Disclaimer: I own nothing related to To-Love Ru, if I did, then the series would still be on-going.
Regular exposition text looks like this.
"Speech looks like this."
'Internal thoughts appear like this'.
"Mindscape discussions appear like this."
Proclamations appear like this.
:=:
Hindsight is 20/20, they say. The feeling of knowing a better approach to a situation that happened in the past, now that it has happened, and you are in the future determined by your choices.
As the homeroom teacher drawls on within 1-C, Naoto is in thought, paying no attention to the class.
'Even considering other possible alternatives, my actions yesterday may have been for the best', he thinks, scribbling an odd-looking creature in his notebook, with many more appendages than required.
'To obtain certain confirmation about the existence of the world of To-Love Ru, Yuuki Mikan was the only safe yet trustable source.' The other sources would have either gotten him stuck in the center of events or could have gotten him noticed by who knows how many others who have an eye on the galactic princess.
"Still, I truly must have been blind. Perspective is quite a thing" he mumbles as the male students appear to be giggling uncontrollably, hearing the homeroom teacher announce that we will resume swimming classes next week, with the girls having the swim class first.
The world was quite simply much odder than Naoto had previously observed it to be. He had noticed differences this morning, whether small ones such as the eyes of certain teachers lingering too long towards the female students, or large incidents such as a naked man running through the streets while holding something his hands, 'I don't quite have any desire to know what exactly it was'. That is further ignoring the fact that the person could have been the principal of this school, if he was remembering details of the story correctly.
'Huh. Isn't the faculty here rather unsafe?' he thought, as this was meant to be a premier school institute with significant increase in your overall top university acceptance rate during their interview section, solely because you attended the Sainan escalator. It may be that the existence of the main cast of the story within the school increased the rate that the logic of the world is warped at.
An overall warped logic in the vicinity of the school would certainly make the incidents that would unfold in the future a lot more acceptable. While this world may be more tolerant than my past one, Naoto doubted repeated sexual harassment of students, violent altercations that involve part of the school being rebuilt or any of the future alien hijinks would have been accepted widely.
'I wonder if that logic warp phenomenon had affected me.' He was considerably surprised at his ability to accept the world as a fictional one, especially since he'd come to that realization only yesterday. Or it might simply be the ability of humans to adapt in face of a situation that cannot be changed.
'Hopefully that this is me digging into things for no reason whatsoever, and that all these are natural phenomenon peculiar to this world and its society.' There were many way worse possibilities when you consider that other galactic powers that find themselves suddenly interested in this school may have access to technologies he could not possibly fathom. Their ability to influence and manipulate may already be beyond human imagination.
'Another rabbit hole I shouldn't walk towards' he decided, as the subject classes began.
:=:
'Time truly passes by in a blink when you're not looking', Naoto considered on the path back home. It had been nearly a week since his rather substantial discovery regarding the true nature of this world, and he somewhat found his peace with it.
Afterall even if an existence such as Being X was involved in some game, a regular human is unlikely to make any difference. Especially not an unremarkable person such as him. Perhaps one of the chess prodigies from his past could have challenged the gods to a match with humanity at stake. Alas such a thing would remain exclusive to another world for the time being.
As he's walking with idle thoughts clouding his mind, he notices a person walking slightly ahead of him, having just made a turn into his path from a recent intersection.
"Good evening yet again Yuuki-san" he greets Yuuki Mikan. This was already the 3rd time they had run into each other on his path back home. Was it truly because Mikan had recently changed routes, or was it something else entirely? There was no benefit chasing that line of thought.
"Suzuki-san! Good evening to you as well" smiled Mikan, her face conveying slight relief while also seemingly uncomfortable. Either that or Naoto's skills at reading people's expressions that he had gained from reading a book at the age of 9 were not as great as he would have expected.
"Were you studying into the evening yesterday as well, Suzuki-san?" Mikan inquired, her face taking over an inquisitive look. Naoto had previously let her know that he tended to study late into the evenings within the school, so her guess was quite well founded.
"That's right. Now that I'm in my High School years I'm hoping to begin my preparations for the eventual university entrances. Since I don't attend or intend to attend any cram schools, I need to start earlier than the usual schedule" Naoto explained. While the world may be one from a story, obtaining a well-paid job was still the path to a leisurely life.
"Ah, I took a look at the subjects they want the students to know, and I started to feel dizzy." Mikan appeared understanding, though her face fell into distress as she added, "I keep asking Rito to give his future studies more importance. I worry he'll end up in a difficult position if he doesn't prepare in advance" she sighed. Truly a mother hen to Yuuki Rito even thought she was the younger sibling. Naoto wondered what the source of her mature outlook was, he did not quite remember any details regarding their parents.
Their conversation as usual was either about studies, or about Mikan unconsciously talking about her worries regarding Rito.
'She must be rather stressed with the unique situation after all' Naoto wondered. While he initially imagined Mikan was faring well in face of the situation with Lala being at the Yuuki house, he may have overestimated her capabilities. She was after all incredibly young, even if her fictional counterpart was written to be capable beyond her years, this was a real and human instance. Listening to her was not only the correct thing to do as someone older than her, but also has the benefit of gaining information related to Yuuki Rito.
