If I may, I'd like to ask an interesting question, and I want you to think about the answer carefully.
Are all people equal?
These days, everywhere you go, there's talk about the fight for equality. People calling for men and women to be to be treated equally and shouting for soc—
—Shut up, you've thought about that question far too many times.
Huh? I can only remember doing that one or twice.
I'm talking about... no, forget it, never mind.
Regardless, I'm currently heading to my new school through public transport, guiltily looking away from the situation unfolding to my left, at the front of the bus.
An elderly woman stood unsteadily on her ornate cane, swaying with the motion of the bus, the passengers around her silently refusing to offer their seats, yourself included.
I made a mistake by taking the bus.
True, we should've driven to school in a limo.
"Um, excuse me. Don't you think you should give up your seat?"
A young, well-built, blonde-haired student was sitting in the priority seating. The one who had just spoken was a young girl with short beige hair, and a very large bust.
"That's a real crazy question, lady." The boy, with a mirror in hand, crossed his legs and, without bothering to look up at her, then stated. "Why should I give this seat to an old woman? There's absolutely no reason for me to do so."
"Well, you're sitting in a priority seat, so isn't it only natural to give it up to the elderly?"
"I don't understand. Priority seats are just that, priority seats. There is no legal obligation for me to mov—"
"—Excuse me, you can have my seat. Sorry I didn't give it to you sooner."
Most people on the bus glanced towards me, relieved I was solving the granny issue.
"Oh, there was no need to apologize, you gave it up quite quickly. I'm just glad someone gave up their seat at all. Thank you, young man."
"it was no problem at all."
Sighing internally, I gripped onto the railing.
Did you really need to get involved in that?
I didn't want to attract more attention than necessary.
It's a good opportunity to talk to that beige haired girl.
Besides, if you really wanted to avoid attention, then why did you plan to you to score all 50's on the entrance exam? You might not have known the average, but anyone with basic probability knowledge would realize that kind of distribution isn't normal.
That was only to raise the likelihood of being accepted into the school, even if the staff called me out for holding back, it wasn't likely they'd share that with my future classmates.
I dunno man, sounds like a retcon to me.
Just try not to do anything that makes me stand out.
Haha, no promises.
Oh, and look, she's coming over.
Called it.
"Thank you sooo much for giving up your seat, that was very kind of you!"
The girl spoke loudly with a large smile on her face, while slowly tip toeing towards me as to not fall over on the swiftly traveling bus.
"no worries, my stops soon anyways. it doesn't make a difference to me."
"I'm still grateful, it's not easy to do what you did! And I see that you're also wearing the ANHS uniform. I take it you're a first year as well?"
"yeah. my name's kiyotaka ayanokouji, in class d. what about you?"
"Wow, really? What a coincidence! I'm also in class D."
She took two small steps closer until she was right in front of me, her guard totally down.
(Edit)
"My name's Kikyou Kushida, and my goal is to become friends with each and every person in this school. Would you do me the honor of being my first friend?" She asked, cutely tilting her head to the side, making it mentally impossible to refuse her request, not that I had really wanted to.
Simp—but I agree.
"i guess so. i look forward to getting along with you, kushida."
"Likewise Ayanokouji-kun."
And then... we both fell silent.
I was slightly hoping she would continue the conversation while I could just follow along with whatever she wanted to talk about, like a small duckling trailing its mother to learn how to navigate the world through hands on experiences, but I guess I'd been expecting too much. Unfortunately, I didn't possess the required social skills to keep a conversation going with her either. That's a skill issue buddy. I never said it wasn't. You certainly implied it. Okay. OkAy~.
Glancing around the bus for an escape route from the awkward silence, I spotted a girl with long black hair reading a book titled Crime and Punishment, though what truly caught my attention was the window seat beside her, occupied by her bag.
