Josuke and Koichi noticed their gazes, but didn't react. They just kept walking with me as if it was natural.

 

I was grateful for it, but I didn't want to hinder either Josuke or Koichi's chances when it came to the opposite sex. 

 

'I'll do them a solid and introduce myself as their cousin at school too. I don't want them to lose their chance at love if they want it, and It'd be too much trouble for me if the other students started bothering us about it whenever we hung out in the future.'

 

Funnily enough, we all had the same English class for the first school period, so we simply chatted until we reached our class. 

 

The teacher was already standing at the podium when we got there. It looked like class was about to start.

 

*Ring *Ring* Ring* Around 800 am The school bell rang, signaling the beginning of class.

 

The teacher instantly adjusted her posture and addressed the class. "Alright everyone take your seats"

 

Everyone else took their seats, while I just stood by the door and waited. When me and my bro went and registered for class, I'd been given a small slip of paper detailing the classes I would take. 

 

Everything I needed to know was on it, like my class number, my student ID, and the names of my teachers. But unfortunately, my seat wasn't on that slip. Every teacher would have to individually assign my seat for me from now on. Everyone else has been here for weeks now, so it looks like I'll be getting whatever's left over.

 

Incidentally, I noticed that Josuke's seat was near the back by the windows

 

'tsk typical protagonist seating. Wait, was that even a thing back when the series was written?'

 

The teacher started the roll call, every student would be called once at the beginning of class, and would have to answer some variation of 'present' so the school could monitor things like tardiness and absences. Naturally, despite being a new student, my name was bound to be on the list. However, when she finally got to me, she called me by my old name. 

 

"Okuyasu Nijimura!" 

 

"That's me, but the name's wrong," I said. 

 

"Go to the admissions office and correct it after class." She replied with a frown.

 

"Alright everyone, this is our new classmate…" She turned to me and whispered "what was your name again?"

 

"Yasuko Nijimura." I whispered back.

 

"Class this is our new classmate, Yasuko Nijimura, please guide her along and help her out If she gets lost!" she turned to me, "alright, miss, take a seat over there."

 

She pointed to a lone seat at the back next to a quiet girl. 

 

I sat down and listened while she taught English. 

 

Funnily enough, this is probably the class I benefit the most from in as a reincarnator. I say this in regard to my grade point average(G.P.A).

 

I mean, I literally lived in a country where English was the main spoken language for a lifetime. So I definitely had an advantage over my other classmates.

 

Now, the only issue I worried about was figuring out how to show my ability to my Aniki, without breaking character. This doesn't apply just to English though, I've already been through highschool once, so I expect things to be a lot easier for me going forward.

 

I mean the original Okuyasu was kind of an idiot. I don't mean this as an insult, it's just a part of his character. The way he was written.

In fact, he was so stupid, that fans of the series often wondered how he even managed to make it to highschool in the first place. 

 

He was childish and ignorant. Brash and innocent. He was silly, and always showed his emotions clearly on his face. That's who he was. Paradoxically, this flaw of his was what made him so beloved as a character. He was charming, foolish, and sometimes adorable, but he just wasn't smart.

 

I can't honestly say I'm that much better, but at least I can keep up with schoolwork. And my mentality is a little more mature than his.

 

I graduated highschool and even lived a few years as an adult (before it all came to a crashing halt). Thanks to that, I'm a little more jaded, a little more cautious, and a little more wise.

 

Now that I think about it, I feel a little guilty for taking the original's place. But what can I even do about it? Me and him have become someone new, now. Even our body's changed. 

 

I have all his memories and he has all of mine. Theoretically that would make it easy for me to act like him, but I don't think I can pretend to be him forever.

 

We have to grow up someday. 

 

I just worry how my brother will take this. I can't just cut him off. He's still my family. I still feel Okuyasu's love and adoration for him. It's why I saved him to begin with! But I can't be him, I can't take his place. 

 

So I'm worried, will Aniki be able to accept us as we are now?

 

I don't regret becoming someone new. I don't regret saving my brother. I don't regret having the opportunity to change the future. But I – 

 

'Shit. I've drifted away from the topic.' 

 

Anyway, so far highschool isn't that hard for the current me. English at least, should be a piece of cake.

 

"You dropped this," the girl beside me whispered as she handed me a little eraser.

 

"Thanks" I whispered back as I took it from her. 

 

This table mate of mine seems to be the diligent type. I spotted her right away when me, Josuke, and Koichi got to class. She was all alone reading a book, completely ignoring all the hustle and bustle of the class. She doesn't look like much at first, but up close, I think she's low-key, very cute. I hope I'll see her again in my next class.

 

*Ring*Ring*Ring The bell rung, signalling the end of first period.

"Alright students, class is over, remember to do your homework…bla bla bla..." the teacher said.

 

After it ended, I went up to Josuke, and asked him to guide me to my next class.

