Love Me! (Like You) Hate Me!
[SLOW BURN/SLICE OF LIFE!]
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Lily Aikawa never planned on standing out.
Transferring to Shinsei High was supposed to be a fresh start, but with her foreign looks and inability to keep her mouth shut, she sticks out like a sore thumb. Between nosy classmates, unfair rumors, and a school hierarchy that doesn’t take kindly to outsiders, it doesn’t take long before she finds herself caught in the crossfire of people she’d rather avoid.
Like Hayato Mori—Shinsei’s golden boy with an ego bigger than the city of Seon. A pest. An arrogant, smirking nuisance determined to get under her skin just because she refuses to acknowledge him. And Arata Takashiro—the school’s biggest enigma. A boy wrapped in sharp edges, too quiet, too distant, with a gaze that lingers when no one else is looking.
But Lily isn’t the only one struggling to find her place.
Arata has bigger problems than school. Between keeping his family afloat and balancing more jobs than any teenager should, he doesn’t have time for high school drama. The last thing he needs is some foreign girl drawing attention to herself—and by extension, to him.
Except, somehow, their paths keep crossing.
Whether it’s through shared secrets, cruel misunderstandings, or the unexpected guidance of Kenjiro Aikawa—the eccentric photographer who sees through them both—Lily and Arata find themselves tangled in a world that neither of them are quite ready for.
But friendships aren’t easy when survival comes first.
And at Shinsei High, it only takes one mistake to become a target.
