The following morning, the sky was just beginning to lighten with the soft hues of dawn when Satoru's phone rang loudly, breaking the stillness of his sleep.
But it wasn't his alarm that had woken him; it was a call.
"Hello, who is this?" Satoru mumbled groggily, his voice thick with sleep. He was still tangled in that fine line between dream and waking, his eyes struggling to fully open.
"Satoru, why aren't you here yet?" Lewis's voice shot through the phone, urgent and a bit impatient.
"Do you even hear yourself? My alarm hasn't even gone off yet," Satoru replied lazily, glancing at the message bar on his phone.
His tone was still tinged with the heaviness of sleep.
"Do you hear yourself? Today is the welcome ceremony! Did you forget?" Lewis's voice was incredulous, disbelief ringing through every word.
"Oh, crap!" Satoru instantly jolted awake, the realization hitting him like a bucket of cold water.
"Alright, I got it. I'll be there soon," he hastily said, hanging up the call.
He vaguely remembered Lewis mentioning the welcome party yesterday but had completely forgotten there was also a morning ceremony.
He quickly washed his face and brushed his teeth, rushing through his morning routine.
The cold water splashing against his face snapped him out of his daze, but he knew there wouldn't be time for breakfast today.
His stomach growled in protest, but he had no choice.
He grabbed his bag and dashed out of the door, sprinting through the quiet, early morning streets.
By the time Satoru reached the university, the classroom was already empty—everyone had already headed to the auditorium.
Dropping his bag on a chair, he hurried toward the main hall, his footsteps echoing off the walls of the empty corridor.
"Satoru, over here!" Lewis waved energetically from his seat as soon as he spotted Satoru entering the auditorium.
His voice carried over the hum of the crowd, drawing the attention of a few students nearby.
Satoru nodded and quickly made his way over, squeezing past the rows of seated students to reach Lewis.
The DxD auditorium was a vast space, capable of holding over a thousand people.
For this welcome ceremony, the seats were organized by class, and within each class, students were seated according to their classroom seating order.
This meant Satoru found himself seated between Janne and Lewis.
"Heh, as expected from a slacker," Janne sneered the moment Satoru sat down, her voice dripping with disdain.
Satoru had anticipated her usual barbs.
Waking up had already been a struggle; he wasn't in the mood to tolerate her jibes. He turned his head toward Lewis instead.
"Lewis! Why did you tell me about the welcome party but not the ceremony?" he asked, trying to divert attention.
"She was talking about you, not me. Please don't drag me into this," Lewis retorted, rolling his eyes dramatically at Satoru.
Jokes aside, the ceremony continued.
"Where are we in the program?" Satoru inquired, leaning over.
"The principal just finished speaking," Lewis replied, his eyes still fixed on the stage.
"Seems like I made it just in time," Satoru muttered with a sigh of relief.
"Here, take this," Lewis said, pulling a red bean bun out of his pocket and tossing it to Satoru.
"What's this?" Satoru asked, catching it.
"It's one of those famous red bean buns everyone's been raving about lately. Just eat it and stay quiet, okay? Don't disturb me while I'm, uh, watching the lecture... I mean, the girls," Lewis said, his eyes never leaving the stage, clearly more interested in something other than the lecture.
Janne, always keenly observant of anything related to Satoru, tightened her grip on a small bun she had been holding in her pocket.
Damn, missed my chance... she thought with a slight frown.
Satoru, feeling his stomach grumble with hunger, quickly unwrapped the bun and devoured it in just a few bites, much like a hungry animal tearing into its prey.
But he still wasn't satisfied.
His stomach still felt empty, and he glanced over at Lewis, contemplating whether to ask for another.
However, Lewis was so engrossed in whatever was happening on stage that Satoru decided against interrupting him.
"Slacker... I have one more," Janne muttered softly, extending her hand with a small bun in her palm.
Satoru blinked in surprise, taken aback by her unexpected offer.
"Hmph... I bought too many this morning and can't eat them all. Throwing it away or giving it to you makes no difference... Do you want it or not?" Janne added, her eyes avoiding his, maintaining her icy demeanor.
