The second day of school was mainly admin and an introduction to our new lives. We ran over the course objectives and other basics. Timetables and other materials were handed out, and a lot of the information was just sent straight to our phones.

One thing I'd notice while spending time in the class was how run-down it actually was. Of course, it was like any other classroom, but the general state of our class wasn't as clean or tidy as I'd expect it to be.

Some dark patches and graffiti were on the wall, and the quality of our chairs were subpar at best. Our tables also had a few faults, such as being slightly damaged or off-balanced. Many people complained over this, but we just had to get used to it. Situated on the ceiling were more CCTV cameras that observed everything that we did. Outside of that, many of my classmates were using the school's goodwill for their own advantage.

For example, Yukimura made a spectacle of himself by sleeping through the entirety of Hiden-sensei's Japanese lesson, and the boy who had disregarded Sakigamiya's suggestion of introductions - I had learnt his name was Yamaguchi Teruhiko - was messing about in the back of the class. Some of the gyaru, like the one who stood in front of me in the entrance ceremony - her name was Suzuki Mayuri - were on their phones despite it being forbidden to do so.

I thought the teachers would notice, but they showed no signs of doing so. Ultimately, it was up to each individual student whether or not he or she would want to listen or participate in class. It seems that the statement about freedom to do what you want in classes was true. Despite her strict appearance, Chabashira-sensei was rather lenient and didn't punish her students at all, even if they weren't listening to her or paying attention to the lesson.

Even though vulgar words about her came from the boys and were slung around the classroom, she didn't pay any attention to it. It felt like it was bordering sexual harassment. They even gave her a pet name ("Shizuka-chan-sensei") already. Were these people really accepted into GEN Academy? How did they manage to get past the entrance exam with that attitude?

The other teachers that came to teach, such as Akusa-sensei and Toujou-sensei, were surprisingly warm and friendly. Like Chabashira-sensei and Hiden-sensei, they didn't take action against the students poor behaviour. It made me wonder if this were how all teachers were like after leaving compulsory education.

Lunchtime had came around, and I began collecting up my notes for the day so far. The lessons today were quite easy going, as if to ease us back into the swing of things. Still though, the class was insanely rowdy. The moment the bell rang half the class had disappeared, most of them going with their new friends to eat together.

Then, there was me... I had failed to truly make friends with other people yesterday. That was because I went into recluse, spending the rest of my day staying in my room.

Everyone else pretty much had friends. A few others were like me, alone, but generally they didn't seem to be bothered by it. Some of them even looked to appear pleased with solitude.

Even so, I still had one person I could rely on. I watched Tadokoro get up from her seat and join the girls like Sakigamiya and Hono to go eat lunch. In the middle of that pack of girls was the class ikemen, Matsushita. Originally, he called out and asked who wanted to join him for lunch.

I tried to answer his call, since I felt like we were friends after our interactions on the cruise ship, and when we met eyes, he tried calling for me. But due to his popularity with the girls, he was swarmed and was forcibly taken away. As usual, he tried playing the good guy, but it backfired on him. I couldn't consider us friends after that difference in social status.

I turned to look at Yukina's seat, but she had disappeared. It seems that she was with the group of girls that had left, and was talking to Sakigamiya about some mundane things. She's truly blossomed into a riajuu. I'm proud of her.

Still, that doesn't help my current situation. I'm stranded, alone, and desperately wanted friends to eat with. A vague memory from middle school popped in my head, and I groaned. Somehow, I was reminded that I usually spent my lunchtimes alone back then too. I'm no different from how I am right now. I was going down the exact same path as a loner.

I need to take a brave step forward. I can't live my life this passively. If I want to survive high school, I need friends. I don't want to stick out from the crowd at all. I decided I'd try to eat lunch with Nora, since he seemed the easiest to approach.

As I was about to call out for him, Mitsuba had snatched his attention away first.

"Nora-san, want to get lunch together?"

"Um... no thanks, Mitsuba-san. I don't eat lunch."

Mission failed. Mitsuba then looked a me.

"That's a shame. How about you, Takanori-san?"

This was my moment to shine! Mitsuba, you blessing from heaven!

"Yes, I'd love to eat lunch together." I said.

"Great! Akihiro-kun, Kawaguchi-san, want to join us?" Mitsuba called out from across the class to Akihiro and Kawaguchi. They had became good acquaintances due to their shared love of Vanguard.

"Yeah! I'm starving!" Akihiro said.

"Let's hurry to the lunch queue. I bet it's packed." Kawaguchi said.

