Turning around to ask someone else something was too hard. If she got rejected, her very existence would disappear completely!
For all three years of high school, she would never dare speak to anyone again.
She should just wait for him to talk to her... No! What if he was a scary person?
She... she needed to observe him first.
But she did not dare look back... Then she could only...
With her head lowered, Hitori suddenly sped up, slicing through the stream of students like lightning as she rushed toward the school.
Ah, she ran away.
Ishikawa Hayato could not keep following the girl.
Still, he was not too bothered. From the look of Hitori, she had probably not joined a band yet. She was a first-year student, in the same grade as him, so they would definitely meet again.
Besides, he had already decided to join a band and experience a new way of life.
No, not merely experience it. He wanted to make a living from it.
"I'm going to make perverted music—music that perverts all over the world will come listen to!"
Ishikawa Hayato pointed at the sky and loudly declared it.
His shout instantly drew the attention of the surrounding students. They looked at this first-year newcomer with surprise, confusion, and bewilderment.
But how could Ishikawa Hayato chicken out? Like an emperor, he strode into the school atop everyone's stares.
Behind a tree several dozen meters from the school gate, Gotou Hitori nervously watched the students heading into the school.
Not that one, not that one either... Aah, which person was it just now?
She had finally met someone who seemed like he might want to talk to her, so why had she run away?!
Ugh...
There were too many people to look at. She was starting to feel sick.
With a mournful sigh, she withdrew her gaze, shrank back behind the tree, and lowered her head.
My life is more pathetic than an insect's. I'm a caterpillar... a caterpillar...
Tap.
Footsteps approached. Feeling her personal space being invaded, Hitori immediately looked over.
Drawing on his past experience, Ishikawa Hayato arrived near the school, avoided the crowd, and began looking around.
Generally speaking, when someone with social anxiety encountered a person they did not particularly want to avoid but still did not dare approach, they would only flee somewhere safe to observe them.
After entering the school, he finally spotted that eye-catching pink beneath a tree in a corner of the campus.
So he walked over.
He did not hide his footsteps, walking openly up to the tree.
Hearing movement behind her, the girl shuddered and timidly poked her head out from behind the tree.
Her cute, silky pink hair had fallen loose and scattered from her crawling on the ground. Her skin was so pale it seemed as though she had never seen sunlight, and her adorable pink tracksuit made her look soft and rosy.
At that moment, she wore the nervous expression of a small animal, her azure eyes uneasily raised toward Ishikawa Hayato.
"Hello. The weather's really nice today."
Ishikawa Hayato greeted her with a smile.
Neat black short hair, dark brown eyes, and a bright, confident smile.
Hitori's eyes widened, and then... she covered them with both hands.
Her eyes, her eyes were going to burn out!
Why was the first person to talk to her a level-max existence? Having to face the world boss the moment she stepped outside was way too awful!
No, her soul—her soul was going to be scorched.
She could not breathe.
Ishikawa Hayato stroked his chin, watching Hitori, who was already sprawled on the ground, with an odd smile.
Before seeing it himself, he had never imagined it could be this interesting.
She feared other people yet wanted to make friends with them. Her timid personality, her rich inner world, and the way the aura of a socially fulfilled person frightened her were all incredibly cute and interesting.
She was tens of millions of times better than the old him, who had completely given up on growing.
"Are you okay?"
Ishikawa Hayato moved a little closer.
"Aah... S-s-sorry for disturbing you!"
Hitori instantly sprang to her feet and, drawing on the survival instinct exploding within her, used what little athletic ability she had to dash away in an instant.
Disturbing him... He was the one disturbing her, was he not?
It seemed getting acquainted with Hitori first would be difficult. After giving it some thought, Ishikawa Hayato gave up on trying to get close to her for now. His goal was to join a band, and it would be easier to approach her after joining. More importantly, though, was how to join one.
First of all, he could not do anything.
Based on Kessoku Band's lineup, they were basically already complete, and he did not want to push anyone out.
No, if they discovered his true nature, he was more likely to be the one pushed out. Haha.
Thinking as he walked, he headed toward the school.
After finding his classroom and entering, he looked around. Yep, he was not in the same class as Hitori. That was a little unfortunate.
After that came the teacher's ordinary opening speech, self-introduction, and then the students' self-introductions.
Ishikawa Hayato sat with his arms folded, fingers constantly tapping his shoulder, his face full of disdain. He could not wait any longer.
Why was everyone so ordinary? Where was their youthful individuality?
While he waited, the students around him also unconsciously observed their new classmates.
The boys secretly watched the girls introducing themselves one by one, while the girls casually sized up the boys who filled their lives with all sorts of hobbies.