I had already taken note of her previously because of her lack of a reaction to the commotion over the old lady, but not wanting to accidentally make eye contact with her or others scanning their surroundings, I'd quickly looked away, not realizing the seat next to her was empty.
But before I could overthink it, I felt a couple taps on my shoulder, and my eyes dart over.
"Where are you looking, Ayanokouji-kun? Do you know her?" Kushida innocently asked.
"huh? oh, no i don't. it's just that..." raising my right arm, I point slightly to the left of the cold-hearted girl. "i was looking around and accidentally caught sight of... there. i guess there was a open seat after all."
Kushida crooned as she leaned to the side to take a look, her smile as vibrant as ever.
"It seems like it, but we shouldn't assume anything. Maybe she's just shy, hehe."
Almost like she could feel our gazes, the red-eyed girl glanced up from her book, and our eyes met for a moment forcing me to quickly tu—to hold that eye-contact and assert dominance.
Sigh.
Don't sigh, it's not like being I'm extra and T-posing. Just a friendly retinal fluid exchange.
That doesn't make any sense, quit using terms you don't understand.
Silently agreeing to uphold a staring contest, the girl and I eyes remained locked in an internal battle for the few moments before the bus once again came to a stop. Then, she submissively backed off, admitting defeat by glancing away to place book in her bag. Heh.
"Looks like we're here Ayanokouji-kun, did you want to walk to class together?"
"sure, i was kind of nervous about walking there by myself."
"Really?" She giggled sweetly, "You don't look very nervous to me, Ayanokouji-kun."
"i just have some trouble expressing myself, that's all." Not anymore you don't.
Kushida looked at me suspiciously but, in the end, didn't say anything else. Subsequently, we followed the blonde-haired boy from before, who lost interest in us a while ago, assuming that he ever had any, out the bus and towards my new school.
"Wait!"
Right before I could take a single step into its premises, a loud moderately high-pitched voice called out from behind me.
It was the girl I'd been stuck in awkward staring contest with, who ended up stopping me.
"You, what the hell was that?" She said in a firm and unrelenting tone.
"What was what?" Try not to provoke her, please.
"Don't play dumb, why were you staring at me for so long?"
"That's funny, I could ask you the same thing."
"Stop trying to flip this on me; it was you who started staring first."
Kushida, a bystander to our ocular bout, trembled in fear, her body tensing like a statue caught in an earthquake, not saying a word as she watched us argue.
"Source? Where's your evidence for this claim? Did you record me staring? Can you fact-check that? For my own witness testimony, I would have to report that you. You! Were the one who started staring first. I'm sure Kushida is willing to back me on this."
"E-Eh?" She exclaimed, not expecting me to bring her up, "Eto... actually, I think Ayanokouji-kun was the one who was staring at her first. Specifically because we noticed the seat next to you was taken up by your bag..."
I'm not sure why you thought she'd side with you when you're clearly in the wrong.
"Well, you know what they say about eye witness testimonies being unreliable."
Apparently realizing how meaningless it would be to continue arguing with my incoherent soulmate, the long-haired girl's expression flattened before she let out a sigh.
She started walking past us and paused once she was a few feet ahead, taking one final glance back, she added, "Just so you know, I absolutely detest people like you."
"Detest? Can you repeat that in Japanese? I don't speak French."
That joke only makes sense if she was speaking in English.
Neither of us could come up with anything to say, so Kushida and I simply stood there, watching the girl walk away in silence until she disappeared into the school building.
"that was weird."
With a concerned face, Kushida expressed her thoughts, "Yeah, I understand not wanting people to stare at you, but that did seem a bit excessive. Although, you kind of brought it on yourself by provoking her. You're partly to blame too."
Her words made it sound like she was lecturing me, but her facial expression told a different story. It's possible she's going easy on scolding me because she regrets not speaking up earlier.
Anyhow, or someone who had no issue making a polite yet firm request to a stranger earlier, her discomfort around the red-eyed girl didn't make much sense. Kushida's behavior seemed off, maybe she has a hard time interacting with people who act like that.
