Class D

Kiyotaka and I finally make it to the classroom and we look around to find the desks with our nameplates. It seems like Kiyotaka got the seat next to the window while I got...

The seat that's directly in front of the girl I sat next to on the bus...

Fuck.

Kiyotaka walked towards his desk without hesitation and I reluctantly followed behind him. As we approach our seats, the girl looked up from her book and a scowl appeared on her face.

"What an unpleasant coincidence."

"Likewise" I retort while Kiyotaka and I took out seats. It seems like my prediction was false. I planned on ignoring her and just talking to Kiyotaka but it seemed like he had other plans in mind.

"I am Ayanokoji Kiyotaka and my friend who you have already met is Nishida Akira. Nice to meet you"

"A sudden self- introduction?"

"Even if you call it sudden, it's our second time talking to each other. And third time for Akira."

Not sure if mocking someone counts as talking.

"Do you mind if I reject your greeting?"

"I think it would be awkward if we didn't know each other's names, even though the three of us sit in the same vicinity."

As always Kiyotaka is right. It would be pretty awkward since we're gonna be together for next year and possibly, all three years of high school.

"I think it would be perfectly fine."

I turn around and look at her in disbelief. And I thought Kiyotaka and I were antisocial.

She won't even tell us her name. I retract my statement about her going to be popular with the guys. Despite her breathtaking looks, her personality is going to cause her popularity to plummet.

She gave Kiyotaka and I one glance before returning back to her book. It seems like this girl has no interest in this class.

"Is your friend in another class? Or are you coming to this high school alone?"

"You're a curious one, aren't you. You shouldn't talk to me since you won't find me interesting anyway."

"Kiyotaka just stop, your attempts at getting to know her are futile."

Kiyotaka looks at me and lets out a disappointed sigh. We thought the conversation was over until she spoke up.

"My name is Horikita Suzune."

I turn myself around to find her looking at me.

Wow. She is beautiful.

If she wasn't in my class, I would have assumed she was a second or third-year student.

My desire to become friends with her reignited.

"Well let me tell you about myself. I already tried telling you this on the bus but I like reading books. Other than that, I have no other particular hobbies but I am open to doing other things. The only friend I have is Kiyotaka, but I wouldn't mind making more friends. What about you?"

It looked like she was going to answer my question but she was interrupted by a loud booming voice.

"So the rumors are true! The equipment in this classroom seems to be top-notch."

He then walked to the desk with his nameplate on it, put his feet on top of the desk, and acted as if he was completely alone. His odd comment and peculiar behavior left me dumbfounded before I realized something.

Crap! In order to maintain Horikita's interest, I gotta start talking to her again!

I turn my head back towards Horikita who seems to be reading her book.

It looks like my last chance at becoming Horikita's friend was obliterated.

I shake my head in disappointment and sadness before turning back to Kiyotaka. I was about to strike up a conversation with Kiyotaka but two things happened. The bell rang and a woman walked into the classroom.

She looks about thirty years old and her long hair was tied back into a ponytail.

"Ahem, I hope you all are settling in. My name is Chabashira sae and I am in charge of Class D this year. I teach Japanese history. This school does not rearrange the classes every year, so I hope to get to know all of you over the next three years. Best regards. Although the entrance ceremony will be one hour from now in the gym, I will distribute the list of special rules of this school and the admission guide."

From the front, the handouts were passed.

The rules at this high school are very different from the rules at other schools. All students are required to live on-campus dormitories and are forbidden from contacting anyone outside of the school, including family.

Some students would definitely be against this which is completely understandable, contacting their family is forbidden for the next three years.

I too would have had a problem with this but that's in the past. Now, no one out there is going to miss me.

However, to make up for this, the school has implemented other facilities to keep the students entertained. Some examples include karaokes, theater rooms, cafes, and boutiques, basically a small town. The huge campus also took up more than 600,000 square meters.

"I'm going to hand out your student ID cards. With this, you can buy anything from the shops or facilities around the campus. It works like a credit card. However, it is vital that you are careful with how you spend your points. Anything at school can be bought with these points. "

So basically money. The idea of a credit card is cool but it's lack of restrictions is detrimental for people who impulsively purchase useless items.

"Using the students' card is simple, all you do is swipe them on the machines. Using the machines is easy so you shouldn't run into any trouble. The points will be automatically credited on the first day of the month. There should be 100,000 points on all of your cards. 1 point is equivalent to one yen."

The class lost it after that explanation.

So every student on the first day of school received 100,000 yen. Although this is a school run by the Japanese government, it's kind of a stretch to think that we would receive 100,000 points monthly.

