The Ice Queen and the Tyrant (1)
The first friend I made in this class since arriving here. His name was Oku Nobuhiko.
“M-my hobbies are watching anime and drawing…”
Somehow the friendly self-introduction between friends had taken on the atmosphere of an interrogation, but whatever.
“Family consists of my father and mother, plus one younger si—Hup!!”
He had been about to mention his little sister when he suddenly made a face like he’d committed a crime and started watching my reaction.
Still, I had the feeling this guy and I could become pretty good friends.
“So that’s like a sketchbook?”
“Ah, y-yes…”
Oku instinctively slid the notebook away to hide it. He must have thought I was going to snatch it and tease him. He was half right.
“Can I take a look?”
“Uh, sure…”
Whether he was confident in his art or simply believed he had no right to refuse, Oku Nobuhiko handed the notebook over without hesitation.
…
Look at this guy.
My honest first impression after flipping it open and skimming through. He drew insanely well.
“Are you a recommended student?”
“Ah, no…”
I’d assumed he was specially admitted for art, but apparently not. Which meant these were works born from pure otaku power.
He didn’t discriminate by genre. Gender, personality, type—he drew every kind of character. In one sense he was a jack-of-all-trades fan, but at this level it encompassed everything… It could truly be called the pinnacle of otaku.
This was exactly why I thought we could become pretty good friends.
“I like Mihawk.”
There’s nothing better than shared interests for building friendship. With that single line, he was sure to get excited and launch into a full-blown manga lecture.
In a normal rom-com scene I’d get a smack on the head and a “What the hell is that, you nerd?” but I was different. I was fully prepared for an in-depth conversation, so hurry up and spit it out already.
“Um, should I finish the drawing for you by today…?”
“No, fuck.”
“Hiiiiik…!!! I-I’ll draw it as fast as I can…!”
And so Oku Nobuhiko began frantically sketching. Watching him, I pondered where exactly things had gone wrong.
…For starters, I need to cut back on the swearing. No—stop swearing entirely.
It’s not like I swear that harshly or often. Between friends it’s usually taken as light, playful banter. But with my current face and image, to someone like Oku it was practically a death sentence.
“Hey.”
“Y-yes?”
“…Never mind. You draw really well.”
“Th-thank you…!”
Since he was drawing it anyway, I’d accept the picture and clear up the misunderstanding later. There was no way I could pass up a Mihawk of that quality.
…
Slide—
About twenty minutes later, classmates began trickling in one by one.
Every single person who spotted me let out a gasp, quietly closed the door, and tiptoed to their seat.
Slide! The ones who hadn’t noticed me or accidentally slammed the door would make excuses to the empty air.
“Ah~… The wind sure is strong today…”
It was a sliding door—what did wind have to do with anything? Still, even if they closed it loudly, I never actually harmed anyone.
“…”
I didn’t know how things had been before, though.
Anyway, quite a bit of time had passed and Oku Nobuhiko was still drawing. Just how much of a masterpiece was he planning to deliver? I had only wanted a quick doodle that took less than ten minutes. Even that would have been incredible quality given his skill.
“You don’t have to put that much effort into it.”
“! S-sorry! It’s taking too long…! Just a little more…”
“Haa…”
It was genuinely frustrating that we weren’t communicating. But showing my frustration would only make him tense up more, creating a vicious cycle. This needed to be cut off decisively.
“Finish the drawing later. There’s something I’m curious about.”
“Uh, okay…! G-go ahead.”
“So, who’s your favorite?”
“Huh…?”
“What kind of characters do you like?”
“…Sh-Shanks…”
“Ah~ But he’s weaker than Mihawk, isn’t he?”
…This wasn’t working either. In that case I’d give up on getting close for now and at least get the Mihawk drawing—
“YouhavetorespectShanksheisoneoftheonlyfoureemperorsintheseaandhepossessesthestrongestConqueror’sHakiintheworld…”
Got him.
I had successfully pressed Oku Nobuhiko’s sincerity button.
—— And so Oku Nobuhiko and I talked for a long while longer.
…
“Huk! S-sorry! I got too excited!! I-I shouldn’t have done that…”
The sudden silence seemed to snap him back to his senses, and he returned to his stuttering speech.
“Is it really that hard to just speak normally?”
I hated to admit it was scary, but I understood. Given the rumors about me and my attitude up until yesterday, it made sense. But if that was his logic, shouldn’t he also follow my request to speak normally?
“I-it’s not easy…”
“Haa… Yeah.”
I shouldn’t expect too much right from the start. The image I’d destroyed was enormous, and I was only beginning the long process of repairing it.
