Introduction

"This seat is really not great. Although I can observe most of my classmates, I can't keep an eye on Hoshino-kun. But judging by his posture, he probably isn't reacting to anything, right?"

Ayanokoji Kiyona was pondering what kind of expression she should wear. Although she didn't know what level 100,000 yen was considered, judging by the reactions of most of her classmates, she figured it must be a lot.

Should she act surprised like the other students, or keep her emotions hidden like Hoshino-kun?

But in reality, while Ayanokoji Kiyona was lost in thought, she remained expressionless.

After the teacher left, only a group of students remained, having just received a massive sum of money and fantasizing about a wonderful life.

"I can finally buy that latest game console I've been dreaming of. I'm going to use it to play the galgame that came out last month."

"Should we go to the shopping district later? There's so much I want to buy."

After all, they were high school students with little life experience. Few could perceive that something was wrong, and most of those who had doubts were swept away by joy and their friends.

I hope you enjoy the wonderful time that belongs solely to you for this coming month.

"Everyone, could you listen to me for a moment?"

A handsome guy stood up, radiating the aura of a sunny youth; he looked like a kind-hearted person at a glance.

"Starting today, we will be living in the same class, so I would like to start self-introductions spontaneously. This way, we can get to know everyone faster and make good friends. There is still some time before the opening ceremony, what does everyone think?"

The bane of introverts—the "sunny" personality. Sunshine only shrinks the hiding places for the socially awkward.

"I support it. I don't even know everyone's names yet."

Hoshino Kanade thought self-introductions were meaningless. People only pay attention to the information they want to know. An introvert might struggle for a long time, only for the self-introduction they gathered the courage to give to not even be worth entering someone else's ears.

However, in Japan, one needs to "read the air." Once one person agrees, most others choose to follow suit.

Those who didn't speak up were simply swept along by the atmosphere.

"Hello everyone, I'm Hirata Yosuke. In middle school, everyone called me Yosuke, so please just call me Yosuke! I'm interested in all kinds of sports, especially soccer. Since coming to this school, I plan to join the soccer club. I look forward to working with you all!"

A smooth and confident self-introduction, fitting for the person who proposed the idea.

With his sunny, handsome face, cheerful personality, and love for soccer, many girls in the class already had a good impression of Hirata.

"Ciallo~(∠・ω＜)⌒☆, hello everyone, my name is Yamauchi Haruki. I've been into galgames since elementary school, won second place in a galgame competition in middle school, and I aspire to become a galgame master. I love Yuzusoft the most! If anyone wants to play together, feel free to find me. Please take care of me."

"Sugoi!"

Yamauchi Haruki's speech won praise from countless people, and even Hoshino Kanade had to admit that it was indeed impressive.

"What are you doing?"

As the person who sat behind him and monitored him daily, Ayanokoji noticed Hoshino Kanade's movements immediately and asked in a low voice.

"Sneaking away, of course. Each person taking a turn to introduce themselves will waste at least ten minutes, and besides, I have no interest in playing the friendship game."

Hoshino Kanade replied while lowering his body to slip out through the back door.

Many people in the back rows noticed Hoshino Kanade's actions, but no one bothered to meddle.

Horikita Suzune wanted to speak up, but she didn't intend to make friends herself and saw no need to introduce herself or listen to others. After Hoshino Kanade slipped out, she followed suit.

"What is Hoshino-kun doing next?"

Hoshino Kanade was startled. He turned around to see Ayanokoji Kiyona actually standing behind him.

"Why did Ayanokoji-san come out too?"

"Social anxiety. I didn't dare stay in the classroom."

Hoshino-kun gave up the chance to make friends in class. Now, Hoshino-kun only has me.

"You can call me Kiyona from now on."

Hoshino Kanade watched as Kiyona brushed her hair behind her ears with both hands, putting on a shy expression. He wondered what she was thinking about again.

With her cute movements, high attractiveness, and shy expression (though he felt it might be faked), Hoshino Kanade could only say: I'm in love.

"Uh... then you can call me Kanade from now on, too. Nice to meet you."

"I understand. Where is Kanade going next?"

Kiyona didn't look like she had much expression, but she seemed very happy.

"Let's go buy some daily necessities first. We can skip the opening ceremony."

"Hmm~ is that really okay?"

"The opening ceremony is meaningless other than being a waste of time. As for the problem of being caught during roll call, I'll let the 'me' from a few hours from now deal with it."

Skipping the opening ceremony should only deduct class points, and since they would be zero in a month anyway, he could squander them freely.

If not for the fact that skipping a whole month of school was a bit too extreme—risking immediate expulsion or being used as a scapegoat in future expulsion exams—Hoshino Kanade would have had to abandon this tempting idea.

"Kanade-kun makes sense."

In reality, Kiyona thought this was too attention-grabbing and didn't fit her escapist philosophy.

Making friends with Hoshino Kanade felt like getting on a pirate ship, but a hero cannot retreat in the face of battle. Kiyona wanted to be Kanade's hero (in her own mind).

In the future, she could shield Hoshino Kanade while remaining unnoticed herself, which fit her escapist philosophy perfectly.

