“Yes, that thing really was unpleasant. I’ll let you off this time for providing me with that piece of information. Just a little heads up, tomorrow will be physical lessons so you should be prepared.”

“Physical lessons… you mean physical education, right?”

“Well I guess you could call it that. For the failures in class 1-F normal education doesn’t quite cut it. Only by physically engraving practical knowledge into their bodies will they learn.”

“Right… but isn’t it a bit soon for physical education?”

“For other classes that is the case, but not for 1-F. I look forward to seeing how you perform tomorrow. Hahaha.”

After that, I immediately took my leave. I wanted to check out the dorms first to ensure my lodging was secured. Today would be my first time living in a dorm on campus. This academy didn’t allow you to commute from home. Our bare necessities would be picked up and delivered from our homes.

I was a little excited at the thought of a dorm life. I just hoped my roommate would be a normal person. Although it would be a bit inconvenient if someone was living in the same room as me. If I looked at them… if they were a guy I’d have to start sleeping outdoors. Hah… why me? To be safe I should always have my eyes shut when I’m at the dorm.

When I arrived at the dorm I was thankfully the only one around as everyone was still in class. I found my room and opened it up by scanning my student ID card.

I knocked on the door while looking at the ground.

“Excuse me is anyone here?”

There was thankfully no response. It was best to be cautious. Inside the room were two beds on the left and right. A closet, two tables and chairs, and unopened boxes on both sides of the room. One set belonged to me while the other belonged to my roommate. The room was very cramped with barely any space. I guess it was too expected though.

Based upon what our teacher said we were probably given the worst rooms. There wasn’t even a shower, sink, fridge, microwave or anything. I really wondered what the rooms for other classrooms were like. There was only a single window between the two beds that let light into the room. I tried to flip the switch for the lights… they didn’t turn on. There was no power.

Isn’t this a bit too much? I felt worse and worse the more I saw. The discrimination towards classs 1-F was pretty clear if it was this bad. Failures, was it? If the treatment is this bad it definitely does seem like a good motivation for students in classes above ours to work hard.

“Haaah. To think this would be how I start my life in this academy. What did I really expect though? I got a free pass with no examination. This much should be expected for someone who got the easy way in I guess.”

I accepted the situation immediately and unpacked my stuff. I didn’t really have too much to do. Just clothes and the bare essentials. My roommate was the complete opposite though. They had about 12 boxes on their side of the room compared to my 2 boxes. It didn’t take long to put away my things on my side of the room. When I finished unpacking, I figured I’d go on a little adventure and explore the campus a bit.

There wasn’t anything exciting about the dorm life when it was just you by yourself in the dorm room after all. I turned around and headed to the door. When I opened the door, as I figured it was just me in the dorm at the moment, my guard was completely lowered. I wanted to commit the new environment to memory as well so when the door opened I was looking at the ground.

What was behind the door… a girl my age. Long black hair down to her waist. Deep pitch black eyes. Petite pink lips. Fair white skin contrasting against her black skirt and vest. She had a surprised face that mirrored my own.

I immediately shut the door without a single word.

I’m seeing things. Definitely. There’s no way anyone could be there. Especially not a girl. I put the chain on, turned away and returned to my bed. If there was a girl there, then I’m in some deep shit. It’s my first day here and I’ve already made a gigantic blunder. When was the last time I looked at somebody… excluding the macho dude I ran away from before school?

It’s been about a year hasn’t it? On the previous occasion it happened at my old school. I got curious about why all the boys fawned over some girl so I took a peak once. It was just a single glance in secret. The next day, I found her after class doing extremely inappropriate things in my seat in class.

I immediately transferred schools based upon my past experience with how infatuated they would become. To this date, excluding my parents who this strange one look phenomenon doesn’t seem to affect, I have looked at a total of 6 people in my 16 years of life excluding today. That number excludes any phoney heroes or villains I’ve looked at over the years that became useless whenever I looked at them. However, today I’ve added 2 people to that list, assuming that girl was real and not a figment of my imagination. If things keep going like this, aren’t I pretty screwed?

