. I had seen her in the anime before. The homeroom teacher of the class that Itsuka Shido, the protagonist of Date A Live, attended. The so-called “Tama-sensei.”
Tama-sensei was the homeroom teacher of Class 2-4, where Younghee and I would be studying from now on. And that meant the protagonist, Itsuka Shido, and I would be in the same class.
Was this a coincidence, or was it fate? If this had been me up until two days ago, I would have silently cheered, “Wow! I’m in the same class as the protagonist?! Yay~!” and been happy without thinking twice. But maybe because of what happened yesterday, I was now suspicious of even little things like this.
Could Ratatoskr have been pulling strings from behind the scenes just to target me? In my head, I was already picturing scenes from the anime where they played a dating sim on the bridge of the airship, and even Shido disguising himself as Itsuka Shiori in order to target me, a “man,” while also being a “man” himself.
Haah... I really shouldn’t have gone out of the shelter yesterday. If Younghee had just brought her phone properly....
“Why?”
“...No, nothing.”
I sent Younghee a slightly resentful look, but she only tilted her head and asked what was wrong. At that reaction, I turned my head away and corrected my thoughts again.
It wasn’t as if Younghee had wanted to leave her phone behind. And back then, I really had thought Younghee was outside, so I’d rushed out to save her without thinking. If I had looked more carefully, I wouldn’t have ended up sending Tohka flying into a building.
If I were to properly assign responsibility, then the biggest fault was mine for acting on impulse without even checking properly. Besides, what could I do now that it had already happened? I’d just have to deal with it myself.
In the end, I sighed again at a conclusion that hadn’t changed at all, and Younghee, walking beside me, tilted her head with a baffled expression. Meanwhile, Tama-sensei, who hadn’t heard my sigh, continued explaining things about Raizen High School to us until we reached the classroom.
“This is the Class 2-4 classroom where you two will be attending from now on. Everyone is kind and friendly, so there’s no need to be too nervous~.”
Seeing my stiff expression, Tama-sensei said that with a smile. In truth, my face really was pretty stiff. Standing in front of the classroom door marked Class 2-4, my heart seemed to be pounding even harder than before.
That person, Itsuka Shido, was right beyond this door. I was a little excited at the thought of meeting the protagonist, but I was also uneasy because of what happened yesterday, so cold sweat kept breaking out.
With a whoosh, Tama-sensei opened the classroom door right away. The very moment I, startled, was about to shout, “W-wait...!”
“Everyone~ please take your seats~. And today, we have some special guests in our class? —Now, both of you, come in.”
The chatter that had been leaking intermittently from beyond the door stopped, and the gazes of about thirty students instantly swept toward us. I calmed my pounding heart and slowly stepped into the classroom.
Younghee and I stood side by side next to Tama-sensei’s desk. As I looked over the classroom under the students’ gazes, I could see faces I recognized from the anime.
The first to catch my eye was the blue-haired boy sitting at a desk toward the back of the classroom, Itsuka Shido. And staring intently at him was a white-haired girl. If my memory was right, that girl’s name was Tobiichi Origami.
And besides those two, there was also a waxed-up boy who definitely looked familiar from the anime, and a black-haired girl wearing glasses whose name I couldn’t remember, but whose one and only memorable trait was, “She’s totally cool~.”
“Some of you may already know this, but these two here are friends who came from Korea~. They’ll be staying at our Raizen High School for a while through this exchange student project, so everyone, please get along well with them~.”
“Hello. My name is Kim Younghee. I look forward to getting along with you all.”
“............”
Thump. Younghee lightly tapped my arm. Snapping out of it, I hurriedly opened my mouth and rushed through my own introduction.
“Ah... I’m Kang Haneul. This is my first time in Japan. I look forward to getting along with you all.”
After finishing our introductions like that, I lost track of time.
That was because countless students sent us curious, interested looks and bombarded us with endless requests for handshakes and a flood of questions. Fortunately, everyone had good personalities and treated us very kindly, but they were... how should I put it, overflowing with energy.
As we answered the students’ many questions one by one, we could feel Tama-sensei’s words about them being “a little full of personality” with our whole bodies.
“Hee~ Hey, is that white hair natural? Or dyed?”
“Ah, it’s natural.”
