— — — — — —
Three days passed in the blink of an eye~~~
Ever since Kazuma wiped the floor with the 34 Pillars Division, life had returned to normal.
But that peaceful stretch ended today. Saint Ishiyama Academy had finished preparations, and all students had been notified that the new term officially began this morning. As a teacher, Kazuma had to show up too.
(Saint Ishiyama Academy is the sister school of Ishiyama High School, yes. But two different schools.)
"You've been training hard and getting stronger, which is great, but aren't you forgetting something?"
Hilda stood in the dojo hallway with Beel in her arms, watching Kazuma train in the courtyard.
"Forgetting something…? Oh, right. I ran out of food for energy. Yolda, you need to buy more."
Kazuma's physical strength had skyrocketed over the past three days. Judging by Fairy Tail rankings, even without mana he was now at the level of a standard S-rank mage.
"I'm not talking about food. I mean Aoi Kunieda already went to school. Aren't you going?"
Hilda remembered he was technically a teacher, though she'd never seen him actually act like one.
"Aoi goes to school and I… wait. She's my student!"
"Oh crap, today's the first day of school. I need to stop by Saint Ishiyama! And it's almost nine… damn it, Yolda, take me to school!"
One glance at the time told him the truth: he was already late. He'd been so focused on training during the break that he forgot completely.
"Should I take you to buy food first, or take you to work?"
Yolda shuffled out of her room looking exhausted. Ever since signing the contract with Kazuma, she'd barely slept. One day she was buying food, the next someone wanted to go sightseeing. There was no break for her at all.
"Take me to buy food first. After that, send me to work. Open the portal."
At first Kazuma didn't think Yolda was that useful, but after getting used to her… she was incredibly convenient.
Compared to shadow soldiers, Yolda could do much more: open portals, go shopping, look after Baby Beel, you name it.
A perfect tool-person.
"Dada~!"
Baby Beel hopped out of Hilda's arms, climbed onto Kazuma's back, and struck a pose. He was going to school too.
"Alright, I understand." Yolda sighed, opened a portal to his usual convenience store, then opened another to send him to school inside the store.
---
Meanwhile inside Saint Ishiyama, the classroom prepared especially for the Ishiyama High students was already full.
"Oi, oi, oi! Why do we have to share a classroom with you guys!"
Kanzaki glared at the others, clearly irritated. Why was he lumped together with first years and second years?
"Because the school thinks everyone from Ishiyama is a bunch of idiots. So year one, two, three, it's all the same," Himekawa said casually from his seat by the window, tapping away on his phone.
"Whatever. More importantly, where's Kazuma-san? If he doesn't show up soon, I'm leaving. I have my part-time job. Also, the missions of the guild."
Tojo Hidetora didn't care about classes at all. It wasn't like his brain could absorb any of this anyway. What mattered was clocking in on time.
"How come Kazuma-sensei isn't here yet? I saw him get up early this morning. Did he forget today was the start of the term?"
Aoi Kunieda sat at her desk feeling drowsy. She had gone out searching for her grandfather yesterday, spent hours looking, found no one, and ended up short on sleep. Now she just wanted to nap.
While everyone chatted, the door opened and a bespectacled teacher walked in.
"I'm a teacher here at Saint Ishiyama. My name is Sadohara Takumi. Starting today, I'll be your homeroom teacher."
"I've heard you all come from Ishiyama High, the most violent, unruly, most troublesome group of students."
"But this is Saint Ishiyama. If you start fights or cause trouble, you'll face suspension, expulsion, or worse. Understood?"
Sadohara adjusted his glasses. He'd taught long enough to know that step one in dealing with delinquents was establishing rules.
"You there. Yes, you. You're breaking school rules."
He pointed straight at Himekawa. First step: pick someone to set an example.
"Heh, I knew it. That pompadour must be against the rules. Oi, Himekawa, hurry up and cut off that awful pompadour!" Kanzaki shot at him immediately.