As for the first five people I looked at… ugh I don’t want to remember. The first was a friend when I was an infant. I changed an infant’s sexual orientation… from the bottom of my heart I wish that was just some sick twisted joke. My parents home schooled me from that point on until I was old enough to be fully aware of what a single look from me could do. The second one was that famous actress on TV. My parents really freaked out that time as well, similar to how I had.

The third time was a bully that I got into a fight with in elementary school. I had to transfer to another school after that fight. The fourth was a bully in middle school. I had to transfer again. After this occurrence rumours followed me from my old schools and anyone who saw me coming who were about to engage in a fight would immediately flee in all directions. The fifth was a girl I developed feelings towards. She was an extreme stalker though, so I had to move again. The sixth time I’d learned my lesson and before anything serious happened I immediately informed my parents and we moved.

My entire childhood was ruined because of this stupid one look phenomenon. With the macho weirdo from earlier today it should be fine since he was a stranger and doesn’t know where to find me, but if this eighth person, this girl, is real, I might be in big trouble. I swear to god I took precautions by making myself look as unattractive as possible for the sake of avoiding this. Less people would stick around someone that looked like me, they would even avoid me like the plague which would make my life easier.

There have been times in my life where I’ve contemplated pouring acid in my eyes or having them removed altogether, but living a life completely devoid of sight was too scary to imagine. To be able to conquer anyone with one look was just too much of a burden.

Beep.

What? I was confused by the sound of the ID scanner on the door that went off. It opened up but was caught on the chain.

“Hey you bearded half bald moron, what are you doing in my room?”

So she was real after all… but… what is the meaning of this? I clearly looked at her directly, for her to refer to me like this… is strange.

“What do you mean your room? This is my room.”

“What? Are you crazy? Why would this room be yours? How did you get in, half baldy?”

“With my student ID of course.”

“My student ID also let me open the door… you’re not telling me you’re supposed to be my roommate… are you?”

“That can’t be possible, there’s probably just a mistake with the room assignments. You should go check with the dorm advisor.”

“Me? Why should I be the one to check? You go check.”

“You should go check because I’m the one in the position of power inside the room. I can just go to sleep while you’re locked outside without anywhere to go.”

“What will you do about food if I stall you out?”

“There’s a window I can have friends throw me food through.”

“Don’t lie, you don’t have friends. You made that pretty obvious with that introduction of yours in class.”

“In class? We’re in the same class? Ah. Now that you mention it your voice… you’re that delusional weird girl in the seat beside me who wants to be the strongest villainess (lol).”

“Y-y-you heard that?”

She sounded flustered when she said that.

“Yeah.”

“Shut up! If you tell anyone about that I’ll make your life a living hell!”

“I don’t really care whether you want to be some fake hero or villain, but I do have one serious question for you.”

“What is it?”

“You’re not infatuated with me or anything right now, are you?”

“In… fatuated with… you? Did the lonliness if being a bearded gal bald old man make you lose a few screws? Why in the hell would I feel that way about a loser like you?”

“Really? You feel nothing at all for me?”

“It’s not that I feel nothing. Right now in particular I want to rip out your throat for even questioning whether I’d be interested in you.”

I was so surprised that I immediately unhooked the chain and took another good look at her. In a nutshell she was absolutely gorgeous. Even after staring at her like this, she showed no sign of submissiveness like everyone else I’d looked at.

Why?

“About time you opened the door. Get out of the way, I want to make sure you didn’t snoop through my stuff. A perverted old man who’s failed to pass first year like you would surely try something sketchy.”

“Uh… I may be half bald, but I’m not an old man you know.”

“Like I’d believe that.”

“It’s really true though. There are certain reasons why I maintain this appearance.”

“You’re not going to try boasting that you’re too attractive if you were to try and everyone would grovel at your feet lining up for miles to try and be with you, are you?”

“Uh… you’re kind of right in a way I guess.”

