The world really is small.
Looking at this beautiful girl neighbor from his own home, who turned out to be his classmate, he couldn't help but sigh.
Yeah, surely the beautiful girl he ran into this morning won't end up in the same class as him too, right? That's just a joke, how could that possibly happen.
Saiki Kusuo walked toward the back rows, saw that window seat, decided it might be too conspicuous, so he took one more step forward and sat down one seat away from the window.
While Saiki Kusuo was admiring the scenery outside the window, a girl with messy pink hair tied in a bun rushed into the classroom in a hurry, her face flushed red as if she had been running the whole way.
Saiki Kusuo glanced over once, then immediately turned his head away, looking out the window. [Yare yare, I knew it.]
Shikimori [Ah, how could this be? My image is going to be ruined right on the first day of school with me being late. The image I have to maintain Ψ(●°̥̥̥̥̥̥̥̥ ཅ °̥̥̥̥̥̥̥̥●)Ψ.
No, Shikimori has to stay calm. It's fine, as long as I don't run into that boy from this morning again, then none of this ever happened. I got seen showing my violent side right as I arrived at school. As long as I don't encounter him again, it'll be okay. Otherwise, I'd want to die.]
She wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes, comforted herself with a few more words, then, without thinking, picked the empty seat right next to Saiki Kusuo and sat down.
"Hi, classmate. My name is Shikimori Miyako."
[Saiki Kusuo.]
After Saiki replied, he slowly turned his head to look at her, gave a slight nod, then turned back, propped his cheek on his hand, and continued staring out the window in the same pose.
"It's you!"
The smile on Shikimori's face instantly froze, turning into three parts surprise, three parts embarrassment, and four parts disbelief.
Shikimori [Ah, how could this be? Why? Why would God do this to me? How is this possible? My image has already...
He nodded at me, what does that mean? Did he figure out it was me? Then he doesn't want to make me feel awkward, right? But doing it this way makes me even more awkward. But why, why did I have to run into him, and in the same class too? This makes me want to die even more.]
Shikimori [No, no, it doesn't have to be like this. He might not have recognized me. Right, he might not have recognized me. It should probably, maybe, likely not be recognizable, right?]
Then Shikimori turned her head to sneak a glance at Saiki. Noticing her gaze, Saiki turned back and met her eyes. The former quickly looked away, covering her face with both hands.
[He recognized me. He definitely recognized me. Nooo, God, can you please make him forget? Hurry up and say you've already forgotten.]
Saiki Kusuo watched this version of Shikimori, then turned his head and said expressionlessly,
[Don't worry, Shikimori-san. The one I ran into this morning wasn't you. I don't know anything.]
Shikimori was slightly stunned, not yet understanding what he meant.
Shikimori [What does this mean? Does he not think I'm barbaric? He's telling me to forget what happened this morning. Could he have already seen through my heart and know I don't want others to find out? Hmm, maybe this guy's actually pretty nice.]
After a while, a beautiful black-haired woman wearing a white lab coat-style teacher's outfit walked up to the podium, her figure exceptionally good.
Hiratsuka Shizuka [Another failed matchmaking. These men really have no taste, they're hopeless. I can't bring my personal life emotions into work. How can I let the students see me like this.]
Hiratsuka Shizuka coughed twice, looked down over the students below, and tried to make her tone as gentle as possible: "I'm your Japanese language teacher, and also your homeroom teacher. For the next while, I'll be guiding you into campus life, and also..."
The students below had already started chattering away.
"Sato, look, our class has so many beautiful girls."
"Yeah, and our homeroom teacher looks really gentle too. She's a total beauty."
"My wonderful school life is finally starting."
"But our teacher is so pretty, she probably has a boyfriend, right?"
"Really? I actually think she looks like she doesn't have a boyfriend."
"You think you know everything. If you keep talking like that, I could even say Hiratsuka-sensei failed at matchmaking, hahaha."
...
"BAM!!!"
Hiratsuka Shizuka slammed her fist on the desk. The gentleness from before vanished instantly, her face turning cold: "Which student was that just now? Don't you know you can't just say things carelessly? You have to pay the price for your actions."
The other students instantly fell silent, looking left and right, trying to find the source of that voice.
The class went completely quiet. The student who had spoken earlier was already sweating buckets. Seeing others turn back, he turned back too, completely blending in, as if he wanted to find that person more than anyone.
Saiki Kusuo: So gentle, this teacher.
"Forget it, I'll forgive you this time. Don't talk carelessly like that again. For the next while, I hope we can get along well. If there's anything you don't understand, you can ask me." Hiratsuka Shizuka switched back to her gentle demeanor from earlier, smiling as she spoke, but no one was fooled by her appearance anymore.
"Today is the first day of school. Let's get to know each other first, starting with that student over there."
That flaxen-haired beautiful girl stood up and said, "Hello everyone, I'm Shiina Mahiru. Please take care of me from now on."
"Hello everyone, my name is Sato Ryoshi."
...
[I'm Saiki Kusuo. Pleased to meet you.]
"Saiki Kusuo? That name sounds kinda familiar. Isn't he the top student in our grade?"
"Really? He looks so ordinary."
"Ordinary?"
[Wow, I didn't expect a guy who looks so gloomy to be that amazing. He's actually the top in the grade. That's unbelievable.] Shikimori, sitting next to him, was surprised.
(I'm sorry for being the gloomy guy who took first place.)
After finishing his self-introduction, Saiki Kusuo sat back down. Yes, he was the top student in the grade.
Originally, he had wanted to control his score like before, since he'd always done score control in the past.
But ever since his grandfather put him through that demonic training, he had shown his personal academic talent. Although his grandfather allowed him to go train elsewhere,
he didn't allow his grades to drop, and even hoped he would improve further. Otherwise, if they dropped, he'd have to go back and continue the training.
But full marks leave no room for improvement, and dropping would be the same issue. So he could only maintain this score.
The self-introductions continued right after.
"My name is Shiraishi Junta."
"Hello everyone, I'm Izumi Yuu."
"Hikigaya Hachiman."
"Kitagawa Marin."
"Hayama Hayato"...
From the different self-introductions, people could figure out who would be suitable as friends, and see who seemed easy to get along with.
For example, Shiina Mahiru—this girl with peerless beauty and a great personality—was naturally very popular, with lots of people going up to talk to her.
The classmate next to him, whose looks didn't lose to Shiina Mahiru's—Shikimori-san—was of course the same.
Saiki Kusuo stood up and walked forward. He had already judged who in this class might be suitable as a friend for him.
The guy in front of him, Shiraishi Junta, looked very ordinary, easy to get along with, didn't seem like the type to cause trouble casually. His presence was a bit low, but that was fine.
Just then, Shiraishi Junta stood up and walked outside, passing right by Saiki Kusuo. Saiki raised his hand and asked, [Hi, nice to meet you. I'm Saiki Kus...]
Before he could finish, Shiraishi Junta walked straight past as if he couldn't see Saiki Kusuo at all, heading in the direction of the bathroom.
He actually ignored me. It's been years since I've been this pissed off. (ꐦ ಠ 皿 ಠ)
Just as Saiki Kusuo was about to chase after him, a male classmate came up from behind and patted him on the shoulder.
Saiki Kusuo slowly turned around.