[Chapter 2: Hokkyokusei High School]
After walking a while not minding people's gazes, I reached the front gate of "Hokkyokusei Highschool", the high school I'll be attending to.
I clenched my fist tightly.
'All right! From the moment I set foot in this place, interesting stuff will start to happen.'
*Gulp*
With my resolve, I took my first step forward, officially entering Hokkyokusei High School as its student.
Although it's not that crowded, there's still considerably a lot of people. To be specific, students entering the school for the entrance ceremony.
However, everyone still avoids contact with me and moves out of my way, as if don't want anything to do with me.
'Wow, this Phantom attire's really effective. Just by wearing this I can make people move out of the way just with my presence alone. I feel like Moses right now.'
Like Noses split the sea, I split the crowd of people on my way.
Entering the school, I looked for the gym where the ceremony would be held.
...
Arriving at the gymnasium.
When I tried walking through the gym's entrance, one of the student council members stopped me from entering.
I knew they were student council members by the armband attached to their uniform, spelling out "student council".
They looked at me with faces saying, 'What is this weirdo thinking/doing wearing clothes like that, especially at the entrance ceremony?'
Normally, students who just entered high school want to look as nice and proper as possible, in order to make a good first impression amongst their peers. First impressions last, after all, and wearing my phantom attire, along with my messy hair doesn't really give off the same impression that you would typically want as a new student especially on your first day.
They asked questions relating to my outfit, it almost felt like an interrogation. In the end, they ended up confiscating my sword as they explained that it allegedly "would be against school rules".
After the interrogation like questions was over, with my sword being confiscated that I of course retaliated, but gave up at the end because of the fear my sword might break from the constant back and forth pulling. It was just made of plastic after all. Then I was finally allowed to enter the gymnasium.
Upon entering, hairs laid out in rows and line greeted me facing the stage, the seat provided for the students to sit comfortably through the duration of the entrance ceremony.
It was noticeable that there were lots of students inside already, waiting for the ceremony to begin that will start in a few minutes.
I proceeded to find a chair, though, while finding a seat, it took me quite some time before I found one. Because, every time I asked if the vacant chair next to them was available, they would always reply that it was already taken.
I just took it as a simple coincidence, they're probably reserving those seats for their friends, I thought. I wasn't aware that they didn't want to be seated next to me, for standing out too much, a person they thought of as a weirdo.
By the way, I ended up being seated at the far back corner at the end of the seating arrangement.
The mic and speaker turned on. A voice not visible from the stage reached everyone's ears, politely asking for "Everyone, please stand up." And so everyone complied.
Now that's everyone standing, ready for the ceremony to begin, a girl with long black hair walked in front of the stage, standing right in front of the podium.
Tapping on the mic, testing if the mic was functioning properly, she then held the microphone and began to deliver a speech.
"Welcome freshmen to Hokkyokusei High School..."
She gave out a speech marking the start of the opening ceremony.
And so, the entrance ceremony concluded smoothly, with a few (a lot) of stares drawn to me from people who were also in that said ceremony.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
After the entrance ceremony, I looked at the announcement board to look for my assigned classroom.
"Oh, there it is! ...Class 1-A huh ...I wonder what my new classmates would be like. Kukuku."
'All right then. From here on out, interesting stuff will begin to happen!'
I clenched my fist, putting on this sinister grin on my face, fully excited about what this so-called high school life has to offer.
"Kukuku... Ku HA HA HA HA"
Out of the blue, I started doing a diabolical laugh, laughing like a maniac in front of the announcement board.
Others around me who were also looking at the announcement board moved back, stepping away witnessing my strange behavior.
'That guy's not right in the head' is what everyone probably thinking.
All students are now heading to their assigned classrooms.
When I arrived at my assigned classroom, Classroom 1-A, I slid the door open and proceeded to enter the classroom.
The moment I entered the classroom, students went silent as they stared at me weirdly.
Maybe it was because normally, the first day is the moment for everyone to give off their first impressions, a first glance at how much you are compatible with everyone.
Choosing your friends in high school is critical for this age, as the students assigned in this classroom are most likely the people you will be interacting with for the next three years of your life.
But I don't really care. I haven't thought that far ahead.
