And so as a result of another twist of fate, Hakuta found himself with a gyaru sitting right behind him. Not something he preferred and it would also be a big inconvenience to him. As the new girl, surely there would be a fair number of people coming by to make their own introductions.

He had already prepared himself for his friends to ignore him during lunch just so they could talk to the girl sitting behind him while he was mere inches away. Though that part wasn’t so bad. At least it would allow him to just slink away and eat lunch elsewhere.

It was the part in waiting until lunch occurred which annoyed him the most. Hakuta never considered himself to appear interesting to anyone who didn’t know him. Which would be the state he found himself in with the girl. So therefore he had no expectations that she would want to chat with him at all today. Why would she? He looked like just some random nerd anyone would run into on the streets. Meanwhile she was at least attractive to some.

So why was she trying to pester him already?

Hakuta felt the poking of a finger, one with long fingernails that were most assuredly painted as well, on his back. Following by this touching came a soft whisper of the girl’s voice.

“Psst, hey…” She said, quiet enough to keep anyone but him from hearing her. “Can you hear me?” Asked Iruka. He did, but this didn’t mean he wanted to answer her. Why was she bothering him in the middle of class? It’s not like they knew each other. Sure, he wasn’t paying that much attention to the teacher, but it was kind of rude to be messing around.

So Hakuta attempt to ignore her by not reacting to her attempts to grab his attention. Unfortunately this had the unintended effect of her simply trying harder, rather than giving up. So she poked him a little harder and whispered a little louder.

The first part added to his annoyance as it really felt like it was beginning to hurt from how pointy her fingernails were. The latter was more concerning that if she got too loud, the girl may get both of them in trouble with the teacher.

“What?” He relented, finally responded to her. He kept a hand over his mouth to keep the sound from going elsewhere other than right behind him. Hopefully they wouldn’t get caught talking during class. The last thing he wanted was to get in trouble because of a gyaru.

“Oh yay, you can hear me.” She would’ve clapped her hands were they not trying to avoid getting caught by the teacher. “How are you?” Asked Iruka.

“Uh… Fine?” Was that all she wanted to ask? It seemed rather underwhelming for something so simple that she could’ve just waited until their break to ask. Especially considering the risks taken just for something so small.

“That’s good.” She smiled, content with his answer. They fell silent, where he was certain she really just bugged him for the past 5 minutes just to ask him something so mundane. “Well?” Finally, she broke the silence once more, acting as if he was the one who needed to say something else.

“Well what?” He wasn’t the one who wanted to speak with her. So it was absurd of her to think he actually wanted to hold a conversation.

“Aren’t you going to ask how I am?” She responded. It wasn’t something he believed she needed him to ask to tell him. If anything, his response to her question about the subject matter should’ve been enough permission to make her own statement.

“How are you?” He sighed, humoring her for the time being and asking the question she wanted him to ask.

“I’m great.” She answered. It was the least surprising answer he had ever received to that question. “I’m honestly real excited, to have such a new place to learn about.”

“I’m sure that does sound fun.” He replied without much thought to it. The more they chatted, the more he found himself not thinking about his original thoughts on not even wanting to interact with this new girl. “I certainly know how that feels.”

Hakuta certainly had more experience than most when it came to moving to a new place. Sure, it didn’t involve changing schools, but most people don’t think one of their classmates would turn into his new home. Yet here he was, living his life with Shiuka like it was the most normal thing in the world.

“Really?” She misunderstood his statement. “So you’re new here too?”

“Not exactly.” He replied. Were he to have more time to explain, he’d have to come up with an excuse to not give away the secret between him and Shiuka. However, both fortunate and unfortunately, he wouldn’t have to think of anything.

“Yamamoto, Noto, can you please not talk during class?” Their teacher had finally figured out their secret conversation and put an end to it. While he wasn’t a fan of being scolded because of something someone else did, this ended up being a good thing for him.

“Sorry.” They both replied in unison and were quiet until the break period finally came along. When that did, things certainly got louder once more. But this time he didn’t have to resume his conversation with Iruka at all. Instead the gals of the class quickly made their way over to make their own proper introductions.

“So, your dad is working here now? What does he do?”

“Oh, I don’t really know all that much about what daddy does at work.” Already they were getting much more buddy-buddy with her that he already expected would happen. Even his own friends were already turning around just to have a chance to talk with this girl. They were too blind to the supposed beauty of gyarus.

“Wait a second…” Hakuta took a quick check on where he was sitting in relation to all this. “When did I switch places with Itsuki?” Someone they had traded spots without a thought behind it just so his friend could have an easier way to sit and chat. Well, it wasn’t the worst thing in the world to have this position. At least he wouldn’t have to deal with being surrounded by a bunch of annoying people.

In fact, he could even slip out like it was no big deal either. Which was the opportunity he took, which should’ve worked no problem. However Iruka decided to throw a wrench into that plan.

“Ah, Yamamoto, where are you going?” She asked. “You should stick around with everyone.”

“Uh…” He felt a bit of unease about it. Not only because he just didn’t want to hang out with her, as a gal. But also because there were some stares he could feel from the boys in the classroom. His friends would also be included in that part of people sending a few glares. Why was this girl so interested in him? They had only just met and barely had one conversation. “The bathroom?”

“Well, you should come back quickly so we can talk while we got a break.”

“Actually…” Another voice stepped into this conversation. It was their class representative, Ino Saito, cutting in. And thanks to her next words, basically came in to save him. “I’d like if you could help me after your short restroom stop. There’s a lot of paperwork I need to bring to the staff office.”

“Yeah, I can do that.” He jumped onto the first chance he had and accepted the task. “Here, we can do that first and I’ll just use the bathroom after.” It’s not like he actually needed to use the toilet, so it wasn’t a problem for him. “I’ll see you all later.” Hakuta gave off a farewell as he went over to the front desk to grab all the papers and books.

Ino certainly wasn’t kidding about the amount of work needed to carry it. There was no way someone like her, who was already a bit smaller compared to the average girl in class, would be able to bring all this on her own. If that were the case, she’d need at least a few trips to ensure no mess was made along the way.

“Phew, thanks for getting me out of there.” He spoke once they were in the hallway and away from the rest of their classmates. Since they were alone, Hakuta felt he could trust her in stating that he really did just want to avoid that girl. “How’d you know I wanted get away?”

“It’s pretty obvious to everyone that you don’t like talking with people like her.” She answered in her usual firm manner. Not angry, but more strict than a normal student. “A lot of people don’t care about your feelings, but I try to keep it in consideration for you.”

“Um, thanks.” He was caught off guard about her speaking in such a manner. It was oddly nice for someone who wasn’t even a friend of his.

“Also it was convenient for me to grab you of all people to help me with this. So don’t think I’m just doing it out of the kindness of my heart.” He could figure that when she tasked him with most of the papers to bring along. Hakuta could hardly see past the stack he struggled to keep up as they finally made it to teacher’s office to drop off all the necessary documents.

“Phew, this was harder than I thought it would be.” He breathed a sigh of relief now that they were finished. “Thanks again, I guess you’ll be heading back to class and I’ll just pretend to use the bathroom.”

“Actually, you are pretending to use the restroom right now.” She responded, confusing him. “Perhaps you don’t mind me asking you about something?” That worried him. Why would she take an interest in him all of a sudden? “Like, since you apparently don’t care about gals. Then how come you seem to have gotten friendly with Otari all of a sudden?”