Ten minutes later, they were seated in the assembly hall alongside the other first-years. The air carried the faint scent of varnished wood and new upholstery.
Ai sat to his left, legs crossed neatly at the ankles, idly humming under her breath—utterly unbothered by the attention she continued to attract.
Kazuto sat with a quiet exhale, posture relaxed but not slouched.
Shiroyama Academy.
That was the name of the school.
A private, selective institution with a reputation it mostly lived up to. Emphasis on mostly.
If one were to speak candidly, it was an academically competent school wrapped in the aesthetics of prestige. Nestled in a quieter stretch of Minato Ward, it was bordered by a public park on one side and an overpriced residential estate on the other. The campus maintained a deliberately curated image—equal parts education facility and luxury retreat.
Listening to some middle-aged man drone on from the stage didn't strike Kazuto as the best use of his attention span, so his thoughts quietly drifted—back to the System.
'Didn't it say something about my daily life being converted into chapters for people back in the original world?'
Quickly, he summoned the interface mid-air and to the Chapter Log.
📘 [Chapter Log]
System Status: Active
Auto-Recording: Enabled
Upload Cycle: Daily/Weekly/Monthly (00:00 System Time)
Function Overview:
The Chapter Log automatically compiles a written transcript of each day's key events, dialogues, and internal monologues—formatted and uploaded as a "fanfic chapter" for external viewing.
Viewer Comments (Available Daily):
Comment system opens post-upload, influencing Flag Progression and Popularity Metrics.
Popularity Metrics:
A numerical measurement of how entertaining your life (as a story) is to the audience from the Original World.
Calculated via reader engagement: views, comments, ratings, and live read-through time.
Milestones Unlock Perks:
- Bonus Scenarios
- Emergency Rewrite Overrides
- Character Insight Windows
Impact on Author Authority:
Higher Popularity Score = Increased Author Authority.
Greater Author Authority = More control over narrative events, number of heroines, and unlocked scenarios.
Sudden drops in popularity may trigger Stability Warnings or Emergency Events.
[ END OF PROFILE ]
Kazuto let out a quiet, mirthless chuckle.
So basically, he was contractually obligated to remain interesting. As long as he didn't sink into narrative irrelevance, the system would continue handing out perks.
To accelerate that trajectory, one tool came immediately to mind: the Draft Engine.
After all, it was the most efficient way to level up his capabilities—both in narrative and reality.
He was just about to summon the interface again when Ai nudged him—elbow to rib, polite but pointed.
"Kazuto-kun," she whispered. From her tone alone, it was clear it wasn't urgent. Still, ignoring her would only earn him consequences later.
"What?" he murmured back.
"Talk to me."
"…What?"
"During the speech," she said, her eyes still trained on the stage. "I bet it's going to be dead boring."
He frowned slightly. He could believe that. This was Ai, after all. Her boredom threshold wasn't just low—it was subterranean.
"…What do you want to talk about?"
"Hm?" She tilted her head towards him slightly. "Was that reluctance I just heard?"
"Must've been your imagination."
She puffed out her cheeks, displeased with the answer.
She had sensed something off about this childhood friend of hers ever since he'd woken up from his nap in class earlier. But then again, there were already plenty of strange things about him even before that, so she couldn't exactly pin it on just today.
They'd known each other since primary school. Not in some dramatic, fate-bound way. Just two kids who ended up sitting next to each other, and never really drifted apart.
Yet somehow, in the supposedly brief time they'd spent together during primary school, Kazuto had managed to change her.
There was a time she couldn't even look people in the eye. At home, nothing ever felt safe.
Kazuto had always been unusually perceptive, even when they were kids. It didn't take him long to figure out that Ai was dealing with more than just the usual childhood problems.
He didn't try to fix her, or act like he understood everything she was going through.
What he did instead was shift the atmosphere around her. If she looked anxious, he found ways to ease the pressure. If she seemed withdrawn, he gave her space—but not silence. He kept her engaged, included, without demanding anything in return. Little by little, he gave her room to exist without fear.
He never called attention to it. Never made it about him.
But his presence made a difference—calm, stable, and consistent.
That was enough to start pulling her out of the emotional state she'd been trapped in for so long.
That was what stood out the most to her.
He respected her, even when she didn't know how to respect herself.
And maybe, Ai often thought, that was because he knew what it felt like to be discarded.
His parents abandoned him when he was still young. He lived in a small group home not far from the school, and he rarely talked about it. But Ai remembered hearing the teachers talk about it once. Maybe that was why he always carried himself a little differently. It's like he'd figured out early on that no one was coming to save him.
Even so, he was the one who stood up for her.
When her mother was arrested for theft, and there was no one else willing to claim her, Kazuto didn't look away. He stayed with her through every step of the process—through the police, the interviews, the temporary shelter. He even talked to the couple who would later adopt her. Helped explain what she couldn't.
He had no obligation. No family of his own. No reason to get involved. But he did it anyway.
Not because he was trying to be a hero. Not to collect praise points or moral high ground.
Just because, in that moment, it was the right thing to do.
He never made a show of it. Never brought it up afterward. To him, it probably wasn't even a big deal.
But to Ai, it was everything.
Because for the first time, someone had chosen to care. And that someone had nothing, yet still gave her something no one else ever had—safety. A place to start over.
She didn't fall in love with Kazuto simply because he was kind, or cool, or clever. It was more than that.
She loved him because when everything collapsed around her, he stayed by her side.
He was the reason she was here at all.
In this uniform. In this school. In a life that—however fragile—finally felt like hers.
And no matter how long it took, she wasn't going to pretend those feelings didn't exist.
Now that she was allowed to go to a public school and live a somewhat normal life, she didn't want to hold back anymore. She'd spent too long hiding how she felt, pretending everything was just "childhood friends." That wasn't enough.
She loved him. For real. And if being near him every day gave her the chance to show it, even a little, she wasn't going to waste that—if she wanted to be his girlfriend, then she'd damn well go for it.
✦ FicWriter+ ✦
A/N: Rate it from 1 to 10, with the reasoning as well, if possible. That'll help me covering what's lacking from the story.
7+ Advanced Chapters: https://www.patreon.com/c/YvisEV
Words Count: 1,063