The Diagonal Seat of Misfortune
"Status window......"
I muttered the word that people usually only say when their lives have hit rock bottom or they’ve given up on everything. But nothing happened. I suppose it was greedy of me to expect a status window or a point shop. If they were going to force a gender-bend on me, couldn't they have at least thrown in a skill or two? Good grief, I’m a one-trick pony who can only spew fire from my body......
Feeling hopeless, I followed the modern human instinct to grab a phone when there’s nothing else to do, and I checked it subconsciously. I wondered if there was anything useful, but the contact list was impossibly clean, and the only call history was a single text message. It was a congratulatory note for my admission to Aegis Academy, requesting that I report to Class 1-A by 8:00 AM on March 1st. And the current time was 7:40 AM on March 1st.
......I wonder if I can make it without being late.
I stepped outside, only to realize a crucial fact: I didn't know the way. Where am I, and who am I? Where do we come from, and where are we going? As I was deep in contemplation over these philosophical questions that had suddenly popped into my head, a bicycle screeched to a halt beside me. I turned my head slightly to look, and there was Yoon Siwoo, the protagonist of The Academy’s Holy Swordsman, sitting on his bike and looking at me.
So this is why people say "looks are probability." Good lord, the novel described him as handsome enough to slap a celebrity across the face ten times over, but seeing him in person, it felt like even that was an understatement. White hair and black-and-white heterochromia—to think that such a "chuunibyou" character design could look so natural. Then again, with a face like that, he could probably pull off rainbow-dyed hair, too. I naturally understood why heroines flocked around the protagonist like a swarm of flies. His looks weren't just at the level of a "virgin-slayer"—they were at the level of a "virgin-tactical-nuke." And if he even treated you kindly, how could you not fall for him?
While I was busy admiring his appearance, Yoon Siwoo, who had been watching me, gestured toward the back of his bike with his chin.
"You look like a student from our school. If you stay like that, you're going to be late. Want a ride?"
In that instant, I shook my head frantically to express my refusal. My intuition was screaming at me like crazy. If you get close to that guy, you’ll end up becoming a girl not just in body, but in heart too!
They say the heart follows the body, so if I hung around a "virgin-tactical-nuke" like him, a little girl might start growing inside my mind. I would rather die than experience the heart-pounding sensation of riding on the back of some guy's bike.
"Then I'll head out first. You should hurry so you aren't late."
Thankfully, Yoon Siwoo rode off on his bike with those words. I had successfully protected my masculinity, but it was clear I was still in danger of being late. Still, thanks to Yoon Siwoo, I had a rough idea of which direction the school was in, so I figured I’d arrive if I just kept running.
And so, 8:00 AM passed.
Why is the school so far away...... I’m technically a superpowered individual, so my physical abilities are above average, and I’d been running without a break. If I still couldn't see the school, I guess I’ll have to wake up earlier starting tomorrow.
Just then, an older woman passing by saw me and spoke up with a puzzled expression.
"Student, aren't you going to school? It's already past 8:00."
"Ah, well, I'm lost......"
"If you're looking for the school, you need to go the other way!"
"......!"
Only then did the passage about Yoon Siwoo being late on his first day of school flash through my mind. I’m such a complete idiot for only remembering that now. After thanking the lady for the directions, I figured since I was already late, it didn't matter if I was a little later, so I walked until I saw a building with the word AEGIS written in large letters on a giant shield. It wasn't that far from my house, yet I had wandered around like this—this was all Yoon Siwoo's fault.
I checked the time: 8:55 AM. I found the classroom for 1-A and opened the door. The colorful eyes of the students who had been gathered in small groups chatting instantly focused on me, then returned to normal when I just stood there without a word.
Class 1-A. The protagonist, Yoon Siwoo, was in this class too, but it seemed he hadn't arrived yet. If he had been here from the start, all eyes wouldn't have been on me, anyway.
I scanned the room and found an empty seat. Since it was the protagonist's class, the appearances of the people sitting there were extraordinary. Among them, the one who stood out the most was the beautiful girl sitting diagonally in front of me to the left. Even in the noisy classroom, she exuded an atmosphere as if she were in a world of her own. This person was the main heroine, the high-elf bloodline, Sylvia Astra.
Her ability must surely be to turn everyone around her into cephalopods. The classroom was already full of people who had been struck by her ability and turned into squids. Some in the class were already entranced by her noble figure and staring blankly, and I was among them.
Had I been staring too intently? Sylvia, perhaps sensing my gaze, turned her head and our eyes met. I was startled and bowed my head to greet her, and she gave me a slight, soft smile in return.
Gratitude...... overwhelming gratitude...... With that one moment, 90 percent of my anger toward the existence that threw me into this world was cleared away. Perhaps because I was so excited that my face was turning red, my hair started to burst into flames without me realizing it. Surprised by this, Sylvia’s eyes went wide for a moment, then she let out a soft "fufu" laugh and turned her head away.
At that moment, the classroom door opened with a rattle, and silence fell over the noisy room. Because Yoon Siwoo had appeared—a man who had arrived in a classroom where part of the population had already been turned into squids by Sylvia, causing the remaining humans to forget how to speak and turn into baby squids themselves.
It was like a scene from a myth. A god and a goddess meeting in a Noryangjin fish market filled with squids and baby squids. The god walked over naturally, as if to say his seat was only here, and sat down next to the goddess. Just as everyone was watching the first meeting of the god and goddess with pounding hearts,
"Ahaha, looks like you arrived faster than me. I'm terrible with directions, you see."
The god turned his body 180 degrees and started talking to some baby squid. That baby squid was me.
Something...... something was happening. I rolled my eyes slightly and scanned my surroundings.
'Why is that baby squid butting in when he doesn't know his place?'
'What is this, do they know each other? That's kind of annoying.'
'A baby squid between those two? That's really an eyesore.'
For some reason, I felt like I could hear those auditory hallucinations. The stinging gazes that seemed to reproach me. The sound of mocking laughter from somewhere. And the finishing blow: the goddess looking at me with a slightly uncomfortable smile.
'This is bad......'
Diagonally behind the academy heroine. And at the same time, directly behind the academy's male lead. I could hear my school life unraveling.