Monday, 4/11

Sadayo Kawakami was pissed.

She had waited for him in the Faculty Office before school, but he never showed. She would give him a piece of mind if she ever saw him again.

He probably ditched class. He won't ever come to school. Not with the rumors that have been going around. How could his record have already leaked? she thought. Doesn't matter. He isn't coming to class anyway. Best to just move on, she thought.

But as she was teaching class, Ren lingered in her mind.

As soon as Ren and Ryuji entered the school they were greeted by the last person they wanted to see: Suguru Kamoshida.

I like this outfit more. Tracksuits are superior to whatever the hell he was wearing back in that castle.

"Sakamoto-kun. I see you've dragged our new student into your antics. Perhaps you need a reminder of your place here at Shujin?" Kamoshida said as he towered over the two.

"Nah, I'm good. I'm missing class." Ryuji started walking away after he spoke.

Kamoshida grabbed Ryuji's arm.

"Don't think you can just walk away Sakamoto-kun. After all, you did make our new student late on his first day."

Ryuji looked down at his feet, Kamoshida's presence clearly getting to him. Ren spoke up.

"Actually, sir, I got lost. Ryuji found me and led me to school. I wouldn't be here if it weren't for him."

This is the most bullshit lie I've ever told. Kamoshida knows it, too. He saw me close to the school this morning. But he doesn't want the other staff to know that he made Ryuji and me even later than we already were to class. He'll probably let us go.

Kamoshida released Ryuji's arm.

"Fine, then. Go. Don't be late again." As soon as Kamoshida finished speaking, he began walking down the hall away from the boys.

Ryuji let out a sigh of relief as he rubbed his arm. Ren adjusted his glasses and began walking towards the nearest staircase. Ryuji had to speed walk to catch up.

"Hey man! Wait up! Thanks for that. We should get to class now, but can we talk later?" he asked.

If people here already know about my record, then having a friend couldn't hurt. Then again, he probably just wants to talk about the Metaverse. I'll go anyway. It's also a good excuse to get Morgana out of my bag.

"Sure. Where should we meet?"

"Rooftop after school? They don't lock the exit to it."

"Sounds like a plan."

The two parted ways. Ryuji continued down the hall instead of going up the stairs.

Where the hell is he going? Isn't he a second year? He probably is skipping class. Nice.

Ren was lucky enough for the lunch period to begin as soon as he got to the door of Classroom 2-D. Interrupting a teacher who was already pissed at him while they were teaching was not a good idea. As students began leaving the room, Ren leaned himself against the wall. He adjusted his glasses again. He cleaned up his hair. He made sure that his clothes looked nice. He wasn't doing this to impress Kawakami, but to not incur even more of her wrath.

He opened the door to a mostly empty classroom. Kawakami was eating lunch at her desk. The blonde girl from that morning was at her seat and seemed to be looking for something in her bag. A few students lingered in the back of the room. When the door shut, everyone in the room turned to look at Ren. Kawakami stared with an exhausted gaze. The blonde girl shook her head and turned her attention back to her bag. The students in the bag immediately began whispering, doing a very poor job.

"Isn't that the criminal?"

"Yeah, I think it is. I can't believe he's here."

"Same. He looks kinda smart. Do you really think he's as bad as everyone says?"

"He's probably one of those smart criminals. You know, like the serial killers who are like, super intelligent and stuff."

"Oh yeah, that makes sense. He does have glasses."

Ren shot them a glare. Not to shut them up, but hopefully make the rumors worse and therefore more interesting.

A serial killer? What do my glasses have to do with that? It's pretty funny that people can think that way. I wonder how bad the rumors can get.

Ren walked towards Kawakami's desk. She was still staring at him.

The moment of truth.

Ren opened his mouth to speak, but Kawakami immediately cut him off.

"Come with me. Now."

The rage in her voice was unmistakable.

The two left the room, and Kawakami led Ren up the stairs to the Faculty Office. Before giving Ren a chance to explain himself, she spoke.

