Chapter 76: The Arrival of the Purple Comet

The fragile truce between Rina and Haruka has an unintended, catastrophic side effect: it makes my school life a public spectacle. The sight of our six-person group- a bizarre chimera of nerds, beauties, and tsunderes- moving through the hallways together is a source of constant, unending gossip. I am no longer just Rui Hinamata. I am now a character in the ongoing drama of the school's two most famous (and fearsome) girls.

It is into this new, chaotic ecosystem that the comet arrives.

It is a Monday morning. Our homeroom teacher, Mr. Tanaka, a man whose spirit was broken by teenagers years ago, sighs with a profound weariness. "Alright, class, settle down," he drones. "We have a new transfer student joining us today."

A murmur of excitement ripples through the classroom. A new student mid-semester is a rare and exotic event. The door slides open, and she walks in.

And my brain stops working.

It is her. The girl from the Akihabara figurine aisle.

She is even more stunning in the flat, unforgiving light of a classroom than she was in the dim light of the store. Her lavender-purple hair, a color that should look fake, looks completely natural, cascading down her back in soft waves. Her features are delicate, almost doll-like, a perfect, unique blend that I cannot quite place. She is wearing our school's plain uniform, but on her, it looks like a piece of high fashion. The entire class, boys and girls alike, is completely captivated. A collective, silent gasp sucks the air out of the room.

She gives a small, shy bow to the class. "Good morning," she says, her voice soft and a little nervous. It has a slight, melodic accent. "My name is Aiwa Matsuki. My family has just transferred here from Korea due to my parents' work. It is a pleasure to meet you all."

Her introduction is brief, polite, and reveals almost nothing about her. She is a beautiful, purple-haired enigma.

Then, as she is scanning the faces of her new classmates, her eyes land on me.

Her expression of nervous shyness instantly vanishes, replaced by one of pure, unadulterated shock. Her large eyes go wide. A second later, the shock melts into a look of delighted recognition. And then she does something that detonates my entire social existence.

She smiles- a brilliant, dazzling smile that seems to light up the entire room- and gives me a small, conspiratorial wink.

The effect on the classroom is immediate and catastrophic. Every single pair of eyes swivels from her to me. Kenji, who is sitting right next to me, turns his head with the slow, creaking motion of a horror movie robot. His expression is one of profound, soul-shattering betrayal. The rest of the class- every boy who was already half in love with her, every girl who was already sizing her up- is now staring at me with a unified, murderous glare.

In the space of a single wink, I have gone from a background character to the main villain of the entire school.

"Hinamata-kun, you know her?" Mr. Tanaka asks, his voice full of a weary curiosity.

"I- uh- we bumped into each other," I stammer, my face feeling like it is on fire.

"I see," Mr. Tanaka says, though his expression clearly says he does not believe a word of it. "Well, Matsuki-san, there is an empty seat right there. Next to Hinamata-kun."

Of course there is. The universe, in its infinite cruelty, has decided to place the beautiful, mysterious new girl- the one who already has some kind of secret history with me- in the desk right beside me.

As she makes her way to her seat, a silent, deadly promise is made by every other student in the room. My peaceful school life is officially over.