My Japanese Childhood Friend Is Too Flirty

March, Everything is New in High School Life (1)

“Hello, I’m Joo Woo-joo. I came from Joongang Middle School nearby. My specialty is basketball, and I like reading… Um, I just like playing around.”

The first homeroom time in March. After briefly introducing myself in front of the teacher’s desk, I bowed my head.

Then the reactions were sharply divided into two. The classmates who didn’t know me gave me words mixed with pure goodwill and gladly clapped for me. The friends who already knew me, on the other hand, came with pure criticism like ‘The only books I’ve seen you read are comic books, what do you mean reading?’ and ‘Joo Woo-joo, you’re terrible at basketball.’

“Okay, you said your name is Joo Woo-joo, right? Your name is a bit unique. Good job, go back to your seat.”

“Yes.”

The homeroom teacher, with a languid gaze, gestures towards my seat with a nod.

I carefully walk over and sit down, quietly observing the introductions of the girls in my class who follow after me.

‘…All unfamiliar faces.’

There are 24 students in our class, with an equal split of 12 boys and 12 girls. Among them, I only recognize three boys and one girl. In middle school, I knew almost everyone in my class.

I had a rough idea this would happen when I started taking the bus to school instead of walking, but it looks like I’ll have to make all new friends from scratch. I guess it’s a small blessing that there are a few familiar faces.

Well, it doesn’t really matter since Aki and I ended up in different classes.

We were in the same class twice in elementary school, but we were in different classes all three years of middle school. I never thought we’d be in different classes again in high school.

At this point, I can’t help but wonder if the gods of fate are deliberately keeping Aki and me apart. Though, it’s probably just a coincidence.

‘Since we don’t participate in many events in senior year…’

The chance to enjoy school life with Aki in the same class is now down to just one more opportunity.

First year is already gone, so we have to be in the same class at least once in second year.

‘…I miss Aki.’

“Alright, next person. Your name is… Ah, Ham Ji-eun?”

The atmosphere in the class feels a bit unfamiliar, and the new uniform feels strange. Lost in various thoughts, I hear the homeroom teacher call out a familiar name.

I instinctively turn my gaze, and there stands a small girl, barely 160 cm tall, confidently in front of the podium.

“Hello, I’m Ham Ji-eun! I graduated from Seoul Middle School. My special skills are singing, dancing, and makeup! And what I like… Hmm, I just like having fun!”

‘Special skill is singing…?’

I haven’t seen her dance or do makeup, but from what I’ve heard at karaoke, her singing isn’t great.

As I was having these slightly rude thoughts, Ham Ji-eun suddenly glanced in my direction.

Naturally, my eyes met Ham Ji-eun’s in midair. Recognizing the familiar face and feeling awkward just standing there after making eye contact, I hesitantly clapped my hands.

“Oh? Ham Ji-eun… Are you that Ham Ji-eun?”

No, I was about to clap.

If it weren’t for a female student who looked at Ham Ji-eun with a doubtful voice and asked the question, I would have clapped my hands.

“That, that… Ham Ji-eun, the YouTuber?”

‘…Ham Ji-eun, the YouTuber?’

What is that?

Just hearing the name, I couldn’t quite grasp what it meant. I thought I heard something about YouTube earlier, but I wasn’t sure if I was the only one who didn’t know. Glancing around, I saw male and female students whispering and chatting among themselves.

“Hey, what’s Ham Ji-eun, the YouTuber?”

“I don’t know, but didn’t they just mention YouTube?”

“Oh… then is it something like a YouTuber? What, like eating school meals?”

“…Wow, I couldn’t believe it when I saw the face. It’s really Ham Ji-eun.”

“Didn’t she say she was in the first or second year of high school in the last live broadcast? Was she the same age as us?”

“Right. Ham Ji-eun is a high school student. I thought she was definitely a middle schooler.”

“Seeing her in person, her face is really small, almost the size of my fist-.”

“….”

From the conversations I overheard, it seemed like the girls roughly knew about Ham Ji-eun, while the boys didn’t.

