...the ateuma comes in. The ateuma is a third guy who kind of 'tests' the heroine's true feelings in the narrative, mainly by falling for her and becoming a potential person to end with.
...referred to as the Hero. In this case, since we know he's NOT the ateuma, we also know that he's the heroine's 'honmei' (本命) guy, or endgame. But for most of the story we're not sure. Does the heroine truly like him? That's where...
First, we have the heroine, or the protagonist. I don't need to go into too much detail about her, but in this context she has a guy who the narrative is teasing that she's interested in. That guy is...
I'm plotting my next comic and it got me to thinking about a term used a lot in shoujo manga (or otome( that I don't think people are aware of! That is, the 'ateuma' (当て馬).
To explain the atuema, you need a heroine and a hero, so I figured I'd draw them all and go into it.