"What did you just say about my pompadour? This is a tradition of my family. A symbol of status. Plebeians like you could never understand!"
Himekawa hated when anyone mocked his pompadour. He stood up instantly, ready to fight Kanzaki right then and there.
"Ahem, no, no, I didn't say anything about your hair. I meant your clothes. That flashy floral shirt violates the dress code."
Sadohara felt something was off. When did he ever say anything about hair?
And why were these two already about to start swinging?
"Oi, oi, oi, Himekawa, didn't you hear? Teacher says your pompadour breaks school rules!" Kanzaki grabbed Himekawa by the collar and yelled right in his face.
"He said my shirt breaks the rules, not my hair! If your ears are busted, go see a doctor!" Himekawa snapped back, grabbing Kanzaki's shirt in return. They looked one second away from swinging.
"Both of you, if you start a fight, you will be expelled! I'm serious! And I swear I never said a word about the hair!" Sadohara felt the situation spiraling away from him. This was not how he pictured his first homeroom. But it was fine. He could still salvage this… probably.
"Teacher Sadohara, right? Twenty-seven years old, single, male, ID number… home address… and huh, you even went to that kind of place yesterday."
Himekawa walked over with a smile, slinging an arm over the teacher's shoulder while reading the info someone had texted him.
"If I send this to the principal, think you'd get fired?"
"Ahem… no problem at all. Please… take your seat." Sadohara's heart plummeted. Who was this kid? How did he dig up every piece of personal info in thirty seconds?
"Alright then, teacher." Himekawa went right back to arguing with Kanzaki like nothing happened.
Sadohara wiped his forehead. 'What kind of monsters are these kids…?' Rough start, sure, but not hopeless. If intimidation didn't work, he'd just rely on strength. These delinquents only respected power. So he'd show them his.
Arm wrestling. That was the plan. He was the old champion of the Saint Ishiyama arm wrestling, known as Gold Arm Sadohara.
Yep, he never lost once since he was born. Victory was in the bag.
Sadohara scanned the room for a target. Too big (Shiroyama). Girl (Aoi). Too scrawny (Natsume).
There. Perfect.
He marched up to Tojo Hidetora. "Student, let's strengthen our bond a bit. How about an arm-wrestling match?"
The whole room fell silent. Every eye locked onto the two of them.
"Surprised? Didn't expect this, did you," Sadohara smugly thought. This was flawless. His victory route was set.
"Oh. Sure," Tojo said, placing his hand down.
He squeezed.
Bang!
Sadohara found himself flat on the floor, staring at the ceiling, questioning the meaning of his existence.
"C-call… call an ambulance…" he gasped with his last shred of strength.
The sirens came quickly, and the freshly appointed homeroom teacher was hauled away on a stretcher.
Right then, a dark vortex opened in the middle of the classroom.
Kazuma stepped out and immediately spotted the stretcher being rolled away.
"Who was that?" he asked.
"The new teacher. Saint Ishiyama sent him," Aoi answered. The moment she saw Kazuma teleport in, panic shot through her. Everyone had seen it. How was she supposed to explain that? Tell them the world had demons? Who would believe her?
"A new homeroom teacher that weak has no right to be my colleague. You guys did good. Next time something like this happens, just take him out directly." Kazuma nodded approvingly. They'd grown. They didn't even need him to handle it. As a teacher, he was proud.
Aoi had no idea what expression she was supposed to make. Explain it? Don't explain it? Either option sounded like disaster.
After that little incident, class officially began. Kazuma sat at the podium scrolling through his phone and snacking. The students all did their own thing below.
"Are these guys stupid or what?" Aoi thought as she watched them act like Kazuma popping out of a space vortex was totally normal. Then she remembered. Right. They were really stupid.
"Kazuma–sensei, are we really just… sitting here? Aren't you going to teach us something?" Aoi raised her hand, looking at Kazuma who was still tapping away at his phone with one hand and eating with the other.
.
.
.