Watching the protagonist, Sakamoto Ryuji, lead the transfer student out, I quietly rose from my seat.
Just then, Satoru, who sat in front of me, asked.
"Hey, Kim, if you're done with Jump, can I read it?"
"Be my guest."
I handed him the copy of Jump I'd finished, and with a melon pan still in his mouth, he began to read with delight.
Satoru had been in my class during our first year, making him one of the few people in Class 2-B who knew the school rumors surrounding me were all fake.
For someone like me, who isn't exactly approachable, he was a truly valuable asset.
Ever since I started training like a madman in my first year, I'd keenly felt the sharp decline in people who would casually strike up a conversation with me.
As I closed the back door of the classroom and stepped into the hallway, eyes naturally gravitated toward me.
I ignored the stares and followed the back of the protagonist's head, visible in the distance.
Lunch had just begun, so the hallways were crowded, but wherever I went, the students parted to the left and right as if on cue, giving me a clear path.
...A regular miracle of Moses.
Anyway, as I walked toward the emergency staircase—in the opposite direction of the school store—I thought about what was going to happen next.
'First, Sakamoto will apologize to the transfer student.'
Rom-coms have a formula.
It's the kind of formula so predictable you don't even need to see how it plays out—a foregone conclusion.
I hadn't read 'Scramble Love' in my past life, so I knew nothing about the events to come.
All I knew were the faces of the main heroines who ranked in the final popularity poll and that Scramble Love followed the royal road of romantic comedies.
Therefore, I 'deduced.'
I figured if I didn't know what was going to happen, I just had to predict it.
That was why, even as a high school student, I couldn't put down my copy of Jump.
Over the years, rom-coms have evolved in unconventional ways.
Naturally, you can't predict what's next if you don't understand the latest trends.
While lost in these thoughts, I lost sight of the pair, but I could easily guess where they were headed.
A place the two of them could go at this time of day, somewhere secluded and perfect for a private conversation.
As far as I knew, the only such place was the courtyard behind the school.
After taking the emergency stairs down and exiting through the passage to the outside, I saw their two figures not far away.
'Bingo.'
I cheered inwardly and hid at a distance where I could just barely hear their voices.
Just then,
"I'm sorry! I didn't do it on purpose!"
Clap!
'There it is! The prayer-pose apology!'
Truly befitting the protagonist of a rom-com.
In the two years since I'd possessed Kim Yu-seong's body, I had never seen anyone strike that pose. To think he'd actually do it.
Anyway, Kishimoto Rika, the recipient of his apology, stood with her arms crossed, looking down at the top of his head. The twitching of her lips suggested she wasn't truly angry.
She was silent for a moment before she could no longer hold it in and burst out laughing.
Then, with a cat-like smile, she said.
"You're surprisingly innocent, aren't you?"
Sakamoto Ryuji looked up, seemingly having just grasped the situation. He raised his voice, "You!" but Kishimoto Rika just laughed nonchalantly and playfully punched his chest.
"What happened this morning was an accident. I'm not so petty as to hold a grudge over something like that, you know?"
"...Then why'd you pretend to be angry?"
"Hmm... Because the look on your face when you saw me was priceless?"
"Gyaaaah! Do you have any idea how much I've been agonizing over this?!"
"Ahahaha! That face right now! That's the one! You're hilarious!"
"Grr! If you weren't a girl...!"
As Sakamoto Ryuji trembled with clenched fists in frustration, Kishimoto Rika teased, "Why? Would you hit me if I were a boy?" before slipping her hands into her cardigan pockets.
"Anyway, that's the end of the discussion about this morning's incident. Don't you bring it up in front of anyone else either."
"...Right."
As the protagonist, who had been played from start to finish, replied with an exhausted look, Kishimoto Rika said shamelessly.
"You got a free peek at a cute high school girl's panties and were forgiven for it. You should be happy, so why the long face?"
"How can you say that about yourself...?"
