As everyone knew, Tokyo Metropolitan Advanced Nurturing High School was a university.
Everyone there was talented, and they all talked so nicely. I really, really loved that place.
Unlike the Dragon Kingdom, where he'd lived in his previous life, Sakura Country divided the year into three terms.
It was April, the start of the first term.
It was also cherry blossom season.
As he admired the cherry blossoms drifting past the window like pink clouds, Miyano Makoto couldn't help wondering which class he'd be assigned to.
Class A was packed with the best and brightest. Its students were top-tier in both academics and athletics. But Sakayanagi Arisu had a congenital heart condition and still got placed in Class A. Miyano Makoto couldn't believe the principal hadn't pulled strings for her. Still, when he thought about Totsuka Yahiko...
Well, that wasn't entirely unacceptable.
Class B was the most united class. In the original story, Ichinose Honami had ended up in Class B, but with his interference this time... who knew?
Class C was a gathering place for delinquents, with one literary girl mixed in among them. So no matter how he looked at it, he wouldn't end up in Class C... right?
Who knew how this school sorted its students!
Class D perfectly embodied the idea that "geniuses are on one side and madmen on the other." It was filled with either hopeless cases or people with sky-high potential. If they could make the most of that potential, surpassing Class A wouldn't be impossible.
But clearly, if you were assigned to Class D, you had some glaring flaw—in other words, you were a defective product.
What would happen once those flaws were fixed, though, was anyone's guess.
He glanced over the bus. Everything seemed normal.
There was no strange guy admiring himself in a mirror, oblivious to everyone around him, and no cute angel with golden hair and a generous figure.
This wasn't the bus the old lady had boarded.
So everything was normal, wasn't it?
"I have to ask, is it really okay to be so absorbed in the view? Have you already gotten tired of looking at me?"
A familiar voice came from the seat beside him. With a helpless sigh, Miyano Makoto pulled his gaze from the scenery outside and turned to the girl who had just spoken.
Her smooth, golden-pink hair gave off a faint citrus scent. Her face was as beautiful as an angel's, but at that moment her lips were pouting, as if to show her displeasure.
Ichinose Honami, a true angel—and his childhood friend.
"Sorry, sorry! The scenery really is beautiful!"
Miyano Makoto immediately apologized. It was one of the few tricks he had for talking to girls.
"I forgive you. It is cherry blossom season, after all. Don't let it happen again."
Ichinose Honami forgave Miyano Makoto at once. She hadn't really been angry; she'd just wanted to see how he'd react.
Just as I thought... he's still the same as ever.
Still as clueless about romance as ever.
"Thanks for forgiving me. Looks like we're almost there."
Miyano Makoto pointed toward the enormous school gates up ahead.
"This is so extravagant. A school gate this huge must cost a fortune, doesn't it?"
Even though Ichinose Honami had been prepared, she was still stunned by the school's grandeur.
"Considering this school gets criticized every so often for 'using too many social resources,' this is pretty much what you'd expect."
"Not only that, but the school doesn't charge tuition or any extra fees, and it covers all the students' living expenses while they're enrolled!"
That was why Ichinose Honami had chosen this school: she wanted to ease the burden on her family.
"Yeah. It'd be even better if it weren't a closed, boarding school."
Miyano Makoto let out a sigh. That wouldn't have bothered him in his previous life as a shut-in. And in this life... having a beautiful girl around didn't sound so bad.
"I hope we end up in the same class, Makoto."
Ichinose Honami held Miyano Makoto's hand as they stepped off the bus.
"I hope so too, but let's go inside and check first. There's no point just speculating out here."
Miyano Makoto smiled helplessly. Ichinose Honami was a little too clingy. If they didn't end up in the same class, she might fall apart.
"Let's see, let's see..."
Still holding the boy's hand, the girl entered the campus. A bulletin board listing class assignments stood right in front of them.
"Ah, found it! Makoto's in Class B! I... I'm in Class A?"
Ichinose Honami's spirits visibly sank.
"How could this happen...? Just thinking about being in a different class from Makoto is unbearable."
"It's not like we'll be going to different schools. We'll still have plenty of chances to see each other, right?"
Miyano Makoto reminded her. He thought Ichinose Honami was being a little too fixated on it. The odds of them staying in the same class all the way from elementary school had already been ridiculously low!
"But... Class B?"
Miyano Makoto had thought he'd be placed in Class A. How had he ended up in Class B?
"Is there something wrong with Class B?"
Ichinose Honami couldn't understand why Miyano Makoto seemed puzzled, so she asked him directly.
"Nothing. I was just thinking out loud."
Miyano Makoto didn't dare try to fool Ichinose Honami. Her curiosity was unlike anything he'd ever seen, and it wouldn't be good if she grew suspicious.
"We'd better hurry to class and meet our new classmates."
"Good point! See you in the cafeteria at lunch, then!"
With a step that didn't feel particularly light, Makoto entered the classroom of Class 1-B.
Now, who else had been in Class B in the original story, besides Ichinose Honami and that Kanzaki Ryuji guy?
Miyano Makoto couldn't remember. Who watched that stuff seriously, anyway? Weren't they all just playing the stock market?
He found his seat in the second-to-last row by the window. A perfect spot.
"My name's Kanzaki Ryuji. I think I'm pretty good at both academics and sports. What about you?"
Miyano Makoto sighed inwardly. Of all people, the person sitting to his right had to be him...
"I'm Miyano Makoto. Like you, I think I'm pretty capable."
He didn't hide what he thought about his abilities. In his view, having talent and not using it was foolish.
"I see..."
Kanzaki Ryuji pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose, a glint flashing in his eyes.
"What do you think of this school?"
"It's great! No tuition, no dorm fees, no other charges either. It's practically paradise for romance!"
Miyano Makoto meant every word. This was the best place for romance!
A completely closed environment, with no interference from either family.
Long live free love!
≧▽≦
"..."
"Never mind. I hope nothing unexpected happens."
Kanzaki Ryuji sighed. He felt he'd misjudged the guy. He seemed like a hopeless romantic.
"Looks like the teacher's here," Miyano Makoto reminded him.
Hoshinomiya Chie, the homeroom teacher for Class B, came into the classroom, leaning against the door with the look of someone nursing a hangover. Her smooth, long hair and petite, youthful looks—despite her age—made it easy to see why she was so popular among the students.
Without that hungover look and the textbooks in her hands, no one would have guessed she was a homeroom teacher.
"Hello, everyone. hic I'm your homeroom teacher. They don't change homeroom teachers at this school, so I'll be with you for all three years. hic The opening ceremony is in an hour. Someone, come take these handouts and pass them out..."
Kanzaki Ryuji stepped forward without hesitation, took the handouts from Hoshinomiya Chie, and handed them to the first student in each row to pass back.
"Looks like we have an hour of free time."
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