Unlike you, she doesn't have someone as amazing as me to back her up.
I've never needed you to stick up for me—you did that on your own out of boredom.
Only someone blind to his own privilege could say that.
"You know, I understood the school was ginormous from the videos, but experiencing it in person is super different. I wonder how the government can even afford all this, with all the staff and resources it must use."
"you're not wrong. it does seem like a massive waste of taxpayer money, especially when it's mostly used for high school students. the school receives hundreds of millions of yen annually, maybe the portion that comes from the government is only a partial amount. i heard the chairman invests a lot of his own money into the school, perhaps he has some donor friends that support it as well."
This school's description does seem a bit different from what I remember, I can't put my hands on exactly what though. Y'all could be onto something.
Since you brought it up, aside from being from the future, you haven't actually shared anything important about your past—or technically, the future.
That's cause it's boring.
If you weren't lying about that, being honest with each other could help improve our relationship, especially since we'll be sharing my body.
Comedy is one of your strong points, I see.
"That makes sense, I guess. If it was the government paying for it all, it would probably be a massive loss for them. It makes more sense for them to be sponsored, but I wonder what the sponsors getting back from this?"
"from what i've heard, a decent number of graduates end up doing very well in high up or difficult to get into positions—i can't think of anything else that might work as incentive for them."
But, fine.
Since you're just soooo interested, I don't mind spoiling you a little bit.
As you know my name is Satoru and I was unbelievably sexy and rich, with semi long hair for a guy. Before I died I was in my late 20s and I worked as an actor, although I was one of the side character actors no one cares about in those movies you've never watched.
How I loved my sweet and funsy nepotism.
That's weird, I recall hearing an entirely different backstory from you before.
Your memories are probably messed up.
Doubtful, I don't forget things often.
You have obviously just forgot about the things you've forgotten, so you could pretend that you don't forget things often, when in fact, you often forget things.
...
And I'm sure you've already figured it out, but I did know who you were before coming inside you... Pffft. I came inside you~.
...
How cold, you're breaking my heart.
...
The reason I know is something you need to figure out yourself, Kiyopoo~.
"there's no point in thinking too hard about it. i bet we'll find out later on anyway."
"Probably."
Our conversation fell flat once more as we made our way through the school, quickly reaching our classroom, which was already half full. Kushida promptly bade goodbye and made her way to the group of girls chatting in the top left corner to introduce herself.
Being that this was my first time in such an unfamiliar environment, I decided to walk around the classroom in search of my seat, which was located at the back, adjacent to the window seat.
Wait, you're obviously the main character—why isn't your seat in the corner?
Aren't you being a bit too arrogant?
No, I mean, c'mon.
Overly smart teenager who intended to hide his intelligence applies for a prestigious high school and suddenly gets a creamy ghost reincarnated inside him upon acceptance.
That has shitty high school anime written all over it, does it not?
I can't deny that, so I'm going to choose to ignore it.
Skull emoji.
What's that supposed to mean?
Google it pal.
Okay.
Interrupting our conversation, a girl, of average height with long brown hair, her bangs tucked to the right, and cool blue eyes, set her bag down to my right while wearing a neutral expression.
Seeing my head turned towards her, she lifts her hand and gives me a small wave with a smile.
(Edit)
"Hey hey, seems like we'll be seatmates. My name is Chiaki Matsushita." She said, stood over her seat, "I'm very into doing makeup and reading, romance or fantasy novels specifically. If you want any recommendations, I'm ya gal."
"oh um, my names kiyotaka ayanokouji and i don't really have any hobbies or skills to speak of. i look forward to getting along with you matsushita."
"Wait, hold on—you don't any hobbies or skills? What do you do exactly in your free time?"
Of course she's confused. Normally someone has at least one hobby, It's hard to imagine someone without any activities they can enjoy.
