Chapter 5: Many Beautiful Girls Among the New Students!
After interacting with him, Kaede found that Takasu Ryuji was pretty much as he expected—a kind-hearted person with a fierce appearance.
No, that's not quite right. He just had fierce-looking eyes; the rest of his face was quite handsome. Kaede could only say that he had bad luck.
At the opening ceremony, all the students were present. Although Kaede secretly looked around, he didn't find anyone with a protagonist-like face like Takasu Ryuji. He could only hope to encounter such people later.
After the opening ceremony, they returned to the classroom and began the first day of formal classes.
Kaede's parents had mentioned before that they both received higher education. His father was in economics, and his mother was in foreign languages. Leaving economics aside, at least Kaede hadn't picked up the strange accent common among Japanese people when speaking English, thanks to his mother's early teaching. His English was quite standard.
As for Japanese literature, there was even less to say. To successfully publish a light novel, he had put a lot of effort into writing, so first-year high school Japanese literature was no challenge for him.
Mathematics was the same. What could be difficult about first-year high school math? He had already self-studied quite a bit during the holiday before school started.
So, Kaede spent the two morning classes extremely relaxed. In his free time, he even managed to doodle in his notebook.
Noon, lunch break.
As soon as the bell rang and the teacher left, many people paired up and chose to go to the school cafeteria for lunch.
Kitamura Yusaku, who had just become the class representative, initially wanted to ask Takasu Ryuji, who was somewhat avoided by others, to eat lunch together. However, several other boys invited him first, so he could only postpone that and leave the classroom with the others.
And just as he walked out of the classroom, Kitamura Yusaku looked back and happened to see Kaede, holding his bento, walk up to Takasu Ryuji and pat him on the shoulder.
Seeing this, a somewhat surprised Kitamura Yusaku felt a little relieved and left with his classmates.
Takasu Ryuji was also very surprised that Kaede would come directly to him during the lunch break.
He saw the other person pull out the chair in front of him, turn it around, sit down, and place his bento box on his desk, saying, "From the looks of it, you probably brought your own bento too, right? If you don't mind, let's eat together. Eating alone is quite boring, especially on the first day of school."
Although Kaede said that, Takasu Ryuji still didn't quite understand. After seeing the surprised looks from the classmates who hadn't left yet, he asked, "If you do this, what about the others...?"
Kaede glanced at Takasu Ryuji, then opened his bento and said with a smile, "What your eyes see isn't always real sometimes. I trust my intuition more. And it turns out my guess wasn't wrong. Although your eyes look fierce, you're actually a nice person and probably quite suitable to be a friend."
"Uh..." Although he was touched, Takasu Ryuji still asked, "What if you were wrong?"
"It doesn't matter if I'm wrong."
Shrugging, Kaede said with a smile, "I work out regularly, and I've practiced free combat and Taekwondo for about three years."
"...I see."
When Kaede said that, Takasu Ryuji understood that the other person was the type who didn't care about what others thought.
He had originally thought that coming to a new environment would mean facing the same old situation, but he hadn't expected to meet someone who didn't play by the rules on the very first day.
That wasn't bad either.
Takasu Ryuji quickly took out his bento from his drawer and started chatting with Kaede while eating.
In the classroom, besides the two of them, there were also some other people, silently observing Kaede and Takasu Ryuji.
They had heard Kaede's words earlier and were now thinking about them.
After lunch, Kaede bought Takasu Ryuji a drink, and their relationship was quite good by now. Takasu Ryuji kept complaining about his eyes.
"Sigh, it wasn't a big deal when I was little, because kids are kids, and no matter how fierce their eyes look, it's just that. But ever since junior high, this situation has become more and more obvious, more and more exaggerated."
Kaede had no way to comfort him. He patted Takasu Ryuji's shoulder and said, "All I can say is to keep a steady mindset. You can't rush this kind of thing. After a while, I think everyone in the class will understand what kind of person you are."
"I hope so."
"Oh! There you are!"
Kitamura Yusaku's voice came. The two turned around and saw the newly appointed class representative coming up the stairs, smiling and walking towards them.
"There's a vending machine here, that's not bad. I just wanted a drink."
Kitamura Yusaku was quite outgoing. After buying a bottle of juice, he stood by the two and started chatting.
Looking at the somewhat uncomfortable Takasu Ryuji, he said with a smile, "Indeed, Takasu-kun is truly the opposite of his appearance."
"Huh?"
"Well~~~ how should I put it?" Touching his head, Kitamura Yusaku said with a smile, "When I first saw Takasu-kun, I was startled too, thinking, 'Could a delinquent have come to our class?' But it turns out he's a very introverted person!"
"Introverted..."
Hearing this assessment, Takasu Ryuji said somewhat dejectedly, "It's not like I want to be like this. Whenever I try to talk to someone, I never get a friendly response. Most of the time, I end up with an extra wallet in my hand."
"Wow! That's amazing!" After exclaiming, Kitamura Yusaku also laughed and patted Takasu Ryuji's shoulder, "Hahaha, just kidding, just kidding. I'm sure you had a tough time before, Takasu. But don't worry, as the class representative, I'll help you change everyone's impression of you in class!"
"...Thank you, Class Representative." Takasu Ryuji felt that today was his lucky day; he had met two people who understood him.
"No need to call me Class Representative, just call me by my name." Kitamura Yusaku smiled and looked at Kaede on the other side, saying, "But in comparison, Asakura-kun is amazing."
Shaking his head, Kaede said, "I just had a feeling. Judging a person's essence by the first glance is not a very accurate method to begin with."
"That's certainly true." After taking another look at Kaede, Kitamura Yusaku said, "Alright, let's not talk about that. Let's talk about something boys should talk about. I just learned while eating in the cafeteria that there are many beautiful girls among the new students in our year!"
Indeed, boys' topics, besides games and such, are usually about the opposite sex.
Kaede was also quite curious, wondering what characters would appear in this somewhat different Toyosaki.