Seatmates Till Summer's End and Lua's Overflowing Praise
Editing the stream from my seatmate Lulu, catching about four or five hours of sleep before heading to school—this routine was coming to an end soon. Vacation was right around the corner, that super-lucky stretch where I could edit Lulu's streams and still crash for a solid seven or eight hours. What an insane stretch of time, right? Watching her broadcasts stretch into the wee hours of the morning, editing them afterward, and still having plenty of time to sleep soundly... and it was just over a week away. Things were already pretty satisfying as it was. With finals wrapped up, the teachers weren't bothering with lessons anymore—they were just screening movies. How perfect was this period?
I arrived at school with my heart pounding. Im Lua was studying as usual.
"Im Lua, hi."
She nodded at my greeting and turned toward me.
"Hey, you're here?"
"Yup."
Things with Im Lua were a bit awkward. Awkward wasn't quite right—more like ambiguous? Our relationship had definitely improved from before. The problem was, we were about to be split up again. Just a month had passed since we'd barely redefined ourselves as 'friends,' and now we had to separate once more. Neither of us wanted to bring it up, so we weren't saying much to each other.
"...Think we'll switch seats today?" I muttered to myself, and Im Lua replied right away.
"Probably. If we don't now, we'd be stuck with our desk partners for almost two months, even excluding vacation."
"Yeah, figured..."
I let out a deep sigh I couldn't hold back, and Im Lua followed up with some hopeful news.
"But if we switch now, we'd keep them at least until September—and honestly, we won't be doing any meaningful studying during that time anyway."
"Hm... yeah, true."
"So why bother switching? Seems inefficient, right?"
That made sense too. "...So if the teacher thinks it's inefficient, maybe we won't switch?"
"Exactly."
Im Lua nodded, looking at me with a small smile playing on her lips. What can I say—it was the kind of smile that automatically made you think, damn, she's pretty. Pretty enough that I had to look away without realizing it.
The moment I turned my head, the teacher pushed open the classroom door right on cue.
"Morning, my little troublemakers~ Good morning~"
The kids scattered back to their seats at the sight of our energetic teacher, who flashed a satisfied smile before speaking up.
"I've got two pieces of news you'll absolutely love today. Which first—1 or 2?"
"One~"
"1~"
"2~"
Answers mixed in from everywhere, and the teacher grinned at the great response.
"Alright, let's start with 1...!"
She paused for effect before dropping what she clearly thought was great(?) news.
"Your report cards are coming out early this time!"
"Ewwww~"
"What's good about that?!"
"Lame."
"Total lame~"
"Nah~ Not lame for me~ I think it's fun~"
Everyone burst out laughing at our teacher—who was about ten years older than us—playing along so well. She savored the fun atmosphere before moving on.
"Next up, the even better news! I was thinking... why don't we just keep these seats until the end of August? Switching is such a hassle, right?"
The class split into two camps. If you hated your desk partner, groans everywhere. If you liked them, quiet approval—or even cheers. For the record, I was in the approval camp. There wasn't a better friend than Im Lua in our class.
...Probably not in the whole school, either.
Sure, sitting with another guy might mean nonstop gaming and VTuber talk all day, which sounds great—but that's a gamble. Better the quiet, easy-to-talk-to Im Lua. Plus, with exams over, she probably wouldn't wake me up during class.
Meanwhile, Im Lua scribbled something in her notebook and showed it to me.
How's that? I was right, huh?
I looked up from her confident handwriting to find Im Lua beaming at me.
...Okay, this might sound weird, but if she'd gone into arts or sports, she'd have crushed it no matter what. She was athletic, decent at drawing, had beautiful handwriting, was pretty, had a cute voice. Total cheat character. And then she grinds studies to top the school? Straight-up monster.
Monster for sure. Hard to believe a girl like that was my friend—but man, it felt good. The good vibes outweighed everything else.
*
With Im Lua as my desk mate, I flopped face-down without a care. Unlike during exams, she didn't poke me. I mentally thanked her and tried to sleep...
...but for some reason, I couldn't.
Normally, face-planting like this knocked me out in ten seconds flat. What was going on? I couldn't wrap my head around it. This wasn't like me. Not to brag... okay, it is bragging, but I can sleep anywhere there's a surface. One of my few talents. And now I couldn't? What the hell?
I glanced at Im Lua. She blinked at me, then mouthed words.
Why?
Even that was kinda cute—in a non-creepy way, I swear. I chuckled inwardly and started note-passing.
Im Lua tilted her head, then started scribbling away—what she saw as my strengths, anyway.
Plus, when there's something you wanna do or pursue, you go all-in.
That's why you grind video editing so hard, and why you buckled down on studying too.
I really think that's amazing about you.
...Why was she barreling straight at me without even signaling? Throw on the blinker, please. We're unlicensed, but situational awareness is universal.
I shuddered with embarrassment but kept the note-passing going. And through it all, I didn't feel even a hint of sleepiness. Was this the Im Lua effect too? Im Lua normalization... my heart swelled just thinking about it.
...
Later, when I got home and showed my report card to Mom, she got so hyped she roped Dad and Oppa into throwing a beef party. To celebrate that grade, she said. Felt kinda overkill, and I got a bit guilty. If I'd known they'd be this thrilled, I would've started studying sooner. Nah, no regrets though. I chose clips over cram sessions, and that's how I ended up earning cash as the clipper for a cute VTuber named Lulu.