"i guess i read a lot actually, that would be considered a hobby."
With a sly grin, Matsushita leaned forward, no doubt getting ready to tease you.
"Oh? But you just said you didn't have any hobbies... by any chance, is this your first time talking to a girl?"
Or violate you apparently.
I know the stereotypical gyaru girl enjoys teasing people, but her introduction sounded pretty chill, so I thought you'd be okay. She's more viscous than she appears.
You sound like someone with no experience talking to Gyaru's.
I'm not Japanese and there isn't exactly an abundance of them back in the US you know.
"what? no... it was just because..."
My supercomputer brain ran on full power looking for an excuse, but... came up short.
"I'm, coincidentally, also very into romance and fantasy novels, but saying that right after you said you were felt like it'd come off wrong. And I couldn't think of any other hobbies I wanted to share fast enough."
"Hmmm... is that so?" Matsushita stood up, a smile still evident on her face, albeit far less mischievous. "I guess I can drop it here. I'm going to go say hi to all the other girls in class, talk to you later Ayanokouji-kun~."
With that she walked off to the same group Kushida is still talking to.
Maybe I should take after her and go talk to some of the other boys in class.
Wow, not even a thank you?
Thanks.
It's not the same.
Anyway, I agree. Let's go.
Not yet, rushing in recklessly will only end up backfiring.
There was a little more than 10 minutes until homeroom began and I'd be forced to return to my seat, that left a narrow time frame for socializing.
The real problem though, wasn't the timeframe, but that nobody was sitting alone like I was—you mean none of the boys—so if I wanted to speak to them, I'd have to force my way into their groups, which felt like a bad idea for my inexperienced self.
That's true enough, I guess.
The only other 'loner' would be the big-breasted, pink-haired, twin-tailed girl way to our right, and she looks like she'd do an even worse job holding a conversation than you could.
As the class wasn't full yet, I could always wait for somebody who's desk is nearby me to arrive then talk to them before they can talk to anyone else—Oh, actually those guys are talking about an anime we've seen—this could be a good opportunity.
Pushing out my seat, I ditched my mostly empty bag on my desk, and starting walking over to the two loud kids.
"—The fuck do you mean, you don't like Attack on Titan?!" The baby-faced, shorter brown-haired boy with his bangs swept to the side, last name Ike according to his desk, shouted in frustration.
"What? The concept might be good, but it's executed just so unbelievably boringly and the main characters cringe. It was like they didn't even try while making it, like what the fuck is the point of making a retarded angry brat like Eren the main lead when he just bitches about everything." The taller of the two, last name Yamauchi, with an abnormally large chin, and bright red eyes replied, looking like he's disgusted by just think about it.
Sit back and watch pretty boy.
It's not like I have a choice.
"Obviously it's so he can develop as a protagonist! If he was already fully developed then there'd be no point in watching it since you'd be able to predict everything he does, like how you can with One Punch Man."
"Take it easy there, bud," I said, cutting into their conversation as I took a seat on top the desk next to the the taller boy. "One Punch Man defeating everything in one punch is a minor point in the series, you can only call it predicable if you're predicting purely his fights."
"...I'm with him Ike. The art's top tier among manga and the artist literally turns that the manga panels into animation if you flip through them quickly enough. The girls are definitely the best part, maaaan they're hot as fuuuck. Have you seen the psychic sisters? Fubuki's busty, but I'm more a fan of Tatsumaki's for her design and massive fucking dump truck. I've beat my shit to a cover page of them once, no joke. You've gotta read it just for them."
"Dumbass, that's way too much info. Anyway, One Punch Man is only about a guy who ends every fight in one hit, that's the whole gimmick. Plus having hot girl's doesn't save a manga or anime from being mediocre, excessive fan service is annoying."
"Dude, the appeal of One Punch Man is the side characters. Obviously, Saitama winning instantly would get old quick—you just have to stick through the early chapters."
