A.N.= Here you go.
The opening ceremony was even more boring than I expected. Eiichiro, when I had asked him out of curiosity, had said that the opening ceremony was probably one of the most boring times of the first day at school.
Although, I would like to doubt that statement. While it was lackluster, it served as a good way to understand how the other students were.
Some were more athletic than others, while some were more academic and some looked so pathetic that I don't understand how they got admitted into the school.
A short lilac haired girl with a cane could be seen in the crowd standing out due to the dominating aura she released. And her cute looks too, which attracted a lot of attention from some perverted students. Something that she could obviously see since there was annoyance in her eyes as she looked at the opening ceremony with a smile.
Although, her smile was directed more specifically at the chairman. Maybe the chairman was acquaintances with her parents, or with the family? Or the chairman may also be her father too if you consider the similarity (in looks) in them.
A bald guy with a slightly intimidating figure was standing diligently, paying attention to the ceremony. Not that interesting.
A beautiful girl with strawberry-blonde hair and a well endowed figure could also be seen a few spaces behind the two. She had a cheerful smile and radiated positivity and kindness that could catch the eye of any normal boy in the school.
A few spaces behind him was one blond haired student who was garnering quite a lot of attention from girls. Although most of his attention was occupied in whispering to the red haired student in front of him.
The red haired student also was one to look at the ceremony but with a slight knowing smirk on his face. He looked really familiar, as if I had seen him before. Some famous maybe?
A magenta haired boy with a rugged look was standing in the crowd, a vicious smirk on his face, inviting people to provoke him into a fight. He was probably one of those guys who solved situations with violence.
The last pair that caught my attention were a boy and girl talking. The boy was athletic and had black hair while the girl too looked slightly like him albeit a bit more beautiful. Considering their faintly identical looks, they could be siblings or family maybe?
Meanwhile, it seemed that Kuroko was invisible as usual. That in itself was a talent of its own. There's no need to look around for him though. I would probably see him again in the class.
Seeing as I had been assigned the section D, looking for it seemed like a good idea for now.
Entering the assigned class of 1-D, I looked around to see my seat on the corner beside the window. It was a pretty good spot, considering my miserable luck. I could look out of the window if I got bored and I also had a steady supply of cold, fresh air if I ever needed it.
I could see the blue sky outside the window, something that I, who had lived in a closed room for most of my life, enjoyed. It had a good view and I could look out for any falling notebooks from the sky, forever making my life interesting.
Looking around, the class seemed to be only about half full. Idly noting that the black haired girl who was reading a book in the bus was also sitting beside me, I silently observed the entire class. A boy was garnering the attention of most of the girls while the cheerful girl from the bus was socializing expertly. The black haired siblings were in my class too, it seemed, with one of them sitting pretty close by.
Overlooking the seat in my front, I observed the blond haired boy from the bus enter the classroom, acting like he owned it. And judging by his attitude from the bus, he probably could too.
"Hey Ayanokouji-kun. It seems that our seats are pretty close to each other." A familiar voice from my front called out. It was Kuroko from before. I sighed.
"Hello. Also, I looked at that seat before and it was empty but you look like you have been sitting there for a while. Sorry for ignoring you. For how long have you been sitting there?" I replied back hoping for an embarrassed expression to form on my face.
Knowing myself, it probably didn't.
He shook his head before replying back. "It's fine. It's been the same situation for so long that I have been used to it. And to answer your question, I have been here before you entered the class." That doesn't make it any better.
Jokes aside though, I really have to keep an eye out for this guy before he becomes even more invisible.
"That's sad. Although, Do you actually have any problems or are you fine with it? Because I would surely be miserable if I wanted to talk to other people but they wouldn't even be able to notice me."
"You don't look pretty sad to me. And I like the silence being alone brings so I am fine with not being noticed."
"I can't express myself pretty well so please look over that. You too don't seem pretty emotional to me either."
"What a coincidence, since it's the same for me too."
Huh. He actually seems to be telling the truth too. Still, it seemed like I had made my first friend in this battleground known as school. Not counting Eiichiro and Nanase, I had next to none experience in making friends. Hopefully I will be able to learn more things like these without any external problems.
A small chuckle broke me out of my thoughts.
"Hearing you two talk with such inexpressible faces makes the conversation look more amusing than it's supposed to be."
