The rest of lunch passed in a blur of forced normalcy.
Kaito and I didn't talk much after Aria's departure. What was there to say, really? We both understood what had just happened—I had been marked, singled out, and now there was no avoiding whatever came next.
I picked at the cafeteria food I had eventually gotten barely tasting it because I was lost in thought slightly. Around us, the noise level had returned to something approaching normal, but I could still feel the occasional glance, the whispered speculation that followed me like a shadow I couldn't shake.
When the bell finally rang, signaling the end of lunch, I felt something that might have been relief.
It didn't last long.
The afternoon classes were somehow worse than the morning ones. Word had spread—because of course it had—about the student council president's public summons. Girls who had ignored me earlier now watched with obvious interest. A few even tried to catch my eye, as if establishing some kind of connection before whatever was about to happen actually happened.
Yumi remained her usual composed self, though I noticed her taking notes more aggressively than the material warranted. Mina, on the other hand, kept shooting me looks that ranged from curious to concerned, and at one point actually leaned over to whisper, "Good luck with the Ice Empress."
I had no idea if she meant Aria or Yumi.
Possibly both.
When the final bell rang, I didn't move immediately. Part of me wanted to just sit there and pretend I had forgotten about Aria and hope that somehow this would all blow over if I simply didn't show up.
That part of me was an idiot.
I gathered my things slowly, hyperaware of how many eyes tracked my movements. Yumi closed her textbook with a soft sound and stood, pausing just long enough to say, "Don't let them intimidate you."
Then she left before I could ask who "them" referred to.
Mina was less subtle. She bounded over to my desk and grinned, though it didn't quite reach her eyes. "Try not to get executed, okay? You just got here. It would be boring without you."
"Thanks for the vote of confidence," I muttered.
She laughed and headed out with a wave.
The classroom emptied gradually, until it was just me and a handful of students lingering near the doorway, clearly hoping to see where I would go next.
I took a breath and stood up.
The student council room was on the third floor—I had seen it marked on the school map Kaori had shown me during the tour this morning which now felt like a life time ago.
The walk there felt longer than it should have been. Hallways that had seemed bright and welcoming this morning now felt oppressive, the afternoon light slanting through windows at angles that created more shadows than illumination.
I passed a few students on the way. Most stepped aside and watched me go by with expressions I couldn't quite read.
When I finally reached the door marked "Student Council," I stopped.
My hand hovered over the handle.
This was it. Whatever came next would set the tone for everything that followed. One wrong word, one misstep, and I could make my situation exponentially worse.
Not that I had any real choice in the matter.
I knocked.
"Enter," came Aria's voice from within, clear and authoritative.
I opened the door and stepped inside.
The student council room was exactly what I should have expected—immaculate, organized, and designed to project an image of serious competence. A large table dominated the center, surrounded by chairs. Bookshelves lined one wall, filled with binders and documents. A window on the far side overlooked the courtyard.
Aria sat at the head of the table, her posture was perfect with her hands folded neatly in front of her. She wasn't alone.
Two other girls flanked her, one with short red hair and sharp eyes, the other with long brown hair pulled back in a practical ponytail. Both wore the student council armband and matching expressions of polite curiosity mixed with suspicion.
The vice president and secretary, if I had to guess.
"Please, sit," Aria said, gesturing to the chair directly across from her.
I sat.
The door closed behind me with a soft click that sounded far too final.
Aria studied me for a long moment, her silver eyes taking in every detail like she was cataloguing my existence for a report she'd write later.
"Thank you for coming," she said, though we both knew it hadn't really been optional. "I'm sure you understand why we needed to speak with you."
"I have some idea," I said carefully.
She nodded once. "Good. That saves time."
The red-haired girl, the vice president, probably—leaned forward slightly. "Let's be direct. Your presence here is unprecedented. Aurelia Academy has operated under a very specific system for years, and that system has maintained stability and order."
"And now you're disrupting that system," the secretary added, her tone not quite accusatory but definitely pointed.
Aria raised a hand slightly, and both girls fell silent immediately.
"What they mean," Aria said smoothly, "is that we need to understand your intentions. Why you're here. What you want."
I blinked. "Want?"
"Yes." Her eyes narrowed fractionally. "Every student here has goals, ambitions, reasons for attending Aurelia Academy. We need to know yours."
This felt like a trap.
Actually, it definitely was a trap, just one where I couldn't see all the mechanisms yet.
"I'm here to study," I said, keeping my voice level. "Same as everyone else."
"Are you?" The vice president's tone suggested she found that answer woefully insufficient.
Aria's expression didn't change, but something shifted in her eyes—disappointment, maybe, or calculation.
"Let me be more specific," she said. "Do you have any intention of interfering with the academy's social dynamics? Of pursuing relationships with other students? Of creating complications that could affect the broader student body?"
There it was.
The real question beneath all the others.
*Are you going to compete with Kaito?*
*Are you going to activate routes?*
*Are you going to break the game?*
I met Aria's gaze directly and chose my words very carefully.
"I have no intention of causing problems for anyone. I didn't ask to be here, and I'm not trying to change anything about how this academy operates."
"Intentions and outcomes are often different things," the secretary observed quietly.
She wasn't wrong.
Aria leaned back slightly in her chair, still watching me with those calculating eyes. "I'm going to be frank with you. The student body is already reacting to your presence. There are questions, speculation, interest. Whether you intended it or not, you've already affected the social dynamics here."
"What happened in your classroom today," the vice president added, "has been discussed throughout the entire school. Two heroines—" She caught herself. "Two prominent students expressing clear interest in a new transfer on his first day. That's not something we can ignore."
Heroines.
She had almost said heroines.
Did they know? Could they possibly know what this world actually was?
Aria's expression remained perfectly neutral, but I saw her eyes flick toward the vice president for just a fraction of a second.
"What my colleague means," Aria said smoothly, "is that your arrival has created uncertainty. And uncertainty creates instability. The student council exists to maintain order and address problems before they escalate."
"And you think I'm a problem," I said. It wasn't really a question.
"I think you're a variable we don't yet understand," Aria corrected. "There's a difference."
Silence filled the room for a moment, heavy with unspoken implications.
Then Aria stood, and the other two council members immediately followed her lead.
"The assembly tomorrow will be an opportunity for you to address the student body directly," she said. "To introduce yourself properly and establish your position here. I suggest you use that time wisely."
I stood as well, recognizing a dismissal when I heard one.
"I'll do my best," I said.
Aria's expression softened just slightly—not quite a smile, but close. "I hope you will. For everyone's sake."
She paused, then added in a quieter voice, "Including your own."
The secretary moved to open the door for me, and I took the hint.
As I stepped out into the hallway, I heard Aria's voice one last time behind me:
"Oh, and one more thing."
I turned back.
She stood in the doorway now, backlit by the council room's light, her silver hair seeming to glow.
"Stay away from Kaito," she said simply. "At least for now. His position here is... delicate. Additional complications would be unfortunate."
Before I could respond, she closed the door.
I stood there in the empty hallway, processing what had just happened.
I'd been interrogated, warned, and given instructions—all in the span of about fifteen minutes.
And tomorrow, I'd apparently be standing in front of the entire student body, expected to explain my existence in a world where I fundamentally didn't belong.
I started walking, no particular destination in mind, just needing to move.
First day.
After school.
And I had somehow managed to:
- Get summoned by the student council
- Be identified as a "variable" requiring management
- Receive a veiled warning about the protagonist
- And get scheduled for a public assembly that felt more like a trial
I'd survived one full day.
Barely.
And tomorrow would certainly be more worse.