I was Thrown into an Unfamiliar Manga

“Young Lady! Are you alright?!”

The one who came rushing off the yacht, shouting urgently, was—of course—none other than Mr. Meguro, the head steward of the estate on the island.
He flinched when he saw me standing next to the President but quickly composed himself and cleared his throat before addressing her.
“After you set out on the yacht yesterday, we lost contact and were terribly worried. Fortunately, the rescue signal was sent out in time, and we came as soon as the sun rose.”

“It’s all thanks to my subordinates, Minami and Shinji. They climbed up high to send the signal.”
“Now that you mention it, I don’t see either of them around.”
“They should be back soon. It was too late yesterday, so they probably spent the night up in the mountains.”

“Youuuuung Laaaaady!”
Speak of the devil—there came the Vice President, sprinting toward us in perfect dramatic timing.
Naturally, Minami was right beside him.

“Were you alright while I was gone?! Are you hurt anywhere?!”
The Vice President shoved his face close, only to be pushed back by the President with a look of mild disgust.
“I was fine. Yu-seong protected me. What about you two?”

Minami was the one who answered.
“We’re fine. There was a cave about halfway up the mountain.”
“That’s a relief. Good work, Minami.”

“It was my duty.”
While the two loyal retainers exchanged formal praise, Mr. Meguro approached and interjected:
“Now, now, let’s save the rest of the chatter for after we return. You must all be quite exhausted from sleeping in such unfamiliar conditions, so I arranged for a yacht to bring you back.”

“That sounds lovely.”
With a smile, the President turned toward us.
“Then, shall we go home? All together.”
“Yes, ma’am!”
“Yes!”

Both the Vice President and I replied in unison, thus bringing our brief castaway adventure as Student Council members to an end.
***
“Thank you for everything!”

“It was an honor to serve you, even for such a short time.”
“I was lucky to have met someone as kind as you, Mr. Meguro.”
The Student Council’s 4-day, 3-night intensive training retreat had officially come to an end.

At first, when they said it was to “strengthen friendship,” I didn’t really know what to expect—but in hindsight, I could definitely feel a stronger bond between all of us.
If there was one thing I was absolutely sure of now, it was that I wouldn’t need to go anywhere near the ocean again this year.
Between our beach trip with Class D and all the swimming here on this island, I’d had enough of seawater to last a lifetime.
After thanking the villa staff for taking such great care of us during our stay, the Student Council members and I piled into the olive-drab buggy.

The same one that had faithfully carried us around since day one.
“Guess it’s time to say goodbye to this guy, too.”
I patted the vehicle’s side, and Minami, clearly just as sentimental, toyed with the steering wheel.

“Riding this makes me want to hurry up and get my driver’s license.”
“You’re addicted to driving,” the Vice President commented from the passenger seat.
“I am not!” Minami pouted.

In any case, everyone was aboard, and we drove off the estate grounds toward the dock.
VRROOOOM!
The engine roared, and the island’s scenery whipped past us.

In the distance, I could hear cicadas buzzing from trees.
Leaving like this... brought a strange sense of nostalgia.
Just a year ago, I could never have imagined this. Yet in the span of just one year, my entire world had changed.

Compared to the cold, lifeless days of my past student life—or my bleak grad school days—my life now felt like it sparkled.
So this is what youth feels like.
What was gray to some, shined blue for others.

As the President quietly watched the retreating island scenery alongside me, she turned her head and asked:
“Did this trip become a good memory for you?”
It was unexpected, but I didn’t hesitate to answer.

“Yes. I think it did.”
The peak of summer heat was starting to wind down.
***

Thursday, fourth week of August.
Maybe it was a late monsoon, but it had rained all day yesterday.
Mom kept complaining that the laundry wouldn’t dry, and I made a point to pretend I didn’t hear her.

