[Social Anxiety Gauge Surging]
[Danger]
[Extremely Dangerous]
I felt as though my expression might collapse right through [Poker Face].
I remembered when I was young.
How I had hidden in the restroom because I was scared of people looking at me.
How I had taken the long way around because I was afraid of running into someone for no reason.
I had thought I had gotten a little better as I became an adult.
I had served in the military, after all, and I believed I had toughened up after going through what could be called socialization.
But was it because my body had become younger?
Or because this unfamiliar world was a new environment?
It felt as though I had returned to those fragile days of the past.
The classroom door, beyond which dozens of gazes would all be fixed on me at once, felt like a towering cliff.
Tap.
Then someone lightly pushed my back with the palm of their hand.
"It’s okay. Let’s go."
My frozen mind instantly returned to reality.
When I turned around, Fujibayashi Kyo was standing there with an incredulous look on her face.
"If you’re that nervous, you’ll collapse before you even get inside."
Fujibayashi Kyo, the class representative of Class 2-B, had a reassuring sort of presence.
Thanks to the offhand remark and the light touch she had given me, the overload squeezing my heart gradually melted away.
"...Ah, thank you."
[Crisis Situation Resolved]
[Social Anxiety Gauge Confirmed Within Normal Range]
[No Action Required Due to Assistance From Nearby Individual]
[Achievement Unlocked: Someone’s Hand]
[Reward: Free Gacha Ticket ×1]
Ignoring the flood of alerts unfolding before my eyes,
I barely held on to my reason and started walking.
"All right, Morita. Please introduce yourself."
At my homeroom teacher’s words, I swallowed dryly and faced the front of the classroom.
Keep it as short as possible.
If I talked too much, I would leave openings,
and they would notice that I was shaking.
"...I’m Morita Shu. It’s nice to meet you."
For an instant, an odd heaviness settled over the classroom.
I could feel people around the room holding their breath as they stole glances at me.
"I heard he came from Tokyo."
"Is that all he’s going to say?"
Had they really said that?
Or was my mind making it up on its own?
He seems like an asshole.
Guess he doesn’t want to talk.
He’s got a weird vibe.
Words I had not even heard formed freely in my head.
Get a grip.
It’s starting again.
I somehow endured, thinking that if I fell apart now, Fujibayashi’s kindness from just moments ago would have been for nothing.
...
A hellish minute passed.
"Hmm, Morita’s seat... Ah, the back seat by the window is open. Go sit in front of Okazaki."
The instant I looked where the teacher’s fingertip was pointing, my pupils trembled slightly.
There was Okazaki Tomoya, nodding with his chin resting in his hand,
and Sunohara, already asleep with his head on his desk.
Thank goodness.
There were people I knew.
That alone made the classroom a little less frightening.
I silently walked over and took the desk directly in front of Okazaki.
[Objective Complete: Arrive at the Faculty Office and Classroom]
[Reward: Points +30P]
[New Objective Updated]
Make a friend in class
[Reward: Points +50P]
I already knew two people. Did they count, too?
[Evaluating]
[Okazaki Tomoya: Friend Candidate]
[Sunohara: Friend Candidate]
[Awaiting Final Approval]
I knew making friends wasn’t easy, but...
Wait.
Come to think of it, what had happened with Kotomi?
[Ichinose Kotomi]
[Bond Formed]
[Friend Status Confirmed]
Now that I think about it, she had already called me a friend then.
[This is a special case.]
What is?
[In Ichinose Kotomi’s case, she recognized the user as a friend first.]
"..."
[This is an extremely rare case.]
...
"Morita."
"Yes?"
"Congratulations."
"?"
"You got a seat surrounded by two delinquents."
When I turned around, Okazaki was smirking.
He gestured with his eyes toward Sunohara, who was sleeping in the next seat and even drooling, as though he found him pathetic.
"This is your only chance to run away."
At Okazaki’s playful warning, the corners of my mouth loosened by the slightest degree.
"...Please take care of me this year."
When I answered flatly, Okazaki rested his chin in his hand as if amused and turned his gaze out the window.