“That’s amazing~. Come to think of it, there’s also someone with white hair in our class~.”
At the girl’s mutter as she pointed at my hair, my gaze drifted unconsciously to one place. At the end of that gaze sat a girl with white hair that was even clearer and more vivid than mine.
Tobiichi Origami. She was looking at Younghee and me with cold eyes that held not a single trace of emotion.
No, maybe she was looking at me. As I recalled the anime knowledge lingering in my memory and met Origami’s icy gaze, cold sweat began to trickle down again for no reason.
The special unit of the Self-Defense Forces that fought Spirits: AST.
Tobiichi Origami was a member of AST. And yesterday, when I had somehow ended up sending Tohka into a building, AST had also been on the scene. Of course, I had bolted before AST got seriously involved, but maybe they had seen my face back then.
I had pulled my cap down low to hide my face, and I had even stuffed the clothes I was wearing at the time deep inside my suitcase and hidden them away. But still, they were the military of a country.
I couldn’t exactly think that such a half-baked response had completely evaded AST’s eyes. And Origami might simply have been looking at me, but because I kept thinking about yesterday, every time I saw her gaze directed this way, I couldn’t stop the thought from rising up: “Could she have seen me...?”
I swallowed dryly. Then the girl who had brought up my hair color nodded.
“That’s right. That girl’s name is Tobiichi Origami. She’s got the same white hair as you.”
“Tobiichi Origami....”
“The Eternal Frozen Land, or the Smiling Cold War. And the top scorer on the nationwide mock exams, our school’s proud super genius! That’s Tobiichi Origami!”
As the girl introduced her while pointing at her, I stared blankly at Origami. Then, suddenly striking an exaggerated pose like she was performing in a play, a boy approached and spoke loudly.
The name on the name tag pinned to his chest read Tonomachi Hiroto.
“But Tobiichi Origami has the highest difficulty level among the girls at our school, you know? Her guard is so tight that I can’t even count how many boys have tried to confess to her and gotten rejected!”
“Hey, Tonomachi. What are you saying to someone you just met...?”
And then another person walked over, sending Tonomachi a look of disbelief. As a refined face and blue hair came into view, I immediately shifted my gaze to the name tag on his chest.
Itsuka Shido. It was him.
“Um, hello...? You said you came from Korea?”
“Ah, yeah.”
“I’m Itsuka Shido. Just call me Itsuka if you want. Um... how do you usually address people by name in Korea?”
“Just call me Haneul.”
Meeting the protagonist of Date A Live—no, the protagonist of this world—had made me tense up for a moment. But after exchanging a few words, the tension naturally began to fade. He had that strange charm that made people feel at ease. The way he smiled and approached without hesitation—
“Ah, be careful, Haneul~. You know, Itsuka-kun? Because he looks kind of like a homo, he ranked second place in the school’s 『Best Couple Chosen by Fujoshi』 together with me~. That guy reaches out to any pretty boy, even if he’s not interested in girls at all, so be caref—”
“Th-That’s enough! What on earth are you saying to someone you just met today─?!”
Shido immediately retaliated with a headlock against Tonomachi, who had started joking around. Naturally, I let out a “Haha...” and laughed, but at that moment, one piece of information flashed through my mind.
Itsuka Shido could seal a Spirit’s spiritual power.
And to seal that spiritual power, he had to raise their affection.
The way to raise affection was dating.
And Shido was... no way, me?
“Hiiik─?!”
“Don’t be fooled! Don’t be fooled, Haneul! Tonomachi’s just messing around! Besides, I’m not interested in men at all─!”
I was so startled by the rose-filled scene unfolding in my head that I recoiled backward. But seeing Shido desperately insisting that it wasn’t true, I erased the image from my mind and regained my composure.
Looking closely, he wasn’t even wearing those earbud-like things used to target Spirits. And it was only a simple greeting anyway; maybe I’d just overreacted to Tonomachi Hiroto’s joke.
And above all....
“Hey, Itsuka?”
“Hm?”
“Have we maybe met somewhere before?”
“Before...? Hmm, let’s see. I don’t really know?”
I was fairly skilled at detecting when someone was lying. At my casual probe, he tilted his head with a genuinely puzzled expression, and not even the slightest tremor could be seen in his pupils.
