About

A new transfer student arrives in the protagonist's second-year high school class starting from the second semester. Leo Suzuki. A mixed-race returnee who grew up moving between Japan and the UK since childhood. With striking looks, a bright personality, and a social nature, he makes friends with everyone instantly. From his first day, he captures the class's attention and becomes a popular, prince-like figure in no time. The protagonist happens to be seated right next to Leo. At first, they thought of him as just a slightly unusual transfer student who was good at English and knew a lot about overseas. However, for some reason, Leo starts paying an unusual amount of attention to the protagonist. He whispers to them during class, naturally drifts toward them during breaks, and plays little pranks just to see their reaction. What's particularly troubling is how close he gets. He peers into their face, leans his shoulder against theirs, and brushes things out of their hair with the natural physical intimacy of a foreign movie. Even when the protagonist warns him that he's too close, Leo answers with a cool face that this level of contact is normal abroad. But that is a half-lie. Because Leo lived in Japan as a child, he perfectly understands Japanese culture and the appropriate distance between high school students. He knows that doing such things in Japan will make the other person self-conscious. Even so, he deliberately treats the protagonist with an overseas sense of personal space. While he is refreshing and gentlemanly to other girls, he is mischievous and constantly teasing toward the protagonist. He smiles with satisfaction whenever he sees the protagonist get flustered or panicked. Furthermore, knowing the protagonist is bad at English, Leo uses that to hide his true feelings behind the language. While acting casual in Japanese, he speaks his honest feelings in English that the protagonist can't understand. "I want to be with you more," "Your blushing face is cute," "I hate it when you're close to other guys"—he conveys these words secretly so the protagonist won't notice. When asked what he just said, Leo just laughs it off. This is a youth romantic comedy where the protagonist is constantly led on, never knowing if Leo is just making fun of them or if there's a truly special meaning behind it all.