Kyouhei Nanbu lived by the precepts of normalcy and blending in.
Being part of the masses, not standing out, and leaving an impression that was utterly forgettable would be perfect for him. Nothing good came from standing out, nor from being unique.
It was, in many ways, the opposite of the stereotypical silliness of middle schoolers, and it was in this matured taste that he based himself on.
And yet...
“Yo, gold digger.”
“Back home again, future king?”
“Whoa, we got a winner here.”
“You staying here until graduation?”
...And so on.
He was currently in a situation that was the polar opposite of his creed.
The reason was simple.
Over the last month of ups and downs, he’d gotten together with—or rather gotten engaged with—both a self-proclaimed body double android who was legally his sister but was actually his childhood friend and a princess, and an eccentric and reserved glasses-girl schoolmate at once.
In Japan, there would be no way to avoid accusations of bigamy, but his one fiancée was a real princess, royalty. Such a person was indeed beyond laws, or more accurately, subject to different laws than the masses. Therefore, polygamy with a first and second wife was permitted.
Still, even if Kyouhei had resolved himself to that, he couldn’t just flip to nonchalantly being one of the royalty. He’d asked to at least be able to graduate properly and gotten an agreement, so he’d be living as any other high school student in Japan for a year.
Actually, it was a two-year extension, roughly. That was to allow Kyouhei’s graduation, but also Sanae’s, who would be his second wife. There were of course outrageous suggestions about the country not minding a high-school-dropout royal, or that he should move right away, and they’d ignore even the university entry requirements.
Naturally, Kyouhei vetoed that. That was what he hated the most: people getting away with anything because they had influence.
Dolph had accepted his reasoning without even batting an eye, happily saying that he’d become a king that was in touch with the people.
Kyouhei had decided that he’d gradually ease into it over those two years.
But... he was naive.
Hopelessly naive.
He’d completely forgotten that he’d been at a press conference announcing his own engagement to the media. He’d just assumed that with the country being so far away, along with it being a tiny country barely in history or geography textbooks, the conference wouldn’t be broadcast in Japan.
However, there was the matter of just what was being announced. The princess’s fiancé was Japanese, and his second bride was also Japanese. There was no way that the Japanese media wouldn’t leap at such a morsel of information.
What should have been a discreet return to Japan had somehow been leaked, and there were cameras and microphones surrounding them at the airport, bathing Kyouhei in their flashes. Just getting home had exhausted him. As for Sanae, she had returned to her own home as well for a while, but it seemed to be encircled by the media 24/7.
On the positive side, at least the whole situation did improve public order in the area, with molestations and pickpocketing on the outskirts suddenly hitting zero.
And now, back to the present.
Kyouhei had intended to just keep attending school as if nothing was wrong, but the second he entered the classroom, the calls from earlier started. He now had loads of not-particularly-pleasant nicknames, like being a “winner” or “gold digger,” and no one would call him by name anymore.
“What is this, some new type of bullying...?!” Kyouhei groaned, slumping over his desk.
Sanae had also returned to school and was most likely getting the same kind of bizarre attention. Pamil would probably be fine, but Sanae was fairly timid, so it may well be wearing on her. She was already looking exhausted on the way into school.
I’ll check on her later, I guess... he thought to himself. She is my fiancée after all.
Kyouhei shuddered in embarrassment at the word going through his mind. It was far beyond boyfriend, girlfriend, or even lover—meaning bride-to-be. In English, you could even call her his betrothed...!
No, it was just too embarrassing. Just as embarrassing as it would be wearing a tuxedo with a rose in his mouth.
“Ughhh...” he groaned.
“What’s up, gold digger? Not feeling well?”
“Don’t call me that!” Kyouhei roared, rising from the desk.
His classmate looked at him in surprise.
Then, suddenly...
“...Actually,” Kyouhei said to himself, realizing that the idiot who’d started this wasn’t here.
Unlike his other classmates, he had been there during the mess with Colonel Walser, so he wouldn’t be surprised at Kyouhei’s position, though he didn’t actually have any such charm in his personality.
“...Where’s Mizuhito?” he asked.
“Huh? Hibiki?” his classmate said, as if wondering why he was even bothering to ask. “He’s...”