That is the reason why they became wary of me, as they didn't want to risk being associated with some weirdo who had such a troublesome-looking character.
Looking through their lenses, I was a foreign object out of their scope. A chuunibyou, an anomaly out of their expectations.
Chuunibyous are stereotypically perceived as being too flashy, which they are already witnessing with my "Phantom attire". Not only that, but they are also typically perceived as having unpredictable personalities, lost in their own worlds with their grandiose delusions of fantasy and magic and such. Which makes them really annoying in the long run.
In short, the possibility of me being annoying and troublesome has a very high possibility. A person who's an anomaly they don't know how to deal with.
Right now, we are waiting for our homeroom adviser for further announcements. We still don't have seating arrangements but from what I've heard, we get to choose our seats.
Of course, for me, I chose the one in the back-end row beside the window, where most main character desks are located.
It's not like I want to be the main character or anything. I just thought that the seat next to the window was the coolest.
For example, if I were to look at the window, listlessly staring off into space, wouldn't I look so mysterious? You began to wonder, what could he possibly be thinking as he got lost in deep thought, the afternoon breeze blowing on his bangs, looking so melancholic.
"Hm, hm..." I nodded, as if saying 'Yeah, this feels just about right.'
Minutes passed and the classroom is now filled with students assigned to this classroom.
The room now was filled with noise from the exchange of talks from one another, talking about such trivial things and some are still reserved waiting to be talked to.
This is the time to get to know each other, find out each other's interests, and get a read about their compatibility after all.
Everyone seems to be getting along with each other, trying to form their own circle of friends. Some talked to their friends that they're already familiar with, and some are making new ones, some are just waiting to be approached. The typical things that happen on your first day.
By the way, I was one of the latter. I hadn't seen any of my old classmates so I was waiting for someone to make the first move.
Because I still didn't know anyone in the class, I stayed in my seat waiting to be approached. You could say that I could just take the initiative, but I plan to be the silent and mysterious character in the classroom.
Also, wouldn't it be weird if a shadow hero suddenly approached you, asking if you could be friends? That's just so not mysterious character-like.
So, I stayed there waiting, but... they just stared at me, and when I tried looking back at them, they immediately shifted their glances away.
So, yeah... they haven't yet approached me... [Because he still looks angry from his glare.]
After waiting a while, the teacher finally arrived. The classroom that was filled with noise earlier disappeared and students are now returning to their seats.
With everyone now properly seated, the teacher introduced herself. She introduced herself as "Tomoyo Shirogane - sensei"
She mentioned that she's a new teacher and has just freshly graduated from college.
After the teacher finished her introduction, it was now time for the students' turn.
"-I'm looking forward to this year, I hope to get along with everyone."
After the guy in front of me finished his introduction, it's now my turn to introduce myself.
Everyone's attention is now focused on me.
I'm not saying that they were not paying attention to the other's introductions earlier, but because of the strange clothes and messy hairstyle, it amplified the attention I was getting from my classmates because of curiosity.
"My name is Yukiya Saito, and I am-"
Just about the time I told them something about myself, someone knocked on the door and interrupted.
"Excuse me, Shirogane-sensei. Is a student named Yukiya Saito here?"
The certain student's eyes roamed, ending up looking at me, the only person who was standing.
"Oh, he's over there. Sorry for the intrusion, can I borrow Yukiya Saito for a moment, Ms. Shirogane-sensei?"
I, who was the only one standing among my classmates at the time, was easily identified from the flashy clothes that I was wearing by the student council who asked for me.
I deduct he's part of the student council. You could tell by the yellow armband attached to his arm. Also, he was the same guy who stopped me at the entrance ceremony and confiscated my sword earlier, so he instantly knew it was me.
"Alright, make it quick."
Ms. Shirogane-senesei, our homeroom teacher replied and gave permission.
After getting permission, I stepped outside and had a talk about the thing from earlier.
I signed my name on a piece of paper as proof that the sword they confiscated was indeed mine, so I could claim it later after school.
By the time I returned, everyone had already finished their introductions.
Because of the student council asking for me, the only introduction I had was my name. I didn't even get to tell them my identity as "Phantom", the hero who lives in the shadows.
Everyone avoids me even more, because being called by the student council on your first day, made it even more seem like I was a person intentionally looking for trouble.