I was Thrown into an Unfamiliar Manga

It felt like the first semester had just started yesterday, but before I knew it, the calendar had already flipped to July.
And most schools hold final exams in early or mid-July.

Ichijo Academy, where I go, was no exception, so the mood in Class 2-B—who had been so excited about the forest school trip just two weeks ago—had sunk right back down again.
It was, quite literally, like the air had gone sharp.
It probably had a lot to do with the fact that anyone who bombed finals would have to come in for supplementary lessons during summer break.

“Uwaaa~ I can’t believe there’s only three days left until finals!”
That roar came from Rika, who’d been staring into her math textbook for over an hour already.
Thankfully, the class was used to Rika acting like this by now, so no one paid her much attention.

“Still, your math grades have gone up a lot compared to before. If you just keep it up, you’ll definitely get past the failing line.”
“I knooow~ but no matter how many times I do it, math formulas just don’t stick in my heaaad~”
I coaxed and soothed Rika, who was whining like a little kid, and encouraged her to just do one more page.

Rika gave a reluctant nod and refocused on her math book.
‘Whew, this’ll all be over in three days.’
The reason I was even tutoring Rika one-on-one like this was because of the promise our D-group made after forest school ended.

‘Let’s all go to the beach together during summer break.’
It was Satoru, the mood maker, who casually suggested the idea.
Everyone immediately said OK, and we’d been looking forward to summer break ever since.

But that promise came with an unexpected hurdle—and that was none other than Rika.
Basically, if the subject doesn’t interest her, Rika’s grades are catastrophic.
Last time, we all studied together at Karen’s house and I practically handed her the key questions, so she got by, but this time’s finals weren’t going to be that easy.

The midterms had been relatively easy, so it was obvious the finals would be made harder to create a better grade distribution.
With Rika’s usual scores, it was going to be tight just to pass every subject, and since I was the best student in D-group, I naturally ended up as her personal tutor.
Still, maybe the effort was paying off, because now she was able to solve even fairly tough problems on her own.
At this point, if she just focused on the easier problems, she’d easily score over 40.

I was quietly proud of the progress when—
“Yu-seong, can I borrow your Japanese textbook for a second? I forgot to jot something down during class the other day.”
“Huh? Hold on a sec.”

At Satoru’s sudden request, I dug through my desk drawer and pulled out my Japanese textbook.
Actually, compared to other subjects, I pay extra attention to Japanese and History.
So I tend to take pretty detailed notes in class.

Partly because I’m originally Korean, and also because Japanese grammar gets surprisingly tricky when you dig deep.
Well, I guess that’s true of any language. Grammar is always where things get complicated—so it’s not something unique to Japanese.
Isn’t it a known thing that English lit students hate Shakespeare the most?

Compared to that, my situation was relatively tame.
No matter how tough it gets, it’s still just high school-level grammar.
“Thanks. I’ll scribble it down real quick and return it.”

“Sure. If I’m not at my seat when you give it back, just leave it in the desk drawer.”
“Got it.”
…Looking back now, I really shouldn’t have said that.

I should’ve told him to put it in my bag. But no, I just had to say ‘put it in the desk drawer if I’m not there.’
What kind of bravado was that?
Anyway, it wasn’t until I got back home late from the gym that I realized I’d left the Japanese textbook at school.

And with finals starting Monday and tomorrow being Saturday, I ended up getting on the subway and heading for the school—now dark and empty.
“…I’ll just grab the book and ★ 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 ★ leave right away.”
I had no idea at the time.

What kind of situation awaited you in a shounen manga world… when you go to school late at night.
***
Normally, schools give off a very bright image.

A place where kids run around on the field, where boys and girls laugh, cry, and work hard together.
But nighttime school was the complete opposite of that image.
Where the campus and classrooms should have been packed with students, there was no trace of anyone—just bleak darkness and silence.

