I looked at her innocent act and spoke.

“Why should I give up my seat?”

“What do you mean why? Giving up your seat to a struggling grandma is the right thing to do. More than that, I think what that boy said was wrong. I believe you’re definitely a good person with a proper heart—”

“Haha, you’re really a funny bitch.”

At my words, filled with malice, the atmosphere in the bus rapidly turned cold. At the same time, I could feel the girl’s expression freeze. But I continued without caring.

“What you’re doing right now is using the fact that the blond singled me out to pressure me into giving up my seat, isn’t it? Unfortunately for you, what that blond said was correct. I agree with it quite a bit. Even if priority seating is social consideration, it’s not a legal obligation. And anyone wastes unnecessary stamina standing on a moving bus.”

“B-but the grandma is suffering more—”

“There’s no reason for me, who’s comfortably seated, to stand up and go through the inconvenience of wasting energy. I’m not a masochist. And unlike that blond, I’m sitting in a regular seat, you know? If it were a priority seat, that’d be another story, but as it is, I see no reason at all for me to stand up.”

Everyone on the bus stared at me with stunned expressions. Ah, I hate these looks, but I got a bit carried away because the situation was so absurd.

“Still… I think that as students of Advanced Nurturing High School, we should set an example for society.”

“It seems you’ve misunderstood the school’s policy. Advanced Nurturing High School, the place we’re entering, exists to train students into ‘people society needs,’ not to turn them into ‘students who set an example for society.’”

Advanced Nurturing High School—the school that I, the blond and several incompetents on this bus would be attending starting today—is a special institution directly backed by the Japanese government. With its high college acceptance rate, its goal is to raise students into ‘people society needs’ who will shoulder the nation’s future.

Yes, ‘people society needs’ and ‘people who set an example for society’ are different.

“If they’re people society needs, shouldn’t they naturally be examples for society?”

“Are people society needs necessarily exemplary? Just look at corporate CEOs or politicians—there are plenty who are far from clean enough to be role models. What you’re saying doesn’t add up.”

You can tell just by looking at the man I call my father. He didn’t graduate from a prestigious university nor was he particularly athletic. But his ambition burned fiercely and at one point he even tried to move this country itself. Objectively speaking, he is ‘someone society needs.’ But he is absolutely not ‘someone who sets an example for society.’

Well, the existence of the White Room alone answers that question.

“More importantly, why should I, someone who was singled out by chance, have to give up my seat? From where I stand, it looks like you’re trying to use me—since I was pointed out by the blond—to protect your own image. I have no intention of playing along with that convenience.”

“N-no, that’s not it! I was just thinking about you—”

“Really? To me, you look like the type of person who’s different on the outside and inside. You put on an innocent face up front, but aren’t you the kind who’s serious about badmouthing others behind their backs?”

For a brief moment, I sensed killing intent on the girl’s face. Yes, just as I thought. People who openly pretend to be kind are never normal.

“N-no… I was just—”

Oh please. Now she was squeezing out fake tears. Since words weren’t working, was she trying to appeal emotionally? A truly boring idea, typical of incompetents.

“E-excuse me, please sit here.”

Unable to bear the girl’s tears, a woman stood up and offered her seat to the elderly woman. She must have been sitting nearby and feeling uncomfortable. The woman comforted the crying girl, while the people on the bus glared at me with hostile eyes.

“Oh my, did you hear what she said? How can someone like that get into such a prestigious school…”

“If someone like her becomes a ‘talent of society,’ this country is finished.”

“How can she be so shameless? How were her parents raising her?”

“It’s scary. You really have to admit kids these days are selfish.”

The hostility that had been directed at the blond a few minutes earlier was now entirely focused on me. People I’d never see again anyway, not worth dealing with. I searched for my earphones again and put them in.

“Hehehe, interesting.”

The blond was now looking at me with clear interest. That gaze was so uncomfortable that I sharply turned my head away.

“……”

At that moment, my eyes met those of a black-haired freshman girl sitting next to me. She stared at me for a while, then turned her head back and continued reading her book with a blank expression.

I don’t know why, but I had a bad feeling about this.

Perhaps this was the cause. The beginning of my ill-fated connections with Koenji Rokusuke, Kushida Kikyo and Horikita Suzune—three people who would prove unbearably irritating.

* * *

Some time after the commotion, the bus arrived at its destination. The high school students began getting off and I gathered my belongings and followed.

A luxurious main gate crafted by linking natural stone awaited us. I admired the better-than-expected exterior and, judging by their excited steps, the other students seemed to feel the same way.

So this is where I’ll be for the next three years.

Advanced Nurturing High School differs from other high schools across the country in several special ways. All students are required to live in dormitories located on campus and, during enrollment, contact with the outside world is strictly forbidden except under special circumstances. Even family members could not be contacted without the school’s permission.

In other words, for the next three years, I wouldn’t be able to hear my brother’s voice or see his face. The moment that thought crossed my mind, I hesitated before crossing the school gate.

But this school is a gift my brother gave me by giving up his own freedom. For his sake, I will attend this school for three years, graduate safely and return to the White Room to meet him. And then I will finally settle the match we never finished.

“Wait a moment.”

Just as I was about to step forward, someone spoke to me from right beside me, breaking my momentum. It was the girl who had been sitting next to me on the bus earlier.

“Why were you staring at me earlier?”

What, did a brief glance offend her or something? What an annoying girl.

“Was I? I turned my head because that blond guy’s stare was uncomfortable and you just happened to be there. Judging by what you’re saying, are you still bothered that I didn’t give up my seat?”

“What? Unfortunately, I had no intention of giving up my seat either.”

“Really? That’s unfortunate—we share the same stance.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. Don’t lump me together with you. I simply didn’t give up my seat because I didn’t understand what meaning there was in doing so.”

Hearing that, I doubted my own ears. Not because she had a reason, but because she ‘didn’t understand the meaning’? Was this girl some kind of psychopath?

“Judging by your expression, you didn’t get it. I simply acted based on my convictions. I’m different from people who only think about their own convenience. If I have one wish, it’s to live without getting involved with someone like you.”

I was speechless. Was she picking a fight on the very first day? Or was I just failing to understand the trends among girls my age?

“You say you don’t want to get involved with someone like me, yet you’re the one talking to me just fine.”

“After hearing your way of thinking, I felt there was nothing to gain from getting involved any further, so I’m warning you in advance. Even if it offends you, please understand.”

With that, the girl from the neighboring seat—or rather, that insolent bitch—said her piece and walked off.

Just from her way of speaking, she was the type of incompetent I hated most: living off self-satisfaction, arrogant, lacking self-awareness and trying to do things beyond her own ability.

If she was really going to ignore me, that was something to be grateful for. I waited until that insolent bitch was completely out of sight, then stepped forward and passed through the main gate.

Thus, my three years at Advanced Nurturing High School began in a worse mood than anyone else’s.