Friends and Fiends

On her second day, Kotori arrived to class a bit early.

She was still very excited about going to school with all the game characters and she ended up waking early. When she arrived to the classroom there was only one other person there, the heroine, Mari.

She seemed wholly absorbed in writing into her notebook, however, and didn't even notice Kotori come in. Kotori wondered if she should maybe say hello, but before she could Mari suddenly checked her watch and leapt up from her seat, running out of the room in a hurry. Kotori watched her leave, a little confused, wondering what she was in such a hurry for.

Her other classmates started filing into the room before she could think any more on it.

She made an effort to get to know the sitting around her better. Though they were technically NPCs in the game plot, they were all as real as her, so she figured it would be better to get to know them.

The person sitting in the desk to her right was Miwa Izumi, the new friend she made yesterday. To her left was Takeo Ibuki, a boy who had rather bright blonde hair. Kotori wondered if hair this colourful was natural for an otome game character, or if he'd just dyed it. Sitting directly in front of Kotori was a girl named Chidori Konno, who was one of the many girls part of Sosuke's fan club apparently.

Kotori kept the fact that she was Sosuke's friend a secret, not knowing how Chidori would act knowing that they knew each other. Kotori wanted to avoid trouble with her classmates as much as possible.

While Chidori and Takeo were perfectly nice people, Kotori still got along best with Miwa. She was just the right amount of friendly and bold. Not too forward to make her uncomfortable, and friendly enough that it was easy to talk about anything freely with her.

Kotori felt pleased. With a few solid friends, it looked like her high school debut was starting off pretty spectacularly.

Now all that was left was to befriend the capture targets. Sosuke was easy given the history they already shared, but Kotori was hoping to work up to talking to Kazuki today, at least once. They were in the same class after all, even though they sat in opposite ends of the room.

He seemed to get along with the people around him quite easily too, so she imagined it would be simple enough to become acquaintances.

The homeroom teacher came in before long, and chased any thoughts of capture targets away.

The day went by quick, Kotori finding herself exchanging notes with Miwa and Takeo every so often during the classes, and enjoying herself immensely. Miwa kept talking about how cute Kazuki looked when he turned his head this way and that, while she and Takeo didn't talk at all, and instead exchanged little doodles. She would draw something, and pass it to him, and then he would add to it and pass the note back, and then she'd make her own additions and so on and so forth.

Luckily none of the teachers caught them, or at least they weren't bothered to call them out on it. Most of the students were a little distracted still since it was just the second day. The teachers seemed to be giving them a little more leeway before they fully settled into a routine. Kotori was thankful for it.

When lunch time rolled around, Miwa and Takeo left to buy something from the cafeteria while Kotori stayed behind and pulled out the lunch that she'd brought from home. It was rare in Kouketsu High for a student to bring a homemade lunch, as this was a school that catered to the rich there was a very nice school lunch menu and most of the students had enough money to spare to buy lunch there everyday.

Kotori's mother loved to cook, however, and so she made Kotori's lunch for her instead. Kotori personally didn't mind missing out on trying the school lunch, her mother's cooking was more than adequate. Though she was rich now, sometimes she still had the mindset she did in her past life, and in her past life she would certainly not have bothered buying lunch if she could've brought one from home.

While she was waiting for Miwa and Takeo to return, Kazuki suddenly walked up to her desk.

"Is that homemade?" He asked, gesturing to her lunch box.

Kotori looked down, then back up at him. "Yes, it is."

He eyed her lunchbox strongly, and she wondered if maybe he was jealous. It seemed like an odd thought, but she did remember her sister once mentioning that in Kazuki's backstory it was revealed that his mother was cold and never showed him much love. Perhaps he saw that Kotori's mother had lovingly prepared a lunchbox for her and felt envious.

Kotori picked up one of the rice balls and offered it to him. "Would you like one?"

He looked at her in surprise, before grinning and pulling up a chair to sit opposite her. He plucked the rice ball out of her hand and stuffed it quickly into his mouth, smiling as he ate.

Kotori laughed.

Lunch became a lively affair. Once Miwa and Takeo returned, they joined their desks together and eventually a few other students also came over and they made a big group, laughing and talking together. Kotori couldn't wipe the smile off her face. Back in her past life she'd never been involved in a big group of friends like this. She'd had one or two very close friends, but was never involved in a group like this.

It was a nice feeling.

While Kotori ate her lunch happily, she was oblivious to the way the boys were looking at her. They all seemed struck by her beauty, at seeing it up close, and especially when she smiled. The other girls noticed, of course, but could only shrug helplessly. It wasn't as if they didn't also notice how beautiful Kotori was. And not only that, she was warm and approachable too. They couldn't exactly blame the boys for getting caught in their orbit. Not that the boys were the only ones. Some of the girls at the other end of the room were watching Kotori too, and were, at that moment, planning to put together another fan club.

Kazuki wasn't blind, so he too noticed how pretty Kotori was, but he was less easily swayed by just someone's good looks. The personality mattered the most to him, and though it seemed like Kotori was a nice person, he would save proper judgement for when he knew her better.

No one noticed Mari sitting alone at her table with her own homemade lunch in front of her, glancing in Kotori's direction with a frown on her face.