New Semester New Seats - Part 2

She appeared to be copying down my answers onto a blank page in her workbook.

I could have called her out for it, but I didn't really care. I guess these were the types of strategies she used to make other boys fall for her.

After scribbling them down for a little, she closed her workbook and handed my homework back to me.

"Thank you~ if you ever need something, just ask me," she affirmed teasingly.

"I'll keep it in mind."

I slid my homework back into my bag and opened up the book I had been reading before. As Fredrich Nietzche once said, 'I'm not upset that you lied to me. I'm upset that from now on I can't believe you,' it seemed that philosophers had interesting takes on life events. I guess she had a facade that was covering her true self—whatever her 'true self' was.

Even despite her somewhat questionable actions, I saw no signs of her having any truly malicious intent. If I gained one thing from all of my years in the Ideal Human Project, it was the ability to deduce whether someone was malevolent—even so, she seemed to be a normal girl.

I just didn't understand why she was like this.

More students were gradually flowing into the classroom. More and more of the empty seats were being taken up as time got closer to the start of period one. For some reason, I felt as if there were some people glaring at me. I assumed that it was because I was sitting next to Fujiharu—she was popular with everyone, whilst I was as basic as it gets.

The teacher walked in and greeted us after the long break.

"I hope everyone has done their holiday homework. I'll be coming around to check it."

The entire classroom was filled with the sound of paper ruffling, bag scrunching and an undertone of panic. I pulled the homework out of my bag that I had previously shown to Fujiharu. The teacher made her way towards me first and looked down at the work I did.

"Good job, Mizuhara."

She checked my name off on her clipboard and made her way to Fujiharu.

I still had Nietzsche on Truth and Philosophy face down on my table. Judging by the reactions of some of the students behind me, it seemed that this was going to take a while. I decided to pick my book back up and continue reading. A few seconds later, the teacher checked off Fujiharu's homework as well and moved on to Nakatani.

The more I read, the more I noticed that Nietzsche was quite addicted to music, demonstrated by his most famous quote, "without music, life would be a mistake." Personally, I did enjoy music but not to such a degree. I wonder if his interpretation of music was one that was more magical.

Maybe I'm a bit too pragmatic.

"—Mizuharu~"

I turned my head and placed my book back on the table.

"Yeah?"

"How were your holidays?"

"They were fine. I didn't really do much."

"Ah."

It seemed as if she wanted me to say more. Maybe she was trying to figure out what my hobbies were. To be fair, I didn't really have any major hobbies. My time is usually spent either reading or doing whatever I want. Usually, I'd just visit some local shops or go to the gym in the nearby leisure centre—there wasn't really anything I invested that much time into.

Anyways, there wasn't much I could tell her, even if I knew her intent.

"How about you?" I asked

Now that she was talking to me again, I guess I'd learn some stuff about her.

"Oh me? I went shopping for some clothes a few days ago," she pointed at her hairclip, "I got this clip at Hepta. It's definitely my favourite store. Before that, I went to the city with some of my friends and had some fun at the arcade. For some reason, there were a lot of boys who were looking at us, hehe, then I won a..."

She was quite sociable. She seemed to be able to talk non-stop. She detailed all of the most interesting parts of her holidays and happily recounted them to me.

I certainly wouldn't be able to do that.

"Ah, I'm rambling on again, aren't I?" She made a gesture of covering her mouth.

"It's fine."

A few minutes later, the teacher finished checking the homework and made her way back to the front of the room.

"Anyone who didn't finish their holiday homework will have a lunchtime detention with me to finish it."

There was a uniform groan uttered by some of the students in the class. I thought that the punishment was fair considering how short the homework was and how much time we had to finish it—I guess not everyone agreed.

The teacher pulled up some information on the television and began reading through it.

"...in order to find the derivative, you have to use the quotient rule and then apply the chain rule afterwards. You can use the alternate chain rule if you wish. If you don't remember, the alternate chain rule is..."

It was all pretty basic stuff. I had already learnt most of this in the Ideal Human Project, so I was somewhat bored as the teacher continued to explain things on the television. I never needed to take notes or even study before a test. It was never necessary for me. At most, I would just have a quick look at the textbook and learn an entire lesson's worth of knowledge in a few minutes.

Fujiharu was writing down some notes in her workbook. Her layout was incredibly clean, her page was separated into sections, and she used a different coloured pen for different parts of the equation. Even back in the Ideal Human Project, I would never take notes. I'd simply listen to the lesson and remember what I was taught—I never really understood the purpose of taking notes.

I wanted to open up my book and continue reading, but I didn't really want to appear rude.

In the end, I just sat back in my seat and listened to the lesson.

Maybe I should open up my workbook so it seemed like I was actually doing something.