Kushida, Why Does Your Voice Sound So Fake?

Today was the first official day of classes.

Class 1-D.

"I spent 80,000 points on a brand-new game console!"

Kanji Ike's face was brimming with delight and pride as he showed the game console in his hands to several friends nearby.

"I bought a laptop."

The one who had bought a computer was Hideo Sotomura. He was a little on the chubby side, wore glasses, and went by the nickname "Professor." During introductions, he'd said that he liked watching anime and playing galgames.

"Nice, Ike. Let me borrow it later."

Ken Sudō, who sat behind Ike, also looked excited as he went over and put an arm around Ike's shoulders.

Although Sudō's behavior yesterday had made quite a few people in the class dislike him,

it hadn't affected the little group formed by Ike, Yamauchi Haruki, and Sudō. The three of them even lived in neighboring dorm rooms.

You could only say that Stand users were drawn to one another.

"What about you, Yamauchi?"

Yamauchi had seemed to be waiting for just this moment. He quickly rolled up his sleeve, revealing a gleaming gold watch on his wrist.

"Haha, I bought a watch. It cost me a pretty penny, too."

"How's that? Pretty cool, huh?"

"That's amazing!"

"Now I want to go buy one, too."

"Then you can't get the same model as me!"

As he listened to Ike and the others praise him, Yamauchi grinned from ear to ear. At that moment, he thought he was already a handsome, rich, and mature man.

All the girls in the class must have been drawn to him!

"But isn't it a problem to spend so many points all at once?"

A random classmate nearby chimed in.

"What's the problem?"

Yamauchi replied without a care in the world. "We'll get more points next month, won't we? There's no point in saving points when they don't make more points."

Ike laughed and agreed. "Exactly, exactly!"

Chihaya Rei, seated near the middle of the back row, had naturally noticed all of this.

To be honest, he was a little curious.

What kind of mindset did it take to spend nearly all your points in just one day, then proudly show off about it everywhere?

Would the points they had left last them until the end of the month?

As expected of people from the Black House—they were going to take on the Mountain Vegetable Set Meal in their very first month.

"Chihaya, did you buy anything you like?"

Sakura Airi struck up a conversation with him.

Chihaya was a little surprised. Was the bonus from being a band fan really that effective?

"I haven't bought anything yet," Chihaya said with a shake of his head. "What about you, Sakura?"

"I bought a camera."

A delighted smile appeared on Sakura's face.

"Do you like taking pictures, Sakura?"

Chihaya asked, even though he already knew the answer.

He thought to himself that a camera was one of the three great tools for getting through this school.

The other two were a voice recorder and force.

He also needed to find time to buy a few voice recorders and a camera with video recording capabilities.

"Mm... When I see scenery I like, I want to take a picture of it. And..."

Sakura trailed off without finishing.

She was too embarrassed to say that she'd also bought the camera for selfies, and it was related to her secret identity as an online idol.

Chihaya didn't call her out. Instead, he reminded her, "Just a heads-up: it'd be better not to waste too many points this month."

"Eh?"

Sakura blinked her deep-blue eyes in confusion. When Chihaya didn't say anything more, she obediently nodded.

"O-okay. I'll listen to you, Chihaya."

"Chihaya, Horikita."

At that moment, Kushida Kikyo approached with an innocent smile and stopped between the two of them.

Oh, here comes Rail Girl.

"I want to be friends with you two. Can I add you? You both left in such a hurry yesterday that I didn't get the chance!"

Horikita looked up, her voice cool and direct.

"I refuse."

She didn't know why, but the way Kushida spoke to her instinctively made Horikita uncomfortable.

Besides, she had no intention of becoming friends with anyone.

"Eh?"

The smile on Kushida's face stiffened. "Um, Horikita, did I do something wro—"

Wrong?

But Horikita didn't wait for Kushida to finish. She put down her book, stood up, and left the classroom. She was probably going to the restroom.

Chihaya wore an expression that said he'd expected this, and even smiled.

"Um, Chihaya, your contact information?"

Facing Chihaya, Kushida now put on an even more pitiful expression.

Chihaya didn't agree right away. Instead, he asked thoughtfully:

"Kushida, am I just an add-on so you can get Horikita's contact information?"

"Of course not!"

Kushida immediately shook her head.

How could she possibly admit to something like that?

She quickly put on a sweet tone. "Don't tease me, Chihaya. I really want your contact information, too!"

"All right, then!"

After agreeing, Chihaya added, "But there's something I want to ask you, Kushida."

Hearing Chihaya's answer, Kushida breathed a sigh of relief.

If two people rejected her in a row, she'd lose face. Did she not care about her reputation?

"Mm! Of course!"

She nodded happily and flashed her angelic smile again. "As long as it's something I know, I'll tell you, Chihaya."

"But I can't tell you anything involving someone else's privacy!"

"Don't worry, it won't."

Chihaya waved his hand, then asked, "I wanted to know if that's your real voice, Kushida. Why does it sound so fake?"

"You know, I play in a band, so I'm pretty sensitive to voices."

At the question, Kushida's face turned an awkward shade. Her smile was even more strained and uncomfortable than it had been when Horikita rejected her.

But she still had to keep up her fake-sweet voice as she spoke softly.

"Um... Chihaya, this is my real voice!"

"Really?"

Chihaya sounded doubtful.

"You're not putting it on, are you? I once had a bandmate with a fake-sweet voice, but it turned out she was just pretending."

"After that, you know what happened. Her real voice was terrifying when she cursed people out."

Kushida's heart gave a little jolt. Her pupils trembled slightly, but she quickly returned to looking as if nothing had happened.

"Um, I don't know..."

Kushida gave an awkward laugh, then raised her hands and pressed her palms together, looking utterly sincere. "But don't worry, Chihaya. I'm definitely not like that!"

Only then did Chihaya nod and smile. "All right. Let's add each other, then."

"Mm-hmm!"

Just then, the bell rang. Kushida had never thought the sound of the school bell could be so beautiful and pleasant.

She left them with a quick "Let's talk again next time," then hurried back to her seat.