That day, one student was acting strangely.
“Strangely” might not be the most accurate word. More precisely, something about him was off… Actually, no—“strange” was probably exactly right.
“…”
During an otherwise ordinary class, he—Kai Masaki—was taking his studies seriously.
His best friends, Akira and Shougo, kept glancing at him and tilting their heads in confusion. Mari, who had recently grown much closer to Kai, was doing the same.
“…I wonder what's gotten into Kai-kun.”
She murmured it under her breath, puzzled by his behavior.
And no wonder. Whatever had happened to Kai was continuing in an unmistakably obvious way.
“Alright, let's try this one… Masaki, why don't you solve it?”
“Certainly.”
It was mathematics. When the teacher called on him, Kai stood up at once.
He walked confidently to the blackboard, picked up a piece of chalk, and solved the equation without hesitation. Even the teacher watching him nodded approvingly.
“How does this look?”
“Excellent. A perfect answer. You only learned this today, yet you solved it wonderfully.”
“Not at all. That is only thanks to your teaching. Meeting such a wonderful educator as yourself has been the greatest happiness of my life.”
“…Masaki… you…”
Moved, the teacher embraced Kai.
Kai's words had struck a chord in him as an educator, and he seemed genuinely grateful to have chosen this profession.
The students who remained behind did not watch the scene fondly, however. They stared at Kai as though wondering what had possessed him after hearing those excessively flattering remarks.
Some of them were also jealous of how close he had become with Mari, which only made it clearer how bizarre Kai was acting today.
“Can you solve this problem too? If there's anything you don't understand, ask me. We can work through it together.”
“No, I'm perfectly fine. As I said, it's all thanks to your teaching. Now, how about this answer?”
“Correct! My goodness, Masaki, you're different today. You have a whole new energy.”
“Ahaha. How many times must I say it? It's all thanks to your teaching.”
“You'd better make me proud in mathematics this term!”
It was understandable that the teacher was feeling pleased. But Kai's classmates knew him well enough to realize that something was seriously wrong.
Yes, there was something strange about him today.
His appearance had not changed, but his entire atmosphere was different. He seemed almost handsome in spirit—a model student, or perhaps a genuinely accomplished person.
“Phew. I managed to solve it. From here on, I must continue striving to improve.”
He did not become arrogant over solving the problem. Instead, he renewed his determination to work even harder.
That, too, was evidence of his newfound ambition.
Nobody had any idea what had happened to him.
Even his friends did not know how to interact with him, so for that day they merely watched him from a distance.
“H-Hey, Kai-kun.”
“Hmm? Ah, Mari. What is it?”
While even his friends kept their distance, Mari approached Kai.
Her dark, obsessive feelings toward him grew stronger every day, but at that moment her confusion was far greater.
She had come over despite that confusion, and once again, Kai seemed completely different today.
“Mari, you look as cute and beautiful as ever today. Being able to speak with someone like you is a true happiness for me.”
“Um… well…”
“Haha, did I embarrass you? But you're lovely even when you're flustered. Say, Mari, would you let me look at you a little more closely?”
“…Ahh.”
Mari promptly dropped into a seated position, her legs giving out beneath her.
Her face turned bright red, and she seemed unable to stand properly. Seeing this, some of her friends came over to help her.
Even so, Kai's charm offensive did not stop.
“Mari, give me your hand.”
“Y-Yes…”
Something was wrong. Kai was truly acting strange today.
Yet Mari did not dislike hearing his overly flattering words. On the contrary, she found herself wishing he would whisper them even more closely in her ear.
Eventually, the situation settled down because the next class was about to begin.
But Kai continued acting that way during the next class—and the one after that.
“…Ah, Senpai.”
“Hmm?”
During a break, Kai was returning from the faculty office when someone called out to him.
He turned and saw Emu. The moment she spotted him, she slipped away from her friends and hurried over.
