If that’s the case, no matter what I say, it’s like reading sutras to a deaf ear.
I let out a sigh.
After all, there are no normal people in this world.
Let’s just leave Han Seo-Jin, immersed in her national pride, alone.
“I should be worrying about midterms.”
Hoshino Kasumi is the title heroine of the core story in Volume 4.
Kyoto Exchange Tournament.
To be part of that membership, I must rank high in the midterms.
Absolutely.
The 1st Kamiy Makoto Hearing.
On the first day that Makoto re-enrolled as a female student.
Student Council Hall Small Auditorium.
Under the wall marked in crooked crayon letters “1st Kamiy Makoto Hearing,” three desks are set up.
At the desks are Olivia, Rin, and Nishizawa Eri.
In front, sitting on a chair, is Kamiy Makoto, dressed as a boy, nervously fiddling with the hem of her skirt.
Makoto lowers her head.
The earlobes are turning red.
The silence that creates an awkward atmosphere is broken by Rin.
Her cold navy eyes are directed at Makoto.
“So, transfer student. You were a girl, right?”
“U-um… yes.”
Makoto nods.
“To think the transfer student was a girl… I don’t know whether to call it fortunate or unfortunate.”
Olivia remarks, surveying Makoto.
“…I’ve been completely fooled by Eri-ring. That’s annoying.”
Nishizawa Eri’s gaze is on Makoto.
“I’m sorry for deceiving everyone… Even if I had ten mouths, I wouldn’t know what to say.”
Tap.
Makoto puts her hands together and bows her head.
Creeeak.
Nishizawa Eri stands up.
Step, step.
Her footsteps head towards Makoto’s back.
Suddenly.
“Even with such a huge chunk of fat, how could you act like a boy, Kamiy?”
Nishizawa whispers in Makoto’s ear.
“Um?!”
Makoto’s eyes widen at the unfamiliar sensation.
“Another cow has grown. Eri-ring is annoyed. Breasts are just clumps of fat anyway.”
Nishizawa pouts.
Olivia, Rin, and now Makoto.
All of them are women with bigger chests than hers, commonly referred to as buxom in society.
Nishizawa Eri is not pleased with that fact.
“Ah?! D-don’t touch me?! Nishizawa?!”
“NOPE! A huge chunk of fat like a cow is like this, like this! Yikes!”
“Uh?!”
Makoto’s face turns beet red.
Seeing the spectacle unfolding between the two, Rin shakes her head, unable to watch.
“Jealousy over what you can’t have is ugly. Cliff.”
“Shut up, cow. Eri-ring has breasts too. A full B cup. That’s average. Not flat and definitely not a cliff!”
Finally released from Makoto, Nishizawa Eri puffs out her cheeks in protest towards Rin.
At that moment, the breast size battle, which had erupted several times between the two, was about to be re-initiated.
“But, but huge breasts are just an eyesore…”
Freed from Nishizawa, Makoto hugs her chest with a red face, and Rin and Nishizawa Eri’s gazes turn toward her.
Heading there.
“Uh, um…”
Makoto, catching the two’s gazes, clutches her skirt tightly and speaks.
“I, if I had to say, I think a size like Nishizawa’s would be just right…”
Makoto licks her lips, her large chest being a complex for her. Although her Master did tell her that her chest wasn’t anything to be ashamed of, the complex that had developed over more than ten years still weighed heavily on her.
As Makoto finishes her statement, Rin’s expression tightens while Eri’s softens.
Tada tada tada.
Nishizawa Eri walks up to Makoto again, smiling.
“Really? You think so too, transfer student, or should I say, Makopi?”
“Makopi?”
Makoto’s eyes widen.
“It’s a nickname I just made up for the transfer student on the spot. What? You don’t like it?”
Eri’s orange eyes meet Makoto’s green ones.
“Oh, no. Not at all.”
Makoto shakes her head, flustered.
“It’s just, this is the first time I’ve ever been called by a nickname…”
She hangs her head. For Makoto, who had never even been called by her own name properly, nicknames were a strange concept.
“It’s not that I dislike it. I’m just a bit surprised, ahahaha…”
To be honest, she liked it.
Living life carefree with friends at school, being called by nicknames without hesitation… Makoto wanted a daily life like that.
Her heart warming up, Makoto smiles brightly.
“I’m glad to hear you like it. Good.”
Clap.
Nishizawa Eri claps her hands.
“Unlike that nasty girl sitting over there with low femininity, I think Makopi is a good person, so I’ll specially allow you to call me ‘Eri’! But EriLing is off-limits. That’s Master’s exclusive nickname!”
