Chapter 3
The result came faster than anyone expected.
Kiyotaka had barely finished walking through the campus after the alley incident when his school-issued temporary card vibrated with a message from the administration.
No explanation.
No congratulations.
No warning.
Very ANHS.
By then, the school was already drowning in rumors.
The unofficial blog had made him into three different disasters before lunch ended.
One post called him a transfer student. Another called him Ryūen's new rival.
Someone else had posted a blurry screenshot of his grin during the brawl and captioned it:
Kiyotaka ignored all of it.
When he entered the faculty office, several teachers looked up.
Then looked away.
That was new.
Not fear exactly.
Recognition.
The kind that came after adults realized a student was going to become paperwork.
Sae Chabashira sat at her desk with a thin folder in front of her, cigarette unlit between her fingers. Her eyes followed him from the doorway to the chair across from her.
"Ayanokōji Kiyotaka."
"Yes."
"Sit."
He did.
Chabashira opened the folder.
For a moment, her expression did not change.
Then one eyebrow moved slightly.
That was probably the teacher version of screaming.
"Perfect scores," she said. "All subjects. First-year level. Second-year level. No calculation errors. No inconsistencies. No suspicious answer pattern that would indicate guessing."
Kiyotaka's gaze lowered lazily to the folder.
"Is that a problem?"
"It should be."
A nearby teacher coughed into his hand.
Chabashira ignored him.
"The examination only determined whether you could be accepted despite your late enrollment. It does not decide class placement."
"I assumed so."
"You're being placed in Class 3-D."
There it was.
The bottom class.
The place where ANHS threw defects, problems, incomplete products, hidden potential, social disasters, and occasionally people who were inconvenient to classify properly.
Kiyotaka's smile returned.
Small.
Almost pleased.
Chabashira noticed.
"You don't look disappointed."
"Should I?"
"Most students would be."
"Then I'll try to be original."
The corner of Chabashira's mouth twitched, but she killed it before it became a smile.
"You're strange."
"I've been told."
"I doubt you've been told enough."
She pushed a box across the desk.
Inside was a phone.
"Your school-issued device. Every student has one. You'll use it for communication, schedules, school notices, the OAA app, exams, and private-point transactions. ANHS uses the same point system across the high school and university division, so don't treat it like pocket money."
Kiyotaka picked up the phone.
The screen lit beneath his thumb.
Clean interface. Locked school apps. OAA icon. Student profile pending activation.
"Your room key is inside the envelope," Chabashira continued. "Dormitory assignment is already approved. You'll rest tonight. Tomorrow morning, come to the faculty office before homeroom. I'll introduce you after I explain your situation to the class."
Kiyotaka slipped the phone into his pocket.
"Understood."
Chabashira leaned back.
Her eyes narrowed.
"One more thing."
He paused.
"The video from behind the cafeteria is already circulating."
"Is it?"
"Don't play innocent. It doesn't suit you."
That made his smile deepen.
Not much.
Enough.
Chabashira stared at him for another second.
"The school has decided not to treat it as a formal incident. Ryūen's side isn't filing anything, and the footage makes it look more like a test than an assault."
"How generous."
"Don't make me regret it."
Kiyotaka stood.
"I'll be careful."
Chabashira's expression turned dry.
"For some reason, that sounds more dangerous than if you said you wouldn't."
He gave her a polite nod and left.
Behind him, one teacher whispered, "That's the student who got perfect scores?"
Another muttered, "And fought Ryūen?"
Chabashira looked at the closed door.
"Class 3-D," she murmured, almost to herself. "This year just got worse."
But the unlit cigarette between her fingers stayed forgotten.
The dormitory was quiet that night.
Kiyotaka's assigned room smelled new in the way unused rooms always did. Clean bedding. Empty shelves. Neutral furniture. A desk waiting for someone to pretend they would only use it for studying.
He placed the black folder from the White Room inside the drawer.
The school phone sat on the desk.
After activating the OAA app, he opened the student database.
Names appeared.
Class 3-D.
Horikita Suzune.
Karuizawa Kei.
Satō Maya.
Kushida Kikyo.
Sakura Airi.
Matsushita Chiaki.
Hasebe Haruka.
And others.
He scrolled slowly.
Scores. Social contribution. Physical ability. Academic ability. Teacher remarks where available.
His eyes moved with calm precision.
He already knew most of this.
Yagami's reports had been more useful than the school app. The OAA showed numbers. Yagami had shown habits.
Who looked away when lying.
Who followed whom.