I usually pride myself on not being easily scared, but even I couldn’t ignore how spooky school felt at night.
Standing in front of the firmly shut main gate, I gulped nervously for some reason—then quickly vaulted over the 2-meter-tall fence before anyone could see.
Tap!

Landing lightly, I took a look around. The campus looked exactly like it did during morning commute.
If you go right from here, you reach the middle school building. Straight ahead is the high school building.
And the reason I came here was to retrieve my Japanese textbook from my desk drawer—so I headed directly for the high school.

Saaa—
A gust of wind suddenly rustled the leaves.
“……”

I turned around, sensing a strange chill.
There was definitely no one else here… but I felt eyes on me.
“Am I just imagining things?”

Muttering to myself, I walked toward the darkened high school building.
***
Clunk!

Thankfully, unlike the main gate which had been locked, the front door to the high school building wasn’t.
I stepped inside cautiously and turned on the flashlight I’d brought from home.
Right now, I was at the east building’s first-floor entrance.

My destination, Class 2-B, was on the second floor of the west building.
Which meant I had to go up to the second floor from here, then cross the long dark hallway, and pass the sky bridge that connected to the west building.
Normally, I could run that route in under five minutes, but maybe because it was night, I felt compelled to move more carefully than usual.

“Maybe I’ve watched too many movies…”
Humans are creatures of imagination.
And the night, combined with darkness where you can’t see a step ahead, naturally stirs up fear of the unknown.

Trying to stop myself from going down that path, I thought of the root cause of all this—Satoru’s face.
“…Maybe I should just call him. That might make me less scared.”
Before making my move, I pulled out my phone and called Satoru.

The dial tone rang a few times, then—click!—he picked up.
[Yu-seong? What’s up? Why are you calling this late?]
I held the phone in one hand, flashlight in the other, and answered.

“I’m at school right now because of the Japanese book you left in my desk.”
[What? At this hour?]
Hearing Satoru’s shocked voice, I glanced at the time.

[21:07]
It was definitely pretty late.
Most people wouldn’t come back to school at this time just for a forgotten textbook.

“I’ve got to study Japanese this weekend. You know tomorrow’s Saturday.”
[…Oh. Well, good luck.]
“Wait, don’t hang up. I called for a reason.”

[A reason? What reason?]
“Talk with me for about 30 minutes. Honestly, I’m kinda… yeah.”
[Wait, don’t tell me… the almighty Kim Yu-seong is scared of ghosts?]

“…It’s not about ghosts exactly, it’s more the atmosphere. That eerie feeling of wandering somewhere totally empty, all by yourself.”
[Same thing.]
Knowing this guy would just keep teasing me until I admitted it, I sighed quietly and confessed.

“…Yeah. I’m scared.”
Satoru chuckled through the phone, then said,
[You should’ve just said so. So where are you now?]

“…East building entrance. I’m gonna head up to the second floor and cross to the west building.”
[Then it shouldn’t take long.]
“Right. At normal pace, about ten minutes?”

[Just grab the book and get out. Before the security guard catches you.]
“Do security guards even patrol at this hour?”
[Who knows. But usually, either the guard or a teacher on night duty patrols for school security. Especially with finals only three days away—they’re probably extra alert.]

“Good point. I’d rather avoid any misunderstandings, so I’ll just grab the textbook and bounce.”
Talking with Satoru calmed me down a lot, and I finally got moving.
Shining my flashlight ahead, I climbed the stairs slowly.

Watching my step carefully, I soon reached the landing.
Apparently, Satoru could hear the sound of me going up, because he started speaking again, sounding amused.
[Oh hey, Yu-seong. Did you know about Ichijo Academy’s Seven Mysteries?]

His words gave me a bad feeling, so I quickly cut him off.
“Hey, don’t.”
But Satoru clearly had no intention of listening.

[I heard this from a senior in the Board Game Club once—]
I swore to myself that when I saw Satoru next Monday, I’d take my bloody revenge.