As quickly as the opening ceremony starts, it comes to an end shortly after a speech performed by the highest scoring student during the entrance exam.
There was no use in going more in-depth since Kane didn't bother with listening.
⋆｡°✩
Some time has passed from the opening ceremony. Kane, sat in the very back row by the window with his head resting on his hand — I suppose he has now fallen into the trope of the protagonist being sat close to the window, the same cannot be said to the one I narrated a long time ago...
Kane lets out a sigh as those words he had muttered earlier echoes on in his head: "I think I-I think just saw a ghost..."
He starts tapping his cheek with his index finger, either out of boredom or in an effort to take his mind off of the girl that has been clouding his mind.
Frustrated with his current predicament, he starts scratching his head.
"...Damn it! She just looked like her..."
Looking forward at his teacher. He listens to whatever they are discussing and from his point-of-view, it's just a bunch of useless babbling.
"Ah, it's just like last year, and the year before that... homeroom rules and... I think the election of the two homeroom representatives?"
He lets out a snicker, "Heh, I'm not sure if you could even call it an election, its just the teacher assigning it based on their biases."
"No use in even participating, I've never even gotten the chance to be chosen ever since I set foot in this school; another boring school year for me, I suppose."
The perspective shifts over to the teacher. She had begun announcing in her soft voice while clapping her hands together, "Hai~ Now that we are clear on what the rules are, let's move on over to the exciting part!"
She then grabs a piece of chalk and starts writing on the blackboard. "I will be electing our two, very important, homeroom representatives!"
"As we all know, these two will represent our homeroom whenever something goes on in the student council!"
"That means our two special students will have to be... well, special in their own way!"
She turns back over to her students as she places the chalk down and poses herself in a more proper manner.
She starts scanning the room, completely ignoring the one pink-haired girl with frilly twintails in the front raising her hand, "So~, I already have the characteristics of what the representatives will be in my mind; one of them has to represent the relaxed vibe I want this homeroom to represent..."
Squinting her eyes. She begins to find the most laidback and relaxed student in the room. and her eyes lock onto one specific student in the very back.
"Oh-ho-ho~ I think I found a great representative... If I'm not mistaken, his name is..."
"Kane Koyasu-kun!"
She gestures toward him, and while gesturing at him with a rather innocent smile, the entire class looks back toward the uninterested student.
Kane stops staring into the distance and looks forward in disbelief, completely stunned by the spotlight that has been placed on him oh-so suddenly. "Huh?"
His eyes start darting around the room. ""Wait... wait a minute, am I daydreaming? D-did my name just get called? T-this must be a joke of some kind..."
He points at himself and asks the teacher with a worried tone in his voice, "D-did you call me?"
As soon as he asks that question, some students in the class start snickering and chuckling, while some students start whispering things that confirm he was indeed called upon.
The teacher answers with a soft yet straightforward tone, completely ignoring the secondary noises. "Hai~, I did call you, Koyasu-kun. Could you please come forward to the front of the class?"
Kane stands up reluctantly and walks up to the front of the class. He feels more eyes on him than he ever did in his entire life as a student — it was a completely different feeling to being alienated and alone.
Now standing to side to give the spotlight to him, she requests Kane with a warm smile. "Hai~, Now Koyasu-kun, could you please introduce yourself to the class?"
He clears his throat — now preparing himself to give his all for this introduction. He shouts in his head while also mentally pumping his fist, "Alright, time to give my all and make the best and unforgettable introduction for this homeroom!"
"Good morning everyone, my name is Kane Koyasu, I am fifteen years old and I have been chosen to be your homeroom representative; I hope we can all work together smoothly."
He then proceeds to bow after giving the most deadpan introduction ever. The room falls into an awkward silence. Even the teacher is left silent. The only sound that breaks the silence are coughs from some of the students.
The teacher being the kind soul she is, attempts to save the situation. She lets out a forced laugh while walking up to the front to announce in an awkward tone, "A-alright, lets give Koyasu-kun a round of applause! Ha-ha..."
He feels his heart crack ever so slightly.
The class, even at the behest of the teacher, claps half-heartedly and out of sync. Before his confidence could shatter even more, the teacher saves him by covering her mouth and clearing her throat.
"Alright, now that's over with, let's move on to the next candidate..."
As the teacher begins scanning the room once more, the pink-haired girl who was seemingly ignored is now putting in even more effort in raising her hand, almost standing up from her chair to raise it even higher, which is not that high to begin with.
She lets out a defeated sigh and gestures toward the pink-haired girl. Before she could even open her mouth however, the same pink-haired girl cuts in.
"Inari Kuroki desu[1]!"
The pink-haired girl declares her presence while keeping her hand raised, posing proudly as if she had won the Olympics.
The teacher begins to reflect on her decision dearly. Nevertheless, her face subtly displays emotions of shock and awkwardness. "Y-yes, could you please come to the front and introduce yourself, Kuroki-chan?"
"Sure~!"
Inari proudly spoke as she proceeds to the front of the class with a hop in her step. Obviously, she was releasing an extremely large amount of energy, enough to charge a phone past its 100% battery limit.
With a kick in her step, she proceeds to the front of the class. Humming to herself joyfully as if she was a preschooler on her way to her first day of school.
She now stood to the left of the teacher's desk. Unexpectedly, she energetically performs a confident pose, as if she had just won the most important event of her life.
"Good morning, everyone!" She announces, before hitting another pose.
"Once again, my name is Inari Kuroki!" …and another pose.
