When a transfer student arrives, it is only natural for people to flock toward them. Curiosity about the newcomer draws a crowd. If that student also possesses an exotic appearance, it goes without saying.
Enjoying popularity that surpasses even an idol's for just that one day is the true prestige of a transfer student. So when not a single person approached the transfer student during the break after first period, it was a scene that defied the very laws of nature.
“Doesn’t she, like, remind you of someone?”
“You were going to say she looks like Erika, weren’t you? She doesn’t look like her at all. She’s not cute in, like, multiple ways.”
With Sora and Gain’s bickering as my background music, I stealthily stole a glance at the profile of the girl who could be called the creator of this spectacular scene.
A girl whom it would be no exaggeration to say most students adore, as if a celebrity had come to school, provided nothing special happened.
Honestly, because of that, when I heard there was a queen of the school, Inna was the first person I suspected. Whether because of her ability called Gamhwa, the students seemed to adore her.
Just by looking at today’s events, it was plain to see. The moment she said she wanted to take the spot belonging to the class’s most popular girl, not a single kid in class approached the transfer student first. That showed just how much the class watched Inna’s every move.
What good was it wearing clothes of rare-looking golden silk, or having a rather mysterious appearance and unique manner of speech, if she had established a hostile relationship with the most popular girl in class from her very first day?
Ordinarily, Inna might have let it slide, but the reason she was upset at the transfer student wasn’t simply because the girl was trying to take her position. It was likely because the person sitting next to that position was me, and she was convinced from our earlier conversation that the transfer student’s goal was also me.
However, the transfer student simply smiled as she watched the students not approaching her. A smile that, unlike her unique manner of speaking, was unreadable.
‘Yes, that’s it.’
Given that I was making a guess bordering on certainty that the transfer student was the true heroine, the moment she smiled with that true heroine-like smile, I was dying to approach her. However, whenever I looked at the transfer student, Inna subtly pushed her chair and desk to block both my view and my path, making it impossible to get near her for now.
Since today wouldn’t be the only day anyway, I could approach her later. The moment I took my eyes off the transfer student, Inna finally moved and stopped blocking my line of sight toward her.
To think she would go so far as to try to stop me from even looking at the transfer student. That showed how obsessive she was, but---I stared intently into the eyes of the girl blocking my view.
‘She may be obsessive, but she also seems to lack confidence.’
If anyone heard that Inna lacked confidence, they would laugh. The possessor of a powerful superpower capable of fighting freely through Gamhwa. Since Gamhwa wasn’t an ability used only in combat, she must have always received the goodwill of others.
So the probability was high that calling her lacking in confidence was a wrong guess, but the very fact that she couldn’t believe my words about having lost my memories made that guess come to mind on its own.
The sin Inna claimed to have committed against me. Honestly, I didn’t know how grave that sin was. I could only speculate.
A sin so large that it had reset the affection built since childhood to zero. Yet at the same time, a sin small enough that I didn’t hate her with the level of disgust typically reserved for protagonists.
One of the factors that made me think she seemed quite devoid of confidence was precisely this behavior: being so preoccupied with that ambiguous sin that she said nothing to me and simply blocked the transfer student with her body.
“Why do you keep looking at me? Am I pretty?”
Hearing her say something like this from time to time, she didn’t seem completely without confidence.
Inna’s face was indeed pretty as she pressed her wrists together to frame and emphasize it. When I obediently nodded, Inna immediately placed the back of her hand against my forehead.
“...Are you sick?”
“Why are you treating me like a sick person?”
I hadn’t expected that agreeing she was pretty would make her treat me as if I were ill.
“It’s because there’s no way you’d admit I’m pretty.”
I realized just how terrible a person she must have thought I was. Taking advantage of the brief moment Inna let her guard down, I looked toward the transfer student, and she smiled at me and waved lightly.
...Does she know me? If so, there’s no way Inna, my so-called childhood friend, wouldn’t know. But I got the feeling she was being far too friendly only to me.
Before I could determine whether that was a delusion or not, Inna noticed where my gaze was directed and blocked it once more with her body.
***
Spending time at school, events were bound to occur even aside from those created by the system. Group assignments, for example.
The moment I heard the name “group assignment,” a memory even more terrible than those from my previous high school tried to surface in my mind before disappearing.
Yes, it was a cursed memory that must be forgotten. A certain teacher once said that when five humans gather, one is trash. In that group assignment, I had the experience of four people trying to freeload.
