I was Thrown into an Unfamiliar Manga

After a hectic weekend, Monday arrived once again, right on schedule.
When I opened the back door and entered Class 2-B’s classroom, the seat by the window was empty.
The protagonist, Sakamoto Ryuji, hadn’t come to school yet.

“Hey.”
Just as I casually dropped my bag and took my seat, Satoru from the desk in front spoke to me.
“Did you hear? There were these two first-year delinquents who were kind of famous, and this morning they suddenly started the transfer process.”

“First-years?”
“Yeah. I don’t know the full story, but apparently they went out briefly over the weekend, came home, and locked themselves in their room throwing a tantrum about not wanting to go to school.”
I had a pretty good idea why, but I just listened, pretending not to know.

“Their parents came to the faculty office this morning, yelling about how they suspected school violence, but seriously, who’d believe that? In the end, they just stormed out and went home.”
“I’m sure they had their reasons. Reasons they can’t talk about.”
“Right? If their behavior was always that bad, they probably had more than a few grudges.”

Satoru concluded with a shrug.
Thinking it served them right, I pulled out the latest issue of Jump that I bought at the convenience store this morning.
***

Monday morning’s first period was Practical English.
It was taught by our assistant homeroom teacher, Mizuki Nanae-sensei. Instead of focusing on grammar, the class centered around basic conversational English, which made it very popular.
Considering how people study English for over ten years through elementary, middle, and high school, and still can’t manage a proper sentence when facing a foreigner, it was a very practical class.

“Which of this and this is cheaper?”
She would lead with fluent pronunciation, and the students would repeat after her.
“Left apples are $5 cheaper than right bananas.”
In the middle of class, I lightly shook Rika’s shoulder as she was fast asleep behind a book propped in front of her face.

Rika jerked her head up.
“What’s going on, Ryu-chan?”
“The teacher was just looking at you.”

Startled, Rika quickly wiped the drool from her mouth, opened to the page I pointed out, and began parroting the sentence like a trained bird.
Only then did the teacher’s gaze finally move on.
After reading through one English passage, Mizuki-sensei looked around the classroom.

“Well… today is the 24th, so how about the person sitting behind number 24 read the next passage?”
Student number 24 in our class was Momochi Satoru.
And the one behind him—that would be me.

“That’s me.”
I was a bit surprised by the unexpected callout, but I pretended to be calm and stood up with my textbook.
Screech!

The sound of my chair sliding back felt unusually loud.
Because I sat all the way in the back of the room, some of the other students had to twist around to look.
Flipping to the page, I began reading the English passage.

“I’m James from England. I came to experience Japanese culture. Can you recommend a good place?”
Immediately after, Mizuki-sensei hit me with an unexpected follow-up question.
“Th-then, what would be an appropriate response to that?”

I paused briefly, then combined the words in my head on the spot and answered.
“I personally recommend Osaka because it is a place that is visited by many foreigners and has abundant tourism resources such as Kyoto, Nara, and Kobe.”
The classroom fell silent for a moment.

A beat later, Mizuki-sensei hurriedly clapped her hands.
“Very good! That was a perfect answer!”
The rest of the class followed her lead and began clapping as well.

I bowed my head slightly, then returned to my seat.
Mizuki-sensei continued the lesson for about ten more minutes, then ended class just as the bell for break time rang.
Hmm. Next period is history, huh.

Having both the assistant homeroom and the homeroom teacher back-to-back in periods one and two—whoever made that timetable definitely had a grudge.
***
Mizuki Nanae was a bright and fresh-faced 24-year-old rookie teacher.

She had just graduated from a regional teacher’s college and, carrying big dreams, moved up to Tokyo. The place where she got her first teaching job was none other than Ichijo Academy.
It was a prestigious school with a high deviation score, one of the most well-known in the city. And since it had only been six years since she graduated high school herself, there was a nostalgic feeling she enjoyed.
“Nice to meet you! I’m Mizuki Nanae!”

She still remembered the day she first introduced herself in the faculty office to the other teachers.
And now, she had been assigned her very first assistant homeroom class.
Of course, that class held special meaning for her.

In time, she would likely get used to welcoming new students and sending off the old—but for now, this was her only class and her only students.
Yet, despite starting the semester full of dreams and enthusiasm, rookie teacher Mizuki had already hit one major roadblock.
That was—

One of her students was just too terrifying.
***
Mizuki hated Mondays.