Feeling a strange sense of camaraderie with the boys around me, I decided to keep observing the situation.

“That’s right! Are you one of my subscribers?”

“I’m not subscribed, but I always watch your student makeup and daily makeup videos!”

“Ah, no way! You have to subscribe as soon as you get home today. Got it?”

Ham Ji-eun, winking cutely, demanded a subscription.

Even though I wasn’t her fan or subscriber, it was clear that she looked quite adorable, so the girl who first recognized Ham Ji-eun smiled brightly and nodded.

“Yes! I’ll definitely do it later!”

“Hehe, thank you! Thanks a lot!”

“Ham Ji-eun, do you do something like YouTube?”

“Ah, yes. Not on a large scale, just something small. About 130,000 subscribers…?”

Ham Ji-eun answered shyly to the homeroom teacher’s question. The teacher’s eyes widened.

“What? 130,000 is a lot, isn’t it? That’s not just small.”

“Ahem… Ah, well… Ahem, ahem…!”

She was trying to act nonchalant, but there was an unmistakable pride on Ham Ji-eun’s face.

Well, she was only a first-year high school student, so it was natural for her to feel proud that someone in her class recognized her.

‘It’s surprisingly impressive…’

When I saw her at the karaoke, I just thought she was a girl with a lot of talent, but I didn’t expect her to be a YouTuber with 100,000 subscribers.

“Ham Ji-eun, what’s the name of your YouTube channel?”

“‘School Meal Ham Ji-eun.’ If you search on YouTube, you’ll find it right away.”

“School Meal Ham Ji-eun…? Okay, got it. Good job, you can go in now.”

“Yes, understood!”

“……”

It was both surprising and fascinating to have an influencer in the same class, so I stared at her intently.

Then, Ham Ji-eun, as if noticing my gaze, glanced at me and subtly puffed out her chest.

She didn’t say anything, but it felt like she was saying, ‘See, see? This is who I am~’.

“Alright, now that the introductions are roughly over. Does anyone have any questions?”

“Me! Tell us about your first love, teacher!”

“It’s not even the first class, why talk about first love? Later, later. Any other questions?”

“Ah, teacher! First love story, first love!”

“First love, first love!”

“If there are no more questions, let’s greet and take a break. Class president… Oh, we haven’t elected one yet. Then, temporary class president, yes. You there.”

“Uh, me?”

“Yes, you, the tall one. Ju Woo-joo, right? Be the temporary class president until we elect one.”

“Oh, okay. Should I greet?”

“No, just sit down. Everyone, take a good rest and see you in the first period. That’s all for the homeroom.”

Rattle, thud-.

The homeroom teacher waved his hand roughly, yawned widely, and slid open the door to leave.

“……What.”

If it was going to be like this, why did they even pick a temporary class president?

I was about to stand up awkwardly, but I couldn’t argue with a teacher who was much older than me. It wasn’t really a big deal anyway.

Feeling embarrassed, I smacked my lips and sat back down.

Then.

“──Hey, Ju Woo-joo. Since we’re finishing early today, wanna go to the PC room?”

“How about an escape room instead of a PC bang? There’s a new one that just opened nearby. No joke, it’s insanely fun.”

“Ah, what’s with guys doing escape rooms together? Do you want to smell men’s sweat even outside?”

“Then why don’t you bring some girls? This guy always complains about hanging out with guys, but he doesn’t know any girls himself.”

My friends, who had been close to me since middle school, gathered around me.

“Hey, Ji-eun. Ah, can I call you Ji-eun? Is that okay?”

“Ah, yeah! You can call me Ji-eun. Why?”

“Nothing much, it’s just that your lip color is so pretty. Can I ask what tint you’re using?”

“Oh, what I’m wearing now isn’t tint, it’s lipstick. It’s Rom&nd, Zero Matte Lipstick that came out last year…”

“Ji-eun, Ji-eun! Do you have time after this? If you’re okay with it, do you want to come downtown with us?”

