Top-Tier Character Ayanokōji Kiyotaka

Chapter 6 - Fair Fairy

It was a crisp summer morning. A Friday. I reluctantly left my cozy apartment early, my alarm clock serving as a relentless taskmaster. My roommate and caretaker, Matsuo, had urged me to catch the bus to make it to school on time. Our communication had been strained for quite a while now, but I didn't intend on changing that part. I figured we'd have to find some middle ground sooner or later, living under the same roof and all. I'd simply waste my time in initiating friendly contact with him. 

I settled into the bus seat, my mind drifting as I peered out the window, taking in the shifting cityscape as the bus made its rounds, picking up passengers along the way.

A young child, wide-eyed and full of wonder, was excitedly pointing out everything she saw to her doting parent.

A few college students, clearly still half-asleep, adorned the bus in their disheveled attire.

The people on the bus were a diverse bunch. There were the hurried professionals, dressed in their business attire, clutching briefcases and staring at their smartphones with a sense of urgency. 

There was also an elderly couple, their hands interlocked, reminiscing about days long gone. 

I guess I just really like watching people, huh? So far I have only dealt with a select number of human beings.

I was waiting for a certain person.

There were several questions I had regarding yesterday.

No matter how you sliced it, that wasn't a normal first day of school for any kind of student. Not only did it feel unnatural, no recounting I had read on the web detailed such an eventful first day. Even if all of us had met for the first time, I didn't think that we would have hung out together after school or gone to a restaurant.

All of it happened way too fast. Weren't you supposed to take things gradually?

I guess Hinami had some kind of interest in me. Takei was probably just being himself, and Nakamura only showed curiosity when he talked about my athleticism, which fit his non-caring attitude.

Izumi tried to protect me from everyone's accusations even though we didn't know each other. I guess you could say that she had a big heart, but that still wouldn't explain her over-caring attitude.

Mimimi just didn't act natural at all. She went overboard multiple times. I don't think she lacked social awareness so she should have known that doing those things to a stranger was not appropriate.

And Mizusawa... well, we did meet on the bus. But there were several suspicions regarding the true nature of our meeting lingering in the back of my mind.

The first course of action would be to gather information. I had too little to go off of.

Looking around to see if anyone else was there yet, I spotted Mizusawa entering through the bus doors, absentmindedly looking at his phone. 

I read on the web that people like Mizusawa were commonly called... "lit".

He was just walking. I guessed it was the overall impression created from his clothes, hair, posture, expression—all the little details. Mizusawa naturally scored incredibly high in all those areas, and he certainly knew his way around social situations. If you tried expressing it in more scientific terms, you could say Mizusawa had extraordinary emotional intelligence.

I took a small breath, waved my hands, and made eye contact when he noticed me. With a smile on his face Mizusawa closed the distance between us and sat in the free seat next to me.

 "Hey, Ayanokōji."

"Hi."

With an agreeable, breezy smile, he addressed me by my surname and raised a hand in greeting. It was a simple combination of words and action, but it demonstrated a powerful coolness. These little behaviors added up gradually to determine whether it was okay to prod him a little.