Shoujo 101

“What the-?!”

A loud crash echoed around the classroom as Kaien collided with a desk in his panic to escape a flying chair.

With a pained groan, he looked up to find a figure suspended between light and darkness.

Blue eyes glinted like embers against the sunset. Blond hair smoldered in streaks of crimson and amber.

“Airin? Is that you?” Kaien asked, but Seira did not respond. “How long have you been there? Did you…throw that chair at me?”

She still would not speak. She was just standing there—menacingly.

He stood back up without looking away. She placed a hand over another chair.

The air was suddenly thick, and it felt like the beginning of a murder scene.

‘Is it because she caught me snooping around her stuff?’ Kaien was torn between apologizing for prying and questioning Seira for whatever abomination she was onto, but right now, he was getting the feeling he had to survive first. “Hey, I know you’re mad. Why don’t we-”

“You.”

Her voice was low and deep, far from the sickeningly sweet sound he’s used to hearing whenever she talked to him.

“You. Saw. It.”

The chair was lifted into the air. Seira charged in, and Kaien backed away.

“H-Have you lost your mind?! Stop that!”

“You won’t die from this. Getting hit in the head typically just leads to amnesia, which will then create immediate drama and emotional tension that move the story forward. I’ve read about it.”

“Huh? What are you- Gyah!” He evaded the first strike.

“I’m not into that trope, though. You know, cliches like, ‘If you forgot me, would you still love me?’ It’s sad and frustrating. I mean, why have the characters pine for each other for a hundred chapters, only for them to lose their memories right after they confessed? Tell me the author is a sadist without telling me the author is a sadist.”

He dodged the second attack. “H-Hang on! I don’t get a thing you’re saying!”

“Oh, but you haven’t confessed yet, right? And neither has she.”

“Seriously, just what-”

“I see, I see! Maybe this is the push you two need! Now, come-”

“Airin!”

Kaien surged forward and pounced on Seira, already at his limits.

He seized her arms forcefully, causing her to drop the chair and lurch backward. They scrambled to regain balance but eventually fell on the floor together with startled cries. His eyes shut closed for a second, then opened again and immediately met with hers looking up at him.

Their pants filled the few inches of space between their faces, as well as the awkward silence.

“Sorry,” he found himself apologizing after a moment; it must have hurt. “Are you okay? You wouldn’t listen, so I-”

“Sakura Yume. Does the name ring a bell?” she asked with a serious expression. “Ah, wait. Before that, do you remember what happened?”

“Would you quit that?! I didn’t forget anything! You didn’t even hit me!”

A flicker of fear crossed her face. “So, then… You still know me, too? And about my…”

“Hold on… Is that what all of this was about?! You just wanted me to forget that?!”

Kaien had figured that Seira was angry at him for taking her journal without permission.

Maybe she was also mortified that he found out what she was hiding there. But he did not expect her to resort to brute force. She had reacted as though she committed a crime, and he was a witness that she needed to eliminate. 

"Well, I also really do think it'll give the plot some progress..."

"Airin, you've been making no sense this whole time," he muttered under his breath. "Actually, for a long while now."

She flinched and began to sweatdrop. “I-Is that right? W-Whatever made you say so?”

“I’ll get straight to the point. You’re like a different person lately.” He squinted his eyes. “You’ve changed, and I’m not sure if it’s an act or not.”

“Ummm… Sorry, how long do we know each other exactly?” 

‘Is she for real? She’s the one who kept telling everyone that we’re childhood friends even though we’ve only gone to the same school.’

“You never know. Maybe I haven’t changed at all. Maybe this is how I used to be. Unless we’re childhood friends or something, you can never know the real me-”

“We’ve been classmates since first grade.”

Her eyes widened. She seemed genuinely surprised.

‘The person who wanted me to have amnesia turned out to be the one with amnesia, it seems.'

Kaien decided to try something out. He leaned toward her until their lips almost touched.

The Seira he knew always melted into a puddle of goo when they were this close. But this Seira kept a completely stoic expression and became a stone statue instead.

“You're heavy. Don’t you dare crush me down here.”

‘Unbelievable.’ He sighed, but his exasperation quickly turned to alarm. “Did you lose your memories, Airin? Is that why you're being such a weirdo?"

"Who's a weirdo?!" she growled at him, then harrumphed, "Fine. I'll tell you, but only because I couldn't make you forget what you saw. I'd rather tell the truth than have my hobby be seen as a fetish."

'So, she does realize her hobby is bad enough to be seen as a fetish. Who draws their classmates kissing, anyway? Honestly, this is just as worrisome as her writing secret hate messages about Sakura.'

They recollected their bearings and settled down for a proper conversation. 

Seira sat on her chair, notebook in hand. Kaien remained standing, his arms folded. 

"First of all, I apologize for trying to hurt you. I just thought you wouldn't understand even if I explained, so might as well play my part as a villainess and cause the heroine the unbearable heartbreak of losing her beloved-"

"Hold up." He pinched the bridge of his nose, feeling a headache coming. "These 'villainess' and 'heroine' stuff... Let's get to that later. One at a time. Start with the drawings."

"Right. Back in my world, shoujo is a big thing. I'm a huge fan of that genre, and in fact, that's where my love for drawing comes from! When I met Sakura Yume, I realized-"

"I didn't know amnesia could cause someone to have new memories." His head throbbed now. "What do you mean by 'back in your world?' And what is...shoujo, you said?"

"Ah, glad that you asked! You see, shoujo is a genre of anime and manga that targets female audiences. Before becoming your Airin Seira, I was an Airin Seira who'd talk about shoujo for hours. For whatever reason, I woke up one day in this whole new world without shoujo. It drove me nuts, but soon enough, I learned that I could be inside a shoujo itself!" 

'Her Majesty has fallen, indeed—fallen into madness, that is.'

To put it simply, the Seira now was no longer the Seira before. It was not because she had amnesia, but because she had gone insane, or so he liked to think. 

The more he listened, the less he felt she was lying. As bizarre as it all sounded, what with her revealing she came from some other universe, there was also no reason for her to fabricate such a far-fetched story that included even the most random details like her favorite genre. While he still refused to believe it, at least for now, he would give her the benefit of the doubt.

"Sakura Yume is heroine material—kind, pretty, smart, and perfect! Not to mention, she is hated by Airin Seira, who is popular, mean, rich, and has the notorious drill hairstyle, making her villainess material!" 

"I think that's what you call judging people-"

"I guarantee that she's the protagonist, and that's why she's in all of my sketches. The boys I draw with her are the male leads who're fighting to be her main love interest. I have lots of scenarios in mind, but trust me when I say reality is as good as fiction!"

Contrary to Kaien's belief, Seira had no hidden motives for still paying attention to Yume and the boys. She was only imagining them as characters in a story, as actors in a show—a form of entertainment.

The realization sank in while Seira showed Kaien her artworks and explained each with fervor. 

"Here, you can see yourself and Sakura Yume having a heated make-out session after-" 

"You were having these kinds of fantasies all along?! And why do I get the most explicit one?!"

"Ho, ho, ho!" Seira laughed like the villainess she claimed herself to be. "Why, because you're the main male lead!"