CH 1

The Cute Transfer Student

“My name is Charlotte Bennett. Please call me Charlotte. I’m looking forward to getting along with everyone from now on.”

——To be completely honest, it was love at first sight.

An elegant and noble temperament. Shiny silver-colored hair which fell down to her waist. A cute smile displaying her amicable nature. A pleasant, sweet, and clear voice.

Every aspect of her being was exactly that of my ideal girl’s. No, she wasn’t the perfect one from my perspective alone. She was most probably the ideal girl of many other men.

In all likelihood, all the boys in our class were already captivated by her. During the break after this period ends, she would undoubtedly be swarmed by all our classmates in an instant. She wielded a charm that could at least attract that much attention.

“Hey, Akihito. We’re in luck.”

Saionji Akira, my best friend, and partner in crime whispered in my ear from the seat behind mine.

In luck… is it?

Having such a beautiful and sweet girl transfer in as a transfer student can definitely be considered as being showered by luck.

However, that only applies if you have the capability to get closer to her.

And without a doubt, that’s something impossible for me.

“Yeah, you’re right.”

Deciding against articulating the negative thoughts currently gnawing on my consciousness, I nodded in agreement with Akira’s statement.

He’s going to jump on Charlotte afterward, isn’t he?

He might be someone who doesn’t think much about the consequences of his actions, but his optimism is one of his strong suits.

“Do you think she is in a relationship?”

“Well, normally, you’d assume that she is committed. She’s a beauty of that caliber after all.”

“Being a realist, as usual, I see. At the very least we can hope that she doesn’t have a boyfriend.”

“…The chances do seem low for her to leave her boyfriend and come all the way to Japan. There might be some household issues, but it would definitely be hard for students to sustain a long-distance relationship for two and a half years.”

“Stiff! Way too stiff! That thinking is way too practical! You should be more optimistic!”

Akira shook his head in an exaggerated manner, clearly expressing his disagreement with my opinion.

That’s weird.

I believe I answered in a manner he would appreciate.

“Hey, Saionji! You’re being way too noisy!”

Since Akira was speaking in a loud voice, our class’ homeroom teacher, Miyu-sensei, reprimanded him in a stern voice.

Miyu-sensei is without a doubt a beautiful person inside and out, but her short-tempered and strong-spirited nature is something that holds her back.

This is just what I think, however, this shortcoming of hers has resulted in her being single even now.

The person herself also seems to be concerned about her relationship status, so when she hears someone bringing it up, she becomes quite an unstable person.

“Why are you only targeting me!? Akihito was talking as well!”

“It’s because you’re being loud and annoying! If you have any complaints, try to talk while not being noticed like Aoyagi!”

I take back what I said earlier.

Miyu-sensei is the best.

“What!? Are you sure you as a teacher should be saying something like that!?”

“I can’t reproach someone for something that they didn’t do! Well, anyway, your punishment is that you’re getting more homework today!”

“N-no waay~!!”

Akira’s overpitched wailing caused the rest of the class to be enveloped in cheery laughter.

His character isn’t half-bad.

The person himself might say otherwise, but just having him around makes one calm down.

He’s quite the mood-maker in my opinion.

“Ah—”

While laughing at Akira, who was still bawling while clutching his hair, my gaze coincided with Charlotte’s.

And as soon as our eyes met, Charlotte smiled at me.

Looking at her radiant smile, I could feel my body’s temperature rising at a frightening speed.

In order to not seem rude, I lowered my head and escaped by redirecting my gaze out the window.

Somehow, having our eyes meet like that was embarrassing and unbearable.

Following that, I continued to stare out the window while ignoring Akira’s begging and bawling in the background. He was trying his hardest to have the amount of his homework reduced.

“Akihito, you traitor.”

Immediately after homeroom ended, Akira complained to me with a sulky voice.

In the end, he wasn’t able to have the amount of homework decreased.

On the contrary, because of mentioning Miyu-sensei’s marriageable age in the argument, the amount of homework he ended up receiving was three times the normal amount.

I don’t even know what to say anymore. He really is a miserable idiot.

“No, well, it will be fine.”

I couldn’t find the right words to say, so I tried comforting him with the cliche lines.

It was partially my fault so I do feel a little guilty, but the amount of his homework increasing three-fold is his own doing. Therefore, I have no intention of helping him with that.

If I help him, he would not be able to reap any benefits from it.

“By the way, are you okay with this? Not being a part of Charlotte-san’s circle, I mean.”

If I leave things as is, I would have to listen to him rant until the next class begins. Although my method would seem a little bit underhanded, I decided to use Charlotte as a bait.

“Ah, I can’t be wasting my time here! Charlotte-san might be taken by one of the other guys!”

Realizing that he almost forgot Charlotte’s existence, Akira hurriedly stood up and went over to Charlotte’s seat and joined the others.

He is truly a very simple person. However, being simple could be considered one of his only good points.

I faced the direction in which Akira ran off to—in other words, I looked at Charlotte.

She appeared to be enjoying herself while conversing with her classmates.

It is amazing that despite her being the same age as us, she can speak Japanese so fluently.

If our positions were switched, and I was asked if I could speak fluent English, I might not be able to confidently nod to that.

Does she really have no flaws?

I think if there was ever a beautiful girl who was perfect in all aspects, she would have to be someone like Charlotte.

——However, even if I was lucky enough to be placed in the same class as the beautiful transfer student, I’m not optimistic enough to expect any developments to occur.

Being a person who is only adept at studying, watching her from a distance is the only thing I can do.

After gazing at Charlotte’s countenance for a bit, I retrieved a book from my bag and ended up reading until the next class began.