I was Thrown into an Unfamiliar Manga

Ding-dong!
The moment that sound came from the front door, we all turned our heads at the same time.
In that split-second silence, we each made a quick judgment, and the first to move was Sakamoto.

“I’ll handle the door!”
He hastily threw the pro controller he had in his hand and dashed toward the entrance.
Since the short hallway at the front door led straight to the living room, someone had to cover for him.

I snatched the falling controller and quickly ended the game, while Satoru hurriedly turned off the TV with the remote.
Elapsed time: roughly five seconds.
A truly flawless team play.

“Huh? Onii-chan? Why are you by the door?”
“Ah~ I thought I heard you coming, so I came to greet you.”
“Really?”

Having successfully acted as a shield, Sakamoto glanced over at us out of the corner of his eye.
When Satoru gave him a thumbs-up and an “OK” sign, Sakamoto put his hand behind his back and returned a thumbs-up as well.
It felt like some strange sense of camaraderie had formed between us.

“Onii-chan, is someone home?”
“Huh? Ah, some classmates came over to hang out.”
“No wonder you’re doing something you don’t usually do.”

Walking in while chatting naturally with Sakamoto was a girl with the same orange-colored hair tied into half-twin tails.
When she made eye contact with me, she looked slightly startled and bowed her head.
“Hello.”
Thankfully, she didn’t seem scared.

Probably because we’d met before on the subway.
“Yuika’s here too!”
Satoru said that cheerfully, waving his hand, but Sakamoto’s little sister put her hand on her hip and spoke with a fed-up tone.

“Onii-chan, stop coming over already.”
“What?! That’s so cold!”
“You’re always teaching my brother weird stuff, that’s why!”

“That’s honestly slander!”
“You even secretly brought in a dirty magazine last time!”
As the two of them began bickering, Sakamoto, caught in the middle, tried to mediate with a troubled expression.

“H-Hey now, let’s not do this here… both of you…”
But then Yuika and Satoru shouted in unison:
““You (Onii-chan) stay out of this!””

…Sakamoto, huh. I didn’t realize he was in such a bullied position.
***
Sakamoto Yuika.

Though ✪ Nоvеlіgһt ✪ (Official version) my memories from before the possession were starting to fade, her appearance and name were still vivid in my mind.
And for good reason—Sakamoto Yuika was clearly one of the main heroines of Scramble Love.
In fact, she placed third in the final popularity poll—a super popular character.

You might ask how someone’s little sister could be considered a heroine, but in Japanese romcoms, it’s actually rarer for the little sister not to be a heroine.
Whether she’s a blood-related sister or a stepsister.
It’s probably to appeal to the otaku crowd who go crazy for “imouto” characters, but honestly, unless the author is insane, little sisters in romcoms are practically guaranteed to lose in the end.

At least, that’s how it was in every romcom I’ve seen so far.
“Onii-chan, seriously! You’ve just been stuffing your face with snacks again! I’ll peel some fruit, so wait a bit!”
With that, Yuika set down her schoolbag and started rummaging through the fridge in the kitchen.

Seeing that, I said,
“She’s a good little sister.”
Sakamoto wiped under his nose with his index finger and replied,

“She’s way too good for me. I just wish she didn’t act like such a mom all the time.”
Satoru then gave Sakamoto a look like he was trash.
“There you go again, complaining when you have it good. If my little sister were like that, I’d be worshiping her on my knees.”

“Satomi? Isn’t she pretty quiet though?”
“That’s just an act in front of you. At home she’s a total gorilla, I swear.”
While sitting cross-legged and grumbling, Satoru was interrupted by Yuika, who shouted from the kitchen while peeling fruit.

“Onii-chan! If you keep saying stuff like that, I’ll tell Satomi next week!”
With that, Satoru clammed up immediately with a guilty face.
Seems like their sisters know each other.

Watching this exchange, I asked them,
“When did you two first meet?”
Sakamoto looked up and mumbled,

“Let’s see… Was it in first year of middle school?”
Satoru filled in from the side,
“We were in the same class in first and second year. At the start of the year we were just casual acquaintances, but then this guy saved me when I was getting shaken down by delinquents, and we’ve been best friends ever since.”

