Nishizawa Eri hurls her arms onto the desk with a glare.
Smirk.
Makoto chuckles.
“I heard that at Shuo Hero Academy, transfer students have their roommates mentor them for a month. So, Mayuzumi-sensei moved my seat next to Kim. Nishizawa’s seat is over there, I believe?”
Makoto raises a finger, pointing at the empty spot.
Nishizawa Eri follows the direction of Makoto’s finger.
There sits Shinozaki Rin, her usual expressionless face intact.
‘Next to a cow…’
Normally, she would have picked a fight with Shinozaki Rin, but today, she just wasn’t in the mood.
“I see…”
Nishizawa Eri drags out her words while glaring at Makoto.
Makoto beams.
The prince’s smile leaves the girls in a fluster.
‘…I feel unpleasant.’
Nishizawa Eri’s brows furrow.
“Kim, what are you having for lunch today?”
She abruptly grabs Kim Deok-Sung’s hand.
“Quit clinging to me. I don’t want to die today.”
Kim Deok-Sung grimaces.
“Well, who cares? We’re guys, right?”
Makoto gives a cheerful grin.
Nishizawa Eri analyses Makoto intently.
All men harbor lust in her presence.
Except for one.
Only her Master.
That’s why it’s expected for Makoto to show some sort of interest.
Even if he’s hiding it tightly, for Nishizawa, who is sensitive to others’ feelings, sniffing out hidden desires is a piece of cake.
‘But there’s no desire.’
What she felt from Makoto was not lust, but jealousy.
Similar to the feelings of a princess or a cow.
Is it weird for a guy to be jealous of a girl? And he doesn’t even have any lust for a beautiful girl like her, a celestial rank cutie?
‘Strange… This discomfort makes me feel uneasy…’
A strategy is needed.
Nishizawa Eri swallowed her thoughts and grabbed her bag, heading to the seat next to Rin.
*
Six days since the transfer student arrived.
Lunch time.
Shinozaki Rin clutched her racing heart, hugging her lunchbox like a treasure.
‘Today… Finally, a day when I made something edible!’
Inside the lunchbox were neatly stacked rice balls made of mentaiko and tuna mayo.
The shape was a bit off, but this was the first remotely edible dish she made.
Having tasted it herself, it was time to let her know she had finally nurtured her lacking femininity.
Thump, thump.
Calming her racing heart, Rin headed to the picnic table where Kim Deok-Sung sometimes had lunch.
Calming herself, Kim Deok-Sung headed towards the picnic table in the courtyard where he occasionally grabbed lunch.
“Kim Deok-Sung! Today, I finally made a, um, lunch box that I can eat······.”
Rin’s words were abruptly cut off.
A strange sight came into her view.
The new transfer student with green hair, Kamiya Makoto, was placing a lunch box on the table.
“I brought a lunch box. Kim-kun.”
As Makoto opened the lid, an extravagant array of lunch items was revealed.
“Wow. Kamiya-kun. You’re good at cooking too?”
“It looks so delicious.”
“You know, Kamiya-kun. Can I have a taste?”
Suddenly, some female students that had gathered around Makoto spoke up.
Makoto scratched her head and replied.
“Sorry. This is a lunch box I made just for Kim-kun, so I can’t share.”
As Makoto smiled, the female students were left giggling.
Seeing that, Kim Deok-Sung’s face twisted.
“Kim-kun. Here, open wide and try this. Isn’t it delicious? I made this korokke myself.”
“It’s tasty, but can you stop feeding me? It’s embarrassing.”
“What’s the big deal? We’re all guys here.”
“Seriously, stop it already.”
Rin narrowed her eyes.
Kamiya Makoto.
A transfer student from Osaka.
Even considering the roommate mentorship system, it was suspicious how closely the boy clung to her.
Rin was already aware of this.
But to think he would personally make a lunch box and even feed it to him.
‘I haven’t done that yet…!’
