The White Room Dropout

Chapter 1: Old Acquaintance

I stood there in shock, frozen in fear. His face was one that I never thought I would see again. Kiyotaka Ayanokouji. I had heard my father talk about him before, but he had no idea what Ayanokouji was really like. He only knew what Ayanokouji's own father had told him, but he didn't know him in that place like I did. He is a monster, because only a monster could have survived that place.

"Kaguya"

"Kaguya"

I heard Miyuki's voice calling my name which snapped me back to reality. As I turned toward him his face turned to worry.

"Are you alright? You look like you've seen a ghost," he asked.

I glanced back at Ayanokouji, who was gazing out the window, seemingly indifferent to me. Gathering my thoughts, I replied, "I'm fine, Miyuki. I just noticed someone in this class."

"Ah, Koenji, the guy you mentioned earlier. If your description is accurate, he will be interesting to be around, but there's no need to act so tense; we're classmates now."

Huh. I had no idea what Miyuki was talking about. I took another quick look around the classroom and there he was, right in the middle with his feet on the desk. Uggh. This is now even worse.

"Uh yeah Koenji, our families have been friends for generations, so I've known him for a long time." I managed to respond.

"Well never mind that now. Class will be starting soon so we should take our seats."

"Alright. Ill talk to you after class Miyuki." I responded. It looks like my seat is in the back of the class to the right of the girl sitting next to Ayanokouji. As I took my seat, I noticed she was reading a book, Crime and Punishment. It was one of my favorite books, so I decided to ask her about it.

"Excuse me, I see you are reading Crime and Punishment, I really enjoyed that book myself. My name is Kaguya Shinomiya, nice to meet you." Me from a few years ago would never have bothered to introduce myself right away, but I've matured since then, so I decided to try and be friendly.

"Yes, I enjoy this book as well. Do you mind if I continue reading?" She responded with a slightly annoyed look on her face.

Her cold response caught me off guard, and I took a moment to gather my thoughts before speaking again, but by then the girl had gone back to reading her book. It seems my first attempt at socializing at my new school failed. Although I can't say I was giving this my full attention given who I had just recognized.

As I glanced around the classroom, I noticed Ayanokouji continued to stare blankly out the window, as if he didn't have a care in the world. I'm sure he just heard me try to introduce myself, but he didn't seem to react to hearing my name. Despite this I'm still sure that when his eyes met mine, he knew exactly who I was I could never forget that apathetic look, the one that made me feel utterly worthless.

As I continued to look around I noticed something odd. There was a camera in the corner of the room on the ceiling. That in itself wouldn't be odd, but it looked like it was supposed to blend in with the wall. I took a quick look around the room and sure enough each corner had the same camera in it.

As I considered the oddity of the semi-hidden cameras I looked to my left and I saw a pink-haired girl sitting with her fists clenched. I decided that I wasn't finished trying to socialize yet, I still need to keep my composure for now. She looked shy, but I wasn't about to strike out twice in a row.

"Hi, I'm Shinomiya, nice to meet you. What's your name?"

She looked shocked that someone was speaking to her. "I...I'm Sakura. Ni...Nice to meet you," she stammered.