Yu never thought he would get used to university life so quickly, but somehow, between Taichi's steady presence and the comfort of their shared apartment, the days began to flow with an easy rhythm.
When he wasn't in his beautician courses, Yu signed up to be a tutor on campus. At first, he only thought of it as practice—after all, hadn't he already helped Taichi through endless late-night cramming sessions? But word spread fast, and soon, requests started pouring in.
Yu found himself seated in study rooms and libraries with students he had never met before, patiently walking them through equations, explaining concepts, or demonstrating study tricks he had picked up. His gentle tone and endless patience made him popular. People left his sessions lighter, smiling—grateful not only for the help but for the kindness that seemed to come bundled with it.
Later, he mentioned it to DK01 later in his head.
'It's funny how I used to suck at studying but now, it's no problem for me to teach others. Almost too easy…and familiar? I wonder why…'
The AI chuckled in its cryptic way.
[Maybe you were a teacher in a another life.]
DK01 mused.
[That's why this comes so easily to you.]
Yu scoffed.
'That's dumb. Don't say things like that.'
But as he sighed and flopped across his bed, there was a tiny tug in his chest he couldn't quite explain. Maybe it wasn't such a bad idea after all.
Taichi, meanwhile, grew more and more proud—though he would never admit it aloud. He would sit at a small table, flipping through his own economics notes, pretending not to glance at Yu surrounded by classmates at the next table over in the library. When Yu laughed lightly, praising a student for finally understanding something, Taichi felt a strange mix of pride and jealousy.
At home, things were simpler. They cooked together in their tiny kitchen, Yu insisting on making elaborate meals whenever he had spare time, while Taichi washed dishes with exaggerated sighs.
"You're trying to fatten me up, aren't you?"
He'd tease, and Yu would only smirk, sliding another portion onto his plate.
Nights ended the same:
Tangled in each other's warmth, the exhaustion of classes melting away. Taichi's arm draped heavy around Yu's waist, Yu's hair spilling across his chest. The outside world was demanding, but here, in their shared space, there was only the quiet rhythm of them.
---
From the first week on campus, Yu and Taichi had already carved out a name for themselves. Students whispered when they walked by hand-in-hand:
The Campus Bella and the Campus Prince.
Yu's pale beauty, his gentle presence and soft voice, paired with Taichi's tall, broad-shouldered, untouchable aura—together, they were unforgettable. Strangers often glanced twice, sometimes boldly snapping photos. Yu flushed every time, clinging tighter to Taichi's arm, while Taichi only smirked, smug with the attention but also fiercely protective.
It was meant to be a new start. A calm, steady life after the chaos of high school.
But calm was never meant to last.
It started in the most ordinary place—a walkway outside the lecture hall. Students streamed past in pairs and clusters, voices blending into an indistinct hum. Yu clung lightly to Taichi's sleeve, carrying his books against his chest, when the hum thinned into silence.
Across the courtyard stood Isuke Sasaki.
When Taichi caught sight of him, the years between them seemed to vanish. Their eyes locked. Silent fire burned in both gazes:
Hatred, memory, unfinished war. The air around them felt like it might split.
Yu, caught between them, trembled but tried to hold fast.
Time itself seemed to stall. Taichi's green eyes hardened, his jaw setting. Isuke's smirk curled like he had never left. They had both grown—sharper, taller, stronger—but the energy between them was exactly the same.
"Arifukua..."
Isuke drawled, his voice carrying even over the chatter.
"I thought you'd still be wasting time in detention halls, not college lecture rooms."
Taichi's shoulders tensed. Yu tugged at his sleeve, trying to anchor him, but Taichi stepped forward anyway, his voice low and dangerous.
"And I thought you'd have learned not to run your mouth. Guess some things never change."
The students nearby slowed, sensing the heat of a storm about to break. Isuke's eyes flicked deliberately toward Yu, standing behind Taichi. A smile—not kind, but pointed—touched his lips.
"Still clinging to him, huh? Looks like you haven't grown up either. But I guess that's what makes you so cute."
Yu's fingers trembled where they clutched Taichi's shirt. He hated being caught in the middle, hated how easily Isuke's words could twist the knife. But Taichi's hand came back, firm, squeezing Yu's wrist in silent reassurance:
I've got you.
The tension lingered like a crackling wire, but before fists could fly, a professor rounded the corner and the moment snapped apart. Isuke gave a mock bow, still smirking, and strode away. Taichi watched his back until he vanished into the crowd, his knuckles white.
The rivalry was awake again.