"I am too tired for this shit. Amamiya-kun, your tardiness on your first day is unacceptable. I forgave the way you spoke to Kobayakawa yesterday, but with the events of today, I don't think you respect any of the teachers. Amamiya-kun, are you trying to get on the bad side of everyone you come across?"

Kawakami's kinda right, but not I'm not trying to get on everyone's bad side. I would like to be on her good side. Ryuji's too. And that girl with the red eyes as well.

"I'm sorry Kawakami-sensei. I am not trying to get on your bad side, I just got lost this morning. It won't happen again. I promise."

Here I am trying to get back on her good side, lying to her face. At least she won't know it's a lie.

"That's not what I saw. Ten minutes ago, I looked out my window and saw you and Sakamoto. You're lying to me now?" Kawakami became angrier with every word.

Or not. Maybe another lie will help.

"Kawakami-sensei, Ryuji found me when I was lost. He helped me get to Shujin. I wouldn't be standing here if it weren't for him." Ren was using 100% of his brainpower to hold a poker face.

Kawakami's eyes narrowed.

"Fine. I don't want to see you hanging out with him anymore. All he'll do for you is ruin your chances of rehabilitation. Go back to class. The seating chart is on my desk."

Ren didn't need to be told twice. He headed back to 2-D. He had no lunch (he was saving the food at the apartment), but he did have a book to read. He glanced at the seating chart and saw a pleasant surprise: he would be sitting behind the blonde girl.

She seemed nice before. Maybe I can ask her about the rumors.

It turned out that he wouldn't need to. As soon as he sat down, the girl turned around.

"You know you're the most famous person at Shujin right now, right?" she said.

"So I've heard," he said, gesturing towards the students who were still whispering in the back of the classroom. "Why aren't you gossiping with them in the back?"

"Stay quiet and you'll find out." She turned away.

Ren got the message.

Just act normal, I guess.

He buried his head in his book. After about 30 seconds, he heard what the blonde girl was talking about.

"Did you see the criminal talking with Takamaki? He must know what a slut she is."

"Yeah I saw. He's definitely trying to get in her pants. Not that he has to try..."

Nothing interesting must happen at this school if that's what they're talking about.

Ren looked up from his book to see Takamaki staring at him, expecting him to say something.

"What's your name?" Ren asked.

"Ann Takamaki. I already know your name, Ren Amamiya," she replied.

"Nice to meet you Takamaki-san. I look forward to learning in this class with you."

"As if. I saw who you came to school with. I don't think you'll be paying much attention."

So Ryuji is not the most popular person at school, among the teachers or student body. Maybe I should ask him why.

"Takamaki-san, you have no idea how much attention I will be paying this year. Seriously. You have no idea," Ren said. Even if Kawakami hated him, that didn't change how good she looked.

Ann laughed. She laughed loud enough for the other students to get annoyed and leave the room.

"That's how most of the guys are. They all worship Kawakami. She's too tired to notice most of the time. Or she's too tired to care," she explained.

There was silence. It was quickly ended by Ren's bag moving on its own.

"Did your bag just move?" Ren couldn't tell if Ann was scared or confused.

Ren was just as confused, but he didn't want to seem stupid in front of Ann. He gave her a smile and opened his bag. Morgana leaped out onto the desk. Thankfully, no one was in the room besides Ann and Ren.

You've got to be kidding me. One attractive girl and I forget about the fucking cat that is in my schoolbag.

Morgana looked at Ann and let out a meow that was so aggressive that it would've been sexual harassment if Morgana could still talk.

So he still has human intelligence. Now I have to keep him.

"Please tell me that you're not keeping stray cats in your bag," Ann said shakily. She was obviously trying to not sound creeped out.

Ren picked Morgana up, petting his head.

"Nah, it's just my cat. He gets anxious when left alone, so I let him come to school with me."

Ann let out a sigh of relief.

"That's good. I was worried you were a criminal," she joked.

"Don't get your hopes up," Ren remarked with a grin.

The bell rang as students began coming back to the room. Ren quickly shoved Morgana in his desk and acted as if nothing happened. A few of the students were visibly irritated at seeing Ren in class. Because the students already seemed familiar with Ren, Kawakami skipped his introduction.

