Title : Is Anyone in This School Even Normal?!

Chapter 1: “Let Me Kiss You, and You Can Be #1”

They say high school is the best time of your life.

Liars.

At Aokihara Academy, every student was an overachieving genius, a secret model, or someone with suspicious mafia connections. And me? I was the only one who followed the rules, showed up on time, and respected due dates.

So when I saw my name drop to #2 on the midterm board, I felt something inside me snap.

“Kai Takumi. Rank #1. New Transfer.”

A transfer student beat me? Me?! Rin Ayaka—undisputed queen of academic excellence for three years straight?

No. Absolutely not.

I stormed into the library, the last place someone like him would be, only to find him… sleeping. Head down on his arms. Textbook closed. Zero notes.

The audacity.

“Excuse me,” I said, arms crossed. “We need to talk.”

He didn’t move.

I cleared my throat louder.

He lifted his head lazily, eyes half-lidded, like a bored cat. “Mm? Sorry. Were you saying something, Miss…?”

“Ayaka. Rin Ayaka. The rightful first-ranker before you decided to waltz in and wreck the entire curve.”

“Oh,” he said, yawning. “You’re the angry one.”

“Excuse me?!”

Kai leaned back in his chair, looking me over as if I were an overly complicated math problem. “So what do you want? An apology? A rematch? My seat in class? Or…”

He tilted his head slightly, smile curling at the edge of his lips.

“…a kiss?”

“What?!” I took a step back.

“If I kiss you once,” he said lazily, “I’ll give you the next first place. No studying. I’ll just throw the next test.”

My brain short-circuited. “Why on earth would I want—?!”

“Because it’s more fun than studying, isn’t it?” he smirked. “Deal?”

My mouth opened. Then closed. Then opened again. “You’re insane.”

“Probably.”

I marched out of the library, fuming.

Behind me, I could hear him chuckle softly.

What kind of psycho suggests kissing as a form of negotiation?!

But that wasn’t even the worst part.

The worst part was that my heart… skipped.

To be continued.

—————————-

“Rin\~ I heard you got confessed to!”

Yuu’s voice rang out across the dorm hallway like a siren of doom. My hands trembled around my toothbrush as she popped into the shared bathroom, her face way too excited for 7:00 a.m.

“I did not get confessed to,” I hissed.

“Oh, sorry. I meant propositioned.” She grinned.

“By the new hottie transfer. Honestly, you’ve got some nerve rejecting the school’s new eye candy.”

“I didn’t reject him—I walked away!”

Yuu leaned against the sink beside me, a knowing glint in her eye. “You know what they say, Rin. You only walk away from what you’re too afraid to accept\~”

“That’s not a saying.”

“It is now.”

I tried to focus on brushing my teeth and ignoring her smug reflection. Living with Yuu was like rooming with a hurricane that wore perfume. She was the school’s resident cheerleader, chaotic bisexual icon, and my worst nightmare during exam season.

“Please don’t tell people,” I begged.

“No promises,” she sang. “Oh, and by the way, people are already talking. Kai apparently smiled after you left. That boy hasn’t smiled since enrollment.”

I nearly choked on my toothpaste.

Great. The school thought we were a couple now.

Even worse?

At lunch, when I went to sit with the library club, a pair of arms wrapped around me from behind.

“You didn’t answer my question yesterday,” Kai’s voice murmured next to my ear.

I froze.

Everyone stared.

Yuu dropped her chopsticks. “Oh? So you’re just bros, huh?”

My soul left my body.

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