When I think of my current situation, what I lack is information about the plot of this novel.
What should I do then?
Simple, get closer to the source of information.
Hence I approached our suspected protagonist, Yosuke Yukishiro.
After our frustrating excursion, I got close enough to Yukishiro and dragged him over when Shinji and Miura were making plans to go to the arcade.
Well, I can say that now we are friends and if I press him, he might just reveal what I want to know.
But to be honest there isn't much to know from his side.
As for his childhood friend, Marika Kaneko, I can get information from her best friend Megumi Todou.
Of course she won't reveal private details, but I am sure I could get juicy bits after I showed her I was enthusiastic on doing something about those 2 dense idiots.
But, I might as well give her a silent apology.
I do not have any intention of interfering in any of the pieces laid.
That is also one of the reasons I have not made a big move yet.
Intuition tells me that something might happen.
Now where am I getting this confidence? I do not know.
Do I have anything to prove my thoughts are right? Nope, not a single shred of evidence.
Hence, my decision to start getting my presence known.
I might not interfere but I do need some sense of control over the situation.
This was also one of the reasons for my make over.
It would help greatly in the next steps.
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It was lunch time at school and I was headed to the garden area with my lunch box.
The garden area was simply a grass ground with trees planted in rows and columns to create an area of shade for everyone to leisurely sit at.
I walked around for a little.
"Ah, there."
I found my target spot for today.
I went towards the tree I planned to sit under.
And there I saw my helpers.
"Yo Minami. Yo Hina. Minami, scoot over and make some space for me."
I acted chummy with one of the top girls, who is pretty much in the top 5 of the popularity rankings in the year under the shocked and bamboozled eyes of the plethora of first year students who were just enjoying their lunch.
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"What were you doing today? Are you even aware how you've become the number one piece of gossip in our class?"
Tachibana informed me about the consequences of today's actions while we treated the stairs on the riverbank as our private property.
"Hmm, I see that my plan did work. What are the general reactions from the boys and the girls?"
"Well, I'm not sure about the boys but there was a bit of chaos, but the girls were curious which idiot was bold enough to come in and act chummy with Aoki. They were dying to know who you were when Aoki just casually moved and made space for you."
She chuckled as if she was remembering the silly faces of her friends.
"But what do you mean by 'plan'? Were you intentionally planning on attracting the curiosity?"
"Well, yes. In fact I wanted to get my name out there. You do realise how your first impression in my mind was right? Weirdo. All of that just because I saw you practicing launches a few times. Now imagine the effect of my actions. Me and unknown dude who looks pretty decent just randomly walking up to one of the most popular girls, telling her to scoot over like she's some casual pleb, her doing so without asking a question."
I look towards her and wait for the answer to my question.
"Hmm, the girls would probably assign importance to you compared to the other boys I suppose. And for the boys, whether they like it or not, you have jumped in terms of hierarchy in the social structure."
She looks over to me as if asking if that is the right answer.
"Hahaha! Exactly, Tachibana. You're damn smart. I thought you were a muscle head but I'm impressed."
I chuckled.
She pouted but I continued before she said anything.
"What I actually did was engrave my presence in their minds that I shouldn't be taken lightly by flaunting my connection with Minami. This would allow me to ride a wave and would help me establish a good foundation among the whole of the first year students. That is of course I make good use of the chance I have been given. Of course this is also possible since cliques haven't been stabilized yet since it has barely been two months since we started school."
I turn back to look at the night sky once again.
The beauty of being transmigrated in an anime parallel world was the night sky.
I remember watching the anime 'Call of the Night' and the purple sky just looked so damn beautiful in it.
I genuinely wished I could be able to see such scenes in real life but the specific conditions for the volcanic aerosols to reach the stratosphere weren't possible in the place where I lived.
But here it is so damn clear.
One look at it decreases my depression levels and gives me serenity.
Here, I can literally point to Sirius and plot Canis Major with my naked eye.
I could witness such sights for my whole damn life every night and I would not complain.
.
"Kazama, you might be a true genius!"
I am looking towards the sky and I can't see her but I can feel her admiring me but...
"Hahahaha"
I lose my shit.
A genius?
My ass, a genius you stupid and naive girl.
I'm just a failed college student who has been given a second chance.
The things about higher education I realized were simple.
In school, you had to have balls for the whole year to do wild shit and enjoy life with the boys, and study regularly and grind like hell for marks when exams approach.
In university, you had to constantly socialize and expand your contacts while learning additional stuff from online courses alongside your semester syllabus.
These are two simple truths of education.
Unfortunately I wasn't able to do the second one well and here we are.
.
"Why are you laughing?"
She seemed puzzled.
I'm just laughing at my failure Tachibana, something a smart and hardworking human being like you will never experience.
Heck, even if you do, I'm sure you'll be back up in no time.
Either way this girl is quite smart and I might as well help her, so...
"Nothing, I just remembered something. Anyways Tachibana, I have a proposition for you that might help you out..."