“Tch. So your true identity is that of an old narcissistic bearded half bald flunkie?”

“Can you stop appending additional unnecessary words to how you address me?”

“If you miraculously pass many years after I graduate and somehow become a low rank super hero one day I’ll ensure that will be your super hero name.”

“Super hero? What’s with everyone trying to be play pretend heroes in our class anyways?”

“I don’t know. They’re all just a bunch of weirdos.”

“Right? I can admit villains are a thing as police deal with villainous individuals who perform acts of arson, robbery, and terrorism; however, super heroes are clearly just a sham.”

“Right? Super heroes are all just poverty stricken weirdos running about trying to get a spot in the limelight. There are no true super heroes these days. They’re all fighting for glory so they can receive more donations as they become more popular.”

“Oh? We surprisingly agree on something. There are no super heroes.”

“Exactly. You know you’re not so hard to get along with despite your shabby appearance.”

I couldn’t remember the last time I was able to look at someone who wasn’t one of my parents while talking to them face to face. If it was her who was my roommate I would be fine with it.

“Anyways, Student 6, was it? We should still check with the dorm advisor to clear up this mistake. Even if I can somehow get along with you sharing a room is still an absolute no go.”

“Yeah. You’re right.”

When she confirmed her boxes were unopened we left the room and found the dorm advisor in his office.

Knox. Knock.

When we got his attention with the knock on his door he glanced up at the both of us then sighed like he knew what we were there for. Before we could say anything, not wasting any time, he beat us to the chase and said, “for you to seek me out so quickly before classes have ended, you must be the unlucky odd one out boy girl duo that are sharing a room.”

“You expected us?”

“Yeah more or less. Administration messed up and all the rooms were filled but by the time they realized it they had enrolled an odd number of boys and girls. Thus you were the two unlucky fellows that ended up together.”

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“Can’t anything be done about this? I absolutely don’t want to share a room with someone that looks like him.”

“If you can find someone who’d be willing to read rooms with you feel free to. Unfortunately as you’re in class 1-F and you were assigned the worst room of the lot as the leftover last two it’s unlikely anyone will trade with you.”

“Hey is there an empty janitor’s room or something around? I can just leave my stuff in the room and sleep in the janitor’s room instead. I’d much rather that then to stay in the same room as him.”

Am I that repulsive? Should I feel insulted right now?

She glanced in my direction like I owed her money or something. Wait, did she expect me to chime in and take the janitor’s room in her place?

“Well it’s not that we don’t have one, I suppose if you’re fine with that I can give you a key.”

“Great.”

She took the key from the dorm advisor before we returned back to our room.

“You’re actually planning to sleep in the janitor’s room?”

“Of course not. I was hoping you’d have some sort of manly pride and would say something just now, but what’s with you? Are you even a man?”

“Don’t try that crap. Why should I give up the room just because you’re a woman?”

“Because it’s common courtesy to do so.”

“I refuse. I’m absolutely not doing that. You’re just going to have to share the room with me or seriously sleep in the janitor’s closet.”

“How about we meet each other halfway? We’ll alternate days we sleep in each room. That should be fair, right?”

“Well if you’re fine with that I guess I don’t mind compromising to that extent.”

“Good.”

“I’m a guy, but are you really going to be able to manage in the janitor’s room?”

“It… should be fine... probably. As long as there are no rats or cockroaches... it should be fine.”

“Oh? For someone who wants to be the strongest villainess could it be you aren’t good with those sorts of things?”

“Be quiet. I’m p-p-perfectly f-fine with rats and cockroaches.”

“Is that really the truth though?”

“Of course it’s the truth. Do you think I’m a liar?”

“Yeah. Of course. All women are natural born liars.”

After a short journey we arrived in front of the janitor’s room. She unlocked it with the key, opened the door, and the moment she lifted one foot to step inside something crawled towards her in the direct path of where her foot would land. She wasn’t looking at the ground, but I was out of habit, so I naturally saw everything. Her foot landed directly on top of it and trapped its body against the ground.