The sound of arguing drifted from the classroom they were moving away from; Sudo Ken's behavior had diluted the impact of not participating in the self-introductions.

At this time, everyone had gone to attend the entrance ceremony, so there were no other students to be seen anywhere.

The school's convenience store was quite large, stocked with all sorts of items, and the selection of instant noodles was also very complete.

It was a pity that Hoshino Kanade was no longer interested in instant noodles; if it were in the past, being able to eat such a wide variety of them in rotation would have been a source of great happiness.

"Does Kanade want to buy instant noodles?"

"I'm just looking at what kinds they have."

"Oh~"

Ayanokoji Kiyona couldn't grasp the significance of this; could it be some sort of pre-shopping ritual to show respect to the God of Instant Noodles?

"They actually have free shampoo here. It looks pretty low-quality, but it seems like quite a few students are taking it."

Kiyona sensed something unusual again, but with so little information and a lack of common sense, it was difficult for her to deduce the truth of the matter.

"The teacher's wording back there was quite cunning. He only said points would be distributed on the first of every month, but didn't say it would be 100,000. I imagine there must be some sort of assessment that causes the monthly points to decrease."

Hoshino Kanade decided to show off a little in front of Kiyona; if he pretended to be completely oblivious, it wouldn't fit the persona he had crafted for himself.

"The surveillance in this school is also abnormally high. It's likely used to prevent bullying, or perhaps it serves some other purpose."

"Is that so? Kanade-kun is amazing. It seems this school is hiding quite a lot of things."

As Kiyona said this, she blinked at Hoshino Kanade, cupping her hands together in a display of admiration.

Hoshino Kanade felt that Kiyona's acting was getting better and better; even though he knew it was highly likely fake, he still found it quite gratifying.

"It's nothing. We should know the whole truth in a month, so for now, let's just enjoy life."

Hoshino Kanade consciously scratched the back of his neck, avoiding eye contact with Kiyona, putting on the appearance of a pure-hearted boy.

Because there was no one around, the checkout process went smoothly.

On the way to the dormitory, he took the opportunity to exchange contact information with Kiyona.

After picking up his room key on the first floor, Hoshino Kanade found that his room was 404.

As a side note, the dormitory was co-ed, with the female students living on the higher floors.

"Ja ne~"

After saying goodbye to Kiyona, he turned the key and finally got a look at the entirety of his living space.

It was about 13 square meters in size, fully equipped with water, electricity, and gas. The room style could be decorated to one's own liking—it was a super luxurious single room.

This seat is really bad. Although I can observe most of the classmates, I can't keep an eye on Hoshino-kun. But judging by his posture, he shouldn't be reacting to anything, right?

Ayanokoji Kiyona was pondering what kind of expression she should wear. Although she didn't know what level 100,000 yen was considered, judging by the reactions of most of the students, it was likely a significant amount.

Should she act surprised like the other students, or keep her emotions hidden like Hoshino-kun?

But in reality, while Ayanokoji Kiyona was lost in thought, her face remained expressionless.

After the teacher left, he left behind a group of students who had just received a massive sum of money and were fantasizing about a wonderful life.

"Finally, I can buy the latest game console I've been dreaming of. I'm going to use it to play the galgame that came out last month."

"Should we go to the shopping district together later? There's so much I want to buy."

After all, they were just high school students with little life experience. Not many could perceive the abnormality, and most of those who had doubts were swept away by joy and their friends.

I hope you all enjoy the wonderful time that belongs only to you over this coming month.

"Everyone, could you listen to me for a moment?"

A handsome guy stood up, radiating the aura of a sunny youth; one look and you could tell he was a kind-hearted person.

"Starting today, we will be living in the same class, so I would like to suggest we start by introducing ourselves spontaneously. This way, we can get to know each other faster and make good friends. There's still some time before the entrance ceremony, what does everyone think?"

The bane of the social outcast—the "sunny" personality only shrinks the hiding spots for the "shadowy" ones.

"I support it. I don't even know everyone's names yet."

Hoshino Kanade believed that self-introductions were meaningless. People only pay attention to the information they want to know; an introverted person might agonize for a long time, only for their courageously delivered introduction to not even qualify to enter anyone else's ears.

However, in Japan, one needs to "read the air." Once one person agrees, most of the others will choose to follow suit.

Those who didn't speak up would simply be swept along by the atmosphere.

"Hello everyone, I'm Hirata Yosuke. In middle school, everyone called me Yosuke, so please just call me Yosuke! I'm interested in all kinds of sports, especially soccer. Since I've come to this school, I plan to join the soccer club. I look forward to working with you all!"

A smooth and thorough self-introduction, as expected from the person who proposed the idea.

With his sunny, handsome face, cheerful personality, and love for soccer, many of the girls in the class already had a good impression of Hirata.

"Ciallo~(∠・ω＜)⌒☆, hello everyone, my name is Yamauchi Haruki. I've been into galgames since elementary school, and in middle school, I won second place in a galgame competition. I aspire to become a galgame master, and I love Yuzusoft the most. If anyone wants to play together, feel free to reach out. Please take care of me."