"All right! Class representative, hand out the notices you brought. Today, we’ll be introducing the subjects and distributing textbooks."
As I listened to the teacher’s voice, I turned to look out the window.
Cherry blossoms swayed in the wind.
...
This might be
a little more okay than I had expected.
"Hey. Hey, wake up."
As the explanations continued after the morning homeroom ended, Okazaki lightly kicked the desk beside him.
"..."
"You’re sleeping from the very first day?"
Sunohara slowly raised his head.
"I’ve already done everything I needed to do today."
As Sunohara proudly declared that while wiping away his drool,
Okazaki let out a deep sigh and stood up.
It was the very moment the homeroom teacher was facing the blackboard, explaining the class schedule and textbooks.
"Morita."
Okazaki tapped my desk.
"Yes?"
"Keep watch for us."
"...What?"
I looked at Okazaki, wondering what he meant.
It was my first day after transferring.
I might not know how to make friends,
but surely keeping lookout was not where I was supposed to start.
Before I could even ask him again on reflex,
Okazaki slowly opened the window with practiced movements.
"We’re going out through the window."
"Why...?"
I wished he would not say such nonsense with such a serious face.
"Because there are classes."
Sunohara, who had wiped away his drool, chimed in beside him with an equally serious expression.
"Does that count as a reason?"
The word delinquent was suddenly beginning to feel real.
Had I gotten mixed up with the wrong people?
"Then why else would we be leaving?"
"Because there are classes."
"..."
"If there are classes, you have to leave."
"Where did that logic come from?"
"I don’t know either."
Okazaki answered calmly.
"All you have to do is hide us with the curtain from now on."
[Unexpected Quest: Help the Delinquents’ Miraculous Escape]
[Overview: Assist Okazaki and Sunohara’s escape. However, even the system does not understand their logic.]
[Reward: Points +10P]
Is this really right, System?
[The system is operating normally.]
It did not seem normal at all.
But there was another problem.
Separate from my disbelief,
serious calculations had begun in one corner of my mind.
Two friend candidates.
If I refused, would they start to dislike me?
But it was my first day after transferring.
Would my school life end in disaster?
I did not want to be disliked, and I did not want disaster either.
...
Should I help them?
[Note]
[Ordinary students do not deliberate over this situation.]
"..."
I knew that.
"Morita."
"Yes?"
"Have you decided?"
"..."
"Not yet..."
"We already left, though."
At Okazaki’s calm voice, I looked up,
only to see the two of them already throwing the window wide open and attempting their escape with half their bodies sticking out.
Their utterly reckless drive made my heart drop.
Swoosh!
Without realizing it, I desperately reached out and yanked the curtain by the window shut.
By the time I came to my senses, my body had already moved.
Ah.
I had helped them.
[Unexpected Quest Complete]
[Reward: Points +10P]
"Hmm? Over there by the window, Morita? What’s going on?"
The homeroom teacher, who had stopped writing the class schedule on the blackboard at the sound of the curtain, turned to look this way.
"Ah, it’s nothing! The curtain was beautiful, so I just..."
Even as the words left my mouth, my mind went blank wondering what the hell I was saying.
It was then that even my homeroom teacher stared blankly at me, looking as if he had nothing to say.
"Morita."
A woman’s low, subdued voice.
When I turned around, Fujibayashi Kyo stood with her arms crossed, looking at the window.
...
No.
More precisely,
she was glaring intently at the space behind the curtain I had just drawn.
"..."
"..."
Silence followed. Under the pressure radiating from Fujibayashi, I felt cold sweat naturally trickling down my back.
After a brief silence,
Fujibayashi walked right past me and, without the slightest hesitation, flung the curtain aside.
"Eek?!"
The two men’s shocked voices rang out through the classroom at the same time.
Perhaps their long legs had caught on the window frame,
because Okazaki and Sunohara were revealed, frozen in an awkward position with their asses sticking out the window.
They had not quite managed to escape yet.
"You two over there!"