This was said with a smile by Kuroko's seat mate who also coincidentally was the black haired boy from the welcoming ceremony.
As both of us turned to look at him, he continued. "Ah, where are my manners? I forgot to introduce myself first. Anyways, My name is Shiba Tatsuya. You can call me by my first name though. Nice to meet you."
Looking towards Kuroko, we both arrived at a similar conclusion. I decided to introduce myself first, though.
"It must be a pretty funny sight for an observer, I suppose. I am Ayanokouji Kiyotaka. Nice to meet you too." His eyes raised a miniscule amount in surprise after hearing my name. I stored that information at the back of my mind for some thought later.
This small observation went unnoticed by Kuroko who then introduced himself. I decided to ask a quick question of my own.
"Are you and the girl who was talking to you before related by any chance?"
His face adopted a surprised look before he responded.
"Yeah. She's my younger sister. Although I am only 11 months older than her. How did you know?"
"You too look faintly identical to each other."
Any further conversation was halted by the entrance of a woman wearing a suit walking into the classroom.
On first impression, she seems like a teacher who finds strict classroom discipline important. She looks about 30 years old. Her long hair was tied back into a ponytail.
"Ahem, good morning new students. My name is Chiyabashira Sae and I am in charge of class D this year. I teach Japanese history. This school doesn't rearrange the classes every year, so over the next three years, I hope I get to know all of you. Best regards. Although the club fair will be one hour from now in the gym, I will now distribute the list of special rules of this school and the matriculation guide."
From the front, the handouts were passed around.
At this school, there were special rules that made it different from every other high school. All students were required to live on campus, and were forbidden from contacting anyone outside the school. Which was also the biggest reason for me entering here.
Even contacting immediate family was impossible without the permission of the school. And don't even think about leaving the school grounds. Truly an isolated school. And perfect for me.
However, there were also many other facilities so that students don't suffer from being restricted. Karaokes, theater rooms, cafes, and even boutiques—you can say it made up a small town. And in the middle of the big city, the huge campus took up more than 600,000 square meters. The perks of being a government funded school and also for bringing about results too.
There was one more special characteristic of this school, though. The introduction of the S system.
"I will now hand out student ID cards. With this card, you can buy anything from any of the shops and facilities around campus. It works like a credit card. However, be careful of how many points you use. There's nothing you can't buy at school. If there's something on school grounds, it's purchasable."
This point system associated with the student card essentially replaced money. And nothing we can't buy? That's not something you say to 15 year old hormonal teenagers.
"Anyways, every student would start off with the same amount of money and would be forced to check their consumption habits. In any case, all of the points were provided at no charge from the school."
"Student cards can be used by swiping them on the machines. Using the machines is really easy, so you won't have any trouble with them. The points will be automatically credited on the first day of the month. Everyone should already have 100,000 points on their card. Also, 1 point is worth 1 yen. Any more explanation is unnecessary."
For a moment, the classroom got loud.
In other words, for being admitted to this school, we got a 100,000 yen monthly allowance from the school. As expected from a school created by the Japanese government.
100,000 yen is a considerably huge amount of money given to students as a monthly allowance.
"Were you guys surprised by the amount of points given? This school measures the abilities of students. The 100,000 points you get this month is based on your merit. Everyone here, who passed the entrance exam, has shown some level of merit and worth. The amount of money is a reflection of your skills. Use without holding back. After graduation, however, all the points will be taken back. Since it's impossible to change these points into cash, there's no point in saving up the points. How the points are used are up to you. Use it on things you like or need. If you feel that there is no use for some of your points, you can always transfer them to someone else. However, bullying other people for points is prohibited. The school is very strict on matters concerning bullying with appropriate punishments."
Hold on a second lady. Based on merit? 100,000 points this month? Reflection of your skills? That's some amazing wordplay right there. At least explain yourself a bit.
Looking around, a suspicious student was a rare sight. The black haired girl from beside me narrowed her eyes, similar to Tatsuya.
Chiyabashira-sensei looked around the room.
"It seems like no one has questions. Well then, please lead a good student life."
"Sensei."
Tatsuya surprisingly was the one who had questions, earning him some curious looks from the classmates. It seems that he is one of the smarter students here.
"Yes, Shiba kun?"
