Absolute Choice Ayanokoji

2. The First Day

Horikita: ...

Horikita: Very well, I accept your apology, Ayanokoji-kun. However, desist from such behaviour in the future. I should not have to warn you again.

The "feigning ignorance" clause of the previous absolute choice is rather vague. Apologizing is certainly a breach of "feigning igorance", but not when I never explicitly state what I am apologizing for. For example, I could be apologizing for looking at Horikita, or breathing the same air as the ice princess. It is all completely up to interpretation. I may be grasping at straws, but my position can still be defended here.

Of course, it goes without saying that I do not feel sorry for my actions.

Ayanokoji: Thank you.

Horikita gave me a brief nod and returned to her "Crime and Punishment". It was indeed Dostoevsky's book, not a teenage bondage novel. I suppose surprises do occur.

With all the clean-up work due to the damage caused by Absolute Choice complete, my attention turned to the root of the problem, and how I could eradicate it.

Currently, what I knew was that Absolute Choice is dictated by a person, or at least some kind of sentient being. This is because the statements made by the voice hold some indicators of tone, such as being happy or amused. There is some variation in the voice, again reinforcing the belief that the being offering, or at least reading the choices is sentient.

Secondly, the decisions offered by Absolute Choice, at least to my knowledge, cannot be refused. It is mandatory to choose one of the options. I attempted refusal at first, but the result was a splitting headache followed by sporadic paralysis. In general, the consequences become more dire as the options are fought.

Finally, Absolute Choice is not permanent. It appears that very soon, within the next couple months at most, I will begin to receive "challenges". Apparently, when all of these challenges are complete, my freedom will return. Of course, the person giving me this information is a redhead midget woman who appears somewhat crazy, but she claims to have suffered from the same condition, making her my only anchor in this realm of madness.

2.3

As I looked around the room, I found three groups of people.

The first two groups were immersed in their own tasks, either browsing through class materials or examining the smartphone provided by this amazingly indulgent school.

The third group cautiously looked around their position, as if scanning for an opening, a weak link in the armor of the people around them. It could be a book, a reaction they made, anything that indicated some kind of shared experience. Then, leveraging this gap in the person's otherwise impenetrable defense, they launched an attack of pinpoint accuracy to further weaken their armor. In other words, they talked.

It appears that friend groups had already started forming based of such shared experiences and the communal weakening of armor. The athletic boys, make-up passionate girls, studious students, and gamers began to slowly draw closer. Of course, one may argue that such groups may also be created by the pre-determined seating chart, but the effects of it are minor. For most students, there are 8 people around them which they can easily talk to if they so desire. This means that they are not necessarily forced to talk to someone they have nothing in common with.

In my case, however, seated in the corner, I only have 3 options. In front of me lies a bespectacled, rotund boy hunched over his seat. I suppose he is big-boned. He seems like a pleasant person to talk to, however, and I would probably not regret reaching out to him.