"...But I think it's fun."
"..."
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry..."
This time, Eito had to spend ages making Kikyo feel better. To do it, he used up half a lifetime's worth of compliments.
Women always liked hearing nice things, and Kikyo was no exception. Once she had calmed down, she stopped holding it against him. She even told him her name and became his friend.
Amid their conversation, they arrived at Advanced Nurturing High School.
Second Chapter: Hooking a Little Yamauchi
After saying goodbye to Kikyo, Eito registered for school and received a cellphone and a handbook.
Then, following the information on his enrollment notice, he headed to his classroom.
Class D.
Which class he was in didn't matter to him. He wasn't aiming to go on to higher education anyway, so graduating from any class would be the same.
On the bus just now, he had gained three points of malice from Kikyo, and he had put them all into Strength.
His Strength was now at eight points.
The human limit was ten, and Ayanokoji Kiyotaka was more or less at that level.
Of course, fighting ability wasn't measured by Strength alone. There were also technique, speed, resilience, and even willpower.
So even if he raised his Strength to match Ayanokoji's, he might not last three rounds without using his supernatural abilities.
By the time he entered the classroom, quite a few students had already arrived.
Some had gathered together to chat, some were sitting alone at their desks, and others were looking around.
Among them was a student named Yamauchi Haruki.
The moment Eito stepped into the classroom, he smiled and came over to greet him.
"I'm Yamauchi Haruki. What's your name? Are you in our class?"
"Uh, sorry, I walked into the wrong classroom."
Eito said politely, then turned and slipped out through the back door.
He leaned against the wall beside it and took a deep breath.
"Phew... That was close..."
He had almost ruined his entire high school life.
Everyone knew that the start of a new school year was the most important time.
The people you talked to determined which group you joined. Once those groups settled in, it was difficult for outsiders to join, and those without friends might end up spending the entire term alone.
If he hung out with someone like Yamauchi, he'd become the lowest of the low in the class. Whenever Yamauchi did something bizarre, people would look down on Eito too, as his friend.
He already had Ayanokoji as a friend, so even if he couldn't find anyone else to hang out with, he didn't need to worry too much.
So he stood by the classroom door and waited for the teacher to arrive before going in.
A few newcomers glanced at him in confusion as they passed, but they didn't ask anything and simply went inside.
He also spotted Ayanokoji. After Eito greeted him amiably, Ayanokoji returned the greeting.
Until—
"Hmph."
Along with the faint scent of shampoo, he noticed a beautiful black-haired girl walk into the classroom, an icy aura seeming to surround her.
Horikita Suzune.
He had noticed her on the bus, but hadn't greeted her.
He hadn't done anything to offend her, so why had he heard such disdain and contempt in her voice?
If he were a masochist, he would have been overjoyed and crawled to Suzune's feet like a bug, begging her to step on him.
Unfortunately, he wasn't.
Ayanokoji probably would have liked that.
Besides her, the blond boy from the bus, Koenji Rokusuke, also glanced at him. But he didn't seem interested. Before entering the classroom, he took out a mirror and briefly fixed his hair.
"I'm so beautiful."
"Chicken, you're so beautiful."
Before long, the homeroom teacher arrived. Eito followed her into the classroom and sat down at his desk.
His seat was in the second-to-last row by the window, in front of Ayanokoji. His deskmate was a fashionable-looking girl with shoulder-length brown hair, Sato Maya.
Ayanokoji's deskmate was the girl from earlier, Horikita Suzune.
Strictly speaking, this arrangement counted as sitting together, but since the seats were separated into columns, it was a little different from what he had understood a deskmate to be.
"...Freshmen, I'm Chabashira Sae, Class D's homeroom teacher. I usually teach Japanese history. Students at this school don't change classes each year. So for these three years until graduation, I'll be your homeroom teacher and study alongside you. I look forward to working with you. The entrance ceremony will be held in the gymnasium in an hour. Before then, I'll hand out some information about this school's special rules. Though you've already received it during the enrollment briefing."
Chabashira Sae, their homeroom teacher, was undeniably beautiful, with a tall figure and a tight-fitting suit that outlined her perfect curves.
At first glance, she seemed like a very cool person, but her somewhat aloof air made her look like a thorny black rose, too dangerous to approach casually.
"With the student ID you're receiving now, you can use all the school's facilities and buy things at shops and other locations. It works like a credit card, but since you'll be spending points, be careful how you use it. There's nothing you can't buy with points at this school. Anything on school grounds is available for purchase, no matter what it is."
Just as he had learned, the school gave students points each month. This time, they were getting 100,000 points. When they heard how many they would receive, many students looked incredulous.
"But, can you really buy anything...?"
Eito raised his hand.
"Do you have a question?" Chabashira asked.
With the whole class watching, he stood up.
"I'd like to ask: can you really buy anything?"
"...Interesting." The corner of Chabashira's mouth twitched slightly. She hadn't expected to find someone talented on the very first day.
