Beep! Beep! Beep!
It's the buzzing sound of the alarm clock again — been hearing that for years now. Just when I was about to reach the climax in my dream, you had to get in the way and ruin it. Good job, my damn alarm clock.
I rolled over on my bed to turn it off and immediately stared at the ceiling.
Hmmm... it's Monday again, huh?
But I still feel sleepy as hell.
Maybe if I hadn't stayed up late reading the latest chapter of My Kouhai is So Cute, I'd be in good shape right now. Can't blame me — it was just too exciting.
I don't exactly know when it started, but sometime in middle school, I began taking an interest in anime, manga, and otaku stuff in general. At first, I only watched the popular ones, but I slowly got hooked and became more and more of an otaku the more I watched and read.
There's just something special about shounen series that makes me want to stay up every night to binge them.
After getting tired of shounen stuff, I set my sights on the romance genre — and guess what? My entire perspective on romance and love in general got overwritten by watching absurd romance anime. I slowly turned into a romance freak. I binged episode after episode every night, digging through every romance anime I could find.
The drama, the buildup, those awkward confessions and misunderstandings... I loved them all.
I don't know why, but I just like watching characters fall in love with each other in a slow-burn kind of way.
But of course, I'm envious of them.
I don't have a childhood friend who's a girl. Hell, I don't even have a close female friend to begin with.
So how would I ever end up in some wholesome childhood-friends-to-lovers cliche.
Enough daydreaming — time to get up now.
I groaned, forced myself to get up, and looked at the mirror for a minute.
My eyes had bags under them, and my hair was a mess — already regretting staying up late.
Cock-a-doodle-doo! Cock-a-doodle-doo!
I heard the sound of roosters outside my window.
I guess that's the sign to get up and get ready for school.
I quickly took a bath and felt the coldness of the morning water.
Ughhh... I thought I froze solid for a second there.
Brushed my teeth while still being half-asleep.
I sprinted back to my room after the bath to put on my uniform in a hurry.
My mind was still foggy from sleep deprivation, but I forced myself to eat breakfast as fast as possible.
"Can't let the Vice President of the class be late on the first day of the week," I quietly mumbled.
The walk to school was the same as before — loud vehicles zooming through the highway, birds chirping, and people mumbling left and right.
I tried to recall if we had any homework assigned last week.
My eyes widened — they gave us one in Math.
I rushed to the school gate and sprinted to my classroom.
One of my classmates saw me and greeted me.
"Yo VP, have you done the homework for Math?"
I paused for a second and remembered that I didn't finish it.
Shit, I haven't done it.
"I mean— I'm done! Nice and ready!"
"So you've done it! Mind giving me some of the answers?"
"Do it yourself, bro. I'm not in the mood right now."
"How selfish. If you have a brain, you gotta share it, you know."
"Yeah right, whatever you say."
I rushed to my seat and sat at my usual spot in the far back.
The corner seat, of course — the one weebs describe as "The Protagonist's Seat."
The moment I took my seat, I saw her...
The most popular girl in the classroom — Akeno Kiyomi.
President of the class.
Top of the class... besides me.
Beautiful, smart, athletic — she had it all.
There's just something about her that attracts all our male classmates... except me.
Ever since I became a romance freak, I lost the ability to be attracted to real girls.
But even I know she's beautiful and attractive — almost perfect in every single way.
She sat in the front, far off from me, already reading some handouts — probably something advanced.
She was elegant as always, with perfect posture.
With that black hair tied into a ponytail, she looked as attractive as ever.
Her personality?
Well, I've interacted with her a few times since we're both in charge of the class, but the only thing I know is that she's quiet and well-composed — almost like she was born into a politician's family.
I see her as a rival because it's always the two of us competing for the top of the class.
Some semesters she beats me, sometimes I beat her — but that's just the relationship we have. Nothing more than that.
Even as a romance freak, I can't imagine her dating me.
I hurriedly opened my backpack, trying to find the homework I hadn't done yet.
