Chapter 4: First Impressions

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Fifteen minutes before the morning bell, I joined the tide of students leaving the dormitories. 

As I walked, I tugged at the collar of my shirt, finding it a bit tight. I still wasn’t used to wearing a uniform. It was so stuffy. If it felt like this even in early April, I couldn’t imagine how miserable I would be once summer rolled around. Although, you could argue that the pleated skirts on the girls made the suffering worth it…

Scratch that. Quit daydreaming, it was time to focus. Today was an important day. Not only was it the start of classes, but it was also my only chance to make a good first impression. 

I cut across the grass to close the distance quicker. It wouldn’t be a good look to be late on the first day.

Yesterday, things hadn’t gone quite to plan. My first attempt at socializing hit an immediate roadblock, but you could hardly say it was my fault. That girl had a screw loose. And what was with those eyes? I know this was a game originally, but was blood red a normal eye color in this world? I wasn’t imagining things, right?

Anyway, I shouldn’t read too much into it. That was just a one-off event. A statistical anomaly. So it was alright, no big deal. Today was a new day. I still had plenty of opportunities ahead to shed my loner status.

I hurried up the academy’s steps. Once I made it into the entrance hall, I checked my schedule one more time and found the location of Class A’s homeroom.

Our year had been split into five groups. I was in Class A, the same as the majority of the important characters from the VN. That was no surprise. The original Isaac had to have been in this class to cause trouble after all.

The first half of the day had us remain together through the core subjects. For first years, that looked like Trigonometry, English Literature, Chemistry, and World History. Then there was a lunch break before the second half. At that point, we would split up based on whatever electives we had. I chose Photography, Traditional Media, and Music Theory. There wasn’t anything particularly meaningful behind those subjects, I just went for whatever sounded fun. 

In my first life, I went to university for programming. I was good with computers and found them interesting, so it seemed like a good fit. That’s what I thought at the time, but after four years of nothing but staring at code, I learned to hate it. This time I wanted to do something different. Maybe I’d find a creative field more fulfilling. I was simply trying out a variety of things with that in mind.

I turned a corner at the end of the hallway and came to a deadend with a door. Here it was, room 105. Time to put on my game face. With this second chance, I wouldn’t just survive through highschool, I’d thrive. No hiding out in the back row with my head down.

The moment that I stepped through the door, my intentions had to be put on hold. Something wasn’t right. The room’s atmosphere felt stifling and morose. What the hell happened now? It was like a funeral in here.

It didn’t take long to decipher things once I noticed the buffer of empty desks surrounding Alicia. She scribbled in a notebook with a scowl, occasionally pausing to glare at a certain oblivious numbskull seated near the windows. Ah, of course. I should have anticipated this. 

Tatsuya managed to cop a feel in front of the entire school, so obviously Alicia would hold a grudge. Even if he avoided getting his ass kicked, the girl was still ready to declare him an enemy for life. In a way, having to restrain herself only made it worse by making her simmer longer. She looked like a cat bristling with its fur stood up on end. It turns out that girls weren’t as willing to brush off groping incidents in real life as they were in anime. 

Hey, knock it off you two. Leave the hilarious shenanigans aside until after my highschool debut. 

As I looked around the classroom, I noticed another issue. The only seats left were within the demarcated Alicia-zone. How troublesome. No one was going to talk to me with a rabid dog hovering by my shoulder. This was going all wrong. But what could I do? I was one of the last to arrive, so I could only accept the seat that was reserved for me. There was no way of avoiding my fate. 

I let out a sigh of resignation and took the spot directly next to her. The chair scraped against the floor noisily as I pulled it out. I tossed my books down carelessly and watched them scatter across the desk. Then I plopped down with a huff. Perhaps I was acting a little roguish, but I didn’t feel like tiptoeing around the girl who was ruining my plans. 

That turned out to be a mistake. My appearance disturbed the delicate tension in the air and Alicia’s mood set off like a mouse trap. A pencil rolled off my desk and bounced against her shoe. That was all it took.

“Watch it, dick.”

Usually I would shrug at a comment like that and avoid any trouble, but I was already annoyed. I had hyped myself up all morning for nothing.

“Chill, Little Miss Thorns.”

“What did you just say?” she snapped, surprised I didn’t fall over at the slightest breeze.

“I said lighten up. You’re bringing down the mood for the whole class.”

Alicia’s reaction was predictable. “Oh, and it’s my responsibility to give a shit what’s going on in other people’s heads?” She leaned out of her seat and poked an accusatory finger into my sternum.

“I wouldn’t say that, but you don’t have to act like a brat.” I mumbled that last part in a low voice, but judging from the way her cheek started twitching, she must have heard it.

At this point, pretty much everyone within earshot was glaring daggers at me as if to say, “The fuck is wrong with you? Do you want to die?” I knew I was asking for trouble, but I still threw myself on a landmine for the greater good. What’s with those scornful looks? You should be lauding me as a hero.

“If I need the opinion of a loser, then I’ll ask. Until then, why don’t you mind your own business?”

