New Semester New Seats - Part 1

I slowly made my way into the classroom.

I looked down at the rows and rows of tables which were all empty—it was to be expected since I got here quite early. My entire life, I've always woken up much earlier than others, usually because I had to attend a part-time job early in the morning. This morning when my alarm rang at 5:45 am, I decided to just get up.

The sun still hadn't completely risen from beneath the horizon. The sky was smudged in a pinkish purple-y colour. The classroom was dimly lit, and the light was on even though there was light coming from through the windows, albeit not a great deal.

I took a seat on the seat that I had been allocated. The previous day, our teacher sent an email with the seating plan for our class. I usually didn't care about the seating plan. I was pretty anti-social—well, at no fault of my own, the isolation I inhabited all my life caused me to lack social skills to some extent. To be fair, I did learn 'social skills' during the Ideal Human Project, but I never really got an opportunity to use them.

That didn't really matter. I took my bag and placed it beside my chair, removing the stationary and books I would be using for the first period. Since I was so early, I decided to take out Nietzsche on Truth and Philosophy by Maudemarie Clark. It was a book I had been reading for the past few days. I also realised that my reading habits did not coalign with the reading habits of most students in my year.

As I consumed the philosophy of Fredrich Nietzche, I was interrupted by the sound of a girl entering the room.

I looked up and saw a girl with short blue hair and a bright beige hairpin. She was a cute girl with a face which made countless boys fall in love with her. Her gentle movements, her smile, her down-to-earth demeanour, she was someone who was truly popular. Waving at me, was Sara Fujiharu, considered by many to be the cutest girl in the school.

"Hey, Mizuhara!"

"Hi."

"You're really early. Do you always arrive at this time?"

I usually arrived around this time. It seemed she wasn't all that observant towards boys before she began targeting them. Oh well, that knowledge would help me in the future. Then again, I doubt I'd have to change anything about myself.

[Illustration]

"Yeah."

She sauntered over and looked down at the book I was reading.

"Ooh, that's a nice book you're reading! Nietzc- um..."

I could tell that she was about to start a conversation about the book, but she noticed that it was somewhat out of her area of expertise. It didn't really matter to me, I was expecting a bit more from her, but I guess I'd just continue reading.

She seemed to have given up at that line of conversation, and instead, she hooked her bag onto the back of her chair and started arranging her table. All of her belongings were 'cute' per se, a small colourful pencil case and big bright folders, all decorated with some coloured markers.

After a little while, she began talking to me again.

"So Mizuhara, do you like reading?"

"I suppose so."

It was less that I enjoyed reading, and more that I didn't really have anything else to do. I had always resorted to reading whenever I was put in a situation without a goal in mind.

"Well, do you read any light novels?"

It was to be expected that she'd ask that. Students our age always read light novels.

"I don't mind them. There are some that I like."

I had nothing against light novels. It was just that I read them the same amount as any other book. So I was just in the mood to read this philosophy book.

"Ooh, which ones are your favourite?"

"Uh... one I read recently was called My OP Minion System... um... in the Apocalypse or something."

"Ah, by H.Z? I liked that novel as well!"

"That's good."

I had basically given up trying to read my book at this point, so I was fully engaged in speaking with Fujiharu. She had already swivelled her chair around so that she was looking directly at me, so it was kind of awkward if I just kept looking off to the side. I wasn't all that good at starting conversations, though.

"Are there any other light novels you like?" She asked

"Um... I also read one about someone being sent to another world to protect a princess... I think that one was pretty good as well."

"Someone being sent to another world to protect a princess.... hm—ah! You're talking about the H.Z.'s first-ever light novel, right?"

"Yeah, I think so."

"Ah, his works are really good. He's definitely one of my favourite novelists at the moment. It's just a shame that he's a bit sick at the moment. I saw on Twitter a few days ago that he said he was taking a break."

"Oh, well, health is important."

"Yeah, but now I'll have to wait longer before I can read the next volume of his novels."

We were interrupted by the sound of another student entering the classroom. She was a short, brunette girl with a ponytail. She was one of Fujiharu's best friends, from what I knew.

"Heyo, Sara!"

"Oh, hey, Karen-chan."

She looked over and noticed that I was also in the room. As soon as she noticed my presence, she appeared to be trying to make herself less imposing. She dumped her belongings onto her seat before leaving the room again.

"Ah! Did you do the holiday homework for maths?" she asked.

"Yeah."

"Can you please share it with me~ I might have forgotten."

She was usually quite an honours student, it was surprising that she would manage to forget the holiday homework, especially since the teacher emphasised the importance of it so much at the end of last semester.

"I suppose."

I reached into my bag and pulled out the work that I had done.

As she reached into her bag and grabbed her maths book, I saw the completed homework whilst she frantically flipped to an empty page.

"Thank you so much! The teacher would've been so angry at me."

But Fujiharu, you already completed the homework.