Rin bit her lip.
She strode over to the picnic table and set down her own lunch box.
“What’s up with you, Rin?”
“T-This is a lunch box… I made it just for you…”
Clink.
Rin opened her lunch box.
“Here, t-try it! I put a lot of effort into making it this time!”
With her eyes shut tight, Rin offered a rice ball to Kim Deok-Sung.
“If you do that again, I won’t hold back, Rin.”
“Kuh······.”
Kim Deok-Sung took the rice ball and ate it.
“······Surprisingly, it tastes pretty decent. What’s up with that?”
His eyes widened slightly.
Thump.
Rin’s face flushed red, and her heart raced.
Rin placed a hand on her chest and said,
“Hehe. This is the result of my blood, sweat, and tears. There’s nothing in this world that can’t be achieved with effort.”
“Shinozaki-san? Nice to meet you. Want to try my lunch box too?”
Swish.
Makoto held out her own lunch box.
Rin’s gaze fell on Makoto’s lunch box.
“W-Well, I guess I’ll give it a try.”
Rin picked up her chopsticks and took a bite of the korokke from Makoto’s lunch box.
Annoyingly enough, it was delicious.
Way better than her own shabby rice balls.
Makoto’s face came into Rin’s view.
Even though he was a guy, he had softer-looking skin than most girls, like that of a baby.
“Kuh······.”
The transfer student was a guy.
Yet, for some reason, she felt inferior in terms of femininity and skin quality.
Rin’s face turned red.
‘So I’m still… lacking…’
Rin bit her lip.
Feeling miserable because she was losing femininity to a guy.
Hurriedly, she closed the lid of her rice ball lunch box.
“I’m going to eat the rest by myself… so, bye!”
“Hey, Rin. Where are you going?”
Ignoring Kim Deok-Sung’s question, Rin walked away across the courtyard.
At that moment.
Brrring.
Rin’s phone rang.
The phone rings.
She picks up her phone.
There it is.
[Hey, Cow]
[Don’t you think something’s off about the transfer student?]
[Because of that, the princess, you, and I are going to hold a strategy meeting]
[How about it, wanna join? The princess is already on board]
A message from Nishizawa Eri was there.
Rin’s eyes tremble.
The humiliation from just moments ago resurfaces.
And the image of Makoto feeding Kim Deok-Sung lunch, too.
That’s not just ordinary friendship.
Rin knows better than anyone because she has feelings for him.
Something needs to be done.
Like a washboard would say.
“Ugh.”
She bites her lips as she types on her phone.
[I’m joining too]
The moment of the heroine’s united front is formed.
What’s with the boys?
It was the sixth night since Makoto transferred.
Shuo Hero Academy Dormitory, first floor, large bathhouse.
True to Japanese culture that praises bathhouses day in and day out in light novels, the facilities in the large bathhouse were spacious and clean.
I immerse myself in the hot, steamy water.
Splash.
Hot water overflows.
“Ah, refreshing.”
Korean words slip out of my mouth.
The hot water wraps around my body pleasantly.
This is what a bath should be.
I feel all the fatigue in my body melting away.
Indeed, bathing is best done alone at night when no one else is around.
“If we’re going to do this, we should have separate baths for boys and girls.”
Due to the lucky development where the protagonist and heroine meet, the dormitory’s large bathhouse has no divisions between male and female areas.
The one and only large bathhouse in the dormitory operates by dividing time slots for female students to use it and male students to use it.
Right now it’s the male student time, but at this late hour, there are hardly any students bathing, so it’s just me.
‘Just thinking about that horrifying sixth day.’
That day.
After Makoto spouted out some cringy words like “my lord” at the research lab.
Starting the next day, she began hanging around the academy in her boy’s outfit, and I thought I was going to go crazy when the ridiculous rumors started spreading.
Boys crowding around her, treating her like a prince, and they’re making such a racket just by flapping their tongues like dragon birds.