“Oh, yeah. That happened.”
“Wait, you forgot?”
“It was a while ago. I’m surprised you remember.”

“You’re the weird one for forgetting!”
Satoru looked at me as if wanting me to join in on scolding Sakamoto, but I pretended not to notice and asked something else instead.
“So why’d you decide to enroll at Ichijo Academy, Sakamoto? There are plenty of high schools closer to here.”

Sakamoto, munching on potato chips, answered,
“Ah, my parents are archaeologists, so they travel abroad a lot. I needed a guardian, and there just happened to be someone they knew at Ichijo, so I ended up in their care.”
As expected of a romcom protagonist—what a perfect backstory.

It was so textbook that I couldn’t help but be impressed inside.
While I was busy digging for information on Sakamoto, who had always been a close but distant presence, Yuika came out of the kitchen holding a plate. Looks like she’d finished slicing the fruit.
“What are the three of you doing, all gloomy like this?”

“Ah, we were just reminiscing. Kim-kun here seems pretty curious about our past.”
Yuika set the fruit plate on the table, made eye contact with me, stared for a moment, and then suddenly asked,
“Onii-chan, isn’t he the son of the Korean restaurant near the housing complex?”

Huh?
Caught completely off guard by her question, I stared blankly for a moment.
And Sakamoto looked just as surprised.

“Yuika, you knew about Kim-kun?”
Yuika gave Sakamoto an incredulous look.
“Two years ago during winter break, we went out to eat, remember? He was working then too. It was around Christmas, I think?”

She even remembered the exact date.
I didn’t expect her to remember something from two years ago.
Her memory was seriously something else.

“Really? We’ve met before?”
I had no choice but to feign ignorance to Sakamoto’s question.
“I’m not sure either. We get so many customers at the restaurant.”

Then Yuika bit into an apple slice she’d cut and said,
“Your face looked familiar, but your body changed so much that I honestly didn’t recognize you at first. What happened to you in two years?”
I gave a wry smile at her question.

“I just worked out a lot.”
It sounded like a lie, but it was true.
***

We moved into Sakamoto’s room with the leftover snacks, chatting and eating the fruit Yuika had prepared.
Of course, we brought the console from the living room with us to eliminate all evidence.
“Whew, I thought we were gonna get caught.”

Like a bomb squad carefully defusing explosives, Satoru removed the cartridge from the Explosive Bust Hyper Action Game and wiped his forehead as he muttered.
Sakamoto, arms crossed beside him, nodded in agreement.
“Honestly, I’d rather get caught watching porn. Getting caught playing this would be way worse.”

Truly a game you’d be embarrassed to show anyone.
It’s good, sure, but definitely not the type you’d ever admit to playing.
Anyway, since the TV in the living room was now in Yuika’s hands, all we could do was hang out in Sakamoto’s room.

“Here, cushion.”
“Ah, thanks.”
I sat down on the cushion Sakamoto handed me and looked around.

His room wasn’t much different from any typical high school guy’s room—desk with manga and textbooks, bed, a cabinet, and a wardrobe. Simple setup.
One big difference from Korean high schoolers’ rooms: there was no personal computer.
Apparently, in Japan it’s not unusual for households to not have a PC. Some people first use one after entering university.

They even have to learn how to type from scratch.
Meanwhile, Satoru, acting like he was at his own place, bounced onto Sakamoto’s bed and asked,
“When does Yuika go on summer break? Is her school schedule different from ours?”

“Middle schoolers get out next Tuesday, I think. They said the first semester didn’t have enough school days.”
Sakamoto, answering while tipping a drink bottle into his mouth, accidentally spilled it on his clothes and flailed in panic.
“Ahhh! Tissues! Tissues!”

I stood up at that.
“Tissues? Where?”
“On top of the cabinet over there!”

With my vision narrowed, I finally spotted the tissue box sitting atop the cabinet.
Thud!
Not knowing how many we’d need, I lifted the whole box—but then I felt something brush the back of my hand and looked down.

Next to the tissue box was a cat-head-shaped ornament. Must’ve been that.
“Here it… is—huh?”
As I turned around with the box in hand, I suddenly froze.

Because behind the flustered Sakamoto, frantically wiping his clothes…
A man with black skin was floating in midair.