Chapter 7: Farewell to Ordinariness

Classes passed surprisingly quickly.

‘No, is this class fast? Or am I slow?’

I sighed in the middle of taking notes and looked down at my notebook.

The content of the class was definitely not difficult.

I’m a college entrance exam repeater. The high school level content hasn’t disappeared from my head.

My past life… that is, before I fell asleep, I didn’t repeat the college entrance exam just because I was bad at studying.

Because of the Korean entrance exam system, most people are forced to repeat the exam because they are unfairly disadvantaged, or because they lack a few points on the SAT and can’t go to the school they want.

It’s not something to brag about, but in my past life, I aimed for medical school or a prestigious university in Seoul, so it wouldn’t make sense if I couldn’t keep up with the first year of high school.

The problem was… the speed.

“We learned this part in middle school, so I’ll skip it roughly.”

Today is the first day of class.

Then there is usually an orientation or the teacher’s self-introduction.

But… these teachers aren’t Gangnam Daechidong instructors, and on the first day, they not only teach but also go through the curriculum at a rapid pace, so I felt breathless every time they said a word.

Moreover, there was an atmosphere among the students that they should naturally know the content of the middle school level.

I checked my notes again.

‘This content… is taught in middle school? Isn’t it high school level?’

The problem is that this is not the Korean curriculum, but the Japanese curriculum. And the middle school of this school has already completed the curriculum up to the first year of high school.

At this rate, wouldn’t they finish the high school level curriculum in the first semester of the second year of high school?

I thought I was getting a small advantage of being a little younger, but I guess I’m destined to be a mob here too.

While my mind was complicated, the bell rang.

Break time.

As soon as the bell rang, the classroom quickly became noisy.

I closed my notebook, put it in my bag, and glanced around.

The students gathered in groups to talk or moved their seats to start conversations.

In particular, I looked at Nishimura, who was on duty with me.

As with most transfer students, friends who wanted to get along with him naturally gathered around him, who was sitting by the hallway.

“Nishimura, do you like soccer? If you like it, let’s kick a ball together at lunch!”

“Hey, Nishimura. Do you play games? Do you want to play with us?”
“Can I call you Ken’ichi? Nishimura?”

Nishimura seemed to accept the conversation with a simple nod at first, but soon he took the center among them and made them laugh.

‘Yeah… he was this kind of role in the novel too.’

Nishimura was always a supporting character who got along well with everyone and became a reliable friend to the protagonist.

‘Compared to that… I am.’

I tapped the edge of the desk with my fingertips and looked around.

No one approached me.

No one was interested in me sitting quietly.

No, rather than not being interested, the presence of the two people sitting behind me was so great that it was as if there was a barrier, and no one dared to approach.

“Rina.”

A soft and clear voice is heard.

That’s right. I’m in this noble family among nobles.

I had become part of Aya and Mizuki’s group.

“What do you usually do during break time, Rina?”

I was slightly flustered when Aya suddenly asked me a question from the side.

Even if I took the protagonist’s place, I took it…

Because I don’t know why Aya is so interested in me causally, no matter how much I think about the content of the novel in my head.

“Oh, just… reading? Or just spacing out.”

Aya tilted her head slightly at my answer.

“Spacing out… cute.”

I was so flustered by the word cute that I couldn’t answer.

Then Mizuki grinned and intervened.

“Ayarin, spacing out is cute?”

“Yeah, I think so?”

Aya nodded with a soft look.

Mizuki also smiled slightly and nodded.

“Well, Rina does have that kind of charm. Honestly, I was surprised too~ She’s a new student, but she doesn’t seem nervous, and she’s surprisingly calm.”

“Hey, no way… I was really nervous.”

I said, waving my hands.

Mizuki looked at me quietly and smiled playfully.

“Really? But you seemed pretty calm.”

“Ah, that’s…”

I didn’t know what to say, so I mumbled, and eventually lowered my head quietly in Aya and Mizuki’s laughter.

‘Yeah… I don’t belong here.’

The conversation between the two was natural, and I felt like I was forced to join in.

The two were close friends, and I felt like a stranger between them.