I nodded in agreement.

"Alright, let's go guys! I wanna see what food they offer!" Mitsuba said. Being a small guy, he zipped through the maze of desks and exited the class. Akihiro and Kawaguchi ran after him.

Just as I was about to leave, Nora tugged on my sleeve. I turned to look at him, and he cast his eyes towards the floor.

"Can I join you guys...?" He asked sheepishly, hugging the novel he was reading on the cruise ship to his chest.

"The more the merrier I say." I gave him a reassuring statement like that.

Nora smiled and we walked at a normal pace towards the cafeteria. After all, I'd like to not expend any unnecessary energy. Plus, Nora was a slow walker. I wanted to match his pace since he looked like he was having trouble keeping up.

Ah, somehow, I turned my bad situation into a good one. I'm going to eat lunch with four friends, and felt like our own little clique.

We entered the cafeteria a bit after Mitsuba, Akihiro and Kawaguchi raced over. It was packed with students at tables eating away at delicious looking food. Since it was the first week back, the entire school was on lunch together. 1st Years, 2nd Years and 3rd Years congregated together to enjoy their lunch.

"I'll go secure us some seats." Nora said, wandering over to a free table. I nodded and walked over to the ticket machine, where Akihiro and Kawaguchi was at. Mitsuba had already went on ahead with the meal he chose.

"You can see the lunch menu on the school app." Akihiro informed me, scrolling through the menu on his phone.

That's pretty handy, but the items that were on sale today were already displayed on the buttons of the ticket machine. Though, it didn't say what was inside or it's ingredients, while the menu online did. I suppose that's one reason why you'd use the online menu over the machine.

"Woah, woah! They have a char siu rice bowl!" Kawaguchi exclaimed, pressing the button and paying with his phone. Popping up on his phone screen was his ticket, which included information about his order and what to do when it was his turn to collect his meal.

Akihiro was taking his time, scanning over the items. "Hmm... Takanori-san, which one are you going for?"

I quickly glanced at the menu. The spicy chicken ramen caught my interest. It was a bit expensive, though. "That one."

"Ramen, huh? I'm having a hard time deciding between that and rice myself." Akihiro laughed, his finger hovering over the spicy chicken ramen button. "Though, I think I'll just have what you're having."

He pressed the button and paid for his meal. He joined Kawaguchi. I quickly did the same, but caught notice of a button tucked away in the corner. It was a wild veggie rice combo, and was free.

That word again. Another free item being offered by the school. It felt a bit pointless, like the shelf in that convenience store. However, this one didn't have the three times a month restriction. It looked like it didn't cost much to make the dish anyways, since it was rice and vegetables.

I joined them in the back of the line and waited for our turn to collect our meals. It was a quick wait, roughly about five minutes. Mitsuba was waiting for us while we were getting utensils for our lunch.

"Where we sitting?" Mitsuba asked.

"Nora-san got us seats." I said.

We wondered over to Nora, who was at a table reading his book. He was completely mesmerised, and unaware of his surroundings. Mitsuba, Kawaguchi, Akihiro, and me, sat down at the table, bringing his attention to us.

"Oh, that was fast." Nora said.

"Dude, you should get some lunch. This stuff smells amazing." Kawaguchi said.

"I... I don't eat lunch."

"Your loss. Thanks for the meal!" Kawaguchi began to devour his char siu. It looked really good.

However, the ramen in front of me looked even better. I requested for an ajitsuke tamago and seaweed to go with my ramen.

Akihiro went all out, and got ajitsuke tamago, seaweed, bamboo slices, chilli oil and fried shrimp on his meal. He easily bought the most expensive lunch out of all of us.

Mitsuba bought himself a sandwich and juice box. A simple but solid choice.

"Thanks for the meal!"

Mitsuba took the sandwich and ate it. I began to eat the ramen.

"What's up with that flimsy meal?" Akihiro laughed, looking at Mitsuba's lunch, and slurping up some noodles.

"I was at the Vanguard shop yesterday and blew almost half of my points on Vanguard cards. I need to hold back."

What? Did I hear that right? Half his points on the first day? That's 50,000 points! No one should be able to send so much at once!

It made me think of a dark future where Mitsuba relied on the free veggie rice meals and free convenience store items.

"What? That's crazy. What did you even buy?" Akihiro was just as surprised as I was.

"Shiny and rare cards. I'm a collector." Mitsuba said with a cheeky grin.

"Seems like a waste. Should've bought stuff relevant for your deck." Kawaguchi said.

