Ch.1 The Idea of Normal

"Am I normal?"

It's a question asked frequently asked among children, young adults, and sometimes even full-grown men and women.

To be normal, is to be accepted into society... no.

To be normal, is to blend into society.

Many wish to be "normal", to feel like they would be accepted by anyone, in a world as cruel and cold as our own.

Some wish to deviate from normality and try to become "unique" or "special".

But no one is truly special.

You can be unique.

But never special.

I'm not special.

I'm not unique.

I'm normal.

I do normal things.

In fact, I'm doing normal things right now.

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"Sato, what year did the First Crusade take place?" Ms. Takahashi asked, seemingly looking to see if I was actually paying attention or not.

Out of the 20 students in this room, you happened to pick me? Just when I thought I could make it through class without talking.

"Umm... 1096?" I said with uncertainty. To be honest, I don't really pay attention to history class. Maybe because I got bored of it really quick, due to my short attention span. Or maybe I'm just lazy?

"... Correct." She said, glaring at me, disappointed that she couldn't catch me in her trap when I was, truthfully, not paying attention.

I somehow managed to get it right, despite not fully paying attention.

Maybe God does love me after all?

"Okay everyone, due to the test being canceled, we are instead going to do group projects. Everyone is to form groups of 2 and choose a major historical event, and make a poster, infographic, etc... Oh, and make sure to have fun!" She said, adding the whole, "have fun!" bit, thinking that's how "fun" actually works.

Maybe God doesn't actually love me after all?

A group project is just about the worst possible way for me to keep my grades afloat.

"I recommend working on it during the weekend, because you won't have any class time to work on it. So it would be best to work with a friend!" She said, explaining the best possible way to approach the project.

What is this? A personal attack or something? Does she not see how pale I am? Does she think I'm the sort of person to have "friends"?

It's okay, I can still salvage this situation.

"Oh, and you have to the same amount of work as your partner. No letting your partner your partner do all the work for you!" She said, once again adding a rule which, if broken, would result in a painful 0% on the project.

I planned on doing all the work, allowing whoever would be my partner to kick their feet back and enjoy a free grade. I mean, who doesn't like a free grade. But now that the risk of getting a 0% has been exposed, no one would be willing to go with my proposal, in fear that their GPA (Grade Point Average) would drop harder than 9/11.

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Everyone has already got out from their seats, and started socializing with other classmates, trying to secure a good partner for the project. The classroom was evenly balanced when it came to gender, 10 boys and 10 girls, so it meant you had, on paper, a 50% chance to partner up with someone of the opposite sex.

But of course, it wasn't that simple. Your partner wasn't randomly decided, you have to actually decide on who your partner was by actually talking to them. I have no problem talking to people. The problem is that I've been in High School for a little more than 4 months, and during that time...

I haven't made a single friend. It's not that I'm bad with talking with people, on the contrary, I can be a completely different person in front others when it comes to personality.

So where did I go wrong?

Long story short, I never put in any effort in talking to anyone when High School started.

In the end, it doesn't matter. Ms. Takahashi will end up pairing me up with another fellow loner who, just like me, failed to find a partner.

While I was accepting my fate, someone called out to me.

"Saiko, you don't have a partner yet? I know how you feel, all my friends had already paired up when I was in the bathroom... Ah! I know! Why don't me and you pair up? I'd be a great chance to get to know each other better! Don't you agree?" The girl said, drawing nearer to my desk by the second.

The girl in question was...