What? A true slip-up that knows no gender?
And on top of that, those terrible rumors that I can’t even mention.
“Damn it.”
Cursing just slips out.
I am a staunch heterosexual.
I absolutely do not like men.
I hated it when my 100th web novel suddenly veered off into humanity drifting in the 101st chapter.
I should have realized it when the male characters started being described in unnecessarily detailed ways.
Sigh.
I don’t even want to think about it.
If it’s drifting, it makes my teeth clench.
“What’s with the boys?”
Holding hands at any moment and feeding each other, what kind of skinship is that between guys?
That kind of thing is just inviting misunderstandings. It seems like misunderstandings have actually started.
Thank goodness they aren’t real guys, ugh.
If this were a web novel, the comments section would be ablaze saying it’s 100% drifting.
At that moment.
A familiar voice calls out from beyond the steamy bath.
“Master······. There you are?”
The person who calls me with a title that makes my hands and feet tense can only be one.
“Makoto?”
Wait, why is she here?
Is she crazy?
“Yes, I am Makoto, your sword.”
Makoto appears, cutting through the thick steam.
With her damp green hair and a swimsuit that accentuated her large chest sticking to her body, she gracefully entered the hot spring, approaching me.
“Why are you being so formal?”
Using honorifics in her address made me cringe.
“I thought it would be inappropriate to speak casually to my lord…”
Makoto slowly said, her face turning red.
“Just speak casually, while I’m in a good mood.”
For the sake of my internal peace.
Please.
“Uh, is that really okay?”
Makoto stuttered, her face flushed.
Her eyes were trembling.
“Just do it. You usually do, so why not now?”
“Ah, understood…”
Only then did Makoto’s tone return to normal.
Better than before.
“So, why are you here?”
“I couldn’t find you in your room… I was worried my fellow assassins were targeting you… I’m glad you’re in the large bathhouse…”
Makoto, soaking in the hot spring, smiled shyly.
Am I going insane?
“Are you out of your mind? What if someone sees? Get out of here, while I’m being nice.”
Makoto’s disguise as a male must not be discovered.
If her disguise is revealed, so will her identity, and Ritsuko might realize that Makoto failed and send another assassin.
‘That can’t happen.’
I do need to face Ritsuko soon, but I have to do it according to my own plan.
This original story is already falling apart; I don’t need any unnecessary variables.
“B-but… at this hour, isn’t it fine since there’s no one around…?”
Hehe.
Makoto awkwardly laughed and tapped her fingers together.
Perhaps due to the heat of the hot spring, her face became even more flushed.
She subtly placed her chest, wrapped in a sleek swimsuit, against my arm.
I could feel the soft and voluptuous sensation against my forearm.
“I actually wanted to bathe a little too…”
In the student dormitory’s bathroom, there’s only a showerhead.
To take a bath, you have to come to the large bathhouse.
This absurd scenario was undoubtedly made for lucky perverts.
How does the Shuo Hero Academy, boasting the world’s best facilities, not have a single bathtub in the student dormitory?
If that’s the case, they should take down the sign claiming to be the best in the world.
Descriptions in web novels about academy settings often highlight luxurious dorms that put mansions to shame; I should have been reincarnated in a Korean academy novel.
‘What the hell…’
Suddenly, my train of thought was interrupted.
I felt a soft presence on my forearm.
My body, having gone through the tumultuous period of youth, began to react foolishly.
Why am I experiencing the bathing episode with a cross-dressing girl, something only the protagonist would go through in the original story?
There was nothing wrong with what she said.
At this hour, there were hardly any students getting a bath.
But I couldn’t let my guard down.
‘In light novels, someone always walks in at moments like this…’
In the original story’s bathing episode, just when the protagonist and Makoto were about to leave, someone barged into the large bathhouse, causing them to hide together in a cramped locker.
It was an erotic scene of them getting close together inside the locker.
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