However, the gazes of some looks-obsessed students gradually shifted toward the handsome classmate sitting with his arms folded.
Finally, Ishikawa Hayato saw the student in front of him finish introducing himself and sit down. It was his turn.
"Next student, please."
At the teacher's words, this man, immensely proud of every word and action of his own, slowly stood up.
He opened his mouth.
"I am a pervert."
The words came from his heart, loud and clear.
Every student in the classroom felt as though the visual signals they were receiving completely failed to match what they had heard.
The entire classroom kept blinking, as though refreshing their vision.
Then Ishikawa Hayato surveyed the room like an emperor. Seeing the incomprehension in his classmates' and teacher's eyes, he continued.
"Gentlemen, let me reiterate: I am a pervert. Regardless of gender, regardless of age, regardless of whether it is organic or inorganic, regardless of its life structure, chemical composition, or physical properties."
The more he spoke, the more impassioned he became. Finally, as though delivering a curtain call, he enunciated each word.
"I. Like. Everything. That. Makes. Me. A. Pervert!"
In everyone else's eyes, the world contained only one madman shouting wildly to his heart's content.
Seeing everyone standing there dumbfounded, Ishikawa Hayato satisfiedly reined himself in a little and put on a gentle smile.
"It is my honor to come here today and become classmates with all of you. I hope everyone present can come to understand the beauty of what I have said alongside me."
As he spoke, he could not help wondering whether anyone would guess what he meant. Still, he had said everything there was to say; this was as far as his words went.
Then this guy started spouting nonsense.
"Also, I have received my first mission since becoming a high school student: to become a harem king! This is an opportunity to prove my strength."
With a sweep of his hand, he exuded boundless grandeur.
"So! Please sign up enthusiastically, whether for yourselves, your brothers and sisters, or your fathers and mothers."
"Everyone, give me your LINE! Give it to Ishikawa Hayato, the Hayato whose cry shakes the riverstones!"
"That is all."
Ishikawa Hayato sat down.
It was as though the world's vocal cords had been killed. Even the chirping of insects and birds seemed to stop around them.
Only after a moment did the teacher, frozen for a long while without knowing how to react, mechanically say amid the even more bewildered stares of the students.
"N-next student, please."
3. Opening
Kita Ikuyo, who was in the same class as Ishikawa Hayato, had not recovered even by the time class ended.
That declaration was even more independent than the Declaration of Independence. It had already gone beyond independence, as though it had transcended humanity and begun rejecting humanity itself.
This handsome boy practically had the words individuality written all over his face.
And just as she had expected, after class, not a single student dared approach Ishikawa Hayato.
At the time best suited for getting to know classmates, Ishikawa Hayato did not care in the least about being alone. Propping up his chin, he thought over something in his notebook, occasionally picking up his pen to write.
Behind him was a dazzling blue sky outside the window. Beneath that bright light, everyone's silhouettes blurred, yet only his presence remained unmasked by the radiance.
His body was upright, his long legs stretched out before him. He looked utterly focused as he thought, not even his eyelashes moving. When he was not writing, his slender, clearly jointed fingers carelessly rubbed at his bangs.
"Kita-chan, Kita-chan."
The friend leaning beside her called Kita Ikuyo back to herself.
Kita Ikuyo paused, then immediately smiled at her friend.
"Sorry, I spaced out."
"That guy's seriously not okay. Don't tell me Kita-chan is the type who only cares about looks?"
The fashionable high school girl sitting beside Kita Ikuyo's desk teased her.
Meanwhile, another high school girl, holding a phone and constantly tapping at the screen, looked somewhat surprised as she said incredulously,
"But I heard that guy was a student the school went to great lengths to recruit. He ranked in the top ten nationwide on exams and even won a gold medal in middle school track events. Look."
She showed the two of them her phone.
Kita Ikuyo and the fashionable girl leaned closer. Just as she had said, the man in the photo holding a medal with a faint smile on his face was Ishikawa Hayato.
"Eh... Do people who study well all have something wrong with their heads?"
The fashionable girl could not help complaining.
Kita Ikuyo giggled and waved a hand, joking,
"That's so mean. You should apologize to all the other good students."
Only after the class had divided into several distinct groups did Ishikawa Hayato notice Kita Ikuyo, standing at the center of one group with a smile that seemed to radiate light.
But he had no intention of having anything to do with Kita Ikuyo right now. With his first impression already ruined beyond repair, all he needed to do was be himself and be outstanding enough.
Besides, he still had to think about the band.
Lead guitar, rhythm guitar, bass, drummer.
Before you continue