The homeroom teacher’s roar, having finally grasped the situation, shook the classroom.
Sunohara, trapped in the window frame, turned to me with a tearful face.
"Hey, Morita! Does saying the curtain was beautiful make any sense?! If you’re going to make an excuse, at least make a proper one!"
I could not argue with that.
It dealt a critical blow to my heart.
[Notification]
[Sunohara’s criticism is deemed valid.]
Are you trying to kill me twice?
"Shut up, Sunohara! Are you two not coming back in right now?!"
In the end, their escape ended in failure, followed shortly by a stern summons from the homeroom teacher.
"Okazaki!"
"Yes."
"Sunohara!"
"Yes..."
"And Morita!"
Wasn’t I getting off easy?
"Me too...?"
"You come along too."
Excuses rose to my throat, but I silently accepted it. Every student in the classroom was already staring at the three of us.
With their gazes spread among three people, I was at least a little less anxious, but in this state, I thought it might be better to go out into the hall.
As I trudged out of the classroom,
Okazaki and Sunohara, who had come out first, leaned against the wall and looked at me.
Sunohara still looked wronged,
while Okazaki was still smirking as casually as ever.
"Hey, transfer student."
Okazaki called to me and jerked his chin.
"Yes?"
"You’re seriously one hilarious guy."
"...What do you mean?"
"The curtain was beautiful? I’ve never heard such a miraculous excuse in my life."
At Okazaki’s words, Sunohara chimed in, snickering.
I had died three times today.
"Right, right! You could’ve just said you grabbed it because you were afraid it would fly away in the wind! Thanks to you, I laughed until I cried, Morita."
Under the two men’s teasing gazes, I could only let out a deep sigh.
[Evaluation Complete]
[Okazaki Tomoya: Friend Registration Complete]
[Sunohara: Friend Registration Complete]
[New Objective Complete: Make a Friend in Class]
[Reward: Points +50P]
I noticed the alert saying we had become friends, but embarrassment made it hard to truly take in.
Down the hallway, I saw the homeroom teacher approaching with the attendance book in hand, his stride terrifying.
"You three have formed quite the impressive trio from your very first day."
The smile on the homeroom teacher’s face as he approached, smacking his palm with the attendance book, was more chilling than any angry expression.
"Okazaki, Sunohara. You two go without saying... and Morita."
"...Yes."
"You must have been nervous on your first day after transferring, but I never expected you to hit it off with those delinquent punks so quickly. The curtain was beautiful, was it?"
"..."
I had no idea how many times I had died socially in a single day.
"Since you worked so hard drawing that beautiful curtain,
the three of you will make the sign for the upcoming new-student welcome after school today."
"And Fujibayashi!"
"As class representative, make sure you keep an eye on them so they don’t do anything stupid."
"What?!"
Fujibayashi Kyo, who had been leaning against the classroom doorway and watching the situation unfold, instantly furrowed her brow.
"Teacher! Why do I have to watch those delinquent idiots and the transfer student?"
"Because you’re the class representative. And make sure Morita doesn’t get led astray by those two on his very first day after transferring. Keep him on the right track."
Ignoring Kyo’s fierce protest, the homeroom teacher tapped my shoulder with the attendance book.
"Got it, Morita? Don’t think about skipping out with weird excuses. Once the sign is finished, I’ll get a report from Fujibayashi."
Why was he singling me out...?
It was my first day after transferring.
I had made friends.
But I felt like I had made them in a very, very wrong way.
I answered in a barely audible voice.
"...Yes."
I sighed and raised my head,
only to meet the eyes of Fujibayashi, standing by the door.
Maybe I was imagining it.
But somehow,
her eyes seemed to be asking,
You were one of them too?
I had only met her today.
And yet, I strangely felt guilty.
She was the person who had pushed me forward when I was afraid to enter the classroom,
and had helped me find the courage to do it.
...
I had no face to show her.
In the end, unable to say anything, I lowered my head.
[Fujibayashi Kyo: Friend Candidate Registered]
No.
I really don’t think this is it.
Read the room, System.
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