Chapter 2: Our Invincible Protagonist (1)
The classroom of Nakaba High's Class 1B was bustling with activity that morning as the new classmates mingled and made their formal introductions to one another. They had barely had time to interact as a class since the entrance ceremony the previous day and seemed to be in a hurry to make up for it.
Although there were several of them keeping to themselves out of shyness or other reasons, there was one among those few whom the others seemed to be actively avoiding. This student was sitting alone at the back corner of the class. His blazer unbuttoned and his shirt un-tucked, tie hanging loosely from his neck. The fierce glare he seemed to give to every student who passed his desk did very little to endear him to his classmates. Rumours about his nature were quickly making their rounds about the class, none of them positive.
Of course, this kind of treatment was not new to the young freshman; One look at the dishevelled state of his uniform, his unkempt black hair, serpent-like eyes, perpetually annoyed expression would lead anyone to think that this guy was bad news; A vicious delinquent who would beat you down if you so much as looked at him funny, a man to be avoided at all costs.
This student's name was Shuyaku Kotaka, and those conclusions could not be further from the truth.
Rather, Shuyaku Kotaka was by his own definition a model student: He worked hard at school and tried his best not to get involved in any shady activity. However, that was not to say he wasn't painfully aware that his thuggish features tended to instigate a lot of rumours. Rumours which tended to attract the very sort of people a model student like Kotaka wanted to avoid.
For the longest time he had been getting into confrontations with an endless stream of genuine troublemakers who wanted to find out if the rumours about him were true or not. These confrontations rarely turned out well for him and he had been forced to transfer schools constantly because of it, only increasing his image of being a delinquent.
Not that Kotaka was especially torn up about it though, as his reputation meant that he couldn't really make a lot of friends at any school he went to. By now he had long gotten used to being ostracized by his peers and getting beat up by delinquents, then being transferred to another school to have it happen all over again. But this time was different.
His family had moved out of his old town because of work, and this meant that absolutely nobody in this neighbourhood had ever heard of a delinquent named Shuyaku Kotaka. This time he had a plan, a plan to carve out a peaceful high school life for himself and use his intimidating visage to his advantage for once.
His thoughts were interrupted when he heard a shocked gasp coming from the front of the classroom. He turned in the direction of the gasp and nearly fell out of his seat when he saw the source of the commotion.
Another student had walked into the classroom, wearing a bright gold helmet that looked like something out of a manga. He paid little attention to the blank stares the other students were giving him and headed straight toward an empty seat in the classroom.
And that seat just so happened to be right next to Kotaka's.
Kotaka quickly turned to look out the window, trying his best not the stare at his new neighbour. 'Who was he?' was the foremost question on his mind, that and 'what's up with that ridiculous headgear?'. Though if anything, Kotaka was shocked that he had chosen to sit next to him, of all the other seats he could have taken.
Out of the corner of his eye he saw the student's reflection in the window. He was just sitting there quietly, leaning back in his seat with his arms folded. He didn't seem at all interested in talking to Kotaka or anyone else in the room for that matter, instead looking straight at the whiteboard drumming his fingers impatiently.
Kotaka frowned; Years of trying to avoid fights had made him extra careful of guys who seemed like they'd be trouble, and this helmet guy was setting off all of Kotaka's alarm signals.
It was not long before the starting bell rang. As if on cue a tall, elderly gentleman entered the room, a stack of books under his arm. He wore a brown suit and tie, and had a tired look that screamed 'let's get this over with' on his face.
"All right settle down." He said in a bored tone, pulling out a marker and scribbling on the whiteboard as the students returned to their seats.
"Now then," the man turned to face the students, "My name is Muramatsu Akiji and I will be your homeroom teacher for this year."
There was a half-hearted applause from the class, one that Kotaka noticed his neighbour did not partake in.
"I can see you are all VERY excited to start the year," Muramatsu-sensei sighed sarcastically as he flipped open a brown folder labelled 'class registry', "but I have a few administrative matters to get through.
"Unlike you students Nakaba high has a rather strict protocol for teachers..." he grumbled as he took out a pen from his breast pocket to mark the registry, "I would like all of you to introduce yourselves starting from the front. And…I don't know tell us something about yourself."
"This is it." Kotaka thought as the first student stood up to introduce herself. The first impression was the first stage of his cunning plan. He had mulled over how he would introduce himself for a good portion of the previous night. For his plan to work he needed to make an impact, if he messed up here then he could kiss his dream of a peaceful high school life goodbye.
Kotaka rehearsed what he was going to say over and over in his head as the introductions carried on down the line. When his turn came he slowly rose out of his seat with his hands into his pockets. Like he had practiced in the mirror he lowered his brow and tilted his head down, spreading his lips in a predatory grin as he adjusted his posture to make sure everyone could see his expression clearly.
"My name is Shuyaku Kotaka," he said with a guttural growl, "and whatever the lot of you are thinking about me right now is probably true." He continued, sweeping his eyes across the room, "so I appreciate it if you all stay out of my face. Got it?"
At that moment all eyes were on Kotaka, within them a mixture of shock, awe and most importantly…
Fear.
"All right then…" Muramatsu-sensei said after a brief pause, nonchalantly marking Kotaka down as 'present', "Next."
"Mission Accomplished." Kotaka thought as he slumped back down in his seat, his neighbour rising up from his own. The latter took a look around at the rest of the class, as if carefully examining every single member. When he turned to Kotaka he seemed to pause for a brief moment, meeting the dark-haired boy's eyes with his own featureless visor, before turning back to face the teacher.
"Onimaru Godou." He said flatly, before kicking back in his chair and propping his feet up on his desk, "That is all."
SSS
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone