Lin Yu was pulled out of his thoughts by a voice.
He looked up to see Shizuka, standing beside his desk, holding two small bread rolls in her hands. Her eyes were curiously fixed on the open notebook in front of him.
"Is something up, Shizuka?"
Even though his train of thought had been interrupted, Lin Yu didn't mind. They were just kids—no reason to get worked up over something so small.
"Were you drawing just now?"
Lin Yu glanced down at his notebook. Sure enough, there was a rough pencil sketch of a little mascot creature.
It was Kero-chan, the iconic guardian beast from Cardcaptor Sakura.
"Huh... didn't even realize I drew that," Lin Yu chuckled, setting the pencil aside. He'd meant to plan out his next steps, but now didn't seem like the right moment.
"Can I see it?" she asked eagerly.
Girls and cute things—it was a universal weakness. Even though his drawing was just a quick sketch, it was still decent, especially for someone with just beginner-level manga skills. In elementary school? It looked like straight-up magic.
And when it came to simple character designs, you only needed a few lines and a good eye for detail to bring them to life.
"Sure, here you go."
He smiled and handed over the notebook.
Shizuka stepped forward to take it—only to pause awkwardly, realizing her hands were full with bread. She quickly set them down on his desk, then pulled a small bottle of milk from her desk drawer.
"I saw you left during lunch earlier," she said gently. "So I saved you some bread and milk. You shouldn't skip meals—it's not good for your health."
Lin Yu blinked.
He looked at the two buns and the milk on his desk—and for a brief moment, his heart softened.
In this world—well, in Japan specifically—elementary schools provided lunch for students. Each class had assigned students bring the food from the cafeteria, and everyone ate together.
Everything—from rice to milk to little desserts—was portioned out carefully. Leftovers were rare, and anything unused was usually collected for recycling.
Especially the milk, which wasn't in paper cartons, but old-school glass bottles. Those had to be returned. Break one, and you'd get a serious scolding.
Which meant... Shizuka had gone out of her way to save these for him.
And she couldn't have done it alone.
Clearly, their homeroom teacher, Mr. Terakoya, had given her the green light. Otherwise, she'd only have been able to give him her own bread.
Guess being the "foreign exchange student" had its perks.
Ever since he'd joined the class two months ago, both the teacher and his classmates had treated him kindly. No bullying, no drama. Even Takeshi, better known as Gian, the usual playground bully, had never tried to mess with him.
Though Lin Yu had mostly kept to himself—still adjusting to life in another world—his classmates never gave him a hard time.
"Thanks, Shizuka. Really," he said sincerely.
Shizuka smiled sweetly and shook her head. "It's nothing. Honestly, we should be thanking the teacher—he's the one who allowed it."
She glanced sideways, her voice teasing just a little. "A lot of the other kids are pretty jealous of you, you know."
Lin Yu followed her gaze—and saw gian sitting at the back of the class, eyeing the bread and milk on his desk like a hungry lion who didn't get his full meal.
When he noticed Lin Yu looking, gian rubbed his head sheepishly and gave him a goofy grin. He looked nothing like the loudmouth who usually bossed Nobita around.
For all his bluster, gian had a surprisingly decent heart. In the Doraemon movies, he was always the first to throw himself into danger to protect his friends. Loyalty ran deep with that one.
Lin Yu chuckled and grabbed one of the buns, tossing it toward gian.
"Here, have mine. Shizuka's bun is more than enough."
gian caught it mid-air, stunned for a moment before grinning from ear to ear. He tore open the wrapper and gave Lin Yu a big thumbs-up before stuffing his face like a starving bear.
Meanwhile, Shizuka, who had just been admiring the sketch of Kero-chan, froze.
Wait... what did he just say?
"I'll eat Shizuka's."
Her cheeks turned pink. What kind of phrasing was that?
"They're... both the same, you know..." she mumbled.
"It's just one per person, right?" Lin Yu said casually, tearing open his bread. Then he turned to her and added with a wink, "Besides, you've been looking out for me a lot lately. I'd feel bad if I let anyone else have this one."
That line hit her like a gentle sucker-punch. She blinked rapidly, her face growing redder by the second.
Even though they were both technically kids, Lin Yu's soul had lived through two lives. And this kind of innocent flirting? Child's play.
Shizuka, flustered beyond belief, quickly returned his notebook and turned away in a panic.
"C-Class is about to start! I-I need to go review...!"
Lin Yu watched her retreat, amused, lips curling into a faint smile.
Sure, he was in a kid's body—but teasing a blushing classmate once in a while?
Kind of fun, actually.
What he didn't notice, though, was the pair of eyes watching him a few seats away.
Nobita sat silently, lips pursed.
"Tch... just because you're the new kid... doesn't mean you get to be that close to Shizuka."
He didn't fully understand what jealousy was, or why he felt that weird twist in his chest. But watching Shizuka blush like that?
Yeah, it made him real uncomfortable.
And maybe—just maybe—the first seeds of a love triangle were already being planted.