The White Room Dropout

Chapter 4.5 Interesting Observations

From the mixed reaction she had at first, I'm not sure if she expected to find someone she knew or not. Either way, it didn't matter to me. This would prove an ideal situation to observe Shinomiya. This could provide another clue to why she was so different. This other girl, Chika Fujiwara, could also prove useful. Although it may be better to just passively observe for now.

As I considered this new development, I hadn't even noticed their conversation had switched to English. I am fluent in most spoken languages, so I didn't even notice the change at first because I wasn't paying attention.

Shinomiya then turned to me as if on cue and asked.

"Are you going to introduce yourself? You speak English too, right?"

I do speak English but having you broadcasting that wouldn't be my first choice. Checkmated by social convention I had no option but to join this conversation in English as well.

With a sigh, I said, "I'm Ayanokouji, nice to meet you."

Our conversation continued and the topic turned to travel. Before leaving my father's estate to come here I had only ever left the White Room once, so my travel experience was very limited.

So naturally I tried to take a backseat in the conversation, but my lack of social experience would appear to be the death of me when Fujiwara hit me with a crushing question.

"Ayanokouji, do you also enjoy traveling? I know I love getting to go to new places."

I've been checkmated by social convention twice in this conversation, this was a nightmare. If this continues, I may end up regretting my information gathering mission. I need to say something convincing that will satisfy Fujiwara while not inviting much follow-up.

Shinomiya seemed to be paying extra attention to me, although her reason was obvious. She likely knew what my honest answer to this question would be, but that wasn't my concern right now. I decided to give what I think a standard answer would be.

"I guess I find traveling interesting, but I haven't visited as many places as it sounds like you guys have. I've read about lots of interesting places, though."

The look on Fujiwara's face told me I had made the wrong choice, she seemed shocked by my lack of travel experience.

"I can't believe you haven't traveled around the world, Ayanokouji," she said.

"I've been all over. I've been to Spain, Germany, France, Australia, Greece, and even America."

Wow, doesn't that seem rude, talking about having visited all sorts of places when I just said I haven't traveled much. Maybe she has even less social etiquette than I do.

"Well, I have been to New York before." I decided to add before she could grill me more about my lack of travel experience.

While that wasn't a lie, I hadn't gotten to do any sightseeing, that trip was all business.

The conversation went on a while longer before we finally headed to class A.

As we walked in the first thought that crossed my mind was that this was the third time that the student who I expected to become the class leader was around to meet. This is perfect because going to all the other classes and introducing myself is exhausting.

The girl with a cane introduced herself as Arisu Sakayanagi. I wonder if she is related to the school chairman. That will be something to investigate later. Although I managed to gain some interesting background information on the other classes I haven't learned anything particularly useful yet. However, that would all change after I introduced myself to class A.