Horikita Suzune (One-shots)

A Pleasant Start

The girl sitting next to me wasn't swept up by the incident currently occurring inside the bus. Her face remained expressionless. Her attention is directed towards the book in her hands. I stared at the book and recognized its contents. A novel written by Fyodor Dostoevsky, it was given the name Crime and Punishment.

I unintentionally began reading the pages of the book alongside her. Within a minute of following her reading, she turned her gaze towards me. 

Does she think I was looking at her thighs?

We stared at each other for a few seconds.

"Crime and Punishment, right?" she seemed surprised about my question. "I apologize if I made you uncomfortable. You see, I have read that book in the past." I continued staring at her just so that she wouldn't see me as someone weak when it comes to eye contact.

"It is indeed Crime and Punishment. I would've never guessed that you read books just by observing your appearance." she's rather blunt.

"That hurt."

"I would've never guessed that teenage boys read books as well." Are teenagers who read books nonexistent in this world?

"I would've never guessed that a beautiful girl reads novels." she rose her eyebrows upon hearing my similar response.

"Was that a compliment or a tease? Either way, thank you."

"It was a... tease." she glanced at me once again with an expressionless look on her face and then ignored me for the whole ride. Soon, we arrived at our destination, and all the high school students began to disembark.

As I got off the bus, I saw a gate formed from natural rock waiting just ahead. All the young boys and girls dressed in school uniforms were passing through this gate.

The Japanese government had created the Tokyo Metropolitan Advanced Nurturing High School with the express purpose of developing future leaders. This would be my school from now on.

"Wait."

Before I could take my first courageous step, someone called out to me. It was the beautiful girl who'd sat next to me on the bus, and the first person my age I held a conversation with.

"Do you mind if we go together?" she asked.

Her expressionless face transitioned into a serious yet curious one.

"I don't mind." she walked beside me as she folded her book and placed it inside her bag. "Ayanokouji Kiyotaka, what's your name?" she stared at me for a second, almost as if she was confirming if I was worthy of her name.

"Horikita Suzune, nice to meet you Ayanokouji."

"Nice to meet you as well."

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Looking around the classroom, I walked toward the seat that bore my nameplate. It was at the back of the room, near the window. A good place to sit, generally. As I looked around, I saw that the room was already halfway filled with students. The others were either immersed in their class materials or already talking with other people. Perhaps they'd all been friends beforehand or had only recently gotten acquainted.

"This class seems to be full of enthusiastic students."

It was Horikita, and she was speaking to me.

"I agree with you, we were placed in the same class, huh?" I responded as she properly sat on her seat with great posture.

There were only four classes for the first-year students so the probability of us being in the same class isn't low. "I'm glad I'll be sitting next to you." I nodded my head and said the same thing. "Good thing I wasn't next to an idiot like those," she mumbled.