Almost all the girls in the class flocked around Ham Ji-eun, creating a noisy scene reminiscent of a marketplace.

“Wow, look at the kids gathering around her because she’s a YouTuber. She’s practically a celebrity already.”

“Isn’t she a celebrity? They say she has over 100,000 subscribers. Some girls recognized her even before she said anything.”

“But she really is pretty. No wonder she has over 100,000 subscribers. Agreed?”

“Agreed, she’s honestly the top in our class.”

“Top in our class? At this level, she’s easily the top in the first year.”

“No, she’s not the top in the first year. There’s Fujiwara in Class 1.”

“Fujiwara? Ah, Ju-woo’s girlfriend?”

As soon as someone mentioned Aki, who had divided our class, all my friends’ eyes turned to me.

“Hey, Ju-woo.”

“What?”

“Between Ham Ji-eun and Fujiwara, who do you think is prettier? Honestly, really honestly.”

“Hey, why are you asking something like that? Of course, he’d say his girlfriend is prettier. They’ve been dating for ten years now.”

“No, that’s a separate issue. You never know. They say a man’s ideal type is the first woman he sees.”

“……”

From the moment the topic of appearance came up, I had a feeling it would lead to this. As expected, it didn’t deviate from my expectations.

If it were just us, it might be different. Actually, even if it were just us, we wouldn’t evaluate others. Anyway, I couldn’t say who was better in front of everyone. So, I kept my mouth shut.

But, my friends wouldn’t leave me alone.

“Joo Woo-joo. Are you not going to answer again?”

“If you don’t answer this time and run away, I’ll twist your ankle 720 degrees.”

“Grab his arms and legs so he can’t run away, quickly!”

“……!”

I, who had been looking for a chance to escape, ended up like a traitor in the Joseon Dynasty, with my arms and legs tied, unable to go anywhere.

“Hey, let go of this…?”

“I’ll let go if you answer. So, who is it? Fujiwara or Ham Ji-eun?”

“Well, that’s obviously…”

“Not a subjective evaluation, but objectively. How about as a human Joo Woo-joo, not Fujiwara’s boyfriend Joo Woo-joo?”

“……”

As a human Joo Woo-joo, who is better between the two?

The answer to that was obvious.

Aki.

From the moment I first saw Aki ten years ago until now, I have never once thought that any other woman was better than Aki. Of course, this moment, with my limbs restrained, is no exception.

So, I opened my mouth.

“I, uh…”

“Hey.”

But then, a voice came from behind me, making me unable to move.

The owner of that voice was none other than Ham Ji-eun.

“Oh, me?”

“Yeah, you, Woo-joo.”

“…Oh, um.”

“….”

As she, an influencer with over 100,000 subscribers, stood in front of me, my friends, feeling awkward about dealing with Ham Ji-eun, let go of my limbs.

Whether it was sudden or thanks to her, I regained my freedom, but in fact, I also felt burdened by Ham Ji-eun, so I hesitantly spoke to her.

“Why? Do you have something to do?”

“Well, should I call it something to do? Or something to say…”

Ham Ji-eun, trailing off, looked down at me.

…Well, even if she looked down, she was so short that her eye level was similar to mine sitting down. Anyway.

“If you have a moment… Can we talk before class starts?”

“Talk? Sure, what’s it about?”

“Not here. Just the two of us…”

“…?”

“Ah, it won’t take long. It’ll be over soon! It really won’t take more than a moment….”

“……”

In truth, it would be over quickly, but the fact that we had to talk alone was a bit contradictory.

I couldn’t outright refuse Ham Ji-eun’s request in front of everyone, especially since she had become the center of attention among the girls in the class on the first day of school. The class atmosphere is usually decided on the first and second days, after all.

Simply put, unless you plan to live at odds with the girls in the class, it’s best to comply.

‘……I have no choice.’

With that thought, I nodded my head.

“Alright, so…. Where do you want to talk?”

“……Uh-huh! Let’s step out for a bit, I know a good place to talk.”