"To add to that, the psychic sisters have only shown up a few times; I don't know why that specifically would be what compelled you into reading it. Although I think we can all agree that pointless fan service would ruin a show, like for Attack on Titan, there's no way it'd be as popular as it is with any fanservice."
"Hah?! You're way off now dude, Attack on Titan would be waaay better if there was some fanservice. The female cast is already dull as fuck, Mikasa's only personality trait is sucking on Eren's dick, so she might as well pop some titties out for viewer retention while doing it. And what makes it even worse is that Isayama decided to make her jacked too, only gay dudes like girls with muscles."
"That Attack on Titan take is too stupid to reply to seriously. Also, just because you don't like muscular girls, doesn't mean other people are gay for liking them. I'd rather have a muscle mommy gf, than a overly skinny, overweight, or furry one. Right..?"
"it's kiyotaka. kiyotaka ayanokouji."
I'm proud of you, to think you managed to tell them your name without stuttering.
I didn't stutter with Kushida and don't even have a stutter.
Just how lowly do you think of my social skills?
Low enough to totally fuck up your introduction—with prep time.
Ike's face deadpanned, and he commented, "Don't act like you're in a movie bruh."
"I don't act like that, it just happens naturally. A result of my—"
"—Um, your on my desk. Can you move?"
Before Satoru was able to tell them about his natural "rizz," a long blue-haired girl with a mole beauty mark and some extremely large breasts, interrupted, grabbing the attention of all three boys.
"ah, sorry."
Quickly hopping off, I intended to move to the desk to the rear of Ike as it was also empty, at least until the desk's recipient would arrive. My two male classmates followed behind, though we actually ended up settling in the room's bottom-right corner instead.
"Yooooo, dude. Your seatmate's pretty cute." Ike whispered while sneaking a peek at her.
"I know right? Her boobs are fucking massive too, just Imagine motorboating those babies." Yamauchi whispered back, subtly shaking his head with his tongue sticking out, making an obscene gesture like he was showcasing what he'd do to them.
Yamauchi's seatmate shuddered, goosebumps rising on her skin as she turned around with an gelid expression, as if she'd caught wind of what Yamauchi had whispered.
Is that supposed to be a joke? She obviously wouldn't have turned around like that if she didn't, we're not even that far away.
Then we should distance ourselves from them, I don't want to be lumped in with a bunch of perverts. I haven't even been given the chance to make friends yet, this might ruin my social school life before it even begins.
"It's a bit too early to think about doing that, don't you think?"
"Shut up dude, you're talking too loud. And besides, we're all thinking it, I'm just the only guy with enough balls to say it outright.
"True, haha."
"It doesn't require any balls to talk shit to your friends about what you want to do to her, so instead, how about you try flirting with her for real? I bet that'd work out great."
Appearing to agree with my proposal, Ike wrapped his arm around Yamauchi's shoulder and said, "Heh Yamauchi~, you said you could pull any girl you wanted if you genuinely wanted to right? Following Ayanokouji's suggestion seems like the obvious choice here."
"W-What? Were you doubting me? Of course I can do it, just watch."
Separating from our mini gathering at the back of the class, Yamauchi walked back over to his desk, pulling out his chair in an graceful motion before turning to his seatmate with a faint smile.
"Hello, madam—"
"—PFFFFFFFFFTTHAAAAAH—" unable to hide my glee, a stifled laugh slipped out before I could catch it, drawing looks from Yamauchi, his seatmate, and a few nearby students. Not wanting to ruin his attempt, I quickly feign coughing as a distraction, hiding my impish smile behind my hand. "D-Don't, don't worry. I was jus-hahaha, jus—"
I wanted to, so desperately, hide my amusement but the words wouldn't come out, and my smile kept returning no matter how many times I forced it down.
If this kept up then I might not get to see him embarrass himself.
Quick, swap out!
You're the one with swapping privileges, there's no way for me to switch in unless you mentally relinquish control or your possession time limit expires.