"I heard that your school will begin swim class tomorrow. Rito sounded rather excited about it, even though it's the girls swim day for his class tomorrow, I wonder if he's become just as bad as the others in his class" Mikan sounded defeated, though it did appear like she knew the true reason behind why Yuuki Rito may be excited for the upcoming swim class. "Lala-san was very excited too. She's not been to swim class before, though when I asked she told me that she knew how to swim" she added, looking somewhat lost in her thoughts.
Our conversation in the past week had eventually discussed the popular school rumor, when Mikan had ended up mentioned Lala. While she did confirm that Lala was living in the Yuuki house, Naoto had not inquired any further. He did not know whether Mikan would end up telling him the truth of Lala's nature or lie to keep it secret, and he was not keen on forcing her to make that decision, especially since it served him no purpose.
"Yeah, my class is quite excited as well" the boys more so than the girls was left unsaid, as Naoto replied to Mikan. "I embarrassingly so am not a great swimmer so I'm not really looking forward to it. I only know how not to drown" he joked, a little embarrassed. He'd always had trouble managing his breath within the water, and as the act itself was a rarity he had never worked upon improving it.
"Oh? So there are things that Suzuki-san isn't great at either" teased Mikan, looking slightly more comfortable with the conversation. Looks like her personality may be closer to the fictional character than he'd have thought.
"Sorry to disappoint you Yuuki-san, trying to excel at everything doesn't really go well I'm afraid." I smile as I remark. Mikan seems to panic at my apology, her expression uncomfortable yet again.
"T-th-.. um" she stutters slightly. How very cute. It reminds him of the kids back at the orphanage, those who were old enough to ask him to read bedtime stories when the Matron was busy with other work.
Mikan seems to recover as Naoto dwelled on his memories, her face taking over a resolute expression.
"Umo Suzuki-san, can you please stop referring to me as Yuuki-san. It's rather embarrassing" she says, her face growing red with other every word.
"Huh?" Naoto utters, a little surprised.
:=:
"Rito! Lala-san! I'm leaving your bentos on the living room table!"
Yuuki Mikan shouts as she prepares to leave for her day, mumbling a quick "I'm leaving for school" as she exits the house. She liked to leave early before the other students began crowding up the path to her school.
Her routine had changed from preparing two bentos to three, ever since Lala-san had arrived at the Yuuki house. Why the alien girl was so infatuated with her brother, she could not understand. Sure, Rito was dependable when things got difficult, but he was still her annoying brother that made her wonder who the elder sibling was. He wouldn't have made it to his high school if it weren't for the automatic movement that escalator schools had. She hoped he would try harder this school year, but with Lala-san in the mix, it seemed more unlikely than ever.
'Still, Lala-san is so pretty' Mikan thought, thinking back to the new resident of the Yuuki house. 'I wonder if all aliens look that pretty'.
Living with a new member was not as difficult as Mikan thought it would be, Lala-san being rather considerate and very kind. Peke even helped Mikan with the laundry!
'If only she was more careful about modesty. I don't know how long Rito can last like this' she wondered. Alien culture really was very different, so it was understandable that Lala-san would take a little while to get used to the culture at Earth.
'I wonder how they are doing at school' she considered as she was idling after solving all questions presented by her teacher. The class today was another revision of prior topics which Mikan had already studied multiple times on her own. 'Hopefully is paying attention to the class, instead of wondering how to confess to Haruna-san yet again', she sighed. Her brother's crush and his inability to make his feelings known was a common situation for a while at this point.
'I must buy some extra ingredients' Mikan decided, changing her path back home to one with a convenience store. 'Lala-san really eats a lot. Must be another alien trait' she considered as she purchased some extra items and began on the new path back home.
'What a cute cat!' she thought, stopping to pet a white cat that was wandering on the street. Just as she was about to continue on her way, she noticed a scary looking person walk towards her.
"Young girl, can you hand over that cat to me?" the man said. As she picked up the cat to hand it to the person, two similar looking people walked over to look at the cat as well.
'Scary. People like these also own cats huh.' Mikan thought. As the person in the middle was about the speak again, she heard another voice as someone stepped in front of her.
"Excuse me. Is something wrong?" the new person asked. He appeared to be a student, probably a high school student, but Mikan couldn't see what school he was from since his back was facing her.
As the three scary looking men explained the situation to the high school student Mikan wondered if taking this path today was truly the best choice.
'Ahh, Maybe I'll make something nice for dinner today to relax' she considered as she replied to the three people thanking her for the help and explained the situation in brief to the high school student who seemed confused with what had just happened.
'That uniform looks familiar though' as she was thinking back to where she recognized the uniform from, the student interjected.
"You are Yuuki Mikan, right?" he asked, surprising Mikan. Maybe he knew her from somewhere? She inquired to confirm, with the high school student identifying himself as Suzuki Naoto.
'No wonder I recognized the uniform, it's from Rito's school' she sighed. She had heard of Suzuki-san from Rito very often during his middle school years. Even some of her classmates knew who he was, with their teachers often setting him up as an example to look up to as the elementary school students moved to middle school. Perfect scores throughout the years they said.