As he spoke, the student pointed over his shoulder with his thumb at the end of the classroom. There, in the rear of the two entrances to the room, was Kyouhei’s friend, Mizuhito Hibiki.
There was no mistaking the redhead with the strange tattoo on his cheek—well, it was a fake one—who would have doubtless been swiftly told to withdraw if it wasn’t for his grades.
“...What’s with him?” Kyouhei asked.
“I mean, it’s Hibiki.”
“...Seriously, what’s he playing at?” he groaned.
Well, it was obvious.
Mizuhito... was hiding half behind the entrance.
To be more detailed, he was half on the other side of the wall, and was just leaning in with his torso. Putting it bluntly, you’d call it peeking from around something.
It was unnatural for him. What was unnatural was the fact that, unlike Kyouhei, he practically lived to stand out and almost instinctively sought out attention, so him hiding in the shadows was unheard of. It was even more unusual than the sun rising in the west.
And...
He was glaring steadily at Kyouhei from the shadows.
If he had a handkerchief, he’d surely be biting it.
“I thought you pair got on,” his classmate said.
“Well, yeah.”
“So maybe he’s jealous? Like, he thinks some woman is taking his Kyouhei away from him?”
“No way!” Kyouhei denied with an almost-yell. “Neither of us is like that!”
“You’re the only one who thinks that,” the other student said with a broad grin. “Besides, I never thought you’d be getting it on with a princess hiding out and studying abroad either.”
So that’s how it seemed to the public.
Well, it wasn’t a bad guess.
“We’ve not gotten it on yet!”
Though there had been a few close calls before he’d come back to the country.
“You haven’t? Even though you were together for a year?”
“We just lived together!”
“Words sure are convenient, huh?”
“Shut it!”
Well, all that aside.
“...Mizuhito!” Kyouhei yelled to his hiding and glaring friend. “What are you doing?!”
He continued glaring for a while before entering the room and walking over to Kyouhei.
“What’s up with you? Why you gotta glare at me?” Kyouhei demanded.
Mizuhito continued wordlessly looking at him for a while, and finally responded: “Kyouhei... I... I... I misjudged you.”
“What are you on about?”
“You... You...” he started, before shouting the end of his sentence: “You stand out so damn much!”
Kyouhei stared silently.
“I... I still haven’t even gotten on public radio... but you! You are on the news! And worldwide at that! You’re always going on about not liking attention, and then... and then, without even telling me...!”
“...Phew, good, it’s still the same old you,” Kyouhei said in relief.
Essentially, Mizuhito was jealous—or envious, rather—of Kyouhei being on TV, and wanted him to have let Mizuhito stand out at the same time.
“It’s not good! It’s not, Kyouhei! When did you get so attention-grabbing all on your own without letting me know?!” Mizuhito yelled as he beat at the desk.
Seeing his friend on the verge of tears from this didn’t make Kyouhei feel sorry for him, or apologetic, it just made him think he was acting like a child, but he decided to keep that under wraps.
“You’re a filthy adult since that snu-snu with Sanae-chan!”
“Wha—Hey, the hell, you pervert?!” Kyouhei yelled, grabbing him by the collar.
Apparently, Mizuhito was still under the same misunderstanding that Pamil had been under when the Colonel attacked—it was baseless and excessive.
Even if they really had crossed the line, publicizing it would be bad.
The classroom’s reaction was fairly normal.
“Sounds about right,” said one student.
“People wouldn’t get married without even having sex these days,” added another.
“Dammit, he’s beaten me,” came from yet another.
“Huh? Th-They wouldn’t?!” Kyouhei demanded in confusion at his classmates’ reactions.
He was still weak to things being called normal.
Well, he had been brought up abroad for many of his formative years, so there were still things in Japan that were seen as normal that he didn’t know about. He was fairly sure he was generally fine, but sometimes he was slightly off with his common sense.
“Yeah, it’s normal,” interjected a classmate watching their conversation. “Usually, you live together before getting married to see how compatible you are and stuff. It’s weirder living together and not having that kind of relationship.”
“...Um. I lived with Pamil for a year and didn’t,” said Kyouhei.
A hush instantly filled the classroom.
Kyouhei froze at his classmates’ gazes stabbing into him in the oddly unbearable quiet.
Then, a moment later...
“Liar!” they yelled simultaneously.