"'Chapter one... twenty-seven pages total,'" Lin Yu murmured to himself, a bright, satisfied smile spreading across his face. "'Barring any setbacks, I should be able to finish it this month. Then, finally, I can submit it!'"
He pulled back the curtains and opened the window, taking a deep breath of the fresh morning air as sunlight streamed in. "Looks like another beautiful day."
The constant practice over the last couple of days had clearly paid off; his control over the art style felt much more natural now. He found himself needing to reference the original source material far less often as he "created" his pages.
Slinging his small backpack over his shoulder, Lin Yu headed out to school. He didn't run into Shizuka or the others on the way. Arriving at the classroom, he saw the teacher hadn't arrived yet, so he took the opportunity to get straight back to drawing, focused and diligent. Practice during the day, finalize the pages at night – his schedule was packed.
He hadn't been seated long when Shizuka arrived. Seeing him already absorbed in his notebook, she first quickly checked his expression – relieved to see no lingering sadness from yesterday – before greeting him with a smile. "Good morning, Lin Yu."
As she spoke, she tilted her head, noticing the dark circles under his eyes. "Were you up late drawing again last night?" she asked, a touch of gentle exasperation in her voice.
"Yeah," Lin Yu admitted with a yawn, stretching slightly. "Meant to get to bed earlier, but it ended up being a bit later than planned."
"Lin Yu, staying up late isn't good for you, you know," Shizuka said, her tone a mixture of concern and gentle complaint. "We're still growing! And besides, your energy during the day will suffer..."
"Is Shizuka worried about me?" Lin Yu interrupted playfully.
Caught off guard by the direct question, a faint blush crept onto Shizuka's fair cheeks. She nodded shyly, slightly embarrassed.
Looking at her adorable, flustered expression, Lin Yu felt a strange sense of dislocation. Even after two months in this world, seeing this girl – previously just a character on a screen, intangible and unreachable – looking at him with genuine concern felt surreal. Almost without thinking, Lin Yu reached out and gently ruffled the top of Shizuka's hair.
"Alright, alright," he chuckled softly. "Since Shizuka insists, I promise I'll try. But hey, from now on, just call me Lin Yu, okay? 'Classmate Lin Yu' feels a little too formal, don't you think?"
Feeling the warmth of his hand on her head, combined with his words, Shizuka's already pink cheeks flushed a deep crimson. The unexpectedly intimate gesture and the suggestion to drop the formality left the young girl feeling overwhelmed with shyness and a touch of delightful panic.
"L-Lin Yu!" she stammered, looking down. "Wh-why did you suddenly... touch my head...? W-we're in the classroom... it's... it's not really appropriate..."
"Oh? So Shizuka means it would be appropriate if we weren't in the classroom?" Lin Yu teased, watching her adorable embarrassment with amusement in his eyes.
"Th-that's... that's not..." Shizuka stammered, unable to form a coherent reply, her mind a whirl of shyness and unfamiliar emotions. She thought about how Lin Yu used to be – always sitting quietly alone, often seeming lost in thought, rarely interacting much. But lately, he'd changed so much, becoming more outgoing and cheerful. And just now, the unexpected tenderness in his eyes... it had made her heart flutter uncontrollably. That playful touch, so different from the affection of family members, was something entirely new. While the shy nervousness was overwhelming, she also found herself... not disliking it? The whole situation left her flustered and unsure how to react. She didn't dislike the feeling, but they were in the classroom, with other students around! Even if no one else had noticed yet, it felt far too conspicuous. Yet, the thought of actually pulling her head away from his hand... she found she didn't really want to do that either. It was an incredibly awkward, embarrassing dilemma.
Seeing her genuine distress, Lin Yu decided not to tease her further. A little playful banter was fine, but making her truly uncomfortable wasn't his intention. He gently withdrew his hand from her hair and gave her a quick, apologetic wink. "Sorry, Shizuka. Honestly, you just looked really cute when you blushed just now, and I kind of wanted to pat your head before I even thought about it."
"It... it was because I looked cute...?" Shizuka mumbled, keeping her head bowed low, chin almost touching her chest, feeling her face burn as if she had a fever.
"Yeah," Lin Yu confirmed softly. "If you really didn't like it, I'll be more careful next time."
"N-no..." she whispered quickly. Hearing him call her cute... it wasn't the first time someone had said that, of course, but hearing it from Lin Yu felt different, somehow making her especially happy. "It's... it's just... there are too many people here..."
The words, practically an admission that it would be okay under different circumstances, slipped out before she could stop them. Her heart pounded even faster. Mortified at her own boldness, she quickly covered her burning cheeks with her hands and spun around in her seat, unable to face him any longer.
A delicate, slightly charged atmosphere began to simmer between them.
While Lin Yu didn't exactly have a wealth of real-world romantic experience from his previous life, he wasn't completely clueless. He'd watched and read enough romance anime and novels – you don't need to have eaten pork to know what a pig looks like, after all. He had some theoretical knowledge. This kind of fulfilling, eventful life, he reflected, really wasn't bad at all.
Just as this thought crossed his mind, the school bell rang, signalling the start of class. Everyone else was already in their seats. Everyone except Nobita, who, unsurprisingly, was late once again.
However, compared to his brief moment of misplaced bravado yesterday (when Lin Yu was impersonating him), today's Nobita was back to his usual self. He meekly accepted the teacher's (Mr. Terakoya's) scolding without a word of protest and shuffled out to stand in the hallway as punishment.
When the first period ended, Nobita trudged back into the classroom looking thoroughly dejected. Clearly, after Lin Yu and the others had left last night, Mrs. Nobi had given him quite the earful.
Lin Yu also noticed that, ever since yesterday's incident, Nobita seemed to actively avoid eye contact with him. There was a new wariness, almost a hint of fear, in Nobita's demeanor towards Lin Yu, as if he wanted to steer clear of him altogether.