“I needed a friend to talk about manga with. Let’s get along from now on.”
“Y-yeah…”
An expression where fear and excitement coexisted. He was still scared of me, but it seemed he had also needed a friend to talk about these things with. He was probably the outcast of the class. The reasons were complete opposites, but since I had no friends either, it was a win-win.
The two of us could stay here at the very back of the classroom. We didn’t have to get involved in the original story’s main plot; we could just talk about nerd stuff.
Slide—
“Takuya! You’re here!”
“Haruna~ Did you stop by the Karate Club again today?”
The most popular group in the academy. The protagonist Nagao Takuya and his childhood friend heroine Asanagi Haruna. These two were people I absolutely could not get involved with.
…
So, fu—… No. Don’t come over here.
“Taiyo. You didn’t get hurt earlier, right?”
“Yeah. You?”
“I’m fine too. More importantly, I heard you helped the senior with her training?”
I nodded. Denying it here would be strange, so I simply nodded.
The people around us who overheard began to murmur.
“If it’s the senior Nagao-kun is talking about… does he mean Yumena Natsumi-senpai?”
“Yeah…! It must be that karate-specialized senior…”
“Why would someone like her…”
The fact that I was conversing with Nagao drew attention, and the revelation that I had trained with Yumena-senpai made the attention explode.
“Haa… Somehow it turned out this way.”
This would definitely add one more weird rumor about me. I had helped with the training to prevent exactly that, yet it ended up like this anyway.
“Thanks. I was late, so she didn’t have a partner and was in a tough spot.”
The fact that the culprit himself showed not even a hint of malice was the most infuriating part. Especially since the reason he’d been late was because he collided with me and dirtied his uniform, yet he didn’t blame me at all.
It was an angering situation, but there was no target to vent that anger on. If I had to blame anyone, it would be the original owner of this body who had created such a vicious image. But even he didn’t know exactly what had happened, and since I had taken his body, I couldn’t get angry at him either.
“You can go now.”
Did my desperate wish reach him? Nagao Takuya flashed the kind of smile that should be reserved for heroines and returned to his seat.
But the other students’ gazes remained fixed on me.
Slide—
In the end, it turned out like this.
Without realizing it, I slumped over my desk like the typical delinquent from those stories. A pleasant drowsiness washed over me. I had woken up far too early because I’d been looking forward to today.
Yeah. If I wanted to spend the rest of the day productively, it was better to shake off some of this fatigue now.
…
The one thing I had overlooked was that I didn’t have a single friend who would wake me up on time.
Even my first friend Oku Nobuhiko didn’t seem ready for that stage yet.
——
“Who is that person sleeping on their desk? Oku-kun, please wake him quickly.”
“Th-that is…”
Even at the teacher’s words, Oku Nobuhiko hesitated. Of course he did—it was Amuro Taiyo. Having been in the same class last year, the instruction to wake Amuro Taiyo felt awkward to him. After all, after only one week of enrollment, no teacher had tried to wake Amuro Taiyo. The general atmosphere had been one of relief when he was quietly sleeping or simply absent.
“What are you doing?”
But he couldn’t disobey the teacher’s order. Especially not when it came from Ishihara Eri-sensei. Having walked the elite path since childhood and becoming the youngest academy instructor at only twenty-seven, an absolute beauty. In every aspect unreachable, the person students called the Ice Queen.
“Um, uh… Amuro… you need to wake up…”
“Teacher, that’s Amuro Taiyo.”
“…”
A front-row student informed the teacher of the sleeper’s identity, but Ishihara Eri-sensei paid it no mind. Realizing he truly had to wake me, Oku Nobuhiko tried even harder.
“A-Amuro…!”
Whether I was deeply asleep or simply not responding to words, I didn’t stir. Poke— Poke— He tapped my elbow with a finger as gently as possible. Still, Amuro Taiyo did not wake.
“Haa…”
The teacher watched Oku Nobuhiko hesitate, let out a small sigh, and then.
Click— Click—
She walked straight to Amuro Taiyo’s desk. A charming fragrance lingered in her wake. The teacher stopped in front of the sleeping Amuro Taiyo.
“…”
Every student in class was tense. In the middle of it all, Nagao Takuya stood up as if to intervene. But at that exact moment.
Grip—
“Amuro-kun, wake up.”
Ishihara Eri-sensei boldly seized my forearm and pulled me upright. At this point, unless I was unconscious, there was no way I wouldn’t wake. Even pretending to sleep wouldn’t work.
“…Teacher…”
“This is not the time for sl—..”
“I dyed it black just like you told me to, teacher.”
“““!!!”””