Chapter 1

Chapter 1 is the 1st chapter of Hibi Chouchou.

Synopsis
Suiren Shibazeki begins her first day at a co-ed high school.

Summary
The chapter starts with an announcement welcoming new students to high school. The scene cuts to groups of boys talking about all of their new female classmates. Each seems to be willing to go talk to a girl, but all of them refuse to approach Suiren. Everyone around her becomes immediately infatuated, gathering immediately around her (noted by Aya Shimizu) Aya tests out the crowd, by yelling that she's recruiting a boyfriend. The crown immediately disperses, much to her annoyance. Suiren's parents approach, her mother coming to congratulate her on getting into high school and say that she'll always cheer her on.

In the hallway, on the way to class, Suiren spots a boy who refuses to look her in the eye. As she walks away, Ryosuke compares her to a rare flower, and proceeds to nickname her "Kaolin-chan".

The girls of Suiren's class remark (assuming she can't hear them) that she gives off a mature feeling. Suiren turns around and requests that they take care of her, and that she can, in fact, talk, much to the other girl's surprise. When Suiren stops listening, Aya begins to explain why Suiren is so quiet. When she was little, she'd always been a daydreamer. Because she was so cute, she was bullied by boys who liked her, which caused her to go to an all girls middle school. However, Suiren and Aya didn't expect for the girls to be even more excited about their arrival, going so far as to attempt physically fighting with one another to make her feel at ease. With everyone fawning over her, Suiren gradually stopped talking and smiling, and became lonely. At this point, Aya realizes that she made the girls cry. The teacher finally enters the classroom and immediately has to scold the boys for not looking away from Suiren. They don't really listen though, and continue to look at and whisper about Suiren.

A month after the ceremony, boys are arguing about who's going to walk Suiren home when she sees the same boy from the hallway avoid eye contact again. A third year pulls at Suiren's bag, dumping all of the contents on the ground, and continues to tease her. However, the boy, who is now revealed to be named Kawasumi, picks up her things and gets into a mild fight with the third year, only to be stopped by Ryosuke. The crowd begins cheering and Kawasumi thanks Suiren, still avoiding eye contact.

During lunch, Aya complains about the food and Yuri about the atmosphere, so they move up to the roof. Suiren can see Kawasumi getting ganged up on by the third years, so she runs down only to find that he took care of it himself. Afterwards, Ryosuke introduces himself and Kawasumi, and reassures her that the third years will leave her alone. The chapter ends with Suiren remarking that seeing Kawasumi makes her feel at ease.