'Though I don't think I went into Rito's school on the first day of his school. I do think I'd gone to hand him over his bento since he'd forgotten it to check if he was in the same class as Haruna-san' Mikan thought. It could be that she was noticed in that little interaction. Prodigies truly were different.
It seemed like Suzuki-san was headed in the same way as she was, and she walked alongside as they introduced each other a little bit more.
"I've not seen Yuuki-san on this path before." Suzuki-san asked suddenly, surprising Mikan a little.
'Ahh, it feels weird being addressed so politely by a famous prodigy' she felt embarrassed. Suzuki Naoto was an image to look up to, and here he was treating her with respect even thought she was much younger. As she mumbled through a reply and a question in return.
'It seems like Suzuki-san takes this path back to his home' she lightly thought as they discussed the cat and the three people while walking.
As we headed to our separate directions at the next intersection, Suzuki-san referred to her politely yet again as he went.
'It really feels odd being referred to as Yuuki-san' she sighed, while heading back home.
Other than her mentioning the incident with the cat and asking a little more about Suzuki Naoto from Rito, there was nothing out of the ordinary. Well, if you consider Lala-san walking into the room without any clothes and Rito panicking over it as an ordinary occurrence.
'I wonder if I should take the same path again tomorrow' Mikan considered, slightly looking forward to running into Suzuki-san again.
:=:
"Is Lala-san really living at the Yuuki house then?" Suzuki-san had asked her one day as they walked back on the path back home. She'd mentioned Lala-san a few times while discussing how difficult Rito was being lately. Rito even mentioned about some alien attacking Haruna-san at school.
'I do hope Haruna-san is okay' Mikan hoped as she thought back to it. The Yuuki house living arrangements were already a rumor at Rito's school. Hopefully things settled soon enough.
She had run into Suzuki-san a few times already this week, as she kept taking the same path back home. Their conversations were oddly calming, resulting in her confiding about her worries for Rito to Suzuki-san.
'What if I'm being an annoyance to him' Mikan was sad to consider, as they discussed how Suzuki-san was already preparing for his future university education. He still continued to refer to her politely which was another point of embarrassment to her.
While discussing the upcoming swim class, which she was certain Rito was excited to see Haruna-san attend, she found out about Suzuki-san's swimming capabilities. She teased him finally finding something that the prodigy was worse at compared to her. But her attempt backfired as he politely replied back, leaving her embarrassed once again.
'Ahhhh, I can't take this anymore' Mikan decided to ask what she had on her mind for since she first met Suzuki-san.
"Umo Suzuki-san, can you please stop referring to me as Yuuki-san. It's rather embarrassing" she finally said it, feeling even more embarrassed as she conveyed her desire.
The request seemed to have stumped Suzuki-san too as he stopped walking for a bit, but then he quickly resumed, slightly laughing.
"Haha, I'm sorry for laughing. That was an unexpected request, I really should have noticed it earlier," he smiled as if he truly had not expected the situation. "I will accept the request only if you were to consider doing the same Yuuki-san" he smiled once again, though this time it seemed a little more devious than before.
"That would be rude of me Suzuki-san! You're a respected senior." She tried to argue back but was quickly shot down when Suzuki-san replied that she referred to Rito very casually even thought he has her elder brother.
'Ahhhh, it's my defeat. Somehow Rito has led me to this situation once again' Mikan sighed in defeat.
"Fine, Naoto-san" she replies, with no option remaining.
"Thank you for your consideration, Mikan-san" he smiles back.
Somehow, I feel like I ended up losing more than I gained in this conversation.
:=:
'To think it was something that simple' Naoto thought as he idled during homeroom, the day Mikan had asked him to change how he addressed her. Japanese social norms were still something he was getting used to, as his past life only remembered encountering them in stories he'd read or watch. To think his polite approach would end up making someone uncomfortable was rather amusing.
The students were just as energetic today as they always were, perhaps even more so as the girls had their swim class today. The fire in the eyes of a few seemed like they were set to head towards a battlefield. Naoto may have attempted to discourage them before but knowing the nature of this world and the school, such notions would be entirely redundant.
'Hopefully the conversation on the way back this evening isn't awkward' he considered as homeroom ended into the subject classes, the school day proceeding onwards.
'I expected activity from the guys, but it seems even the girls are rather actively discussing something' Naoto wondered after the swim class had ended, noticing how intense some discussion was.
"Class president, what's everyone discussing?" He asked the ever-reliable source of information.
"Suzuki-san! It was truly astonishing! Motemitsu-senpai from the baseball club was found taking sneak shots of all girls during the swim class!" the informant explained. "I must have seen dozens of images fall from the sky as his acts were revealed!"
'I shouldn't be surprised at this point…' Naoto sighed, wondering how he will survive through the upcoming years at Sainan High.
'Wait a moment, Class President, how were you able to see the pictures in the first place….'
It seems like Naoto's informant was more actively involved than he'd first thought, there truly was no hope for the student body here.
