Chapter 2

It was officially the second day of my life in this school. And, it was surprisingly a good day. Most of the day was spent explaining the school's rules and policies, which I made sure to remember and interpret to the best of my abilities.

I expected for high school teachers to be somewhat lenient with freshmen, but I didnt expect to be on the level of ignoring a sleeping student in class. The red haired delinquent showed no respect towards the teachers as he calmly slept the whole day.

Ugh, that's guys seriously disgusting!

Soon, it was lunch time. I wanted to go to the cafeteria with Sakura but,

"Um... C-could you go without me, I-I dont feel like going to the cafeteria today."

She shyly said. It seemed like she was still shy of me. It was to be expected. We only talked yesterday. I was considering the chances of me getting her to go with me if I pressured her but it didnt feel right. And to be honest, the chances were slim.

"Oh, ok. Maybe next time?"

I proposed. Then she nodded slowly.

Damn, I didnt know people could act so cute.

On that note, I decided to go to the cafeteria alone.

On my way there, I could see Chabashira sensei walking out of the Staff room. I figured it was the perfect opportunity to ask her some questions. So in a way, Sakura refusing me worked out just fine. Just as I was about to approach her, i could feel the weight of a gentle palm lightly tapping me on my shoulders.

I turned around and was surprised by who it was. It was a girl of average height with upper-back length brown hair that had bangs hanging on the left side, blue eyes and an average height. Sato Maya from my class.

"Tatsumaki-San, right?"

She asked to confirm. Naturally, I did the polite thing and responded.

"Yeah... and you must be Maya-San?"

I said. She looked at me a bit surprised.

Is there something wrong with me knowing their names?!

"So what can I do for you Maya-San?"

I asked as I could see my window of opportunity closing on me. It would be rude for me to be looking through the corner of my eye, it would be like saying please hurry up, you're wasting my time. (Which she was)

"I was wondering if you wanted to go to lunch with me?"

Eh? Eeeehhh?!

How do I describe this moment. If I had to put it short, I would say time stopped for me. I was a bit confused. No. Scratch that. I was totally confused. Why me? Then again, I didnt have to worry about the little details too much. This was my chance to increase my friend list. To rise up in the social hierarchy. Was I really going to let a chance like this slip past me? Then again, Chabashira sensei was going away. There would always be other opportunities, wouldnt there? Yeah! She was Class D's homeroom teacher. She always had to make time for us. Yeah, so I could wait one more day. Just as I was about to answer, my stomach growled.

I could feel my face burning up from the embarrassment. I forgot to eat last night and this morning. I was quite starved so this was only a natural reaction. But still,... did it really have to happen now?

Maya-San simply giggled then said

"I'll take that as a yes. Come on, let's go. I'll introduce you to the girls."

Girls?! She was already part of a clique?! My my, high school girls are no joke. I'm quite impressed but still,.... this is my chance to be high in the social ladder. This is good. Very good.

I nod shyly then she grabs my arm and pulls me along with her. We headed back towards the classroom, where 2 girls stood at the doorway.

First was a girl of average height with waist-length blonde hair that was tied in a ponytail and purple eyes. Karuizawa Kei if I was not mistaken.

The other girl was also of average height with long brown hair that had bangs swept to the right and blue eyes. Matsushita Chiaki.

Wow. How did they get so close after just one day?

"Hey girls!"

She called out to them, instantly drawing their attention, even though they seemed to be in the middle of a conversation.

"Oh hey, Maya-San, we've been waiting for you."

Karuizawa said

"Yeah, what took you so long?"

Matsushita asked

"Sorry sorry, I went to grab someone."

She replied then instantly pulled me forward.

"This is Tatsumaki-San, I was hoping you wouldnt mind if we grabbed a bite with her?"

I was awfully suspicious now. Why on earth would she invite me out to eat with her? I've never talked to her ever before. No. No. I was going to shut down my critical brain for a while. Dont sweat the small things, right? But then again, she could be a white room student. One of my reasons for unease last night. Anyway maybe going for lunch with them would prove beneficial for me.

Ugh! Why the hell is high school so stressful?! On the first day no less!

"Oh... hi, I'm Tatsumaki Shiro. Nice to meet you guys"

I said with a smile.

"Karuizawa Kei, good to know ya"

She stretched out her hand to meet mine and I shook hers.

"Matsushita Chiaki, pleasure."

"Oh... um. It's nice to know you guys. But, why am I being invited for lunch?"

I asked. They both looked at me confused. Then their eyes turned to Maya-San who was behind me. My trajectory also changed to her. Her cheeks were red for some reason. Then she started fidgeting with her hands.

