Title : Is Anyone in This School Even Normal?!

...Chapter 2 : “I’m Not in Love. I’m in Hell.”...

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I had three rules for surviving Aokihara Academy:

1. Avoid unnecessary drama.

2. Avoid Kai Takumi.

3. Absolutely never, ever violate Rules 1 or 2.

Guess how that was going.

“Let go of me!” I hissed through clenched teeth.

Kai, arms still wrapped around me like this was some cheesy rom-com, whispered, “You’re warm. Are you embarrassed?”

“Are you alive? Because you won’t be if you keep this up!”

The entire cafeteria was watching. Phones were out. Yuu was cackling like a Disney villain across the room.

With painful slowness, Kai finally let go.

“I’m not into public displays of affection,” I muttered.

“Affection?” he repeated, lips twitching. “So you do feel something?”

“I feel violated!”

He smiled. I hated that it made him look even more attractive.

“No need to get so worked up,” he said, picking up his lunch tray. “We’re just friends.”

“We’re not!”

“Acquaintances, then. With sparks.”

I slapped a hand to my face. “This isn’t sparks. This is arson.”

“You’re cute when you’re angry.”

I wanted to scream. Or faint. Or both.

When I finally escaped to my dorm that night, I slammed the door and groaned into my pillow.

Yuu didn’t even look up from her phone. “So when’s the wedding?”

“I’m going to transfer schools.”

“Too late. You’re famous. The school forums are shipping you two already.”

I lifted my head, horrified. “There are forums?!”

“Oh, sweetheart,” Yuu said, scrolling with a wicked grin, “you’ve clearly never met the fanfiction club.”

This school wasn’t normal.

And worst of all?

I was starting to think…

Maybe I wasn’t either.

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The next morning, I woke up to chaos.

Yuu was sitting cross-legged on her bed, surrounded by open laptops, with my face on all of them.

“Morning, celebrity!” she chirped.

“What did you do?” I croaked, still half-asleep.

“Not me. Your fans. They named your ship with Kai already. Wanna hear it?”

“No.”

“Too bad. It’s KaRin. Or KaiYaka. Personally, I vote for Doomsparkles, but I’ve been outvoted.”

I dragged myself to her screen. There, on the student forum:

Kai confessed in the cafeteria!!! Did you see how he touched her???

He SMILED. Our emotionally constipated ice prince SMILED.

Rin’s gonna deny it, but the sexual tension was CRIMINAL.

I stared in horror.

“They’re unhinged.”

“They’re artists,” Yuu corrected. “Look, someone made a fan edit of you two kissing using AI—oh, hey, your nose looks good in this one!”

“Delete it. Burn it. Kill it with fire.”

I fled the dorm like it was haunted. My last shred of pride was hanging by a thread.

At school, I walked with my head down. I didn’t even want to exist.

So, of course, Kai found me anyway.

He fell into step beside me, unbothered as always. “Did you see the forum?”

“Unfortunately.”

“I think I looked good in that kissing edit.”

“I think you need therapy.”

He chuckled. “Want to give them something new to gossip about?”

I stopped walking. “What does that mean?”

He leaned in, voice low. “If I kissed you for real… would your heart still skip?”

My soul evacuated my body again.

And worst of all?

It did.

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