Prefectural Seishin High School. That was the name of the school Yuichi would be attending. The reason he’d chosen it was simple: It was the closest public high school to their house. It was only a ten minute walk away. It was also a completely normal high school, and he hadn’t had to go to any great lengths to get in.

The new blazer felt unnatural on him as he shrugged it on and headed out. The school’s boys’ uniform was a navy blue blazer and necktie with checkered pants. The girls wore a ribbon and a checkered skirt.

Yuichi had decided to leave the house early rather than wait for Mutsuko. Remaining at the table, with all the talk about magic sight, had quickly become unbearable.

This would be his first time meeting other people since he’d acquired his strange vision. What would he see above other people’s heads? He had his answer right away.

“Company Employee.” “Civil Servant.” “Secretary.” “High School Student.” “Middle School Student.”

It’s exactly what they seem to be.

There were all kinds of people on the road to school, and the words above their heads matched their appearances. Though normally, he wouldn’t have been able to tell the company employees from the civil servants.

As he got closer to school, the crowd got bigger, and he started seeing slightly different labels.

“Peer.”

That word was intermingling, here and there.

He looked around at the faces attached to the labels. They were students the same age as Yuichi.

Maybe it wasn’t all that big a deal? It was a little distracting, but if he didn’t think about it too hard, he would get used to it eventually. Yuichi was starting to feel optimistic.

Before long, he arrived at school.

He passed through the gate, followed the markers for the opening ceremony, did his sign-in, then entered the auditorium.

Rows of benches were set up at the center. Yuichi headed for the seats for his class, 1-C.

The students sitting there all had “Classmate” over their heads, while the students in the other classes were all labeled “Peer.” Apparently being in the same class was enough to cause a change in label.

Seating wasn’t assigned, so he took a seat beside “Friend,” who had arrived before him. If that was all these labels were, there was really nothing to worry about. Yuichi was starting to feel comfortable with the odd situation.

“Haven’t seen you since graduation, Yu.”

“Hey, Tak. It’s been a while.”

Yuichi and Takuro Oda had been in the same class in middle school. Takuro was short, laid-back, quiet, and always smiling. He was Yuichi’s best friend.

They chatted a little bit about how they’d spent their time off while “Principal” got up on the stage and began addressing the new students who filled the benches.

After the entrance ceremony, a teacher led them to their classroom. It wasn’t their homeroom teacher — apparently, despite this being the first day of school, she was running late.

The room was as noisy and chaotic as you would expect with the homeroom teacher missing on the first day of class. A few cliques seemed to have formed already.

Yuichi’s seat was in the very back of the room, the second row from the window. It seemed they were starting off in roll order.

“Hey!”

The student sitting in front of Yuichi snapped him out of his reverie, turning his seat backwards to strike up a conversation.

He was a full head taller than Yuichi and seemed athletic, like a guy who played sports. He was also, clearly, the kind of guy who wasn’t afraid of starting up a conversation with a stranger.

“Shota Saeki! Nice to meet you.”

“Nice to meet you. I’m Yuichi Sakaki.”

“...Ace Striker?”

A label he’d never seen before, “Ace Striker,” was hanging over Shota Saeki’s head. Yuichi couldn’t help but read it out loud. Just a few moments ago, it had read “Classmate.”

“What, you play soccer, too? Have we met before?”

“Oh, uh, nah. I just thought you looked like the soccer type.”

“Yeah, I get that a lot!”

You do? Really? What exactly is “the soccer type”? But apparently he’d bought the excuse. Shota was clearly the uncomplicated sort.

“Hey, have you got any sisters?” Shota stared keenly into Yuichi’s face.

“Huh? Where did that come from?”

“You just look like the kinda guy who’d have hot sisters.”

“I have a sister who’s a second-year here.”

“Oh, okay! Let me meet her!”

“Jeez, you don’t beat around the bush, do you?”

It seemed he was the straightforward sort, too. He must have lived a very simple life.

“I don’t think you want to go after my big sister. She’s what you’d call an unfortunate case.”

“Unfortunate?”

“She pretty and all, but her personality is... let’s say, questionable. Her hobbies are... uh, niche.”

“What, she’s one of those fujoshi types? But that’s pretty common nowadays, right?”

A few of the girls nearby flinched. Maybe they thought he was talking about them. The label “Fujoshi” hung above their heads.

I was right... the labels are actually changing.