At Eri’s words, Rin gets riled up.
“What? Nasty personality? Low femininity? Cow girl? You just said everything, didn’t you? Washboard?”
“Cow. It’s common knowledge that your nasty personality and low femininity are facts anyone in our academy knows. Is it a crime to speak the truth these days? I heard they call it ‘fact violence’ in Korea.”
Nishizawa Eri scoffs while looking at Rin.
Rin shakes her head and sighs.
Rin’s navy eyes turn to Makoto.
“Here comes the sigh. Hey, transfer student. You need to have more pride in your bust size. A large chest is a symbol of motherhood and allure. The bigger, the better for guys. This applies to Kim Deok-Sung too.”
“Motherhood? Allure?”
Makoto’s face flushes at the blatant words.
Her gaze shifts down to her large breasts.
A useless lump of fat.
What she had always thought of as hideous, just a burden, now looked somewhat different.
‘Even Master thinks my big chest isn’t ugly…’
Thump.
Makoto’s heart races.
She recalls what he said when they visited the clothing store at Tokyo Plaza together, in the changing room.
“He said it wasn’t ugly.”
Maybe, as Rin said, he might really like her seemingly useless large breasts.
He might see her as a woman.
Thinking that far, Makoto’s heart begins to race like it could burst.
Seeing the shy Makoto, Rin places her hand on her chest and speaks.
“Yes. A woman’s greatest weapon is indeed her chest. In that sense, a washboard is a failing grade for a woman.”
“What? Are you ignoring EriLing, the top beautiful girl in the region and the best idol in the academy? There are guys who’d go around the earth just to look at EriLing. Of course, EriLing has no interest in those disgusting guys. EriLing only has Master.”
Thud thud thud.
Eri stands up and walks towards Rin, bumping into her.
The two girls’ foreheads collide.
Their chests press together, getting squished.
“Don’t implant strange knowledge into our Makopi, cow. A chest of moderate size is the most beautiful, that’s common sense.”
“Having a chest of this size is the most beautiful common sense there is.”
“More nonsense as usual, washboard. When did the transfer student become ‘our Makopi’?”
“Um, excuse me Nishizawa? Shinozaki? It’s my fault, so don’t fight…”
As Makoto panics at the sight of Shinozaki Rin and Nishizawa Eri growling at each other.
“Both of you, stop your childish bickering already.”
Olivia’s chilly voice echoes through the small auditorium.
Nishizawa Eri and Shinozaki Rin quickly shut their mouths, dropping their gazes.
The small auditorium falls silent.
With her arms crossed, Olivia looks down at Makoto and says, “Well, it’s fine. Now that it’s revealed you’re a girl and not a boy, we manage to avoid the worst-case scenario. Though I find it a bit annoying that you deceived us…”
Makoto flinches at Olivia’s words.
“The crime of deceiving this noble French princess, Olivia Napoleon Bonaparte, is serious, but given the circumstances, I’ll let it slide this time.”
Olivia pouts her lips.
It’s annoying that Makoto deceived everyone.
But she can’t ignore her backstory.
After all, Olivia is also part of this kind and gentle world.
“…And there was that foolish request from some guy to get along with you. Hey, transfer student! So you should be grateful to me, got it? There won’t be a next time!”
Thump.
Olivia places her hand on her chest and states, “If that’s his request…”
“Are you talking about our master? Your Highness?”
The ones reacting to Olivia’s words aren’t Makoto, but Rin and Nishizawa Eri.
Both of them, sitting on each side, turn their gazes toward Olivia.
Receiving their attention, a lady-like smile creeps onto Olivia’s face.
“Y-Yeah! Hmph. I really don’t want to follow his orders, but after all, I am his personal maid! I have no choice but to comply.”
Before holding the hearing, when she heard from Kim Deok-Sung that he hoped Makoto could get along with her as much as possible, Olivia honestly felt resentful.
“Seriously, fool. Dimwit. Sea cucumber, sea squirt, anemone. Why on earth does he have to ask me for something like that?”
Get along with another girl?
It was a notion that forgets her duty to exclude unqualified women as his personal maid.
That was Olivia’s thought until now.
However, as soon as she realized she was the only one among the trio to hear Kim Deok-Sung’s request, Olivia suddenly felt good.
“Right. Kim Deok-Sung’s request is only known to me. After all, that fool can’t do without this Olivia Napoleon Bonaparte supporting him, you see? Hehe.”
Olivia beams with a lady-like smile.
The sense of resentment has long since flown away.
“…Once again, I’ve been defeated.”
“Master, that’s just mean! Eri and Makopi are getting along just fine!”