"I just wanted to know if I asked you to explain the S-system in detail, would you be able to do it?" Excellent wording there, Tatsuya. Although that awarded him some weird looks from some of the more obtuse students. His sister seemed to have caught on what he meant, too.
Sensei's lips twitched a bit, the question almost cracking her cold facade.
"Unfortunately, I cannot, Shiba-kun. Are there any more questions? If not, then I would be leaving."
Seeing as nobody stopped her again, she exited the classroom.
Still, that negative reply answered a lot of questions. Sensei's answer confirmed that there was a lot more to the S-system than explained. Now all we needed was more clues and the mystery would be solved by itself.
This was fairly interesting in itself.
It seemed that this was a pretty unusual school from what I had seen so far.
Although they force us to live in dorms, forbid us from going off campus, and prohibit us from contacting anyone on the outside, they give us a lot of points for free usable anywhere on campus.
It could be said that the students are put in a mini world, isolated from the outside, providing everything that a human needs.
Under the thorough guidance of the government, the school works towards a better future with all of its resources. In fact, many of this widely publicized school's alumni are famous people. Usually, no matter how famous and good a school is, its area of specialization is narrow. A school might specialize in sports, or specialize in music. Or maybe it specializes in computer related topics. But this school fulfills any wish in any genre that someone may wish to study. This is a school that has that kind of system and value.
And it also guaranteed 100% employment rate after graduation to its students.
That's why I thought the class atmosphere would be more competitive and bloodthirsty, but the majority of my classmates seemed like ordinary students you could find anywhere else.
No, maybe that's why everyone's so normal. We were already recognized as students who passed the entrance exam. Can we graduate peacefully and without incident...? I wonder if it's even possible.
"It isn't as strict of a school as I thought it would be. Although a bit suspicious. "
It was my neighbor who decided to speak up. Deciding to answer her, I turned slightly to look at her.
She was surprisingly beautiful.
"I agree with you on that. It is definitely suspicious. I find it difficult to believe that some of the students in this class are going to be the ones who decide the future of Japan.
Anyways, I am Ayanokouji Kiyotaka. I don't have any hobbies but I am interested in a lot of things. As we are seatmates, I hope we get along well."
"I... I am Horikita Suzune. Please don't disturb me now."
She had slight displeasure on her face as she answered back. When did I actually disturb her? It was her who started the conversation.
"That was pretty rude of you."
"I never asked you"
"Still doesn't change the fact that you are rude."
Teasing her is pretty fun.
Although, it seemed that I had annoyed her a bit too much as she was starting to look inside her bag for something. Slightly curious, I watched her eventually bring out a compass. Thankfully, any further actions of her were disturbed as a student from the class stood up and addressed the class.
He had dirty blond hair and looked like an honors student. He didn't look like a delinquent either.
"Starting from today, we will be in the same class for the next three years. So, it would be great if all of us could introduce ourselves and become friends. We still have time until the entrance ceremony, so what do you think?"
Oh... he said something amazing. A majority of the students couldn't find words to say.
"I agree! After all, we don't know each other's names, let alone anything about each other."
After the first person agreed, the previously hesitant students subsequently voiced their support.
"My name is Hirata Yousuke. Because I was often called by my first name, Yousuke, in middle school, feel free to use my first name. Although I like all sports, I like soccer in particular, and also plan to play soccer at this school. Please take care of me."
The young man who proposed that the class introduce themselves smoothly and impeccably did his self introduction.
He really has a lot of guts. And he even talked about soccer. After talking about soccer with that refreshing expression, his popularity must have multiplied by 2 times, no, 4 times. You could see that all the girls near Hirata had hearts in their eyes.
Like this, Hirata became the central figure of the class, and would probably draw everyone's attention until we graduated.
And then he would probably go out with the cutest girl in the class. That's probably how things will end up.
"Well, if that was satisfactory... then, can we start self introductions from the beginning?"
Being smooth to the very end, Hirata asked for confirmation.
Although the first girl was perplexed and nervous, she soon made up her mind and stood up.
In other words, she was flustered by Hirata's words.
"M-my name Inogashira K-ko—"
As she tried to introduce herself, her words stopped in her mouth.
Whether her mind went blank or she couldn't collect her thoughts fully, she was unable to speak clearly. When words no longer came out, her face became pale in embarrassment. It's rare seeing someone get so nervous.