"Surprised by the number of points? Thes school measures the ability of students. Every single person here passed the entrance exam, which shows some level of worth and merit."

Chiyabashira-sensei looked around the room.

"It seems like no one has any questions. Well in that case, please lead a good student life."

A majority of the students can't hide their surprise at the size of the allowance.

"Doesn't this school seem to be too lenient?" I say as I look at Kiyotaka.

"Yeah, the school is not as strict as I expected it to be," Kiyotaka said, agreeing with my statement.

"The amount of preferential treatment they are giving us is kind of scary."

Oh. Horikita decided to talk to us. I couldn't help but agree with Horikita. The number of benefits we get from this school is unbelievable. The biggest merit of this school is its 100% employment rate. This almost seems like a paradise. There has to be a catch.

"Hey everyone may I have a moment of your time?"

A student who had the air of a young man raised his hand and spoke.

"Starting from today were all going to be classmates for the next three years. Because of that, I think it would be great if all of us introduced ourselves so that we could all become friends. You guys think that's a good idea?" The young man said with a smile.

"I agree! Let's all get to know each other!"

"That's good to hear. I'll go first. My name is Hirata Yosuke but you can call me by my first name. I like all sports but my favorite is Soccer, I even plan to play Soccer at this school. Nice to meet you all."

Wow, his introduction was a flawless slam dunk. His popularity most likely multiplied by four. I can even see hearts appear in the girls' eyes. I guess good looks and excellent communication skills gets you all the girls.

I certainly don't have the necessary communication skills, but I do have a unique appearance. Maybe girls will notice me because of that.

"Well, that's it for me. Who wants to go next?" Hirata asked for confirmation.

"I will!" I recognized the girl, I talked to her on the bus!

"My name is Kushida Kikyou. None of my friends from middle school are attending this school, so I'd like to get to know all of you and become friends with all of you as soon as possible!"

She seems like the type of person to open her heart up to other people immediately.

"I want to become friends with everyone here so as soon as everyone is done with their introductions, please exchange contact info with me!"

She is definitely going to be popular with boys and girls.

"Then during vacations or after school, please invite me to many events because I want to make memories with so many people! I've been talking for a while, so I'll end my introduction here."

She seems like a nice girl but still, everyone has a mask they wear in front of other people. Everyone has their own demons. I must keep my guard up around people that I do not know.

But what's more important is trying to come up with a decent introduction.

Should I try to crack a joke? A good actual funny joke will make everyone laugh and it will definitely boost my nonexistent popularity. However, if the joke fails or its just cringe in general, the atmosphere will become severely awkward and open up the possibility of bullying. It's basically a high-risk high reward situation.

"There's no point in introducing ourselves! This shits ridiculous!" A guy with red hair exclaimed.

"I can't force you to introduce yourself. But, I think it's best to get along with your classmates."

"Forget it. I'm leaving." Red hair said while getting up from his seat. He left the classroom and soon after other students, including Horikita, left as well.

Hirata looked disappointed but one of the girls tried to cheer him up.

"Don't worry Hirata-kun. Let's just keep introducing ourselves."

Hirata smiled and nodded his head before pointing to the next person.

"I'm Ike Kanji. I hate ike-men but I like girls. I'm in the market looking for a girlfriend so nice to meet you, ladies."

I wasn't sure if he was joking or not but that statement did earn ire from the girls.

"Wow Ike-kun your soooo smooth," a girl said with an emotionless voice.

"Wow, everyone, he's cute! He's recruiting girlfriends!" This statement was followed up by all the girls laughing at him.

"Really, really? Wow, I thought I wasn't bad, but... hehe." Ike said while looking flustered.

Are you that dense? You're getting teased. But still, he didn't seem like a bad guy.

Lets see whos next.

"My name is Yamauchi Haruki. In elementary school, I played table tennis at the national level, I was also the baseball club's ace in middle school. But since I got an injury during Inter high recently, I'm currently in rehab right now. Nice to meet ya."

Liar. Inter High is a sports tournament for high schoolers, middle schoolers are not allowed to compete in that. If your going to lie, make sure you have your facts straight and actually be good at lying.

"Well that is certainly interesting. Alright, onto the next person."

I wonder who's next.

"You"

"Eh?"

Crap. I'm the next one, well here goes nothing.

"Oh wow, you're in the same class as me! Hi Nishida-kun!" Kushida said with a smile. Some of the girls looked at Kushida with a confused look.

"You know him?"