"Sugoi!"

Yamauchi Haruki's speech won the admiration of countless people, and even Hoshino Kanade had to admit that it was indeed impressive.

"What are you doing?"

Ayanokoji Kiyona, who made a daily habit of monitoring Hoshino Kanade from the seat in front of him, immediately noticed his movements and whispered a question.

"Obviously, I'm slipping away. If everyone gives a self-introduction, it'll waste at least ten minutes, and besides, I have no interest in playing friend games."

As Hoshino Kanade replied, he lowered his body and slipped out through the back door.

Many people in the back rows noticed Hoshino Kanade's actions, but no one bothered to meddle.

Horikita Suzune wanted to make a scene, but she had no intention of making friends herself and saw no need to introduce herself or listen to others; she walked out shortly after Hoshino Kanade.

"What is Hoshino-kun doing next?"

Hoshino Kanade was startled. He looked back to find Ayanokoji Kiyona standing right behind him.

"Why did you come out too, Ayanokoji-san?"

"Social anxiety. I didn't dare stay in the classroom."

Hoshino-kun gave up the chance to make friends in class, and now he only has me.

"You can just call me Kiyona from now on."

Hoshino Kanade watched as Kiyona tucked her hair behind her ears, putting on a shy, bashful expression, though he couldn't tell what she was thinking.

Cute gestures, high-tier looks, and a bashful expression (even if it felt staged)—Hoshino Kanade could only conclude that he was in love.

"Uh... then you can call me Kanade from now on, too. Nice to meet you."

"I understand. Where is Kanade going next?"

Kiyona didn't seem to show much expression, but she felt quite happy.

"Let's go buy some daily necessities first. The entrance ceremony isn't worth attending anyway."

"Hmm~ Is that really okay?"

"The entrance ceremony is meaningless beyond wasting time. As for the issue of being caught during roll call, I'll let the me from a few hours from now deal with it."

Skipping the entrance ceremony would likely result in a deduction of class points, but since they would all hit zero in a month anyway, he could afford to be reckless.

If not for the fact that skipping an entire month of school was a bit too extreme—risking immediate expulsion or being used as a sacrificial lamb in future expulsion exams—Hoshino Kanade would have had to abandon this tempting idea.

"Kanade-kun makes a good point."

In reality, Kiyona thought this was too eye-catching and didn't align with her own escapist philosophy.

Making friends with Hoshino Kanade felt like boarding a pirate ship, but a hero couldn't retreat in the face of battle, and Kiyona wanted to be Kanade's hero (or so she thought).

In the future, she could keep Hoshino Kanade protected behind her while avoiding the attention of others, fitting her escapist lifestyle perfectly.

Sounds of arguing drifted from the distant classroom; Sudo Ken's behavior had successfully diluted the impact of skipping the self-introductions.

At this time, everyone had gone to attend the entrance ceremony, and there were no other students to be seen anywhere.

The school's convenience store was quite large, stocked with all sorts of items, and the selection of instant noodles was remarkably complete.

It was a pity that Hoshino Kanade was no longer interested in instant noodles; if it were before, he might have been happy to try all these different varieties.

"Does Kanade want to buy instant noodles?"

"I'm just looking at what kinds they have."

"Oh~"

Kiyona couldn't grasp the significance of this. Was this some kind of pre-shopping ritual to show respect to the God of Instant Noodles?

"They actually have free shampoo here. It looks pretty low-quality, but a lot of students seem to be taking it."

Kiyona sensed something unusual again, but with so little information and a lack of common sense, it was hard for her to deduce the truth.

"The teacher's wording back there was cunning. She only said points would be distributed on the first of every month, not that it would be one hundred thousand. I imagine there must be some assessment that causes the monthly points to decrease."

Hoshino Kanade decided to show off a little in front of Kiyona; if he pretended to be completely oblivious, it wouldn't fit the persona he was building.

"There are also an abnormal number of surveillance cameras in this school. They might be for preventing bullying, or perhaps they serve some other purpose."

"Is that so? Kanade-kun is so amazing. It seems this school is hiding a lot of things."

As she spoke, Kiyona blinked at Hoshino Kanade, cupping her hands together in a display of admiration.

Hoshino Kanade felt that Kiyona's acting was getting better and better; even knowing it was likely fake, he still found it very satisfying.

"It's nothing. We should know the whole truth in a month, so for now, let's just enjoy life."

Hoshino Kanade consciously scratched the back of his neck, avoiding eye contact with Kiyona, and put on the look of a pure-hearted boy.

Because there was no one around, they finished checking out without any trouble.

On the way to the dorms, he took the opportunity to exchange contact information with Kiyona.

He picked up his dorm key on the first floor; Hoshino Kanade's room was 404.

As a side note, the dorms were co-ed, with the female students living on the higher floors.

"Ja ne~"

After saying goodbye to Kiyona, he turned the key and finally saw the full layout of his dorm room.

It was about 13 square meters, fully equipped with water, electricity, and gas, and the room style could be decorated however he liked—it was a super luxurious single room.