The stares didn't fade as we passed the gates, they followed us, trailing whispers all the way through the hallways.
By the time I found my new classroom, my nerves were tighter than a drum. I stepped inside, Yui clinging to my sleeve, Hikigaya scowling beside me, Yukino walking with practiced grace a step behind.
And then I froze.
The room wasn't just full of students. It was full of faces I recognized.
Near the window sat Saika Totsuka, waving cheerfully as if we were already friends.
At the center desk, surrounded by her own gravitational pull, was Haruka Hayama, greeting classmates like royalty.
By the back wall, I spotted Ichika Nakano reclining casually, one leg crossed over the other, while Nino flicked her hair impatiently. Miku sat with her headphones on, sneaking glances over a book, Yotsuba waved enthusiastically at anyone who looked her way, and Itsuki was already scribbling notes like the class had started.
And they weren't alone.
Saki Kawasaki leaned coolly against her desk, arms crossed.
Yuki Yoshikawa was already gossiping with another girl by the window.
A flash of silver hair, Alisa "Alya" Kujou, sat near the back, her sharp eyes narrowing as soon as she saw me.
Even Nagatoro's friends — Gamou, Yoshi, Sakura — were clustered together, whispering and smirking at me like I was their next toy.
This wasn't a classroom. This was a minefield.
"Choose a seat," the teacher droned from the front. She barely looked up, as if none of this chaos mattered.
I hesitated. Every option felt dangerous. But as fate would have it, there was an open desk… sandwiched neatly between Yukino, Yui, and Hikigaya.
Of course.
I swallowed, forcing myself into the chair. Yui gave me an encouraging smile. Hikigaya scowled. Yukino angled her body ever so slightly toward me, her gaze sharp with calculation.
The whispers didn't stop. They spread. I caught phrases:
"Is that a boy…?""…he's in our class?""…so tall…""…handsome…"
I kept my head down, scribbling my name on the fresh page of my notebook like it might shield me from the stares.
But when the teacher called out for self-introductions, I knew hiding wasn't an option.
One by one, the girls stood, speaking their names, their hobbies, their goals. Each voice rang with confidence, charm, or nerves — but each one also felt like the introduction of a main character.
When it came to my turn, silence fell. Every head turned. Dozens of eyes pinned me down.
I rose slowly. My throat tightened.
"…I'm Hayato Kusanagi."
The name slipped out steadier than I expected. I forced myself to meet their eyes, just enough to look confident without looking arrogant.
"I… just moved back here after living abroad for a while. My hobbies are reading and basketball. I'm looking forward to high school life with everyone."
Short. Polite. Neutral. Safe.
Or so I thought.
The silence stretched a beat too long, then broke all at once.
"Woooow, so cool!" Yui clapped enthusiastically beside me, her smile brighter than the sun."Tch." Hikigaya scoffed, chin resting on her palm. "Generic protagonist speech."Yukino said nothing, but her sharp eyes lingered on me, as though dissecting my every word for hidden meaning.
From the back, a ripple of whispers carried across the room.
"Hayato-kun, huh?""He's really tall…""His voice… kinda nice…"
The Nakano sisters were impossible to ignore:Ichika smirked, leaning forward with an amused glint in her eyes.Nino muttered under her breath, "Figures he'd try to sound cool."Miku's cheeks tinted as she ducked behind her headphones.Yotsuba waved cheerfully, giving me an unearned thumbs-up.Itsuki pursed her lips, scribbling furiously in her notebook like she was analyzing me for a report.
Saika Totsuka raised her hand lightly. "Um… Kusanagi-kun, do you play tennis too? You look athletic…" Her voice was pure sunshine."Uh, not yet," I answered with a faint smile. "But I wouldn't mind trying."
That earned me another wave of whispers.
And then there were the quieter stares — Alya's narrowed, calculating eyes, the Nagatoro clique's mischievous smirks, and Saki Kawasaki's unimpressed glare, as if I'd already failed some test.
The teacher, completely oblivious to the storm brewing, only nodded and gestured for the next student to stand.
I sat down, exhaling slowly. My heart hammered in my chest.
The bell for lunch couldn't come soon enough.
I barely finished pulling out my bento before the classroom shifted into a battlefield.
"Hayato-kun, let's eat together!" Yui chirped, plopping her lunch down on my desk before I could answer. Her smile was radiant, but her eyes flicked nervously toward Hikigaya, as if already anticipating resistance.
