Infiltration: a huge success! With Ichinose's permission, I, a high-ranking member of Class C, was brazenly sitting in Class B's territory. I wasn't about to leave until they dragged me out! Of course, I hadn't come here to study. I was definitely here to... No, I wasn't here to pick up girls either! Right, first, a little information gathering. Which students got good grades, which got bad ones, and even which subjects they struggled with—all that information was easy to come by. Dig a little deeper, and thanks to their high attendance, you could also get a glimpse of the various groups in Class B. The core of the boys' group was an unremarkable guy named Kanzaki. Well, he was better-looking than me—did that count as a distinguishing feature? The elite Class B boys who followed him seemed pretty laid-back and had little desire for power. Unlike our class, the athletic boys in Class B seemed to have a rather low standing. Shibata, the strongest fighter in the class, was treated like someone everyone could order around. As for the girls, they could roughly be divided into Ichinose's die-hard fans and the other girls, whose presence was suppressed by Ichinose's radiance. All right, it didn't seem like there was much difference between them, but even so, this class was really strange. Everyone except Ichinose seemed to have a faint presence. Maybe it was because they were next to her? Or maybe they'd been subtly influenced and assimilated by her way of doing things. Even Sakayanagi would have a hard time pulling that off, right? Pretty girls really were something else. To confirm whether Class B really was united, and to find any potential weaknesses, I was prepared to sacrifice my good looks and infiltrate the enemy's ranks. You're up! Believing that if there weren't any weaknesses, I had to create some, I chose someone to approach. Naturally, it wasn't a cautious and loyal guy like Hamaguchi, but a girl who didn't look particularly bright. Kobashi Yume was one of the students receiving tutoring, and her grades weren't especially good. After secretly observing her for over an hour, I discovered she was part of a group fairly close to Ichinose. She got along well with Ichinose's devoted followers, Shiranami Chihiro and Tsunakura Asako, but she seemed a little more independent than they were. Most importantly, she wasn't bad-looking. She had Ibuki's same light-blue, neatly cut short hair, a naturally attractive figure with just the right curves, and an easygoing, graceful manner. That's right, I actually didn't like girls who were too introverted. Their personalities often made them seem less capable. They might be all right as girlfriends, but they were mostly just pretty ornaments. Even though I was only approaching her to extract information, my sexual preferences were still subtly influencing me. Here I go! A scene of flirting in the study room was a must.
First Volume: Making a Name for Myself — 13: Love at First Sight Is the Only Sincere Feeling
"Love at first sight is the only sincere feeling. A moment's hesitation makes it something else." — Israel Zangwill
With a soft whoosh, the pen I'd been spinning in my hand flew away and, as luck would have it, landed by Kobashi Yume's feet. Even better, she was so focused on solving a problem that she hadn't noticed. I pretended to scratch my head in embarrassment, then stood up amid the amused looks of the Class B boys beside me and carefully approached my target. Was this move too clichéd? Hmph! A cliché just meant it had stood the test of time! Besides, I'd made a few adjustments to suit the situation and prepared several backup plans. All I had to do now was work up my courage. F2, A! My dad had told me the first rule of picking up girls was to have a thick skin. That was especially true when the target's friends were nearby. I put on an Oscar-winning performance—self-awarded, of course—and calmly walked behind Kobashi. After pretending to hesitate for a moment, I crouched down decisively. Keeping my upper body still, I stretched out to pick up the pen, trying to stay inconspicuous and attract everyone's attention for just a moment. Then my gaze happened to sweep over the pale legs beneath Kobashi's school uniform skirt. I froze for a second, slipped, and knocked the pen farther away, while clumsily sitting down on the floor and drawing everyone's attention within several meters. "Um... do you need any help?" As I'd expected, whether Kobashi hadn't really noticed what I was doing before or had just pretended not to, she couldn't stand watching this embarrassing scene any longer. Her face flushed slightly as she asked.
"Uh... sorry to bother you. Could you help me pick up my pen? You seemed really focused on studying, so I didn't want to disturb you and decided to get it myself. But... it doesn't seem to be going very well..." I gave an awkward shrug.
"Haha!" She seemed to find me genuinely amusing. "I'll help you... um, classmate."
"I'm Kitazawa Minya from Class C. I'm here today to visit an old classmate in Class B. Your class has such a great atmosphere for studying that I couldn't help staying." I immediately seized the opportunity to introduce myself.
"Kobashi Yume. Welcome to Class B." She gave a reserved nod, using the opportunity to draw her legs out of my line of sight. Then she crossed them elegantly and crouched down to pick up the pen from the other side of the desk. I triumphantly accepted it from her with both hands, passing the first test. Without missing a beat, I launched into the second phase of my attack.
"Thank you so much! By the way, you made a mistake in the second problem on this page. Would you like me to explain it? Ichinose and the others seem busy." I tried to act as naturally as possible. By natural, I mean giving the impression that I genuinely wanted to help her with the problem rather than simply pretending to.
"Won't that be a bother?"
Nice! She'd picked up on my interest in her and hadn't rejected me outright. There was a chance!
"No problem. I ranked first in the Class C entrance exam, and I've already finished reviewing everything." I gave myself another little sales pitch. At a time like this, the more direct I was, the better. If I acted like a boy trying to impress her, she'd feel proud of her own charm. Then, by association, she'd find me—a "man of taste"—more and more appealing. Especially since I'd chosen her out of all the girls around us. This move was a critical hit.
"In that case, I'll leave it to you, Kitazawa." Kobashi had been a little surprised at first, but the surprise soon turned into interest. Before long, she invited me to sit beside her, drawing envious looks from the girls nearby. Having passed the second test and secured a seat in the girls' area, I smugly glanced back at the Class B boys, who were staring at me in shock. Man, we were all Japanese high school students, so why were you guys so hopeless!?
I tried scribbling on some scrap paper with the pen I'd deliberately damaged before tossing over (the pen seemed to be saying, "You heartless bastard! The rabbit isn't even dead yet, and you're already killing the dog!"). Then I said regretfully, "Oh no, looks like it broke when I dropped it."
"Use this one, Kitazawa-kun." Completely taken in by my scheme, Kobashi immediately took a pen from her bag and handed it to me. It was pink. Well, I'd make do!
"What a cute pen. This'll do!" With my sweet-talking skills in full force, I solved the problem in the blink of an eye, drawing an admiring look from her.
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