I Won't Be a Loser

"Azusa! Kiyo!"

Luck was on Eriri's side on her first day at Toyosaki Academy. Right at the bulletin board displaying the class placements, she ran into her two close friends. Naturally, she eagerly asked which class they had been assigned to.

"Kiyo and I are in the class next to yours, Eriri. Sorry, but if we want to be in the same class again, it'll have to wait until next year," Satomi Azusa replied with a wry smile.

The three of them had been in the same class throughout middle school, so hearing this, Eriri froze for a moment. Following Azusa's gesture, her gaze trailed toward the list to confirm what she'd said.

Azusa and Kiyo had been placed in Class C, while Eriri found her name under Class D.

"We're not in the same class, huh? Oh well, it's not so bad. If it's next door, we can still meet up during breaks," Eriri said with a shrug.

"True. Still, Eriri, it seems like you're as popular as ever—even at a new school," Kiyo remarked.

Kiyo glanced around, noticing the attention Eriri was drawing from many of the nearby students. Though she'd known since middle school that Eriri was popular, she hadn't expected such a crowd to gather on the very first day of high school.

Even Azusa and Kiyo, by association, found themselves subjected to curious stares from strangers. Although Kiyo wasn't exactly shy, being under so many watchful eyes left her feeling a bit uneasy.

Eriri, on the other hand, was entirely unfazed, having grown used to such attention over the years. After confirming her class on the bulletin board, she waved goodbye to her two friends and headed toward the school building.

"She's gone. Well, shall we head to our class and check it out? It'd be nice to meet some new classmates early," Azusa suggested.

"Yeah... Huh? Wait, Azusa," Kiyo suddenly called out.

"What is it, Kiyo?"

Just as they were about to walk off together, Kiyo turned back, her attention drawn to someone in the crowd.

"That guy," Kiyo said, nodding toward a tall, composed-looking boy who had just approached the bulletin board.

"Which one?"

Before Kiyo could elaborate, Azusa instantly spotted the boy she was referring to. He stood out—not only to them but also to many other girls who were discreetly glancing his way.

Haruto was well aware of the attention. It wasn't entirely unfamiliar; back in middle school, there had been a fair share of girls stealing glances at him. But now, in high school, their stares seemed more frequent—and much bolder.

Focus, Haruto reminded himself. Ignoring the surrounding gazes, he calmly stepped up to the bulletin board. Navigating past a few girls who appeared to be inching closer, he scanned the list.

Class 1-D.

His eyes quickly skimmed the names, stopping abruptly at one that felt all too familiar—Sawamura Eriri.

For a moment, his gaze lingered, and his expression grew more complex.

Even though he had braced himself for this moment before coming to school, the sight of her name stirred something deep within him. The question weighed heavily on his mind: How should I face her? What should I say?

Taking a quiet breath, Haruto moved his gaze further down the list, passing over other names:

Ichika Nakano, Nino Nakano, Miku Nakano, Yotsuba Nakano, Itsuki Nakano.

The quintuplets? He blinked. I remember Ichika the most; she was always the mature one.

His thoughts wandered briefly. Putting all five of them in the same class—did the school admin think this was funny?

It wasn't the siblings themselves that posed a problem; it was their abysmal grades. The five of them combined were practically a nightmare for their homeroom teacher, Mr. Fukuhara. Haruto vaguely recalled the man's hair thinning visibly after the first round of exams.

Smiling faintly at the memory, Haruto moved further down:

Akihisa Yoshii, Yuji Sakamoto.

He chuckled under his breath. These two were inseparable—so much so that some had jokingly speculated about their "relationship." Wherever Akihisa went, Yuji was sure to follow. The irony was that Akihisa was hopelessly dense academically, while Yuji was a bona fide genius.

Further down, Haruto spotted his own name. He paused briefly before continuing, scanning names like:

Nariyuki Yuiga, Fuutarou Uesugi.

Ah, the unsung heroes. Along with Yuji, these two single-handedly elevated the class's academic standing, saving it from being dead last in the grade.

After reading through the familiar list, Haruto sighed and turned toward the school building.

Several girls nearby exchanged glances, seemingly considering whether to approach him, but they hesitated too long. By the time they decided, Haruto had already disappeared into the crowd.

"Azusa, you're in high school now. Shouldn't you go talk to him?" Kiyo teased lightly.

"Did you go talk to him?" Azusa shot back, raising an eyebrow.

The two exchanged a glance before sighing in unison.

"He was looking at the Class D list earlier, wasn't he?" Kiyo asked.

"So he's in the same class as Eriri?"

A sly grin crept onto Kiyo's face as her imagination ran wild. If he's in the same class as Eriri, maybe I can ask her to introduce us...

"Don't be ridiculous. Eriri wouldn't care about something like that," Azusa remarked, though she, too, couldn't help feeling tempted. "If she's not interested, maybe we can try something ourselves?"

"Let's see how it goes," Kiyo agreed, following Azusa as they headed toward their classroom.

Meanwhile, Haruto approached the door to Class 1-D. Taking a deep breath, he composed himself, trying to mask the tension that had been building.

As he stepped inside, the familiar sounds of a lively classroom greeted him.

"That's totally Yuji's fault! Sure, I might have been late, but barging into my room and ripping the blanket off me is crossing the line!"

"If I didn't, you'd have slept through the entire day, you idiot!"

The heated argument between Yuji and Akihisa filled the room, drawing amused yet exasperated glances from the other students.

Hazuto barely spared them a glance. His eyes had already found someone else—a blonde girl sitting by the window, her chin resting on her palm as she gazed out blankly.

Eriri.

It had been so long that Hazuto could barely remember the last time he had seen Eriri.

Now, seeing her again as her high school self, his gaze was filled with conflicting emotions. He quickly averted his eyes, unwilling to dwell on the past. Following the assigned seating chart, he found his place—the second-to-last seat by the window.

Quietly, he settled in, refraining from greeting anyone. Resting his chin on his hand, he gazed out the window, letting his thoughts drift toward the uncertain days ahead.

"If I don't know how to handle this, then I'll do nothing for now. Let things play out naturally, and when the time comes, I'll figure it out on the spot."

Haruto took a deep breath, his expression calm but his mind restless as he waited for what this new chapter of life would bring.