A Monster's Influence: Route C

Chapter 1

Ayanokouji's POV.

As expected, the Entrance Ceremony was boring enough to tune out. How could you drone on about matters so tedious for forty-five minutes? It was a miracle that a few people were listening to it with rapt attention. A few students were visibly dozing off and yawning. Even my friend had taken a nap, leaning her head against my arm like it was a wall.

I took the liberty to observe my batchmates. The first that stood out to me was the tall and burly dark-skinned half-Japanese boy that one could mistake for an adult that stood a bit near me. In front of him stood a magenta-haired boy who had his dress shirt opened up a little. A few rows away from them were a cue ball with a stern face and a lilac-haired petite girl carrying a cane. I narrowed my eyes. Possibly a shikomizue*? Another interesting pair was a beautiful peach-haired girl and a violet-bluish haired gloomy guy — I mean a guy with a pensive look on his face.

I guess this gives me a starting point for interesting people to look for. I'll delve into their personalities and see who I can use for — I mean befriend later throughout my time here. I should keep a hold of that train of thought until later. I need to focus on being a normal guy.

The Entrance Ceremony had finally finished, and we were given time to get situated before we had to head to our classrooms. I told Nishino that I'd meet her near the convenience store after I unpacked.

My dorm bedroom was eight tatami mats* wide, with a closet, a bath, and a kitchen with a refrigerator in other smaller rooms around them. My room included a desk with a laptop, a bookshelf, and a small dining table. I fruitlessly searched the kitchen for cooking supplies, to no avail. I'll have to stock both my refrigerator and my pot rails in the future. For some reason, I felt a familiar chill, similar to my stay in the White Room.

This feeling...

I decided to unpack later, exiting the dormitory to rendezvous with Nishino. There I saw her chatting with a guy with side-swept bangs who was carrying his blazer over his shoulder. I caught her eye and she waved, motioning me to come over to the bench they were sitting at. The guy glanced and turned towards me.

"The name's Tokitou. You're Ayanokouji-san, right?" he said as he held out his hand.

"Yeah," I replied, taking his hand for a handshake. He had a firm grip, to which I responded in kind. He nodded approvingly. I believe responding a firm grip with your own is a sign of respect for one another.

"The Entrance Ceremony was boring, yeah? How can they go on about arbitrary bullshit for forty-five minutes? Man, I hope the rest of the school year isn't as boring as this."

"Only a few people paid attention. That being said, I get the feeling that our time here will be a lot more interesting than you think," I said, my eyes flicking towards the camera above.

"We better head to class," Nishino interjected into our conversation, taking a glance at her phone.

We decided to walk and talk our way to our classroom. I had learned that Tokitou was on the middle school baseball team and played with a guy named Tokuchi* and Nishino's parents had their own mom-and-pop shop. She also had a white mi-ke cat named Shiru*. I told them I was taught how to play piano and calligraphy, so I was asked to play for them sometime. Even though I declined, saying I don't really like too much attention, they said they'll somehow get me to play for them sometime.

As we arrived at the front door, I noticed Tokitou stopping both me and Nishino with a hand. We looked at him in confusion, before he whispered to us, "Be careful. There are a lot of troublemakers in this class it seems."

And he was right. This class was chock full of delinquents. I did recognize a few people I saw earlier, like the silver-haired girl who was reading a novel by Agatha Christie, a magenta-haired boy sitting next to her on the far back left near the window*, that platinum-haired girl that sat next to me on the bus chatting animatedly with some snobby looking girls, and the burly dark-skinned boy.