"Do your best~"
"It's ok if you don't rush~"
Those kind words came from a classmate. But their effort was meaningless as those words backfired, and the words stuck in her throat disappeared. The silence continued for 5 seconds, then 10 seconds. The pressure on her was thick enough to make it so hard to even speak clearly.
Small giggles came from some of the girls in the classroom. She was paralyzed in fear. One of the girls spoke up.
"Doing it slowly is fine, don't rush through it."
Although her words were similar to "Do your best~" and "It's ok if you don't rush," the meaning her words held was completely different.
To the nervous girl, the boys' words seemed a bit forceful.
On the other hand, the girl's words were kind and told her to go at her own pace, while also being more reassuring.
After regaining a bit of her composure, she breathed in and out to calm herself down.
Then after a little while...
"My name is Inogashira... Kokoro. Um, my hobby is sewing and I'm good at knitting. P-please take care of me."
From the first word, she said all she wanted to say without stopping.
With a relieved, delighted, and slightly embarrassed expression, Inogashira sat down.
Thanks to the help, Inogashira's introduction finished without any trouble. Other self-introductions followed.
"I'm Yamauchi Haruki. In elementary school, I played table tennis at the national level, then was the baseball club's ace in middle school which was as good as the generation of miracles—I had uniform number 4. But since I got an injury during Inter High recently, so I am currently in rehab. Nice to meet ya."
That's some terrible lying skills. There's a lot wrong with that introduction. Firstly, I don't think the number 4 has any meaning to it...
Inter High is a sports tournament for high schools... You can't even compete as a middle schooler.
I don't think he was trying to make a joke, hoping for someone to believe his deception. If someone falls for such deceit, then I pray for their safety throughout their life.
And, judging from the looks of the audience, the bottom spot of the social ladder is taken.
"Then I'm next, right?"
The cheerful girl who stood up next was the one who told Inogashira to introduce herself at her own pace.
And the same girl that helped out the old woman on the bus that morning. Kushida Kikyō. [A.N.= I almost wrote Kikyō as kinky there ]
"My name is Kushida Kikyō, and since none of my friends from middle school came to this school, I want to get to know everyone and become friends!"
Most students finished their greetings after a few words, but Kushida continued to talk.
"First of all, I want to become friends with everyone here. After all of you are done with your introductions, please exchange contact information with me!"
Her words weren't just words. I could tell immediately that she was the type of girl to open up her heart immediately.
Her words to Inogashira weren't just encouragement that seemed appropriate for the situation, but were her true feelings.
Also, she seemed the type of person who would get along with everyone.
"Then, during vacations or after school, I want to make memories with many people, so please invite me to many events. I've been talking for a while, so I'll end my self-introduction here."
She'd probably get along with all the boys and girls in the class. Scratch that, she will definitely get along with all the boys and girls in the whole school. Though some of the more secretive people would be even more cautious with her, me included.
... Of course, it's not like I'm critiquing other people's self-introductions.
I'm feeling a bit restless for some reason.
What I should say in my introduction... should I try to tell a joke too? But, most of them would probably misunderstand. And I would end up just like Yamauchi.
Or should I bring out laughs by creating high tension during my speech?
No, but I wonder. High tension would probably just ruin the mood. To begin with, I'm not that kind of character. I should just be normal.
While I was lost in my own worries, the self-introductions continued.
"My name is Shiba Miyuki. I am pretty confident in my academics so please don't hesitate to ask for my help. I hope to get along with everyone here, so please take care of me."
It was Tatsuya's sister, whose attractive looks were enough to capture the hearts of many of the simple minded students. Combined with her kind and soft spoken personality, she was going to be very popular.
"Nice to meet you too Shiba-san. I too hope we all can get along well."
This earned her a few jealous glares from the other girls beside Hirata which she ignored as she sat down in her seat, not without giving a quick glance at her brother who had a small yet proud smile.
Then, the next one is───"
As Hirata looked at the next student, the next student shot him a sharp glare.
With bright red hair, the boy looked like a delinquent and spoke in a manner that matched his appearance.
"Are you guys junior high kids? I don't wanna introduce myself, just leave me alone.
Red hair glared at Hirata. Tension hung in the air.
"I can't force you to introduce yourself. But, I don't think that it's a bad thing to get along with your classmates. If you thought I was being unpleasant, I apologize."
