The hallway buzzed with excitement as students crowded around the notice board, searching for their class assignments for the new school year. Voices overlapped with laughter and hurried conversations as groups formed and reformed in front of the board.
Among them stood Minato Itsuki, chatting energetically with his friends.
"Hey, check if our names are in the same class!" one of them said, leaning closer to the list.
Minato laughed lightly, stepping forward with the rest of the group as they tried to find their names among the rows of students.
But in that moment, something caught his eye.
Just beyond the crowd, standing a short distance away, was someone unfamiliar.
Minato's steps slowed… then stopped completely.
For a brief second, he turned his head and looked toward the boy.
From afar, the boy's face was difficult to make out clearly, but there was something unusual about him. He stood apart from the noisy crowd, completely still, his presence strangely calm compared to the restless energy around him.
For a moment, Minato simply stared.
Then he looked away.
He couldn't see the boy's expression clearly anyway—just a distant, unreadable face that revealed nothing.
Minato quickly shook off the thought and turned back toward his friends.
"Hey! Wait for me!" he called, jogging the few steps needed to catch up to them.
Within seconds, he slipped back into the group, their laughter and chatter pulling him back into the lively moment.
Yet somewhere in the back of his mind, the quiet figure standing alone near the crowd lingered—unnoticed, but not entirely forgotten.
The classroom door slid open with a soft sound, and the Class 2-2 teacher stepped inside. The room, which had been buzzing with conversations just moments before, slowly quieted.
"Alright, everyone," the teacher said calmly, placing a stack of papers on the desk. "Go back to your seats."
Students quickly shuffled to their desks. Chairs scraped lightly against the floor as the noise of the classroom settled into silence.
After finishing a few routine tasks and checking the attendance list, the teacher looked up at the class.
"Since it's the beginning of the year, let's start with introductions. We'll go row by row."
One by one, the students stood up to introduce themselves. Some spoke nervously, others confidently. The atmosphere was light, filled with small laughs and polite applause.
After a while, it was Minato Itsuki's turn.
He stood up from his seat with an easy smile, placing one hand casually on the desk.
"I am Minato… Minato Itsuki," he said with a cheerful tone. "I'm looking forward to this year with all of you."
A few students nodded and smiled back at him as he sat down again.
Then the boy sitting behind him slowly stood up.
At that moment, something in the room changed.
The air itself seemed to grow still.
Soft whispers began spreading across the classroom as students turned their heads toward him.
"My name is Shin Hitori," the boy said calmly. "I hope you enjoy your year with me."
His voice was quiet, yet it carried clearly through the silent room.
It wasn't his name that caught everyone's attention.
Nor was it anything strange about what he said.
It was his face.
Under the soft classroom light, his features seemed almost unreal—sharp, perfectly balanced, and strikingly handsome. His calm expression gave him an almost distant beauty, like a moon glowing in a dark night sky where no stars existed.
For a moment, the entire class simply stared.
Then the whispers grew louder.
Some of the girls could barely hide their excitement.
"Oh my God," one girl whispered loudly to her friend. "How is he so handsome? I think I fell in love at first sight."
"You're absolutely right!" another replied with wide eyes. "He looks like a fallen angel from heaven."
Soon the classroom filled with murmurs and admiration.
But Shin Hitori didn't react at all.
He simply turned his head slightly toward the window beside his desk, his chin resting lightly on his hand as he gazed outside. His calm eyes looked far away, as if the voices around him had nothing to do with him.
It was almost as if he had heard such reactions countless times before.
Watching all of this, Minato hesitated for a moment before turning slightly in his seat.
"Hey," he said, trying to sound friendly. "I'm Minato. Nice to meet you."
Hearing his voice, Shin slowly turned his head toward him.
For a brief moment, their eyes met.
Still resting his chin on his hand, Shin replied politely,
"Hi. I'm Shin… Shin Hitori. Nice to meet you too."
A short silence followed.
Trying to lighten the moment, Minato chuckled softly.
"Hm… so you started getting noticed from the very first day."
But Shin didn't answer.
Instead, he turned his gaze back toward the window.
Minato felt a small wave of awkwardness wash over him.
Just as he was beginning to feel nervous, Shin spoke again after a quiet breath.
"They are paying attention to me because of my looks," he said calmly.
"They have no interest in me."
His voice carried no anger—only quiet certainty.
"These people… don't care whether someone is good or bad. They simply start liking someone because of beauty."
After saying this, Shin looked back out the window again, as if the conversation had already ended.
As if he had no interest in hearing a reply.
Or perhaps… he already knew there wouldn't be one.
Minato sat there in silence.
The words struck him harder than he expected—sharp and direct, like a blade cutting through the noise of the classroom.
For the first time, he realized something.
The boy sitting behind him was completely different from everyone else in the room.