From abroad, Isuke Sasaki returned. He had taken his GED while gone, scored high, and gained admission into A College—their college. His first step back onto campus reignited the rivalry like a match striking dry tinder.
It didn't take long for Taichi and Isuke to keep crossing paths again—and when they did, sparks flew.
Harsh words, cold sneers, and the unmistakable promise of another fight hung between them. Taichi's fists clenched. Isuke's smirk only deepened.
Blood still boiled. And this time, college walls would not be enough to contain it.
And as though the universe itself refused them peace, another piece fell into place:
Jezebel Suzuki.
Blonde hair, striking blue eyes, and the confidence of someone who had been told her whole life that she was destined to shine. When Yu encountered her in one of his classes as the new transfer student from abroad, DK01's voice chimed in Yu's mind.
[She was the original female lead of this world, the one who by all rights should have been at the center of Taichi's story.]
'S-she looks just like the Saintness Jesslin Sinstien… Like, way too alike! And Taichi was supposed to have fallen for her? He was supposed to have died trying to get her to be his instead, right?'
Yu felt sick, his stomach churned and he desperately wanted her to disappear. DK01 offered a comforting reply.
[Host, Taichi's fate had shifted long ago. His heart is already full with you, Yu.]
Still, DK01's reassurance did not help in easing Yu's worries, as Jezebel's smile sharpened day by day, she had set her sights on Taichi. Yet even as other classmates warned her against splitting up the infamous campus couple, she refused to give up. If she could not take the prince, she would, at least, topple the bella.
If Isuke Sasaki was fire, then Jezebel Suzuki was ice.
She had transferred smoothly into the campus spotlight, her blonde hair and piercing blue eyes turning heads instantly. With effortless charm, she gathered a circle of admirers. But her gaze was sharp, and it landed not only on Taichi, who barely spared her a glance, but also on Yu—the obstacle to her plan to be the number one beauty on campus.
At first, the bullying started subtle. A whisper here, a rumor there. A stray bump in the hallway, a mocking laugh about Yu's soft voice. And behind it all, Jezebel's painted smile.
Then it escalated, starting with a coffee stain. Jezebel Suzuki had laughed lightly, all apologies as she dabbed uselessly at Yu's notebook with a napkin, her golden hair shining beneath the lecture hall lights. But her eyes had been sharp, deliberate.
From there, the attacks grew sharper.
"Oops, is this your seat?"
She asked sweetly one morning, her legs crossed elegantly across Yu's usual chair. Yu froze, clutching his books to his chest, as students turned to watch.
"Guess you'll just have to stand today."
By the time the professor noticed, the humiliation had already burned its mark.
During group work she would sigh, tilting her head just so, voice dripping with sugar.
"You're so brave, Yu-chan. I could never wear makeup every day like that. I'd feel too insecure."
The words struck like a whip hidden beneath silk, and Yu had sat in silence, trembling while others laughed uncomfortably.
Even tutoring—his pride, the thing that gave him purpose—wasn't safe.
"Don't you think she only tutors to show off?"
Jezebel whispered to a girl within earshot.
"Makes people feel stupid, doesn't it?"
Soon, some of Yu's regulars stopped coming. The empty chairs stared at him like accusations.
Each wound was small, invisible from a distance. But Yu felt them all. He swallowed the pain, hiding it from Taichi because if Taichi knew, he'd explode—and Jezebel knew it too. That was her game:
To strike where the prince couldn't see.
---
The breaking point came after days of the constant harassment and abuse where Yu was most isolated.
It was in the library where Jezebel pressed hardest. She caught him as he was by the shelves, her perfume cloying as she plucked a book from his arms.
"You know…"
She said softly, too close.
"You don't belong here. No matter how you dress, no matter how many people call you a 'Campus Bella'… you'll never really be one."
Yu froze. His breath caught painfully in his chest. She didn't know—she couldn't know—but the words sank claws into the truth of his borrowed life.
Jezebel leaned closer, her lips brushing his ear.
"You're just a nobody, filling a space someone else left behind. Arifukua deserves someone real. Someone like me."
Yu's hands shook, the books nearly slipping from his arms. His vision blurred, his heart pounding loud enough to drown the library's silence. Something deep inside cracked.
"Shut up!"
His voice rang out sharper than he meant, trembling but fierce. Jezebel's smirk faltered.
"You don't know me. You don't know anything about me! And I'm not letting go of him!"
The nearby students turned at his outburst, startled. Yu's cheeks burned, but he didn't back down. For the first time, Jezebel's perfect smile slipped into a scowl before she dropped the book onto the floor and sauntered away.
Yu's knees shook so badly he had to lean against the shelf until the world stopped spinning.
