"You are totally wrong, Nana! I don't want to see all these other characters. I just want to see more of Miko-san and Notada-kun!"
"That would be a boring as hell manga, Mina. Can't you see all these others make the story richer? It feels like a proper classroom with so many characters and their distinct personalities now. It's called world building"
"No! The story is getting ruined. It's just becoming so retarded and nowadays I just skim through every update until I see Miko-san and Notada-kun"
"You just don't get it"
"YOU don't get it! Hmpf!"
Mina and I were having a heated discussion about the new direction that one of the good mangas we both liked has been taking in the past year.
It was originally a story about a girl named Miko-san, who couldn't stop talking. Then there was this Notada-kun, a shy and introverted boy. Miko-san's outgoing personality helped him slowly come out of his shell and get to know more people. Naturally, the manga's plot started to expand and introduce more and more characters as Notada-kun's social circle widened together with Miko-san. Now there was even a love rival who appeared in the story and started to take up chunks of the plot, sometimes relegating Miko-san to only a cameo appearance in some chapters. And Mina hated it.
"Look, Nana. When people read a romantic comedy, it's because they like the main ship. Nobody wants so many side characters", Mina started the debate again.
"Hey, how are you girls doing?"
Mijina, a boy who sat a few desks in front of me came by to say hello just as I was about to argue back to Mina.
"Hey, Mijina. We are good. How are you?"
"Oh boy, you won't believe what happened yester-"
"Shoo, shoo-. We are in the middle of a very important talk here, Mijina"
Mijina just shrugged and left.
"So I was saying, the author has lost the plot. I'm THIS close to dropping the manga unless I see some progress in Miko-san and Notada-kun in the next few chapters"
"It would be so unrealistic and hollow though. OK, it is a rom-com and yeah yeah, we all ship Miko and Notada, but you forget that this is also a school-life manga. You can't make a good school life story with just two characters and a handful of two-dimensional side characters"
"Oh yes, you can, if it's a romance story. The driving force should always be about the relationship between the main couple"
"BORING"
"BORING?!"
"Imagine our class with just you and I - nobody else. Sure, we'd have a great time between us, but it would hardly feel like a school life, would it?"
"You just called being alone with me boring"
"No, that's not what I meant-"
Then Ono, a boy with spikey hair, shouted from the front of the classroom holding a football in his hands.
"Hey, does anybody want to go play some football?"
I checked the time and we still had about thirty minutes left in our lunch time.
"Right, Mina. I think I might go and-"
"Oh——no. You are going nowhere, Nana. We are discussing something serious here"
:Sigh:
"OK, let me put it this way. The manga - 'It's to My Credit that I'm so Popular', has become a bit of a yuri-harem now, hasn't it? Don't you think the story's still great?"
"It's different"
"Why? And how?"
"Because it's YURI harem"
"What the hell? So for Miko-san and Notada-kun, you just want them. But Kiroku from It's To My Credit can have a yuri harem?"
"Yes"
"That doesn't make any sense"
"For yuri, it's more the merrier"
"Did you just say it's fine for a girl to have lots of other love interests?!"
"Ah, Nana and Mina are having a lovers' fight again" - Hyori, a girl who always teased us for being lovey-dovey, walked by.
"Go away", Mina and I said at the same time.
"Anyhow. You are derailing the argument. Miko-san mangaka has lost the plot. Especially with the introduction of the love rival. What the heck is that?! Nobody wants to see NTR in a rom-com!"
"You better NOT talk about NTR in front of ME, Mina"
That made Mina go super quiet.
Yeah, you better be quiet and never say the word NTR in front of me again.
"Hey, can I borrow and copy your homework?" - Kira, a girl a bit too friendly to Mina for my comfort, came by to ask her for the homework.
"Again?", Mina asked but she was more teasing than annoyed.
"Tehe, I just forgot"
"You are such a klutz, hehe", Mina answered back cheekily, went back to her seat to get the homework out of her back, and handed it over to Kira, who in turn said thank you and ruffled Mina's hair before going back to her seat.
"Whoa, whoa. Was that a side ship preparing to sail that I saw there?", I asked sarcastically.
"Wha-. You are totally stirring… stuff"
"So you want a yuri-harem after all?"
"No, no, no. That's not it!"
"So it's okay for Notada-kun to have a love rival then?"
"How could you bring this to a debate about a manga?!"
"You are the one who brought NTR into the discussion. That hit too close to home, Mina"
I was still a bit pissed. To be honest.
"I… I'm sorry"
"What are you guys talking about?" - Our mutual friend Nomi, who sometimes joined us for lunch, sat by my desk and asked us.
"Mina here was complaining that there were too many side characters in Miko-San Can Communicate, but apparently she loves a yuri-harem"
"I didn't say that!", Mina protested.
"You totally did"
"Girls, there is a good middle ground. How about Weekly Boys' Kizano-Kun?"
:Ding!:
Then both Mina and I had an eureka moment.
Nomi was correct. Weekly Boys' Kizano-Kun was a manga that ran for ten years. It had characters you could count in two hands and a few ships that had been on the verge of sailing for years, yet all the characters were vibrant and likable. No ship in Kizano-Kun was boring or felt like a distraction.
"You actually have a point there, Nomi", I applauded her.
"I guess… we were arguing over silly things", Mina admitted.
"So we are sorted then. See you guys later", Nomi got up to leave with a friendly yet triumphant smile.
"But Nana…"
"Yeah?"
"I still like it when it's just two of us…"
No matter what heated discussions we have, I always felt my heart melt and a smile rise on my face whenever I saw Mina pouting and saying these kinds of things.
"So no yuri-harem?"
"No yuri-harem"
"You promise?"
"Yeah"
"Right, just the two of us, Mina. And now that I think about it I wouldn't care if you were the only one in this class with me. It would still be a good school life story. OUR school life story"
"Tehe"
Just as I placed my hand on top of Mina's hand resting on the desk, Hyori walked by us again and spoke intentionally loud enough for us to hear.
"Awwww. The lovers have made up now"
"SHUT UP!"
Mina and I shouted together.