She froze in place clearly unwilling to lift her foot, raise it away, or look down to see what it was.

I’ve never seen a cockroach that looked so happy to be stepped on in my life. I couldn’t help but picture some sort of weird masochistic cockroach begging to be stepped on. Honest to god that critter was like the Flash on his way to the supermarket bargain sale on meat.

“H-hey… half baldy, what exactly did I step on?”

“Do you really want to know?”

“Not really, but I feel like if I don’t find out and I make one wrong move I’ll be faced with man’s worst enemy.”

“You mean a cockroach?”

“Yeah.”

“I thought you said you weren’t scared of them?”

“I-I’m not.”

“Then lift your other foot and take another step.”

“Not until you confirm what I stepped on.”

“Haaah. You’re such a kid.”

I crouched down and pinched at the sides from behind the cockroach.

“You can lift you leg now. It’s fine.”

She did as I said and simultaneously looked down.

Her jaw hung down low in horror and disgust as she moved back slowly until her back was against the wall.

“Gross. Eww. Eww. Gross. Yuck. I stepped on it. He’s just casually holding it. Eww. I think I’m going to be sick.”

The little critter was rattling its body and wiggling its legs back and forth trying to escape from between my fingers. It was too bad for it that I wasn’t grossed out by insects.

“What are you so disgusted for? It’s just a little cockroach. It can hardly even hurt you yet you’re treating it like the plague. Even insects can have their feelings hurt.”

Actually, probably not. This little guy seems like a suicidal masochist to be honest.

“What are you doing! Hurry up and kill it already!”

“Kill it? It’s just a harmless little insect. Besides that, isn’t it kind of cute?”

“Cute? Did your mother drop you on your head as a child?”

“Did you want me to let it go?”

“Sorry! It was my mistake. I was wrong! Anything but that!”

“Haha. Really? Anything you say?”

I moved closer to her with the little guy in hand. Her face grew paler with each step. I squatted down in front of her and said, “then just forget about the whole take turns sharing the janitor’s closet. We’ll just suck it up and deal with the fact we’re sharing the room. If it’s your privacy you’re concerned about just put up a divider in the room. If you want to disagree then you’ll have to spend half of your school nights sleeping in the same room as this little guy’s family instead of me.”

“Fine. It’s fine! We’ll sleep together- I mean in the same room.”

“Despite wanting to become the strongest villain, you’ve surprisingly got a cute side to you.”

“Just shut up and get that thing away from me!”

“As you wish princess scaredy cat.”

“P-p-princess scaredy cat?!”

“Yeah.”

I got up and tossed the poor little guy back into the janitor’s room and heartlessly locked it. I might have been seeing things when I threw it, but I could have sworn time slowed down while a certain Celine Dion song from Titanic started to play in my head. I shook my head to refute the absurd thought. I’d definitely watched too many anime growing up as a kid.

“I absolutely, will definitely remember this! You better sleep with one eye open from now on.”

“Are you planning a night raid on me when I’m defenseless? To think you were such a lewd woman.”

“Hmmp! I’m leaving.”

With frustration written all over her face I stared at her retreating figure in the distance. Being able to look at someone in the eyes when we talk is a completely foreign feeling to me. Deep down I might have felt overjoyed for the first time in a long time in my short 16 years of life.

For someone outside my parents to act normal with me after looking at them, she was certainly the first. This was the most I’d ever interacted with anyone in the past 16 years. I felt rejuvenated, excited even. Why was she different from the rest though? Could it be she experiences a strange phenomenon similar to mine? Could it be hers can cancel mine out somehow?

If that’s the case, then if it’s with her, would I be able to actually raise my head and take a good look at this world?

No. I shouldn’t get my hopes up. She could just be hiding it well. Or maybe she’s just randomly immune or something.

Still though. This marked the first day in my life that I didn’t dominate someone with a single look. I felt strangely rejoiceful about it.

