The next day, Yoruha arrived at school.
As soon as he entered the classroom, he saw that Naruto was already there.
After yesterday, Naruto finally remembered who Yoruha was.
Unlike Shino, Yoruha didn't wrap himself up or hide his face.
In the past, people simply hadn't paid attention to him. It wasn't that they disliked him — he just never joined in much or played with the other classmates.
As soon as class ended, he would go straight home.
When Naruto saw Yoruha, he stood up and waved enthusiastically.
"Yo, Yoruha!"
Yoruha was a little surprised, but he smiled politely and nodded in greeting.
Then he casually found a seat and sat down.
Naruto's action caught the attention of many students in the class.
Even though Naruto was always at the bottom of the class, he still somehow managed to draw everyone's attention wherever he went.
Many eyes turned toward Yoruha.
Some of the girls stared blankly when they saw him.
They hadn't realized until now that there was such a handsome boy in their class.
"He's just as good-looking as Sasuke! How did we never notice him before?"
"What are you talking about? Sasuke's still the most handsome — no one can compare! But yeah… this guy is definitely cute."
…
Soon the girls started arguing over who was more handsome — Yoruha or Sasuke.
Most of them still said Sasuke, but not because of looks — it was because of his overall strength.
A few girls, however, decided to act first and hurried over to talk to Yoruha.
One of them was Ino.
She had always been a face-lover.
Her liking for Sasuke was mostly because he was handsome.
Now that she had discovered a classmate whose looks were in no way inferior to Sasuke's, of course she wasn't going to miss the opportunity.
Ino leaned close to Yoruha, her cheeks slightly red.
"H-hi, I'm Yamanaka Ino. I, um… how come I've never seen you before?"
Yoruha frowned slightly.
He thought to himself with a hint of disbelief, "Was I really that unnoticeable before?"
"I mean, I never tried to stand out, but not even being recognized? That's a bit much."
Yoruha was speechless.
He didn't avoid people because he was shy — he just didn't like trouble.
But he hadn't expected his classmates to actually have no impression of him at all.
They'd been in the same class for years — six whole years — and all he got was, "How come I've never seen you before?"
Looking at the flustered and shy Ino, Yoruha could only smile politely.
"I'm Yoruha. Nice to meet you."
His teasing tone made Ino even more embarrassed.
She said awkwardly, "I'm sorry, Yoruha."
Yoruha was only joking and didn't take it seriously.
Besides, this was partly his own fault anyway.
"It's fine. Let's just say this is our first time meeting."
He smiled lightly as he said it.
When Ino saw his smile, her heart started pounding wildly — she almost fainted.
Girls in this world could be a bit exaggerated like that.
When they got flustered or fell for someone, they really could faint from their racing heartbeat.
Just then, Shikamaru walked over.
In his usual lazy tone, he said, "You always had your eyes on Sasuke, so it's normal you didn't notice Yoruha."
He came over and sat beside Yoruha.
"You know, I used to see you leave right after class. Never really got the chance to know you. I'm Shikamaru."
He held out his hand.
Yoruha hadn't expected that Shikamaru had been paying attention to him all this time.
"Yeah. I'm Yoruha," he replied, shaking his hand.
It made sense, though. With Shikamaru's sharp mind, of course he'd have noticed Yoruha's presence.
Even in looks alone, the only one in class who could compare to him was Sasuke.
After a few casual exchanges, Sasuke entered the classroom.
The moment he appeared, every girl's gaze locked onto him.
"Ah, Sasuke! He's so handsome!"
…
Many girls immediately rushed toward Sasuke.
Shikamaru slumped on his desk and muttered weakly, "Women are such a bother."
But no sooner had he said that than Ino
leaned across Yoruha and shot him a glare.
"What was that, Shikamaru?"
Shikamaru turned his head, surprised that Ino hadn't joined the others around Sasuke.
"I-I wasn't talking about you," he said quickly.
Ino snorted and glared again. "Hmph."
Though she still sneaked a few glances at Sasuke, most of her attention was now on Yoruha.
Before, Sasuke had always caught her eye so completely that she'd never noticed Yoruha's existence.
Now that she finally did, she realized no one was sitting near him — and that he was just as handsome as Sasuke.
She instantly knew which was the smarter choice.
Sasuke was great, sure, but too many girls surrounded him.
And she'd have to compete with Sakura.
It took only a moment for Ino to reach her conclusion and make her decision.
Meanwhile, Naruto saw Sakura fawning over Sasuke, her face full of admiration, and ground his teeth in frustration.
"Damn it! Sakura only has eyes for Sasuke! That jerk — I'll never let you have her!"
With that, Naruto stormed toward Sasuke's desk.
His sudden move drew everyone's attention — even Yoruha looked over curiously.
Naruto jumped up on the desk in front of Sasuke, squatting on top of it and glaring down at him.
Sasuke glared right back, refusing to back down.
The surrounding girls were furious.
"Idiot Naruto! Don't glare at Sasuke like that!"
"Get down right now, Naruto! How dare you look at Sasuke that way!"
Yoruha kept watching the scene unfold, feeling a strange sense of déjà vu.
His memory was hazy, but he couldn't shake the feeling that something surprising was about to happen.
Sure enough, the next second, someone nearby accidentally elbowed Naruto from behind.
Naruto lost his balance and fell forward—straight onto Sasuke.
And then, before anyone could react, the shocking scene happened.
The girls around them screamed in horror.
"Ahhh! You idiot Naruto! What are you doing!? How could you— Sasuke's first kiss— it's gone!"
"Idiot!!"
…
Yoruha was just as stunned.
The corner of his mouth twitched. "Uh… those two must be pretty close, huh."
Beside him, Shikamaru sighed helplessly. "What an idiot."
Ino had the same dumbfounded expression as Yoruha. "They… they were both first kisses, right?"
If this had been before, Ino would've been furious.
But now, she wasn't even angry.
She wasn't like Sakura — Sakura truly loved Sasuke.
Ino's crush on Sasuke had partly come from rivalry with Sakura… and partly because of his looks.
So, falling for someone else came easily to her.
As for Naruto and Sasuke's "incident," Yoruha was sure he'd never forget it for the rest of his life.
He thought darkly, "Could it be that Naruto kept chasing Sasuke all those years because… they really had some special feelings for each other?"
The more he thought about it, the more uncomfortable he felt.
"No, no, that's too ridiculous. I need to stop thinking about that. The more I dwell on it, the scarier it gets."
Both Sasuke and Naruto were still gagging in disgust from what had just happened.
Sasuke glared at Naruto with pure revulsion. "Naruto, you idiot! What the hell were you trying to do?"
Naruto shouted back just as fiercely, "I should be asking you that, you jerk! What were you doing?"
Within seconds, the two were yelling at each other again.
Sakura sighed helplessly and stepped between them to separate them.
To keep them from fighting again, she sat right between the two.
From that moment on, Sakura became the delicate thread holding their fragile balance together.
---
Advance chapters at Ko-Fi (currently at Chapter 50)
https:// ko-fi.com/sami27