Vol 1 Chapter 1 – Maybe She’s Not So Bad After All 【Volume 1: The Road to Romance】

It had been a miserable day.

Word of the incident with Shino — undeniably one of the most beautiful girls in school — had spread through every hallway in what felt like minutes, and no matter where Sandai went, eyes followed him.

“Why is this happening to me…”

Muttering under his breath, he got home and put the returned clothes away. As he folded them into the drawer, a small pink slip of paper slipped out from between the fabric.

What’s this? He picked it up and read it.

My contact info! Giving it to you!

Below the message, written in bubbly handwriting, were a chat app ID, a phone number, and an email address.

“…What is this?”

Sandai sighed, crumpled the note, and dropped it in the trash without a second thought. It had to be a prank.

There was no way a gal as stunning as Shino handed out her contact info that easily. And someone who’d say what she said in front of the whole class without batting an eye — there was definitely something behind it.

He didn’t know for certain. But he was sure enough.

“If I actually message that number, some scary guy is going to pick up.”

I’m not falling for it. He sat down at his desk and cracked open a textbook.

His late-night anime didn’t start for hours, and studying was how he filled the gap — a daily routine he’d fallen into almost by accident.

As a side note, that same routine kept him ranked first in the entire school. Not that anyone knew, or asked.

“…Oh, right, she said something about sweets too. Handed these over as well.” He glanced at the small bag on the corner of his desk. “The shop’s name is printed right on it. Even if everything else was a setup, she probably didn’t do anything to these.”

He opened the bag and peered inside. Amaretti.

He popped one in his mouth.

“…Not bad at all.”

The sweets had done nothing wrong. They were just sweet and good.

☆

The next morning, the staring started up again the moment he stepped through the school gates.

Apparently, the whole Shino situation had become the talk of the entire building, and there were no signs it was dying down.

“Inviting her back to his place — what do you think actually happened?”

“What do you think happened? Obviously they—”

“Can’t believe a loner like that was hiding this whole time. …Ugh. Yuizaki was supposed to be our idol.”

“You think he used hypnosis or something? Like, brainwashed her?”

Sandai’s irritation climbed steadily.

He wasn’t used to being looked at. He’d never had to be. Rumors, whispers, eyes tracking him down the hallway — all of it landed wrong, scraped against something in him he didn’t know how to manage.

He couldn’t focus in class. The teachers’ voices washed through him without catching. Whatever was written on the board refused to stick.

(If this keeps up, it’s going to affect everything…)

He was still grumbling internally when something sharp tapped him in the back — a mechanical pencil, jabbed twice between his shoulder blades.

“Who—”

He turned around.

Shino sat behind him, wearing a faint smile.

Right. Of course, it’s her seat.

(I don’t know what she’s smiling about. But now that I think about it — she’s the reason any of this started.) He held her gaze for a half-second. (Better to leave it alone. Ignore her long enough and eventually it all blows over.)

He faced forward again.

She’d get bored eventually. He just had to wait it out. Once Shino stopped engaging with him, the gossip would fade, and things would settle back to the way they were.

Until then — patience.

☆

At lunch, Shino drifted off to chat with her gal friends. Maybe she’d already lost interest in him.

Sandai let out a quiet breath of relief and ate alone in the school cafeteria.

On his way back, he reached for the classroom door — and stopped.

Voices drifted through from inside. Shino’s voice. He didn’t move.

“Shino, is it true you actually went to Fujiwara’s place?”

“Yeah, it’s true. Borrowed his shower and everything. His clothes, too.”

“…Is something going on between you two? I’d think twice about Fujiwara, honestly. He’s a total loner. You could do so much better — you’re you. Want me to set you up with someone?”

“Don’t need a setup~. I mean, yeah, Fujiwara definitely seems like he’s got zero friends, and the whole group-dynamics thing is clearly not his strong suit—”

He stood in the hallway, unseen, listening to people pick him apart like he wasn’t real.

They had no idea he was there, which was the only reason they were saying any of it. He knew that. And even so, hearing it still lit something hot and unpleasant in his chest.

But then Shino kept talking — and whatever had started to burn went quiet.

“…He’s kind, though.”

“Wait, what?”

“The reason I ended up at his place in the first place — I accidentally stepped into a drainage ditch on the way home. I had work, and I was freaking out about what to do, and Fujiwara just said, ‘Come over.’ …He didn’t seem to have any kind of ulterior motive. That’s the only reason I went with him. And my instincts were right — he didn’t try anything.”

“…You’re so good at reading people, Shino. I mean, you get a lot of attention, so you’ve probably just seen it all, right?”

“Everyone says I get a lot of attention, but honestly, I don’t know why it looks that way from the outside, because it doesn’t really feel like it from where I’m standing. And it’s not that I’ve seen it all — it’s more that I’m actually… kind of bad with guys. Like, a little.”

“Wait, seriously? Don’t tell me you’ve never actually dated anyone—”

“I… actually haven’t…”

“A real live maiden. Walking among us. This is precious.”

Sandai stood in the hallway a moment longer. Then he turned around without opening the door and walked back toward the window at the end of the corridor, looking out at the sky.

Maybe Yuizaki isn’t as bad as I’ve been assuming.

He stared at the blue stretching out beyond the glass — clear, and endless.