---
Meanwhile, Taichi's storm had a different name:
Isuke Sasaki.
One day, they happened to met in the gym, the echo of basketballs bouncing against the polished floor filling the air. Isuke leaned against the wall, his arms crossed, eyes sharp and mocking.
"Still playing pretend, Arifukua? I've heard the rumors. So now you're the 'prince', funny how much things had changed when I was gone. When you made me be gone."
His smirk cut like glass.
"Heh, I thought you'd grow out of such childish acts by now. Playing prince instead of being the beast you truly are."
Taichi caught the ball on a rebound, his green eyes flashing.
"Better than being a snake in the grass. What's your excuse? Couldn't win abroad, so you came back to lose here instead?"
Isuke pushed off the wall, stepping closer.
"Funny, I don't recall you ever winning anything. Unless you count dragging Yukio into your messes. Do you really think you deserve him?"
Taichi's hand tightened around the ball, knuckles white.
"You don't get to say his name."
"Oh, but I will…"
Isuke shot back, his voice low, venomous.
"Because one day, he'll realize you're nothing but the same thug you've always been. And when that day comes, I'll be there to pick up the pieces."
The ball hit the ground with a sharp thud as Taichi dropped it, stepping nose to nose with him.
"Over my dead body."
Isuke only smirked wider.
"Don't tempt me."
---
Yu didn't know the depth of the words exchanged between them, only that Taichi came home every day with his jaw tight, eyes still burning. And Taichi didn't know the cruelty Jezebel whispered into Yu's ears when no one else could hear.
The pressure closed in from both sides:
Jezebel's subtle poison, Isuke's open war.
Yu smiled for his friends, clung to Taichi's hand when he could, but at night his shoulders trembled under the weight.
The battlefield had shifted to college, but the war had only just begun.
---
Days bled painfully into weeks, then into months. What began as whispers and backhanded compliments twisted into something darker, sharper. Jezebel Suzuki never dirtied her own hands—her nails were too polished for that—but her followers, eager to please the golden-haired queen, were more than willing to obey.
Yu's books were "accidentally" knocked from his arms in crowded hallways. Notes he had painstakingly prepared for tutoring sessions disappeared from his desk, only to turn up shredded in the trash. Once, during a rainstorm, he opened his locker to find his umbrella snapped in half, water pooling around his feet.
And worse, sometimes hands shoved him into walls, rough laughter following, or shoulders "accidentally" slammed into his slight frame as he passed. The bruises bloomed on his pale skin like dark secrets, hidden carefully beneath long sleeves and soft smiles.
He told no one—not Taichi, especially not Taichi. Taichi had enough weight on his shoulders with classes and his rivalry with Isuke. Yu could endure. He had to.
But secrets rarely stayed hidden.
Isuke Sasaki stood in the shadow of the campus stairwell one late afternoon, his sharp eyes catching what others ignored. He saw Yu stumble as a pair of girls pushed past him, laughing when his books scattered across the pavement. He saw Yu's trembling hands, the way he bit his lip to hold back tears as he gathered his notes.
For once, Isuke didn't smile. His jaw tightened.
Later that evening, Jezebel Suzuki found herself intercepted outside the lecture hall.
"Enjoying yourself?"
Isuke's voice was cool, his blue eyes colder still.
Jezebel tilted her head, all feigned innocence.
"Whatever do you mean?"
He stepped closer, lowering his tone so only she could hear.
"Don't play dumb. I've seen it. The whispers, the bruises, your little flock doing your dirty work. You think you're untouchable, but you're not."
Her smile didn't falter.
"And you care because…?"
"Because Yu's mine!"
Isuke snapped, sharper than he intended. Jezebel's eyes flickered, intrigued.
"I don't recall Yu-chan ever belonging to you."
She purred.
Isuke ignored the bait.
"If this doesn't stop, I'll take what I've seen straight to the school board. One report, one meeting, and your little reign here is over. They'll expel you without hesitation."
Jezebel's lips curved into a sly smile.
"You wouldn't dare. You want her too badly. And if I leave, you think that makes Arifukua's Bella safer?"
She leaned in, her perfume cloying.
"No. Without me, she'll be swallowed whole by your beast of a rival. Maybe you should thank me instead."
Isuke's fists curled at his sides, every nerve screaming to lash out—but he didn't. He only met her gaze, unblinking.
"This is your only warning…"
He said flatly.
"Touch Yu again, and you'll regret it."
Jezebel's laughter echoed down the hall, sweet and cruel. But beneath it lingered something else:
The first crack in her perfect mask.
