Don't Make Me Introduce Myself

Horikita Suzune?

The name sounded familiar.

Right—wasn't she one of the heroines in that series, Classroom of the Elite...?

So that was it.

He seemed to have crossed into this world.

Then...

That girl called Wang Meiyu really was...

He suddenly felt a little guilty.

Forget it. There was no need to worry about it. If he ran into her, he could just ignore her.

Anyway, this Horikita Suzune seemed like a tough one to win over.

He could tell that to get through to a woman like her, he would have to be better than her. That was all there was to it.

Right now, he was stronger than Horikita, but he fell short in other areas. If he couldn't outclass her in those, she probably wouldn't even spare him a glance.

What's more, she was a total brocon. With a perfect older brother like hers setting the bar, ordinary men were little more than ants to her.

The stronger ones might as well be mangy dogs that went around barking. They were a complete nuisance.

But...

He actually felt relieved.

People made their own paths. There would always be a chance.

Of course, groveling at her feet wasn't going to work. He'd never been that kind of guy.

With a positive attitude, he'd spent the past month reading books about how to pick up girls.

He hadn't really liked doing that sort of thing before. He was actually a more straightforward person who liked to trade sincerity for sincerity.

Looks played a huge part in whether people liked you.

But this time was different.

He'd only relaxed after the system appeared two months ago.

He'd spent years on the run, and he'd had more than enough of that life. Now he had the ability to turn things around. He swore that once he got stronger, he'd beat the hell out of the people still hunting him and make them understand the consequences of crossing him.

A month later.

It was the first day of school.

He took a bus to the school on the island.

The school grounds were enormous. The island had every facility imaginable, and the scenery was breathtaking.

Pulling his suitcase, Bai Ye walked through the spacious school gates.

He'd barely taken two steps inside when he felt the eyes around him turn his way.

Some were filled with admiration, others with envy...

He didn't panic or shrink away. He'd been used to these looks since he was a child.

His features were almost too beautiful, and his clear black-and-white eyes carried a faint air of melancholy. Paired with his gentle, quiet demeanor, his aloof appearance didn't feel too distant. Instead, it made people want to get close enough to touch him.

Not wanting to be stared at like a monkey, he hurried into the school building.

After completing the formalities, he received a student handbook and his class assignment.

Class D, Year 1.

He nodded indifferently.

He knew what this class placement meant, but he wasn't here to move up through the classes. He was here to break up.

So what if he couldn't graduate from Class A?

Aside from worrying about getting expelled before he could complete his task, there wasn't much else he feared.

When he entered Class D, he drew another round of stares. He sighed inwardly, then calmly walked to his seat and sat down.

His seat was near the front of the second row beside the aisle.

There weren't many people around yet. Once he was seated, he couldn't help glancing toward the corner, trying to spot his latest target, Horikita Suzune.

As he scanned the room, his gaze happened to meet a pair of cool eyes.

She seemed unconcerned. Her gaze held a hint of aloofness, but she soon looked away and returned her attention to the book in her hands.

That brief exchange was enough for him to sense the girl's unique presence.

He didn't even need to guess. That had to be Horikita Suzune.

What a shame. With her sitting so far away, how was he supposed to strike up a conversation?

As he pondered this, a familiar, petite figure came into view. His eyes sharpened, then he naturally looked away.

The other girl seemed to have noticed him, too. Though he wasn't looking at her, he could feel her gaze, tinged with resentment and sadness.

That girl was Wang Meiyu, the one he'd broken up with not long ago. By an unfortunate coincidence, her seat was right in front of Horikita Suzune's.

He lowered his head, ready to ignore her. But even after ten minutes, he could still feel that gaze, pricking at his heart like a needle.

Meiyu, please stop staring. People are going to think I'm a playboy!

He didn't want to be ostracized on his first day.

Fortunately, she knew that staring so openly would attract too much attention, so she stopped.

Still, the faint, intermittent glances made his mood swing back and forth.

Before long, the students of Class D had all arrived.

Then the sound of high heels clicking against the floor rang out, and a teacher with long, straight black hair and an air somewhat like Horikita's walked into the classroom.

"Hello, everyone. I'm your homeroom teacher, Chabashira Sae. You won't be changing classes at this school, so I'll be your homeroom teacher for the next three years..."

On and on she went.

He couldn't be bothered to listen. He already knew how this school worked, and he wasn't here to move up through the classes anyway. His class didn't matter to him.

Only after Chabashira Sae left did the students relax. Chabashira had a pretty intimidating presence.

The classroom grew noisy again, especially around the seats behind and to his right.

"Ike, did you see that? Chabashira-sensei's legs are so long, and she's wearing black stockings, hehe~"

"Of course I saw. But I still prefer the sweet, cute type, like Kushida..."

