High School, a Little Special
The second-semester exams of our third year in middle school were all over.
In other words, every exam standing between us and high school admission was finished.
From that point on, there was only one thing left to do at school.
High school admissions.
Our neighborhood used a non-equalized admissions system, so you needed good grades to get into a nearby school. The worse your grades, the farther you went — places that took roughly three hours just to commute. Fortunately, Ria, I, and our other friends all had grades good enough for somewhere close.
We need an arts-and-athletics focused school, though.
In my case, since I did kendo, going all-in could mean missing a lot of school. And if that school was a regular high school, college admissions would almost certainly become a problem. I still planned on going to college, after all. In that sense, both Ria and I wanted an arts-and-athletics focused school — and our options were limited.
"Ria, you're going to Seonghwa High, right?"
"Yeah. If you go."
Seonghwa High School.
A pilot school launched as a joint Korean-Japanese project, where you could experience the characteristics of both countries' schools at once — Japanese cultural assets, clubs, that sort of thing. A high school where both cultures lived side by side. It was also arts-and-athletics focused.
And its biggest feature—
It was the setting of the original work.
The background school of this world's original novel, My Novel to You, was none other than Seonghwa High School. The reason we could meet Hasegawa Asuka — the novel's heroine, and a Japanese girl — was also because of that Korea-Japan joint project.
Honestly, if there had been another good high school, I would have gone there. I wanted to see the original story play out, but my future mattered more than that. So I looked up every nearby school — and there weren't any other arts-and-athletics schools.
To think it was the only one.
The original novel barely mentioned the surrounding high schools, so I hadn't known. Looking for myself, there were no arts-and-athletics high schools around here. To be precise, they were all at somewhat awkward distances, and Seonghwa High School was the closest to our house. As things stood, going there had ended up being the best option.
"Where are you going?"
With exams over, Kang Yuwon was sitting next to me messing with his phone. With barely any classes left, that was only natural. He wasn't gaming — the screen showed him organizing novel settings, a dense wall of text that made clear how much he'd already put together. Honestly, the concentration he could muster with all this noise around him was impressive.
I already know where he's going, but just in case.
As the protagonist, he would go to Seonghwa High School — but you never know. We were a variable, after all.
"Probably Seonghwa High."
Just as expected, Yuwon was planning on Seonghwa High.
"Well… if you guys all go somewhere else, I'll go there too."
…For Kang Yuwon — who, until high school in the original, never paid attention to the people around him — to say something like that. His personality had become way more cheerful and sociable than in the original. In the original, well… you could basically say he had zero friends before high school.
"Don't worry. Ria and I are pretty much going to Seonghwa High too."
"Then it doesn't matter."
With that, Yuwon put his earphones back in and refocused on organizing his novel.
And at the same moment, the back door opened. The one who opened it was Hoyeon.
"Let's play TFT."
"As if. Besides, we already ran a game."
"Next round."
"No."
It was funny how Kim Hoyeon never played League but played a ton of TFT — and on top of that, he was Master tier. I wasn't bad myself, but with that skill gap, I tended not to play with him much. Why play when you lose every time? The rare wins… those were only on days of pure luck.
"More importantly, you come to Seonghwa High too."
"Seonghwa High? Out of nowhere."
"Looks like everyone's probably going there."
At that, Hoyeon tapped at his phone, thought for a moment, then gave an answer faster than expected.
"I'll probably go to Seonghwa High."
"That was quick?"
"Haryeong's probably going too."
Come to think of it, since Haryeong did art, the odds of her going to Seonghwa High were high. Well, he wasn't exactly the type to focus on studying, so coming to Seonghwa High wouldn't really matter either way.
"More importantly, how's streaming going these days?"
"So-so."
He said "so-so," but it seemed like he was doing pretty well. He hadn't been at it long, so the viewer count wasn't high yet, but the growth rate was pretty steep. It seemed like he was losing sleep over it, but since he said he was fine with that, I couldn't really say anything.
"More than that — you're going to the hospital today?"
Hoyeon, still gaming, tossed the question at me casually. As he said, I had to go visit someone at the hospital today. Because of my dad, no less.
Of course, he hadn't been seriously hurt. If he had, I wouldn't be sitting here casually talking about high school. He'd just hurt his back the day before yesterday and had been hospitalized for a few days. As a son, not visiting even once was out of the question. So I planned to go today — ideally with friends. Coming with friends wasn't my idea; it was what Dad wanted.
"If I didn't have a collab stream today, I'd go with you."
"Can't be helped. It's not mandatory."
"Still."
Hoyeon couldn't come because of a collab stream today, and he felt really bad about it. He didn't need to feel that sorry. I hadn't even insisted he come in the first place.
