"I heard that a girl gave you a love letter?"
Just as Haruto was tidying up his desk, preparing to spend a leisurely lunch break under the lush trees in the courtyard, he was intercepted by Ichika before he could step out of the classroom. She approached with a mischievous smile, her expression carrying a hint of mischief.
Feeling slightly cornered, Haruto instinctively glanced in the direction of Itsuki.
Predicting that she might be suspected after telling Ichika, the girl had wisely left the classroom early, disappearing to an unknown destination. Most likely, she had gone to the cafeteria with her other sisters.
Turning his gaze back to Ichika, Haruto shook his head.
"No, it wasn't a love letter."
His response caught Ichika off guard. She had expected him to deny receiving anything at all, but his answer was unexpectedly straightforward, differing somewhat from Itsuki's account.
Meeting Ichika's curious and puzzled gaze, Haruto didn't bother explaining what was actually in the letter. Instead, he quietly left the classroom.
Even though many people had seen him take the pink envelope from his shoe locker, Haruto wasn't worried about anyone stealing it from his bag. No one would be foolish enough to do something like that under the watchful eyes of an entire classroom.
Ichika considered following him, but sensing that Haruto wasn't in the best mood, she decided against it.
When Haruto arrived at the courtyard, he settled onto his usual bench, lifting his head to scan the surrounding school buildings. He looked toward the approximate location where the photos had been taken, but all he saw was an empty classroom.
"No one uses that room?"
He glanced around again, searching for anything suspicious, but he found nothing. With a quiet sigh, he unwrapped his rice ball.
Though he could have packed his own bento or eaten in the cafeteria, making a lunchbox every day was a hassle. At the start of the semester, he had prepared his own meals for the first couple of days, but the effort quickly wore him down. As for the cafeteria...
Until his finances improved, he figured it was better to stick with rice balls.
His naturally lazy personality had improved slightly when he returned to his teenage years, but over time, his true nature had started to resurface—he was inherently slothful.
Besides, there was a convenience store along his route to school that sold all kinds of rice balls, tasty and affordable. He saw no reason to switch.
Just as he took a bite of his fried chicken rice ball, now slightly cold from the morning, a voice spoke beside him.
"Eating alone again?"
"Hm?"
Turning his head, Haruto saw a familiar girl standing next to him. That white lab coat—wasn't she the same girl from yesterday?
"Oh, it's you."
His gaze lingered on her for a second before briefly dropping to her chest for two more seconds. Then, as if nothing had happened, he calmly looked away.
"…"
Rio Futaba noticed his gaze and, remembering a past encounter, felt a flicker of irritation. At the same time, however, she couldn't shake a strange nervousness. Without a word, she sat down beside him.
Haruto chewed his rice ball, took a sip of his juice, and glanced at her.
"Didn't manage to buy lunch again?"
"No, I brought my own today. Yesterday was just… an accident."
With that, she pulled out a bento box from somewhere behind her.
A little surprised, Haruto leaned slightly to the side, glancing at her back—flat as expected—before looking down at the lunchbox on her lap.
"You actually make your own bento? I thought—mmph."
Before he could finish, he stuffed the last bit of his rice ball into his mouth, dismissing his previous assumption. After all, he didn't even know if she had made the bento herself.
As he unwrapped another rice ball, Rio hesitated for a moment before pushing her bento slightly toward him.
"Um… If you don't mind, you can have some."
Haruto looked at her, then at the neatly arranged food inside. Seeing her calm expression yet slightly averted gaze, he took another sip of his juice.
"That's your lunch, isn't it? I have my rice balls."
"But… yesterday, those rice balls were also your lunch, weren't they?"
"…"
Haruto fell silent. After a brief pause, he reached out, picked up a toothpick, and stabbed a tiny octopus-shaped sausage before popping it into his mouth.
"There. That's enough. It's good."
He flashed her a small smile before standing up. "I have something to do. I'll see you later."
Before Rio could respond, he had already left the courtyard.
Watching his retreating figure, she opened her mouth as if to call out, but hesitated. In the end, she lowered her head and quietly continued eating alone.
From a distance, Haruto glanced back at the lonely figure on the bench before heading toward a vending machine.
As Rio sat there, staring at her lunch, a hand suddenly extended in front of her, holding a can of juice.
"?!"
She looked up in surprise.
"You'll get thirsty just eating a bento, right?"
"…Th-Thank you."
"I remember you from the opening ceremony. You were the one who gave the speech…"
"Rio Futaba."
"Miyamizu Haruto. Nice to meet you."
"Mm… N-Nice to meet you too."
A faint blush crept onto Rio's face as she shyly accepted the drink.
For a while, Haruto had been fascinated by school-life romance stories—the kind where the protagonist dated a class beauty, hypnotized student council members, or blackmailed strict but secretly submissive teachers… Ahem.
After lunch break, he returned to the classroom. As the teacher droned on at the front, Haruto absentmindedly scribbled in his notebook.
Sometimes, he felt as if he was missing something compared to other reincarnators. Despite having an ideal start in life—one where his fate had been predetermined before birth—he couldn't shake the feeling of uncertainty.
