I was Thrown into an Unfamiliar Manga

It felt like only yesterday that we’d taken the midterms in May, and yet June had already passed its midpoint.

Seasonally, this marked the early beginning of summer.
Since we were scheduled to leave for a two-night, three-day forest school trip to Chiba starting next Monday, the mood in class was pretty elevated.
Summer Forest School.

Officially, it was said to be held for the sake of promoting student health and improving academic achievement, but in reality, it was little more than a summer excursion.
We would camp out at a site in the mountains, make curry or barbecue, test our courage, enjoy a campfire—it was a staple event that never failed to appear in any school-themed romantic comedy.
Typically, for events like this, the class would be divided into several groups.

To prevent some students from being left out due to only close friends grouping together, the teams were usually formed by drawing lots.
There were 26 students in our class.
Split into groups of six to seven per team, that divided cleanly into four groups.

The drawing of lots took place during self-study period, periods 5 and 6 on Wednesday, under the supervision of our homeroom teacher Matsuda—
And the result was:
I ended up in Group D, along with the protagonist, Sakamoto Ryuji.

***
“Looking forward to working with you, Kim-kun.”
“…Yeah.”

“Wow, I got grouped with all the people I’m close to. I must be lucky.”
The members of Group D, chosen fairly through lottery, totaled seven: me, the protagonist, Rika, Satoru, the class rep, Sasha, and Yaguchi.
To be honest, the results of this lottery were so suspect that even if someone said it was rigged, I’d believe them.

No matter how random it was supposed to be, how could a team be formed with such an obvious collection of original heroines?
Since forest school was a romantic comedy staple, maybe some kind of narrative force from the original story had taken effect?
In any case, what was done was done, and it wasn’t like we could redraw the lots. Putting aside that I’d been grouped with the protagonist Sakamoto Ryuji and main heroine Yaguchi Maiya, the rest of the members were all people I was friendly with, so the lineup itself wasn’t bad.
After the drawing, we held a temporary group meeting.

“Hi! We’re in the same class but we’ve barely talked, right?”
“Ah, yeah. Nice to meet you, Kishimoto-san.”
Naturally extroverted Rika led the group’s atmosphere and initiated conversation with our team members.

Currently, Group D was divided into two main factions.
One centered around me, Rika, and Sasha, and the other centered around Yaguchi and Sakamoto.
Satoru, if anything, had ties to both groups and served as the intersection between them, and the class rep was the class rep.

The rep, who naturally assumed the role of team leader, pushed up his round glasses and asked with a notebook in hand:
“First, we need to decide what we’re going to cook at the campsite. The standard is curry, but does anyone want to try something else?”
The first to raise her hand was, surprisingly, Sasha.

“Can we make beef stroganoff instead of curry?”
“…As long as the cooking process isn’t too complex, I don’t mind. The facilities at the campsite are pretty limited.”
“If ingredients are available, the rest is very simple. No need to worry.”

Right after she finished speaking, Rika raised her hand next.
“Omelet rice! It’s easy to make and the ingredients are simple!”
“Yeah, that’s not bad either. Any other ideas?”

Stuck between the two, I glanced around and then cautiously raised my hand.
“How about Chinese-style rice bowls? I’ll bring my own wok.”
“Chinese rice bowls? …Isn’t that too hard?”

Unlike the previous two, the class rep reacted negatively at the mention of Chinese rice bowls.
Tch, I figured it was too much.
Considering it was a fairly serious dish to cook at forest school, I couldn’t blame him for that expression.

I was about to give up and just say we should go with curry when—
“I think it sounds good. Chinese rice bowls.”
Sakamoto Ryuji, who had quietly been listening, suddenly spoke up.

As everyone turned their attention to him, maybe realizing the attention, he scratched the back of his head and added:
“I mean, you know, we always make curry every time we do this kind of thing. I think it’d be nice to have something different for once. And if it turns out well, maybe we could even trade with another group’s curry.”
After thinking it over briefly, the rep nodded.

