A gentle breeze brushed against his face, causing strands of his black hair to sway softly in rhythm with nature.
Yuuta devoured his simple lunch with gusto, finishing the meat sandwich in less than five minutes.
He leaned his back against the sturdy trunk of the tree, looking up at the clear, cloudless blue sky stretching wide above Seirei Private Academy.
“Haaah…
How boring.
If boredom could be sold, I’d certainly be filthy rich.
Ah, I forgot—I’m already rich.” The bland joke he aimed at himself didn’t do a thing to improve his overcast mood.
He recalled a quote that felt remarkably relevant to his current condition.
“The German philosopher dubbed the Father of Pessimism, Arthur Schopenhauer, once said that if the world were a paradise of luxury and ease…
where everyone got what they wanted immediately and without any difficulty, humans would die of boredom or hang themselves.” Yuuta let out a long sigh.
“I used to think that was just nonsense.
But after experiencing it firsthand—living the life of a ‘crazy rich’ where everything can be bought—the things I once yearned for have become hollow after being done over and over again.” Since his middle school years, Yuuta had tried almost everything to satisfy his desires.
He had plunged into adrenaline-pumping extreme sports, immersed himself in a wild, hedonistic lifestyle, and his romantic life with various girls could be described as utterly depraved and messy.
Naturally, his immoral behavior frequently drew his mother’s ire.
His older and younger sisters had even reached a point where they ignored him, feeling disgusted by his conduct.
Only his father regarded such behavior as a standard phase of “teenage rebellion” for a conglomerate heir, giving him the green light to have his fun on the condition that Yuuta change for the better upon entering high school.
At the same time, Arisu began dedicating their entire life to studies in order to shoulder the burden of the Yamabuki Group’s legacy.
“Even though I’ve reincarnated into a crossover anime world…
Why does it have to be a slice-of-life world without a single supernatural element?!” Yuuta grumbled quietly, ensuring his voice didn’t catch the ears of anyone who might be passing by.
He yearned for magic or extraordinary powers, not just repetitive school drama.
“Yuu-kun?” Suddenly, a melodious, gentle voice sounded right next to him.
A sweet, calming aroma like the scent of high-quality tea drifted through the air, tickling Yuuta’s sense of smell.
When he looked up, he realized that a girl had now seated herself beside him, filling the empty space on the garden bench.
“So it’s you, Masha.” Among the ranks of beautiful and attractive girls who filled Seirei Private Academy, there was one figure whose elegance surpassed the usual standards to the point where she was dubbed the school’s Madonna.
Her name was Maria Mikhailovna Kujou.
Known by the affectionate nickname Maria, she possessed a classical beauty that perfectly suited her somewhat old-fashioned title.
With a Russian father, her features were captivating—charming yet soft.
Many male students were still reckless enough to confess their love to her even though they clearly knew that Maria already had a boyfriend.
Her light brown hair was of medium length, slightly wavy at the ends, framing a face that was always adorned with a warm smile.
“Yuu-kun looks a bit unwell.” Maria tilted her head slightly, gazing at Yuuta’s face with an expression of genuine concern.
Her eyes were filled with a profound kind of compassion—a pure desire to offer unconditional healing to those who seemed to be suffering.
The radiance in her eyes was so soothing, a sharp contrast to the cold, biting gaze he had received from Yukino earlier.
“…No, I’m fine.
I just feel a little tired…” “That won’t do.
You need to get enough rest at times like these, Yuu-kun.” Maria seemed able to sense the foul mood currently enveloping Yuuta.
She smiled tenderly, a smile that seemed designed to bandage invisible wounds.
She shifted closer, providing a sense of security through her presence.
“If you are going through a hard time, don’t hesitate to tell me.
I want to help you, Yuu-kun.
After all, I am your girlfriend.” Those deeply sincere and caring words flowed into Yuuta’s parched heart, providing a bit of warmth amidst the boredom of the world he lived in.
Amidst all the falsehood and arrogance he encountered at school, Maria was one of the few things that still felt real to him.
“Yosh!” Maria clenched both her fists enthusiastically, a small gesture that looked incredibly adorable to anyone watching.