Who pretended not to care.
Who was lonely enough to be dangerous.
Kiyotaka stopped briefly on Kushida's profile.
Then Kei's.
Then Airi's.
Airi Sakura.
No confirmed romantic attachment.
High sensitivity to artificial emotional expression.
Kiyotaka's finger lingered for half a second.
Then he closed the app.
Outside his window, ANHS glowed under the night lights. Somewhere beyond the high school dorms, the university extension shone brighter, newer, built from the kind of money adults called investment when they meant control.
Project EDEN had entered the campus.
Tomorrow, Class 3-D would see its face.
Kiyotaka looked at his reflection in the dark screen of the phone.
The playful smile was still there.
Faint.
Patient.
A mask, perhaps.
Or something becoming less of one.
Morning arrived with less mercy than necessary.
Class 3-D was already loud before homeroom.
The new year had barely begun, but the classroom carried the heavy feeling of students who knew they were running out of time. Third-year pressure sat behind every casual conversation. Graduation, class points, university division paths, family expectations, relationships, rankings, reputations.
And now, a new rumor had been thrown into the room like a lit match.
The late-enrollment student.
The perfect-score student.
The guy from the alley video.
The one who had put Ryūen's group down and then offered Ryūen a hand like they had just finished a club activity.
Ike slapped both hands on his desk.
"I'm telling you, if he joins our class, we're saved."
Yamauchi leaned forward with the seriousness of a priest delivering prophecy.
"He acknowledged ordinary boys yesterday. That's not something the Crown Hearts do."
Sotomura adjusted his glasses.
"Based on available evidence, his arrival may disrupt the existing campus attractiveness economy."
Okitani blinked.
"The what?"
"The unfair distribution of romantic attention."
"Just say pretty-boy monopoly."
Ijuin nodded. "Crown Hearts inflation has damaged the market."
Hirata smiled awkwardly from nearby.
"I think we should welcome him normally."
Ike pointed at him.
"That's why everyone likes you, Hirata. You say normal things while history is chewing the door handle."
Across the room, Kei was pretending very hard not to listen.
It did not work.
"Those idiots are being loud again," she muttered.
Chiaki, seated nearby, glanced toward her with a knowing look.
"You watched the video."
Kei stiffened.
"I didn't."
Maya leaned over, eyes sparkling.
"You watched it."
"I said I didn't."
"You replayed it?"
Kei's face went pink.
"Shut up."
Maya giggled. "He did look kind of crazy though."
Chiaki rested her cheek on her palm.
"Dangerous. Not crazy. There's a difference."
Kei clicked her tongue, but her eyes betrayed her by drifting toward the classroom door.
Near another group, Kushida smiled sweetly while Kokoro, Nene, Kayano, and Mei-Yu whispered among themselves.
"I heard he got perfect scores," Kokoro said.
Nene's eyes widened. "Perfect? Like all of them?"
Kayano lowered her voice. "And he fought Ryūen?"
Mei-Yu hugged her notebook. "That sounds like a dangerous combination."
Kushida's smile stayed angelic.
Inside, her thoughts were less angelic.
A perfect-score transfer student with that face, that video, and that timing? Great. Wonderful. As if Hiro-kun and the Crown Hearts weren't already enough social gravity in this school, now there's another black hole wearing a uniform.
Her fingers tightened slightly around her pen.
Then she smiled brighter.
I'll just have to figure out what kind of person he is.
At the window side, Suzune sat with her usual straight posture, though her eyes occasionally moved toward the door as well.
She had already checked the public data available on the OAA app.
Ayanokōji Kiyotaka's profile had been strangely incomplete earlier that morning.
That bothered her.
The perfect-score rumor bothered her more.
If true, then Class D had just received a student who should not logically belong in Class D.
Which meant either the school had made an exception...
Or he was more complicated than the rumors suggested.
Airi sat quietly beside Haruka, hands folded near her lap. She had seen the video only because Haruka had shown it to her.
She still remembered the moment Kiyotaka's smile changed.
Most people looked fake when they tried to seem dangerous.
He hadn't.
That was what unsettled her.
Haruka nudged her gently.
"You okay?"
Airi nodded.
"I'm just curious."
Haruka smiled.
"That's rare for you."
Airi looked down.
"It's rare for someone's eyes to look like that."
Before Haruka could respond, the classroom door slid open.
Sae Chabashira entered.
The room settled with reluctant speed.
"Quiet down."
A few last whispers died.
Mostly.
