Chapter 7: Komachi, My Secret Weapon!
The class's gazes instantly focused on Hikigaya. With Hirata Yosuke's sunny and gentle smile and a slight nod, the boy knew he couldn't escape this introduction.
'No choice, then. Let's treat this as the first assignment of the new school.'
Using both hands to push himself up, the boy reluctantly stood and looked out the window while speaking: "Um, I'm Hikigaya Hachiman."
"…"
The crowd's gazes didn't shift away; instead, they remained intensely focused on him.
'Hey, hey, something's off. You're making me super awkward staring like that. No way out now.'
"Uh… the thing I'm most interested in is Komachi. I don't want to be apart from Komachi. The thing I'm most afraid of is Komachi getting mad. The thing I like most is when Komachi acts cute."
"I'll try to get along with everyone. Please take care of me."
'That's right. In times like this, using Komachi as my shield is perfect. Since it's a self-introduction and we're all strangers, most people would be too embarrassed to ask what "Komachi" is.'
'I'm such a genius.'
Under the class's stunned and confused expressions, Hikigaya slowly sat down, marking the end of his self-introduction.
The classroom remained silent until Hirata Yosuke started clapping, gradually spreading applause throughout the class.
[Yuigahama Yui: "It really feels like Hikki's style, doesn't it? This introduction… Back then, since Hikki saved my dog, I never actually heard his self-introduction. This kinda makes up for that regret."]
[Hikigaya asked confidently: "Pretty successful, right?"]
[Yukinoshita Yukino placed her fingers on her temples, exasperated: "An utter failure. Honestly, is this your idea of a self-introduction? It completely bombed."]
[Ebina Hina, Miura Yumiko, and Isshiki Iroha sighed in unison after seeing such an introduction.]
['Hey, why are you all sighing like that? It was totally successful.']
[Hayama: "Well, Hikigaya's just not good at introducing himself. At least he didn't make a fool of himself, right?"]
['Hey, you're giving me that innocent smile to tell me your words are right? Komachi would never make a fool of herself.']
[In any case, Hikigaya didn't think his introduction was a failure. In fact, it was very successful—perfectly balanced. At least no idiot jumped out to ask, "Who's Komachi?" That alone made it a success.]
[Meanwhile, in Class 1-D, the students were certain this person had never existed in their class. Though it had only been half a year, no one had dropped out or disappeared, yet the boy named Hikigaya in the video was clearly sitting in Ayanokōji Kiyotaka's seat. While Ayanokōji didn't have a strong presence normally, after careful observation, the class realized Ayanokōji was indeed missing from the video.]
[Karuizawa Kei: "This is too creepy! What's going on? Is this a special exam from the school?!"]
[Hirata Yosuke: "Let's not panic. We need to carefully observe everything in the video. If it's an exam, we'll find out the question after it ends. At least the good news is we know Ayanokōji's been replaced."]
[With the class's backbone, Hirata Yosuke, speaking up, everyone began to calm down. Horikita Suzune, however, looked at Ayanokōji Kiyotaka beside her with confusion.]
[In her memory, the boy had never revealed anything about his past or shown any emotions. Though she knew he was highly capable and acknowledged by her brother, Horikita Manabu, she still knew nothing about him. And now, this video was utterly baffling.]
[Ayanokōji Kiyotaka felt Horikita Suzune's puzzled gaze but ignored it. To the people from the White Room, she was just a useless pawn with no value left. For now, gathering information from the video was the most meaningful course of action.]
[With this in mind, Ayanokōji turned his attention back to the video.]
"Please take care of me, Hikigaya-san. Let's get along."
"Oh…"
Under Hirata Yosuke's unchanging smile, Hikigaya sat back down.
But the moment he sat, the girl who had been quietly reading beside him unexpectedly broke into a wide smile without any restraint.
'What's this? Campus bullying? Can someone do something about this? I feel like my self-esteem's taken another hit.'
Hikigaya sulked as usual, clearly dissatisfied with the outcome, especially with the girl seemingly mocking Komachi.
However, that wasn't the case. The girl wasn't mocking Komachi; she was simply, like all the students, thinking the boy in front of her was no different from a fool.
"So… next…"
'It's your turn next, right…?'
Hikigaya turned his gaze to the girl, but he hadn't expected a loud crash to suddenly come from another corner of the classroom.
Bang!
All eyes instantly focused on a red-haired boy with a spiky, hedgehog-like hairstyle. At that moment, he was acting just like the blonde, ape-like guy, with his feet on the desk and arms crossed, exuding an air of arrogance.
'What's this? Are the animals about to fight? Is the hedgehog head trying to steal territory from the others?'
Hikigaya was clearly startled by the sudden noise, but fortunately, no one's attention was on him. Probably, maybe, hopefully, no one noticed.
"You think we're kids or something?! If you want to do this, do it yourselves!"
The red-haired hedgehog boy's haughty voice instantly made the classroom atmosphere heavy. No one cared about what Komachi was anymore. Instead, this antisocial guy was now poised to become the class's common enemy—the guy everyone would dislike.
Not only was he arrogant, but he was also completely unreasonable. A guy like that would have a hard time fitting in anywhere.
If… if he also turned out to be a burden to the class, he'd be nothing but toxic waste.
( End of this chapter)