10 “Good morning!” “Morning!” Inside the classroom of Toyogasaki High School, the sound of mutual greetings echoed among the newly arrived students.
After Fūju stepped into his classroom, which was Class 1-F, he didn’t greet anyone and walked straight to his own desk and chair to sit down.
Although the beginning of the school year had been underway for some time, inside this classroom, not a single student shared a close friendship with Fūju.
Toward people whose relationships were merely ordinary acquaintances and whose names he hadn’t even memorized clearly, Fūju chose not to waste his energy greeting them.
Time ticked away from minute to minute.
In a short while, almost all the students were present in the classroom and occupied their respective seats, including the students positioned in front, behind, and to the right of Fūju’s desk.
As for why no student sat to the left of his desk, it was because Fūju’s chair happened to be that strategic position often called the main protagonist seat: the second row from the back, located right beside the window.
Until the seating arrangement reshuffle yesterday, Fūju hadn’t felt anything special about that seat.
But now, after the seating reshuffle was complete and he realized the identities of the students sitting in front, behind, and to his right, a slight surprise stirred within his heart.
The student sitting directly in front of his desk was Megumi Kato.
Meanwhile, the student occupying the seat directly behind his desk was Hachiman Hikigaya.
As for the seatmate on his right side, that person wasn’t any of the group members he met at the Light Music Club yesterday.
His seatmate was a brown-haired girl with shoulder-length short hair adorned with two yellow hairclips, possessing a very soft and sweet visual appearance.
Yet, despite this brown-haired girl with yellow hairclips having such a sweet face, her overall appearance gave off the impression of someone lacking sharp intelligence, exhibiting a somewhat absent-minded, clumsy, and innocent natural ditz vibe.
If one were to use a slightly impolite internet metaphor to describe her level of intelligence, it would be: toward a girl with this level of intelligence, I could pull off emotional deception eight times in a single night.
The name of this brown-haired girl with yellow hairclips was Yui Hirasawa.
She was one of the main characters from the animated series K-On!, widely known for her iconic role in that show.
Fūju hadn’t expected that after the seating arrangement changes, this girl would now officially become his seatmate.
Likely noticing the gaze observing her, Yui Hirasawa turned her head to look toward Fūju.
“Good morning, Fu-chan!” Yui Hirasawa greeted Fūju with an expression full of cheer.
Hearing the nickname uttered by Yui Hirasawa, the corners of Fūju’s mouth twitched instantly.
What kind of nickname was Fu-chan supposed to be?
The name Fu-chan gave off the impression of a moniker typically meant for a little girl, sounding like a name lacking mature intellect.
Now, with her name appended by that sweet-sounding suffix, her soft and gentle vibe became even stronger, naturally prompting an urge in him to offer a protesting comment.
Even so, Fūju did not launch a protest or give critical remarks to Yui Hirasawa.
In principle, Yui Hirasawa possessed a very stubborn personality regarding things she had settled on, especially when it came to assigning special nicknames to people around her.
Meanwhile, individuals given special nicknames by her usually didn’t harbor objections or make a big deal out of it.
After all, individuals with sweet and adorable visuals always enjoyed special privileges in social environments, and Yui Hirasawa certainly fell into that category.
Yet, based on Fūju’s personal analysis, this phenomenon was most likely caused by other underlying factors at play.
That factor was the possibility that people around Yui Hirasawa experienced a drop in intellect due to being influenced by the natural aura emitted by this girl.
Speaking of conditions inside the classroom, Yui Hirasawa could be categorized as one of the few people Fūju could occasionally converse with.
Even though in most cases, those interactions happened because Yui Hirasawa initiated the conversation first, forcing Fūju to respond out of courtesy.
“Yeah, good morning!” Since Yui Hirasawa had unilaterally initiated the greeting first, Fūju chose not to ignore that friendly gesture.
He nodded and gave a brief greeting response.
“Akira-kun, good morning!” (Considering the relationship between Megumi Kato and Fūju currently remained just ordinary school acquaintances, using a family name like Akira-kun felt more realistic).
Right after Fūju finished answering Yui Hirasawa’s greeting, the student sitting in front of him who possessed characteristics resembling an unseen assassin, Megumi Kato, also turned her body around to greet Fūju.
“Yeah, good morning!” Though Megumi Kato’s proactive greeting sparked a brief moment of surprise for Fūju, he still nodded and offered a polite reply.
As for the dead-fish-eyed student sitting behind him, since that person showed no initiative to greet him first and didn’t direct his gaze toward his position, Fūju naturally didn’t need to give any response nor did he have any obligation to greet him first.