"Yeah, we met on the bus that was heading to school! He's a really nice guy!"

Kushida, you angel.

That most likely gave me bonus points on the popularity scale but still, I can't screw up this introduction.

"Um... my name is Nishida Akira... I like to read books and... that's all there is to me, uh, nice to meet you guys."

I could hear the crickets chirping.

I blew it.

"I hope to get to know you better Nishida-kun," Hirata said with a refreshing smile.

"Good introduction Nishida-kun," Kushida said with a smile while clapping. The other girls started clapping but I could tell they were forced. They even had amused looks on their faces. I sat down with a bitter smile.

My intro was not horrible, but it could have been a lot better. Still, making more friends was not just a pipedream yet because I have one more chance: Kiyotaka. Kiyotaka just has to make a good introduction so he could get more friends. When that happens, he could introduce me to them and I can slowly build a friendship with them.

Let's see how good Kiyotaka's introduction is.

"Well... Um, my name is Ayanokouji Kiyotaka. The, er... there's nothing really special about me. I'm not particularly good at anything. I will do my best to get along with everyone, uh, nice to meet you all."

He failed. He utterly failed.

It was such a lame, boring introduction that no one will remember. Even Kushida said nothing in response or give words of encouragement.

"Nice to meet you Ayanokoji-kun. I hope to get along with everyone so let's try to do our best."

