Episode 11 - Excessive Attention Disorder

My early morning raid of the school's lost and found shelves had really paid off.

I led the way as Tomoya stared at me in a daze.

When we arrived at the school gate, I was able to make out its name in big, bold kanji letters, 'Minco Secondary School'.

Unsure of where to go, we simply mingled with the students.

Of course they couldn't see me, and even though Tomoya's biological clock was undergoing an unfortunate reset, he still had the good sense not to openly converse with me.

"Hey you!" He shouted, and casually strode up to an attractive girl wearing a red tie. "You're the obvious girl I met just yesterday."

"And you're the guy that slept through assembly and homeroom," she shot back.

"So, what class am I in?" He asked.

She had a very small nose and close set eyes. And compared to Tomoya, she looked like a hobbit. Even so, she glared at him angrily and said, "How would I know?"

His nonchalant response was, "You seem like the type of person to butt into other people's business. By the way, my name is Tomoya Sumisu."

While she appeared offended, her reluctant answer was almost immediate, "You're in my class, 10C."

She pointed towards a three story building and said, "The third class on the ground floor is where we'll have home room. I'm a prefect, so if you're late I'll put you on detention."

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A moment later the school bell rang.

We left the fast dispersing crowd with Tomoya leading the way. His stride was broad and swift, so I gave up walking and simply floated after him.

A few heads turned to look in our direction. One of them, a tall, skinny boy with eczema, hugged his chest and lowered his head, seemingly fending off a sudden gale of bitter cold.

But so far, so good. Although a few high-schoolers were somewhat attuned to my presence, none of 'those people' were in our school.

When we arrived in class, Tomoya headed straight to the back and sat next to the window. He immediately began to look out into a empty soccer field, as if its green turf was infinitely more interesting then everything happening around him.

"Hey." I said.

He covered his mouth with one hand, which lent him a pensive look.

"Hey yourself."

"Aren't you being super anti-social? Don't tell me your some kind of outcast?"

"Wait for it." He said, rather cryptically.

With almost perfect timing, an ordinary looking boy with bangs walked up to him and said, "Are you the transfer student? What country are you from?"

I suddenly realized that it had been a long time since I paid any attention to Tomoya's appearance.

I scanned his familiar features and couldn't help but inwardly acknowledge that, even though he certainly had an Asian complexion, his stark nose, pronounced chin and hazel eyes were unmistakably European.

"That's right." Tomoya said slowly, " My ship crash landed a few days ago. When I crawled out, I found this uniform."

"Ah. Very funny. And you have an interesting accent. Are you American? How long have you been in Japan?"

My mouth flew open and hung in the air.

Tomoya did not have even the slightest hint of a foreign accent. His English wasn't even particularly good despite his frequent travels. His Japanese by comparison, was an everyday affair.

Did this kid want to pressure him into a pretentious relationship on his very first day?

A crowd quickly gathered, only to repeat the same slew of questions.

A few girls were even daring enough to say something along the lines of, "You're so handsome! You must have a really exotic background right!? Why don't we exchange numbers?"