1 Entrance Ceremony

My time in middle school wasn't the greatest. Actually, scratch that–I'd say my past 15 years on this earth have been pretty shitty.

People have always avoided me. I don't know whether it's out of fear, hatred, or something else. If I had to hazard a guess, I'd say it's because of my looks. Apparently, I look like I'm constantly out for blood. Well, that's the story of my life summed up: people stay well out of my way, so I never had much chance for social interaction.

Most people my age approached high school with a sense of optimism– they considered it turning over a new leaf, having a fresh start, and all that. They hoped that things would get better once they entered high school.

To be honest I also entertained those ideas back then. But a single look in the mirror was enough for me to face the cruel reality. Pale white skin that looked like I lacked blood, lousy black hair covering half of my face, and bloodshot eyes that made the impression I haven't slept for years. I could star in a horror movie as the main ghost and could earn millions.

Actually that wouldn't be such a bad idea. I just hoped I had a chance encounter with a film director and scout me.

I had to end my pessimistic monologue when the bus stopped in front of the school campus. From now on I'll be attending this school.

Tokyo Metropolitan Advanced Nurturing High School(kinda long name don't you think?). It is a school established by the Japanese government to nurture the young people who will support the country in the future. It boasts a 100% employment and college entry rate, and with thorough, state-directed teaching methods, it spares no effort in pursuing the nation's desired future.

When I was searching for a school to attend, the school principal actually gave me a recommendation for this school. At first I thought I couldn't possibly be accepted, but the principal insisted I should.

Taking the Entrance Exams without so much of an effort of studying for it and then fumbling my words in the interviews because of my nervousness, it shocked me that a mail came telling me that I got accepted by the most prestigious high school in the country.

I checked my smartphone and I found myself arriving an hour too early.

"Guess I was just a little bit too excited."

I was born in the countryside, and the thought of going to Tokyo made me go here too early. It was my first time to see skyscrapers that touched the sky and lots of people living closely in a single place.

Sometime later the entrance ceremony for the first years started. We had to stand up for a long time while the school principal do his speech.

The entrance ceremonies for elementary school, junior high, and high school all mean the same thing: the start of another major trial for children. In order for students to enjoy their time at school, they must make friends, and there are only a few key days after the entrance ceremony to properly do that. Failure to do so signals the beginning of a rather tragic three years.

I'm the prime example of the guy who failed to do so. I've suffered for the last 15 years without making a single friend.

After the principal finished his speech, I went on my way to the Classroom I was assigned to.

I looked at the seating arrangements, and it was placed in the back on the corner. The protagonist seat I would say.

I returned and placed my bag on the placeholder of my desk. When I sat down, I noticed the classroom was already halfway full.

Just like I expected, people distanced themselves from him. There wasn't a single presence near him in a five meter radius. My classmates just subconsciously avoided me like they'd get cursed if they breathed the same air as me. They even gave me glances curiously at me sneakily, as if they'd get cursed to make direct eye contact with me.

Wandering around with my pessimistic thoughts, a girl sat down beside me. She was beautiful with that long black hair, and had a cool expression on her face. The black tights in her legs covered up until her thighs looked really erotic. She really looked high born full of elegance, as expected of people living in cities. In other words she would be the cool beauty type.

"What are you looking at?" the girl turned to look my way.

"Uh, I'm sorry." I said.

Not bothering to continue the conversation further, she sat on the desk beside me. I guess there would be strange people like her, people that don't get scared of me when they see my face. I'll take that as a good thing.

I listened to the music while waiting for our homeroom teacher. It's a song I originally read from a musical romance Manga. [Wings Of Light] by Blue Wells.

When the school bell rang, the door opened and a woman entered. I paused the music and removed my earphones.

"Take your seats."

My first impression of her is the kind of person who is strict with her students. She wears a suit with the air of maturity. Her hair seemed long, she'd tied in a ponytail.