Today hasn't been so bad. My adventures in an alternate reality were stopped by divine intervention. I also found two potential friends. And the day's only half over.

The rest of the school day passed by quickly. Ren left the room quickly.

Time to see Ryuji.

Ren made his way up to the stairs on the third floor. He found Ryuji leaning against the wall waiting for him. Ryuji gave Ren a nod and the two proceeded up the stairs. They opened the door to the roof and were greeted with an unexpected sight: a mini-garden.

Tending the garden was another student, one Ren hadn't seen before. She had brown hair that had quite a bit of fluff to it. Ren gave her the name Floof Girl. Upon hearing the door, she turned. After a second of looking the boys over. She gave them a smile, before promptly walking past them and going back into the school.

"You know her?" Ren asked.

"I dunno. Some third year," Ryuji answered.

Ryuji led Ren over to a pile of desks and chairs. They both grabbed chairs for themselves. Ren felt Morgana squirming in his bag. He opened the bag and the cat quickly jumped out again.

"You actually kept the cat?!" Ryuji yelled, shocked by Ren's decision.

Morgana hissed at Ryuji.

"He's not a cat," Ren sarcastically reminded.

Morgana hissed at Ren.

"Alright, whatever. Time to talk about what's important. What the eff happened this mornin'? I'm still strugglin' to understand it," Ryuji said.

Ren sat up in his chair.

"From my understanding, we went to another reality. Kamoshida here didn't seem aware of what happened in the castle. We were allowed to leave because that deep voice said we could." Ren chose to leave out the part with the voices in his head.

Including that wouldn't help the serial killer rumors.

"Also, should we really be talking about this? The deep voice seemed like it wanted us to forget about the whole thing," Ren suggested.

"Are you for real? Of course we should be talking about it! We went to another effin' reality! How cool is that?!" Ryuji quickly responded.

"It's cool until you remember the part where we were almost executed."

A look came on Ryuji's face as if he was just remembering what happened.

"Oh yeah. I forgot about that."

Good job ending up with this guy, Ren.

"Hey, if we survived an execution together, doesn't that make us friends?" Ryuji continued.

Fuck it. Why not. This guy may be an idiot, but at least he doesn't think that I am a serial killer.

"Yeah, sure. Being my friend makes you an accomplice to murder, you know," Ren joked.

Ryuji laughed.

"It is what it is. Don't worry about those rumors, dude. I know what it's like. You'll get used to it."

"Oh no, I don't have a problem with the fact that there are rumors. I actually find it pretty funny."

"Maybe you are a serial killer," Ryuji said. "You tryna hang out later this week?"

Ren was about to agree when the door to the roof opened. He looked over expecting Floof Girl but saw someone much more unexpected.

The girl with the red eyes.

"Hey man, why aren't you saying anything?" Ryuji hadn't noticed the girl yet.

He followed Ren's eyes and finally noticed her. She was glaring at Ryuji. She was too focused on him to notice Morgana crawling into Ren's bag.

"Ahh hey, Miss President. Didn't notice ya there. What brings you to the roof?" Ryuji asked. He couldn't have been more awkward if he had tried.

President? Now she's really out of my league.

Her eyes turned towards Ren. It was like they saw right through, like she knew everything about him from a glance.

Now I know why Ryuji's nervous.

"I could ask you the same thing, Sakamoto-kun. Why have you taken the transfer student up here on his first day? I'd hoped that you'd had enough with him after making him late to school." She didn't even blink. She continued staring into Ren's eyes.

I shouldn't provoke her. I don't know enough about her. She seems like the wrong person to cross, even if it's just because of how intimidating her eyes can be. Maybe I can at least win this staring contest.

There was silence. The staring contest continued.

There's no way I can keep this up. My hands are starting to sweat.

Ren looked away and began to rub his hands together, conceding the staring contest.

"Not a chance, Prez. If you hadn't noticed, I was helping him find a place here at Shujin. That's more than you've done, right?" Ryuji answered, some confidence building in his voice.

