Dazai-Kun in the Next Seat

Xiao Mingniao had been afraid of interacting with boys since she was little, so she had always attended girls' schools.

In the year she turned fifteen, a transfer student joined her class.

Her name was "Dazai Haruko." She was a mysterious girl with long, black curls and a bandage wrapped around her right eye.

Although she looked cold and unapproachable, she had an angelically sweet and adorable face.

One glance was enough to make anyone like her.

As someone who was a sucker for pretty faces, Xiao Mingniao decided the moment she saw Haruko to become friends with her.

And so...

"Haruko."

"Haruko!"

Dazai, dressed as a girl, was thus latched onto by Xiao Mingniao.

-

At first, Haruko was very cold toward Xiao Mingniao.

She ignored Xiao Mingniao when she tried to talk to her, and always turned down her invitations to eat lunch together.

But the more the aloof, catlike girl sitting beside her rebuffed her, the more determined Xiao Mingniao became.

If you keep at it, you can win over a cat, right...?

With that thought in mind, Xiao Mingniao never looked back on her journey of petting... her desk mate.

After all her hard work, Haruko finally stopped rejecting her.

"She" not only let her get handsy every now and then, but even sometimes came closer of her own accord.

But amid all their cuddling and hugging, Xiao Mingniao realized she seemed to have developed some indescribable feelings for Haruko.

So much so that for a while, she thought there might be something wrong with her sexual orientation.

Just as Xiao Mingniao was about to confess, Haruko transferred schools.

They stayed in touch on their phones, but never saw each other again.

Xiao Mingniao had no choice but to bury her unrequited first love and interact with Haruko as a normal friend.

Meanwhile, to overcome her fear of boys, Xiao Mingniao gathered her courage and applied to a co-ed high school.

But she never imagined that three years later...

"Dazai. Dazai Osamu."

The boy standing by the podium looked at her, his eyes lifting just like three years ago, then walked over and sat beside her.

But the first thing he said to her was:

"Ming, you've gotten so much colder toward me."

Xiao Mingniao's fear of boys flared up on the spot. You-you stay away from me, ahhhhh!

Tips:

1. Contains extensive original worldbuilding and alterations. Young Dazai dresses as a girl. When they meet again, he's Dark Era Dazai, but he's too busy to go to school, so he only squeezes out time to pursue his love interest.

2. The heroine is lively and outgoing around girls, and boldly declares her love (?). Around boys, however, she's a timid little quail, the kind who gets so scared she wants to run away.

3. Gugu is a delicate glass bird who only wants to hear people praise Dazai. Comments that aren't nice to Dazai will get eaten, but praise for him is more than welcome!

4. Weibo: @Douqi, Have I Written Properly Today?

5. I'll add more if I think of anything.

6. The title and blurb are tentative and may change, but the premise will stay the same. [April 19, 2025]

Theme: Work hard to overcome difficulties and bravely move forward.