Stepping Beyond the Pixels: Loves Intricate Game

Chapter Four: Attention Seeker

"She's probably just looking for attention," a girl's voice scoffed. "I bet she doesn't even have amnesia."

Makino Himari. You wouldn't have recognized her by her voice alone, but you knew it was her that said something because she was seated diagonally to you, second row from the front. She had turned slightly in her seat to say that, staring at you with contempt. Nobody around her said anything back to her, but, if the uncomfortable look on their faces had anything to say about it, they were clearly not in agreement.

You shifted to sit taller in your seat before saying "I apologize, Sensei, I must have been lost in thought." Makino turned once again to snicker at you from her seat but this time the two of you locked eyes, you weren't backing down. "You see, ever since my fall I have been dozing off more than usual and I have been having a harder time remembering things." Your shoulders were square and your face was stern, you continued to hold eye contact. It was something that your father liked to call a hard stare, a trait he says you got from your mother.

Makino looked startled by your surprising act of defiance, it wasn't something she expected from the girl who appeared to be mindlessly timid this whole time. Her face turned a noticeable shade of red, you could have sworn she was about to burst a vein, before she scoffed and turned back to facing the front of the class. 'Serves her right.' You thought.

"Yes, I have heard something about that from your mother. I am very sorry to hear that, I hope you are doing better," said your teacher. She offered a comforting smile, which you returned, before she went on to discuss other things in class. "Now, class, today I wanted to focus on the topic of ..."

The homeroom period only lasted about five minutes before the real classes started. The Japanese school curriculum was still very confusing to you, but, to summarize it, you have six class periods in a day, each lasting 50 minutes, with lunch taking place after the fourth period. Some of the classes were difficult while others were about the same as how it seemed in your old school, but despite the similarities you were still struggling very badly. It was probably glaringly obvious to your classmates and teachers that you were performing poorer than before, you suspect that you might be assigned a tutor eventually. Makino seemed to be enjoying watching you struggle though.

When lunch time rolled around the teachers left and many students got up and began to move around. Some went to visit friends in other classes, while others went to introduce themselves to Yuki because they didn't have the chance to do so until then, but the vast majority started to crowd around your desk. You knew that eventually some of your classmates would come to ask questions, you just didn't anticipate that it would be this many of them. 'I guess it makes sense for them to be more worried about a fellow classmate who got injured than a new student joining the class.'

"Oh my goodness, L/n-san. Are you okay?"

"I'm doing fine but-"

"What did you hit your head on?"

"Uhm, I hit it on a-"

"What's it like having amnesia?"

"Does it hurt?"

All around you student, after student were asking you several questions about your accident. You would try and attempt to answer a question but then immediately be interrupted by another. No one left any room for you to say anything and you were beginning to feel overwhelmed by the situation. Each person's voice were starting to blur together and your headache, which had already lessened from earlier, was starting to flare up again, causing the cut on your head to throb in pain.

"Now, now everybody." A taunting voice cut through the rest of the questions. "You wouldn't want to overwhelm the poor girl."

Of course it was Makino who was making her way towards you. She was alone, none of her other posse of bullies were with her. You figured she would go confront Yuki because that is what she did in the game, but you assume she didn't because Yuki doesn't have a mob of students surrounding her like before. Instead it was you who was at the center of almost everybody's attention. Attention was one thing Makino loved to have but hated sharing.