"Nah, I don't play Vanguard competitively. Casual's fine for me." Mitsuba then whipped out an XVR SP Dragonic Overlord "The End" from his pocket. "Imagine being a casual but having that in your deck. This is what I live for!"

Now it makes sense why he uses Kagero. It's just an excuse to bling out his deck.

"What?! Put that in your deck, don't carry that in your pocket!" Kawaguchi exclaimed.

I glanced at Nora, who seemed to feel a bit uncomfortable at the table.

"Do you not like Vanguard?" I asked.

"Well... I'm not interested in it... I'm glad to be with you guys, though."

"This fried shrimp is so crispy! It's so good!" Akihiro exclaimed, shovelling another one into his mouth.

"I'm glad that you chose to be with us too. What book are you reading?"

"This? It's an old light novel series. It's called Circumstances." Nora laughed bitterly. "I think the writing is terrible, yet I can't stop reading it."

"It's so bad it's good?" Kawaguchi chimed in. Nora nodded.

"I'm a bit familiar with that series." I said. "I preferred the anime."

"Oh, the anime was good. The action scenes were really well done!" Akihiro said.

"I liked the hero because we shared the same name." Kawaguchi said.

"Masaru, was it?"

"Yep. Though, the heroine had a real weird name..."

"I think Izanoku is a pretty name." Nora said.

"She sucks as a character though." Kawaguchi said.

"Well... I think Izanoku is the best character in the series. I'm reading it for her... to be honest."

"Is she your waifu or something?"

"N-no... Don't be ridiculous."

"Gentlemen, we found out what kind of girl Nora-san's interested in."

"Got'm!" Akihiro said.

Nora looked bluntly at them while the others laughed.

"We're just teasing you, don't worry." Kawaguchi said.

"I hope so..." Nora muttered.

It seems I've found my place in this school. We were able to get along through our common interests, which included light novels and anime.

I spent most of my time in my room consuming those kind of series. I would even consider myself a master at that subject. But I decided to not splurge my love for it, since being an otaku can have some bad connotations still.

Though... another reason is because I don't want to talk about a certain popular series. As long as we never discussed that series, then I'd be fine.

While we were having a good time, some upperclassmen came up to us with trays of food in their hands. They had yellow ties, meaning they were from Ultima Yellow.

One of the larger boys stepped forward.

"Hey. You guys are first years, right?"

Nora immediately became reclusive. I didn't want to get involved, so I ignored it. Mitsuba, being the best communicator out of us five, replied in our steed.

"Yeah. Are you guys our senpai or something?"

"Indeed. We're 2nd Years." The boy put his tray on the table. "Now, scram it."

"Huh?"

Mitsuba couldn't hide his shock. Akihiro looked at the boy.

"I'm asking you to leave. This is where me and my friends eat normally."

"But we were here first. Go find another table."

"No. This is where we sit, so you should go find another table."

"That's ridiculous. This table isn't reserved for you."

One of the boy's friends spoke up, and pointed at Mitsuba's tie.

"Adachi-san, look. All five of them are in E Class!"

So, the name of the 2nd Year talking to us was Adachi. Adachi and his group began laughing at us. What was so funny?

"This explains their incompetence. They'll learn their place soon enough." Adachi said with derisive laughter. "It's just all the more reason to kick 'em off our table. Drachma trash doesn't deserve to sit in our place."

"Drachma trash? What's with the nation hate?" Mitsuba said.

Did Ultima Yellow and Drachma Red have some kind of rivalry or something?

"Adachi-senpai, you're being unreasonable. We're nearly done here, so just give us a few more minutes, then we'll get off your table." Akihiro said.

"No, I'm not waiting for you to be done. My ramen will get cold by the time you guys finish."

"Just get up and leave!" His friends began joining in.

"One of you aren't even eating. We want to eat our lunch." One of Adachi's friends pointed at Nora.

Nora looked away as he was being targeted.

"Leave him alone, he's minding his own business." Akihiro stood and glared at Adachi straight in the eyes.

"And we're trying to mind our own business too. All of this would be resolved if you guys left." Adachi said.

"This would also be resolved if you guys sat somewhere else."

Adachi narrowed his eyes, picked up his tray, and sighed.

"I'm getting tired of this meaningless argument. Let's just go guys."

The group of 2nd Years looked annoyed, but agreed anyways.

"Thank you, Adachi-senpai."

Just as Akihiro politely thanked him, Adachi knocked his tray into Akihiro, which made ramen broth spill all over his shirt.