Eri puffs up her cheeks while Rin’s face stiffens.
Watching the chaos unfold before him, Makoto’s face turns red with a pounding heart.
‘My master said he asked me to take care of him?’
Whoosh.
Makoto’s face flushes red.
After all, the master is a kind person.
Makoto thinks this and offers a faint smile.
“That doesn’t mean I acknowledge you. Don’t get the wrong idea, okay? The place by my master’s side is reserved for me, Olivia Napoleon Bonaparte. I can’t allow it for unqualified stragglers.”
Olivia looks at Makoto and declares.
With an unexplainable push, Makoto nods in agreement.
“Okay. Since it’s a request from my master, I want to get along with Makopi. What should we do first? Hey, cow. Got any good ideas?”
“Well… since it’s midterm season, how about studying for exams together?” Rin offers a desperate suggestion.
“How typical for a stiff cow to have such a boring idea…”
Just then, Eri was about to interrupt Rin.
At the moment when Rin was about to make a snide remark.
“No. I think it’s a pretty good idea,”
Olivia interrupts Nishizawa.
“…But if the princess thinks it’s a good idea, then Eri-ling agrees too. Thank you, princess. Cow.”
Nishizawa hurriedly changes the subject.
Olivia crosses her arms.
Memories of the days shortly after meeting Kim Deok-Sung float into her mind.
The memories of studying together in the study room.
They even ate boneless spicy chicken together.
Maybe they could study together again like that…
As that thought crossed Olivia’s mind, her face heated up.
“Ugh…! Anyway! If we’re going to do this, we might as well include that fool in the study session! That fool is below average at note-taking, just as you’d expect!”
“Master too? Great! Great! Eri-ling totally agrees!”
Nishizawa Eri jumps up and laughs.
“Not a bad idea. But do you know where Kim Deok-Sung is, Bonaparte?”
“Well…”
Olivia finds herself at a loss for words at Shinozaki Rin’s question.
She also didn’t know where Kim Deok-Sung was right now.
After receiving the request to get along well earlier, she had felt jealous and exchanged some bland conversation before heading out to attend the hearing.
“I don’t know either.”
“Where could Master be?”
“First, it’d be best to find Kim Deok-Sung.”
Just then, the three girls started to huddle together.
“Um… Excuse me…”
Makoto, who was seated, raised her hand.
“What is it, transfer student?”
Olivia asked, and Makoto spoke in a timid voice.
“I know where he is. Master, I know where he is.”
With Makoto’s words, all three girls turned their attention to her.
“…He said he’s going to the Reading Club Room. He’s studying for exams with some second-year senior there…”
As soon as Makoto finished her sentence.
Creeeak.
The three girls got up from their seats.
“A senior? Another rival appears? Eri-ling is so tired…”
“…As if a classmate wasn’t enough, now it’s a senior… There are too many girls after him, it’s troublesome.”
“Those unqualified cat burglars dare… They don’t even ask for my permission as his personal maid before chasing after him!”
Hearing Nishizawa, Rin, and Olivia, Makoto awkwardly smiled.
It was the moment when rivalry against another romantic competitor started brewing beneath the surface.
*
At the same moment.
In the Reading Club Room.
With textbooks and notes spread out on the desk, Kim Deok-Sung scratches his left ear with his finger.
‘Why is my ear so itchy?’
Is someone talking about me?
Just when Kim Deok-Sung was about to take his hand off his left ear.
“Ah-choo!”
Sitting across from him, the violet-haired beautiful girl, Hoshino Kasumi, sneezes.
Kasumi and Kim Deok-Sung’s eyes meet.
Kasumi’s face turns red.
She hurriedly flips open her notebook to cover her face and says,
“S-sorry, junior. I sneezed suddenly. Looks like someone’s talking about me.”
“Stop the nonsense and explain this again. Senior.”
“Okay. Got it. Junior.”
Creeeak.
Kasumi scoots her chair next to Kim Deok-Sung and starts explaining the concept.
It was a peaceful scene in the club room before the four first-year heroines crashed in.
The Reading Club had accepted four new members.
“The amount we’ll study today is this much, junior.”
Thud.
Printouts, textbooks, and reference books pile heavily on the desk like a mountain.
Beside me, Senior Kasumi seems to be enjoying herself as she smiles brightly for some reason.
Does she really like studying that much?
Even back in school, I never understood those who found joy in studying.
My grades were always at the top in college, but I was far from achieving any academic scholarships.
Not to mention I was happy if I managed to get a B, and mostly I’d end up with C’s.
And yet, now you want me to study from notes?
