Even if you disliked the class group chat, you could join it and mute it afterward.
Rather than saying that outright in front of half the class, who had already arrived.
Had she considered the consequences of phrasing it that way?
Couldn't she see the stunned looks the students were giving her?
After today, Suzune Horikita would probably be labeled as difficult to get along with.
"And if there's nothing else, could you please not stay here?" Suzune Horikita continued. "I still have reading to do."
She went back to reading.
That left Kushida feeling somewhat awkward.
Meanwhile, Suzune Horikita calmly continued reading.
How should he put it...? She utterly lacked social awareness.
As the camera, Hachiman began to think.
He wondered why he had chosen the seat next to Suzune Horikita.
In fact, no one had sat beside Suzune Horikita since yesterday. She gave off such a cold, unapproachable air that everyone seemed to deliberately avoid her.
And the facts proved that Suzune Horikita really was difficult to get along with.
Thinking back on it now, he had probably sensed that aura around her—the air of someone who had always walked alone.
In other words, she had no friends.
Nor did she have any intention of deliberately accommodating others.
Like a lone wolf that could never run with the pack.
Then had he chosen to sit beside her because lonely souls were drawn to one another?
But...
Hachiman closed his eyes.
If Suzune Horikita was a lone wolf,
then he wanted to be a bear.
A proud soul had no need for a place to forge bonds.
Kushida the Cutie: Hachiman Seemed Very Interested in Suzune Horikita
The high school curriculum at Advanced Nurturing High School seemed somewhat more difficult than those outside.
The textbooks were the latest editions, and the lessons progressed quickly.
Yet the teachers' attitudes seemed rather careless. As soon as class ended, no matter what they had been teaching, they never delayed dismissal.
They simply announced that class was over.
Moreover, they never called on students during lessons.
They did not even step down from the podium, so when some students read manga or played on their phones during class, the teachers paid them no attention at all.
What excited the students most, perhaps, was that there was not even any homework.
"Isn't this great? I hate teachers who drag class out."
"Exactly! And when PE gets replaced with math class!"
"By the way, it looks like we even have swimming classes in PE. We get to play in the water while going to school. That's awesome."
The students gave their opinions on the matter.
The classroom became a little noisy.
Though it was only their second day after enrollment, the students had quickly formed their own little circles.
They began clustering together.
The most obvious example was the group of boys in the front row.
Someone had bought a laptop last night and brought it to class, where he was rapidly putting together some kind of voting chart.
"What are you making? Huh, there are names of several girls from our class."
One student came over.
His name was Kanji Ike.
"We're making a poll!" said Haruki Yamauchi, who had introduced himself as being exceptionally good at Table Tennis and nearly becoming a prefectural athlete. "You know, a poll for the boys. I caught a glimpse of Hirata's phone. The girls are ranking the handsome guys at school, so I thought we should make a ranking of beautiful girls too!"
Oh.
So that was it.
"That's why us guys are obviously interested in boobs, breasts, oppai, and stuff like that!"
"So I think looks alone aren't enough. You need a great body to make the list too!"
"What do you think of those judging standards, Ayanokoji?" Yamauchi suddenly asked a delicate-featured boy who seemed to have very little presence.
They were currently using Kiyotaka Ayanokoji's desk, after all.
"Huh? I think they're all about the same," Kiyotaka Ayanokoji said, perhaps not expecting to be asked.
"Huh..."
"Actually, I think Horikita is very pretty," a tall boy with close-cropped red hair joined the conversation.
This was Ken Sudou, whom Hachiman had seen yesterday.
Although Sudo had said that self-introductions were childish nonsense yesterday, he had still stood up and introduced himself. Now, seeing the boys gathered together chatting, he joined them too.
Was this... forming a group early out of fear of being excluded?
This sort of ecosystem was pretty interesting.
"Horikita's face is definitely gorgeous."
"But I bet her oppai aren't much. Hasebe, Hasebe!" Yamauchi continued.
The Hasebe he mentioned was a girl in their class named Haruka Hasebe. She had a broad forehead framed by long blue hair and a beauty mark beneath her right eye. She was quite pretty.
And she had an incredible figure.
But... this was really awful.
Adolescence was certainly a time when people became interested in the opposite sex.
But was this really something they could discuss in public?
Couldn't they see the girls still in the classroom looking at them like they were trash?
The reason they were talking about Horikita and Hasebe was probably because both of them had gone to the restroom and were not in the classroom.
So although Horikita might have lacked social awareness, the rest of the class did not seem to have much social sense either.
Hachiman had already given up hope of receiving school living expenses as a class.
Because...
Even if all the information they had gathered was made public, given the personalities of their classmates, they would not unite or start working hard.
So the reality would be people dragging each other down, giving up, and refusing to listen to anyone.
Unless they suffered a brutal blow.
However, compared with watching the boys, Hachiman had actually noticed a particularly adorable girl.
There were many cute and beautiful girls in the class.
But for even Hachiman to pay special attention to someone and glance at her several times, she had to be unique.
Because she was an invisible beauty.
She was a quiet girl seated to his right.
She had long pink hair tied into two large twin-tails, with red-framed glasses perched on her nose.
She looked somewhat plain.
But...
Wasn't there a saying?
A girl with glasses became an unbelievably beautiful girl after taking them off.
In truth, she was cute even now.
When he deliberately raised his head and looked in her direction, she noticed his gaze, blanked out for a moment, then looked behind herself, apparently thinking he was looking for someone.
But when she found nobody behind her and saw that he was still looking her way, she finally understood.
She hurriedly opened her book and held it upright, hiding her little head behind it before peeking at him with only her eyes exposed.
Once she confirmed that he really was looking at her, her face instantly turned red.
Then she buried her face behind the book and did not dare raise it again.
Like a timid little squirrel.
Still serving as a camera, Hachiman continued to lower his presence, observing the people around him while letting his thoughts wander.
The reason he had so much free time was that it was already after the third class.
After one more period, they could go straight to lunch break.
During the breaks after the first two classes, Suzune Horikita beside him had remained in the same state: reading.
That was terrifying.
But just now, she had finally moved and left the classroom.
Considering that her thermos was already half empty, then... she was probably going to pick flowers now.
But that was not something a camera should concern itself with. It would be rather impolite.
Just as he thought that—
"Hachiman~"
A cute voice called out beside him.
Hachiman recognized that adorable voice.
It was Kushida's voice. The Kushida who had acted together with him yesterday, whom he had sold to Chabashira-sensei for the value of 200,000 points, but who was now completely useless.
"Hachiman~ Are you sleepy?" Kushida asked.
"..." Hachiman.
Hachiman maintained his fake sleeping posture.
"Is Sakura pretty?" Kushida lowered her voice and whispered. "You looked at her several times."
"..." Hachiman.
Well, it seemed she had noticed that he was pretending to sleep while secretly watching Sakura.
Kushida was terrifying.
Actually, Hachiman had also realized that Sakura might have noticed him staring at her.
And since Sakura was rather timid, she had probably asked Kushida to help her out.
This was not his fault. He had merely been looking at her normally, but his dead fish eyes made him seem fierce.
So Sakura had probably misunderstood him.
"Hachiman, can you talk to Horikita?" Kushida continued.
Judging by her wording, she had not come merely to help Sakura out. She had her own purpose as well.
He recalled that when Kushida had first arrived at school this morning, she had gone over to Horikita and been directly driven away.
Obviously, anyone would be upset if that happened to them.
Before you continue