“That’s a good point. What does everyone else think?”
“Ah, I’m for it. Ryu-chan’s cooking is really good.”
“I don’t mind either.”

“If we’re cooking anyway, can we add chili shrimp too?”
“Well… maybe it’s worth trying something new, like Ryuji said?”
After collecting everyone’s opinions, the class rep closed his notebook and concluded:

“Then it’s settled. For forest school, we’ll make beef stroganoff, omelet rice, and Chinese rice bowls.”
Satoru chuckled.
“Curry didn’t even leave a trace.”

“Well, sometimes it’s good to try something new.”
I shrugged and, from across the table, gave a small nod of thanks to Sakamoto.
***

Two days after the lively forest school meeting—
I finally received the answer I’d been waiting for from Fuma-senpai, who I met at the gym after school.
“Come to this address around 2 PM tomorrow. I’ll tell you everything you’re curious about.”

As she said this, she handed me a small ⊛ Nоvеlιght ⊛ (Read the full story) slip of paper.
Opening it, I found an address written on it.
“Where is this?”

“It’s the café I work part-time at on weekends. I work at a convenience store during weekdays and the café on weekends.”
To think that a third-year student preparing for entrance exams had two part-time jobs a week—she was leading a more intense student life than I’d imagined.
“Aren’t you pushing yourself too hard?”

School during the day, club activities, gym at night, and part-time work at a convenience store.
An ordinary person would find it physically impossible to keep up.
As if reading my thoughts, Fuma-senpai gave a soft laugh and wiped her sweat-drenched face with a towel.

“I know what you’re worried about. But for a Fuma ninja trained to expect extreme conditions, this is nothing. Actually, ever since I started coming here to follow you, my health has improved.”
“Follow me…?”
“A—Anyway, forget I said that. That was a slip of the tongue.”

She flustered, then confessed with a faint blush:
“Originally, I followed you for a few days because I was curious about the secret behind your strength. Now that I’ve figured it out, I just come here to stay healthy.”
So that’s what the stalking from the start of the semester was about.

Back then I’d wondered why she was following me, but I hadn’t expected this kind of backstory.
“So, I just have to go to the address tomorrow, right?”
“That’s right. Around 2 PM it’ll be quiet, so we’ll have time to talk properly.”

“Got it. I’ll see you then.”
I nodded and saw her off as she headed home ahead of me.
***

June 24th (Saturday)
Forest school was now just two days away.
We’d decided to buy ingredients together tomorrow, so my schedule today was relatively free.

Enjoying a rare, sweet day off, I was rolling around on my floor after breakfast when I suddenly remembered—I hadn’t looked up the address Fuma-senpai had given me.
I set down the manga I’d been reading and typed the address into the search bar of a portal site, which brought up the location of the café where she worked.
“…Akihabara?”

Wait. Did I read that right?
I rubbed my eyes in disbelief, wondering if I was getting farsighted already—but the screen still showed the same result.
Akihabara was still the mecca for otaku all over the world, but memories of the trouble I’d encountered there during Golden Week came rushing back, and I felt a wave of resistance rising within me.

But if I wanted to hear the truth about this world’s dark side, I needed Fuma-senpai’s cooperation.
That meant I had no choice but to venture into this demon realm once again.
“…Haa.”

It couldn’t be helped.
I stopped trying to run from reality and chose to face it head-on.
With forest school—a major original episode—coming up, it seemed unlikely that something like that would happen again, not once, but twice.

And if it did happen… I’d just run with everything I had.
***
[Machi Asobi☆Maid Akihabara Main Store]

No way. Is this really the café Fuma-senpai works at?
I compared the address from the search bar with the actual building and stared up with a stunned expression.
In some ways, this was worse than my battle with Ivan—it was the revival of a nightmare I never wanted to experience again.

I decided to retreat for now and try to meet up with Fuma-senpai some other way.
Just as I turned to leave—
“Kim Yu-seong? You’re here, so why are you loitering outside instead of coming in?”

Ding-ling! Ding-ling!
A voice rang out from the café entrance as the door suddenly opened, and I froze in place.