My Cold-Blooded Self

Make bold conjectures, seek verification with caution.

If the numbers above were truly, as he suspected, a measure of favorability, then a maximum of 100 felt a bit like successfully romancing a beautiful girl in a galgame.

Following that line of thought, if a guy reached 100, could it mean...

Thinking of the current state of affairs in a certain city from his past life, Toru Hasegawa couldn't help but shudder.

The mental image was too vivid; just imagining it for a second was already pushing his limits.

He didn't want to be either a 1 or a 0.

"Regardless, it doesn't necessarily mean what I think it does right now."

Toru Hasegawa comforted himself in his heart. Even if this really was a favorability display, setting aside the guys, the girls were already a tricky enough problem.

Even with such a blatant cheat code that could tell him whether his actions were correct or not, he remained skeptical about his ability to actually gain a girl's favor—

Because he had absolutely no relevant experience.

Was he supposed to apply his galgame experience to reality?

Where were the three dialogue options I'm supposed to choose from?

Besides, it wasn't as if a girl's favorability was that easy to earn... talking about plus points and minus points was something you only said to people you felt nothing for.

After pondering for a while, Toru Hasegawa snapped back to reality, only to realize he had missed the final opportunity to bond with his classmates; everyone had already stood up in unison, preparing to head to the gymnasium for the entrance ceremony.

One had to realize that in Sakura Country, if you didn't find a few friends right from the start, you were very likely to end up isolated in the future.

But he didn't think this was a good culture; forming cliques and then using cold violence was just pathetic.

Toru Hasegawa stood up a beat slower than the rest. After a collective "swish" of movement, his departure from his seat sounded solitary and somewhat jarring.

But clearly, no one noticed him because of it. Most people had their attention fixed on the physically disabled Sakayanagi Arisu, and a girl even offered her a suggestion:

"Do you need me to help you up?"

"No need, thank you for your kindness, but I think I still have just enough strength to move on my own."

As she spoke, the silver-haired girl picked up the cane leaning against the table leg and used it to leverage herself to a standing position.

Seeing that the other party didn't want to accept her help, and that she truly did have the ability to stand up on her own as she claimed, the girl had no choice but to follow her friends and leave with the main group.

Although Sakayanagi Arisu had attracted the most attention at first, it was impossible for everyone to revolve around her all day, so she soon fell to the very back of the class line. However, the overall speed of the line began to slow down to accommodate the girl's pace.

Unfortunately, Toru Hasegawa was currently positioned right there.

As Class A students lingering at the back of the line, Toru Hasegawa and Sakayanagi Arisu had different reasons.

The former was there because it was the only place he wouldn't be caught in the crossfire of the atmosphere radiated by the popular crowd, while the latter was simply due to her physical disability.

"If I remember correctly... you are Classmate Hasegawa, right?"

On the way to the gymnasium, the two of them somehow ended up in a situation where a brief conversation was possible.

"Yes. Sakayanagi, don't tell me you've memorized the names of everyone in the class?"

Toru Hasegawa offered a small compliment to the girl beside him. He had to keep in mind that he was practically invisible in class, his presence only rising slightly during the self-introductions; he hadn't expected her to call his surname so accurately.

After all, he had only remembered the names of a few students with distinct characteristics, and this girl, who radiated a strange, ethereal, and fleeting atmosphere, was one of them.

"Just as you thought." Sakayanagi Arisu seemed quite pleased with Toru Hasegawa's compliment. She narrowed her eyes slightly and changed the subject, "But you remembered my name too, didn't you?"

Although they were currently addressing each other by their surnames, she believed that her name, "Alice," which sounded as if it came from a wonderland, must have been deeply engraved in his mind.

She herself was very satisfied with this name.

"The reasons why we both remembered each other's names... should be quite different..."

Toru Hasegawa felt a bit awkward and rubbed his chin. Looking at everyone around him wearing school uniforms, a thought couldn't help but cross his mind—

The school uniform is the only couple's outfit she and I have ever worn...

No, why would he think of such an unnecessary sentence at a time like this?

"Hehe..." Not dwelling too much on that topic, Sakayanagi Arisu's next sentence immediately let Toru Hasegawa know the real reason she had approached him. "I'm very interested in what you said about 'not liking that flat-chested type of character.' Could you elaborate on that?"

Looking at Sakayanagi Arisu, who wore a half-smiling expression, Toru Hasegawa cursed his luck.

She had actually overheard his explanation to Kamuro Masumi...

And was this person really that petty? Even though it was the truth!

"...This... that... actually, I can explain..."

Toru Hasegawa stammered for a long time, spitting out syllables that even he found confusing.

Could these sounds even be considered a sentence?

Fortunately, the gymnasium wasn't far from the school building, and the line they were in had already reached the entrance. Infected by the generally quiet atmosphere, Toru Hasegawa found a suitable excuse for his silence.

He was choosing to remain silent out of respect for the speakers!

Yes! That's right! That's exactly it!

After comforting himself in his heart, Toru Hasegawa endured the incredibly boring entrance ceremony.

It was nothing more than high-ranking individuals force-feeding the students in the audience with chicken soup for the soul.

Toru Hasegawa had intended to put on an expression of being deeply moved and inspired, but upon glancing around and seeing everyone else looking drowsy, he reined in his slightly exaggerated acting and chose to follow the crowd instead.

What he didn't know was that, at a moment when almost everyone else was indifferent, two people had noticed his strange shift in expression.

One of them was Arisu Sakayanagi.

Toru Hasegawa truly hadn't noticed the gaze directed at him by the girl who only reached his chest; he was currently taking advantage of the first-year assembly to carefully observe the numerical progress bars hovering above the heads of those around him.

Hmm, they were basically all in the 40 to 70 range. If these were favorability ratings, such values likely represented an attitude toward a stranger, with 70 being significantly friendlier than 40. He would test that out later.

"Wait, what is going on with these two?"

As if he had seen something incredible, Toru Hasegawa widened his eyes.

[90/100]

???

At the front of the Class 1-B line, the numerical progress bar displayed above the head of the girl with gold-pink hair was abnormally exaggerated.

It made him start to doubt whether his initial hypothesis had some kind of issue, especially when he saw another person at the end of the Class 1-D line, just like himself.

That was a boy whose expression perfectly matched the atmosphere of the scene; to put it simply, he was expressionless.

But the point that truly attracted Toru Hasegawa wasn't the expression on his face, but the numerical progress bar above his head—

[0/100]

Holy crap, a cold-blooded animal!