Chapter Text
Hebihara Yayoi rested her chin on her hand, elbow propped up on her desk and half-listened to the gossip around her. She had just started her second year at Shibuya High School after her mother moved her into an apartment so she could resume her life in Roppongi and for the most part, her experience at being isekai’d via Truck-kun wasn’t half bad.
She had already been living in Japan as an English tutor, so the transition was more or less the same. Except being born in the 80s instead of the 90s so watching technology evolve all over again was her only source of entertainment for the time being. Well, that and participating in illegal fighting rings for extra cash but with an absent parent who was gonna judge her for it?
Honestly this had to be the easiest isekai she’d ever seen because there wasn’t anything different? No major life events that she could see causing any issues besides her Mom declaring she was independent enough as a student; out of all the anime and manhwa series she’d read or seen nothing was pinging any alarm bells.
Well.
Up until she learned which anime alternate universe she became a part of.
“Uwaa! Hebihara-san, your hair is so pretty! Did you get it professionally done?”
One of her classmates tugged at the ends of one of the strands hanging off the desk and gazed at her with stars in their eyes.
“Nah. My mom did it for me before she left for her business trip,” she said.
It was nice to be at a school that either didn’t care or didn’t bother to enforce rules about hair. From what she noticed, as long as a student wore the uniform everything else was fair game. That and she was definitely in an anime because the hair and eye colors were varied enough that she honestly wouldn’t be able to tell if it was real unless she got up close and personal to find out.
“Isn’t that pretty much the same thing for you?”
Yayoi shrugged and closed her eyes, opting to drift into a light doze rather than give her classmates more fuel for the gossip wheel. Her mom, Hebihara Izayoi, was a renowned hair stylist for models and celebrities who was planning on retiring to raise her new family. Yayoi just didn’t…fit with that new lifestyle.
She got along well with her half-siblings and still saw them on weekends, but after nearly reaching adulthood a second time, she craved her independence. It didn’t take much to convince her mom that she could make it on her own as long as her mother paid the rent for her apartment until she finished school. It helped that her mom taught her some tips and tricks for dyeing/styling hair so if she wasn’t in the mood to scrap for money, she had some gang acquaintances in her back pocket who were always willing to shell out yen for a dye job.
Gotta love delinquents.
The lunch bell rang and she sighed in relief at being able to get up and stretch. She grabbed her blazer and shrugged it on over her hoodie before heading out of class and up to the roof. She could hear sounds of a scuffle so someone was probably brawling, but that wasn’t going to stop her from her nap in the sun’s rays.
“Look out!”
“Excuse me,” she mumbled and stepped to the side so that the body that was thrown at the door tripped inside.
The silence that followed would have been awkward as hell if she cared, but she had a routine to follow. As long as she could have her midday nap, they could beat each other to death for all she cared.
“Watch your back, Sano! Come on, guys. Let’s get something to eat.”
The latest pack of assholes that decided they didn’t like him left with one last kick to his ribs. Shinichiro grunted in pain and waited for their footsteps down the stairs faded away before crawling back outside and took a seat on the bench next to the girl he almost collided with.
“You have some quick reflexes, you know?”
He hadn’t seen her in any of his classes or in passing until now so it was safe to assume she was most likely a second year student.
…who was completely ignoring him.
“Ne Second year-chan, are you sleeping?”
“Mm…trying to.”
He tugged at the ends of her platinum blonde hair that fell over the side of the bench.
“You’re like a cat napping in the sun.”
Shinichiro chuckled when her face scrunched up and she turned onto her side. One amber eye opened to squint at him while she halfheartedly batted his hand away.
“Neko-chan is cute.”
If neither of them were ditching school, they met on the roof at each other’s preferred hangout at lunch for some comfortable chatter.
“Stupid.”
“What is?”
“You don’t know how to fight and your second doesn’t even go to the same school as you.”
“But I have Neko-chan.”
“Stupid.”
Yayoi scolded him and slapped a plaster on his cheek on a scratch that he had been picking at. She only had them on her because some cocky little fuck tried to knife her the night before, so she had brought her mini First Aid kit with her to school today.
Shinichiro ruffled her hair and grinned when she snapped her teeth at him.
He never asked how she knew about his gang and he never pried for more details. It was a comfortable friendship.
“Ah Neko-chan, you shouldn’t smoke on the roof. You’re wasting away your youth.”
“So? Hey! Sano-senpai!”
“Here, we’ll share.”
“Ne Senpai, if you wanted a kiss you should just say so.”
“HAH?!”
There was a rumor going around the school that they were more than just senpai and kouhai. It didn’t help that they had been seen leaving each other’s homes at random hours of the day–he would need to crash after a fight or she would need to crash because she would be having a victory drink nearby.
“How an idiot like you has any respect from anyone always confuses me.”
“But you call me senpai.”
“Hmm…guess I can just call you Sano from now on.”
“Mou, Neko-chan is so cruel!”
How this man didn’t have boys and girls throwing themselves at him was mind boggling. He was disgustingly charming because she was seventy percent sure it was unintentional. Best guess was the other thirty percent went into convincing members of his gang and others that his indomitable spirit is what drew them in like moths to a flame.
She supposed she could be included as one of those moths with how much time they spent together at his grandpa’s house.
“Back again, Ya-chan?”
“Yo, Sano-ji! I promised a Girls Only Day with Emma-chan. Let me know when she’s ready!”
While she had a baby sister, Yayoi didn’t have very many female friends. More than half the girls in their school either talked shit behind her back and/or went out of their way to avoid her. Sure, Emma-chan was ten years her junior, but it was fun having a little kōhai to dote on.
“Ya-neechan!” Emma shouted and jumped into her arms from the stairs. “Can we meet your baby sister today?”
“Hai, hai. We’re taking the train to visit Kaa-chan and Rio-chan for lunch and then we’ll have a sleepover while my brothers and stepdad are out camping.”
Yayoi lazily spun the giggling 6-year old girl before setting the child on her hip.
“You’ll have to teach her how to be the best little sister! She still confuses me with Kaa-chan when I see her.”
Sano-ji brought Emma her overnight bag and affectionately ruffled both hers and Yayoi’s hair.
“Shinichiro-chan is working right now, but one of his friends is here. I’ll ask him to walk you two to the station.”
“Un!” Yayoi grinned and headed for the entryway to help Emma with her shoes. She was just the sweetest little thing! Her Rio-chan was only a year old; she couldn’t wait for her baby sister to be old enough to talk and play like Emma could.
“...Rio-chan have eyes like yours or like her Papa?”
Emma was asking her while they sat together.
“Definitely more like her Papa! She has light purple eyes just like her brothers, but she’s way more cute!” She leaned in and pressed a finger to her lips, “But don’t tell them I said that! Rin-chan would be very upset with me if he found out!”
“Promise!”
Emma linked pinkies with her.
“Ahhh you’re so cute, Emma-chan!”