"Whoops." Adachi said with a smirk.

"Oi!" Akihiro grabbed Adachi's collar, which made Adachi drop his lunch to the floor with a loud shatter.

The entire cafeteria silenced as the noise caused everyone to turn to our attention. Akihiro gasped, realising he was set-up.

"Get off me!" Adachi exclaimed, trying to push Akihiro away from him.

Akihiro let go of Adachi's tie, and looked down at his stained shirt. The people in the cafeteria began bad-mouthing Akihiro, while a few others went to help Adachi "recover" from being attacked.

"What the..." Akihiro muttered, shaking his head.

Coming over to our situation was, surprisingly, the Jack of our school, Hina Hikari. With her was Akusa-sensei of C Class who also witnessed what had happened. Hina had a gentle face on, and Adachi smiled brightly seeing her.

"What's the matter here?" She asked.

"Hina-san, that E Class student grabbed me by my tie and threatened me." Adachi said.

"What?! Liar! He was harassing us to leave, then he spilled ramen broth on my shirt!" Akihiro said.

"That was an accident. And I wasn't harassing you, I was asking you nicely."

"You were laughing at our face and targeting one of my friends!"

I finished up the last of my lunch and looked at Nora. His face was buried in his hands.

He must have felt extremely guilty. After all, he chose this table, and it was because he wasn't eating lunch that the situation spiralled into this.

"Hina-san, who are you going to listen to more? Me, a B Class 2nd Year, or them, E Class 1st Years? They're obviously lying. Plus, everyone saw how he grabbed my tie right?"

Adachi's friends began nodding in agreement. "He was really violent when doing it!"

"Adachi-kun." Hina placed a hand on his shoulder. "Please calm down. You're both at fault here."

"Huh?!" Adachi was bewildered. "But, Hina-san, we're both from the same year! You know me! I'm not lying!"

"Adachi-kun, I know you're not a liar. In fact, you're an amazing honours student. However, when I look at this situation, both parties have done something wrong here." Hina turned to Akihiro. "What's your name?"

"I'm... Ishima Akihiro."

"Ishima-kun might have attacked you, that's for sure. But you must have provoked him some way to get such a reaction."

"He has the face and body of a delinquent. He even tossed my lunch on the floor." Adachi continued to lie.

"You threw that on purpose." Akihiro replied.

"Someone's appearance doesn't define their personality. You should know that full well, Adachi-kun. Everyone thought you were a delinquent too, but you're obviously not, are you? Plus..." Hina extended a hand to Akihiro. "He's shaking. Do you really think you're blameless here?"

"That's an obvious act. He's faking it." Adachi said. Man, he is stubborn.

"I'm..." Akihiro bit his bottom lip and ruffled his hair. Kawaguchi placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Jack Hina-sama. We'll just take our leave, since we're done eating lunch. Adachi-senpai, I'm sorry for what Akihiro-san did to you. Would you like me to purchase a meal as a replacement?" Kawaguchi said.

Adachi scornfully laughed. "Like I'd ever accept lunch from people like you. Learn your place."

"Adachi-san, they're still new here." Akusa-sensei said.

"...right." Adachi said, scratching his head. "Whatever. I'm done with this situation anyways. If they're leaving, I don't have any complaints."

"Us too." Kawaguchi said.

"Then... shall I consider this resolved?" Hina said. "I'm going to make a report regardless, but as long as everyone is happy with the outcome, no further charges shall be pressed."

The way she worded it sounded like we might have to go to court or something over this. What a terrifying image.

"Yeah... please do. I'd rather not get into trouble on my second day." Akihiro spat. He was looking down, as if bowing his head towards her.

"Alright. Don't worry about it, Ishima-kun. You don't have to look so guilty over something so small like this. Okay?"

Hina smiled at Akihiro. He looked up and averted his gaze, sheepishly rubbing the back of his head.

"O-okay."

"How about you, Adachi-kun?" Hina turned to him.

"Punish them if you want. I'm gonna buy another ramen." Adachi left.

"...I'm sorry about all this on behalf of him." Hina bowed.

"No, we should be saying sorry. A Jack like yourself shouldn't have to prostrate for us." Kawaguchi said.

Hina nodded with a cute smile, and Akusa-sensei was already at work cleaning up the mess on the floor.

Akihiro walked away, forgetting his tray. He looked frustrated. Mitsuba picked up Akihiro's tray and brought it over to the trash. Kawaguchi followed after Mitsuba, then went to reassure Akihiro. I got up, and Nora followed me.

