I was Thrown into an Unfamiliar Manga

The next day.
We learned the true identity of Kumamon thanks to the firefighters who arrived early in the morning.
Apparently, Kumamon was an Asiatic black bear that had escaped from Chiba Zoo two days ago. It had fled its enclosure when the zookeeper briefly stepped away, and had gone missing since then.

Thinking back, it made sense why it had been so agitated when we first met.
It had gone two days without food, so it must’ve been completely on edge—and then Satoru suddenly screamed and startled it, mistaking it for me, so of course it would’ve been pissed.
It’s often said that bears have immense patience, but even a bear has its limits when it’s starving.

Anyway, thanks to Sasha taming it on the spot, Kumamon was returned to the zoo without any human casualties. The students tearfully said their goodbyes.
“Farewell, Kumamon.”
Grrraaaaargh!

“Don’t cry. A man doesn’t cry over something like this.”
They’d only spent a single night together, but Sasha had apparently formed a real bond with it.
It had whimpered and tried to hide from me whenever I approached, so I couldn’t even give it a proper sendoff—but well, I could always go see it at Chiba Zoo someday.

Anyway, the second day of Forest School had dawned.
Yesterday’s test of courage had ended prematurely thanks to the sudden appearance of an Asiatic black bear, but tonight we were scheduled to have a campfire.
Because of that, the guys in our class were all on edge.

No, to be precise—it was probably all the second-year boys at Forest School.
As I mentioned this while eating a spicy budae-jjigae–flavored cup noodle I bought from a Korean market, Satoru clenched his wooden chopsticks in fury.
“You wouldn’t get it, surrounded by girls like you are! The sorrow of those whose time spent single equals their age!”

“I mean, I’m single too.”
“Don’t be ridiculous! You damn deceiver!”
Satoru jabbed a finger at me as he said that, but I honestly felt a little wronged.
How many girls our age would genuinely be into this face and this body?

If there were any, they’d have to have pretty unusual taste.
Rika and Karen were just normal friends, and as for Sasha—I honestly had no idea what she was thinking.
She had confessed out of nowhere on the day I transferred, but hadn’t shown any particular interest since.

So I’d interpreted it as a joke.
A way of celebrating our reunion after the fight with Ivan.
Anyway, just as the two of us were squabbling, Sakamoto returned to the tent with a towel draped over his head and asked,

“You two aren’t gonna shower? The place is empty right now.”
“Oh, I’ll go after I finish eating this.”
I answered [N O V E L I G H T] as I slurped down the broth from the budae-jjigae–flavored cup noodle.

Most Japanese cup noodles are soy sauce or salt-based.
So whenever I craved something spicy, I’d go to a nearby Korean market and buy Korean-made cup noodles.
If nothing else, I really liked my kimchi and cup noodles spicy—I guess I’m Korean to the core.

After finishing the cup noodles in a flash, I tossed the used chopsticks and empty container into a disposable bag and decided to head to the shower with Satoru.

***
The campsite had a simple shower facility that could accommodate about 20 people total.

So students had to take turns using it, and Satoru and I had waited on purpose until it was less crowded.
Carrying a change of underwear and a T-shirt, we entered the shower building, where the setup reminded me of a military shower room—simple and no-frills.
We placed our clothes in the baskets in the changing area and entered the shower stalls with our toiletries.

“…It’s big.”
“Huh? Yeah, it is.”
“No, not that.”

“????”
I was about to ask what he meant, but Satoru had already disappeared into a stall.
I picked an empty one, stepped in, and turned on the water.

Ssshhh!
The pressure was surprisingly strong, sending a cool stream of water down from overhead.
As I stood under the spray, spacing out—

“Wow! It’s totally empty!”
“So damn spacious!”
“Hey! Wait up!”

The Bald Trio stormed into the shower room.
Like a bunch of adolescent boys, they ran in with nothing but towels slung over their shoulders.
It was the kind of behavior that could easily result in someone slipping and getting seriously hurt, but I was long past the age to point that out—and warning them about something that hadn’t happened yet felt pointless, so I let it slide.