Jezebel Suzuki leaned back against the polished wall of the lecture hall building, her arms folded, her smile like a knife hidden in velvet.
"You think I'm cruel…"
She said, her voice light, melodic.
"But I'm only doing what's right. You like her, don't you? I've seen the way you watch her. How you hover, how you always—always—try to catch her attention."
Isuke's eyes narrowed, his jaw flexing.
"I understand…"
Jezebel went on, undeterred, repeating what she had heard Isuke say.
"Yu is fragile. Too fragile. And yet she clings to Arifukua of all people. A brute. A delinquent. She'll only get hurt that way. What I'm doing… is for her own good. To remind her where she belongs."
"By having your lackeys shove her into walls?"
Isuke's voice cut, cold.
"By tearing her notes apart, cornering her until she's too scared to breathe?"
Her smile didn't falter, but her eyes flashed.
"She needs to learn her place. If it's not me, it should be you. At least you're clever enough to see it."
Isuke's silence stretched between them, unreadable.
Isuke had tried—more than once—to bring Yu closer. Sympathy was his sharpest weapon now after his mother didn't make it through her chemotherapy.
---
"It's my mom's birthday soon…"
He had said once, his voice just the right shade of broken.
"She's been gone for a few years now already, but… it still feels heavy. I just don't want to be alone tonight."
It usually worked. Yu's red eyes softened, his lips parted in sympathy, and once—just this once—it had worked too well. Taichi hadn't been at Yu's side that evening, and Yu, hesitant but kind, had brought him back to his apartment.
The moment the door opened, though, Isuke's plan cracked apart.
Taichi was there, sitting on the couch—head buried in a book—hair tied back for full concentration. He looked up, startled at first, then his eyes narrowed when they landed on Isuke.
Yu explained gently, as he set down his books and began to tie the apron on to start dinner.
"Isuke's sad… his mom's birthday is soon. I thought…maybe we can forget the past. We were just kids, things are different now. So…let's please get along now."
Taichi had only grunted, his grip on the book tight.
They ended up eating together, alcohol came with the meal. Yu was too light for it, his cheeks pink after barely a glass. Soon, he slumped against Taichi's shoulder, asleep.
Isuke waited. Watched. And when he thought both of them had passed out, his gaze slid to Yu's delicate hand, resting limply on his thigh.
His own fingers twitched. Slowly, carefully, he reached out. Just a brush of skin—that was all he wanted. Just to hold, to claim, to pretend.
"Fuck off."
Isuke froze. Taichi's voice was low, lethal. His green eyes were awake, sharp, burning holes through the dim lighting. He pulled Yu closer, onto his lap, shielding him with an arm.
"Try that again, and I'll break your hand."
Isuke's mouth went dry, his heart pounding. For once, he didn't smirk. He rose, quietly, the weight of failure pressing down on him as Taichi's glare followed him to the door.
Yu slept on, blissfully unaware, his hand now curled tight in Taichi's shirt.
---
The late afternoon sun cut sharp angles across the building's windows, painting Jezebel Suzuki in molten gold. She stood with her arms crossed, her smile elegant but edged, her eyes never leaving Isuke's face.
"You can't win alone…"
She said simply, her voice smooth as silk.
"Not against them. Together, though… we might actually stand a chance."
Isuke's jaw tightened.
"I don't need your help."
"Oh, don't lie to yourself."
Jezebel tilted her head, blonde hair falling in a glossy wave over her shoulder.
"You've been trying for months. I've seen the way you chase after Yu-chan, dangling your poor-dead-mother story like bait. And yet—"
Her lips curved cruelly—
"Every time, Arifukua is there, pulling her back."
Isuke flinched. The words were poison, but true.
Jezebel stepped closer, lowering her voice, a conspiratorial whisper.
"So here's my proposal. You keep Arifukua busy. Drag him down in class, provoke him, make him forget Yu-chan even exists. I'll handle her. I'll make her see she doesn't belong here, that she's better off leaving school entirely."
For a moment, silence stretched between them. The thought of joining forces with Jezebel disgusted Isuke. She was cruel, manipulative, and reckless. But the image of Yu's soft smile pressed against Taichi's shoulder rose unbidden in his mind. That warmth, that devotion—devotion that had never once been his—twisted deep in his chest, dark and bitter.
"Fine…"
He said at last, voice low, reluctant.
"But don't go too far. If you break her… I'll break you."
Jezebel's laughter rang out in the empty corridor, rich and mocking.
"Oh, sweetie, I only ever go as far as I need to."
The pact was sealed in shadows, an alliance of desperation.
And Yu, blissfully unaware, held Taichi's hand tighter that night as they walked home together.