"…If there are any parts I didn't do well, I hope everyone can forgive me. Please take care of me from now on~"
The petite, adorably doll-like girl standing beside Hiratsuka Shizuka (who, for some reason, was today's supervising teacher) bowed politely to the class with a sweet, angelic smile.
The classroom immediately filled with applause.
Even though the transfer student wasn't the elf princess everyone had been secretly hoping for, this "Amatsuki Tenma" girl who'd just joined their class was cute enough to make up for it. Her soft golden hair shimmered as it caught the sunlight, her delicate skin looked almost translucent, and her gentle aura made her seem approachable—like a literal angel who had descended into their mundane world.
"Tenma-san, for today you can take the empty seat in the back," said Hiratsuka-sensei, scanning the room with her usual serious face before pointing toward the last row. "If you can't see the board clearly from there, come to the office later and I'll help you change seats."
Considering Tenma's height, sitting at the very back wasn't ideal, but class was already about to start. Rearranging everyone now would only waste time.
"Understood. Thank you very much, Hiratsuka-sensei. I'll be fine."
Tenma bowed politely again, thanked the teacher, then picked up her light-looking schoolbag and made her way gracefully to the empty desk—right next to Hikigaya Hachiman.
That's right. The last row had always been occupied only by him and Miura Yumiko. The seat on Hachiman's right had been vacant until now.
So, for a fleeting moment, Hachiman had dared to hope the elf princess might transfer into his class instead. That way, he could have gotten a head start on that "support mission" the system had dumped on him. But fate, it seemed, had different plans.
Instead of an elven royal, he got a lazy angel.
Hiratsuka-sensei began teaching World History—hardly Hachiman's favorite subject. His mind was already drifting toward figuring out how to approach his latest "aid task," when he noticed movement beside him.
Tenma, who had just settled into her seat, was quietly sliding a small notebook toward him.
Hachiman frowned slightly, accepted it, and opened it. Neat, elegant handwriting filled a blank page:
[Hello, classmate. May I share your desk for the lesson? I forgot to pick up my textbook.]
[If you don't mind, lunch is on me! (´▽`ʃ♡ƪ)]
Emoticons? Really?
Hachiman turned to glance at her.
Tenma gave a sheepish little shake of her nearly empty handbag, then clasped her hands together in front of her chest with an apologetic "please?" gesture.
"…"
Hachiman sighed quietly and nodded.
Tenma's face lit up instantly. She carefully scooted her desk closer until it pressed neatly against his, forming one shared table. Then she picked up her pen again and wrote another line.
[Thank you! (⁄⁄•⁄ω⁄•⁄⁄) By the way, I didn't catch your name.]
[Hikigaya Hachiman.]
He wrote it plainly.
[Got it! Thanks, Hikigaya-kun! (●´∀｀●)]
After that, she stopped writing and focused her attention completely on Hiratsuka-sensei's lecture.
Hachiman placed his textbook between their two desks, then paused as his eyes wandered back to the notebook, still open with its row of bubbly emoticons. His gaze shifted to Tenma beside him.
Her silky golden hair draped naturally over her narrow shoulders, catching light like threads of spun sunlight. Her pale, porcelain-like cheeks looked irresistibly soft—like something that begged to be poked. The small, delicate fingers holding her pen moved gracefully as she took notes, every motion neat and composed.
Sensing his stare, Tenma tilted her head slightly, looking back at him with clear, ocean-blue eyes that seemed deep enough to reflect a person's heart. She blinked once, slow and curious.
Hachiman instantly looked away and fixed his attention on the textbook.
…This useless angel. Before she fell, she was kind of cute, huh?
From the podium, Hiratsuka-sensei's sharp eyes caught the tiny exchange between them. She noticed, but pretended not to. After all, the reason Tenma didn't have a textbook in the first place… was entirely her fault.
She'd overslept that morning—again—and hadn't had time to prepare the extra set of books for the new transfer student.
When class ended, Hiratsuka-sensei gave them both a quick glance, then walked out briskly in her heels, the sound echoing down the corridor.
The moment she left, a cheerful voice rang out:
"Hi, Tenma-san! I'm Kitagawa Marin!"
"Hello, Kitagawa-san~" Tenma replied with her usual soft smile.
"Where are you from, Tenma-san?"
"I come from a little place so remote that the internet hasn't even reached it yet. You've probably never heard of it."
"Eh? You didn't get a textbook? Do you want to borrow mine?"
"Oh no, it's fine. I'm sharing with Hikigaya-kun. I'll grab a new one from Hiratsuka-sensei later."
"Your skin is amazing, Tenma-san! What skincare do you use?"
"Really? Hmm… maybe it's because I hardly ever go outside."
In a matter of seconds, Tenma was surrounded by her classmates.
Mostly girls, of course. This class was full of gyaru, rich daughters, and cheerful normies—ordinary male students like Hachiman had long since learned their place near the bottom of the social food chain.
Hachiman quietly got up and slipped out of the room, heading toward the restroom under the pretense of a bathroom break.
By the time he wandered back from the second-year wing, the crowd had dispersed and everyone was back in their seats for the next period.
"Sorry, Hikigaya-kun," Tenma said, clasping her hands again in that same apologetic gesture. "Everyone was so enthusiastic just now, I completely forgot to go get a new textbook. Could I… share yours for one more class?"
"…"
Hachiman exhaled, flipped open her notebook, and scrawled a quick response:
[(´･_･`)]
Tenma covered her mouth with a giggle. "Pfft—thank you, Hikigaya-kun~"
She clearly understood his sarcastic little face. Still, she smiled so brightly that even Hachiman had to look away.
Later, she did make another attempt to fetch her own book, but Hiratsuka-sensei had already been pulled into some faculty meeting and forgot all about it. So for the rest of the morning, Tenma continued sharing Hachiman's desk, listening attentively to each lesson.
Hachiman, for his part, didn't talk much. Aside from a few scribbled notebook exchanges, he spent most of the time quietly observing her.
And his conclusion was this: Tenma was… genuinely competent.
Diligent, polite, academically gifted, kind to others, always ready to help anyone who asked.
Even when some students invited her to join them in sneaking over to another class to catch a glimpse of the newly transferred elf princess, she just shook her head and refused with a calm smile.
"Tenma-san, aren't you curious about the elf princess?"
"Not really," she said with an earnest tone. "We're all classmates now, right? I'll have plenty of chances to see her. Besides, I just transferred here—I should focus on catching up with the lessons."
Her words carried a quiet, radiant conviction that seemed to heal everyone who heard it.
Hikigaya Hachiman, who'd spent the whole morning sitting beside her, could only stare blankly at this pure, shining creature.
This girl… this angel…
How in the world was she supposed to turn into that—the lazy, game-addicted slob who skipped class and lived off instant noodles?
He couldn't imagine it at all.