Naomi was the most popular girl in school, and she also took music lessons. Enoki was a simple exchange student who used class time to draw. Despite being different, for some reason, fate always paired them up for group projects. This made many suspect that one of them manipulated the results to be close to the other.

As soon as the bell for break rang, all the students got up from their seats, except one who was distracted drawing at his desk. The teacher stared at the boy, but despite wanting to scold him, he decided to leave it for later because his stomach was calling for food. He grabbed his briefcase and headed towards the door.

A minute later, the door opened. It seemed someone remembered the boy drawing at the third desk in the last row, by the window reflecting a pleasant light for a right-handed artist. She walked through the classroom, weaving between the chairs until she finally reached him; to get his attention, she placed a lunchbox on top of his paper.

The young man frowned at the girl, but she returned his stern look with a gentle smile. She revealed she had two lunchboxes and nodded for him to follow her.

They went outside the school. Across the street was a park, with green grass and some trees; a place families with children liked to frequent, so it also had a jungle gym, a slide, and a sandbox; they walked to a bench under the shade of a tree and sat down together.

Enoki asked why she had invited him to lunch. She got a little nervous with the question, didn't even try to justify herself, just turned her face to the other side and began to open her lunchbox to start eating. He deduced that perhaps she had invited him to lunch in that park so they could start working as soon as they finished eating.

Suddenly, electronic music played, interrupting the peace of lunch. Naomi received a call from her father, already knowing what it was about, as he always asked the same thing. She replied that she wasn't interested in meeting another suitor and that he should forget about the idea of ​​making her marry, finally hanging up on him.

"Your father again?"

"Yeah… he never gets tired of bothering me," she replied, puffing her mouth. "Maybe he'd leave me alone if I accepted one of his suitors, but you know… an Idol can't get married."

"Why not?"

"'Idol,' the name says it all, it's an idol. Otakus especially like girls they can't have and no one else will."

"I really don't understand the logic of that."

"I also don't understand the logic of you coming from the other side of the world to try to be a mangaka here," she replied mockingly.

"Those are two completely different situations."

Suddenly, Naomi received another call, and this time her father's voice was loud and clear.

"Listen here Naomi, if you don't show up here again tomorrow night, I'll cut your allowance!"

"Wait, what?! You can't do that! How am I supposed to pay for my music lessons?" Her eyes widened in surprise.

"Not my problem!" He immediately hung up on her.

The girl started pulling at her own hair, while Enoki looked at her with no hint of concern, as if it wasn't his business. Suddenly, she stopped, turned towards him, and stared at him in a very awkward way.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" The boy's face turned red.

"Wouldn't you want to help out your friend in a tough spot? If you marry me... I can do anything for you... what do you say?"

"Where did you get this crazy idea?! And since when are we friends? We're only hanging out right now because, strangely, we always end up being forced to work together on school projects," the boy replied as he grabbed a piece of chicken to put in his mouth.

"Don't be ridiculous, I know you have a crush on me. I also know that you bribe the teacher to always pair us up for projects."

The boy immediately started choking upon hearing that. "Where did you get that from?!"

"It's pretty obvious."

The boy, impatient, put the lid on his lunchbox, handed it back to her, and without saying anything else, walked away from there.

Still irritated, the boy walked down the hallway towards his classroom, but before he could grab the doorknob, the door opened from the inside; he came face to face with his teacher, who was looking at him with a very serious expression, making him feel like he was in trouble.

The teacher informed him that his performance had dropped and that if he didn't start getting better grades on the next tests, he would be at serious risk of losing his scholarship. Now it was Enoki who was almost pulling his own hair out.

Suddenly, someone touched his shoulder; he already knew who it was; that girl had surely overheard the entire conversation.

"Looks like you're in trouble too, buddy."

Enoki just hung his head, as he was now at Naomi's mercy.

♂—☻—♥—♪—♀—

On the night of the next day, Enoki, wearing a suit and tie, waited outside the building where he lived. Shortly after, a white car pulled up near the curb; a muscular man in sunglasses stepped out and opened the door to the back seat.

The boy approached with some hesitation. He saw Naomi in the back seat, who greeted him with a sweet smile. She was wearing a burgundy dress and a denim jacket; it was also possible to smell her perfume lingering inside the car.

As Enoki sat down, he felt that the cushion of the seat was quite comfortable, and the leather seemed really nice too. There were even screens to watch TV on the back of the front seats. But as he got distracted, he ended up tilting his head too much, accidentally leaning on Naomi's shoulder, which left them both embarrassed. To disguise the embarrassment, he looked to the side and fastened his seatbelt.

The car drove through the city center. Enoki saw illuminated establishments, restaurants, karaoke bars, and even a comic shop that he didn't even imagine existed in that place. As the journey progressed, the boy became more and more nervous, and the peak of it all came when he spotted a large house with a metal gate, which on the outside had a beautiful rose garden and a pool reflecting the glow of the house's lighting.

"How did I get myself into this situation, my God?!" he lamented as he tried to hide his face between his knees.

"If you paid more attention in class instead of just drawing, you wouldn't be in this situation," she retorted.

"But I had no choice! The scholarship pays for school tuition, but I need to work to pay rent, utilities, and food. Because of this, I don't have time to draw my manga."

"Relax, I'll fulfill my part of the deal. You'll live with me, so you won't have any more problems supporting yourself and you'll be able to focus on your manga."

"I just don't feel comfortable having registered for marriage so quickly."

"Relax, we're not a real couple, we'll sleep in separate rooms. The certificate is just a formality for my dad to stop nagging."

The car passed through the gate; the couple was warmly welcomed into the house by the staff. Naomi's family home seemed even larger inside; there were several rooms, and the hallway seemed endless; there were various photographs on the walls. When they arrived in the living room, they found a gray-haired man in a suit and tie; he was sitting in his armchair reading a book and smoking a cigar.

When Mr. Suzuki noticed their presence, he greeted his daughter, and she introduced Enoki to him. Finally, her father told them to make themselves at home and that they could sit on the nearby sofa.

Naomi asked where her supposed suitor was; her father replied that he had an unfortunate bout of stomachache and couldn't come. She then very confidently revealed that the boy next to her was her husband, even showing her father the marriage certificate. He took it and examined it, but just took another drag from his cigar, showing no surprise.

"Welcome to the Suzuki family, son. Take good care of my daughter."

"I feel honored, Mr. Suzuki. I'll do my best," replied the boy, somewhat incredulous about what was happening.

Some time later, the young couple said goodbye and left. After that, Naomi's father smiled satisfactorily because his plan had worked. As he imagined, by pressuring her so much, she ended up doing exactly what he wanted; now he had guarantees of the continuation of the Suzuki family lineage. Suddenly, Naomi returned and interrupted his thoughts; she wanted an advance because there had been an emergency.

The next day, the girl went to school early. She met the teacher in the classroom and gave him the money she owed. Before leaving, he warned her that there would be more group work next week, and at the end, he winked one eye.

The boy saw the teacher leaving the room. When he reached for the doorknob, the door opened from the inside, and he came face to face with Naomi.

"What were you and the teacher doing in the classroom, at this time in the morning?" he asked suspiciously.

"He was just talking to me. He asked me to help you with your studies so that you do well on the next exams and keep your scholarship."