Koenji, reclining in his seat with the confidence of a man personally sponsored by the sun, did not bother adjusting his posture.
Chabashira placed her materials on the desk.
"As some of you have already heard, a late-enrollment student has been assigned to this class."
The room breathed in.
She continued.
"He was required to take a special examination covering randomized first-year and second-year material to determine whether enrollment would be permitted. He passed."
Ike's hand shot up.
"Sensei, is it true he got perfect scores?"
Chabashira looked at him.
"I didn't say that."
"That means yes."
"It means close your mouth."
Yamauchi whispered, "It's true."
Sotomura whispered back, "Perfect-score bro."
Chabashira's eye twitched.
"His placement in Class D was determined separately from his examination results. Do not assume his score changes your class standing. Do not harass him with questions. Do not start rumors."
The entire class avoided eye contact.
The rumors had started yesterday.
Chabashira sighed as though she could hear the blog updating in real time.
"Ayanokōji. Come in."
The door opened.
And Class 3-D forgot how to be normal.
Kiyotaka stepped inside.
The morning light from the windows caught him at an angle that made the room feel slightly unfair. His expression was calm, but the faint smile on his lips carried the same dangerous amusement from the video. Not the battle grin. Not the alleyway version.
This one was softer.
Sweeter.
Worse.
It felt like he knew every secret in the room and had decided, generously, not to use them yet.
The boys reacted first.
Ike's mouth opened.
Yamauchi gripped his desk.
Okitani whispered, "He's actually here."
Sotomura sounded emotional. "The market correction has arrived."
Ijuin muttered, "Don't say that in front of girls."
Hirata smiled politely, but even he seemed surprised by the pressure Kiyotaka brought into the room.
Koenji laughed.
Not loudly.
Just enough to make heads turn.
"Fufufu. So the alley performer has joined our little cage. How entertaining."
Chabashira narrowed her eyes.
"Koenji."
"What? I am praising him. Rarely do people fight with such refreshing honesty. Far more beautiful than the feathered boys who decorate the campus with borrowed applause."
Several students instantly understood who he meant.
The Crown Hearts.
Kei blinked.
Maya covered her mouth to hide a laugh.
Kushida's smile twitched.
Haruto Kisaragi, seated not far away, went still.
The Celebrity Rookie of the Crown Hearts had been quiet until now, wearing his usual charming smile like a camera might appear at any moment.
For the first time that morning, the smile looked slightly rehearsed.
Kiyotaka's eyes passed over him.
Only briefly.
But Haruto felt it.
A glance that did not challenge him.
That was what made it insulting.
Chabashira tapped the desk.
"Introduce yourself."
Kiyotaka turned toward the class.
A normal student would have looked nervous.
A confident one might have smiled brightly.
Kiyotaka did neither.
He stood there with relaxed composure, letting the silence settle around him before speaking.
"Ayanokōji Kiyotaka. I enrolled late, so I'll probably need help adjusting to the class."
His eyes moved across the room.
Slowly.
Naturally.
Giving each person just enough attention to make them feel seen.
"I'll be in your care."
A few girls died silently.
Not literally.
But close enough.
Kei looked away too fast.
Maya's lips parted slightly before she caught herself.
Chiaki watched with a raised brow, as if mentally taking notes and failing to pretend she wasn't impressed.
Kushida smiled on instinct, but her heartbeat had the nerve to betray her.
Suzune's eyes narrowed.
Airi stared at him for half a second longer than she meant to.
Kiyotaka noticed each reaction.
Of course he did.
The boys, meanwhile, looked like they had just received reinforcements in a war they had been losing since puberty.
Ike clenched his fists beneath the desk.
"He said he needs help," he whispered.
Yamauchi whispered back, "We can help."
"With what?"
"I don't know. Campus spirit."
Sotomura nodded gravely. "Male solidarity."
Okitani murmured, "You guys are going to scare him away."
Ijuin glanced at Kiyotaka's calm smile.
"I don't think we can scare him."
Chabashira looked at the seating chart.
"You'll sit in the empty seat near the back for now."
Kiyotaka nodded and walked down the aisle.
That was when the room fully felt him.
The introduction had been one thing.
Passing beside desks was another.
Students who had watched him from a distance yesterday now saw him up close. The faint scent of something clean and dark followed him, subtle enough to be accidental and precise enough not to be. His footsteps were quiet. His posture relaxed. His smile remained playful without becoming friendly.
Danger wearing manners.
As he passed Kei's row, Maya leaned slightly toward Chiaki.