"Good morning to you, students. I'm the instructor for Class D. My name is Chabashira Sae. I usually teach Japanese history. However, at this school, we do not change classrooms for each grade. For the next three years, I will be acting as your homeroom teacher, so I hope to get to know all of you. It's a pleasure to meet you. The entrance ceremony will be in the gymnasium one hour from now, but first, I will distribute written materials with information about this school's special rules. I will also hand out the admissions guide." The guys from the front passed some documents to the back until it reached me.

The person passing me was timid when he did it. Guess I'll be expecting bad rumors to spread about me soon.

The teacher began to explain the unique rules in the school. In the campus we have Points loaded to our ID cards as currency. "At this school, you can use your points to buy anything. Anything located on the school premises is available for purchase." she said.

"Your student cards can be used simply by swiping them through the machine scanner. The method is simple, so you shouldn't get confused. Points are automatically deposited into your account on the first of every month. You should all have received 100,000 points already. Keep in mind that one point is worth one yen. No further explanation should be necessary."

The classroom erupted into surprise. In other words, we had received a 100,000 Yen monthly allowance from the school upon admission. I'd expect nothing less from a massive institution run by the Japanese government. 100,000 Yen is rather a large sum of money for a high schooler.

"Shocked by the amount of points you've been given? This school evaluates its students' talents. Everyone here has passed the entrance examination, which itself speaks to your value and potential. The amount you've received reflects the evaluation of your worth. You can use your points without restraint. After graduation, however, all of your points return to the school. Because it's impossible to exchange your points for cash, there's no advantage to saving them. Once points have been deposited into your account, it's up to you how to spend them. Do as you like. In the event that you don't want to spend your points, you may transfer them to someone else. However, extorting money from your peers is not allowed. This school monitors bullying very carefully."

As bewilderment spread among the students, Chabashira-sensei looked over the room. "Well, it appears no one has any questions. I hope that you enjoy your time here as students."

Many of my classmates couldn't hide their shock from the massive amount of points.

"This school is surprisingly lenient, isn't it?"

There might be extreme restrictions like, being forced to live in the dormitories, being forbidden from leaving the campus, and being prohibited from contacting anyone outside.

This government-sponsored school's thorough guidance of its students hoped to ensure a better future. In fact, the school heavily advertised this. Many of its alumni went on to achieve fame. Typically, no matter how famous or impressive a school might be, the areas of specialization are limited. For example, one school might specialize in sports or in music. Another might focus on something related to computers. However, at this school, any student could hope to succeed, regardless of their field.

I imagined that this school would be something like a certain school of a cooking manga, full of excellent students and extremely competitive, but the majority of the students looked like typical teenagers.

No that can't be right. Everyone here passed the entrance exams. It wouldn't be right to judge something based on first impressions entirely. Who knows, they might look like typical kids but they could actually be geniuses. I, myself, should know that firsthand knowing how people judge me by my looks.

The girls started to gather and began to discuss shopping. With their newly given large sum of money in their pockets, they couldn't resist spending them.

"Everyone, can you please listen to me for a moment?" A student with the air of a handsome guy quickly raised his hand. I bet he'll be the popular guy that will sit on the throne of Class D. "Starting today, we're all going to be classmates. Therefore, I think it'd be good for us to introduce ourselves and become friends as soon as possible. We still have some time until the entrance ceremony. What do you say?"

Majority of the students were lost in thought, unable to speak up.

"Agreed! After all, we still don't know a thing about each other, not even our names." someone shouted. After the ice had broken, the previously hesitant students began to agree.

"My name's Hirata Yousuke. Back in junior high, lots of people called me Yousuke. Feel free to use my first name! I guess my hobby is sports in general, but I especially like soccer. I'm planning on playing soccer here, too. Nice to meet you!"

Hirata had easily introduced himself. With that way of handling his introductions, without a doubt he's the classic protagonist of this room.

"My name is Inogashira... Kokoro. Um, my hobby is sewing. I'm pretty good at knitting. I-It's nice to meet you all." she was unable to introduce herself without stuttering, but you did well Inogashira-san.

