The first class of the day began.
Well, technically, it was morning self-study.
Kirisu Mafuyu told the students to review the material on their own and mentioned that there would be a small quiz today before leaving the classroom. As a teacher, she had to prepare her lessons.
"Hey, Itsuki-san, what does it feel like to get hit by a car?"
Itsuki had been scanning the classroom, noting a few familiar faces, when a boy with ear-length hair and a flashy headband cheekily addressed him.
The question was… remarkably impolite.
"Ha! Sho-kun, don't ask such rude questions! Itsuki-san didn't exactly volunteer to get hit by a car, you know!"
A golden-haired, handsome boy sitting in front of the flashy one turned around and smiled apologetically at Itsuki.
"Sorry about that, Itsuki-san. Sho-kun didn't mean any harm—he's just a little curious."
"I'm Hayato Yashima. Nice to meet you," the golden-haired boy added, extending his hand in a friendly gesture. Itsuki smiled faintly and shook it politely.
"No worries, Yashima-san. There's nothing I can't talk about. Getting hit by a car on the first day of school… I guess you could say I'm pretty unlucky."
"And the feeling? Well… I think I passed out. All I remember is a thunk in my head, and then… nothing."
Hearing this, Yashima sighed.
"You're actually pretty lucky. Someone else got hit at the same time… and they're still in the hospital."
Mentioning this other person seemed to weigh on Yashima.
"Oh… someone even more unlucky than me? Who is it?"
Itsuki couldn't help asking, curious. He assumed the unluckiest would have been Rumiya Aki—choking on a sip of water, gone before the doctors could save him. Who could even argue with that?
Yashima sighed, a little saddened.
"I'm not sure if you know her… it's Yukinoshita-san."
"Ah? Yukinoshita?" Itsuki froze.
Seeing Yashima and the flashy Sho-kun behind him, Itsuki immediately recognized them from My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU.
And Yukinoshita Yukino… was one of his favorite heroines.
Now Yashima was saying that Yukinoshita had been hit by a car and hospitalized on the same day as him?
Really? Could this get any more ridiculous?
"Yeah. She's still unconscious in the hospital. No one knows when she'll wake up."
Yashima didn't want to go into detail. Instead, he introduced the silent flashy boy.
"This is Sho Hube. A really good classmate—nice to meet you, Itsuki-san."
"No problem, nice to meet you, Hube-san," Itsuki replied, unbothered. He was already joking about being unlucky, so what was the harm?
Still, he made a mental note to keep distance from Hube; a person like that could lower his IQ.
After chatting with Yashima a bit, Itsuki took out his textbook to start reviewing.
His eyes, however, wandered around the classroom, subtly scanning the students.
He wanted to identify which faces were familiar.
Soon enough, he noticed a few particularly striking students.
A pink-bunned girl sitting in front of Shiina Mahiru. Her uniform skirt was deliberately folded a centimeter shorter, showing off long, fair legs that drew attention.
Her bow-tied collar was slightly undone, a little messy, revealing the soft curves of her chest. She was undeniably a standout in the classroom.
Her figure was excellent—vibrant, flashy, and lively.
Without a doubt, she was Yui Yuigahama, one of the heroines of SNAFU.
In front of Yashima sat a proud, golden-haired girl with a queenly aura—Miura Yumiko.
Beside her, a black-haired girl with glasses: Ebina Hina.
All of them seemed like excellent candidates for a familiar contract.
Itsuki's gaze swept the room, looking for his targets. Then, his eyes locked onto the girl at the desk directly in front of him.
Short hair just brushing her ears, a calm expression.
"Kato Megumi?"
He muttered under his breath.
The girl's ears twitched, and she instinctively turned, raising an eyebrow at him.
"Surprising… Itsuki-san finally remembers me," she said.
"Uh… 'finally remembers you'? Did we even know each other? Are you really Kato Megumi?"
The saintly Megumi?
She looked at him with mild exasperation, completely calm.
"We've been desk neighbors since elementary school. And now… you call out my name and ask me that?"
"Is my name that hard to remember?"
Her voice was flat, but Itsuki thought he caught a faint trace of grievance.
"Haha, not hard at all. From now on, I'll always remember you, Kato Megumi-san," Itsuki said earnestly.
According to her setup, Megumi had an innate ability to be subconsciously ignored—hence the "ordinary girl" reputation.
Previously, he couldn't remember her because he hadn't awakened his memory and had been subtly influenced by her magnetic presence.
Now, however… he was a man with inherited memories from another world and demonic abilities.
Megumi was definitely a high-quality familiar candidate.
Hearing his promise, Megumi nodded slightly, muttering under her breath:
"Hope you can actually do it."
She was used to being ignored.
You wouldn't believe it, but there had been times her parents completely forgot she existed, locking her out of the house.
Once, at a zoo, her parents even left her behind entirely. They just went home, and it was a police officer who eventually brought her back.
The feeling of being invisible… only Megumi truly understood that pain.