The 2nd Years quickly sat down at our former table, laughing and smiling as if nothing ever happened. I disposed of my trash and placed my tray on the racks. Wiping my hands together, I watched Nora think hard to himself.

As a group, we decided to return to the classroom.

Akihiro sat down, drinking a bottle of water. He rubbed the wet patch on his shirt a couple times, sniffing his fingers.

"Smells like ramen." He laughed.

"What a bunch of mean senpais." Kawaguchi sighed, combining our tables together.

"Right? What was their deal? Sticks up their asses or something?" Mitsuba laughed.

Nora sat at the edge. I urged him to come closer.

He shuffled his seat closer and placed his book on the table.

"You okay, Nora-san?" Mitsuba said.

"I... I'm sorry!"

"Eh?"

"I'm sorry for... choosing those seats. I should've... chosen better ones. No, I should've just... stayed in the class. If I didn't tag along, then this wouldn't have happened... I'm so sorry, Ishima-san..."

Nora bowed and begged for forgiveness. Akihiro scratched the back of his head and laughed.

"What? Don't be so hard on yourself. No one knew that those guys owned the table, and I can just replace my shirt. It's no biggie."

"I nearly made you get into trouble..."

"Luckily, it was that really nice Jack that came over. Even though she was friends with that dumb Adachi, she was still fair in judging the situation. Plus, she even noticed I was shaking."

"Dude, I'm proud of you for that." Kawaguchi slung an arm around Akihiro's shoulder. "That took balls to grab his tie like that."

"Ha ha, thanks. I'm glad I didn't get in trouble over it."

"Some nasty rumours are spreading around, though." Mitsuba showed us the conversation going on the message boards of the school apps. Variations of what had taken place were being posted and uploaded.

The common theme was Akihiro was a delinquent who deserved to be in E Class...? The last part confused me, since our classes were all equal. Why would he deserve to be in E Class?

Perhaps it relates to E Class students being Drachma Red students. Adachi really didn't like us for some reason, and he never answered Mitsuba's question on why.

"This is all my fault..."

Nora was in agony over this. Akihiro shook his head.

"Don't worry bro. This'll blow over in a couple days. You don't have to blame yourself."

"But still, I feel... guilty."

Considering he was the shy type, Nora's words were quite bold. He opened his emotions with a bit of difficulty, but got there eventually.

"What's done is done. I have to accept whatever comes next after this." Akihiro said. "Besides, being known as a tough guy isn't all bad. That street cred might have a few people stay away from me, so I can avoid trouble in the future."

"I... I guess you're right."

"Can we all take a moment to appreciate how beautiful Hina-sama is?" Mitsuba went into pervert mode in seconds.

He's also the same person who flung around comments about Chabashira-sensei's breasts and gave her the nickname "Shizuka-chan-sensei". I really didn't enjoy this aspect of him at all.

"I think I was shaking more over her than I was with Adachi." Akihiro laughed. "Seriously, she was too cute..."

"I want a girlfriend like that." Kawaguchi said.

"I would love a girlfriend too!" Mitsuba said. "Though, I don't want a gyaru like Fujimura or Suzuki. I want a pure, innocent girl, like Sakigamiya-san. I bet she's great at French kissing."

"That's an easy joke." Akihiro said. "Our class has some really nice looking girls, though. Kazuraba-san is a real beauty."

"Agreed. Takanori-san's a lucky son of a gun." Mitsuba sighed.

"Why am I the lucky one?" I asked.

"You're close friends with her! She calls you an affectionate nickname like "Yuu-kun"! How the hell are you two not dating?!"

I stared at Mitsuba with a deadpan expression. Nora began giggling.

"Not everyone is interested in getting a girlfriend. Personally, I'd prefer to focus on my studies." Nora said.

"Lame. Girlfriends are cooler." Mitsuba denied Nora's opinion immediately.

"I can get Nora-san's sentiment. After all, I'd place priority on Vanguard over girlfriends." Kawaguchi said.

"You know, I'm starting to feel like the only normal guy here..." Mitsuba said.

Mitsuba, you're one of the least normal guys here.

We chatted away for the rest of our lunch, and the bell rang to signal it was over. Once more, we returned back to our normal seats and began our lesson. However, a lot of people were asking questions to Akihiro about what happened during lunch.

Akihiro, Kawaguchi and Mitsuba spent the rest of the lesson straightening out the facts. Me and Nora kept silent about it all. We weren't the social type like those guys, anyways.