"Stop."
Albert almost jumped out of his shoes. His heart hammered against his ribs.
Crap. She saw me. She's going to report me to the disciplinary committee for stalking or eavesdropping. My High School Life is over.
He slowly turned his head. The girl was already walking straight toward him. Her eyes were red, but she didn't look sad anymore. She looked mad.
"What are you doing, hiding back there?" she demanded, wiping her eyes roughly with the back of her hand.
"I was... just passing by," Albert lied nervously.
She glared at him for a long moment. Then, she let out a heavy sigh.
"Follow me."
Albert knew he could easily just turn around and run away. He didn't know why he was following her. He was nervous because he was having an interaction with a girl. His feet just moved on its own.
I'm only doing this because I don't want her to report me, he reasoned with himself.
She led him to a small seating area near a vending machine. She stopped in front of it and crossed her arms.
"What do you want?" she asked.
Albert hesitated, totally confused by the situation.
"Um. Black coffee. No sugar."
The girl's eyebrow twitched. It was an absurd, bitter choice for a high school student, but she didn't argue. She just dropped some coins into the slot, bought a canned black coffee for him, and a sweet milk tea for herself. She handed him the cold coffee can.
"Sit," she ordered, pointing to the nearby bench.
Albert sat down stiffly. She sat on the opposite end of the bench, popping the tab on her tea. She stared at the pavement for a long time before she finally spoke.
"He's my childhood friend," she said, her voice quiet and slightly raspy. "We've been together since we were kids. But tomorrow... he's going to confess to the girl he actually loves. He told me about his plan yesterday because he wanted my advice."
She took a shaky breath, her grip tightening on her drink.
"I knew it was hopeless. I knew he only saw me as a sister. But I had to tell him how I felt today. Before he belongs to someone else tomorrow. I just wanted to get rejected properly so I could finally give up."
Albert gripped his coffee can.
That guy is blind. She is really pretty. How can guys like that just walk away and make a pretty girl cry without facing any consequences? He's lucky to have a girl like her. He is a total fool for rejecting his childhood friend.
Suddenly, Maya's smiling face flashed in Albert's mind. A sharp ache hit his chest.
The girl's voice pulled him back to reality.
"The worst part isn't the rejection," she whispered, her voice cracking as fresh tears pooled in her eyes. "The worst part is that he apologized. He looked so sad for me. He told me he didn't want things to change between us. But how can they not change? Every time I look at him from now on, I'm going to remember the pity in his eyes. I just lost my first love and my best friend in the exact same minute."
A single tear slipped down her cheek. She quickly wiped it away and stood up.
"Keep what you saw today a secret," she said, looking down at him. "I'm Tendo Ren. Class 1-80."
Albert's eyes widened slightly.
Another Tendo. That surname is incredibly common around here. How strange.
"I'm Atherton Albert," he replied. "Class 1-4. I won't tell anyone."
She gave him a small nod, turned around, and walked away.
Albert sat alone on the bench, holding his unopened coffee. It suddenly hit him. That crying girl was the very first person he had actually talked to, having a real conversation, at this school, aside from his childhood friends. They both introduced their names to each other. It felt refreshing to him.
For others, it might be just a simple conversation. But for an unsocial person who desperately wanted to have friends like Albert, this is a significant progress. It gives him hope for his social life.
Then, his anime fan knowledge processed the entire situation.
Wait. This is the 'Comforting the Rejected Heroine' trope. An average guy accidentally witnesses a girl getting rejected, they share a secret, and eventually, they become close and a romance starts.
Albert stood up. His high school debut wasn't a failure after all. Real event flags were triggering around him. Fully expecting that maybe something else exciting would happen, he finally decided to head back inside the main building.
"Math is absolute. The probability of encountering an event is not zero in this school with around twelve thousand students," Albert murmured to himself.
He navigated his way back into the noisy classroom, sat down in his isolated seat at row 8 column 4, and quietly waited for the lunch bell to ring.