The teacher who noticed this deducted points, saying that working alone didn’t count as teamwork. Heh, heh... Recalling that memory, I smiled as I looked at the group members for this assignment written on the board.
Lao Ha, Kim Haneul, Kim Daseul, me, and even Yoo Inna.
With Yoo Inna and Lao Ha included, their glaring contest alone was already giving me a headache. And if I also considered the relationship between Kim Haneul, who was subtly trying to win Inna over, and Yoo Inna, who likely didn’t realize this and was probably maintaining a cooperative relationship with Kim Haneul, the assignment I would have to undertake might be more than just one.
After moving desks to create a temporary round table where all five of us could see each other, I looked around our group. Before starting the history assignment—a history completely different from what I had known, changed since espers appeared—I began with the very first thing I needed to say.
“First things first, if you ride the bus, I’ll headbutt you.”
“Huh...?”
A plan to eradicate bus parasites. The head is one of the hardest parts of the body, so even someone without much strength like me could use it to cause sufficient pain to students with sturdier physiques.
In other words, threatening to headbutt them was no different from warning that I would hit them painfully. I looked around at my group members with eerie eyes that anyone would find frightening, and said,
“Don’t disappoint me. If you disappoint me---”
I would headbutt them painfully. Having realized from previous experience that warning everyone from the start, while we were all gathered, was most effective, I lowered my voice to create an incredibly terrifying atmosphere.
If someone still didn’t do their part after being warned like this? That person either had no conscience at all, or they were someone unafraid of my terrifying headbutt.
I thought I had created quite the atmosphere of terror, but the group members’ faces were tinged with amusement. Yes, as if they couldn’t feel even a shred of fear from my words.
“...I’ll cry.”
“You?”
“Yeah, I’ll cry really loudly and let everyone know that you’re all terrible people.”
In response to Inna’s question, I nodded my head vigorously enough to use my waist. If the headbutt wasn’t scary, they should at least fear for their social reputation.
Inna’s power came from the support of ordinary people, so my crying might not break their trust in her, but the others were different.
“It can’t be helped. I was going to work hard anyway.”
If rumors stuck to Kim Haneul about being a guy who makes girls cry, it would throw a wrench into his conquest of the true heroine as well. The boy sitting across from me smiled bitterly and declared that he wouldn’t ride the bus for this group assignment.
If he did anything stupid in the name of conquering heroines, I would just cry and punish him. Truthfully, even if I cried, the students probably wouldn’t sympathize with me all that much.
I shifted my gaze to the remaining three who hadn’t answered yet, and each of them revealed their stance.
“Hehe, to think that simply not doing an assignment I normally don’t even care about would let me spread an article about the Ice Fairy’s tear show. Profit! Huge profit!”
One newspaper club girl who wanted to become trash.
“Would you get mad if I said I won’t do it because I want to see you cry?”
One idol-like girl in class who wanted to become trash.
“Hm! I’ll do the assignment. But instead, I hope we can spend some time together after it’s all done!”
And shockingly, a girl who I had thought I would need to approach first instead asked for a meeting with her in exchange for working hard on the assignment! The transfer student suspected to be the true heroine passed the mindset test.
“Great. I’ll give you as much time as you want.”
To think she was someone who could make such a rational proposal. As the probability of the transfer student being the true heroine rose, the girl sitting next to me poked my shoulder with her finger.
“Me too. Me too.”
Was she asking for the right to a date in exchange for working hard? At a glance, a meeting with a woman who obviously had no friends and wanted to be friends with me in the purest sense, and Inna’s proposal filled with ulterior motives were absolutely not equivalent. Still, it was better than having her see my tears, so I readily accepted her proposal.
“I’d like an interview! I want to interview you! I have so many questions~! An interview~. An interview~,”
“No.”
I didn’t accept the proposal of the girl waving her arms about. If I did an interview, the shallowness of my memories would be obvious, so there was no reason to.
Even if we ended up one person short, the group leader would obviously cover for that much. In that sense, I winked at the group leader.
“Then I’ll be counting on you, Group Leader.”
“Why am I the group leader...?”
It is an ironclad rule that the protagonist takes the role of group leader. If I am to be conquered in this world, my grades will be important, so selecting the group leader was also the result of deep deliberation.
Wouldn’t one wink from me be adequate reward for serving as group leader? Thinking this, I looked toward the window for a moment.
“Wait a minute...!”
It was a spring day, nearly at the height of summer.