"Don't be ridiculous." Hikigaya slid her chair closer, arms crossed. "He doesn't need a noisy dog hovering over him while he eats."
"Excuse me?!" Yui puffed her cheeks.
And before either could escalate—
"You two are embarrassing yourselves." Yukino's voice cut in, cool and sharp. She set her own elegant bento down with deliberate grace. "Kusanagi-kun clearly needs intelligent conversation, not… whatever this is."
I was about to protest when another voice joined in.
"Well, isn't this interesting?" Ichika Nakano's amused tone floated from behind. She strolled over, casually pulling a chair with her. "Mind if we join?"
Nino wasn't far behind, rolling her eyes. "Honestly, Ichika. He doesn't want you bugging him either." She set her lunch on the desk next to mine anyway, glaring as if daring me to object.
"U-Um…" Miku hovered nearby, fidgeting with her headphones. "…I… don't mind, if it's okay."
Yotsuba bounded over, grinning. "Let's all eat together! It'll be fun!"Itsuki marched up last, balancing a surprisingly large lunchbox. "Nutrition is important. I'll share some with you, Kusanagi-kun."
And suddenly my desk had transformed into the epicenter of the Nakano sisters.
But the chaos wasn't done yet.
"Hayato-kuuun!" Gamou's singsong voice echoed as she, Yoshi, and Sakura swooped in like vultures. Nagatoro trailed behind them, smirking dangerously.
"Oh?" Nagatoro leaned on my desk, peering into my bento. "Senpai, is that all you're eating? You're gonna starve. Want me to feed you instead?"
Yui practically exploded. "No way! He's eating my tamagoyaki!"
"Don't just claim him!" Hikigaya snapped.
Across the room, Saika waved hesitantly, bento in hand. "…Um, Kusanagi-kun? If you don't have space, maybe we can sit outside instead…?"
That invitation nearly caused my heart to stop — but before I could respond, a frosty voice cut through the noise.
"You're all pathetic." Alya Kujou stood near the back, arms folded. Her silver hair gleamed in the sunlight. "A swarm of desperate girls, fighting over one boy. How cliché."
Her words silenced the room for half a second — before the arguing immediately resumed.
Yui pulled at my sleeve. Hikigaya leaned closer, glaring daggers. Yukino's cool gaze never left mine. The Nakano sisters were bickering among themselves. Nagatoro was teasing me mercilessly. Saika waited hopefully. Alya's eyes promised some kind of duel.
And me?
I hadn't even taken my first bite yet.
"Um… Kusanagi-kun?" Saika Totsuka stood by the door, bento in both hands, hope disguised as politeness. "If you'd like… there's a quiet bench in the courtyard."
The room bristled; I moved before it exploded.
We found the bench under a camphor tree. Wind pushed leaves into a lazy spiral. For thirty seconds, there were no cameras, no whispers—just a shy smile and the smell of soy-sauce chicken.
"Thank you… for earlier," Saika said, eyes flicking up, away, back again. "I know everyone must be… overwhelming."
"A little," I admitted. "You're… not."
Her laugh was small and honest. She opened her bento and nudged it toward me. "Try the tamagoyaki? I made too much."
I did. It was sweet, careful. Like her.
A shout cracked the calm: "There he is!"
We both flinched. At the far end of the path, Gamou pointed triumphantly as Yoshi and Sakura waved like we were fugitives and they were very cheerful bounty hunters.
Saika's smile wobbled. "Ah. I suppose… they found us."
"Run?" I suggested.
She blinked, then nodded, a conspiratorial spark in her eyes. We stood—too late. A shadow slid across the stone.
2) Art Clubroom, teeth and paint
"…Skipping lunch with me, Senpai? How cruel." Nagatoro leaned in the doorway, half-lidded gaze razor-sharp. She didn't wait for an answer; she caught my wrist and tugged. "C'mon. Field trip."
"W–wait!" Saika called, a half-step behind us, then stopped when Sana Sunomiya emerged from the art room like the room itself had decided to become a person—calm, still, paint on her cuff.
"Inside," Sana said. It sounded like permission and a warning at the same time.
The art room was a cathedral of canvases. A half-finished portrait on an easel watched us with unblinking eyes. Naoto-chan—small, earnest, nerdy-soft—stood by a sketch table, clutching a pencil like a talisman.