"Okay," Maya whispered, barely moving her lips. "I understand the blog now."
Kei hissed, "Stop whispering."
"You're whispering too."
"I'm complaining."
Chiaki's eyes followed Kiyotaka with open curiosity.
"He's not like the Crown Hearts."
Kei looked at her sharply.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
Chiaki smiled.
"They perform for attention. He looks like attention is bothering him, but not enough to leave."
Kiyotaka passed Kushida next.
She smiled up at him perfectly.
"Nice to meet you, Ayanokōji-kun."
He stopped.
Just for a moment.
"Kushida Kikyo, right?"
Her smile froze for a fraction of a second.
He held up his phone lightly.
"OAA app. I checked some names this morning. Yours stood out."
It was a harmless explanation.
Too harmless.
Kushida's heart skipped in irritation and something much worse.
"Mine stood out?"
His smile sharpened.
"You have impressive social ratings."
Several students nearby immediately turned their heads.
Kushida laughed sweetly.
"Not really. I just like getting along with everyone."
Kiyotaka's gaze stayed on her.
"Is that so?"
Three words.
Quiet.
Smooth.
Almost intimate.
Kushida felt like he had placed a finger directly on the seam of her mask.
Inside, she snarled.
Don't look at me like that, you creepy handsome bastard.
Outside, she smiled brighter.
"Yes. I hope we get along too."
Kiyotaka's expression softened again.
"I'll look forward to it."
He continued walking.
Kushida's friends immediately leaned toward her.
"Kikyo-chan, are you okay?"
"You went red."
"I did not," Kushida said sweetly.
She had.
A few desks behind, Airi lowered her gaze when Kiyotaka approached.
She expected him to pass.
He didn't.
"Sakura Airi?"
Her shoulders twitched.
Haruka looked up immediately, protective.
Kiyotaka's tone remained calm.
"I saw your OAA profile. Photography, right?"
Airi blinked.
Most people remembered her for silence.
Or looks.
Or rumors.
Not that.
"Y-yes," she said softly. "A little."
His eyes were cold.
That should have frightened her.
It did.
But there was no decoration in them. No forced sweetness. No greasy interest hiding behind politeness.
Just observation.
Strangely honest observation.
"That's useful," he said.
Airi looked up.
"Useful?"
"People who understand cameras usually understand where others are trying not to be seen."
The words landed quietly.
Haruka stared at him.
Airi forgot to answer.
Kiyotaka gave a small smile, less dangerous this time, but not warm enough to be safe.
"I might ask for advice sometime."
Airi's face turned pink.
"O-okay."
Haruka watched him move away, then leaned close.
"Airi."
"Y-yes?"
"You just got attacked by a compliment."
"I don't think that was a compliment."
"That's why it worked."
Near the front, Suzune waited with her arms folded.
When Kiyotaka reached the aisle beside her, she spoke first.
"You seem awfully composed for someone entering class this late."
Kiyotaka stopped.
The class went very quiet.
Suzune's tone was sharp enough to cut paper. Most students recognized it as the beginning of a Horikita interrogation.
Kiyotaka looked at her.
"Horikita Suzune."
Her eyes narrowed.
"You know my name too?"
"I'm trying to learn everyone's."
"That sounds efficient."
"It is."
"That wasn't praise."
"I accepted it anyway."
A few boys nearly broke.
Kei looked down, shoulders shaking slightly.
Maya bit her lip to stop a laugh.
Even Chabashira looked like she was considering whether to intervene or enjoy the rare sight of Suzune being answered so casually.
Suzune's expression tightened.
"You don't seem worried about catching up."
Kiyotaka's smile became playful.
"I thought I was supposed to ask you for help."
That silenced her.
Only for a second.
But Class 3-D witnessed it.
Suzune Horikita had been stalled.
By one sentence.
Koenji's laugh floated from the back.
"Magnificent. The ice princess has been invited to tutor the wolf."
Suzune's face turned cold.
"Koenji-kun."
"What? I am enjoying the arts."
Kiyotaka moved on before Suzune could decide whether he had insulted her, teased her, or simply escaped.
By the time he reached his seat, the class atmosphere had changed completely.
He had introduced himself.
Spoken a handful of times.
And somehow several social wires had already been touched.
Chabashira felt it too.
That was the annoying part.
"Open your phones," she said, snapping the class back into motion. "I'll confirm the updated roster through the school system. Ayanokōji, make sure your OAA registration is synced."
Kiyotaka sat down and took out his phone.
