I was Thrown into an Unfamiliar Manga

I made the decision to appear in the drama after returning home late in the evening from the gym.
Considering that my weekly allowance was 5,000 yen, I figured it would be more profitable to just take the job.
After washing my face lightly, I sat down on the living room sofa and sent a message to Minato Naoya's ID.

「I'll take the part-time job.」
Sent.
And right away, as if she had her phone in hand, a reply came in.

「Great! I’ll tell the director right away! You’re not going to change your mind later, right?」
Now I’d crossed the point of no return.
Well, it’s just a one-liner cameo, so it probably won’t be that hard.

“Hey~ Yu-seong~ take some apple slices with you~”
“Okay~”
I put my phone down on the table for a moment and went to the kitchen to grab the apples Mom had sliced for me.

With a forked apple in my mouth, a plate of apple slices in one hand, and a shaker of protein supplement in the other, I returned to the living room sofa.
Ding! Ding! Ding!
Messenger notification sounds rang out in succession.

Wondering what it was, I glanced at the screen—and in just that brief time, a whole string of messages from Minato Naoya had piled up.
「Senpai, why aren’t you replying? Are you busy?」
「I’m really interested in you, but it feels like you’re not interested in me. That’s kind of sad.」

「Senpai? Are you doing something else right now?」
「Senpai? You’re not reading and ignoring me, are you?」
「Senpai? Are you with a girl right now?」
“…….”

What the heck? Is she just naturally impatient?
I tilted my head as I looked at the flurry of texts that had come in during barely five minutes and sent a reply.
「Mom called me for a bit, so I went to the kitchen.」

A response came back instantly.
「Ah, so that’s what it was. I almost misunderstood.」
Maybe it’s just a generational thing, but she replies insanely fast.

I still haven’t fully adjusted to the Japanese keyboard.
「But aren’t you a celebrity? Don’t you have work?」
「I’m off right now. Just because I’m a celebrity doesn’t mean I work every single day.」

Right after that reply, she suddenly sent a photo.
Minato Naoya, dressed in colorful pajamas, making a peace sign with her fingers.
She must’ve taken it in her room while on her phone—there was pink wallpaper and what looked like posters behind her.

「That’s a Mr. Olympia poster. You like bodybuilders?」
The moment I sent that message, she replied in less than a second.
「Yes! I totally love them!」

Even though it was just plain text, I could practically feel Minato Naoya’s excitement through the phone.
A high school girl her age being into ripped bodybuilders—yeah, definitely an unusual hobby.
Even more hardcore than Rika’s love for shounen manga.

It probably wasn’t something she could openly talk about either.
「If you’re okay with it, I can be someone you talk to from time to time. Not many people our age are into bodybuilding, right?」
「If you’re willing, I’d be so grateful!」

After sending that message, she waited a beat before asking,
「But… am I bothering you by doing this?」
「Not really? I like talking about muscles too.」

To be honest, the only person I could really discuss this stuff with was Nakayama-san at the gym.
Recently, Goto had joined that list, but he was still too green. If I got into deep stuff, he couldn’t keep up.
He’d need at least a few more years to reach my level.

So in that sense, Minato Naoya—another muscle geek—was a welcome addition in my life.
「Then I’ll send you messages from time to time! My mom’s calling me, so I gotta head down for now!」
「Sure. Take care.」

After the chat ended, I reached for the forgotten apple slices—only to realize the plate was already empty.
Puzzled, I glanced to the side, where my dad was chewing on the apple slices while watching a baseball game with a blank look.
“Go ask your mom to cut you more.”

“Okay.”
Holding back tears, I quietly headed to the kitchen.
***

‘What do I do♡ What do I do♡ What do I do♡’
After the chat ended, Minato Naoya slammed her fists onto her bed, then hugged her teddy bear and put it in a triangle choke.
The teddy bear’s neck twisted into an angle no neck should go, but she didn’t care.