"Well... you see.... I saw Tatsumaki-San going to the cafeteria alone and I thought it might be better for her to come with us than to be alone."

I was dumbfounded by her reason and also felt happy, then again I was being pitied. Why was I being conflicted with so many emotions.

"Aww.... Maya-San. That's pretty cool of you."

"Yeah, nice going Maya-San."

The two said. Hmmmm..... was this some plot to boost her popularity? Very interesting.

"Well... Thank you for the offer Maya-San."

I said, bowing my head.

"Well, let's go to the cafeteria. Its bound to be crowded by now."

Karuizawa-San suggested.

"Yeah. Let's go."

"I wonder what kind of foods they've got there."

And like that, I found a group of people to go to the cafeteria with.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Well, we finally got to the cafeteria. We all decided to get the same thing and managed to find an available table, where we settled down. After that, we begun to eat, when all of a sudden, Karuizawa-San asked me a question.

"Hey. Tatsumaki-San, do you have any other friends?"

She asked me. I could feel my heart breaking in two at being asked that question. It was unfortunate but I had to say the truth. Lying would only bring me misfortune. Wait,... I did have one

"Ummm... I have only one person I could say is my friend."

I said.

"Oh really? Who?"

Matsushita asked

"Sakura-chan."

I replied.

"You mean that pink haired girl? She didnt seem like the type to talk with others to me."

Maya-San responded.

"I guess you could say that she's really shy...?"

"You also look like the shy type, you know."

Karuizawa said.

Was that really the vibe I was giving off?

"Well, I guess you could say I sort of am?"

I responded

"So how did you start talking to Sakura-San then?"

Matsushita asked

Damn! What is this? Some sort of cop interrogation?

"She sits right next to me so I decided to get to know her better."

I responded. I felt like I was being interrogated, so decided to ask them some questions.

"What about you guys? Have you known each other for a long time?"

I knew it was a dumb question to ask, because the chances of 2 people from the same school appearing here were around 0.0125...? I guess. But it wasn't impossible. This was after receiving some information from the white room.

"Oh no. We just met one another and hit it off yesterday."

Karuizawa answered.

"Really?! How'd you meet?"

I asked an obvious question. I already knew that they sat really close to one another in the classroom. As such they should have been able to start talking to themselves easily.

"Oh we just sit next to each other in class. Just like you and Sakura-chan."

Maya-San said.

"Oh really? I figured you would have at least met one another in the bus here."

I said.

"Eh? Why would you think that? Why would I talk to some total stranger in the bus even if they were going to my school?"

Karuizawa asked.

I was simply stunned by how rude her tone was.

"Oh it's nothing. It's just that on the bus I saw some of our classmates there and they seemed to get along just fine."

I said.

"Eh? Really?"

Matsushita-San asked

"Yeah, a boy and a girl."

"Who?!"

Simultaneously they all turned to look at me and asked, their eyes hungry for the details.

In my head I smiled devilishly as I took a sip of my cup of milk. A girl's weakness was her tendency to want to gossip. They had played right into my palm. Now that I was completely controlling this conversation, let's get this show on the road.

I pretended to act startled and looked at them like I was confused.

"Errrhhmm... let's see."

I put my index finger to my lip.

"I think I remember, Kushida-chan and Koenji-kun being on the bus."

"Oh.... Kushida-chan is just friendly with everyone. It's to be expected of her."

Karuizawa-san said, disinterestingly.

"Yeah, I'm not really so surprised."

Throughout the conversation, there were important things I was looking for. Their behavioural patterns and their responses to the things I said. They were.... quite the interesting match up. While Karuizawa-san seemed to be confident, she was kind of rude. Maya-san was also quite bold but strangely friendly. Then there was Matsuhita-san. She was seriously calm and listened to everything I said. Easily the big sister type. To be honest, she was perfect but, her eyes were those of one who was observing everything.

It was barely noticeable, but i could see her lips curving upwards. Amongst these girls, I made her out to be my target. She was the only white room student candidate out of these girls. Basically because White room students would never be as lax as those 2.

"I think, there were also 2 more people. They both sit next to me. What were their names again?"

I feigned ignorance. I highly doubted these girls would have remembered Ayanokoji's introduction and that dark haired girl refused to introduce herself to the class, so she was an unknown for now. I came up with the nickname Dark haired Tsundere for now. I felt pretty proud of myself for coming up with that.

"Was it Ayanokoji-kun, perhaps?"

Matsushita asked.

The other girls looked at her with confused faces.

"Who now?"

Karuizawa-san asked

"Who's that?"

Maya-san asked.