Everyone clapped but their claps also felt forced. Even though Kiyotaka and I fucked up our introductions, I felt strangely happy.

~~~~~~~~~

After a thanks from what I assume to be the principle, the ceremony ended. After all the students got an explanation of all the buildings and facilities on campus, the group split up.

A vast majority of the students headed towards the dorms and the rest of the students formed small groups and walked towards the karaoke rooms and cafes.

On the way to the dorms, Kiyotaka and I decided to go to the convenience store. I thought it was going to be a peaceful visit to the store, but I was wrong. A familiar voice and phrase annihilated the chance.

"What an unpleasant coincidence."

I let out a sigh. It looks like we ran into Horikita again.

"No need to be so hostile. Rather, did you also have to buy necessities?" Kiyotaka said, ignoring her irritating statement.

"Yeah, just a little. I came to buy some necessities." Horikita said while examining the shampoo that she took from the shelf.

A bit? Dormitory life begins today, I'd imagine girls would need more than "a little."

I was kind of surprised that she went for the cheapest necessities, I thought she would buy better quality items.

"I thought girls paid more attention to what shampoo they used."

"That depends on the type of person. A person that would needlessly buy higher quality items is the type of person that doesn't know how to properly spend their money." Horikita soon looked towards us.

"Also, I'm surprised that you guys stayed in the classroom for self-introductions. The two of you don't seem to be the type of people that would be in that group of classmates."

"We just want to fit in and avoid drawing attention to ourselves. By the way, why didn't you participate in the self-introductions? If you did, you could get along with the others and get the chance to make some friends." I said with interest.

"The most simple answer I could give you is even if I introduced myself, it's not guaranteed that I would get along with everyone and make friends."

"And where is your proof?" I said, challenging her explanation.

"I'm looking at the proof right now."

Huh?

"Were you guys able to make any friends?"

"..."

Kiyotaka and I stayed silent. A smug look appeared on Horikita's face. Satisfied with our response, or lack of, she started to walk down the aisle, effectively ending our conversation.

We didn't even glance at each other as we walked down the aisle but still, it was not uncomfortable. Maybe it's because of her brutal honesty or lack of sugar coating.

I walk to the instant food section and inspect all the food the store was offering and my eyes land upon a large cup of noodles.

"Yo Kiyo this is massive! It's a G cup!"

The 'G' appears to stand for "Giga cup," but for some reason just looking at it makes me feel full.

On an unrelated note, for some reason, I unconsciously turn around and stare at Horikita, who is crouched down looking at ingredients. Horikita's breasts aren't large, but they aren't small either. They are the perfect size.

Dirty thoughts filled my head and the inevitable physiological effect kicked in, it was quite the surprise.

Once it kicked in, I accidentally knocked over a bunch of instant ramen onto the floor. Horikita's head spun around to look at me.

"What's with the pained expression?" Horikita inspected my face with a suspicious gaze.

"N-Nothing!" I squeal as I frantically put back everything on the shelves.

"You were acting really strange though." Horikita starts to walk towards me and I begin to panic. Just as my fate was about to be sealed, Kiyotaka came to my rescue.

"Hey Horikita, if you are looking for something that's a cut above the rest, why don't you buy this razor that has five blades? It would certainly do the job."

Horikita immediately lost interest in me and turned towards Kiyotaka, glaring at him with a stern expression.

"Did you just make a joke?" Kiyotaka grinned smugly and pretended to shave an imaginary beard. This behavior was so unlike Kiyotaka that I couldn't help but laugh. I look towards Horikita, expecting to see at least a smile, but she was not amused.

Horikita didn't laugh. Hell, she didn't even smile. She just looked at Kiyotaka as if his existence disgusted her.

"Look at me," Horikita said. "There's nothing to shave. Not on my chin, not under my armpits, and certainly not down there."

Please don't put that image in my head. Right now that's the last thing I need.

Horikita was about to turn around and walk somewhere else but instead, she looks behind Kiyotaka. Kiyotaka seems to notice this because he also turns around.

"This is strange. Come look at this" Kiyotaka said, gesturing with his hand for us to walk over. Horikita and I walked over to him and we notice what perplexed him.

"Wait, all this shit is free?" All basic necessities such as toothpaste or shampoo were placed in a clearance bin labeled "free." The catch is that you can only grab up to three items every month.

You could attribute this to the school being lenient, but I believe it's a countermeasure for the people that carelessly spent their points, perhaps something even more.

"Hey hey just wait I'm looking for it!"

A loud coming from the middle of the store erupted my eardrums.

"Hurry up! Everyones waiting!"

"Well, in that case, they can complain directly to me!"

The guy that was causing all the ruckus was the all too familiar red-haired guy. I walked up to him and tapped him on the shoulder.

"Huh? Who the hell are you?"

"Easy man. I'm Nishida. I'm in the same class as you. I decided to speak up because I thought there was trouble here."

"Oh I remember you, you stick out like a sore thumb. I forgot my student card. Forgot that the thing is practically money from now on."

"I don't mind buying it for you. What you want to buy is like, what, 200 yen?"

"True... walking back to the dorm to grab my card would be annoying thanks."

I swipe the card to pay for the food.

"I'm Sudou... I owe you one."

"Nice to meet you Sudou."

I look to my right to see Kiyotaka walking up to us without Horikita.

"Wheres Horikita-kun?"

"She left. Mumbling about how being at a convenience store was causing her dignity to wither away."

"Sounds like something she would say. Oh, by the way, this is Sudou. Sudou this is my friend Ayanokoji." Sudou waves to Kiyotaka the moment I mention his name. Kiyotaka does the same and we finished up our shopping. Once the transaction was done, we walked out of the store and I was surprised to see Sudou waiting for us.

Seeing the two of us, Sudou waved his hand at us. I smiled and waved back.

Did I make a friend?

"Are you actually going to try to eat here?"

"Of course I am. Where else would I eat this?" Sudou said while eating the noodles. Unfortunately, our little moment of peace was interrupted.

"Hey, are you a first-year? That's our spot." I look to my left to see three boys carrying similar bowls.

"Well, it's taken so fuck off."

"What a cheeky brat." The three laughed at Sudou. Sudou soon stood up and threw his cup noodles onto the ground. Poor noodles. There's a strong possibility that a fistfight could break out. I decided it would be best to keep my mouth shut. I look over to Kiyotaka and he seems to have the same idea because he was making no sign of intervening.

"Oh look The first years trying to pick a fight!" The ringleader of the group lets out a laugh before asking another question.

"What class are you guys in? Let me guess... you guys are in class D, right?"

"So what?!"

After Sudou said that, the upperclassmen looked at each other, and laughed simultaneously.

"Did you hear that? He's in class D! It was too obvious!"

"Oh? What do you mean?"

As Sudou was getting more and more heated, the upperclassmen took a step back.

"Since you guys are so pitiful I'll let you guys stay here for today. You guys will face hell soon enough. Let's get out of here." After saying that, the three upperclassmen walked away, leaving behind an enraged Sudou.

You guys have no idea what its actually like to experience 'hell.'

Still, the upperclassmen saying that made me feel a little anxious. What did they mean by that? As soon as the three guys were out of sight, Sudou kicked a trash can with all of his might, causing trash to scatter all over the ground.

"Fuck this!" Sudou started walking back to the dorm without even cleaning up the noodles. Kiyotaka and I looked at each other before cleaning up the mess.

Once the upperclassmen knew Sudou was in class D, their opinions changed instantly. They then said we would experience "Hell" soon. Combine that with the fact that the convenience store and most likely all the other facilities offer free necessities, something is amiss.

I'll have to keep all these observations in mind for the future.