No wait, was it really because of her? What if this one look curse was lifted at some point and I never realized it? Wait! What if I unconsciously gained control over the phenomenon instead? That’s it! That must be it! I’ve never had the guts to try and see if the phenomenon could be controlled. The cost of one failure was to move to a new school after all. Surely I’ve gained control over it by now.

I need someone to be a lab rat for me. Are there any televisions around the dorms?

I scoured all over the seemingly empty dorm, but it was to no avail. At some point I’d even gotten myself lost without realizing it. Looking at the ground all the time really made it difficult to get around. I always had to confirm that nobody was in the vicinity before I could check the area for a TV.

I listened carefully as I was about to turn a corner. I didn’t hear any footsteps; however, unlike with previous occasions I bumped into someone that silently turned the corner. I wasn’t fast enough closing my eyes this time. I saw long blazing red hair before I could shut my eyes. Why are there so many unlucky encounters like this today?

The two of us fell backwards after the collision.

I nervously stood back up with my eyes closed.

“Sorry, are you okay?”

“...”

There was no response. Just silence.

“I’m really sorry I wasn’t looking where I was going. I got lost in the dorms and I was trying to find my room.”

“...”

I extended my hand out towards their direction to help them up. I was left hanging. I stepped forward and used my foot to feel the area in front of me where they fell. They were… gone?

I opened one eye ever so slightly and confirmed there was nothing there. Did they run away? So quickly without making a single noise? It was only her hair I saw, right? It should be safe to say that I’m in the clear, isn’t it? I truly hoped from the bottom of my heart that was the case.

After this accident I carefully made my way through the dorm. I retraced my steps and eventually got back to my room. I was too nervous to explore the campus any more today with how bad my luck had been so far today. All I wanted was a television but I came back empty handed.

When I opened the door, my roommate was nowhere to be found. It seemed that she hadn’t returned yet. After I spent all that time wandering through the dorm and running to get to class on time to avoid being late this morning I was much more tired than usual. I decided to call it a day and I jumped onto the bed. I dove under the sheet, covered my head and fell asleep not long after.

…

“Hah. Hah. Hah.”

A some point I was awoken and heard ragged pants from the other side of my sheets. I felt the weight of two hands pressing down on my chest. I felt two soft sensations beside my waist. I was certain someone was on top of me on the bed.

No way. Was my roommate actually affected after all? Aside from faculty I doubt anyone else could have gotten into the room aside from her. Shit. What do I do?

“Hey can you please get off of me.”

“Hah. Hah. Hah. Hah.”

That was the only response I received. She lowered her head and rested it on my chest with only the thin sheet separating us. She slid her hand up from my chest and hooked it around my neck through the sheets.

“Look, Student 12 we can talk about this. Also, your chest is pressing against me. Can you just get off me for now? ”

So I can run far away from this room and never come back.

Beep.

Beep? What do you mean beep? Someone else is entering the room?

“Student 12, please get off me someone’s coming in.”

“What the hell are you doing you pervert!”

Why is Student 12’s voice coming from the door when… no way. You’re not really telling me the one on top of me is actually a faculty member…

The sheets were immediately pulled off of me. The infiltrator skillfully wrapped themselves in the sheet then opened the window and jumped out of it.

Wait… she jumped out the window? This is the second floor though. I immediately got off the bed and looked outside the window. Gone. Whoever it had been was nowhere to be found.

“If you’re going to invite someone over to do that sort of thing at least give me some warning you perverted beast.”

“With my appearance does it really look like I have the capability to randomly bring someone to my room to do what you’re thinking?”

“Ah. You’re right. Did you actually drug them or something?”

“Of course not! I don’t even know who that was. Did you recognize who it was?”

“It was too dark so I couldn’t really tell.”

“Aren’t you too inattentive to become the world’s strongest villain?”

“Shut up. I don’t want to hear that from a pervert like you.”

“Like I said, I had nothing to do with that. I actually thought it was you who’d lost control and decided to pay me a night visit in bed.”