"I'm Yamauchi Haruki. I competed in table tennis during elementary school, and in junior high I was the ace player on our baseball team. I was number four. I got hurt during the inter-high school championships, though, and I'm undergoing rehab now. Nice to meet you." he introduced himself packed with lies. Or maybe this is a conversation tactic? I don't really have friends to grind experience points in this regard so my skill level is quite low.

"My name is Kushida Kikyou. None of my friends from junior high made it to this school, so I'm alone here. I'd like to get to know all of your names and faces right away and become friends as soon as possible! My first goal is to become friends with everyone. So, after we're finished with introductions, I'd love for you to share your contact information with me!" She wasn't just saying that.

I could tell right away that this girl was the type to open up her heart to anyone. Basically the kind of person with an incredibly high social skill level. How many years and hard work do I need to grind myself to reach the same level as her? With my looks, my rate of levelling up would be in the negative.

"So, after school or during vacations, I want to make all sorts of memories with lots of people. Please feel free to invite me to lots and lots of events! Anyway, I've talked for a long time, so I'll end my introduction here."

If I have to sum up my overall first impressions of this girl, I'd say she's an angel that descended upon the mortal world. The sight of her would make a devil like me scream in agony and despair. I could already see it with my imagination running wild.

"Well then, next up is..."

As Hirata looked encouragingly toward the next student, but that student glared back. His hair was dyed a fiery red. He both looked and sounded like a delinquent. And he looked unapproachable just like me.

I felt a sense of camaraderie of a fellow social outcast, thought it's a one-sided feeling. Though it sounded pretty gross to have a kind of feelings towards a guy, bleurgh.

"What, are we a bunch of little kids or something? I don't need to introduce myself. People who want to do that can go ahead. Just leave me out of it."

The red-haired guy scowled at Hirata. He had quite a presence, his attitude intense and overpowering.

"I can't force you to introduce yourself, of course. However, I don't think that getting along with your classmates is a bad thing. If I've made you uncomfortable, I apologize."

When Hirata bowed his head, some of the girls glared at the guy with red hair.

"Isn't it fine to introduce yourself?" one of them snapped.

"Yeah, yeah!"

No matter where I go, girls are really terrifying. I'm sure many boys would agree they're like alien creatures.

"Shut it. I don't care. I didn't come here to make friends." The guy with red hair got up from his seat. It seemed he had no intention of getting to know anyone. Several other students followed suit and left the classroom together. The girl sitting beside me also left the desk uninterested in the whole event.

I let out a sigh and I also got up from my chair.

What? I am running away from introductions? Don't make any false accusations... This is... Right! Staying in this room any further would worsen the mood, so as kind as I am, I honorably took my leave. It's a matter of pride. I'm not running away.

I repeated that to myself as I finally took my leave.

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Even though people said this place was tough, the entrance ceremony was the same as any other school's. Some important people offered words of thanks, and the ceremony concluded without incident. Then, it was noon. After we received some general information about the campus, the crowd dispersed.

When I was thinking of returning to the dorms, I saw a convenience store on my way.

"A convenience store, huh. Guess I'll go check it out."

I also just remembered needing to buy necessities. Especially since I was already in high school, I needed to look after my hygiene more. Being careless would just worsen my image and I would be more and more like a ghost if I smell bad and look dirty.

"My, what an unpleasant coincidence."

I happened to run into the girl sitting beside me earlier in the classroom. I hadn't gotten her name as she left with the introductions earlier. Though I also took my chance to run away from introducing myself.

"Ah, uhm, nice to meet you. My name is Hanma Yuuji." I said.

"You just went ahead and introduced yourself?"

"Hey, since we're sitting next to each other, we should at least get along." I actually said an entire sentence to a person without scaring them, I even surprised myself.

"Do you mind if I refuse." she said.

Fearing that the conversation would end here, I formed my next words assertively.

"If you ask me that, then I would really mind not knowing your name." I swallowed down my embarrassment as I forced her name out of her mouth boldly.

She let out a sigh as if she just gave up on something. "I'm Horikita Suzune."

Getting her name, I congratulated myself from the job well done. That would mean I officially made myself on her route. If things get good between us, I might end up getting her contact address. And then maybe, just maybe, I could finally make my first friend since the day I was born.

