Chapter 19

"Leader gets all the good stuff... and now Akagi too..."

"If you're gonna complain, do it after eating. You're ruining my appetite."

It was lunch break at school, and Taiga was in the Literature Club’s room again. Ever since I accidentally mentioned that I sometimes eat my lunch here, he started showing up too.

Normally, Taiga eats at the cafeteria surrounded by a bunch of girls, so his absence there probably causes a stir. That’s why I warned him not to come here during lunch, but of course, he wouldn’t listen.

He claims, "I’ve already told everyone I wanna be left alone during breaks, so it’s fine." But there’s no guarantee someone won’t tail him. I had no choice but to teach him how to erase his presence, banning him from the clubroom until he mastered it.

…And he learned it in a week.

A technique I worked so hard to perfect, and he picks it up instantly. Seriously, I hate overpowered cheats like him.

For now, I make him take a detour, lose any followers, and slip in through the old school building’s back window.

"I even told my manager I wanna act alongside you, but she keeps saying, 'Maybe someday,' and brushes me off."

"Well, duh. It’s not like you can magically co-star overnight. If you behave yourself, the scandal will die down by next year, and then you’ll get your chance."

Ugh, what a pain.

This was supposed to be my peaceful lunch break, but Taiga’s sulking ruins the whole vibe. Sayuri and Ayano are just quietly eating their lunches, smiling awkwardly.

"My acting’s way better than Leader’s or Akagi’s, though! Why does Leader get to co-star with you all the time? We’re all idols!"

"Because he just happened to overlap with me on BokuKimi. Stop whining already, it’s annoying."

"What!? But you said you’d listen to my complaints!"

"I said 'sometimes.' Not every single lunch break. So quit dumping your drama here. It’s killing my appetite."

I finished my bento, packed it away, and sipped the tea Ayano brewed for us. Summer was creeping in, the air outside growing muggy, but the Literature Club room had air conditioning. Pure bliss.

Honestly, having this peaceful little hideout was a blessing—well, when someone wasn’t busy sulking over his bread across the table.

"By the way, Taiga, don’t you bring a bento?"

"Mom says to just eat at the cafeteria, so no."

"Then go eat there. Living off sweet bread every day’s gonna wreck your body."

"No way. Being surrounded by girls at lunch is exhausting. I’d rather sit here and eat in peace."

At our school, homemade bentos are kind of rare since the cafeteria food’s pretty high-quality and balanced. But still, technically, store-bought stuff like the sweet bread Taiga’s munching on is banned. He sneaks it in hidden in his bag, so he hasn’t been caught yet.

"I-I could… make you a bento, maybe…?"

"You can cook?"

"Taiga, watch your tone."

Ayano spoke timidly, but since Taiga had been talking casually with me, he slipped into his natural gruffness and ended up snapping at her. Calling her “you” like that, too—unbelievable.

He quickly straightened his posture, uncrossed his arms, and, with a dazzling smile, said:

"Heh, so you’re good at cooking?"

"N-not good, exactly… but I help my mom a lot, so I cook pretty often…"

"That’s so sweet. I like girls who are good at homey stuff."

"E-eh?! N-no, it’s really not that impressive…"

"I’d love to try your cooking sometime."

"A-ah, then… would you like some of my rolled omelet?"

Still holding her lunchbox, Ayano shyly offered him a piece. Inside were perfectly golden slices of tamagoyaki.

Taiga picked one up, but instead of eating it, he leaned forward and—

"Feed me."

He moved the omelet toward Ayano’s lips instead, leaning in close for a mouth-to-mouth bite—

"—Not happening!"

Without a sound, I circled behind him, swung my leg up, and tried to slam my heel into the back of his head—

—but he slipped away at the last second.

Damn it. Landing a solid hit on Taiga is impossible unless I catch him completely off guard. If I wanted to actually take him down, I’d have to throw him, lock his joints, and break something—but the clubroom’s too cramped, and Sayuri and Ayano haven’t even finished eating yet.

I had no choice but to stomp on his foot, grab him by the collar, and choke him out on the spot.

"Daisho, what exactly are you thinking?"

I tightened my grip and lifted him off the ground, suspending him midair. He started tapping at my arm desperately, clearly struggling to breathe. Not wanting him to actually fall, I loosened my hold and set him down.

"Ugh! What the hell was that for?!"

"That’s my line. What the hell were you planning to do to Ayano-chan, you damn mutt?"

Since Daisho yelled at me, my words came out harsher than intended. Ayano-chan, meanwhile, had an omelet halfway in her mouth, her face turning bright red like a boiled octopus as her eyes spun in a daze.

"What do you mean? Nana, you’re the one who told me to do it."

