Ah the formalities of the first day of school, it is undoubtedly the longest moment of this day. Well, it’s necessary for the newcomers who don’t have their bearings in this jungle of novelties.

So I’ll spare you the long-winded moments again and get to the main point of this afternoon, the individual student introductions.

“Fujisaki-sensei, I think this is a good time to make introductions.”

“Yes you’re right, we shouldn’t dwell on the formalities any longer or we might get interrupted by the bell.”

The homeroom teacher turns to the students and exclaims.

“We’ll move on to the part I imagine you’re all waiting for, the personal introductions. Express yourself clearly and don’t be shy, okay?”

“Come on Fujisaki-sensei, you can’t tell them like that, think of those who are not comfortable… Do as you feel, if you just want to say your first and last name, it’s not a problem.”

“Let’s do it this way then… Well, who wants to start?”

No response, no gesture, no noise from the class.

This is always the most delicate moment, the first to pass serves as a crash test for the others, who will therefore be the first “victim”.

“Anyone ?”

“Well, since the first step is always the hardest to take, it is my duty as a former BDE vice president to lead the way.”

At the back of the class, Ooshima-kun stands up to speak. His speech sounds like a relief to the other undecided students in the class.

He strikes a pose worthy of a model doing a perfume or shampoo ad and with an air of pretentiousness, almost too sure of himself, he takes the initiative.

“Ooshima-kun? Alright we’ll start with you. Get ready the others because we’re going to do by column, so Aimura-kun you’re next.”

“Eh ?”

“No Eh that will stick. I feel like it’s going to take forever if I wait for everyone to decide. So please, start Ooshima-kun.”

“I guess you all know me for the most part if you were ever a student at Kumiai last year…”

He looks sideways at Rina on his right with emphasis.

“…or if you listened to my speech this morning…”

Rina feeling targeted by this dig asserts a stealthy elbow in the hip of the unfortunate.

He loses his balance a little and straightens up, waddling strangely.

The others look at him undulating like a seaweed without understanding the reason as he speaks.

“Something wrong Ooshima-kun? What’s happening to you all of a sudden?”

“Ah… haha, no it’s nothing, I just thought I needed to get a little exercise for the hips. I’ve been sitting too long I’m starting to get a pain in my butt.”

Everyone explodes with laughter. Ooshima takes the opportunity to say discreetly to Rina

“You hurt like hell, your elbow went right into the nerve in my thigh.”

Smug face of the person in charge.

“It wasn’t on purpose, but it was well deserved.”

“I understand you need the exercise but you’ll do that later, okay?”

“Yes, of course, haha. So as I was saying, I’m Ooshima Minato, I’m 17 years old, former vice president of the BDE and currently your new classmate for the coming year. I’m a member of the drama club, if you want to invite me to eat know that I love salmon linguine and my favorite class is Miss Fuji-“

*Hissing sound*

And once again…

*BAM !*

A new chalk was thrown. The impact literally nails Ooshima to his chair without him being able to finish his sentence.

“Very well thank you for your introduction, you can sit back down nicely. Aimura-kun it’s your turn.”

The boy gets up hurriedly, almost knocking over his table and chair.

“AH! Sorry…”

“I know you are not very comfortable Aimura-kun, so do as you feel.”

The boy’s eyes are spinning in all directions, as if he were coming out of a centrifuge.

A few students whisper encouragement to him.

“You can do it Aimura.”

“Don’t worry, we’re here.”

He regains his senses, looks straight ahead and stares at the painting without looking away.

“I… I am Aimura Hodaka, I am 16 years old… I hope to have a good year with you thank you.”

He barely has time to finish his sentence when he sits down directly without making any noise while hiding his face with his hands.

“Well done Aimura.”

“You did it Hodaka-kun.”

His shyness seems to be pathological, but at least it looks like he has some friends to support him during those moments.

Onigawara-sensei leaned towards Fujisaki-sensei to ask him a question, he whispered in his ear.

“Does Aimura-kun have a particular problem?”

“Um, let’s just say he has some sort of social phobia. He has an extremely difficult time relaxing when there are people around him and even more so when the attention is focused on him.”

“Huh? But then why does he participate in the introductions? If he’s so uncomfortable we can make an exception for him right?”

“Je l’aurais bien sûr autorisé à le faire de cette manière, mais c’est lui-même qui a demandé à participer à cette introduction.”

“What do you mean?”

“He is very aware of his problem and is making a lot of effort to cure himself of this phobia. He’s a very intelligent and determined boy, so I couldn’t afford to hold him back in his endeavors.”

“Your wisdom impresses me… You are rising in my esteem Fujisaki-sensei, and so is Aimura-kun, I almost have a tear in my eye.”

“Save your feelings for later, there are still many students to listen to.”

Silence returns to allow the next person to speak.

“Let’s continue in order, Hiiragi-san please.”

“Yes.”

…

The students take turns with varying degrees of enthusiasm.

Some are motivated, some are lazy, some are more eccentric and some are just normal…

Until we reach the turn of our dear Rina…

“Next, Shimizu-san.”

“Finally…”