I was, at most, buffer than the slender Shiratori.
“Oh, yeah. Reita introduced me already but I’ll say it again. I’m Nagiura Tatsuya.”
“I’m Sakura Uta! Call me Uta!”
“I’m Haibara Natsuki. You can call me Natsuki. Nice to meet you.”
I’ll copy how friendly Sakura—I mean, Uta—is and have people call me Natsuki. It’ll feel like we’re closer if they’re not calling me by my surname. Getting the vibes right is important.
“All right, then. Natsuki, you can call me Tatsuya.”
“Same here. Call me Reita.”
The two of them joined in, going with the flow. Doesn’t this mean we’re already closer than last time? Even though I’d wanted to call them Tatsuya, Reita, and Uta in the past, I held off. Last time, only Nagiura knew me as Natsuki—and that had stopped midway through the first year.
“Got it. Tatsuya, Reita, and Uta... Great to meet you.”
I felt like my voice would become weak and timid if I wasn’t careful, but I managed to stay strong all the way through. Undaunted by their powerful, sunny auras, I used my own skill: “Refreshing Smile.” Take this! I practiced hard so that my smile won’t look gloomy anymore!
“Okay, now that introductions are out of the way, we should get going,” Reita said.
“Yeah, the entrance ceremony is starting soon.” Tatsuya nodded.
“Whaaat? Listening to adults is so boring,” Uta complained.
“That’s not a reason to skip it,” Tatsuya scolded her.
“Tatsu, don’t act like an honor student when you look like a delinquent!” she shot back.
“Are you trying to piss me off?!”
My smile didn’t elicit any special response from them. Right. I look better than before, but I’m still just slightly better looking than average, at best. People only react to refreshing smiles when a hot guy does it. It’s their special privilege, after all.
✦ ✦ ✦
After we sat through the snooze fest of an entrance ceremony, all the new students headed to our assigned classrooms.
I walked with Reita and company to our classroom, but my interactions were still uncomfortable and awkward. The three of them had gone to the same middle school, so they were already well acclimated to each other, whereas I felt like the odd one out.
It was only natural that I needed time to get to know them since we had only just met, but it was hard to close the distance when they were already good friends. The conversation always revolved around the three of them, with an occasional question directed my way. I kept all my replies lukewarm and inoffensive because I didn’t know how much openness I could get away with. It wasn’t bad, but it was definitely kinda weird.
Still, I was pretty much fine with it. Close bonds aren’t built overnight, after all; awkward moods are only natural for first meetings. Suppose I panicked and tried to bulldoze my way in. I would surely fail just like I had the first time.
“Oh, here we are,” Tatsuya said after seeing the sign for class 1-2. The four of us left the bustling hallway and entered our classroom. There were already tenish people inside. A piece of paper was stuck to the blackboard, most likely our seat assignments.
“Wh-Whoa. Isn’t that girl super cute?!” Uta tugged on my shirt, pulling my attention away from the blackboard. I followed her gaze and saw the same unmatched beauty from earlier this morning.
“Oh, um, are you talking about me?” Hoshimiya Hikari asked, smiling uncomfortably.
The girl with long black hair sitting next to her giggled. “You heard ‘super cute girl’ and thought it was you? Self-aware much?”
That nasty comment came courtesy of Nanase Yuino. Nanase was plenty cute herself, though her beauty was overshadowed by Hoshimiya’s overwhelming radiance. Nanase had almond eyes, a prominent nose, and unblemished white skin. She was tall for a girl, and you could see that her legs were long and slim even while she was seated. Rather than cuteness, her overall slender build gave off an impression of grace and beauty.
“Th-That’s because she was pointing straight at me,” Hoshimiya refuted. She was bright red from Nanase calling her out.
“Yeah! I’m talking about you!” Uta exclaimed. In the blink of an eye, she’d run over to where the other two girls were sitting. Tatsuya sighed and trailed after her. Reita and I followed suit.
“Thought so! You’re even cuter up close!” Uta continued.
“Um... Thank you?” Hoshimiya smiled uneasily, which only encouraged Uta to push her face in closer, cornering the poor girl against the window.
“So cute that I want to make you mine!”
“Um... N-No thank you?”
“Okay, that’s enough, Uta. You’re scaring her.” Reita grabbed his friend by the shoulder and pried her away from her victim.
Whoa! I knew they were close, but he’s so casual about touching a girl, I caught myself thinking like a loser.
“But she’s soooo cute,” Uta grumbled, unruffled by Reita’s touch.