"Yeah... I think so. And that girl who sits next to me too. Although I dont know her name because she refused to introduce herself."

I said, completely ignoring those 2.

"Oh my. This is quite the scandal we have on our hands, wouldnt you say?"

Matsushita said to the other girls.

"R-really?! You think they could be dating? But school just started."

Maya-san exclaimed.

I got a crack out of her sheer stupidity and I think I giggled. They all looked at me.

"Oh sorry. It's just that, I'm not sure if they're dating or they're friends from middle school. They only talk to each other is all I meant to say. But, without a doubt I could say those 2 are pretty close. We'll just have to wait and see."

I say, taking a sip of my milk once again.

Haha Ayanokoji. I'm not sure if Matsushita is the white room student candidate yet, but I will make sure you get hit by a storm of rumours that will worry your high school life.

With that, my purpose was complete. It would take a while but, there would definitely be rumours about this spreading. Was this what it felt like to be a high school girl? It was strangely fun.

After a few minutes, it was almost time for lunch break to end.

"Anyway, you girls want to go check out the shops after school today? I couldn't check em all out yesterday and there are a few clothes I want to check out from a boutique."

Karuizawa said. I wasnt surprised at all. From our little conversation I could already tell she was a spend thrift. She would find it a bit difficult if she ran out of points.

Was this really how the school was going to raise us? To teach us how to live lives of pure luxury? I couldn't see the logic behind it. This further deepened my suspicions. Anyway, that was a matter for later.

"Sure, why not."

Maya-san said

"Sounds pretty good. We didnt get to check out that cafe yesterday. Wanna give it a shot?"

They all seemed to be making plans for after school. Good for them. Now I just had to plan what I was going to do after school. Maybe I would check out the convenience store? Or just read the day away?

"Tatsumaki-san...."

As I was deep in thought I realised they were calling me.

"Oh umm... could you repeat that? I was thinking about something."

"Dont worry about that."

Maya-san said.

"We were just thinking about going to a café after school. We were wondering if you wanted to come with us?"

Just like before lunch, time stopped. I was dumbfounded once again. Absolutely confused. Then I suddenly realised I was making more friends. Of course i wasnt going to miss out on this chance

"Tatsumaki-san...?"

Matsushita called. It seems I was drowned in my thoughts again.

"Oh... um. Yeah. I would love to."

I said, with a grateful smile.

"Cool, just give us your contact info."

Karuizawa said nonchalantly.

"S-sure."

I gave her my phone and she typed in her contact info. As did Maya-san and Matsushita-san. Then they gave me back my phone and i looked at my contact list which now had 3 names.

Eh? Eerhh?! Is it really that easy to get a person's number?!

"Anyway, let's get back to class. It's almost time."

Matsushita-san said.

We all agreed and headed back together. I was quite excited for after school today.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

It was finally time to head back to the dorms, although I wasnt going back to the dorms because I was going to hang out with Maya-san and co. I was very much excited so I begun to pack my stuff up.

As I packed up, I caught Sakura-chan stealing glances at me.

Fufu... what's this cute girl doing now?

I decided to ask her.

"You need something, Sakura-chan?"

I asked with a smile. It seemed I startled her quite a bit cause she stated waving her hand frantically and her face turned red like a tomato.

"W-wha-what?! Uh-huh?! I don k-know what you are t-talking about?!"

She said.

"Really? I'm sorry then. I thought you were looking at me."

I bowed.

"I thought you wanted to maybe walk back to the dorms together with me but, i guess i was wrong. I'm sorry. I'm a little bit of a dunce."

I say, smacking myself in the head. I knew this is exactly what she wanted, I just wanted her to say it.

Sakura-chan turned silent and begun to look down.

"Well, if that's not what you wanted I'm heading out."

I said, turning around. This was sort of a test to see how shy she was. I expected to hear her call out my name as I walked out of the classroom. She didn't. I was seriously disappointed but, i guess theres not much i can do about that, now can I?

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Well today was quite fun. I met up with the girls, Karuizawa Kei, Maya Sato and Matsushita Chiaki, as well as Satsuki Shinohara who sits close to Karuizawa-san. We just talked and got to know each other better. It was my first time using my points. I would prefer to use them as little as possible.

On the way back to the dorms around 5pm, I was thinking about talking to Sakura-chan. She seemed a little bit down. I was sort of cruel leaving her like that in the class. So, I decided to go to her room later. So I got some ice cream from the convenience store and rushed over to the dorms before they melted.

I didnt even go back to my room. I headed straight for room 603. Sakura-chan's room. Hopefully she'd be in there. I pushed the doorbell, alerting her. Knowing her, she was probably startled.

