Kasumi blinked awake.
Your name: Kasumi Ren.
Your role: Transfer student.
Your mission: Love Harumi. Save the story.
Do not fall in love with anyone else.
Kasumi stared at the glowing words suspended in his vision, his heart thudding hard in his chest.
"What the hell…"
The letters flickered once—then vanished like mist.
He sat up from the park bench, hands trembling. In front of him stretched a quaint little town, exactly like the one described in Hopeless Love. The clean cobblestone roads, the modest cafes, the ivy-covered school walls—it was all too familiar.
He looked up at the towering gates of the elite private school.
"Love Harumi," he muttered under his breath. "How hard can it be?"
And then—
"Tch. Another pathetic stray?"
The words cut through the morning air like ice water. Kasumi turned sharply, and there he was.
Harumi.
Leaning against a cherry tree just inside the school gate, arms crossed, expression bored. His uniform was perfectly pressed, his hair artfully tousled. Those sharp black eyes raked over Kasumi like he was nothing more than street trash.
Kasumi's mouth went dry.
In the novel, Harumi's first appearance had been intimidating. But in person, it was worse. He radiated danger wrapped in silk. Cold and beautiful, like winter frost on glass.
"Didn't the school already fill its charity quota?" Harumi drawled. "Or did they start accepting applicants from the gutter now?"
Kasumi blinked. Okay. Harumi is even more of an asshole than I remembered.
Still, he forced a smile. This was his mission. This was the reason he was here.
"I'm Kasumi Ren," he said, stepping forward and offering a hand. "Nice to meet you."
Harumi didn't move.
"I wasn't talking to you," he said, flatly. Then turned on his heel and walked through the gate.
Kasumi lowered his hand slowly. So much for a friendly first impression.
He sighed and followed behind him, clutching his schoolbag like a lifeline.
Inside, the school buzzed with whispered gossip.
"Did you see the new kid?"
"He tried to talk to Harumi!"
"Poor guy's gonna die by lunch."
Kasumi kept his head down, face burning. The students were characters he remembered vaguely—background figures with too-perfect hair and names like Aki and Mei and Rui. It felt surreal, like walking through a dream written by someone else.
His classroom was on the third floor. The second he stepped in, the chatter stopped.
Harumi sat by the window, bathed in sunlight, eyes closed like none of this mattered to him.
Kasumi swallowed hard and made his way to the only empty seat—right beside him.
As he slid into the chair, Harumi cracked one eye open and gave him a look.
"Still following me, stray?"
Kasumi smiled faintly. "Until you let me stay."
Harumi blinked.
For the first time, something flickered in his expression—confusion, maybe. Or curiosity.
Kasumi turned to the window, heart pounding. This was going to be harder than he thought.
But he'd already made his entrance