Oh, right.
Returning my body back to the original possessor, our smile shifted expressionless nearly instantaneously, and Kiyopon stated, "my bad, my throat got caught on something."
Ike was likely confused what Satoru was laughing about since Yamauchi had yet to even attempt flirting with his seatmate, but it seems my other seatmate has arrived, and despite our prior argument, I'd rather try speaking to her than continue here.
I don't care if you wanna go back, just watch the outcome of his flirting.
That's fine.
"Ahaha, sorry about that. My ugly friend over there clearly doesn't know how to—"
Wearing a face of pure disgust, and a gaze even colder that black-haired girl she cut him off, "—Can you fuck off? If you say one more thing to me, I'm gonna report you for sexual harassment."
Yamauchi stumbled off his chair landing butt first onto the cold ground, a look of horror etched on his face as he was struck with the realization—she'd likely overheard what he had whispered.
"S-S-Sexual h-harassment? I-I haven't done anything for y-you to report me but fine. I'm not interested in talking to a rude bitch anyway," he replied, skimping back over to Ike almost entirely on all fours, appearing like he'd forgotten how to walk.
Having finished watching that "show," I swiftly made my way back to my desk, with only 2 minutes remaining until homeroom would start—just enough time to maybe introduce myself.
You seriously think that's a good idea? We've already pissed her during our first interaction, realistically nothing good will come out of interacting with her again.
I haven't done anything, that was all you.
Be realistic, my involvement wouldn't have changed anything. If I hadn't intervened, she would have found some other dumb reason to hate you, like your pretty face or seductive voice.
If you hadn't engaged in a staring contest then there's no good reason to believe she would have even spoke to us. It's unlikely for someone with her personality to start talking to another person over making eye contact for a split second.
What an obvious lie.
It takes some serious confidence to ignore the silent peer pressure created from staying quiet about the empty seat next to her occupied by her bag when someone's trying to help an old lady find a place to sit.
She wouldn't hesitate to call her younger sister's own newborn daughter ugly had they been born with unfortunate features, let alone call you out for looking at her for a moment.
"Ugh, you're my seatmate?" The girl remarked as I pulled out my chair.
See?
"that's a cold greeting, I thought we had something special going."
There's no real benefit in making enemies with our classmates right now, especially not one we're going to be stuck sitting next to until the next seat change, It'll make things awkward.
Uuueaugh.
"Are you seriously that delusion to believe that just because someone stares back at you—actually why am I even talking to you. It's obvious you're too stupid to have a conversation with, clearly I'm the idiot for ever responding seriously."
"Looks like we managed to agree on at least one thing."
And with that final message she began to ignore us, our conversation for the day came to a close while also shutting off any future opportunities that may arise.
Are you happy now?
Positively.
Spotting the miniscule time left until homeroom, my right seatmate's group and the other smaller group disbanded, heading off in different directions toward where their seats were, and at the same time, a woman decked in business attire stepped inside. Her outfit consisting of a short skirt with stockings, a white short-sleeved shirt left unbuttoned to expose her cleavage, topped with a black blazer, and her hair tied into a ponytail.
She was also blessed with a well-endowed figure.
It's not healthy to comment on the body on every girl you see with large breasts, it'll give people the undesirable impression of being someone who is obsessed with pornography.
That only would be true if I commented on it out loud obviously, and it's perfectly normal, your teenage hormones are the real villains here, not me.
"Ahem. Good morning, Class D. I'm Chabashira Sae, your homeroom teacher for the next 3 years as this school doesn't rearrange classes, ever. The entrance ceremony will take place 1 hour from now in the gym, so in the meantime I'll go over the list of special rules, the matriculation guide, and answer any questions you may have."
She pulled out a stack of papers from her binder, handing them out in the front rows to be passed back.
"To start, you will need to know about the S-System."
---
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Rewrite of my first fan fic
4.7k words