 

Just like any other highschool, Budoga-oka High has its students take about 6 different classes a day. With an interval of about 5-10 minutes inbetween classes so we can get ourselves situated. So I had a bit of extra time to talk to my next teacher.

'Next period should be math.'

 

I introduced myself to the math teacher who was sitting down before class, and let him know that my name was wrong on the listing, just as I had with my English teacher. Then I sat at the seat he randomly assigned to me.

 

Unlike last time, I didn't have either Josuke or Koichi to help me out here, but Josuke kindly let me know that Koichi has a class in the room next door, so I'll go to him when this class ends. 

 

"Hey new kid, I saw you walking to school today and I NEED to know, what's your relationship with Josuke!" Before class started, I was instantly surrounded by girls who wanted to know about me and Josuke. I quickly let them know that we were cousins, and the answer seemed to satisfy them. I was grateful for that. 

 

I definitely did not want to participate in whatever craziness was going on in his group of fangirls.

 

'But I'm not gonna lie, I'm really jealous of that bastard… sheesh I WISH I got this much attention from girls in highschool…well anywhere in my past life really…'

'ugh… if another girl asks me about him I might cry'

 

The boys in class also seemed a little interested in me, but they weren't dumb enough to foolishly charge into the girl's discussion to try to talk to me.

 

*Ring*Ring*Ring*

Thankfully, I was saved by the bell. "Alright everyone, time for class, get to your seats." The math teacher said, ending the discussion. 

 

Unlike English, Math was a completely different story for me. English was something I used every day in my past life. On the other hand, after Highschool, (and my 2 years in college before dropping out,) I rarely, if ever, used anything I learned in my math class. So I was beyond out of practice. I knew I definitely had to pay attention in class this time around.

 

Though I still didn't think it'd be too hard to catch back up. Highschool math was pretty easy for me in my past life, and I don't doubt it will be in this one.

 

This time around, my desk mate was a boy, although it looked like he was too shy to actually talk to me. 

 

He hardly ever looked at me, but when he did, I could see two faint red clouds on his cheeks.

 

I don't really know how to react to this. I can't exactly control other people's thoughts or feelings for me, but I'm not really comfortable with the attention I've been getting from them either. For now, I guess I'll ignore it, as they haven't really gone out of their way to bother me.

 

'Well whatever, not like I'll remember him later.'

 

After class, I rushed out the door and headed towards Koichi's class.

 

Unlike Josuke, Koichi was very sociable with his classmates. Though most of the people around him were boys.

 

I waited for him to finish talking, before I ran up to him, and asked him to help guide me to my next class.

 

"Oh who's this pretty friend of yours, Hirose-Kun?" His unnamed male classmate asked him. 

 

"She's my fr-" 

"COUSIN! We're cousins! hello I'm Yasuko Nijimura, nice to meet you" I interrupted Koichi, before he could kill me with words.

 

I wasn't sure if she was there, but if she was I didn't want her to put me on her shit list. I had to make things clear, before I woke up dead tomorrow.

 

I quickly greeted Koichi's friend before making him lead me to my next class.

 

When we were alone Koichi stopped walking and turned around. "Hey, I don't get it, why do you keep saying we're cousins? I heard you said the same thing about Josuke too. Why is that?" He asked me.

 

"There's some girls that like you, I don't want to give them the wrong Idea if they see us hanging out together." I honestly replied.

 

Koichi blushed when he heard this, but he immediately settled down and glared at me. "I understand why you would say that about Josuke, but I'm not popular like him. You don't need to act like this."

 

I smiled sarcastically at him. "On the contrary, with you, I especially need to act like this." 

 

Of course, Koichi didn't believe me. "C'mon man, you don't need to be so unreasonable."

 

I looked around us, and comfirmed there was no one else nearby.

 

'Desperate times call for desperate measures!'

 

Seeing that I had no better option to end this argument, I immediately lowered my stance, grabbed his arm, and started acting cute. "Please just go with it for now man. I don't want to die." I shamelessly argued, with both eyebrows arched in the classic puppy dog stare. 

 

Koichi blushed, and looked away. After hesitating for a second, he finally agreed.

 

"Fine, whatever… cousin." He said before leading me to my class.

 

But there was one massive problem. As soon as I got to class, I felt that same murderous aura surrounding me and my back instantly filled with cold sweat.

 

She was in that class. She had been staring at me and Koichi as we approached the classroom.

 

It looked like somehow she knew. Even though we had long since separated by then. 

 

From the look in that girl's face, I was a dead man. Or I guess in this case, a dead woman.

 

Immediately, I pushed him away from me, which only earned me a glare from Koichi. "What was that for!"

 

I bowed my head. "Sorry, just please let this one go okay? I'll buy you a soda!"

 

Koichi seemed moved by the gesture. "Fine… I'm heading to class."

 

"Alright, see you later." I replied with a forced smile, before turning around and staring death in the face.