“Jeez, so edgy. What’s your problem?” In retrospect, my next words were a little unwise. “It’s not my fault you gave some kid an awakening experience yesterday.” 

Someone nearby sucked in a breath through their teeth. The guy on my right suddenly became very interested in the ceiling. I brought up the one topic I was supposed to avoid and no one was willing to get involved or save my skin. I cringed at my own misstep. It’s alright, I’d just gloss over it and maybe she wouldn’t notice.

She did. Alicia’s eyes flashed with a dangerous light. She let out a puff of air from her nose reminiscent of a bull eyeing a matador before the charge. I didn’t hear her say anything, but I felt goosebumps raise on my skin. Was this killing intent?

I immediately put into action all the survival principles I knew. Don’t make eye contact. She’ll perceive it as a challenge. Girls are pack hunters and ambush predators. A lone one out in the open isn’t too big a threat, just don’t let your guard down. Act like nothing's wrong. They can smell your fear. Don’t make any sudden moves. Their vision is based on movement. Wait, no that’s velociraptors. 

Shit, she was still staring wasn’t she? I prepared myself for a torrent of verbal abuse or to dodge a pencil to the eye, but surprisingly nothing came my way.

Alicia’s whole demeanor changed. She gave me a smile that was sickeningly sweet. Her voice was calm, but it had dropped an octave. With a curious tilt of her head to one side, she rested her chin in her hand and drummed her fingers on the desk. The abrupt shift gave me whiplash.

“What did you say your name was again?”

I gazed off into the middle-distance, pretending that I hadn’t heard the question. Right, she didn’t know who I was. If she didn’t know my name, then she couldn’t look up my dorm number to find where I slept at night. That meant I just needed to make sure no one in class ever found out my identity from now until the end of the year.

Out of curiosity, I glanced towards the original cause of this calamity. Tatsuya seemed blissfully unaware of the pressure radiating through the classroom. Bastard, I’m suffering for your sins over here. How can you look so at ease right now?

“Hellooo~? You gonna answer me?”

It seemed she wouldn’t let things go now that I’d drawn her attention. I bit my lip and struggled to come up with something on the fly.

“My name’s Jacob.”

“Jacob what?”

“Jacob… Smith.”

“Uh-huh.” Alicia narrowed her eyes, her expression deadpan.

I just kept a straight face and nodded. What of it? My name was Jacob Smith and no one could prove otherwise. I already knew that this wasn’t going to work long-term. She would definitely figure things out sooner or later, but if I delayed it maybe she’d lose interest before that happened. 

While I was thinking that, Alicia reached over and shoved her hand in my pocket. I nearly jumped out of my seat at the forwardness of it. Before I could react, she already had my school ID. She scanned it for a few seconds, then tossed it back to me. I watched her write “Isaac Hallson” in her notebook and underline it twice. I think I just made it to the top of her shitlist. Literally.

Swallowing my saliva, I kept a cool expression as if nothing had happened, only giving her some side eye. In return, she gloated at me with a stupid smug grin. 

“Isaac, huh? You’re an interesting guy. It’s almost a shame to have to kill you.” I could hear the amusement in her tone even as she spoke such ominous words.

“Why do you have to kill me?”

“You reminded me of something unpleasant. It’s only natural that you’re punished.” The way she spoke was so matter-of-fact that her words almost seemed reasonable. 

My face twisted up into a strained smile as I pointed out there were some strange leaps in her logic. “That seems like a disproportionate response for such a small offense.”

“Maybe in your opinion, but I have a reputation to maintain. If I don’t do anything, other people might think they can get away with whatever, and I can’t have that.”

Was this for real? Since when did Tatsuya feeling her up mean I needed to argue for my own stay of execution? “In that case, shouldn’t you direct the punishment towards the main culprit? Why did he get to go free?”

“I was trying to think of something suitable, but then someone else more fun to punish came along.”

For a moment, I was speechless. What kind of fucked up justice system was this? “...Should you be deciding based on whatever is most fun?”

Alicia’s only response was a shrug, apparently unconcerned by such trivialities. My mouth hung open as I struggled with how to continue. What arguments could I give for my defense to a judge who operated so frivolously? I decided to switch tactics. If I couldn’t prove my innocence, maybe I could at least lessen the sentence.

Unfortunately, I never got the chance. We were interrupted by the arrival of the teacher. 

“Good morning, class! I’m Mrs. Avery. I hope everyone’s excited for their first day?”

She was a brunette woman in her mid-thirties that had dimples when she smiled. At first, I thought her cheery attitude would be at-odds with the previous ambience, but at some point when I hadn’t noticed, the gloomy feeling in the room lightened up.

Mrs. Avery clapped her hands together. “Well then, let’s start by taking attendance. Then I can get to know all of your smiling faces.”

Alicia and I shared one last glance. Something about the look she gave me promised that she’d come to settle our debt later. Maybe it was the way she drew her thumb across her neck and flashed a toothy grin. I still didn’t get what I had done, but I understood enough to realize that arguing had only dug me a deeper hole.

Whatever so-called punishment was in store for me, I’d burn that bridge when I came to it.