Just as An Xiao was questioning his life choices, Chairman Sakayanagi was looking with interest at the computer screen in the board chairman's office. On it was footage of An Xiao bluffing his upperclassman earlier.
"This year's freshmen are quite something! I can't believe he managed to fish the rules out of him like that." Chairman Sakayanagi wore an amused, helpless smile as he looked over the student reports Chie Hoshinomiya had submitted. At the very top was the newcomer who had just caught his attention: An Xiao.
In previous years, even the freshmen who managed to learn the rules had only done so after a few days, and at some cost. This was the first time Chairman Sakayanagi had seen someone like An Xiao get them simply by leading a conversation.
Watching the surveillance footage of An Xiao agreeing with the third-year student about everything, despite clearly knowing nothing, Chairman Sakayanagi couldn't help smiling.
"It looks like Arisu won't be bored for the next few years. Should I tell her in advance?"
As he pondered, Chairman Sakayanagi set the report on the desk and unconsciously tapped his fingers against the wood, making a steady knocking sound. He soon stopped and gave a helpless smile.
"Better to let that child find out for herself. If I told her, she'd only complain to me."
Recalling how An Xiao's report described a personality that was completely at odds with this school, Chairman Sakayanagi couldn't help feeling a flicker of curiosity and anticipation.
"I wonder what kind of changes you'll bring to this school!"
The next morning, An Xiao walked into the classroom with his hair sticking up in a messy bedhead. He yawned, holding a bag of toast in one hand and two glass bottles of soy milk in the other.
As soon as he reached his seat, he rested his forehead on the desk with practiced ease, a slice of toast between his teeth. He opened the soy milk he'd prepared and began eating breakfast with his eyes closed.
"Um, An Xiao..."
"Hm?"
An Xiao raised his head, puzzled, and blinked hard. Then he looked toward the voice.
The pink-haired girl sitting in front of him had turned around. She looked a little conflicted, but before she could say anything, a warm sensation pressed against her lips.
Looking at the girl's dazed expression, An Xiao finally came to his senses. Awkwardly, he pulled back the bottle of soy milk he'd held up to Honami Ichinose's lips and said, "Sorry, I'm still half-asleep. I thought you were asking me to share my breakfast."
After he finished speaking, an awkward silence fell between them.
The classroom was still filled with the faint buzz of conversation, but somehow, the silence felt terrifying.
An Xiao glanced at the girl, then at the bottle of soy milk still in his hand. He figured he should try to get the conversation moving.
"Um, do you want to try some?"
An Xiao held the bottle out toward Honami Ichinose again, this time aiming for her hand, and asked tentatively.
"Ah? Sure, thank you."
As if jolted out of a dream, Honami Ichinose blankly accepted the bottle An Xiao offered. Feeling its warmth against her palm, she finally realized what had just happened. She clasped both hands around it, her voice unconsciously rising a little.
"Um, An Xiao, I actually wanted to ask you about that audio clip you sent me yesterday."
"Huh? What audio clip? Did I send you one?"
After instinctively asking three questions in a row, An Xiao remembered what Honami Ichinose was talking about. He scratched his head and said, "It's probably pretty much what he said. That upperclassman looked so regretful and resentful when he told me the rules. I doubt he was lying."
More importantly, that upperclassman didn't seem like the sort of person who had the brains or awareness to make something like that up.
An Xiao grumbled to himself.
"So that's really how it is..."
Honami Ichinose murmured with her head lowered, her expression complicated.
After all, anyone would have expected to simply enjoy an ordinary three years of high school. Who could have guessed there'd be so much trouble?
An Xiao took a bite of toast and nodded in agreement as he watched Honami Ichinose hang her head.
Who knew how furious he'd been yesterday when he learned all this? If the phone the school had issued them could connect to the outside world, he would've contacted his unreliable parents and asked to transfer schools right away.
He sighed again, slowing down as he chewed his toast.
But it didn't last long. Honami Ichinose took a deep breath and composed herself.
"Feeling better? Accepted reality?" An Xiao teased.
"Mm, halfway, I guess..." Honami Ichinose looked at An Xiao and smiled. "That upperclassman said our class would run into all kinds of problems, but I still want to try. At the very least, I hope Class B can get through these three years in one piece, without anyone missing."
"Of course, it'd be even better if we could get our class promoted to Class A. Don't you think?"
Honami Ichinose clenched a fist in front of her chest to encourage herself. When An Xiao didn't respond for a while after she finished, she looked at him, puzzled.
"Um, did I say something wrong?"
"No, not at all." An Xiao snapped out of his daze and stared at the pink-haired girl in front of him, still a little stunned. It took him a while to speak.
"Were you thinking about all that just now?"
I thought you were worried about the future the same way I was.
"Mm. That's what the upperclassman said, but I still hope our class can be different."
Looking at the girl before him, her expression unusually earnest, An Xiao swallowed the sarcastic remarks that had been stuck in his throat and turned to his front-row classmate with a complicated look.
"Classmate Ichinose..."
"Mm? What is it?"
"Are you an angel?"
"Huh?"
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