So, I’m really…

“Ayarin, speaking of which, the student council seniors called us during lunch, right?”

Mizuki changed the topic of conversation.

Aya nodded lightly.

“Yeah. It’s for a meeting related to the club activity guidance for transfer students. It’ll probably be over soon.”

“Oh~ Club activities, do you want to go together, Rina? If you’re going to join the student council, it might be okay to participate~”

At Mizuki’s sudden invitation, I was flustered and my eyes widened.

“Me, me too?”

Mizuki smiled playfully and said.

“Yeah. If you’re interested, it’s good to take a look, right?”

“Uh…”

I couldn’t continue speaking and hesitated.

‘Go, go, going-home club… Where’s my going-home club…?’

And if I forgot one thing…

These two are elites who were in the student council even in Takamari Middle School.

Whether it’s middle school or high school, Takamari Academy, being listed in the student council, which can only be entered with this recommendation, means that you will be on the line of contacts leading to famous figures in the political and economic circles made up of prestigious families.

Also, the student council in the novel was always the center of the incident.

The incidents the protagonist gets caught up in, and the lovey-dovey moments with the heroine.

And the complex and noisy events that always appear…

“Ah, um… I’ll think about it a little more.”

I muttered an answer and lowered my head.

Mizuki tilted her head, perhaps not satisfied with my answer, but didn’t say anything.

Aya quietly smiled and told me, as if she felt I was anxious.

“It’s up to you, Rina. I’m not trying to force you.”

“That’s right, it’s just a recommendation, so don’t feel pressured.”

The two naturally continued the conversation.

But I… couldn’t shake off my nervousness.

The title of this novel was ‘The Heroine is Too Perfect and Dere, Making Me Fearful’.

I, who had suddenly taken the protagonist’s place… was feeling incredibly fearful, just like the title of the novel.

Classes continued after that.

I continued to take notes and barely kept up with the class.

I’m going to have to go home and review a lot to get an average score.

It wasn’t for nothing that the protagonist in the novel was performing acrobatic feats near the failing grade.

‘Sigh… why is Takamari’s level so high?’

And lunch time, which everyone was waiting for, came.

As befits a school attended by children of prestigious families, there was no one who rushed out to eat first, making a fuss because it was lunch time.

Still, there were people who went out first with a quick pace, and I tried to get up for a moment, but hesitated.

‘Oh, where should I go for lunch?’

I know there are three restaurants in this school.

One is a convenience store.

It’s a simple store, and you usually go there to buy snacks, but you can also buy things like lunch boxes.

Another is the general student cafeteria.

It’s where most of the students eat, and although it’s called ‘general’, most of the menus are luxurious because they are provided according to the level of Takamari Academy.

And finally… the special restaurant.

It’s a place where only the student council or some students can enter, and in the novel, it was described as ‘a wall that ordinary students cannot cross.’

I sighed lightly.

‘What kind of choice is this, the place I’m going is already decided. It’s a convenience store or a general restaurant.’

When lunch time started, the students, who had gathered in groups of three or five, began to move to the restaurant according to their respective groups.

Should I get up too…?

I thought so, but Aya, sitting next to me, was smiling at me.

“Rina, do you want to eat lunch together?”

‘Ah, right.’

I didn’t have a choice anyway.

Mizuki behind me was looking at me with a look full of intention with her eyes narrowed, and Aya was looking at me with a look full of intention that said, ‘You’ll go with me, right?’

“Uh… yeah!”

“Great! We have more friends to eat with.”

“That’s right, shall we go to the general restaurant today?”

“Okay. The special restaurant is… overwhelming.”

For reference, the protagonist doesn’t eat together like this from the first day, first meal.

Because he became friends with Nishimura, he goes out to have lunch with Nishimura.

But I’m a girl, and the moment Aya showed so much interest, I… even the event of the first day, first meal happened.

I felt the ordinary fading away from me and smiled awkwardly.

In the novel, Aya surprisingly had a commoner’s taste and didn’t like the special restaurant.

So, she often ran into the protagonist in the novel at the general restaurant… Ha, ha, ha.