The second day of school came. I entered the room and found my classmates acting like how they did on the first day. When Hirata saw my humble figure, he immediately greeted me.
"Good morning, Ayanokouji-kun." Hirata waved his hand.
"Good morning!" Some of the girls who were talking to Hirata greeted me too.
"Good morning," I replied.
I noticed that almost everyone looked at me when I arrived. From their perspective, I'm probably on Hirata's level in the social hierarchy so they can't openly talk to me without feeling pretentious. I need to do something about that.
"Ayanokouji-kun, you're here! Good morning!" Kushida ran up to me excitedly.
I sure am a lucky man, having such an angelic girl as a friend.
--?!
I sensed killing intent... Well, I did, but it's just from my male classmates, who clearly want to score on Kushida.
"Good morning, Kushida. What's up?" I said.
"Oh, nothing... Well, uh- I was wondering if you'll talk to the whole class later. As you can probably guess, I think most of us are still not a hundred percent clear with the situation..." Amazing. Kushida's goal was probably just to greet me. However, she immediately thought of something so as to not make the atmosphere awkward.
"I will. Don't worry. But for that, I'll need your help along with Hirata. I can't possibly keep the whole class intact without you two." I reassured her.
"Leave it to us!" Kushida nodded with a smile.
She waved her hand while scooting back to her friends.
"Good morning, Horikita." I greeted my seatmate without looking at her.
"Good morning." Horikita did the same as she kept her eyes on the book she was reading.
As much as I wanted to stay seated while looking outside the window, I should probably work on getting to know my other male classmates. I stood up, much to Horikita's indifference. I walked towards Sudou's seat when I noticed that the owner has arrived.
"Sup', Sudou." I tried to act casually.
From the way Sudou acted yesterday, I think it would be a bad idea to be as formal and amicable as Hirata.
"Oh, Ayanokouji, what's up?" Sudou looked with a slightly surprised expression.
"Yesterday was something, wasn't it?"
Having only talked to him once, I can't possibly think of anything else other than the events yesterday. However, that's fine. After all, me talking to Sudou is just one part of my plan.
"Oh, yeah... Those upperclassmen were a bunch of assholes, weren't they?" Sudou clicked his tongue upon recalling those memories.
"Based on what they said, I guess we can really believe what Chabashira-sensei told us yesterday."
"Yeah... Class D... and class points, huh?" Sudou felt quite unsettled.
"Hey, Sudou!" Three guys approached us.
"Oh, Ike, what's up?" greeted Sudou.
Finally.
With Sudou as the middleman, these three will try to get to know me. That's probably what they're thinking. That's fine. After all, my plan was exactly just that.
"Ayanokouji? You're buddies with Sudou?" Ike asked.
"Yeah, why?" I admitted.
"Yeah, right. I'm friends with Ayanokouji. You got a problem with that?" Sudou added with a proud tone.
"Huh? Why would I?" says Ike. He then extends his hand to me. "I'm Ike, Ike Kanji. Nice to meet ya', Ayanokouji."
"Nice to meet you, Ike," I replied, shaking his hand.
"I'm Yamauchi Haruki. You can always come to me for love advice!" Yamauchi proudly slapped his torso.
"I'm Hondou Ryoutarou. Nice to meet you," said Hondou.
"Nice to meet you, guys. So you're also friends with Sudou?" I nodded.
So far so good...
"Pretty much. Almost everyone was avoiding him due to his scary face, but I, for one, am kind-hearted enough to realize that he's not a bad guy." Ike's flamboyant expression ticked Sudou off.
"Hey!" Sudou yelled.
"Well, Sudou's has a really short fuse. He would almost always get into situations where he'd pick a fight when we were wandering around Keyaki Mall yesterday," said Hondou.
"Good thing I'm strong enough to stop him!" Yamauchi flexed his biceps before slapping them.
"Keyaki Mall, huh...? It's unfortunate that I never got the chance to go there yesterday. It was quite the depressing first day of school for me." I muttered with a sigh.
Saying this should show them that I'm just a normal guy with normal social needs. Their preconceived notion of me as an unapproachable social elite should disappear instantly. Once that happens, they should start acting buddy-buddy with me.
"Well, well, Sudou aside..." grinned Yamauchi.
"Yeah, yeah... Say, Ayanokouji. What's up with you Kushida-chan?" Ike whispered, wrapping his arms around my shoulder.
That was fast.
"What's up with us?" I asked, feigning ignorance.
"Are you two dating?" Hondou questioned me straight.
"Oh, even I'm curious about that," added Sudou.
Somehow, I knew it would come to this. I can capitalize on their interest to get closer.
"Ah, no. We're just friends." Since I'm not that used to socializing with others, I can't possibly know what's the best response here. That's why I opted for a safe option; telling the truth.
"Really? You're not lying, aren't you?" Ike put on a skeptical expression.
"Traitors will not be tolerated, Ayanokouji!" Yamauchi closed his fist in retaliation.
The way they're acting is really familiar...
Oh, I remember now. When I was researching high school norms in media like manga, I've encountered students acting like these three. They were background characters most of the time though.
"I'm simply telling you the truth. Besides, it's just the second day of school. There's no need to rush these things," I said.
"W-Wha-?! So you're saying that you have plans?" Yamauchi and Ike were shocked by my words.
"So you do have a crush on Kushida-chan." Hondou nudged me with his elbow.
Seems like my statement has been severely misunderstood.
"Kushida is attractive. She'll surely be one of the most popular if not the most popular girl in our year, so I can understand where you guys are coming from. But as unbelievable as it sounds, I don't see her that way," I explained.
"Isn't that just an elaborate excuse? There's no way we can just simply believe that." Now Yamauchi was the one who nudged me with his elbow.
"Don't hound Ayanokouji now. You see, I'm kind of the same. I won't actively go after her, like you two idiots, but if she's the one who gets close to me, then I'd happily oblige. Am I right, Ayanokouji?" Hondou explained haughtily.
I nodded.
Of course, I wanted a girlfriend like any high school guy.
"The hell'd you say, Hondou?! There's no way Kushida-chan would try to get close to you!" barked Ike.
"And you're just as much of an idiot as us!" followed Yamauchi.
"Don't lump me with you guys! If I hadn't done anything, you two would have bought that PS Vita and your precious points would've been down the drain!" countered Hondou.
"Shut up! You were also drooling in excitement when we went window shopping yesterday!" Ike bit back.
The three of them started arguing in a comedic fashion. It was quite the sight in an early morning.
"They sure are lively," I commented.
"The hell? They're just a noisy bunch that needs to shut up. And that's such an old man's line, Ayanokouji," replied Sudou.
"Is it?" I asked, not expecting an answer.
Not long after, the first bell rang. All of us quickly went back to our seats, right before Chabashira-sensei waltzes inside the classroom.