And above all, there was none of that typical anime-style lying behavior—no cold sweat, no trembling voice, no awkwardness in his response. Shido was definitely not lying.
In other words, Itsuka Shido had not seen me at yesterday’s scene.
At that instantly confirmed fact, the tension that had stiffened my body loosened all at once, and a sigh of relief escaped from inside me.
“Ah, then I guess I was just imagining things.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. Anyway, it’s nice to meet you. I look forward to getting along with you.”
As I spoke warmly and held out my hand to Shido, he smiled and took my outstretched hand without hesitation.
“Welcome to Tengu City.”
And saying that, Shido gave my hand a light shake.
○○○
First period. Second period. Third period. Fourth period passed. When I checked the time on my phone, I could see that it was already lunchtime.
By then, the meal I’d eaten in the morning had been fully digested, and hunger was starting to set in. Looking around, I could see a crowd of students walking noisily down the hallway in a big group.
Of course, I was also mixing into that crowd and heading out to eat lunch.
“Hmm, I see. Raizen High School doesn’t have a school lunch system.”
“Yeah. So everyone either brings a lunch box from home or goes to the cafeteria.”
“The cafeteria...! Then do they maybe have yakisoba bread or melon bread too?”
“Of course they do. Didn’t schools in Korea have cafeterias?”
“Our school didn’t. I heard the school next door had one, but I’ve never been there, so I don’t really know.”
Since it was lunchtime, I’d vaguely assumed we’d go to a cafeteria like we did back in Korea. But Raizen High School didn’t have a school lunch system, so everyone solved lunch by bringing boxed meals from home or buying food at the cafeteria.
Actually, our lunch as exchange students was supposed to be arranged separately by the hotel we were staying at, but because the person in charge had forgotten, today’s lunch had to be handled at the cafeteria too.
The chaperone teacher apologized to us, but it wasn’t really a big deal. In fact, everyone was secretly excited that this would be their first time using a school cafeteria.
“Still, I feel bad.... It’s fine for us to find the cafeteria ourselves, but you even guided us here...”
“You’re Itsuka, right? Don’t you need to eat lunch too?”
As Younghee and I said that with apologetic expressions, Shido waved it off and told us not to worry.
“I forgot to pack a lunch box this morning too, anyway. If I want to eat lunch, I have to go to the cafeteria, so you really don’t need to worry about it.”
“Do you make your own lunch box, Itsuka?”
“Yeah. My parents are always away for work. So I handle all the housework.”
“That’s amazing....”
As Younghee let out an admiring murmur and widened her eyes, Shido talked as if it was nothing and scratched his head bashfully. In that peaceful mood, we kept talking as we moved toward the cafeteria.
The very moment Shido said, “If you go this way, the cafeteria is right there,” and came down the stairs, he suddenly widened his eyes and let out a surprised “Ah...?” before stopping in his tracks.
“Itsuka?”
“Why are you suddenly acting like that?”
“No, it’s just....”
The moment I turned my head toward where Shido was looking with a flustered expression, I saw it.
Shido was staring somewhere with a troubled look on his face. What was going on all of a sudden? Wondering that to myself, I also turned toward the direction of his gaze. Then, at the far end of the hallway, I saw a girl slowly approaching this way together with Tama-sensei. The girl had red hair tied into twin tails with white ribbons, and when her small frame and familiar face that I had seen somewhere came into view, I also couldn’t help but let out an “Ah...?” of surprise.
And at that very moment.
“Onii-chaaaaan~!”
With the force of a cannonball, the girl on the other side sprinted over in an instant and tackled Shido in the stomach.
“Hkgh...!”
“Ahaha, got you! It’s the chairman~! Ahahahahaha!”
“I-Itsuka?! A-are you okay?!”
“............Good heavens.”
The force was obviously no joke. When Younghee and I asked if he was okay, Shido forcibly peeled the girl clinging to his stomach off and answered that he was fine.
“Hmm~? Are these your friends, Onii-chan? But I’ve never seen them before....”
“Ko, Kotori...? Why are you at our school....”
Shido asked Kotori that with wide eyes. Then Tama-sensei, whom we had seen earlier in the morning, walked up from behind Kotori and spoke.
