The narrator of this story is not the romantic protagonist. This is probably the most interesting aspect of the book – it’s narrated by an almost nameless girl (we learn her name in the author’s afterword, but never in the story itself) who Observe the boys on either side of her in class. It works quite well as a framing device, especially since she never comes off as too eager Fujicheng Intended to transport two persons readily available. Instead, she was genuinely curious about these two lovable idiots and later invested in them, but they couldn’t quite Seems to understand.
Of course, one of the boys is the eponymous Renjun, and he’s terrifying. Ren Zhengfei borrowed a pencil from the narrator, bit his finger and wrote with blood, and opened the book. He passed the note across the girl’s desk to the neighbor on the other side, a stoic-looking boy named Zhongchen. While her brain immediately jumped to challenge the letters and threats, Loyalist took a different approach, and before she fully understood what was happening, her desk had become a postal transit point for the boys’ letters. Really, can you blame her for being obsessed with their relationship after that?
Told in a series of short chapters and interspersed bonus chapters (explained as extra content not included in the original serialization of the series), the storyline follows the development of Ren and Zhongchen’s relationship and the narrator’s growing understanding of it. Happily, she interacts with both boys. It would feel ridiculous if they didn’t acknowledge her, but the manga has never stopped doing this before, so creator kusege chose to give them a relationship somewhere between friends and acquaintances, which helps set the stage for the plot . At one point in the middle of the book, she talks to each boy individually about how the two of them met and became friends, and unsurprisingly, both Ren and Tadashi offer different answers only It’s enough to explain why their current relationship is so awkward. According to Ren, they started out as a leader (him) and a follower (the loyal minister), but eventually turned into a more equal relationship. From a loyalist’s perspective, he’s still Ren’s confidant and is willing to do a lot to maintain that. Why? He never said it explicitly, but hinting at it seemed like a way for him to feel close to Ren without crossing a line.
The thing is, they know very well already Crossed that line and was actually dating. They are the only two people who do not see this, and our narrator makes no secret of her annoyance at this. It was so obvious that they liked each other and acted like boyfriends that she couldn’t understand their inability to understand this most basic fact. Ultimately, as the book goes on, we see that this comes down to Ren Zhengfei’s embarrassment. He’s not as scary as he (thinks) he looks, and the “scary” parts of his character – piercings, refusing to wear his uniform properly, writing in blood – are just affectations to make himself look more powerful. he want to Loyalists respected him, but also wanted them to be equals, if not more; he just didn’t know how to get there.
Fortunately for him, loyal subjects are less bound by appearances. He doesn’t hide his super strength to make Wren feel bad, but for the most part, loyal subjects do what they want. It’s thanks to him that they go on a date, and Kuseg does a great job showing how both boys approach the same situation from different perspectives. Which of these angles is the best? Absolutely not, but that’s the fun of the story.
My classmate Renjun is a bit scary In short, it’s a bubble. It lacks substance but that’s part of its charm, and while there are elements of it that aren’t surprising when kusege revealed this was their first series, it’s entertaining enough to make up for it as we’ve seen it a thousand times before of staccato plot transitions and jokes. The art is clean, the short chapters make it easy to follow, and the narrative framework manages to not detract from the story’s development but rather highlight its content. This is a cute little book, perfect for a day when you need some escapism.