Date: April 7, 2026 (Tuesday) | Time: 12:35 PM | Location: Class 1-4
Lunch Break
The bell rang for lunch. Ding-dong-ding-dong.
The atmosphere in Class 1-4 shifted instantly. The tension of the first lessons evaporated, replaced by the chaotic noise of forty teenagers forming social groups.
This was the most critical moment of the first day: The Group Selection Phase.
This is it. The sorting algorithm. In the next five minutes, the social hierarchy of the class will be hard-coded for the rest of the year. The cool kids will find the cool kids. The gamers will find the gamers. And the invisible ones... we just need to stay invisible.
Albert reached into his bag to pull out his prepared bento (efficiency: prepared the night before, caloric content optimized). His plan was to eat quickly at his desk while reading a book, establishing himself as the "Quiet Guy."
"Albert!"
A hand slammed onto his desk. It was Sterling Leo.
"Let's go to the cafeteria!" Leo beamed, his voice loud enough to carry across the room. "I heard they have a special ramen for the first day. My treat!"
Tachibana Maya popped up on Albert's other side. "I want to go too! Let's eat together, Albert!"
The classroom went silent again.
Thirty-seven pairs of eyes turned to look at the back corner.
Crap. They did it again. They just spotlighted me. The 'Prince' and the 'Princess' are inviting the 'Mob' to lunch. This destroys the natural order. If I go with them, the class will hate me for monopolizing the popular kids. If I refuse, the class will hate me for being rude to the popular kids. It's a double-edged sword.
"I..." Albert stammered, gripping his calorie bars. "I brought lunch. I was just going to eat here."
"Boring!" Leo laughed. He grabbed Albert's arm. "Come on. You can't eat just go back eating calorie bars. You need real food. We need a table for three. It's tradition."
"Yeah, tradition!" Maya chimed in, grabbing his other arm. "We've been eating lunch together since elementary."
Of course, they won't leave me alone. I should have expected this.
Leo's grip was firm, radiating a heat that Albert didn't have. Maya hooked her arm through his, her touch light and cheerful. They didn't just pull him; they uprooted him. To the class, it looked like a scene from a youth drama—two bright stars guiding their shy friend.
But to Albert, it felt like being a prop dragged onto a stage he didn't belong on. He wasn't walking with them; he was being towed in their wake.
As he was pulled toward the door, Albert felt the gaze of the class. It wasn't admiration. It was pure confusion mixed with mild irritation.
("Why him? Is he their childhood friend? He looks so... plain. Who is he?")
Albert hung his head.
Social Camouflage status: Compromised. Threat Level: High. I became the center of attention.
Albert sighed while walking.
He looked at his phone and opened the LIME App again.
I should have at least asked for Tendo Ren's LIME ID. But I don't think I have the courage to ask a girl. Now thinking about it, that girl was really pretty. She's an A-tier. And now that I think about it, we both sat on the bench. That was the first time I sat on a bench, drinking and talking with a girl, aside from Maya.
As he returned to his home screen, he noticed a small red notification bubble hovering over his standard SMS inbox.
It was an unread text message from his dad, who is currently working far away in another city.
Albert had ignored it earlier that morning because he was too busy worrying about getting to school on time.
He tapped the message to open it.
It was mostly standard parental advice—wishing him luck on his first day, telling him not to skip lunch, and letting him know he had transferred his monthly allowance.
But as Albert scanned the content, he completely froze.
His eyes locked onto the last two words of his father's text message on the glowing screen.
"...Tendo Noriko."
First, there was Tendo Shinji in the front row. Then Tendo Akari in the middle row. Then Tendo Kyoko who sits directly in front of him. Then Tendo Ren, the first person he ever talked to in actual conversation.
And now, the fifth Tendo he heard today. An absurd coincidence.
Then he read the whole message which made him shocked.
Endnote of Chapter 5
Logic Engine Log of Chapter 5
Active Particle:
*Tendo Noriko