American schools had an even stricter clique social structure, but that broke down even there. One reason was societal uncertainty. No matter how much power someone had at school, they weren’t guaranteed a solid job once they graduated.
The people who stood at the top of the American school social system were the star athlete jocks and the fashion queen popular girls. But when they graduated and joined the workforce in this age of technology, they would end up working underneath the geeks (otaku) they’d made fun of all through high school.
Even the great Steve Jobs had to transfer schools because he was bullied so severely. Just that fact exposes how messed up the social hierarchy was in American schools, and showed the ones at the top just how precarious their positions were.
America is a gun-toting society, and there have been many incidents of gun violence originating from the social hierarchy in its schools. Students who were at the bottom and bullied, instead of voicing their concerns to the students at the top, chose gun violence instead. The perpetrators of these crimes either get arrested or die, but every time incidents like this happen, the social hierarchy in schools and the popular kids themselves come under scrutiny.
And so the students at the top have gradually started to think more about the unpopular kids.
Now because that can happen even in American society which oozes with machismo, even more attention has come to the social hierarchy within schools, especially in countries like Japan where it wasn’t as rigid.
Because of all these reasons, the world changed greatly. Popular and unpopular kids no longer faced off in the classroom. Popular kids no longer teased unpopular kids, and unpopular kids weren’t jealous of the popular kids.
The popular kids were the ones who had it worse.
They were used to going along with the group, but they had no idea what to do by themselves. So they had no other choice but to remain inside that circle of hell called peer pressure. They would be chatting and laughing with their friends, but then glance over at two otaku boys playing a card game in the corner of the classroom.
“I activate my trap card!”
“All right, then I’ll chain a removal spell to your activation!”
“Argh, for real?! There’s nothing I can do to defend against that!”
And even though the popular kids didn’t understand the rules at all, they felt jealous of those otaku who didn’t care who was watching.
That was the reality of the world now.
◊◊◊
Whoosh.
I can still remember it clearly. A hand shooting up into the air. A perfectly straight posture. And a calm face, ready to say anything. I never thought there could be something more beautiful or reassuring.
I fell in love at first sight.
I felt like I had experienced a truly rare moment in life. It was burned so deeply into my memory that I could still remember it as clear as day.
“...up. Wake up...”
I thought I heard a quiet voice. I felt someone shaking my body.
“Huh?!” I jolted upright and my eyes flew open. What time was it? Oh, it was still lunchtime. Apparently, I’d nodded off at the circulation desk in the library. So much has happened lately. I guess I’m exhausted...
A month had passed since Hanamizawa-san started talking to me, but I felt like I’d burned an entire semester’s worth of mental calories. And now that Ido-san had joined in, things had gotten even more hectic, which only made me busier and more exhausted. Honestly, what was I going to do about them?
I propped my cheek up on my hand and silently stared at the person next to me, who was reading a book. She just sat here and read while I was sleeping like it was no big deal. She could’ve just let me sleep and ignored me, but she was nice enough to wake me up. I suppose that was proof that she was okay with me being next to her, and that made me happy. “I don’t mind dozing off if it means I get to have you wake me up like th— Oof!”
She dropped a hardcover dictionary onto my head. It was pretty heavy.
“You’ve...”
“Hm? What?!”
“What?” she asked, looking confused.
“Oh, um. Nothing. Yeah.” I just couldn’t believe my own ears. She hadn’t struck up a conversation with me in so long. Well, I guess that’s not entirely true.
“You’ve been working really hard lately,” she said without looking up from her book.
“H-Have I?”
“Too hard. It looks like you’re pushing yourself.”
So that’s how she saw it? I couldn’t answer. I guess I did have a lot of pent-up exhaustion.
She continued in a quiet voice, “Everyone has their own strengths, but there are still limits; things you can do, and things you just can’t. Confuse the two, and you’ll only end up miserable.”
Her tone of voice was unusually forceful. I gave her a confused look. “Are you telling me to know my place?”
“No. I’m saying that if you understand what kind of person you are, you should only do things you’re capable of. Everyone has something that’s just impossible for them. So...” She looked up from her book and stared straight into my eyes. “I don’t want you to force yourself so much.”
I silently stared back at those serious eyes of hers, but couldn’t say anything in response.
◊◊◊
The next morning, Hanamizawa-san came over to me the moment I sat down. “Hey, hey. Did you hear the news, Yashiro-kun?!” The look on her face reminded me of a puppy running back with a ball its owner tossed far away. She wasn’t going to leave me alone until I took the ball back and praised— Er, I mean, until I talked to her.
“Um... No, what happened?”
“Hee hee. You’ll never guess...”
“We’re getting a transfer student.” Ido-san suddenly appeared from behind Hanamizawa-san.
“Chi-chan! Why’d you have to go and spoil it?!” Hanamizawa-san pouted, but Ido-san just shrugged.
“It’s not like it’s some huge secret.”
“A transfer student? At this time of year?” It was already the middle of November, and the second semester was already halfway through. It was incredibly rare for someone to transfer to a new school this late in the year. I wondered if it was because of their parents’ circumstances. Or maybe...
“Well, no matter who it is, I hope we can be friends with them.”
“Hee hee. Yeah, same.”
Both of the girls were beaming. The fact that they didn’t think twice before saying that just showed what good people they were. Because the first thought that came to my mind was, “It’s got nothing to do with me.”
“Would you be happier if it was a cute girl, Yashiro-kun?” Hanamizawa-san teased.
“Do you really think I’d take the initiative to make friends with the new kid?”
“Nope!”
“I bet not even if it were a guy,” Ido-san chimed in.
“I can’t even picture you saying, ‘The name’s Shigeaki Yashiro. Nice to meet you!’”
“Ha ha ha. I’d be like, ‘Who the heck are you?!’”
The two of them were having a great time making fun of me. Jeez... But for some reason, it didn’t really bother me. Probably because they knew what kind of person I was, and I knew them pretty well at this point too.
It was finally time for homeroom, and our teacher called the new student into the room. It was a girl with a soft bob haircut. She seemed like a very quiet person. Her hands were folded in front of her with a kind of dreamy expression on her face. I could tell all the guys perked up immediately when they saw how pretty she was. The girls, with Hanamizawa-san at the forefront, all looked incredibly interested and had a welcoming mood about them.
Meanwhile, I was idly musing that I thought she would look better with long hair. It would make her look even more like a doll.
She wrote her name on the chalkboard and then bowed her head. “M-My name is Yuzuki Sato. It’s nice to meet you...” she introduced herself, her voice shrinking with every word. “Um, uh... I-I’m sorry.” She started to say something but then looked down, unable to get the rest of the words out. I had a feeling she wanted to tell us more about herself, but she was so nervous her mind went totally blank.