"Huh? When exactly did I ever tell you to feed someone mouth-to-mouth?"

"You said before, didn’t you? That when talking to girls, I should copy stuff from manga."

…What is he talking about? Then I remembered. Back when I was telling Daisho to be more considerate toward his fans, he’d complained, saying, "I don’t know what to talk about with girls." I’d given him the original manga of the drama we were co-starring in at the time.

It was supposed to be a shoujo manga… a cute, innocent story about platonic love between elementary school kids, as far as I remembered.

"Oh, right, the manga from when you were co-starring with Hiro back then? But I don’t recall there being anything this indecent in it."

"Um… if it’s that manga, the newest issue actually has a scene kind of like what just happened…"

"Wait, it’s still running?"

Ayano-chan finally swallowed the omelet she’d been chewing, then pulled a shoujo manga magazine out of her bag. I took it and skimmed through it. Turns out, the once-elementary school protagonists were now in high school, and the character I’d originally told Daisho to "learn from" was doing almost the exact same thing he’d just tried.

"…Ayano-chan, do you have the tankoubon for this?"

When I asked, she went to the locker in the corner of the clubroom and took out a stack of manga. Apparently, since manga are technically against school rules, they’d been secretly handed down and stored like contraband.

Flipping through the volumes, I realized there were way more than when I’d last read it. Back in the elementary school part, the romance was lighthearted and fluffy, but as the story moved into middle school and high school, the scenes had gotten much more suggestive. And now, the heroine was in a full-on reverse harem situation, being aggressively pursued by multiple handsome guys.

Even so, the main love interest was still the same character from her elementary school days. He now whispered embarrassing, cliché lines straight out of internet memes at just the right moments. The sweet, innocent boy he used to be had completely disappeared.

The only silver lining was that the whole mouth-to-mouth feeding scene only showed up in the very latest chapter. At most, before this, it had only been cliché moments like kabedon, chin lifts, and whispered sweet lines.

"…Daisho, you’ve been copying all of this this whole time?"

"Yeah! It worked like a charm!"

Of course it did.

Shoujo manga are filled with idealized fantasies written by girls for girls. But there’s one crucial rule Daisho doesn’t seem to get: these kinds of things only work if you’re handsome.

And Daisho was, of course, handsome.

No wonder there was a constant chorus of squeals around him. I’d never paid much attention to it since I usually avoided getting too close to him at school…

"Have you ever done that mouth-to-mouth feeding thing with anyone else?"

"Nope, not yet. I’ve been spending lunch breaks here lately, after all."

"That’s forbidden."

"Huh? Why?"

"Because I said so. Forbidden. And also, you’re banned from copying anything from that manga ever again. Got it?"

"Then what am I supposed to do?"

I wanted to tell him to start using his own brain for once, but if I actually let Daisho think for himself, nothing good would come out of it. This is the guy who calls Ayano-chan "you" (omae) to her face, after all.

"Ayano-chan, do you have any good books?"

"Books? Um…?"

"Anything’s fine—manga, novels, whatever. Something with a likable male character that girls would find appealing, but without extreme scenes like before."

When I said that, Ayano-chan went to the locker again and brought back another manga.

Its title was "Boku to Kimi de moderato".

Even someone like me, who rarely reads shoujo manga, knew this one. Actually, come to think of it, I’d even played the role of Mirei in both the drama and the movie adaptation. Totally slipped my mind.

But still… the "Emperor" character in that story is a classic arrogant type, and considering Daisho is just an ordinary guy at Sakuranagi Academy, an elite school for children of high society, trying to imitate him might be risky.

"I thought… maybe the best friend character would suit him better," Ayano-chan suggested hesitantly when she saw my doubtful expression.

In BokuKimi, the Emperor’s best friend is a gentle, supportive type who often plays the role of backup. He subtly helps the bullied heroine, reins in the Emperor when he goes too far, and occasionally drops heart-thumping lines—but overall, he isn’t aggressive toward girls.

And since BokuKimi is already completed, there’s no risk of the best friend suddenly doing something weird later on. Perfect.

"Daisho, just copy the best friend character from this."

"Mm, if Nana says so, I’ll do it."

When I told him that, he obediently started flipping through the manga. Times like this, at least, he listens without fuss.

"By the way, don’t copy anything from the movie version, okay?"

"Why not?"

"Because the personalities are a bit different. Only follow the manga, got it?"

The movie made subtle but noticeable changes to the characters.

The arrogant Emperor had been made oddly childish, the heroine had been given a bit of an airheaded vibe, and the best friend role came off slightly manipulative.

And worst of all, Mirei—the character I’d played—had her personality butchered the most, reduced to a scared errand girl pushed around by that scheming best friend.