I could hear footsteps drawing closer. I could tell she was looking through the peep hole as soon as the sounds stopped. So I move a bit closer.

"Anyone home? I've got ice cream~."

I said. It was customary to send a gift with you when visiting someone. Or at least that's what I read from a book.

Sensing no response coming, I decided to press on

"Its gonna melt~."

I said. And honestly I'd prefer it if it didnt. Ice cream was my favorite dessert and I wouldn't ever want to waste it.

I soon heard the clicking of the door as she unlocked it. Then she opened the door.

"T-Tatsumaki-san?"

She asked.

I then spun a 360, arms wide apart.

"Who else. Now can i come in? I've got melting 2 packs ice cream that we should be licking right now.~"

She welcomed me into her room. Well, the room was similar to mine. I guess we would have to wait a bit before people started customizing.

She led me to her hall and sat me down. I set the bag of ice cream on the table and handed one to her. She accepted it and I took out mine. It was chocolate strawberry. I wondered how it would taste.

The last time I tasted ice cream was when my guardian decided to give me one as a treat for doing something. That was my first and last time eating ice cream. Something about sweets not being good for my health.

Go die you old geezer

I think I squealed as the ice cream melted on my tongue. The cold sweet sensation that came with it was just fantastic. Ice cream truly was the best dessert. As I licked my dessert I noticed Sakura-chan was just sitting down quietly. She wore a pink hoodie with black yoga pants. Strangely they made her look more attractive. I had no doubt some boys already had their eyes on her.

She could be easily the most popular person in our class. Only if she were more proactive.

"Hey Sakura-chan. Your ice cream's gonna melt."

I said to her.

"Oh oh... I'll put it in the refrigerator. I'll eat it later."

She then went to drop it down, then came back

"W-what brings you here today, Tatsumaki-san?"

She asked. I'd been waiting for her to talk.

"I felt like giving you ice cream."

I said, licking my strawberry chocolate flavoured masterpiece. She looked at me confused. She looked like she wanted to ask a question, so I spoke

"What? Is it weird to go to my friend's room with ice cream?"

I asked.

"Eh? N-no. But,... That means you are saying we're friends"

Sakura noted

"Well, yeah. I did say I wanted to be your friend yesterday. So I thought we were friends."

It was quite the ordeal acting all nice. But, it was all to become friends with her. I really dont know why I wanted to become friends with her. I guess, I felt some sort of connection to her when I first saw her.

She seemed to turn red.

"B-but,... aren't those other girls your friends?"

She asked.

"Eh? Maybe? I dont really know. And if they are is there something wrong?"

I asked.

She simply shook her head. I could tell this was getting no where, so I decided to talk about something else.

"Hey, Sakura-chan. You said you like taking pictures right? You got a camera?"

"Hmm? N-no. I have to buy one from the digital store later."

I was filled with glee at this opportunity given to me.

"Wanna go buy one later together?!"

I asked.

She seemed to be thinking about it, then nodded. I was sure she'd find it a bit troublesome to go by herself.

Then an idea hit me like lightning

So I moved next to her and wrapped my arm around her neck. Then took out my phone.

"Wh-what are y-you doing?!"

She exclaimed.

"Taking a pic. Now smile for the camera!"

We both looked at my phone's camera, then took a picture. Then I moved away from my embrace and focused on the picture.

"Wha-... what was that fo-?!"

"Its a commemorative picture of the 2 of us. What do you think?"

I showed her the picture on my phone. Then she took it and carefully observed it. I could see her lips curving upwards.

"Tatsumaki-chan. This is great. I could've believed you were a professional."

She said. I then grinned.

"I may not be someone who likes taking pictures but I'm pretty confident in my skills."

It was absolutely pure luck. I really dont know how to take pictures but that one turned out good. Thank goodness.

Anyway, that wasnt my main target. I wanted to test out something. Edward T. Hall, a very famous cultural anthropologist stated that human beings had 4 distinct zones in their interpersonal space. These were the intimate space, personal space, social space and public space. Normally, it would be impossible to get into another person's intimate space unless they were very close. It seemed I had managed to do that without infuriating her. I guess it's safe to say she's my friend for now.

"Give me your contact info. I'll send you the picture."

I said.

We then wasted the night, talking about some things. Sakura-chan was actually quite an interesting girl. It confirmed my suspicions that she could be more popular, only if she was proactive.

Should I introduce her to the other girls?

I immediately dismissed that thought. That would probably be waaay out of her comfort zone. I was guessing I would be good for now. I mean, this was... only the second day at school. There were still so many more days yet to come. New friends to make and enemies to crush.

Hehehe.... just kidding.