Chapter 2: Gotou Hitori Doesn't Seem Human
By the way, in this life, Ren is still a student, just starting high school at sixteen—the prime of his youth.
Ren had no resistance to the idea of going back to school in this new life. School was great; only there could you find pure girls untainted by society.
Since he had decided to find a girlfriend, Ren was even more motivated to attend school.
It was April, just after the start of the school year, the perfect time to build relationships with classmates and the opposite sex. Everyone had just moved up to a new school, facing new environments and new peers, feeling both uneasy and excited. With a little initiative, it was easy to make friends.
Private Toyosaki Academy was the school Ren attended.
Why did that name sound familiar?
Ren had some impression of the school's name but couldn't recall where he had heard it before. In his previous life, he didn't watch much anime and had only by chance heard the name; now, no matter how hard he racked his brain, he couldn't remember the context.
But in any case, the proof of the pudding is in the eating.
The next day, after waking up to find another cold one million yen in his account, Ren went to school with a clear mind and a light heart. Why did going to school feel so damn good?
"Ren-nii! Ohayou~!"
As Ren stepped onto the street, a neighbor's child greeted him. He turned to look and saw a little girl in elementary school uniform with short orange hair and a side ponytail, flipping through his memories.
What was her name again? Ah, right—Fujimaru Ritsuka!
Pfft! It was Hoshino Hinata—a very lively and cheerful little girl, quite adorable.
"Good morning, Hinata."
Ren liked cheerful little girls and smiled at her.
"Mhm~ Let's go to school together, Ren-nii~"
Not only was she lively, but she was also very enthusiastic, much more outgoing than her older sister.
If he remembered correctly, Hinata had an older sister named Hoshino Miyako, a college student who was a homebody. Ren had seen her a few times but never really talked to her; he had a strong impression of her because she often wore outdated tracksuits.
Faced with Hinata's invitation, Ren didn't refuse. The world needed more cheerful little girls like her to heal people's souls.
Hinata actively held Ren's hand, chattering nonstop all the way, as if she had endless topics and questions. Only when they reached the intersection where they had to part did she reluctantly let go of his hand and head off to school with her friends. Those friends even sweetly called Ren "onii-chan," almost awakening some strange fetish in him.
Those "onii-chan"s were unexpectedly alluring.
In high spirits, Ren arrived at Private Toyosaki Academy and entered his classroom—Class 1-A.
"Huh? Is he in our class? But I haven't seen him since school started?"
"A transfer student?"
"So handsome."
Ren's appearance caused quite a stir. Though only 177cm tall, not exceptionally tall, he still stood out among high school students like a crane among chickens. Moreover, being what you might call a local Chris Hemsworth lookalike, ordinary high school girls couldn't possibly remain unaffected.
Due to his grandmother's funeral, he hadn't attended school for half a month since the semester began. His classmates hadn't seen him before and were naturally quite curious about him.
Similarly, he hadn't met any of his classmates either. Facing those curious gazes, he nodded in greeting. Shortly after, the class bell rang.
Kirisu Mafuyu entered the classroom carrying teaching materials, looking somewhat surprised upon seeing Ren before composing her expression. She picked up the pointer and tapped the podium, producing a crisp sound to attract the students' attention.
"My oversight, I didn't notice Watanabe-kun had returned to school. Before we begin class, Watanabe-kun, please come up and introduce yourself. Have you finished dealing with family matters?"
"Thank you for your concern, sensei. Everything has been taken care of."
Ren was also somewhat surprised. He hadn't expected his teacher to proactively explain why he had been absent and even allow him to make up for the missed self-introduction.
If this were his former self, he would probably be so nervous that sweat would be forming on his forehead by now. Don't underestimate the pressure of introducing yourself in front of the entire class.
But now, Ren felt no pressure at all. He walked briskly to the podium, picked up the chalk and wrote his name. Just having some cold, hard cash in his bank account had made him much more confident.
"I'm Watanabe Ren. I don't have any particular hobbies at the moment, but I'm good at studying. If anyone has questions about coursework, feel free to ask me."
Ren chose the self-introduction most appropriate for this stage. What are students supposed to be good at? Studying, of course. And since his academic performance happened to be quite good, while others were learning from scratch, he was merely reviewing, he had a natural advantage.
"Very good. Gotou-san, please share your textbook with Watanabe-kun until he gets his own. I'll take him to get his books after class."
Mafuyu nodded with satisfaction and handled the issue of Ren not having textbooks.
This was fine for Ren, but not so much for Gotou-san.
'Eh eh eh~!?!'
When Gotou Hitori heard her name called and realized what was about to happen, she froze completely.
Sharing a textbook with a classmate!? And with such a handsome guy at that, she'd die, she'd absolutely die!?
What if he pushed her away in disgust because of her musty smell and gloomy aura!?
And sharing a textbook with a classmate during lessons, something she wouldn't even dare imagine in her dreams, if that really happened, the happiness in her heart would vaporize her!!
"I-uuu-eeehhh!? #*...%"
Hitori had already imagined the scene of being criticized by other classmates after school for reading a book with Ren.
"Please, Gotou-san, you're so uncool and you smell moldy. How dare you read the same book as Watanabe-kun? You should kneel and bow in apology, you jerk!"
Sorry, maybe a gloomy character like me should just disappear from this world....
"Abababa...."
"...."
Watching Hitori's pale face, and whether it was an illusion or not, Ren noticed the other person had transformed several times into indescribable existences. Not only did she turn into a slime creature, but her body also pixelated and twitched, emitting terrifying, ear-piercing sounds.
Now it was Ren's turn to be scared. Had he crossed into a supernatural world!?
Otherwise, how could a normal person turn into a slime creature, become pixelated, and convulse all over?
"Please pretend I don't exist! P-p-please go ahead!"
After Ren sat down, Hitori presented her textbook with both hands, bowing deeply with great solemnity.
"No, there's no need to go that far, right?"
After realizing the other person might not be human, Ren carefully accepted the textbook, opening it somewhat stiffly and placing it between them to read together.
[Ding! Detected that the host is studying. Rewarding the host with the ability to master anything learned, dedicated to helping the host easily grasp all desired skills.]
No, System, I'd rather have the ability to suppress evil spirits. The Gotou-san next to me has turned into a paramecium, and the other students are completely ignoring it.
The system activated again, but Ren wasn't happy. Because they had to sit closer to read the same book together, when he moved his chair closer to Hitori, she slowly melted away and had now transformed into a paramecium crawling on the chair.
Neither Mafuyu at the podium nor the other students seemed to find anything wrong with this.
So who exactly has the problem? He was so scared...
[No evil spirits detected. This is an ordinary world with complete safety. Please rest assured, host.]
However, after sensing Ren's desperate wish, the system didn't activate further but instead provided its judgment, this was indeed an ordinary world with no dangers present.
Where exactly is the ordinary part, may I ask?
Watching the Hitori version paramecium continuously wriggling on the chair, Ren was speechless.