The app loaded.
His temporary profile appeared.
Class 3-D.
A few students immediately checked their own phones.
Then someone choked.
"Wait..."
Ike's head snapped up.
"What?"
"His academic ability rating just updated."
Silence.
Yamauchi leaned over someone's shoulder.
Then his eyes went wide.
"No way."
Sotomura inhaled like a scholar discovering forbidden scripture.
"The perfect-score rumor..."
Ijuin finished, "Wasn't a rumor."
Whispers detonated.
"Perfect?"
"In all subjects?"
"First and second year?"
"Why is he in D then?"
"Because class placement wasn't based on the exam."
"That's insane."
Haruto's smile thinned at his desk.
Kiyotaka did not look at him.
That made it worse.
The boys near the back tried to keep quiet and failed immediately.
Ike whispered, "He's strong."
Yamauchi whispered, "He's smart."
Sotomura whispered, "He talks to us."
Okitani whispered, "Bare minimum, but yes."
Ijuin stared at the OAA screen.
"We finally have a weapon."
Hirata sighed, though he was smiling.
"Please don't call our classmate a weapon on his second day."
"First full day," Ike corrected.
"That doesn't help."
Across the room, Kei kept her eyes on her phone, pretending she was only looking at the rating.
Not his name.
Not the seat placement.
Not the fact that he had somehow made the classroom feel smaller and brighter and more dangerous at the same time.
Maya leaned toward her.
"Kei."
"What?"
"You're staring."
"I'm looking at the OAA."
"His OAA?"
"Everyone is."
Chiaki smiled faintly.
"True. But not everyone looks personally offended by his existence."
Kei flushed.
"I do not."
Kushida watched quietly, smile in place.
Perfect score.
Strong enough to beat Ryūen's group.
Socially sharp.
Dangerous face.
Late enrollment.
Placed in Class D.
Her thoughts moved quickly behind her sweet expression.
If he became popular, he could threaten the balance.
If he became isolated, he could be controlled.
If he got close to people too fast...
Her eyes flicked toward the girls who were trying not to look at him.
Too late.
Airi, meanwhile, held her phone without reading it.
She was still thinking about what he had said.
People who understand cameras usually understand where others are trying not to be seen.
Most people did not talk to her like that.
Most people looked at her and saw something soft.
Something quiet.
Something easy to approach if they smiled gently enough.
Kiyotaka's eyes had not smiled at all.
And somehow, that felt less fake.
At the back, Kiyotaka rested his phone on the desk.
He had already known their names.
Their scores.
Their weaknesses.
Their attachments.
Their friend groups.
The OAA app was only a public mask for knowledge he already possessed.
But pretending to learn was useful.
People liked being recognized.
They liked thinking they had been noticed naturally.
Even suspicious people softened when their name was spoken at the right time, in the right voice, with the right amount of curiosity.
Chabashira continued the homeroom announcements, but the room's attention kept drifting backward.
Toward him.
Kiyotaka looked out the window for a moment, the faint smile still on his face.
Class 3-D had received him noisily.
Good.
Noise hid movement.
Beside him, Koenji leaned back, eyes gleaming with amusement.
"You are quite the entertaining transfer, Ayanokōji-boy."
Kiyotaka glanced at him.
"Am I?"
"Indeed. Yesterday you disturbed the beasts. Today you disturbed the maidens. A balanced entrance."
A few nearby students made strangled sounds.
Kiyotaka's smile curved.
"That wasn't intentional."
Koenji laughed softly.
"Wonderful. Accidental superiority is the most beautiful kind."
From the front, Chabashira's snapped.
"Koenji. Ayanokōji. Quiet."
Kiyotaka faced forward.
"Yes, sensei."
His tone was obedient.
His smile was not.
The boys exchanged looks like they had just watched a legend get away with breathing.
Ike mouthed silently:
Yamauchi nodded with religious intensity.
The girls tried to act normal.
Failed in different ways.
Haruto Kisaragi sat perfectly composed, but his eyes had hardened.
A member of the Crown Hearts had just watched a late-enrollment student enter his own class, earn laughter from the boys, blushes from the girls, interest from the quiet ones, irritation from the proud ones, and attention from everyone else without raising his voice once.
That was not popularity yet.
But it was the beginning of something worse.
Gravity.
And Kiyotaka, sitting calmly at the back of Class 3-D, already felt it forming.
The Crown Hearts had spent years becoming stars.
Class 3-D had just received something darker.
Something that did not shine.
Something that pulled.