Having soaked my hair enough under the water, it was the perfect time to shampoo.
I squeezed out a coin-sized blob of shampoo and lathered it up.
As I scrubbed my foam-covered hair, I suddenly heard something bump into the stall partition behind me.

“Ah! Sorry… huh?”
I couldn’t open my eyes because of the shampoo, so I spoke while facing away.
“Whoever it is, be careful. The floor’s slippery—walk.”

“Yes, sir!”
Their voice sounded especially tense.
But since they seemed to understand their mistake, I didn’t say anything more.

After rinsing the foam from my head with cold water and giving myself a quick soap-down, I emerged to see the Bald Trio quietly showering in the opposite stalls.
Satisfied by their new behavior, I nodded and headed for the changing room to get dressed.
***

“Whew…”
Murasaki Kō, one of the three supporting members commonly referred to by Kim Yu-seong as the “Bald Trio,” let out a relieved sigh as the presence he’d sensed behind him finally disappeared.
He felt like he’d dodged death.

All because he’d been goofing around with the other two and almost ended up crossing the River Styx.

Here’s how it happened.
It had been great walking into the almost-empty shower room after a wave of people had left—but it turned out there was still shampoo foam on the floor.

Murasaki, running in all excited, slipped on it.
Thankfully, he managed to grab the stall wall in front of him and avoid smashing the back of his head—but the problem was, inside that stall was none other than the academy’s strongest man, Kim Yu-seong.
Even after spending three months in the same class, and realizing that Kim Yu-seong was actually a chill guy despite the scary rumors, Murasaki had nearly pissed himself last night during the test of courage when Yu-seong showed up wearing that red oni mask.

The sheer destructive power of his deep voice was more than anything they’d imagined.
Add in his massive build, and his overwhelming presence was on another level.
To be honest, everything was still fine up to that point.

All he had to do was apologize to Yu-seong and it’d be over.
“Ah! Sorry… huh?”
So Murasaki raised his head to say sorry—only to meet eyes with a demon.

‘Guh!’
No—he had been mistaken.
Yu-seong’s absurdly developed back muscles had created the illusion of a fierce demon’s face.

But when that memory of the red demon mask from last night overlapped with the “face” carved into Yu-seong’s back, the fear he thought he’d forgotten surged back to the surface.
Tremble tremble tremble tremble—
His hands and feet began shaking uncontrollably.

And then, in that state, he heard Kim Yu-seong’s low, growling warning:
“Whoever it is, the floor’s slippery—walk.”
“Yes, sir!”

Murasaki shouted in response, clutched his trembling body, and rushed into the opposite stall.
His two friends, watching him, asked if he was okay—but Murasaki didn’t answer. He just turned on the water in a panic.
Even though the steaming hot water poured down over his head, the chill running down his spine refused to fade.

And in that moment, Murasaki understood something crystal clear.
Only strong alpha males like Kim Yu-seong could stand at the top of the academy.
***

After finishing my shower, I came out feeling refreshed—only to realize people were staring at me.
I wondered why, then realized it was because I was wearing just a thin T-shirt for once, and my physique was showing through clearly.
When I instinctively hunched over in embarrassment, Matsuda-sensei—who was also walking around in a T-shirt—took one look at my body, let out a grunt, and bolted back toward the cabin.

He must’ve felt self-conscious by comparison.
Even though he had a perfectly impressive build for a normal adult.
After drying my hair with a towel in the tent, I stepped outside just as the teachers were calling everyone to gather in front of the campsite.

The girls from the neighboring tent had already headed out, so Sakamoto, Satoru, and I strolled lazily toward the stage.
“Alright, today’s schedule is: we’ll go to the Chiba Marine Eco Park, eat lunch at one of the nearby restaurants, then come back in the afternoon for a treasure hunt and a campfire.”
Just as we’d been told in advance.

Still, the day’s agenda sounded way better than yesterday’s, so at least that was something.
If we’d been stuck doing more environmental cleaning today, I’m sure there would’ve been a student uprising.
“Alright, we’re heading out, so everyone get on the bus!”

Following the teacher’s instructions, the second-year students began boarding the tour bus one by one.
Now it finally felt like we were on a proper field trip.