4 Introductions

Once Anayakoji entered class with Sudō, who was having an idle chat with him along the way, he recognized three of the people who were already sitting.

The first one was the girl who was asking around the bus for help with finding the old lady a seat, who surprisingly has already made multiple friends, both male and female, despite class not having started yet.

The second one was the guy who denied the granny her seat so he could continue to have it for himself, who is currently combing his hair while looking at himself smugly in a handheld mirror.

The third one was, again, the arrogant girl, whose name he has still yet to know.

...

She's just sitting down, looking at her opened book without reading it, in the far back corner of the classroom.

'Something is clearly personally related to her and that student council president.'

...

Ayanakoji tells Sudō, "We should go around getting to know everyone else in the class now.".

"Ahaha, you're probably right! Talk to you later buddy old pal!"

"Yeah, sure."

Ayanakoji assesses the situation around the class, and it looks like giving introductions to everyone hasn't yet been properly established in the atmosphere yet.

That doesn't stop Sudō though of course, who started introducing himself to the person closest to him, Sayo Andō, near the door.

Despite the lack of introductions throughout the rest of the class, however, there is an interesting topic that is being brought up by the friendly girl to her group, and those ears dropping are naturally gathering around to talk about it.

"That speech at the end of the assembly was kind of odd, wasn't it? I wonder what got the student council president so spooked?", the friendly girl taps the bottom of her lip with a curious face.

"Maybe it was stage fright.", Andō, who was one of the ears droppers, says.

"No, I don't think that's what it was. He seemed so calm at the start, and then suddenly started speeding up after he locked eyes with something, I just don't know what…"

"What if it was a person? Yo! Wasn't there some kind of rumour spreading about some red head, otherworldly beauty?", Andō says to Sudō.

'Rumours spread fast.', thinks Ayanakoji.

"You mean Makima?", Sudō says while acting as though he knows her personally.

"What the- Do you know her or something?!"

"It's just so hard being this handsome.", he responds, acting as though their is a serious aching in his chest.

"Puff.", Andō laughs.

"What? You don't believe me!"

"Dude, not even you look like you believe what's coming out of your mouth."

"Ahaha, yeah…"

"So she's that top tier? Is she a ten?"

"A One hundred…- No! An Infinity…"

"*Whistles*, now I have to see THAT."

…

As Ayanakoji waited, he watched everyone's characteristics and made predictions of their current as well as future social standing, just to pass the time.

Then, the teacher enters.

Everyone picks a seat and sits down, and she notes this act of discipline, "Impressive, you all managed to settle down swiftly without me having to tell you, that's promising-"

"Hey, what do you think is going on with her bust?", Andō whispers to Sudō.

She then gives off a serious death glare to Andō, which makes him sweat, "You don't think she heard me, do you?", he continues.

"Dude, shut up...!", Sudō quietly screams.

The teacher rubs her brow with dissatisfaction.

"Before we do introductions, here are the seating arrangements.", she projects the diagram of the class's layout onto the wall.

Everyone moves around, and Ayanakoji goes to the far back left corner of the classroom, and next to him, is the arrogant girl.

The teacher leaves the classroom, "I still have something's to deal with, there's already a ruckus on day one… class won't start until I get back.".

…

The class are left for a while feeling disappointed from the social disconnect due to the teacher not prioritising introductions on their behalf.

As this happens, the arrogant girl notices that Ayanakoji is now her seating neighbour.

She tries to hide her lingering discomfort from the assembly, and re-places those feelings onto him.

"An annoying coincidence."

"Feeling's mutual."

"Hey, guys! Listen up for a sec!", a student begins to announce something to the class.

"We should go around the room and introduce ourselves, start to get to know each other. I'd like to get to know you guys.

Plus the teacher isn't here yet, so we might as well.

Does that sound ok?", he says with a caring voice.

"I'm in!", the friendly girl raises her hand with joy.

"Yeah that sounds like fun!", a gal with a blond ponytail agrees.

"I agree, I mean how else are we all going to get aquatinted.", a girl with purple-marone hair says with a tinge of ulterior motive.

'It's all girls that agreed with him.', Ayanakoji notes to himself.

"I'm glad to hear it! Well, I guess I'll go first then.

I'm Yosuke Hirata, but you can just call me Yosuke if you want.

I play every sport imaginable, and I'm going to try out for the school's soccer team for sure.