“Ha ha, tell me about it. Hikari was the most popular girl in our middle school too,” Nanase teased.
“Yuino-chan, don’t put it like that! I’m not an idol or anything,” Hoshimiya said, flustered.
“Wow!” Uta marveled at that fun fact. “Oh, so you two are from the same middle school?”
“Yep,” answered Nanase. “We went to Kasai Middle School. What about you guys?”
“We’re from Ojima Middle School! Oh, all of us besides Natsu, I mean. Right, Natsu?” Uta’s question suddenly dragged me right into the spotlight of the conversation. Being subjected to the gazes of five intimidatingly attractive people unnerved me.
“Yeah. I went to Mizumi Middle School. It’s kinda far from here,” I answered.
“Mizumi. Is that near Takasaki?” Reita asked.
“Yeah. Well, not exactly, but it’s pretty close to Takasaki.” Ryomei High School was located in Maebashi, Gunma’s capital, so most students were from middle schools in the vicinity, such as Ojima and Kasai. I wasn’t surprised nobody knew where Mizumi Middle School was because it was even farther out than Takasaki. My town was sometimes referred to as the boonies, and I’d agree with that.
“Do you take the train, then?” Reita asked politely.
“Yeah. Thankfully, Ryomei is close to the station.”
“I know, right!” Nanase agreed. “It’s basically right in front of the station. Hikari and I also take the train.”
“We ride our bikes to school since the three of us live pretty close.” Tatsuya joined in.
“Makes sense.” Nanase nodded.
Thinking that I wasn’t familiar with the area, Reita quickly added, “Ojima is especially close to Ryomei, around five minutes away by bicycle.”
“Oh, really? That sounds super nice. I’m jealous!” I pretended like it was my first time hearing that information. Back then, I hadn’t known this either. I should try to adhere to how much I knew when I first entered high school.
“Hey, hey! What’re your names?” Uta asked. “I can kinda guess from what you called each other but I wanted to ask. Just in case!” Finally, she came up with a normal question!
“Oh, good point. I’m Hoshimiya Hikari—”
“The school’s number one beauty!” Nanase interjected teasingly. “My hobbies are reading and watching movies, and I was in the literature club in middle school.”
“Yeah. Wait, no! I’m not a beauty!” Hoshimiya grabbed her friend’s arm in protest.
“Isn’t it kinda impossible for you to not be a beauty?” I accidentally said my thoughts aloud. Oh, crap!
Hoshimiya blinked at me a few times in surprise and then hung her head from embarrassment. “Th-Thanks,” she stammered.
“Oh, uh, no! Sorry, my thoughts just slipped out,” I fumbled back at her. The atmosphere had become awkward—all because of me. Another misplay. I really need to up my game.
Something crossed my mind while I was scolding myself. Wait, Hoshimiya’s reaction was weird. I’d said similar words to her in my original time, but back then she had only shot me a strained smile in response.
“Ooh? Hikari’s flustered! But I thought you were used to being praised as a beauty!” Nanase teased again.
“Cut it out, Yuino-chan! I’m going to get angry!”
“Okay, okay. I’m Nanase Yuino. Hikari and I went to the same middle school. We’re besties!”
“Yep! Heh heh, we’re best friends!” Hikari chimed in. Hearing the phrase “besties” from Nanase immediately quelled her anger. Hoshimiya is unexpectedly simpleminded, huh? I found myself thinking.
✦ ✦ ✦
The rest of us introduced ourselves one by one, but as I was about to take my turn, our teacher entered the classroom and started homeroom. We were all treated to a combination pep talk and lecture about the importance of being a high schooler or whatever.
Afterwards, it was more self-introductions, this time by seating order and up in front of the class. Oh yeah, I thought, this happened last time too. I didn’t want to do anything dumb and make a laughingstock of myself, so I played it safe and introduced myself normally like everyone else. Going through this process again triggered flashes of my original, cringey self-intro to plague my mind.
“I’m Haibara Natsuki! My hobbies are reading and watching movies. I’m gonna join the basketball club. Oh, my dream is to make one hundred friends! I really want to get to know you all! Nice to meetcha!”
Stop! Stop! Get out of my head! The flashback made me want to keel over and roll around on the ground. But if I did that now, I would be writing a new page of shame in my book of dark histories.
I’ll need to face my dark past if I want to redo my adolescence. I continued to think such profound thoughts until homeroom ended. Ha, just like a philosopher.