Noticing a detail like that showed that he was much more observant than the others. The other students were still caught up in the excitement of receiving 100,000 points, imagining how they would spend them. Who had the time to worry about something like this?
"In principle, yes. But it depends on what it is, how you go about it, and who you're dealing with. The school won't stop such transactions. It may even help provide the necessary documents and contracts, as long as you don't take things too far..."
"Got it." Eito nodded, then asked a question that shocked the entire class.
"Then, may I ask if I can buy Chabashira-sensei?"
Chabashira: "..."
The entire class: "..."
Ayanokoji: "..."
"Ugh, pervert!" Horikita Suzune shot him a look of contempt, then turned away.
Ignoring her taunt, Eito looked at Chabashira's now-darkened face and said,
"Didn't you just say you could buy anything? Is that not allowed?"
"...Buying people is illegal. Even if this school is a little unusual, that's still not allowed." Though she was a little angry, Chabashira patiently explained.
"If you can't buy and sell people, then surely you can buy things that belong to them, right? Like—for instance—"
"Teacher, how much are your panties?" asked a rather sleazy-looking boy, jumping up excitedly. Eito had seen his face that morning too: Yamauchi Haruki.
Yamauchi's words darkened Chabashira's expression again. At the same time, the other students—and the girls in particular—looked at him as if he were a cockroach.
Yamauchi had become universally hated by the girls on the very first day of school.
He didn't notice at all, and kept asking, "Teacher, how much are they? Name your price."
"Stop asking!" Chabashira slammed her hand down on the desk. A bone-chilling gust, accompanied by a cloud of dust, surged from the podium, making the students below shiver.
"You two, come to my office after class. I have something to say to you."
"Sure~"
After this incident, Chabashira couldn't be bothered to explain anything further. She casually went over the rest of what she had to say, announced that they would have self-study, and left the classroom.
Third Chapter: A Bedtime Story for Chabashira-sensei
"Hey, were you serious about what you said earlier?"
As soon as the teacher left, the classroom grew noisy. Among those who spoke to Eito was his deskmate, Sato.
The girl leaned toward him, her pretty face turning slightly red.
"What did I mean?"
"You know, when you said you wanted... Chabashira-sensei... That was a confession, wasn't it? You're so bold."
"Oh?" Only then did Eito understand what she meant.
So saying something like that could be mistaken for a confession.
Confessing to your homeroom teacher on the first day of school was so stupid. He should find a hole to crawl into.
"Go ahead and laugh if you want."
"No, no!" Sato quickly waved her hands. "I wasn't laughing at you. If anything, I admire your courage. Confessing so decisively to the person you like, and in class, too—it's so cool! I could never do that."
"Uh, thanks?"
"Don't be shy. Since you're my deskmate, I'll help you with your romance."
Sato's eyes seemed to sparkle.
She was shipping them.
"Sato, are you interested in romance? Are you some kind of romance master?"
"Not really, I'm just an amateur. I mean, it's pretty normal for girls to be interested in romance, right? What about you, Takeda? You seem so experienced. You must have plenty of dating experience, right?"
"No," Eito said. "I've never dated anyone, and I'm still a virgin."
Ayanokoji: "Pfft—"
"..."
Eito turned around to look at the culprit who had sprayed water all over him.
"Is that funny, virgin boy?"
"S-sorry..." Ayanokoji handed him a tissue. "Here, wipe yourself off..."
"Good grief." Eito complained as he wiped the water off himself, then turned to Sato. "Is it really that strange?"
By rights, that wasn't a strange thing to say at all. Though this was Japan and people were fairly open-minded, with plenty of people dating in middle school, they were still a minority.
Being a virgin should have helped him fit right in.
"Maybe it's because of the way you said it, Takeda," Sato explained with a smile. "I've never met anyone who could calmly say they're a virgin~"
"Sorry, I'm a weirdo."
"No, no, I mean you're interesting. Hehe~" Sato covered her mouth as she smiled, the corners of her eyes curving with delight.
"Phew, all right." Eito took a deep breath. "I'll tell you the truth."
"Huh? What, what?"
"Actually—" He leaned a little closer to Sato and lowered his voice. "I wasn't trying to confess to her. I just wanted to see Chabashira-sensei make a different expression. She was stone-faced the moment she walked in. Aren't you curious what she looks like when she gets angry?"
As it turned out, she looked even colder when angry. She even seemed murderous.
"I see!" Sato said. "But you're so naughty, doing something like that to a teacher... Though I'm kind of curious too. Hehe~"
"Right? Next time, I'll have to make her show her true colors. Sato, will you help me?"
"Don't worry, leave it to me!" Sato puffed out her chest, and her soft breasts nearly bounced into his face.
Then, as if she had remembered something, Sato let out a breath and flopped onto her desk. Looking at him, she said,
"I was a little nervous about coming to this school alone, but luckily, my deskmate is someone as interesting as you, Takeda. I'm really glad..."
Before you continue