Thanks, nice to meet you all!"

Everyone claps.

'That was great. I bet that guy's going to be the leader in class.'

With this thought, Ayanakoji's instinct for winning at his desire for freedom refocuses, and he thinks about how he should introduce himself in order to be perceived as a normal guy, while simultaneously holding stability for his future.

'Just in case there are any potential enemies that could get in the way of any future goals that may manifest in high school, I shouldn't let anyone be able to read me, while also coming across as normal enough in order to have others to still feel comfortable talking with me, and increase such chances of me developing any such youthful, future goals through those bonds.'

"Ok, I guess I will go next.", the friendly girl says.

Ayanakoji pays more attention to her, since her attitude is distinct from the rest.

"Hi, my name is Kikyō Kushida. My goal is to become friends with every person in the ENTIRE school!-"

Ayanakoji stops paying attention, he already has her figured out, 'Sooooo faaaaaake.'.

"…That obviously includes everyone here. So, if you're planning to go out, please consider inviting me.", she vows humbly.

Everyone not only claps, but she gets a couple of whistles from the guys as well.

'…She won't have trouble reaching that goal. She's got the 'everyone's friend' vibe going on.', Ayanakoji notes her good enough but premature execution at her facade.

After thinking that, Andō begins his introduction.

Ayanakoji only decides to memorise his name, since he already understands what type of person he is from the remark towards the teacher and how he seems to already be, genuinely getting along well with Sudō.

He continues his analysis, 'I'll have to be careful around Kushida, she'll be the type to have social power. I don't know yet what she would want to use that for.

...

Anyways, I should be refocusing on how exactly I should execute portraying The Ideal facade...'

"Next up!", Hirata begins to announce, "How about you?", he looks to Ayanakoji.

'I'm ready for this.'

"Huh? Who me?", The introduction has already begun.

He has undermined himself subliminally to the entire class by displaying his absentmindedness.

He then stays sitting down for some time, having the internal mentality of his facade take over, 'No getting out of this one, better muster up the energy to stand up and say something, for the sake of my reputation.'.

He does just that.

"Um...so um...", intentional dawdling, "I'm Kiyotaka Ayanakoji...", he looks away from making eye contact, "Uh, I can't wait to study with you.", obligatory politeness.

He looks around at the absentminded faces, meaning that his psyche can't be read at least due to prevailing assumptions of what a mob character is typically like, "Uh. Uhhh..- I'm not really good at anything in particular... uh-, I'll do my best to get along with you all?".

...

..

.

After some awkward silence, everyone semi-attempts to clap and gets it over with as soon as it feels right to stop, which isn't very long.

...

He blew it, but even to the real him.

...

'I'm sure that Makima would have done it the same.

Though… I came across as an awkward introvert, while Makima probably would have radiated otherworldliness.

While I was concerned with just defence, she would have done that effortlessly while simultaneously growing her power and control over both friends and foes the like.

Having control over everything is the ultimate security for freedom.

So… compared to her, I blew it.

…

What's the difference between us for her to have such an aura?

I honestly don't know what I would have to do differently just to come across as someone who is more than they are letting on, but still secure all the same.'

Ayanakoji begins to reassess the portrayal of his facade, constantly comparing it to his image of The Ideal, which Makima fits into perfectly.

"Ayanakoji, well, it's nice to meet you. I can't wait to be friends."

'Oh yeah, I'm supposed to be making friends now. That totally slipped my mind for a second there.', he remembers.

"Hm.", the arrogant girl chuckles at his terrible introduction.

'Looks like she's back to normal.

She seems to also lack the awareness of having internal control over what her associations with things are. She currently associates me with every aspect of the brief memory she made when she 'won' that argument in front of the school gate.

Looks like I'll have to overwrite that association myself without her conscious effort, which can be done naturally through the portrayal of my facade.

Once I make the shift from my current facade to The Ideal facade someday, it should all go unnoticed, and the current association I'm going to overwrite her immature one with, will then be overwritten by The Ideal, which should also cause a chain reaction of associations to the rest of her memories she has of me, thinking that I had always been The Ideal from the start.'

As Hirata looks for the next student to pick out for a class introduction, he is suddenly interrupted by the dissociated teacher, "Let's get started.", she says quickly.

'What happened to her?', Ayanakoji thinks along with everyone else.