As he continues through the school, trying to solve this internal problem once again of his lack of humanity, he hears nothing.
This is strange, since it's so silent that it's odd.
He sees a bunch of students gathered in a group, staring at something or someone that makes them all observe in awe.
Ayanakoji decides to continue to the auditorium that he can see directly ahead of him, but as he walks forward, his head swivels in the direction of the group of people out of curiosity, even though he has no intention to sway in his decided route.
As he gets further and further away, and a building begins to seporate him from the group, for a moment he sees an opening in the croud of people, and the thing that they are following silently turns out to be a girl.
'Is she famous or something?'
He tries to ignore it and stay on track, and then realizes that that resistance to look is the same 'matter of principle' mentality that the arrogant girl had, but then he thinks about how the reason why he is even trying to resist it is just so he could be less impulsive.
Then finally, with the third realization/thought of remembering his favorite spiritual words of "Let go of everything", he then decides to go with the flow of his current impulse to indulge in his curiosity without a sense of internal friction stagnating him, and focuses his eyesight to see what it is that is so special about the girl.
However, the strange angle and the obscurity of the building in between them, no matter how sharp his vision may be, doesn't allow him to see her properly, but he can tell that from the few glimpses he's had of her, her physical characteristics are far above average in terms of beauty standards.
He then checks the time on his watch, since he doesn't have a phone yet, and decides that he has enough time to check the situation with the rest of the distracted, or more like refocused since their complete attention has been taken, students.
Once he makes the turn past the building while heading back, he tries to make his way through the crowd, but can't be successful without being too pushy.
He sees some people jumping up and down from behind the crowd in order to get a better view, which leads to him deciding to do the same since it's not out of place in this situation.
He jumps up once... And freezes.
'Did I see that right?'
He goes around the side of the moving crowd and suddenly tries his best to get to the front and see the girl, and more specifically, her eyes.
However, the crowd is constantly moving, since she is just moving to the auditorium as well like normal, not paying any mind to the 20+ individuals around her.
Ayanakoji saw a glimpse of something potentially otherworldly, and now he's REALLY serious about satisfying this curiosity.
He begins to run, making his way to the smallest group of people, the space directly in front of her, since after all, these people at least have the common sense to not block the path of the person that they are focusing on to begin with.
He sees her eyes, and continues to walk backwards while looking at her.
They make eye contact.
'Is this real? How can she?', still unable to feel anything, he remembers a time when he once did, and that he had come up with an Ideal that he aspired to, and still aspires to till this day.
'The Ideal... I found you.'.
This woman in front of him is everything he wishes to be, the one thing that kept him from even killing himself, maybe, since he can't quite remember, for the obsession with The Ideal has been so intense that genuine, experiential memories have been overwritten by raw knowledge and intellect.
'Do you realize that I realize who you are? I can't read you. You're the only one I can't read!', his internal voice increases, and a heat, like lava, floods his chest.
He can't get his eyes off her, and considering the fact that her eyes are still locked with his, she must surely realize 'what' he is, right?
Her facial expression hasn't changed a bit, same as his, however, there has to be a cue to give one another to let each other know that they are on the same page.
...
For what seems like the first time in 3-5 years, Ayanakoji doesn't know what to do or how to think about finding a solution to whatever puzzle this is in front of him.
'What do I do damn it! THINK!!', his face is still expressionless, completely forgetting about his objective to live a normal life, because that doesn't matter right now, not with her here.
As he's walking backwards, he doesn't notice those around him being too pushy themselves, and accidentally ends up falling backwards onto the floor, 'Damn it, I'm way off my game around her. I hope this doesn't let her reach the wrong conclusion in the meantime, stagnating our eventual, mutual understanding of one another... Damn it, I'm too wordy, just shut up!'.
She continues to walk forwards, and she stops in front of him, "Are you alright?", she puts out her hand.
Ayanakoji, although worried about his common sense being viewed as madness to her unknown degree of knowledge, doesn't say anything rashly, even if his intentions are to let her know that he is the same as her.
As he looks at her hand, he realizes that the reason why she decided to lend out her hand is because she was able to "Let go of everything" prior to their meeting, or she's at the stage of purity where she has nothing left to let go, meaning that she has complete conscious control over herself, even over her subconscious side; making her default state completely pure, which is a clear sign of The Ideal.
He grabs her hand and stands on his feet, "What's your name?", he asks, unable to say anything else.
"You're the same as me, aren't you?", she strikes first.
Ayanakoji stares at her. She stares at him.
They both feel nothing, but there is a clear obsession with one another, logically speaking.
"My name is Makima.", she says.
"My name is Ayanakoji."
...
As everyone gathered around is jealous of Ayanakoji for being able to talk with the girl who gives off a goddess/otherworldly aura/vibe, Ayanakoji reveals his true self to her by saying, "I honestly don't know what to do right now, my head is clouded.".
"That's fine, just remember to let go afterwards though, so you don't get stuck in an analysis cycle."
"How come do you think I will analyze the situation?"
"By you asking that question, you're proving me right.", she smiles for a moment, but not because her heart tells her to, but instead because her mind does.
'There's a lot to unpack here.', as they both continue to walk, he says to her, "There's one issue with that though, The Ideal is someone capable of always getting their way, so by telling me to not analyze the situation, that means that I would end up giving you complete control over the situation, and I wouldn't be able to have any power of my own to accomplish my own goals or dream.".
"Funny how similar our naming of 'it' is, The Ideal.
As for you being unable to take my word for it, where my motives lie, just yet, I'll at the very least tell you this. I have no intentions as of right now, I'm just observing."
"Just, observing..."
"That's right, did you forget the difference between analysis and observation?"
"...Real question. Where did you come from?"
"Middle school, and now I'm here, in high school."
"So you're not from T-", Ayanakoji decides to not talk about The Whiteroom, since giving away too much information could lead to more than just the lack of a secured future, but as well as any successes or failures he has in the future, could end up being solely determined by her, which would be extremely bad.
There is one problem that Ayanakoji must never forget. The Ideal is someone who can either be his most relatable ally, or his most dangerous rival.
He decides to get info out of her as his current objective, rather than act purely on impulse in this high-stakes situation.