When he pointed that out, Kishimoto Rika blushed slightly and slapped Sakamoto Ryuji's bent back.
"Hey, now! Use your nice words!"
Forced to straighten his back, Sakamoto Ryuji shot her a resentful glare, but Kishimoto Rika just found it all hilarious and left with a "Nee-hee-hee!" laugh.
***
Right after their conversation—what I presumed to be an event from the original story—concluded, I dropped the twig I was holding and came out of hiding.
My impression from watching them was that it was a textbook introduction to a youth rom-com.
Applying the rom-com formula, 'Kishimoto Rika' is your classic cheerful and easygoing gyaru character.
She's a gateway heroine, the type meant to draw in readers who aren't usually interested in manga.
Her flawlessly bright smile was truly worthy of her subtitle as the undisputed number one in the popularity polls.
I had no intention of interfering with the original story, but I felt like I'd witnessed something nice for the first time in a while. I sat on a nearby bench and took out the bento I'd brought from the classroom.
A Chinese-style bento I'd packed myself this morning.
I would have liked to eat with my friends in the classroom, but given my appearance, I thought I'd make others uncomfortable, so I came outside.
Until my classmates grew somewhat accustomed to my presence, it seemed I'd have to keep eating alone with nature for a while.
It was cold, but the youlinji was still crispy. I picked up a piece and was just about to put it in my mouth.
"Kim Yu-seong! What is the secretary of the great Student Council doing here!"
A familiar, scolding voice suddenly rang out from behind me.
I gently placed the youlinji I was about to eat back in its container and cautiously turned around.
"...President, what are you doing here?"
"I tracked your phone's location. Ohohohoho!"
Isn't it a bit much to announce an illegal act so proudly?
A beautiful girl with a black hime cut, covering her mouth with a black, gold-gilded fan as she let out a series of princess-like laughs.
This was Ichijo Academy's student council president, 'Saionji Kumiko.'
A direct descendant of a prestigious noble family based in Kyoto, she was the head of a student council with a suspicious amount of power.
The vice president and all other members of the student council were her personal lackeys, making it less a council and more a private organization.
In a rom-com, she's the type who'd be relegated to an insignificant supporting heroine or a rival gag character.
In any case, I couldn't understand why someone like her was here.
"President, aren't you busy with the start of the new semester?"
"I am, but I can at least spare the time to eat with a subordinate who is eating all by his lonely self."
She said, giving me a pointed look.
It was a signal to come with her.
Knowing I couldn't refuse once the president had made up her mind, I obediently picked up my bento and followed.
Walking alongside her across the school grounds, I asked.
"Where is the vice president? You two are always together."
"I sent him ahead to save us a seat in the student cafeteria. It gets completely full if you're late."
I thought we'd eat in the comfort of the student council room. It was surprising she'd deliberately go to the cafeteria.
"I doubt they have anything there that would suit your palate, President."
At that, the president glanced at me, then hid her face with her fan and said.
"Hmph! I am perfectly capable of eating commoner's food, you know. That dish I had at your family's restaurant the other day... stir-fried spicy pork rice bowl? It was quite good."
It was astonishing to see the same person who used to elegantly cut into a steak in the student council room during our first year now casually talking about stir-fried spicy pork.
Is this what they call personal growth?
However, I had to correct one of her misconceptions.
"I'm afraid they don't serve stir-fried spicy pork in the student cafeteria."
Her eyes widened as if she'd heard something unbelievable.
"What?! Then what in the world do they have?!"
"You could try gyudon instead. It's a similar type of dish."
If she's tried a Korean commoner's dish, wouldn't it be fitting for her to try one from her own country next?
The president muttered, "Gyudon... gyudon... It has a nice ring to it," then clenched her fists.
"I, Saionji Kumiko, shall successfully complete my commoner experience by partaking in this dish called gyudon!"
Ohohohoho!
Watching her one-woman show, I thought.
'If only she'd keep her mouth shut.'
A classic case of a wasted pretty face.