It was the only day in the week she had class with that student, and the moment she entered the classroom, her eyes always met his without fail.
Known as “Ichijo Academy’s Strongest Man”—Kim Yu-seong.
He was so tall and muscular that it was hard to believe he was a high school student. His sullen expression only made it worse.

He looked like a king born to rule over the weak.
As a teacher, she knew she shouldn’t think like that. She repeated to herself that she had to treat all students equally—but the moment their eyes met, that resolve vanished into thin air.
Making it worse were the countless ❖ Nоvеl𝚒ght ❖ (Exclusive on Nоvеl𝚒ght) rumors about him: that he was a descendant of the end-times assassination fist, that he took on a biker gang 50-to-1, that he was being scouted by the yakuza as a valuable asset.

She’d even consulted Matsuda-sensei, the homeroom teacher of the class.
But Matsuda-sensei averted his gaze and said,
“Give up on that one. I already have.”

With a hot temper, tiger-like face, and gorilla-like physique, even the teacher in charge of second-year discipline had thrown in the towel.
Which made it all the more natural for her to be afraid of Kim Yu-seong.
And then, without any warning, an incident occurred.

***
Monday, April 24th. First period.
Another regular Practical English lesson.

Doing her best to avoid eye contact with Kim Yu-seong, Mizuki wandered around in front of the podium while reading the English passages.
“Which of this and this is cheaper?”
She would lead, and the students—though their pronunciation was rough—did their best to repeat after her.

Feeling quietly pleased, she continued.
“Left apples are $5 cheaper than right bananas.”
While moving through the lesson, she noticed that Kishimoto, sitting in the back, had hidden her upper body behind a book and fallen fast asleep.

She wanted to walk over and wake her up, but since Kim Yu-seong was sitting right next to her, she couldn’t bring herself to do it.
Instead, she started glancing over while trying to memorize the English passage. That’s when she realized Kim Yu-seong had noticed her gaze.
Eek! We made eye contact!

She screamed internally in panic—but surprisingly, Kim Yu-seong nudged the sleeping Kishimoto awake and got her to participate in the lesson.
Mizuki was caught off guard by his unexpected kindness and thought, Maybe those scary rumors aren’t true? Maybe he’s actually nice?
Her internal trust level toward Kim Yu-seong rose slightly, giving her the courage to continue class.

“Well… today is the 24th, so how about the person sitting behind number 24 read the next passage?”
It was a casual comment as she glanced around the class.
But the one who responded—

Was Kim Yu-seong.
Screech!
The sound of his chair dragging across the floor rang unusually loud.

“That’s me.”
Come to think of it, this was her first time hearing his voice.
As he stood—towering far above the average Japanese height—everyone’s gaze naturally shifted to the back.

Holding the textbook in one hand, Kim Yu-seong lowered his eyes and read the assigned passage.
“I’m James from England. I came to experience Japanese culture. Can you recommend a good place?”
What is with that voice…

Like the blast of a ship’s horn—his deep, resonant voice carried overwhelming charisma.
And yet, his English pronunciation was as fluent as a foreign film actor’s, with no bad habits at all.
Maybe it was because he was Korean.

Since Japanese kids grow up exposed to heavily Japanized English, they struggle to correct their habits even into adulthood.
“Th-then… what would be an appropriate response here?”
She stammered slightly from nerves, but internally praised herself for asking a good question.

Kim Yu-seong answered again, this time with perfect pronunciation.
“I personally recommend Osaka because it is a place that is visited by many foreigners and has abundant tourism resources such as Kyoto, Nara, and Kobe.”
Once he finished speaking, the class fell into a strange silence.

“…Ha!”
Mizuki, the first to recover, clapped quickly in praise.
Kim Yu-seong slightly lowered his head and returned to his seat.

Momentarily entranced by his voice, Mizuki shook her head and scolded herself.
Pull yourself together, Nanae! You’re the teacher, he’s the student!
She had been afraid of him just moments ago, and now she was swooning over his voice—what an idiot.

She whipped herself back into focus and somehow managed to finish the class.
Completely unaware that a far greater ordeal awaited her two days later.