"Senpai." Nagatoro's smirk sharpened as she glanced between me and Naoto. "Share your lunch? You look like the type to skip meals and then faint dramatically. Or do you want Naoto-chan to feed you? She's very caretaking." The last word came with a feline purr; Naoto nearly dropped the pencil.
"N-Nagatoro!" Naoto-chan protested, cheeks pink. She bowed to me in a rush. "S-sorry! She's always like this—"
"It's fine," I said. "I can feed myself. Revolutionary, I know."
Nagatoro laughed, delighted and dangerous. "Oh? You can talk back. Careful, Senpai. I bite."
"Not in the art room," Sana said mildly.
Nagatoro clicked her tongue but subsided, perching on a stool. Misaki "Big Sis-Toro" poked her head in, took one look at the scene, and gave me the subtle older-sister gesture of "if she goes too far, say the word." It would have been comforting if Nagatoro hadn't seen it and grinned wider.
Naoto-chan fumbled open a small tupper. "I… um… made onigiri? If you want one… you don't have to, I mean—"
"I'd love one," I said, and took it with both hands. "Thank you."
Her shoulders loosened. Nagatoro watched the exchange with a predator's curiosity that, weirdly, softened at the edges.
Sana tilted her head, studying me the way artists study light. "You're going to be trouble," she murmured. "For scheduling, if nothing else."
"Scheduling?" I asked.
"Models," she said, as if it were obvious. "You'll be requested. A lot."
Nagatoro's eyes gleamed. "Starting with me."
The door slid open again. Hikigaya stood there, arms folded, patience visibly depleted. Yukino and Yui flanked her like opposite weather fronts.
"Return the hostage," Hachiko said dryly.
Nagatoro propped her chin on her palm. "Mmm… No."
Yui bounced in place. "Nagatoro-chan, pleeease? We promised to eat together."
"We promised nothing," Hikigaya said. "We implied proximity."
Yukino looked from brush to easel to me. "You can model after you finish eating. We have… administrative matters to discuss."
"What administrative matters?" I asked, wary.
"Traffic accidents," Yukino said. "And student reputation management."
"Ah," I said.
"Nagatoro," Sana said, gentle but immovable, "let him go. For now."
Nagatoro hopped off the stool with a theatrical sigh and flicked a glance at me that translated to: you owe me one. Then, to Naoto-chan, with unexpected softness: "Back to sketching, nerd. You're amazing when you focus."
Naoto-chan lit up, flustered and happy. I followed my escort out.
3) Stairwell, knives in velvet
We stopped in the stairwell, a neutral zone of echoes and peeling paint.
Yui shoved a heart-shaped sausage into my hand. "Eat! You're too skinny!"
Hikigaya stared at the sausage like it had personally insulted her. "Weaponized lunch."
I took a bite. It tasted like salt and kindness.
Yukino adjusted a stray hair back into place. "First: I reported the incident. I will pay for any damages and apologize in writing. Second: Kusanagi-kun, you should avoid walking alone for the next week."
"Because of… attention?" I asked.
"Because of attention," she confirmed. "And because rumor spirals are efficient engines when men are involved."
Yui nodded vigorously, then brightened. "So! After classes, let's all walk home together!"
"I didn't agree to that," Hikigaya said.
"You will," Yui said sweetly.
Hikigaya looked at me, expression unreadable. "My earlier question stands."
I blinked. "What question?"
Her eyes didn't waver. "Go out with me."
Yui choked on air. Yukino's lashes lowered, a flicker of interest cooling into analysis.
I lifted my hands. "Hachiko, we almost got flattened by a car one hour ago."
"Which proves," she said without a sliver of irony, "that life is short."
I opened my mouth, closed it. Somewhere above us, the P.A. crackled, announcing club orientations after school. The word "club" felt less like "extracurricular" and more like "arena."
"Consider your answer," Yukino said, voice even. "Slowly."
"Quickly," Hikigaya countered.
"Together," Yui added, because of course she did.
The bell rang again. Lunch was over. We were still on the stairs, hearts not quite synced, futures already colliding.
We filed back toward the classroom—Yui humming, Hikigaya glaring in lowercase, Yukino thinking three moves ahead. I followed, the taste of rice and inevitability in my mouth.
First day, second chapter of my second life, and I'd already learned the rule: in a world of ninety percent women, every corridor is a crossroads.
And I'm standing in the middle of all of them.
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Thanks for reading. You can also give me ideas for the future or pinpoint plot holes that I may have forgotten, if you want.
Powerstones. Me. Give. Now.