After watching Hirata bow his head towards red hair, some of the girls glared at red hair. Not even half an hour in the class and he has some loyal supporters.
"Isn't it fine to do a simple self introduction?"
"Yea, yea!"
As expected from the ikemen soccer boy. He seems to have quickly attracted the attention of the girls.
However, starting with red hair, about half of the other boys stirred with jealousy towards Hirata.
"No. I don't want to pretend that we're good friends."
Red hair got up from his seat. At the same time, several other students left the room. They probably had no intention to get to know their classmates. Horikita also started to get up from her seat.
She looked in my direction, but when she realized that I wasn't moving, she started walking out the room. Hirata looked a bit lonely as he saw the group walk out the classroom.
"They're not bad people. I'm also at fault since I asked them to stay out of my own selfishness."
"Hirata-kun did nothing bad. Let's just leave those people alone."
Even though some people left after not wanting to do self-introductions, the remaining students continued to go around and introduce themselves
The boy in front of Tatsuya stood up next.
"I am Miyake Akito. I used to do archery in middle school and I don't have any plans to stop in this school. It's nice to meet all of you."
A small and brisk introduction. He looks like a straightforward guy.
The next boy who stood up was someone interesting.
"My name is Shiba Tatsuya. And before anyone asks, yes, I am Miyuki's older brother. As calling both of us with our family names would be confusing, you are free to call me Tatsuya."
Pausing slightly, he then continued.
"Same as Miyuki, you can ask me for help if needed, be it for academics or something else. I hope we get along well."
Finishing with a small smile, his introduction gave competition to Hirata's. Especially in attracting the female's attention. Though his attitude was a far cry from the way he interacted with me and Kuroko. An act to please the crowd, perhaps?
Come to think of it, his introduction resembled Kushida's introduction by a fair amount. While Tatsuya's personality was a fake one for the crowd, he was more analytical and sharp while talking to us. Maybe Kushida was like that too? But if she really is double faced, her acting is too good. Or is this her real face?
Anyways, the introduction seems to be still going on.
"I'm Ike Kanji. The things I like are girls, and the things I hate are ikemen. I'm looking for a girlfriend at any time, so nice to meet you! Of course, you better be cute or beautiful!"
It's hard to tell if he said that as a joke or if it was his true thoughts, but he earned the ire of the females. He is giving Yamauchi some hard competition.
"Wow, cool~. Ike-kun, you're so smooth", said one of the girls with a completely emotionless voice.
Of course, it was obvious that it was 1000% a lie.
"Really, really? Wow, I thought I wasn't bad, but... hehe."
Apparently Ike thought it was true and became a bit embarrassed. How dumb can he really be?
Suddenly all the girls laughed.
"Wow, everyone, he's cute. He's recruiting girlfriends!"
No you're being teased.
Ike waved his hand cheerfully while being teased. He didn't seem any special, but that was just from an outsider's view. He probably wasn't any special, judging by his personality.
Then, the boy who fought on the bus was up next.
After checking his bangs with a hand-mirror, he used a comb to arrange his hair.
Finally someone amusing.
"Um, can you introduce yourself"
"Fu~. Ok."
While smiling like a young noble, he showed glimpses of his impudent behavior.
I thought he would stand up, but he kept his feet on the desk, and started his self-introduction while sitting like that.
"My name is Koenji Rokusuke. Being the only heir of the Koenji conglomerate, I am a man who will be responsible for Japanese society in the near future. Pleased to meet you, ladies."
Ending with a wink, It was an introduction for the women, as opposed to the whole class.
Some girls looked at Koenji with glittering eyes after hearing he was rich, while the others looked at him like he was crazy. ... That's natural.
"From now on, I will relentlessly punish anything that makes me feel uncomfortable. Be careful in that respect." Wait, what?
"Eh... Koenji-kun. What do you mean by 'anything that makes me uncomfortable'?"
Feeling uneasy at his words, Hirata asked him again. Yes please. Explain yourself.
"Exactly as I said. But if I were to give an example───I hate unattractive things like the liar-boy. If I saw something ugly like him, I would do as I said."
He gestured at Yamauchi as he spoke the last sentence, earning a few laughter from the students while the liar in question stuttered in denial.