“Honma. Shouldn't you be with your friends?”
“Oh, it's fine. I told them to go on ahead.”
Emu's friends gave Kai a small bow before walking away.
After watching them leave, Kai turned back to Emu. Wearing the same unusually bright and refreshing smile, he spoke.
“Did you want to talk to me so badly that you came running over?”
“Senpai?”
“No, that isn't quite what I meant. I wanted to talk to you too, so I'm glad you came over, Honma.”
“…Um?”
Emu tilted her head, puzzled by Kai's uncharacteristic behavior.
The break was not very long, so they had only a short time to speak. It was a little disappointing, but there was nothing they could do about it.
“If only we had a little more time. Then I could talk with you longer.”
“S-Senpai…”
Emu was confused, but she was also embarrassed.
Kai had not exactly said anything outrageous. It was simply that his manner was gentle and confident at the same time.
It reminded her of the day he had driven away her stalker.
“Shall we make time to talk again sometime, Honma?”
“Yes!”
Emu had no idea what had happened to Kai.
But because the hypnosis had already made her unusually interested in him—and because she had been trained to call him “Master” over and over while hypnotized—she was happy to hear his words even without consciously understanding why.
After parting from Emu, Kai returned to his classroom.
That was when his demeanor changed.
“…Huh?”
It was as though someone had flipped a switch and changed his personality. He looked around the room.
“Why am I at school…? I just woke up, didn't I? What…?”
He looked so confused that it was obvious he had no idea what was happening.
He spent the rest of the morning surrounded by curious stares. When the long-awaited lunch break finally arrived, he buried his face in his desk, unable to hide his shock.
“…Why? Why the hell…!?”
He had been looking forward to lunch break all day. It was also the day Saika was supposed to keep him company.
There were plenty of things he did not understand, but he figured he might still be half-asleep. That explanation seemed to make everything acceptable enough.
So he decided not to think about it. He had been just about to forget everything by enjoying Saika's company when he realized the problem.
“I charged it properly! Why is the battery dead!?”
His phone had run out of power.
That meant he could not use the app for the rest of the day. Naturally, the pre-programmed hypnosis affecting Saika had also ended.
(Lately, I've practically been living for this every day… Haha… What a disaster.)
As he sat there in shock, a girl approached him.
“Masaki-kun.”
“…Huh?”
Kai raised his head at the sound of the voice.
Saika stood in front of him, looking down at him.
“Agatsuma? What are you doing here?”
I was going to call you over myself and have my way, Kai thought privately.
“No, I'm not really sure. I just felt as if someone had called me. May I stay beside you during lunch, Masaki-kun?”
“Huh? Ah, sure. I don't mind.”
“Good.”
Saika borrowed the chair beside him and sat down close by.
She did not say much. Instead, she simply gazed at Kai's profile, leaving him wondering what was going through her mind.
Still, with her sitting so close, his eyes naturally drifted toward—
“…She's huge.”
That was the only thought he could manage.
Afterward, Mari and his friends approached Kai, who had finally returned to his usual self.
“Um… what exactly are you talking about?”
“Were you really half-asleep and acting weird?”
“Well, you have to admit, you can't function normally without acting like yourself. That wasn't you at all.”
“Hey, Mari, was he really that impressive?”
“Yeah! I was so flustered I almost—Ahem. Anyway, he was incredible.”
“Oh…”
In the end, Kai had absolutely no idea what had happened.
It was no wonder he had no memory of it. The incident had been caused by nothing more than one of his careless experiments.
“I wonder if hypnosis works on yourself, too?”
That morning, just after waking up, Kai had looked at himself in the mirror while thinking that.
He activated the hypnosis app and gave the reflection in the mirror an order.
“Hmm… Hey, me. Let's spend the whole day acting like a handsome, charming guy!”
And that was the answer to everything.
Kai did not remember what had happened.
Still, strangely enough, he never thought about trying something like that again.