Yeah, having friends sounds nice to the ears... A social monster like Hirata or Kushida might get friends wherever you might throw them in the world, but to me they were as rare as an SSR roll, 10 stars, with a 0.00000000001% probability, in a Gacha game.

"Did you need to buy something?"

"Yes, just a few things. I came to get some necessities."

"Really? We're the same then."

There are many things you need when you start living in a dorm, especially to girls around my age.

"I thought girls always fuss about the brand of shampoo they use." I said.

"Well, that depends on the person, doesn't it? I'm the sort who doesn't know when you might need money." she replied shotting me a glare.

She really didn't seem afraid of me that much huh. Am I going to end up subconsciously sticking next to her whenever I have the opportunity? What am I, a haunted ghost chasing high school girls?

"At any rate, I was terribly surprised that you can talk normally," she said. "You didn't look like the type to talk with people."

"I admit that I didn't have friends. But any normal person could talk normally, right?" I wanted to ask 'Do I really look abnormal?' and answer myself 'Well yes I do!'. "Besides you look like the type to be just with yourself, and you can talk normally."

"Yes, but unlike me people seem to unconsciously avoid you."

"Well yeah," I said. "But you are not like me right? You could have at least stayed and introduced yourself. I'm pretty sure you would be popular, especially with the guys."

"How did you arrive at that conclusion? Actually, if I argue this with you now, we'll just end up in an endless debate," she said. "Besides, I never intended to make friends in the first place. If I have no need to introduce myself, then I also have no reason to listen to anyone else's introductions. Have I convinced you?"

"Not intending to make friends, huh..." I muttered. "Is that even a proper way of a human being to live? Even if you don't intend to make friends, knowing a person's name is pretty crucial in the society you know?"

"That doesn't sound much convincing coming from you. If you really think knowing a person's name is that important, then why did you leave."

"Ugh." Without a word for a comeback, she hit me where it hurts the most.

This girl is more solitary and aloof than what I'd first thought. She's close to an Ice Queen character you could find.

We roamed around the store without bothering with each other. She may seem a pain in the ass for normal people to be with, but I'm not exactly normal am I? Being with her also wasn't uncomfortable.

"Wow, this is enormous. It's a G Cup, huh?" I commented at the massive size of the cup noodles on display.

This might be out of the topic, but Horikita's breasts were neither small nor large. They exquisitely line between the two, the perfect balance.

"Hanma-kun. Were you thinking about something stupid just now?" she asked.

"Eh, no? What are you talking about so suddenly?"

"I felt like you were acting strangely." she said.

I didn't expect she'd see through me.

"I was just wondering whether or not I should buy this. What do you think?"

"Oh. Well, I suppose that's fine. Anyway, do you really think you should buy that? This school offers far healthier food options. Don't you think it's better to avoid eating junk?"

Like she said I had no reason to eat junk, better eat something healthier.

I looked upon each and every product in the store. Tossed them on my cart the things I think I needed.

I tried talking to Horikita about this and that, trying to keep the conversation going, but it doesn't seem that I'm doing a really good job.

"You don't seem adept at socializing. You're terrible at conversation."

"Well, if it's coming from you, then I guess you're right."

After looking for a while, I saw something strange in the corner. A bin of items gathered that looked really cheap. The label on it says 'Free' and 'Three items per month'.

"What's up with this?"

"Free?" Horikita appeared and picked up at one of the products.

Does anybody even need these with an allowance this big every month? Though I could imagine kids would develop a messed up sense of their money and ended up spending it all.

While I was thinking Horikita and I went to pay for the things we bought.

"The school has enough facilities to be a small sized city on its own for the population, and it's excessive to even give students such huge amounts. They might slack off instead."

"I won't tell you what to do, but I think it would be best to avoid wasting your money. It's difficult to fix frivolous spending habits. Once a person gets used to an easy life, they find they need more and more. When you lose it, the shock can be great." Horikita said.

"Yup, I'll keep that in mind."

This school is strange.