"Well, thanks, I guess," Satoru replied, a bit baffled but not one to turn down free food. He snatched the bun from her hand, quickly unwrapping and eating it.
No point in letting it go to waste, he thought, figuring he might as well take advantage of her rare generosity.
Just then, the voice of one of the administrators boomed through the microphone, capturing everyone's attention.
"Next, we have the freshman representative giving a speech!" The announcement was met with an enthusiastic wave of applause that filled the auditorium.
The applause grew louder and louder until the principal himself signaled for quiet.
Satoru, who had been contentedly munching on his bun, found his attention drawn to the stage, partly because Lewis's applause was so deafening, and partly because his friend's eyes were glued to the stage, almost as if in a trance.
When Satoru turned his gaze to the stage, he immediately understood why Lewis was reacting so strongly.
"Hello everyone, I am Yuri, your freshman representative," came a clear, confident voice that resonated through the auditorium, and Satoru's eyes widened at the sight of the girl standing at the podium.
Yuri's cool, clear voice flowed through the microphone, filling every corner of the grand auditorium, followed by a thunderous wave of applause.
All eyes turned towards the stage, the students momentarily captivated, no matter what they were doing.
At DxD, the freshman representative was traditionally the one with the highest entrance exam scores.
However, this year's representative was different—Yuri had attracted considerable attention even before the semester started, and much of this was attributed to her striking appearance.
Some people seemed destined to be in the spotlight from birth.
The bright lights of the auditorium bathed the large stage, casting a soft glow upon the polished wooden floors.
The stage, grand and stately, was dominated by a dark red lectern at its center. Yuri stood behind it, dressed in a formal school uniform that accentuated her poise and grace.
Her thick, jet-black hair flowed down like a waterfall, while a silver butterfly clip held back a small section at her forehead.
Her light makeup enhanced her natural beauty, giving her an ethereal quality, but her face bore little trace of heavy cosmetics.
Her almond-shaped eyes were sharp and bright, like the vivid, cold elegance of a plum blossom braving the winter snow, adding an aloof, almost chilling aura to her presence.
"It's an honor to speak to you all today..." she began, her voice steady and commanding.
The specifics of Yuri's speech quickly became irrelevant.
While everyone seemed to be attentively watching the stage, how much of her speech was actually heard was another matter.
Most were entranced by her appearance rather than her words.
"Beautiful."
That was the first thought that crossed Satoru's mind. Even someone like him, who typically didn't pay much attention to appearances, found it hard to ignore Yuri's beauty.
But despite this, his interest was solely in her near-perfect academic achievements.
To Satoru, someone like Yuri would likely never cross paths with him throughout his entire time at university.
He had felt the same way when he first saw Rosa. But there was a loophole to that logic: Rosa was his classmate and class president, making interaction unavoidable.
"Pervert, creep." A familiar voice hissed at him from his side. Satoru didn't need to look to know who it was.
"How do you manage to twist everything back to me?" Satoru thought indignantly.
It was clear that the one next to him who was the most captivated was Lewis, not him. Turning his head, Satoru commented, "Lewis, your eyes are about to fall out."
"Satoru, this junior's voice is beautiful, and her looks are even better... Ugh, you just don't get it. You don't understand a damn thing," Lewis replied without turning away from the stage, a tinge of melancholy in his voice, as if lamenting Satoru's lack of appreciation for the finer things in life.
Satoru had never seen a more literal display of "eyes shining with admiration."
However, he didn't bother arguing with Lewis and instead leaned back in his chair, closing his eyes for a brief moment of rest.
Watching Satoru's indifferent reaction, Janne felt a strange sense of satisfaction. She shifted her gaze toward Yuri on the stage, and her expression darkened.
"Vixen..." Janne muttered internally.
There was already one such "vixen" in their class, someone who kept Janne perpetually on guard.
The thought of another made her wary. But then she consoled herself with a thought: "At least the one on stage is just a freshman. She shouldn't have much interaction with him."
This realization brought her a small measure of relief.