Simple desks and chairs for one, bright windows, and a clean blackboard.
Unlike the White Room, this was what a normal classroom was supposed to look like.
Some students had already arrived. A few were chatting happily, while others sat alone at their desks.
Everyone's nameplate was on their desk, and Amasawa Yuto quickly found his seat.
It was in the far corner of the last row, by the window, with a view of the campus path and the gate he'd come through.
The students seated in front of him and to his right hadn't arrived yet. The nameplate on the desk in front read "Morishita Ran."
The one on the desk to his right read "Sakayanagi Arisu."
Two months earlier.
Narimori Sakayanagi had an important task to handle that day, one he took care of every year as the chairman of Advanced Nurturing High School.
It was assigning students to classes.
While the homeroom teachers generally decided on evaluations and class placements, each year there were a few special students whose assignments he had to approve personally.
Those were the children of powerful families.
After all, Advanced Nurturing High School was a microcosm of society, where some people started out with an advantage over others.
"Let's see who the students are this year," Narimori Sakayanagi said, opening the first file.
[Kanzaki Ryuji]
The eldest son of the Kanzaki Heavy Industries family. Teacher Hoshinomiya Chie had already written his evaluation: excellent overall, but somewhat timid in temperament. She hoped he would be assigned to her Class B, where she could encourage him to become more manly.
Narimori Sakayanagi saw no problem with that and stamped the file to indicate his approval: "Seal of Narimori Sakayanagi."
He opened the next file, his eyes narrowing slightly and the corners of his mouth lifting.
[Sakayanagi Arisu]
His beloved daughter.
Due to a congenital heart condition, Arisu had very poor physical abilities. She even needed a cane to walk around normally.
But Narimori Sakayanagi and his wife had nurtured her with love, and Arisu's exceptional intelligence made up for some of her physical limitations.
Mashima Tomoya, the homeroom teacher of Class A, had already written Arisu's evaluation, recommending that she be assigned to Class A.
Narimori Sakayanagi didn't think he was letting personal feelings cloud his judgment or abusing his authority. Arisu absolutely met the standards for Class A.
The next file was—
[Koenji Rokusuke]
The eldest son of the Koenji Conglomerate. His homeroom teacher, Chabashira Sae, had deemed his arrogant self-absorption and insistence on doing things his own way to be severe character flaws, placing him in Class D.
Narimori Sakayanagi approved and stamped the file.
The next file also contained an evaluation by Chabashira-sensei.
[Tsubaki Yuki]
The eldest daughter of the Tsubaki Family. She excelled in both academics and conduct, but hadn't attended school at all during her three years of middle school. She was hospitalized for severe depression and had been deemed to have a severe character flaw, so she was placed in Class D.
Narimori Sakayanagi tapped his fingers on the desk as he considered it.
According to the file, Tsubaki Yuki's depression had improved over the past year. Otherwise, she wouldn't have come to school.
Still, he thought Class D might be a good fit for her. As far as he could tell, Chabashira-sensei was the least ambitious of the four homeroom teachers when it came to moving up a class. She was the most content to lie back and do nothing.
(Chabashira Sae: "Let them think I'm slacking. I'll catch them off guard.")
Tsubaki Yuki had only just started to recover. Perhaps she would grow by communicating and working with others there, without having to deal with pressure from her homeroom teacher to move up a class.
So he stamped the file.
That was the last one. Who would it be?
He opened the file, and the moment he saw the name, he thought his eyes were playing tricks on him.
It was a name that shouldn't have appeared here. He should still be there!
[Amasawa Yuto]
Had something happened at the White Room? What had happened to Professor Suzukake?
Narimori Sakayanagi's heart tightened. He picked up the phone on his desk and dialed a number.
The beeping as he waited sounded like blows against his chest.
"Hello, Mr. Sakayanagi. I had a feeling you'd call."
"Sorry to trouble you, Mr. Amasawa Ien. I have a lot of questions I'd like to ask you."
"Hahaha, it's no trouble. I'd be happy to answer them."
"I see. So Professor Suzukake has passed away, and Yuto graduated from there." Now that he understood what had happened, Narimori Sakayanagi couldn't help feeling sorry for Professor Suzukake.
Arisu's grandfather was the Minister of Education, and Narimori Sakayanagi was the chairman of Advanced Nurturing High School. It was no exaggeration to call them an educational dynasty, so of course he knew Professor Suzukake had been expelled from the education world for violating human decency.
Still, Narimori Sakayanagi believed there was merit in Professor Suzukake's ideas, and felt sorry for him.
Otherwise, he never would have supported Ayanokoji Atsuomi in establishing the White Room. That had been an act of betrayal against the Kijima Faction.
He had one last question. "Eight years ago, I took Arisu to the new White Room once. I spoke briefly with Professor Suzukake and learned about some of the graduation tasks he'd designed, so I know what it means for Yuto to have graduated. Why would you send him to Advanced Nurturing High School?"
Narimori Sakayanagi was putting it delicately: as the strongest monster to graduate from the White Room's Fourth Generation Students, Amasawa Yuto had nothing left to learn at Advanced Nurturing High School.
"Hahaha, Yuto is only sixteen, after all. He's at the age where he should be going to high school." It was hard to tell whether Amasawa Ien was deliberately talking around the issue or hadn't understood what Narimori Sakayanagi meant, but he avoided the subject entirely.
It was probably the former. Narimori Sakayanagi understood a little about how businesspeople thought, but he couldn't compare with the head of the Amasawa Conglomerate, who had held onto his position for years.
"Fine, I don't have any other questions. As for Yuto's class assignment, I don't think there's any option but Class A." Narimori Sakayanagi smiled wryly.
He had absolute pride and faith in his daughter, Arisu. He believed she was a true genius who would never lose to anyone.
But Amasawa Yuto...
If he had really completed Professor Suzukake's graduation task, Arisu wouldn't stand a chance against him right now.
Arisu was still just a high school student. Even a genius like her couldn't solve partial differential equations, let alone those ridiculous mathematical conjectures.
"I don't care which class Yuto is assigned to. As parents, all we want is for our child to have three happy years, right?"
"You're right. It's just that whichever class Yuto joins will probably end up being Class A..."
"Hahaha, I'll leave it up to you."
"Thank you for trusting me."
After hanging up, Narimori Sakayanagi still couldn't quite process what he'd heard.
He looked at Chabashira Sae's evaluation: outstanding ability, but trouble understanding human emotions; the most seriously defective specimen. Recommended for Class D.
He crossed out Chabashira-sensei's evaluation and wrote an A in red pen. He'd have Mashima-sensei rewrite the evaluation later.
Since Yuto would be in Class A no matter what, he might as well skip the middle steps and assign him there directly.
As for the pressure to move up, Chabashira-sensei's class wasn't the only one free from it because its teacher was slacking. Class A had no such pressure either.
Narimori Sakayanagi now suspected that Amasawa Ien's remark about "three happy years" had been a warning aimed at him.
But whether he had any personal motives...
Narimori Sakayanagi looked at the photograph of his daughter on the desk. Arisu looked about eight or nine in it, standing in a pure-white space and smiling brightly.
As for personal motives, who could say?
Narimori Sakayanagi smiled and closed the last file.
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