He combed his hair upwards, ignoring any and all criticism towards him.
"Oh, thank you. I will make sure to be careful."
Red hair, Horikita, Koenji. Then Yamauchi and Ike. Apparently all the odd students were gathered in this class. During this short time, I was able to see a glimpse of the various students in my class. Everything is going as I want it to be.
I also have an odd quirk───no, there's nothing special about me.
I wanted to become a free bird, but I flew from the cage all alone.
Without putting much thought into it, I wanted to experience freedom.
If you look outside, you can see the gracefulness of the birds... nevermind, you can't see any at this time.
I'm that kind of man, anyway. I want to live my high school life as freely as possible and look at everything as a neutral spectator. And this class isn't failing my expectations.
"Um... the next person───please introduce yourself."
Eh? It's my turn already?
"Um... My name is Ayanokouji Kiyotaka. Nice to meet you all."
Brisk and small yet surprisingly not terrible. Although boring. I don't think I will be remembered by anyone else.
Eh. It's not a big deal anyway. If needed, a situation will lead to where I can make friends. Probably. Maybe.
And seeing this classroom, despite it being full of unique personalities, it was not lacking in any useful students. The dumber the person, the easier they are to sway.
It was pretty much the only way to be successful in society. The darker you are, the brighter your future will be.
This reminds me of the palm reader.
A long story but during my 6 months stay with Matsuo, we visited a traveling palm reader who was just crossing the city on his way. While it was difficult to believe it's credibility at first, we decided to give it a chance.
As they say, seeing is believing.
She at least had the atmosphere perfectly set up, but her age pointed out her lack of experience. A 30ish person was not someone who had a lot of experience, compared to all the saints out there. Still, a 10 year experience was pretty good. She was still surprisingly accurate at her job.
And, though it was costly, it was vividly informative.
While most of what she said could be done with cold reading, she didn't stop at cold reading limits. Going further and beyond its limits, she predicted my childhood mentality, how dark I was and my lack of morality.
And top it all, I also had the tenchuusatsu, a fortune related term which meant I had a life of misfortune, yet had the freedom of choosing my own fate. What an irony.
It was like the high risk high reward perk in games, which considering my life, was giving me less rewards than I hoped for.
While departing, her words were suspicious too. Instead of the usual 'thank you', it was 'see you later'. Pretty ominous, if you ask me.
"Ayanokouji-kun, Tatsuya-kun is calling us."
A voice broke me out of my thoughts. It was owned by the person sitting in front of me, who was calling out to me.
"Huh?"
"We are being called by Tatsuya-kun, probably to explore the school."
Looking at Tatsuya, he indeed was calling us subtly, while also getting harassed by some girls. That's what happens when you get too popular.
Should I save him or not?
Nah. He should probably get used to it.
"Tatsuya-kun, do you mind accompanying us to explore the school before the Club fair?" Kuroko to the rescue.
Sigh. you are too kind, Kuroko.
Still accompanying him, I too approached Tatsuya, who was currently glaring at me slightly, understanding my plan of leaving him to the girls. A plan he obviously didn't like.
Immediately apologizing to the girls for having to deny their invitation, he nodded at Kuroko to accept our proposal. Leaving us prey to the girls' glares, he came towards us smirking slightly, sensing the glares of envy directed at us by the girls.
Cheeky bastard.
Ignoring the glares, we headed towards the door, intending to explore the school in the remaining 20 minutes.
I wonder if there are any interesting clubs. Maybe Kuroko or Tatsuya would join a sports club.
Now that I think about it, Kuroko was again overlooked in the introductions.
What a mystifying existence.
Word Count = 5415
A.N.= Done!
I feel sad for Kuroko. Always ignored.
This was a surprisingly big chapter for introductions. Also, Tatsuya may seem ooc but he needs to be charismatic here, considering that I need him to replace Hirata who will be pretty miserable in this fic later on. This is an AU so it's not like they can't be ooc.
Try to guess Akashi and Kise's class if you can.
Also, don't worry, the other class leaders will be getting a boost, with Sakayagi being more aggressive, Ichinose being more susceptible to personality changes and Ryuuen would be more cunning in this fic.
Any ideas are appreciated, don't hesitate to ask questions and Follow and Fav if you like it.
Also, next chapter will feature the emperor.
That's all.
Bye.