In a rush to make an impression, she had sent a selfie—and only realized too late that the bodybuilder poster on her wall had been visible.
She’d panicked, thinking, What if he finds it weird?—but instead, senpai had understood her unusual taste.
More than that, he’d even said he’d chat with her if she had no one to talk to.

‘Senpai is so kind♡’
He wasn’t so different from how she’d imagined him in her head.
She was really glad she’d worked up the courage to speak to him.

If not, she would’ve just continued staring at the photos taken by the private investigator she hired.
While she was happily thinking about what kind of message to send tomorrow, her mom suddenly barged into the room.
“Hey, I told you to come down and eat the apples!”

“I was just about to!”
Her dreamy smile vanished in an instant.
As a rule, Minato Naoya the celebrity was strictly forbidden from dating.

If anyone found out she was getting along well with her senpai, the first person to try and shut it down would be her mother—so she had to keep it secret no matter what.
“Hurry down. The apples are drying out.”
“Got it.”

Once her mom closed the door and left, she dropped the act and grinned again.
Getting to finally speak to her prince—whom she had only admired from afar—made her happy.
Even more so that he accepted her taste.

Anyone else who heard she liked muscles would have looked at her like she was crazy.
But senpai wasn’t ~Nоvеl𝕚ght~ like that.
‘I like you♡ I like you♡ I like you♡’

The more she thought about his face, the more her heart overflowed.
She liked him so much, she didn’t want to give him to anyone else.
But it was still too early.

To him, she was just a younger student who’d barely introduced herself.
She needed to take it slow, step by step.
Taking a deep breath to calm her excitement, she returned to her usual blank expression.

It was too soon to let her feelings be known.
If she just blurted out “I like you,” her mom definitely wouldn’t approve.
Thinking about how she could eventually get her mom’s permission to date, Minato Naoya headed downstairs.

***
A few days later, on the weekend.
Thanks to the introduction from Minato Naoya, a school underclassman and famous talent, I was on my way early in the morning to the bus stop in front of NHK Broadcasting Station to do a minor acting part-time job.

Apparently, when drama shoots require long-distance travel, they gather everyone at a specific location and take a chartered bus to the site.
The sky was still dim since the sun hadn’t risen yet.
I pulled my baseball cap low and approached the bus stop, where a bunch of people were already waiting.

It was my first time doing something like this, so I didn’t know what to do and was looking around when a man who seemed to be a staff member approached me.
“Who are you here with?”
“Um… I’m here for a minor part-time role introduced by Minato Naoya.”

“Ah~ so you’re the high school senior she mentioned? Mind showing me your face?”
The man smiled warmly and patted my shoulder, but the moment I took off my cap and showed my face, he flinched and took several steps back.
“O-oh… You really don’t look like a high schooler.”

“I hear that a lot.”
“Well, if anything’s uncomfortable, let me know. Since you’re Minato-san’s senior, we’ll try to treat you well.”
“Thank you.”

As I bowed politely, the staff member laughed awkwardly and quickly walked away.
Yeah. Wearing a cap really was a good call.
I’ve met enough people who react like that at first sight.

“Extras and minor roles, please board this bus!”
Following the broadcast staff’s instructions, I got on a chartered tour bus that seemed to have been arranged by the station.
Inside the bus, the mood was kind of stiff.

I found an empty seat and sat quietly, gazing out the window.
The production crew outside was busy loading up all kinds of equipment into trucks.
Sitting here like this, it all started to feel real.

So I really am going to be in a drama, huh.
Once everyone was on board, the bus driver climbed into the driver’s seat, and the doors shut with a hiss.
Looking around to see what others were doing, I saw most people were either staring at their phones or dozing with their eyes closed.

Not knowing how long the shoot would take, I didn’t want to waste my phone battery—so I figured I’d nap until we got there.
They said it’d take about an hour to reach the filming site, so that should be enough.
I folded my arms and leaned back into the seat.

The bus was dim and quiet, and sleep came over me quickly.
Without resisting, I let my heavy eyelids close.