The Low-Profile Megumi Kato

"Hey, Akagi, how was the karaoke yesterday?"

Shin walked into the classroom, took his seat, and looked over at a male classmate named Akagi, who was standing nearby.

The surname Akagi was fairly common, and this student appeared to be an average, unremarkable student—though Shin had heard that he had a cousin at another school who played basketball well and supposedly looked like a gorilla.

This Akagi was the very person Shin had invited to karaoke yesterday, promising him that someone would invite Utaha Kasumigaoka as well.

"...Don't even mention it; Kasumigaoka-senpai didn't show up at all."

Akagi's face fell as he heard Shin, clearly disappointed. He'd been eager to get close to that "high flower on the hill" for some time but had never had the chance.

He'd thought yesterday might finally be his opportunity to exchange a few words with Utaha Kasumigaoka, but the student who had sworn she would come had failed to deliver.

"To make matters worse, because I said you'd be there, a lot of girls showed up just to see you."

Akagi looked at Shin with a wounded expression, sounding like a resentful spouse as he ground his teeth.

"When they found out you didn't come, I ended up on the bad side of several girls... Damn it, Shin! This is all your fault!"

"You're the one who exaggerated. You can't blame me for that."

Shin shrugged, clearly picking up on the fact that Akagi was just venting and not truly upset with him, so he responded casually.

"You shouldn't use Shin's name to talk to girls like that."

Other classmates overheard Shin and Akagi's conversation and joined in teasing Akagi, making the scene lively.

This was Shin's typical social situation at school—if the student community could be divided into tiers, Shin fit comfortably in the middle of the pyramid.

He wasn't isolated or bullied, but he wasn't as admired as the popular group led by Hayama Hayato either. He sat in a relatively balanced position.

Despite occasionally drawing some attention due to his striking looks, he didn't stand out too much.

If one had to compare, he was a bit like Yoshikage Kira—a person with the qualities to be at the top but choosing to keep himself at a middle level.

"Hmm?"

As Shin chatted casually with his classmates, he suddenly sensed someone sitting down in the seat in front of him.

He'd been working on honing his sensitivity to "Ki" in real life, so he kept his awareness up all the time. Any change in the atmosphere around him immediately caught his attention.

Naturally, he noticed the presence in front of him, but soon he realized something odd.

He hadn't paid any attention to who sat in front of him before, had he?

Shin had a decent memory. Even though his grades were average, he could easily be at the top if he wanted to.

With such a good memory, it shouldn't be possible for him to forget who sat in front of him—yet somehow, he'd never noticed this detail before.

When he finally looked at the girl who had sat down in front of him, everything clicked.

—Megumi Kato.

The female protagonist from a work he'd seen in his past life, notable for her uncanny ability to fade into the background, almost as if she possessed a superpower that made her easy to overlook.

Had he not noticed her presence through sensing her "Ki," he might have continued ignoring the girl sitting in front of him.

Although she was quite pretty, her peculiar lack of presence had caused her to be persistently overlooked.

"Huh?"

Megumi Kato, sitting in front, seemed to have noticed Shin's gaze and turned around, meeting his eyes.

"Shin, were you looking at me?"

Most girls would feel a little offended if they were stared at so intently, though girls who were attracted to looks might enjoy Shin's gaze.

However, Megumi's question carried none of those implications; she was simply expressing mild surprise. After all, no one had ever looked at her so intently before.

Her expression was calm, making it hard to tell what she was thinking—whether she was pleased or slightly annoyed by Shin's attention. Even her tone was completely neutral.

"Yes, because I hadn't really noticed who sat in front of me before, Kato."

Shin chuckled, offering a straightforward response.

He'd previously overlooked her due to her low profile, but now that he was attuned to her "Ki," her presence became clear to him.

"Saying things like that to a girl is sure to lose you some points, you know."

Megumi tried to frown, probably aiming to look a bit displeased, but it came off as slightly endearing instead.

Clearly, she wasn't actually offended by Shin's words. She was long used to being overlooked, and inwardly, she was somewhat happy that Shin had noticed her.

"But if Shin talks to me more often from now on, I might be happy."

Despite her words, Megumi didn't have high hopes. She suspected Shin had only noticed her by chance this time and would soon overlook her again.

"Is that so? Then I'll take you up on that offer."

Shin detected the hint of regret in Megumi's words and, understanding her thoughts, decided he wouldn't overlook her anymore. So he agreed readily.

"Shin, after school today, come with me somewhere."

At that moment, Akagi suddenly interrupted the conversation, clasping his hands together in a pleading gesture.

It wasn't that he was being rude on purpose; he simply hadn't noticed Megumi's presence or that Shin had been talking to her.

Megumi, however, was already accustomed to this, so she smiled at Shin and turned around, preparing her textbooks for class.

Annoyed at having his conversation with Megumi interrupted, Shin gave Akagi an exasperated look and asked:

"Where to?"

Since he knew he had up to eight hours before his next mission, he wasn't in any rush to go home early and sleep, so he could keep his usual schedule.

To be continued…