"Ichinose-san, that boy who came with you just now looks so refined. Introduce us, will you?"
The girls on my right suddenly changed the subject. They must have started talking about some boy.
I wasn't listening closely, but their playful chatter still reached me.
"If you want to meet him, just go talk to him yourselves. He's pretty easy to talk to."
"Huh? You don't mind, Ichinose-san?"
"Mind what? If everyone gets to know each other, that's perfectly normal, isn't it? Why should I mind?"
"I guess so, but you came to school together, and you're such a good-looking pair. It's easy to get the wrong idea."
"Huh? Get the wrong idea about what...?"
"You two look so good together, anyone would assume you were a couple. I mean, with a personality like yours, Ichinose-san, there probably isn't a boy who could turn you down. Even just standing together, you look like a perfect match."
"Yeah, yeah! And I saw Ichinose-san come in with her face all red."
"I noticed that too! You even came in one at a time, like you were trying to avoid looking suspicious. You were being so careful."
"Wait, does that mean you and him are..."
"No, no! We just... met on the bus a little while ago, found out we were in the same class, and came here together."
Ichinose explained, blushing. But the more she tried to explain, the more it sounded like she was covering something up.
After all, no matter how much someone explained something like this, it never seemed very convincing.
Nobody cared what had really happened. They only cared about what they wanted to happen.
Though I was being mistaken for a guy taking advantage of her, it didn't feel like much of an advantage worth taking.
"Ichinose-san and I really did just meet. We found out we were in the same class, so we came here together."
I turned around with a faint smile and joined in.
I suddenly noticed one of the girls looked familiar. I seemed to have seen her on the bus.
She'd been quite lively when chatting about other things, but she didn't seem too interested in teasing me and Ichinose.
I gave her a pleading look. She seemed to understand, and after thinking it over for a moment, spoke in a soft voice.
"I rode the same bus as them. It looked like they'd just met on the way here. Since they've both explained it, let's not dwell on this topic."
It turned out that once girls decided to start a new conversation, they could quickly get fired up about just about anything.
Was that youthful enthusiasm, or some special talent girls had?
And if it was a special talent, what special talent did boys have?
Hey! Not that kind of weird talent. Don't attribute everything to talent. You can develop your own abilities, you know.
Somehow, this turned into a small-scale round of introductions. It felt like I'd grown closer to a lot of classmates without even realizing it.
Was this Ichinose's charm?
I watched the dazzling star shining among the people beside me. Somehow, I felt myself caught up in her special energy and joined in without thinking.
Allow me to give a brief introduction to the current situation.
My name is Hajime Kashima, and I'm a first-year student at Advanced Nurturing High School. I'm currently in Class 1-B.
The girl beside me, Ichinose, was also my deskmate. She was a straightforward and beautiful girl who naturally found herself at the center of attention.
The two boys in front of me: the one who'd lost the game and struck up a conversation with me was named Tetsuya Hamaguchi. He had rather unusual gray hair and was the sporty type. He seemed carefree, like he could get along with anyone.
The other was named Ryota Beppu. He looked like he didn't want anyone coming near him, and, in fact, he really was like that.
But I meant when he was with a large group chatting and joking around. When it had just been the three of us talking, he'd actually seemed quite talkative.
Was it because he disliked conversations with lots of people, or something else?
The girl who'd helped Ichinose out sat behind her, which put her behind and to my right.
Her name was Shiranami Chihiro. She had short brown hair and spoke with calm confidence. She seemed quite gentle, giving off a delicate, fragile air.
I didn't have much of an impression of the other students. Even their names were already starting to fade from memory.
Now we were about to attend the opening ceremony. Our homeroom teacher hadn't waited for us in the classroom; instead, she was waiting for the new students in the ceremony hall.
Wait, the woman with the flushed face and unfocused eyes, barely able to stand as Ichinose supported her—was she the homeroom teacher for Class B?
"Mm~ Class B, line up over here! I'm your super, super, super cute homeroom teacher, Chie Hoshinomiya. I just turned eighteen this year! I was so excited to meet all my adorable students today that I couldn't help having a couple more drinks last night."
"Teacher Hoshinomiya... please be careful."
Ichinose gently reminded her.
"Ah~ I forgot to introduce myself a little more! I'm known as the lady drunkard of Advanced Nurturing High School! Hahahaha... Ah!"
"Saeko, what are you doing? In front of all these students..."
Another teacher with a mature figure had grabbed her by the scruff of the neck. Just kidding—it was the nape of her neck.
"Don't make such a racket. You'll have plenty of time to get drunk with your students once you're back in your classroom."
"Waaah, Saeko's so mean."
I watched as the teacher Hoshinomiya called Saeko held her by the head and made her stand to one side.
"Pfft."
For some reason, I found the sight rather funny and couldn't help laughing.
Little Hoshinomiya, still held by the head, glared at me.
For a moment, I wondered if the school had deliberately put everyone in Class B together because they knew what the teacher was like. Since she couldn't look after her students, the students in Class B had to take care of themselves—and then look after one extra teacher too.
I felt someone watching me. Following her gaze, I saw Sakayanagi Arisu looking up at me. Her school uniform paired with perfectly fitting white thigh-high socks... I struggled to move my eyes up to her face. She gave me a playful wink, as if she'd noticed something, and the faintest smile appeared at the corner of her mouth before she turned away.
I was a little out of my depth.
Among the second-years, there seemed to be one especially dazzling student. Quite a few girls from his year were gathered around him, and he seemed to be enjoying the attention.
He was watching the Student Council President, who was about to give a speech onstage.
Looking closely at his gaze, it seemed he wanted to take the president's place and give the speech himself.
"Hajima-kun, what are you looking at?"
Ichinose leaned closer and asked me.
"White thigh-highs."
"...Hajima-kun, you don't have to be so blunt about your preferences."
"But I had to answer your question, didn't I? I'm just telling the truth."
"You're mean..."
"If Ichinose-san wore white thigh-highs, I could look at you for the rest of my life and never get tired of it."
For some reason, whenever it came to Ichinose, I couldn't help wanting to tease her.
"I'm not talking to you anymore!"
Before you continue