"But you can call me Inari-chan!" …and one final pose to showcase her overwhelming confidence.
"And I will be one of your proud homeroom representatives, great to meetcha!"
The room once again enters a state of silence. However this time, a singular collective thought is shared between all the students and even the teacher who all share the same confused expression.
"Contrasting personalities, huh?"
As quickly as the homeroom representatives made their introductions, they were then sat down as completely different people as to when they were called up to the front — embarrassed and broken, they both lay their head on their own tables.
Shortly after, the teacher begins to teach their subject, which is English. After some time, the first, second, third, and fourth period come to an end.
Kane fiddles with his phone, checking on the new game patches for his favorite gatcha game, and any chapter updates for this manga his friends had recommended to him during the entrance ceremony.
A notification then pops up at the top of his screen. Kane raises an eyebrow as he drags down the tab and his eyes are graced with the worst message he has ever had the chance to see with his two eyes: a weirdly written text sent by Satoshi.
The message simply reads: "Hey Kyas-kun, lk tside the windw by the dr, me and s-san are waiting for y." Which was then followed by a bunch of flame emojis.
Now wearing a disgusted expression on his face, he turns over to his right and does indeed see his two friends waving at him. Satoshi is waving at him energetically while Kazuo is not even bothering with putting in the effort.
Kane shakes his head and stands up from his chair and starts walking toward the door. Something then makes him feel strange — it was as if someone had been staring at him. He paid no mind for now, but he kept this in the back of his head.
As he reaches the sliding door and grabs the handle — he looks over his shoulder in an attempt to see if his senses didn't play a prank on him. To his relief, there was indeed nobody looking at him.
He slides open the door and walks out before closing it behind him. Kane then turns over to his two friends, who are waiting for him patiently.
While approaching them, Kane comments on the message that plagued his eyes. "So, Ryūzaki-kun, could you explain to me why you typed like that? Did your 'O' and 'U' button break or were you too lazy to put in any effort in messaging me?"
Satoshi crosses his arms and glares daggers at Kazuo. "Look, maybe if somebody didn't pat me on the back aggressively, I wouldn't have dropped my phone!" He remarked through gritted teeth.
They begin to walk toward the school cafeteria as if it was second nature to them. Meanwhile, Kazuo reacts begrudgingly, "Eh? You're the one here with butterfingers."
With a playful "Pfft" exiting Satoshi's mouth, they switch the topic completely as to what they are gonna buy from the cafeteria.
"So, what are you guys gonna buy? I myself am gonna buy ol' reliable: rice and curry!" Satoshi spoke with a proud smile on his face, seemingly unfazed by his generic order.
"Eh? For a rich guy, that's pretty generic. I'm going with today's special: hambāgu[2] with a side of mashed potatoes~," Kazuo spoke with a drool as soon as he mentioned today's special. He begins riffling around his pockets to get some yen coins.
"I'll order some melonpan[3]," Kane spoke with a thumbs up — utterly disconnected and not understanding the competition these two were having.
"Just one melonpan? Koyasu-kun... you do know you won't get full with just that..." Satoshi worryingly remarked while also holding the same expression as before.
"That's why I'll get three." Kane cuts in with a cartoonishly blank expression as he continues to give a thumbs up, while pulling out 450 yen coins from his pocket.
Both Satoshi and Kazuo stare at him with a bewildered look in their eyes. Despite their friend's small meal, they then both shrug it off.
"Your loss," Satoshi commented on Kane's poor choice of nutrition.
They proceed to buy their meals. With Kane being the first one in line and the first one to finish.
As he exits the line and turns to his two friends, he informs them, "Hey, I'll be on the rooftop just like what we used to back then... make sure to follow up, alright?"
Kazuo gives him a nod. "Sure, we'll see you there!"
Kane then walks off, splitting off from his two friends. He walks through some packed hallways while holding his three melonpans tightly in his arms.
Up four flights of stairs, he reaches the doorway to the rooftop. He pushes against the door using his shoulder and opens it completely, the door swings open and stays open.
He takes a step forward and takes in the fresh air. His black hair flowing mesmerizingly with the mind. He sighs in a reminiscent way while closing a door. A thought then enters his mind, "Back here again... ah~ it's been awhile, huh?"
"H-hey, what are you doing up here?" A somewhat soft and feminine voice asks him from somewhere below.
Kane — confused as to hearing somebody else's voice — starts scanning the area while saying, "I could ask you the same-"
He cuts himself off as he looks down and sees the person that called out to him. His eyes widen, his pupils contract, and he drops all three of his melon pan — it was a shocking sight.
Their eyes lock, dark-brown eyes staring into purple eyes. The person that called out to him shared the same expression as him. Shocked and in disbelief.
Kane opens his mouth, as if he is about to say something.
He tries to stop himself because he might be assuming things again, but he can't seem to stop these words from escaping his mouth.
"...E-Erisa-san?"
"..."
The girl bites her lip, as if she was trying to stop herself from saying the words that Kane wants to hear, but despite all this...
"...Kane-kun..."
…She could not keep it a secret anymore.
[1] The word "Desu" (です) is a super important word in Japanese grammar, acting as a linking verb. In Inari's case, she uses it as "I'm". However, "Desu" can be used in a multitude of ways.
[2] Hambagū (ハンバーグ) is a Japanese dish that is also known as "Hamburg Steak".
[3] Melonpan (メロンパン) is a Japanese sweetbun. Despite it's name and apperance, it doesn't taste like melon at all.