Maybe he was just greedy. Even if he tried to define exactly what he wanted, he couldn't quite put it into words.
"My soul is rotten to the core."
Spacing out for a moment, he quickly refocused and jotted down the notes from the blackboard, repeating this cycle until the bell rang.
Closing his notebook, Haruto leaned back and let out a deep sigh.
"Hey, Umetarou."
"Hm?"
"Do you have anything you really want to do?"
"Sleep."
"…"
Haruto slowly turned to look at the boy sitting behind him—Nozaki Umetarou—who had an expressionless face but an earnest gaze.
"…Other than sleeping?"
"Sleep more. There's never enough time to sleep. Even when I do, I wake up in the middle of the night because of deadlines, drag myself out of bed, and work alone at my desk until dawn."
Haruto stared at him for a moment, then chuckled.
"What kind of work?"
"Manga."
"…Figures."
Haruto had assumed that his relationship with Nozaki Umetarou wasn't that deep yet. He figured that, at the very least, it would take half a semester before the guy would open up about his work. Yet, surprisingly, it had only been a short time, and Umetarou had already taken the initiative to tell him.
"You draw manga…? Umetarou, are you a mangaka?"
"Yeah. A while ago, I submitted a manuscript to a manga magazine, and it got accepted. They invited me to start a serialization. It's a great opportunity, but… the workload suddenly became overwhelming."
Umetarou's gaze slowly settled on Haruto. Then, he crossed his arms, placed his right hand gently on his notebook, and tapped it lightly.
"Haruto, are you interested in becoming a manga assistant?"
High EQ: "Would you like to be my manga assistant?"Low EQ: "I'm drowning in work. I need an extra pair of hands."
"I used to have… some experience, I guess."
Haruto had initially planned to say he had no experience at all, but then he suddenly remembered that he had once helped Eriri with a few things. That memory made him pause. He sighed as he looked at Umetarou and the notebook under his hand.
"Weren't we just talking about things we really wanted to do? How did that turn into you recruiting me as your assistant?"
"Well, right now, finding an assistant to help me keep up with the serialization is what I really want to do. So, what do you say? Interested?"
Haruto studied Umetarou's face for a moment before letting out a small chuckle.
"I mean, I could, but I have a lot on my plate too. Don't expect too much from me."
"Yeah, I wasn't counting on you in the first place. It's just that I can't find a suitable assistant right now, so I figured I'd give you a try. If it works out, great. If I find someone better later, you won't have to help anymore."
Haruto glanced at the notebook, feeling a bit helpless. Well, he supposed it was more of a transaction than anything. Besides, he was actually pretty curious about the workflow of a professional mangaka like Umetarou.
"You really don't sugarcoat things, huh? But that's fine. At least you're not putting all your hopes on me—that makes things easier."
"Come over to my place tonight. Let's see if you're a good fit. You don't have any plans, do you?"
Haruto thought for a moment. Even if he went back to his apartment, it would just be another ordinary night. Nothing special.
"Alright. Let's head home together after school."
Hearing Haruto agree, Umetarou let out a rare smile. He silently loosened his grip, allowing Haruto to slide the notebook out from under his hand.
"Oh yeah, what's your pen name again?"
Haruto asked as he flipped through the notebook and turned back toward Umetarou.
"Yumeno Sakiko."
"That's a pretty feminine name."
"It's because I draw shoujo manga."
Haruto glanced at Umetarou, who looked completely serious. Realizing he wasn't joking, Haruto studied his expression for a moment. After repeating the word "really" to himself, he chuckled before returning to his notes.
When school ended, Haruto said his goodbyes to his classmates before heading over to Nozaki's side. Once Umetarou finished packing up, Haruto asked,
"All set?"
"Yeah, I'm ready."
"Shall we go?"
"Mm."
Umetarou, as usual, wasn't much of a talker. He walked ahead, while Haruto quietly followed beside him. As they left the school, their unusual pairing caught some attention. Ichika, who was walking home with her friends, noticed and curiously came over to ask about it.
However, Haruto didn't reveal that Umetarou was a shoujo manga artist. Instead, he casually brushed it off, saying he was just visiting Umetarou's place.
Ichika seemed eager to tag along, her eyes gleaming with interest, but Kenshin quickly came up with an excuse about safety and convinced her to stay behind.
Meanwhile, Eriri stood off to the side, watching Haruto and Ichika's easygoing conversation with a cold expression. Though her gaze briefly landed on Umetarou, she soon turned back to Haruto, wondering why he had suddenly decided to get close to Umetarou.
On their way home, Umetarou stopped by a store to pick up some groceries. Haruto, realizing his own fridge was running low, considered grabbing some as well. After eyeing the fresh ingredients, he hesitated for a moment before deciding he'd just come back tomorrow.
"I live alone, so I handle all my own meals," Umetarou explained as they walked.
Haruto nodded in understanding. "Same here. But have you always lived on your own?"
"I used to live with my family, but when I started high school, they finally allowed me to move out. The fact that my manga got serialized helped convince them."