I step up to one of the digital ordering kiosks near the entrance. I swipe my student ID card and purchase a simple bowl of hot udon noodles for a few hundred points. The machine beeps, printing a small paper receipt.
Tal walks right past the glowing digital menus. He heads straight toward the far end of the service counter, where a bored-looking cafeteria worker stands behind a small, unlit glass display.
I grab my tray of steaming noodles and follow him. I watch as the worker scoops a pile of gray, boiled weeds and a lump of dry rice onto a plastic plate. He hands it to Tal.
We walk toward the center of the room and find an empty table. I set my tray down and take a seat. Tal drops his heavy canvas bag onto the floor and sits across from me, placing his plastic plate on the table.
I look down at his food. It is the free vegetable meal.
I remember seeing the small bin of free hygiene items at the convenience store yesterday. Now, I see the school also offers a completely free meal option in the main cafeteria.
I pick up my chopsticks and look at Tal. Why are free meals and free items available here if the students receive points on the first day of each month? A hundred thousand points is an absurd amount of money. It is more than enough to eat premium meals every single day.
Providing a free, low-quality safety net implies that some students might actually run completely out of points.
I watch Tal pick up a clump of the boiled vegetables. He probably really did blow his entire allowance on that video game console yesterday. He is already relying on the school's free survival rations on the second day of class.
Tal shoves the food into his mouth. He chews.
His face immediately contorts into a grimace of pure suffering. His eyes water slightly. He swallows hard, his throat bobbing visibly.
"This meal is incredibly bad," Tal says, his voice sounding slightly hoarse. "But it is nutritious at least."
"You don't have to endure that," I say, resting my chopsticks on the edge of my bowl. "I could buy you a regular meal."
Tal shakes his head quickly. "No. I appreciate your kindness, but I want to get used to this taste as soon as possible."
"I see," I reply.
I start eating my udon. The noodles are warm and the broth is rich. The contrast between my meal and his gray plate of weeds is extreme. Tal takes another painful bite, chewing slowly while staring at the bustling crowds of students around us.
He swallows again, taking a deep breath. He looks across the table and smiles at me.
"Ayanokouji, act like a normal high school boy," Tal says.
"How do I do that?" I ask, slurping a noodle.
"You have to think about girls' breasts," Tal says seriously, pointing his cheap wooden chopstick at me. "That's how to be normal."
I chew my food and look at him. He sits there, eating cheap food, teaching me how to mimic human puberty.
"Yeah," I say.
The cafeteria roars with laughter and conversation around us. A group of senior girls walks past our table, their skirts swishing lightly against the chairs. I look at them for a second, then look back down at my soup.
Blending into this school is probably going to require a lot of strange adjustments. But if thinking about biology keeps me off the radar, I will adapt to the logic.
I take another bite of my udon. Tal groans quietly as he forces down another spoonful of dry rice. We sit together in the loud, chaotic cafeteria, on our second day.