Playing the Game of People

Chapter 3 - Old and New Friends

By noon, we were free to go out, socialize, and get sorted into our dorm rooms. The first part of the day allowed us to get acquainted with our new classmates and the general information about the campus. I noticed that most of the crowd dispersing was heading the same direction as me, towards the dormitories.

I glanced behind and couldn't see Ayanakouji or Horikita so I decided to leave them be. No one wants an overbearing guy on your tail 24/7, so let's branch out. Not that I thought Horikita would ever branch out, but I'll keep that to myself. I thought I'd be alone for my trip back to the dormitories, but I was pleasantly surprised by a few new faces.

A quite attractive girl had unknowingly started keeping my exact pace. She was slightly shorter than me and had long light brown hair which reaches her lower back. She had a sophisticated, pretty face framed with bangs which swept to the right. As she turned to face me, her mouth fell open and eyes widened as if surprised. I could tell from her deep blue ocean eyes that she recognised me by name, even though I only recognised her as a person in my class. How shameful of me.

"Kanera-kun, right?" Yup, she knows my name. This will be awkward. "We're in the same class. Matsushita."

Ah, she's sharp. She immediately could tell that I didn't remember her name. Impressive. She held out her hand as she continued. "Don't worry, I didn't say much in my introduction."

"Well, don't worry Matsushita," I replied as I shook her hand. "This was one hell of a first impression. Lovely to meet you."

Her eyes twitched as if she was restraining herself not to roll them in front of me. I chuckled and set my eyes on her walking partner. Matsushita followed my eye-line and introduced her friend. This girl is awfully adept at following social cues. "This is Satou Maya, we just met today."

"Nice to meet you officially, Kanera-kun," the girl named Satou giggled. She seemed to be entertained by my interaction with Matsushita. She reached her hand in front of Matsushita to shake my hand.

"I feel the same, Satou," I replied as I took her hand. As we shook hands, I took the opportunity to look at Satou. She was half a foot shorter than me with upper-back length dark brown bangs which were pushed to the left. Everyone has bangs... Is that the style these days? Her vibrant blue eyes were slightly squinted as if containing humour for every interaction. I got the impression she loved to laugh and hang out with friends.

As the two girls matched my pace, our new trio set off towards the dorms. I thought to myself that this was extremely fortunate. Making contact with another two people right off the bat was much more fun than being on my lonesome. I hope you're okay, Ayanakouji. I internally apologised to him for that mean-spirited comment.

I found it quite easy to assess the two differentiating personalities walking beside me. Matsushita seemed punctual, to the point of her being in an upper-class family was not a stretch. She exudes confidence and charm which would undoubtably attract both males and females towards her, however she wouldn't extend her reach and was ultimately a reserved being. That was my initial impression of her. While contrasting dramatically was Satou. A cheery type of girl who would giggle in most conversations. She has her own unique charm as the typical cute 'gyaru-like' schoolgirl. An unlikely friendship, I thought. But perhaps that's exactly what would work better. Some overlapping interests between two completely different personalities. Opposites attract, I guess.

We participated in comfortable small talk all the way to the reception desk in the dormitory block. We received our separate keycards and handbooks and moved aside so we could lightly browse without being in the way. In the handbook was the most basic things that we needed for our daily routines. Dates and times for garbage disposal were listed as well as a notice about avoiding excessive noise. The part which caught my eye was about not wasting water or electricity.