This condition was deemed highly efficient for saving time and energy.
“Eh?!” Right after hearing Fūju’s greeting response, Megumi Kato’s lips let out a small sound of doubt.
The index finger of her right hand was placed near her lower lip, creating a visual display that looked very cute.
Yet, her expression, which tended to be flat and calm, felt slightly mismatched with the cute pose she was displaying.
“What’s wrong?” Seeing Megumi Kato gaze at him in such a manner, Fūju’s brow twitched slightly and he finally decided to ask a question first, an action he rarely took.
“It’s nothing, I just felt a small oddity.” “I didn’t expect Akira-kun to actually notice my presence, and even hear the greeting I just delivered,” Megumi Kato said in a flat tone.
If that sentence had been spoken by any other student, Fūju would undoubtedly have felt extremely annoyed upon hearing it.
Furthermore, he would have dismissed that person as an unhinged individual deliberately looking to pick a fight.
You aren’t a transparent human or some magical creature lacking physical form, nor are you sitting in a completely different spatial dimension.
How could others possibly fail to notice your presence or hear what you say.
Do you take me for a fool?
However, coming from Megumi Kato’s mouth, the phenomenon felt completely normal.
Because this girl had been equipped since birth with a built-in effect resembling a natural camouflage ability that made her fade from the peripheral vision of those around her.
Let alone strangers or classmates, even core family members like her biological father, mother, and older brother frequently overlooked Megumi Kato’s presence by accident.
“You’re not some grieving phantom, so it’s only natural I can see your form and hear your words,” Fūju replied in a calm tone.
“Based on the data I have so far, it seems aside from Fūju, other people tend to be unable to notice my presence or hear the sounds I make,” Megumi Kato said without changing her hand position, though her facial expression showed a slight shift resembling someone facing a complex problem.
Despite the expression change, the magnitude was so subtle that Fūju almost missed the detail entirely.
“I can see you clearly too!” Hearing Megumi Kato’s statement, Yui Hirasawa immediately raised her right hand high up with the eagerness of a volunteer signing up for a task.
She was making an official proclamation that she possessed the exact same ability as Fūju: able to notice Megumi Kato’s presence and hear every word uttered by the girl.
“Eh?!” Megumi Kato’s facial expression didn’t undergo drastic changes, but a flash of bright light flickered briefly within her eyes, resembling someone who had just discovered an uncharted territory.
She hadn’t expected that besides Fūju, there was another student in this class capable of detecting her presence and hearing her voice clearly.
Meanwhile, she herself had completely failed to realize that fact all this time.
That felt natural because in her daily life, she always held the base assumption that others wouldn’t pay attention to her, causing her never to spend time observing the people around her.
Particularly for the student sitting in the rear right row relative to her seat, she practically never paid attention at all.
She never guessed that this exact student was the one capable of detecting her.
“See for yourself, even a somewhat absent-minded girl like this can spot your presence.
This proves there are still people capable of detecting you; it’s just that you yourself don’t pay enough attention to that aspect,” Fūju said, gesturing toward Yui Hirasawa—who still kept her hand raised—before turning his gaze back to Megumi Kato.
“Judging by the current situation, it seems that really is the case,” Megumi Kato nodded in agreement.
“Tring…
Tring…
Tring…” Along with the ringing of the class bell signaling the start of learning activities, Megumi Kato did not pursue the conversation further and quickly turned her body back toward the front.
Neither Fūju, Yui Hirasawa, nor Megumi Kato realized that at the exact second she turned her body forward, the corners of Megumi’s lips curled upward slightly, forming a tiny smile reflecting immense joy.
As for the reason behind that joy, it was naturally because someone in the real world had finally managed to detect her presence.
To a normal student, such a reason might seem trivial and commonplace in daily life, but to an individual with unique traits like Megumi Kato, this discovery held vital urgency for her very existence.
“Hey, hey, hey…” ‘To think that two desks right in front of me sits a girl with such unique traits!’ Hachiman Hikigaya, sitting directly behind Fūju, though staying silent and not joining their conversation topic, had quietly listened to the entire exchange from behind.
After hearing the conversation between Fūju and the others just now, he realized with utter shock that the position two desks ahead of him was actually occupied by a girl.
This fact delivered quite a shock to his system.
In previous days, he had always assumed that desk position was simply an unoccupied, vacant seat.
He never imagined that the spot had constantly been inhabited by a girl possessing abilities akin to an invisible entity.
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