Aoko's School Life

It started to rain lightly again by the time she arrived at the school gate.

Aoko looked up. Most of the sunlight was hidden behind the clouds, with only a few thin rays of brightness leaking through imperceptible gaps, bringing a little vitality to this gloomy Wednesday.

"Hey! Student over there! Riding a motorcycle to school is not allowed!" a female student with shoulder-length, slightly curly brown hair ran up to Aoko aggressively and questioned her.

Aoko looked down and chuckled. Wasn't this Kumari Kanroku, the cute student council member? Did she not recognize her after being absent for a few days?

When she attended Asagami, Aoko always had her family's car pick her up and drop her off. After starting high school, she bought a motorcycle herself and enjoyed the thrill of riding every day, skirting the edge of driving without a license.

Aoko took off her helmet, revealing her long red hair that flowed like molten fire. She looked at Kumari Kanroku with a half-smile.

"Huh?! President Aoko?!" The adorable, petite girl stared at the motorcycle rider, who was wearing a jacket on top and still her school uniform pleated skirt on the bottom, falling into a daze, somewhat at a loss.

"What? You don't recognize me after just a few days?" Aoko teased. "If you don't even recognize me, your president, then I'll have to reconsider your position as treasurer, Kanroku."

"You dare say that!" Kumari Kanroku said indignantly. "President Aoko, do you know how tired Tsukashi, the vice president, and I have been during these days you were absent?! The vice president is practically experiencing the overwork of a corporate drone ahead of schedule!"

"Is it that serious?" Aoko was taken aback. "It's just a high school student council; how much work can there be?"

"That's if the student council has all its members present and accounted for!" Kumari Kanroku emphasized, sticking out a finger. "Our student council already has a shortage of members, and then our president occasionally disappears. So even I, the treasurer, am dragged out to guard the gate!"

"Isn't that a good thing?" Aoko said indifferently. "Doesn't Tsukashi enjoy having power? Isn't it even better that I'm not here?"

"Power is a good thing, but you need to be alive to enjoy it!" Kumari Kanroku sighed. "You'll understand when you see what the vice president looks like. Oh, right, President, why did you dye your hair? Students aren't allowed to dye their hair!"

"Dye my hair? What are you talking about?" Aoko feigned ignorance as she pushed her motorcycle into the campus and parked it, responding to the student council's junior accountant. "This hair color is natural; I didn't dye it."

"You're kidding me!" Kumari Kanroku's expression became comically exaggerated, like a manga effect. "Don't treat me like an idiot, President Aoko. Your hair wasn't originally... Huh?"

The student council accountant fell into confusion because, in her memory, she couldn't recall the exact color of Aozaki Aoko's hair. It definitely wasn't red... No, was it really not red?

Seeing this, Aoko secretly smiled. Her hair had turned this color as a side effect after activating the Fifth Magic. In her original timeline, Aoko only entered this state when using the Fifth Magic. However, now that she had completely entered the Vortex of the Root and obtained the complete Fifth Magic, her hair had remained red.

This change was actually caused by the so-called "First Cause," a phenomenon that followed causality. Kumari Kanroku's current surprise at the change in her hair color was because this memetic effect hadn't completely altered her memory yet. If she asked her again in a few days, she would likely just say, "President, did you take the wrong medicine? Hasn't your hair always been red?"

Of course, Magus like Alice and Touko could still remember her previous hair color. After all, sufficiently powerful Magus could resist the memory alteration caused by this memetic infection.

While listening to Kumari Kanroku's nagging, Aoko arrived near her classroom.

She pushed open the door and surveyed her teacher and classmates whom she hadn't seen in days.

Since class hadn't officially started yet and the teacher was also preparing for the homeroom meeting, the students were still chatting when she entered. However, upon noticing Aoko's return, they immediately fell silent. Even Teacher Yamashiro at the podium didn't know what to say.

Aoko felt no awkwardness at all. She walked confidently into the classroom, nodded at the teacher, and headed straight for the second-to-last seat by the window.

That's right, this was the throne of destiny for many protagonists in the multiverse (lol).

The teacher didn't comment on Aoko's hair color or her absence for several days, maintaining his rhythm and starting the homeroom meeting.

"We'll be having a monthly exam today, so everyone be prepared," the young Teacher Yamashiro reminded them. A groan erupted from the students below, many of whom had almost forgotten about the monthly exam.

Aoko was completely unconcerned. After all, the academic difficulty of Japanese private high schools was meaningless to her. If she wanted to, she could have gone to university long ago.

Misaki Town in this world was actually located in the suburbs of Tokyo, which was why Aoko could find Asagami Girls' Academy to attend nearby. The famous location of the Vortex of the Root (lol), Kanpuuko City, was located entirely within Tokyo.

So, after she dealt with the mess at her old home in Misaki, Aoko would immediately apply for university entrance exams. Tokyo University seemed like a good option. With Aoko's current knowledge reserves and the additional intelligence boost from having the Wizard class, passing the entrance exam for Tokyo University would be a piece of cake.

It was practically cheating to have the current Aoko compete with ordinary students.

--- Divider ---

Around 9:30 AM, Aoko began the exam.

As Misaki High School was a private institution, it basically ignored the Ministry of Education's regulations on reducing the burden on students, so the academic pressure on them was quite heavy.

She glanced at the timetable written on the blackboard and found that they had at least six exams today.

The morning exams were Japanese (Modern), Mathematics, and Chemistry. After a one-hour lunch break, the afternoon exams were Physics, English, and Physical Education.

As for subjects like Health, Home Economics, and her elective courses like German and Latin, their exams were scheduled for tomorrow.

Taking the exam papers distributed by the teacher, Aoko quickly skimmed through them and then began answering before the teacher finished explaining the instructions.

Her elegant handwriting flew across the page, and all the answers were formed in one go. Aoko's responses were impeccable, and even her handwriting could be used as a model for calligraphy practice.

Unsurprisingly, Aoko finished answering the exam papers with more than half the time remaining. She confidently handed the papers to the teacher, who, having already witnessed Aoko's abilities, calmly reminded her not to make noise in the hallway and disturb students who were still taking the exam.

With some time left before the next exam started, Aoko left the teaching building with light steps and strolled around the campus.