“To cheer up a moping Yuu-kun, how about that lap pillow you love so much?” She gently patted her thighs, clad in her school skirt, signaling for Yuuta to lie down right away without needing to feel hesitant.
“In that case, I’ll gladly accept your offer.” Only a fool would refuse such a delightful invitation.
Yuuta stood up briefly to adjust his position.
Maria shifted to the end of the garden bench, leaving plenty of empty space so her boyfriend could lie down freely.
Then, Yuuta slowly reclined, placing his head atop Maria’s thighs, which felt incredibly soft and comfortable.
The position was so perfect, it was as if Maria’s thighs were literally created to be his headrest.
Reflexively, Yuuta turned his face to the right, burying his nose slightly toward Maria’s stomach while inhaling deeply the sweet and calming scent of the girl’s body.
“Geez…
This position is very lewd, Yuu-kun~ What if someone else sees?” Her face flushed faintly, giving her a soft red hue that further enhanced her Madonna-like beauty.
With a delicate hand, Maria turned Yuuta’s head—which had been facing her lap—back so that he was now looking straight up, directly into her smiling face.
As her fingers began to comb through Yuuta’s black hair with a deeply soothing motion, Maria whispered softly, “Hey, Yuu-kun.
Do you still remember the beginning of when our relationship officially became a couple?” “Of course I remember.” Inevitably, under the shade of the leafy tree and the gentle caress of Maria’s hand, Yuuta’s mind began to drift far back.
He started to wax nostalgic, replaying the memories of how a young man as cynical and bored with the world as himself could end up tied to the girl dubbed the school’s Madonna.
━⊰FLASHBACK⊱━ Once the memories of his past life awakened and he realized fully that he was in an anime world, how could Yuuta possibly miss the chance to woo the waifus he once could only admire behind a glass screen?
Of course, reality presented its own challenges because of the striking difference between 2D visuals and 3D.
At a glance, it was very difficult to determine their true identities amidst a crowd.
In Yuuta’s eyes back then, everyone seemed to be in a state of permanent cosplay, making the process of identification an interesting yet confusing guessing game.
At age seven, while other boys his age were still busy fighting over game controllers, watching Kamen Rider, or playing tag in the park, Yuuta had already begun building relationships.
He preferred to spend his time getting close to young girls.
He wasn’t a pedophile; his soul was that of a grown man trapped inside a child’s body.
Because of that, he merely socialized, offered attention, and nurtured the seeds of feelings without the slightest intention of doing anything that crossed the line with those little girls.
To him, it was a long-term investment for a more “colorful” future.
One of the childhood friends he was closest to at that time was Maria.
Unfortunately, their sweet childhood relationship did not last long.
The Kujou family first moved to Japan when Maria was only five years old.
However, not long after, their family had to return to Russia immediately due to her father’s urgent work matters.
The parting happened so suddenly that Yuuta and Maria didn’t have time to exchange contact information; they didn’t even know each other’s full names.
With his pragmatic nature, Yuuta thought he would never see the girl again.
To him, Maria was just a brief chapter in the long book of his life, so he quickly erased the memory and forgot it.
On the other hand, for Maria, Yuuta was everything.
The little girl had fallen deeply in love with the boy who accompanied her in the park.
As the saying goes, first love is always the hardest to forget.
Maria was only able to return to Japan when she was 15 to settle permanently, finally enrolling at Seirei Private Academy along with her younger sister.
However, there was one major hurdle in this reunion process—physical appearance.
In childhood, Maria was born with bright blonde hair and clear blue eyes.
However, as she grew older, the production of eumelanin (dark pigment) in her body naturally increased.
This is a biological phenomenon where many children of Caucasian or European descent, especially Russians, have blonde hair as children which then darkens to brown or even black as they enter their teens.
Due to this natural genetic change, Yuuta did not recognize Maria at all when the two first crossed paths in the school hallway.
Maria’s current wavy, light brown hair was very different from the little blonde hair he vaguely remembered.
Furthermore, Yuuta had spent his middle school years in an extremely wild fashion.
He had engaged in improper relationships with so many girls that his list of ex-girlfriends was probably as long as a phone book.
With a lifestyle that depraved, how could he possibly remember a little girl from the past whose name he didn’t even know?