April 6th. A brand-new school year.
The classroom was the same as always, but the now-vacant third-year wing had been reassigned as the new first-year building.
The nameplate on Yukio's classroom had also been changed to "Class 2-A," symbolizing that they had fully advanced to their second year, and could now properly be called upperclassmen.
Having just finished the entrance ceremony, Yukio's class was still a little giddy.
"So, starting today, we're second-years? We're senpai now? It still doesn't feel real at all."
"Say what you want, but Yukio-aniki's speech at the entrance ceremony just now, even if it was short, was still pretty cool!"
"Hehe, I heard the speech was actually written by Shiina."
Listening to his classmates chat away about their spring break and the entrance ceremony, Yukio wore the same relaxed smile. And no, that rumor wasn't wrong.
Since he couldn't be bothered to write the thing himself—and Tsukishiro had specifically requested him to give a greeting to the new students as the student representative—he'd just asked Shiina to draft one. He even limited her to one hundred words max: the simpler, the better.
And clearly, this kind of senpai was well-loved by the new first-years.
When he finished speaking in barely a minute, the applause from the seats below was far louder and more enthusiastic than what Tsukishiro got after droning on for over half an hour.
Everyone here had been students long enough to know one simple truth: no one wants to listen to a long, boring speech at an entrance ceremony.
While the class was still chattering away, Sakagami came in with a cheerful smile, and the classroom quickly quieted down.
"Alright, alright, no need to be so tense. It's the first day of term, so there's nothing serious yet."
He waved a hand from the podium, letting everyone relax a bit more. "Things are pretty much the same as last year."
"But there is one important rule change I need to tell you about."
The moment "rule change" came up, the once-excited students all tensed up.
Every one of them straightened in their seats and listened intently.
By now they'd basically reached that good state where, when it was time to relax, they could relax completely—but the moment something important came up, they could immediately switch into serious mode.
Sakagami was quite pleased by that.
"I said don't get so nervous. This rule is something you can just handle as you see fit; it won't really affect you much."
"Up until now, the school rules stated that upperclassmen weren't allowed to reveal any information to underclassmen. Minor violations meant a deduction of class points; serious cases could even result in expulsion."
"As a result, back when you were first-years, you had to rely on Yukio's analysis to get a rough idea of how the school's point system worked. And because of that old rule, last year's Class D managed to blow through their one thousand starting class points by May and set a brand-new record by dropping straight to zero."
If Chabashira or anyone from Class D were to hear that, they'd definitely be drowning in shame. It was the part of their history they least wanted to remember.
You could say that, in the entire history of ANHS, the only class to ever burn through all their class points in just one month after enrollment was this year's Class D.
Sakagami continued his explanation.
"But now, thanks to the acting chairman's insistence on reform, that rule has been changed. From now on, the school won't restrict upperclassmen in that area."
"If you want to tell the new students information for free, that's fine. If you want them to pay personal points for it, that's also fine. The school won't punish you either way."
"The only real difference is that this year's new students are going to wise up a lot faster. Much earlier than your batch did, at least. They'll figure out the school's power-above-all education philosophy pretty quickly."
Only then did the class exhale in relief.
"Oh, that's all it is?"
"Who cares if they know more? It just makes the competition inside their own year more intense. Doesn't really have much to do with us second-years."
"Not necessarily. If the school's doing this, then the next time we get exams like the workplace special exam, the training camp, or the sports festival—anything with all three years mixed together—the first-years might end up causing us more trouble. After all, starting from this batch, they'll be waking up earlier than we did."
"Ugh, stuff like this never benefits our year. Same as my middle school. Right after I graduated, the school finally put air conditioning in all the classrooms. I was livid."
After letting them talk for a while, Sakagami clapped his hands.
"Anyway, there's not much happening on the first day. Yukio, grab a few people and go pick up the new textbooks. Once everyone has theirs, you're free to go."
The moment the words "you're free to go" hit, Ishizaki was the happiest of them all. His injuries from April Fool's had already healed, and he was buzzing with energy now.
"Hell yeah~!"
The others felt the same way. After just finishing spring break, no one really wanted to sit through lessons or use their brain. Most of them were still in vacation mode and just wanted to play a bit more.
So when they heard they didn't have afternoon classes, the mood instantly skyrocketed. Some of them looked about ready to attempt a triple-spin back-flip right there on the spot.
"Click your tongues later."
Sakagami lightly rapped the podium.
"Classes go back to normal tomorrow. Spring break is over. Get your heads on straight."
"You all know how much of a pain this school can be. After a full year here, no one understands that better than you do. Don't let your guard down. If you get expelled, there's nowhere for you to cry about it."
Kaneda adjusted his glasses.
"We understand, Sakagami-sensei. We're happy, sure—but we won't get reckless. We're not the same people we were when we first got here a year ago."
"Yeah!" Ishizaki hollered along. "Sensei, just watch us! We're gonna keep this pace up all through the new year!"
The others joined in.
"Yeah, Sakagami-sensei. We might play around, but we're not dropping our guard!"
"You brats…"
Sakagami shook his head with a smile. He really couldn't bring himself to say that classic homeroom-teacher line:
"You lot are the worst class I've ever had."
Because this class… had far exceeded his expectations. Knowing they still kept a basic level of caution put his mind at ease.
After that, it was simple. He assigned a few boys to fetch the textbooks. Once everyone had checked that they hadn't missed anything, class was dismissed. The students were free to head to club activities or just wander around and have fun.
That was when Ryuen walked over.
"Student council?" he asked. He'd just seen a message in the student council group chat about a meeting.
"Yeah." Yukio held up his own phone with a wry look, as if to say, Here we go again.
"It's from the school. First day of the new term and they're already planning a special exam. This school really doesn't know the meaning of taking a day off, huh."
Hearing that, Ryuen just snorted with amusement. "That's not so bad. At least they waited until the term started. We didn't have a single exam during spring break."
....
For every 100 Power Stones → +1 extra chapter.
Read 50+ chapters ahead on Patreon! [patreon.com/METARLN]