She blinked.

I don't give Ryuji enough credit. He's a braver man than I.

The president took a second to compose herself before speaking.

"That's very good, Sakamoto-kun. However, I must ask that you help Amamiya-kun adjust to Shujin at a place that is acceptable for students to be."

She began to walk back into the school but turned back towards the boys.

"Sakamoto-kun, may I speak with you for a minute? You may go, Amamiya-kun."

I don't think I could speak if I tried. I don't know if it's because of how good she looks in that uniform or if it's because I'm too scared. Too late to find out.

Ren stood up and quickly left.

Makoto quickly advanced upon Ryuji after Amamiya went back into the school.

"What are you trying to do with the transfer student?" Makoto's harsh tone made Ryuji lose all confidence he had in his posture.

"Um… I'm just tryna be friendly towards him, I guess?"

Makoto couldn't believe it. Not from someone with a history like Ryuji.

"And being friendly means making him a delinquent?" She began another staring contest with no plans to lose.

"Nah… You just don't understand. Um, Niijima-senpai, do you remember what happened to me last year?" Ryuji was shrinking. The red eyes had completely broken his confidence.

"I do remember. But that's not what I'm-"

Ryuji quickly cut her off.

"Then you'll know how bad the rumors were about me. I just… saw it happening to him and I wanted him to have a friend," Ryuji struggled to say. Makoto guessed that he hadn't planned on sharing this information with the cold-hearted student council president.

"Fine. I believe you," Makoto said. Ryuji looked up at her, with a surprised grin. "But that doesn't mean you are off the hook. If I see that you two are hanging out and his grades are suffering, then I'll make sure that you're punished."

"The hell? How's that my fault?" Ryuji protested.

"Amamiya having poor grades is not in the school's best interest. If he spends time with you rather than studying, it's your fault." Makoto knew that this wasn't true. It's just what she was supposed to say. After all, Kobayakawa had said that Amamiya was her responsibility.

"Fine. I'll make sure he studies once or twice. Go ruin someone else's fun now."

Makoto hated how the student body thought of her. Could they not realize that she functioned as a messenger between the student body and the faculty? It didn't matter. As long as she kept her grades up she would be alright. She went back into the school.

Ren arrived back at his apartment without any issues. He checked his phone. There was a message from Junpei.

Junpei Iori:

-I got you some extra food. It turns out that I can't get paid if you starve. Get a job. You have one week before I stop buying food for you.

That's a little harsh.

Ren Amamiya:

-As you wish, General Iori. I'll be sure to fully reimburse you as well. I couldn't be more thankful for the abundance of bagels!

Ren waited for a response, but instead saw the telltale "Read."

Nice.

He closed the messaging application. He flipped through his phone's home screen, looking for the red eye. No luck.

At least I don't have to worry about going crazy anymore from red eyes.

He then thought about the other red eyes he had seen that day.

Nevermind. I still have to worry.

Ren toasted a bagel for himself and went to his room. He did his homework while eating. Once his homework was complete, he lied down in bed and plugged in his earbuds. He shuffled his playlist.

Was it the right decision to reject whatever that voice was? I wonder what would've happened if I accepted it.

He thought about it for a few minutes.

That would make for a cool story.

He dozed off with his earbuds still in his ears.

Makoto lied awake. She couldn't sleep. Sakamoto had gotten the better of her in their argument. He was right. What had she done to help Amamiya? It was his first day and she already heard rumors about him being a serial killer with a double-digit body count. She hadn't even attempted to reach out to him. To be fair to herself, he wouldn't have been available whenever she had time for him. He was gone all morning, was speaking with Kawakami during lunch, and quickly went to the roof after school.

I could've spoken to him there. But then I would've had to ask Sakamoto to leave, which would be pointless. If only I hadn't let Sakamoto break my composure. I probably would've been able to speak with Amamiya then. Maybe I can ask Kawakami to send him to the student council room. That would be the perfect place for us to talk without Sakamoto.

She formulated what to say to Amamiya before falling asleep.