“Like hell I’d ever do that with a frog.”

“I’m a frog in your eyes?”

“Definitely.”

“Isn’t that a bit too mean?”

“To the frogs? Hmm. You might be right. I might be insulting frogs by calling you one. Even frogs can turn into princes, as for you? Heh.”

“Heh? What’s with that heh? Don’t just look at me like I’m the lowest life form you’ve ever seen.”

“You aren’t?”

“Why are you acting so surprised now? No. Forget it. What’s most important is who that person was. Do you really have no idea?”

“The only thing I could vaguely distinguish was the outline of her body. All I can tell you based upon that was that she was definitely attractive.”

“By the way, why are you coming back so late? Its already late into the night.”

“I thought if I came back after you fell asleep I would feel more reassured that I wouldn’t be assaulted when I went to bed.”

“Look I definitely have no interest in doing that so could you just relax? It will be a nuisance if you do that every night.”

“What have you been doing anyways?”

“Is that any of your business?”

“Not really. No. I’m just a bit curious.”

“Well since you’re the fool who chose to come back to the dorms without any plans you’ve already failed. The teacher leaving us to our own devices was for a purpose. It was so people in the class could form groups and get to associate with one another. I went around locating former students who were previously in class 1-F asking if there was any significance to it.”

“Apparently the second day will be a grueling test that will require people to come together and put aside their differences to overcome various obstacles. It’s said that there have been students in class 1-F that have died on the second day of classes.”

“Died! Are you kidding me!”

“Those are just rumors. They’re probably spread just to scare students in the classes above 1-F. The people I asked said they’d never actually witnessed anyone die.”

“What did you do after finding this out?”

“Naturally when I found this out I went back to class to rally a few pawns I could use. If I divide the class between sides and make half of them hate the other half it’s really too easy to form a group around myself.”

“Wow you really are a terrible villain.”

“Of course I am. You better not tell anyone ever or you’ll wish you were never born.”

“Who would even believe me if I told them that? Does it look like anyone would trust the words of someone that looks like me?”

“Probably not, but it’s better to be safe than sorry. Anyway, tomorrow don’t come anywhere near me. I’d rather nobody thinks we’re buddy buddy when we’re not.”

“Yeah. Yeah. I’ll do that. Don’t worry. I’ve always done that.”

“By the way, what did you do to divide the class like that and make them hate each other?”

“That’s a trade secret.”

“It wouldn’t be something stupid like you looked at them and they started to hate each other or something like that, right?”

“... of course not. Why would you think that?”

“Why did you hesitate to answer just now? You also sound a bit nervous.”

“I’m not nervous. I just can’t believe how ridiculous your guess is.”

“Is it really ridiculous though? Didn’t you ask me this before? ‘Don’t you hate yourself and feel like killing yourself now?’”

“Did I say that? I don’t really remember too well.”

“Normally I’d think it was a nonsense theory as well, but if I think about it more carefully…”

“What do you mean by that?”

“It’s nothing. Forget I said anything.”

If she could make people hate people by looking at them it might make sense why when I look at her nothing happens. If I looked at someone she would probably be able to counteract it by looking at them if she was able to make people hate each other with a single glance.

It’s the exact opposite phenomenon that happens when I look at people. Could they be superpowers? Nah. Superheroes don’t exist after all. There’s surely some sort of logical explanation for the phenomenon.

“Student 6, I’m going to bed. Please make sure to reign in your desires and not pounce on me while I’m asleep.”

“I’m naturally not going to do that. I’ll be out for the night anyway. There’s no way I can sleep comfortably when someone who’s identity I’m not certain of can freely enter the room whenever they want.”

“Is that so? Good. Shoo. Shoo. I can sleep in peace if that’s the case. I’ll be putting the chain on so don’t come back tonight.”

If the person can jump out a window and disappear in an instant I doubt that flimsy chain would stop that person from getting in.

“See you tomorrow in class, Student 12.”

“Student 6, I’d rather not. Seeing you is unpleasant.”