Woosh. Wasshhh.
My fingers were as fast as a race car, zooming through the handouts and answering all the questions as quickly as possible.
My brain was solving the equations as fast as I could process them.
"Yo VP, what are you doing?"
I turned to my right and saw one of my close friends, Akito, staring at me.
"Umm... you know, just cramming our Math homework."
"LOL! You stayed up late again?"
"What are you doing, man? You know how important that homework is for our grades, right?
If you want to keep that top position with our class idol, you need to work harder, man."
"Yes, yes, I know that."
"What were you doing anyway?"
"Umm... I was reading man—
I mean, I was practicing piano."
I lied... as always.
I'm always hiding my otaku side from my friends because I think they might get weirded out.
That would drag my reputation straight into the trash can.
I mean, "otaku" literally means nerd in Japan.
Sure, I wear glasses — my eyesight's bad — but I wouldn't call myself a nerd.
Not now, not even after a million years.
"Yeah right. But you need to stop, or your health will suffer.
Those sleepless nights will take a toll on you eventually."
Just as I was about to reply, I noticed the class suddenly went quiet —
That's the sign the teacher is coming.
"BRO, SHE'S HERE! GET BACK TO YOUR SEAT!"
Akito sprinted to his desk, and I hurriedly hid my unfinished homework in my bag.
I composed myself just in time before the teacher entered our classroom.
"Good morning, class!"
"Good morning, Mrs. Silva!"
It was the same greeting we'd used over a thousand times.
The same old Mrs. Silva — one of the strictest teachers in school.
Wearing a neat teacher's suit, she placed her bag on the table.
"What a nice morning we have today.
Class, have you done the homework I gave you last week?"
Some students hurriedly said yes, while others stayed silent — you know what that means.
"Okay class, we'll check that before the end of the period.
For now, I'll give some oral recitations. If you know the answer, raise your hand."
"Alright, what is the quadratic formula?"
Just when I was about to raise my hand — Kiyomi beat me to it.
The teacher called her.
"Kiyomi?"
Without stuttering or missing a single word, she said:
"Negative b plus-minus square root of b squared minus four a c over two a."
"Good job, Kiyomi — as expected!"
"Hitoshi, she beat you this time!"
Author's Note:
Here's the illustration link!
https://ibb.co/27Nzg0hX
Ughhh... that's frustrating.
And she didn't need to mention my name just to say that Kiyomi beat me.
Well, that's expected. She looked so focused, while I looked like a cramming student who just barely finished some homework.
The class continued as usual with me and Kiyomi fighting over some absurd recitation points.
We would both raise our hands and hope our name would be called.
Sometimes we'd give different answers and smirk if the other person got it wrong.
That always happened — not just in Math, but in other subjects too.
We were constantly juking it out, trying to see who would get the most recitation points.
---
Time passed and break time came.
"Bro, you were really trying to compete with the idol, huh?"
Akito chuckled while teasing me.
"Of course, man! Can't let a rich girl beat me!"
"As expected of the class president and vice president — always fighting for that top spot.
Have you ever thought of dating her?" he asked.
"Nah, I'm good."
"Really, man? I've always thought you looked good together."
"Hell nah. I would never think of dating her, man. I'm really not interested. I swear."
"Alright, bro. Whatever you say."
Even if I love romance stories, I never thought of having one in real life.
They're just impossible and unlikely. I'd probably just assume something and get my expectations crushed.
Real life is different from fiction...
Romcoms would never be possible in real life.
And even if I wanted one, I'd love her to have the same hobbies as mine.
---
Some time passed, and class was over.
I was part of the cleaners group. After we finished cleaning, only me and Kiyomi were left.
"VP, just lock the classroom and give the keys to the faculty, okay?"
"Alright, President!"
Just when she was about to leave, she dropped a book...
It looked familiar.
When I got close to it, my eyes widened.
It was a manga.
I tried to chase her —
But she was already gone.