“Ah, Itsuka-kun. Your little sister came looking for you, and we were just about to call for you over the school intercom.”
“I-I see....”
“Yes. Ah, and Haneul-kun and Younghee-chan are....”
As if she had already memorized our names, Tama-sensei called to us standing beside them with a smile.
“You two were on your way to the cafeteria, I see. There’s still plenty of time before lunch break ends, so take your time~.”
“Ah, yes....”
Tama-sensei left those words with us, then smiled at Kotori, who was calling out “Bye-bye,” before walking off in the direction of the faculty office.
“Hey, hey, Onii-chan~. So who are these big sister and big brother here?”
And the girl Shido called Kotori looked at us with wide eyes and an utterly innocent voice. I had been startled when she came flying over like a cannonball, but seeing the way the white ribbon tied in her hair twitched like cat ears made me think, almost unconsciously, that she was cute.
Younghee even muttered softly, “What a cute kid....”
“Ah, these kids here are... friends who came from Korea today as exchange students.”
“Ooooh~! So that means you big sister and big brother are foreigners~!”
At her bright-eyed shout, Younghee burst out laughing with a “Pfft.” Then Shido, who had been wearing a slightly awkward expression, let out a small “Ah,” and immediately called us over to introduce Kotori.
“Ah, Haneul. Younghee. This is my little sister, Itsuka Kotori.”
Itsuka Kotori. At that explanation, I muttered “As expected” to myself.
Her personality changed depending on the color of her ribbon, she held the title of commander of Ratatoskr at such a young age, and she was a Spirit... yes, it was the same Itsuka Kotori I had seen in the anime.
Judging by the fact that the ribbon tying her hair was white, Kotori right now seemed to be in the so-called “little sister mode” I had only heard about.
“Itsuka Kotori... is that her name? She’s really a cute little sister.”
“R-right....”
At Younghee’s reaction, Shido gave a subtle response, then nodded with a somewhat uneasy expression.
“Hey, big sister and big brother from Korea~. Actually, I have something ‘important’ to talk about with my big brother alone~. So, would it be okay if I borrowed him for a moment?”
With cute little hand and foot gestures mixed in, she made her request adorably, and Younghee smiled warmly before immediately agreeing, saying, “Of course.” Then Kotori fixed her gaze on me, and only after a beat did I come to my senses and hurriedly nod in agreement too. Shido still had a somewhat complicated expression on his face. Then he spoke in a low voice to Kotori.
“...Kotori. Is that important talk by any chance about 〈Ratatoskr〉, or a Spirit, or—”
“Let’s talk about that later~.”
Kotori cut Shido off at once with a grin. Shido then closed his mouth with a “Uuuhm....” It seemed like there had been an important keyword in there, like Ratatoskr or Spirit, but just in case, I pretended not to hear it.
“Ah... but what should we do? We were in the middle of going to the cafeteria with them....”
“We’re fine, Itsuka. We’ve got a rough idea of where the cafeteria is, and you said you had something important to talk about with your little sister, right? We’re fine, so go on ahead with your little sister.”
Younghee said that with a smile. Then Kotori’s smile grew even brighter as she waved vigorously at us.
“Big sister and big brother from Korea! Thanks for lending me Onii-chan~! Let’s meet again next time~.”
Younghee waved back and told the Kotori who was dragging Shido away by the hand to be careful. Younghee still had a smile on her face as she watched Kotori recede into the distance, but Shido, being pulled along by Kotori, had looked somehow oddly uncomfortable ever since a moment ago.
“She was really cute. Right?”
“............Yeah.”
At Younghee’s words, I answered like that while continuing to stare down the hallway where Shido and Kotori had disappeared. Sure enough, just as Younghee said, Kotori we had just seen was incredibly cute. Her looks, her behavior—there really wasn’t any other word that fit besides “cute.” But maybe because I knew Kotori in her black-ribbon form, I kept feeling a sense of incongruity in the Kotori I had just seen and the way she acted.
“I hope we get to see her again next time. Well then, should we head to the cafeteria now?”
“...Sure, I guess.”
But that was that, and anyway, we still had to eat. At Younghee’s suggestion that we go to the cafeteria, I shrugged, and we headed off in the direction of the cafeteria.
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