Things Get Complicated from the Start
Things getting tangled from the start was basically a law of nature.
Hold on. If this keeps up, everything is going to get hopelessly complicated.
Thinking that, Kyle quickly let go of Tisha's hand.
A faint look of disappointment crossed her face in that moment, but he never noticed it.
The sun isn't even up yet, so why is every last one of these people already awake? This is going to mess everything up completely.
Completely unaware that things were already thoroughly tangled, he simply fretted over the situation at hand.
Kyle stepped toward Ian, who was staring straight at the two of them, and opened his mouth.
"Ian, you're up this early too?"
"…I never needed much sleep. And I have to swing my sword every morning."
Tisha, who went hiking every morning. Ian, who claimed he swung his sword every morning. And, to put the cherry on top, Kyle himself, who hit the weights every morning.
He had no idea how three such bizarre creatures had managed to gather in one place.
"Why were the two of you coming out of there together? What were you doing inside?"
The deep suspicion visible in Ian's eyes was enough to put anyone on edge.
They hadn't done anything wrong, so why did he feel so nervous? It was a mystery.
"That's…"
"We worked out together."
Before Kyle could even answer, Tisha slipped forward a step.
Her tone was neither more nor less than a pure and what's wrong with coming out together?
…She's right, isn't she? Now that I think about it. What's the big deal about coming out together?
It wasn't as if they'd walked out of a motel, and they hadn't been up to anything weird inside either.
He had simply given it his all and taught her how to train, without a shred of ulterior motive.
If he failed to look confident here, he would only invite even greater suspicion.
"Like Tisha said, I was just teaching her a bit of training. She said she wanted to try working out properly."
"…I know a thing or two about how to train myself."
Keep that to yourself, you densest male lead specimen number one.
And somehow this guy was going to get the protagonist buff slapped on him and end up in a relationship later on. There were moments when Kyle sincerely worried about the author's taste.
"I figured if I learned from you, we'd just end up fighting again."
"…"
"Let's go, Kyle."
Weren't you two supposed to have made up? Why is the atmosphere suddenly like this?
He had never seen a scene like this before. Was it something that had been cut from the original?
Maybe some kind of incident was going to bring them a little closer?
"Ian. Why don't we have breakfast together?"
"…Breakfast?"
"Yeah. Tisha and I were about to head there now. Come with us."
Honestly, if it were up to him, he would have preferred to just go with Tisha.
They would only radiate waves of mutual discomfort until he couldn't even tell whether the food was going down his throat or his nose.
But he figured he still needed to make at least the bare minimum effort to keep the original story on track.
He barely remembered the free chapters he had skimmed, so the advantages of being transmigrated were basically nonexistent. If even the few parts he did know got derailed, it would be a serious headache.
You should be thanking me, you bastard. I'm going out of my way to give you one more chance.
Thinking that, he waited for Ian to answer that he would come along.
"I don't eat breakfast."
"…"
I set the whole damn table and even offer to spoon-feed you, and you spit it right back out.
"You don't eat it?"
"I just don't see the need to force myself to eat in the morning."
"You wake up this early and even swing a sword, and you don't eat breakfast?"
"Do people really have to eat three meals a day? Two is plenty."
You little shit. If you were a John Nassen, you'd already be getting the absolute crap beaten out of you.
In the barony, eating all three meals and then training was the most basic of basics. Skip a meal without a damn good reason and you got smacked senseless with a rice paddle.
"You don't eat breakfast? No, how can a person even do that?"
On top of everything, Tisha happened to be a devout believer in the gospel of breakfast.
"You have to eat breakfast so your head works properly! So you can spend the day more actively!"
"…I manage to think just fine and stay active without it."
He was probably just saying it without any particular thought. But somehow, hearing it, it came across as pure self-praise.
That wasn't only Kyle's imagination—Tisha's face twisted as well.
There's really not a single thing that lines up with this guy!
Why on earth had a man like this ended up entering the Academy with her? He was more irritating than a complete stranger.
"…Hm."
Somehow he managed to catch the way Tisha's expression contorted again. After a brief look of consideration, Ian parted his lips.
"I don't usually eat much, but I guess I am a little hungry today. I'll come along."
"Oh, why? How about you just don't? Just stay here and starve while you swing your sword."
Tisha tried a sharp threat, but of course it had zero effect. Ian simply asked where the dining hall was and joined them as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
He really was a certified expert at making people's blood pressure spike.
This is the male lead number one? Screw this worldbuilding.
I'm the real legend for reading even the free chapters of this novel.
Muttering that under his breath, Kyle led a thoroughly irritated Tisha and an utterly unfazed Ian toward the dining hall.
"Why are you sitting there?"
"Because the seat was empty."
"There's one right across!"
"I saw this one first."