"Kang Yuwon coming is unexpected, though."
"What about me."
And rather unexpectedly, Kang Yuwon said he'd come along without any hesitation. If that was another change in personality, then so be it.
So the group going for the hospital visit today was me, Ria, and Yuwon. Ria coming was only natural.
"I'm putting off prep for my next work to go, so be grateful."
"Thanks, thanks."
The work Yuwon had been serializing had finished not long ago. He'd recently started preparing his next work, and would start serializing again before long.
The original really isn't far off now.
It was starting to feel real that the original story wasn't far away anymore. Why? Because the original plot has the heroine reading that next work, realizing Yuwon is the author, and making a move on him. A work that would have a bigger impact on the original story than the one he'd been serializing before. In that sense, the original really wasn't far off now.
That said, nothing major should change.
Ria and I would always be together. Same for Hoyeon and Haryeong. If anyone changed, it would only be Kang Yuwon.
Well… I am a little worried things might diverge from the original.
I worried that meeting us might have changed him, but it would be fine. He and the heroine had fallen for each other because of their true natures, after all. Yuwon's true nature hadn't changed.
"Sihyun, what are you thinking about?"
Ria stopped doodling with her pencil and asked me. What was I thinking about? The answer was simple, so I closed the book I'd been reading and spoke to her.
"High school."
"It'll be good."
"You're that sure?"
"Yeah. It'll be good."
If Ria said so, then it would be. I smiled faintly at her words, sat down beside her, and watched the picture she was drawing. What she was drawing was the familiar interior of our classroom — just like when we were little, back in kindergarten.
"…How am I supposed to survive one more year."
A soon-to-be high schooler's voice drifted from behind us, but it didn't matter.
"Son, I want a drink."
"Hold off until you're discharged…"
"I know that, that's why I'm saying it…"
A few days of abstinence seemed pretty rough for my dad, who was quite the drinker. Of course, he wasn't actually going to drink — he was just saying it. Even as a heavy drinker, he was someone who knew time and place.
"More than that, it feels like it's been a while since I saw Ria."
"She hasn't been over to the house recently."
"It's been a while, Father."
"…So when are you two getting married?"
What marriage, Dad. We're not even dating yet.
"Augh…"
Why was Ria's face turning red again.
"More than that, what's your name?"
"Kang Yuwon, sir."
"Right. Thanks for being friends with our friendless Sihyun."
"I have even fewer friends."
Is having no friends something to brag about? Why was he saying it so proudly, like it was something to boast about?
"More than that, where's Hoyeon?"
"He couldn't make it because of work, so I just told him not to come."
"I wanted to see him after so long. That's a shame."
Dad and Hoyeon got along pretty well. Dad was the type to banter entertainingly with younger students, and Hoyeon kept his manners while enjoying it too. They'd known each other for quite a while, as well.
Anyway, after that we chatted about this and that for a while. Noticing how much time had passed, we stood up. Staying too late would just be a bother.
"We'll be heading out now."
"Alright. Next time, let's meet at home."
With that, the three of us left the hospital room and headed into the hallway. Maybe because it was still daytime, the place was fairly crowded. There were quite a few people in hospital gowns, too.
And among them was someone like this.
"Ugh…! I can't reach it..!!"
A girl stretching her hand out in front of a vending machine — a girl who looked about our age. Long black hair that fell to her waist, silky as silk itself. And shining between those strands, red eyes that didn't look like colored contacts. Skin so pale it seemed untouched by light.
The notable detail was that she was in a wheelchair, so she couldn't reach the buttons at the top of the vending machine. But that wasn't the only reason she entered my field of vision.
She was someone familiar. The same feeling as when I'd first seen Kang Yuwon.
"…"
Yuwon approached her without a word. That familiar act of goodwill. He pressed the button she'd been trying to reach.
Clunk—
With that familiar sound, a plastic bottle dropped out. He handed it to her and spoke.
"Isn't there anyone else with you?"
"Ah… th-thank you!!"
In the girl's hand was a phone, and on that phone a screen was open — a web novel screen packed with long passages of text.
"…You like novels?"
"Huh? Ah, yeah! I love them. A lot."
Yuwon froze at the screen on her phone. It was the first time I'd ever seen him that flustered. I couldn't see the phone screen myself, but I knew why he'd frozen. Sentences he'd written. A familiar arrangement of words. Because the novel Yuwon had written was displayed right there.
I could immediately be certain of that girl's identity.
"What's your name?"
The novel's protagonist, whose bright smile was constantly described as beautiful.
"I'm Hasegawa Asuka! You can tell from the name, but I'm Japanese."
The original's heroine.
The original's protagonists had met.
"Sihyun, what are you looking at?"
I turned my head right then and there.