More than half of our laundry came from my workouts, after all.
It felt like summer break had just started at the end of July, but after a few major events, it was already nearly over.
With only two weeks left before school started, I was frantically trying to finish my summer homework.

If I didn’t start now, I knew I’d end up cramming it all the night before school started.
After being cooped up in my room solving homework all day, my brain was fried.
Being top of my year, the actual content wasn’t hard—it was the volume that got to me.

Sitting at a desk for hours on end will mess up anyone’s back.
“Phew—okay, that’s enough for today.”
I closed my textbook and stretched after finishing about half my math homework.

I’d been at my desk for nearly half a day—my muscles were stiff and sore.
I figured I’d go for a light jog before dinner.
After setting the dumbbells I used for studying to the side and changing into some light training clothes, I felt refreshed just thinking about exercising my body instead of my brain.

I stopped by the kitchen on the first floor to let my parents know I was heading out for a workout and ❀ Nоvеlігht ❀ (Don’t copy, read here) asked them not to look for me.
Then I ran my usual jogging route for about 30 minutes.
After being trapped inside all day, my brain felt like it had just met oxygen for the first time—and the fatigue vanished completely.

“This is what makes working out worth it.”
It was always so fresh and exhilarating.
After I finished my run, I stopped by the convenience store on the way home and bought a pack of chicken breast for a post-workout snack.

Frozen chicken breast was fine, but convenience store chicken had its own appeal.
Beep!
“Kim Yu-seong. It’s been a while.”

“Fuma-senpai?”
I looked up in surprise at the familiar voice from the register.
There stood Fuma-senpai, dressed in Lawson’s signature blue-striped uniform, standing behind the POS terminal.

“I haven’t seen you at the gym lately. Something going on?”
He scanned the barcode and handed the chicken over.
“You’re working here now?”

Fuma-senpai nodded.
“The last place didn’t throw out enough expiring stock.”
“…That’s… practical.”

The sheer realism of the reason made me look at him with pity without even realizing it.
“Anyway, about my question?”
“Oh, that—yeah. I changed my workout time. I’ve been training during the day instead of in the evening.”

“I see. I thought maybe you were avoiding me.”
“You could’ve just asked the gym manager or Kazu.”
“Those two? No thanks. They’d immediately start teasing me.”

“…Yeah.”
That did sound like them.
They were more interested in other people’s love lives than their own.

“By the way, that kid Ryuji came to the café the other day. You’re the one who introduced him, right?”
“Oh, he showed up?”
“He dropped your name and said he wanted to know about the underworld. I was going to send him away gently, but apparently my sister got interested because she said he had a powerful guardian spirit.”

“Guardian spirit?”
She must mean Mahes, the Egyptian ghost.
“She said it’s a spirit with power rarely seen these days. They even had a conversation, apparently.”

“Sounds like you weren’t there?”
“It was a weekday. I only work weekends.”
Well, that explains it.

I nodded and handed the chicken breast back to be heated in the microwave. Fuma-senpai sighed and narrowed his eyes, but dutifully accepted it.
“By the way, Yu-seong. Summer break’s almost over. When are you coming to visit our village?”
I froze while putting my wallet away.

“Ah.”
“…Don’t tell me you forgot.”
“No, I, uh… just got really busy lately and lost track of time…”

The more I talked, the sharper his glare got.
Eventually, I gave up trying to lie.
“I’m sorry. I honestly forgot.”

“Haah… seriously…”
He shook his head like he had a headache, then handed me the now-hot chicken breast.
“Alright, then—since the iron’s hot, how about this weekend? I can probably get one or two days off.”

“This weekend?”
I ran through my schedule in my head.
Luckily, nothing was planned.

“Yeah, that should work.”
Finally satisfied, Fuma-senpai handed me the chicken breast and said:
“If you’d said no, I was going to hold this hostage.”

Holding protein hostage from someone who just finished working out—now that was villainous.
I was once again reminded that Fuma-senpai was a ninja with no mercy or pity.