"I like Kushida too, obviously. I just think Chabashira's got a great figure. I'd never date someone so cold!"

Bai Ye couldn't help glancing back at the two of them, surprised.

These two really were something, weren't they?

From the nameplates on their desks, he knew the two who'd been talking were part of the class's trio of perverts—or, no, idiots: Yamauchi Haruki and Kanji Ike. The third, Sudo Ken, sat behind them.

They sat one behind the other, close enough to talk, but they weren't making any effort to keep their voices down.

The Kushida they were talking about—Kushida Kikyou—was sitting right in front of him.

She was close enough to hear them, but she showed no reaction and continued chatting with the classmate on her left.

Her expression didn't change at all, either.

After watching for a while, he stopped paying attention.

"Everyone, could I have a moment?"

Just like he remembered from the story, a handsome boy with a sunny, gentle air stood up.

"We've just started school, so we don't know each other yet. Why don't we introduce ourselves?"

"Sounds good!"

"I agree!"

With his handsome looks and approachable demeanor, Hirata Yousuke quickly won over the class. Most of the students who supported his proposal were girls.

The boys looked at him with a little more envy.

Still, Bai Ye could feel a few girls sneaking glances at him.

That was when he realized not all of them were looking at Hirata Yousuke. Some wanted to see him make a fool of himself... No, wait—they wanted to hear his introduction.

He thought that because he wasn't good at introducing himself.

This was a self-introduction, after all. You had to repeat your name, hobbies, and all that. Wasn't it awkward?

Clearly, he wasn't the only one who felt that way. Sudo Ken, sitting behind them, slammed his hand on the desk and objected.

"If you wanna play kindergarten games like that, do it yourselves!"

With that, he stormed out through the back door.

A few others who didn't want to introduce themselves followed him out. Horikita Suzune was one of them.

Seeing his chance, Bai Ye also got ready to leave.

But a sweet voice stopped him. "Are you leaving, Jingu?"

Jingu was his surname. His full name was Jingu Byakuya.

He looked up at the girl in front of him, Kushida Kikyou, who had called out to him, and asked in confusion, "Is something wrong?"

"No, it's just that a lot of the girls in class want to get to know you. Could you stay a little longer...?"

Bai Ye found it strange. What did it have to do with her if other people wanted to laugh at him? She wanted to watch too, didn't she? What a scheming girl!

With a girl calling out to him and the others watching, he was annoyed—and the thought slipped right out of his mouth.

"What about you?"

"Huh?"

Kushida Kikyou parted her red lips slightly, momentarily dumbfounded by the question.

The girl's cheeks had turned faintly red. He realized what he'd said as the curious gazes around them shifted toward something more knowing. He gave a light cough.

"N-no, never mind..."

Why did that sound like he'd just confessed to her?

Fortunately, Kushida Kikyou was quick on her feet. After a brief hesitation, she gave him a playful smile.

"Of course I want to get to know you, just like everyone else."

"Oh."

To clear up the misunderstanding, he kept his expression calm and said, "I'd like to introduce myself too, but my stomach hurts. I'm going to the bathroom. We can do it when I get back."

Kushida Kikyou smiled sweetly. "I'll be waiting."

He wasn't coming back!

He left without looking back.

Once he was gone, the students started whispering to one another, their faces alight with excitement as they gossiped.

Some, of course, looked displeased.

On the other hand, Onodera Kayano, who sat beside Kushida Kikyou, excitedly tugged at her sleeve.

"Kushida, do you think he likes you?"

"Huh? How could he? Maybe he just misspoke, hehe~"

Though she said that, Kushida Kikyou couldn't help smiling.

Her fair cheeks were tinged with a faint pink.

Even if it wasn't true, being mistaken for having received a confession—especially from the most handsome boy in the class—made her feel like the center of attention.

While the students chatted excitedly, two people felt rather unhappy.

One of them was Hirata Yousuke, still standing at the front of the room. He'd been standing there for a long time, but it seemed everyone had forgotten about him. Seeing that the self-introductions weren't going to happen, he couldn't help giving a wry smile and shaking his head.

Bai Ye's departure had only given them an excuse. There was no reason to keep talking about him, so the girls had used the opportunity to start discussing other romance-related topics.

They were girls, after all. They loved gossip, and once they got started, they just couldn't stop.

The other person was Wang Meiyu, sitting silently toward the back with her head lowered.

Her tiny fists were clenched. Listening to the occasional compliments about Bai Ye and recalling the misunderstanding from a moment ago, she pouted and muttered, "Y-you... pervert!"

Apart from those two, there was another person in the classroom who seemed out of place.

A handsome, expressionless boy sitting in the very corner raised his head slightly and silently watched how his classmates behaved.

When he saw some of them leave the classroom out of boredom, he observed them for a while longer, then stood up and left, too.