Naturally, Kyle's trials were far from over.
Tisha had sat down first, and Kyle was about to follow when Ian suddenly picked up speed, overtook him, and dropped into the seat right next to her.
And of course every table seated exactly four people. With no other choice, Kyle took the seat opposite them—prompting Tisha's outrage.
He said he wasn't even going to eat breakfast, so why did he have to chase after us!
She had wanted to sit with Kyle and have a deeper conversation over the meal. There were so many things she was curious about, so many things she wanted to know, and things she wanted to tell him as well. And now Ian had ruined that too. She was ready to explode.
"Well then, enjoy your breakfast."
Kyle offered a smiling greeting, but Ian had already started eating. For someone who claimed he didn't eat breakfast, he sure was putting it away with gusto. Watching that only made Tisha's stomach turn all over again.
With a sudden scrape of her chair, Tisha stood up, tray in hand, as if she couldn't take it anymore. Then she sat down in the empty seat next to Kyle and picked up her utensils.
She really hates Ian that much, huh.
That was the only thing visible on the surface, so that was all he thought. There was a far more important reason Tisha had moved seats, of course.
…If this bastard weren't the protagonist, he'd already be permanently out of the running.
Even if he had lived a long life as a wanderer, this was a bit much. Kyle had gone out of his way to bring him this far, and the guy only kept tanking his own points. How these two were ever supposed to become a couple in a situation like this was completely beyond Kyle's understanding.
In truth, the answer was surprisingly easy to find. The reason the situation had changed this much was sitting right there between the two of them. It was simply that he alone had failed to even consider that simple answer.
And right now, the food was so delicious he had no room left in his head to worry about any of that.
Yes. This is it. This is what living is supposed to taste like. God, I can finally breathe again.
He couldn't even remember the last time he had eaten anything with sugar in it. It was nothing more than ordinary fruit jam, yet it tasted like food from heaven itself. If he had been even slightly more sentimental, he would have been bawling while eating jam.
The main dish, the sides, the dessert—even the greens—were all delicious. When he got to the ice cream in particular, he looked ready to lick the spoon clean. He felt infinite respect for his older brother and sisters for having endured these temptations.
Whoever invented ice cream deserves the Nobel Peace Prize.
Or maybe he should just praise the author for including ice cream in the setting. With only a little exaggeration, he was on the verge of tears.
"Kyle?"
Tisha tilted her head, apparently having noticed even that small change. A man who had been happily devouring breakfast and dessert had suddenly gone blank. Anyone else would have reacted the same way.
"What's wrong? Is something the matter?"
"It's just too good."
"Huh?"
"I mean… there was no ice cream in the John Nassen barony."
At that, Tisha let out a soft "Eh?" of surprise. Ice cream had only been considered a rare treat back in its early days. These days even commoners could buy it whenever they had a bit of money. And yet a noble house like the John Nassens hadn't had it?
"Ah, then… do you want some of mine too?"
She didn't particularly love ice cream, but she didn't hate it either. The reason she was offering it anyway was because Kyle was eating it with such pure emotion. And, as a bonus, she wanted to see him smile happily.
"What? No, no. I'm fine."
"I've already had plenty. I haven't even touched this one, so it's okay."
As Tisha said that and set her own ice cream down in front of Kyle, another dish of ice cream was suddenly shoved in from the side.
"Eh?"
"Eat mine too."
Out of nowhere, Ian held out his portion of ice cream to Kyle. And just like that, he completely ruined Tisha's plan to look good in front of him.
Why is this guy like this again!
Whether he knew about the explosion building inside Tisha or not, Kyle simply looked at the ice cream placed before him and smiled with a soft "Oh."
"Are you really sure, Tisha?"
"Huh? Ah, yes. It's fine."
"I'm fine too. It's too sweet. Sweet stuff is for kids. You eat it."
…Wait a second. This bastard wasn't being generous—he was just dumping the leftovers? Crossing the line, are we?
And why did he keep inventing new ways to scrape at people's nerves? The male lead was doing an excellent job of suddenly killing the appetite.
This bastard dares to insult the sacred value of ice cream. You're finished from this moment on.
Until just a short while ago, Kyle had been trying to push things along between Ian and Tisha for the sake of the original story's smooth progression. But that resolve shattered into pieces the moment ice cream was insulted.
If anyone asked what the hell he was getting so worked up about over a bit of ice cream, Kyle would have wanted to say this:
After nine years of never even dreaming of dessert, he had finally been reunited with it—and then someone sat right in front of him and asked what was so great about eating stuff meant for little kids. Would you be able to just smile and go, "Ah, I see!" and let it slide?
He slurped it all up, of course. Ice cream itself was innocent. So he inhaled not only the one Tisha had given him, but Ian's as well.