Will You Betray Me, Centurion?

A week had passed since school started.

The novelty of adapting to a new environment had gradually worn away amid the day-after-day classes, replaced by the emptiness and numbness of having nothing to do every day.

Even so, teaching Class D students was still an extremely serious matter.

After all, there was a chance of being angered into developing cardiovascular disease, shattering one's will to live, and ruining one's entire career.

Having learned a painful lesson last week, the teachers now carefully considered their career management plans. With tears in their eyes, they abandoned their educational ideals and chose to slack off appropriately.

They had elderly parents above and young children below. They couldn't bury themselves here!

No extra lessons or extended explanations today. They should probably book a simple course of therapy with a psychologist too...

Horikita Suzune withdrew her gaze from the teachers, whose departing footsteps seemed even more hurried than the bell signaling the end of class. She then glanced at the surrounding crowd of monsters and demons, growing even more convinced that the school had yet to activate its class reassignment plan... Otherwise, she would have to try applying for one herself. She could not let these nonhuman beings affect her, especially when she had other worries as well.

As her thoughts wandered,

someone excitedly shouted that the next class was PE. Horikita Suzune immediately stood up, took a book with her, and headed for the changing room reserved for changing into athletic uniforms.

"...Horikita really is cold, isn't she?"

"You think so too, right? It feels like she doesn't care about any of us at all. She always acts so high and mighty."

"Little Kikyo shouldn't get close to her. Someone like that deserves to be left alone."

Kikyo Kushida smiled innocently. "But I still can't bear to see Horikita all by herself... Besides, my goal is to become friends with everyone."

The others fell somewhat silent at that, glancing at one another before saying with concern, "Don't blame us for not warning you. If you're this kind, you'll end up getting hurt."

Kikyo Kushida raised a hand to scratch her head again, wearing an awkward smile that seemed to say, Sorry for making you worry. "Thank you, I-I'll do my best."

"We're not telling you to do your best..." her friends said helplessly.

Ayanokoji Kiyotaka silently watched from the other side of the room, occasionally shifting his gaze back to Bai Yu in front of him. The guy had been spacing out all morning.

He had no idea whether he still showed any signs of life.

Ayanokoji hesitated over whether to reach out and check on him.

Just then, someone approached from beside him.

"Bai Yu, Ayanokoji, could you help me with something?"

The newcomer was Hirata Yosuke, someone fairly popular in the class and well-liked among both the boys and the girls.

"Uh... what is it?" Ayanokoji asked tentatively.

Bai Yu, who had been sitting at the desk in front of him, suddenly came back to life. He turned his head toward Hirata Yosuke, one eyebrow twitching sharply now and then.

"I'd be delighted to be of service."

Bai Yu flashed a warm, friendly smile and immediately made it clear that he was willing to help with anything.

Ayanokoji had a polite slogan he wanted to say.

Hirata Yosuke was a little surprised by how agreeable he was. After a brief pause, his expression relaxed. "Well, the next class is PE. The teacher just informed me that we'll be learning tennis, and we need two people to help carry equipment from the storage room."

So they needed manual labor.

Ayanokoji immediately understood.

Bai Yu said cheerfully, "All right, leave it to me."

President, could you at least consider the thoughts of your members? This is dictatorship.

Now that it had come to this, Ayanokoji could hardly refuse on his own, so he helplessly agreed.

"Then thank you both. I'll come with you too."

Hirata Yosuke smiled amicably.

The three of them soon arrived at the sports equipment storage room.

As Hirata Yosuke unlocked the door, he casually asked, "Bai Yu, Ayanokoji, what do you think of the class? Have you gotten used to school life since the start of term?"

So he was also conducting a mental health survey for the invisible people in class.

Ayanokoji understood once more and answered politely, "It's been all right for me. I haven't run into any particular difficulties."

"The classmates have all been friendly too."

Hirata Yosuke stopped what he was doing, visibly stunned. "Other than Bai Yu, have you actually interacted with anyone else, Ayanokoji?"

"I didn't mean anything by that... I just want everyone to fit into the class as soon as possible." Hirata Yosuke felt that he had spoken too bluntly and hurriedly adjusted his wording.

Bai Yu thoughtfully explained, "Yamauchi and Ike see him as one of their kind, so they often come talk to him about their conditions. Kushida also occasionally comes by to comfort him or something."

Could you stop making it sound like I have some serious illness? Ayanokoji coughed dryly, then calmly summarized, "More or less what the president said."

President? That was probably the club Bai Yu had mentioned wanting to establish at the start of school.

Hirata Yosuke had heard Kikyo Kushida mention it before, though the club's name seemed a little illegal... He gathered his thoughts and turned to Bai Yu. "And what about you, Bai Yu? How are you getting along with the other members of the class?"

"They all respect me." Bai Yu straightened his back and said proudly.

"I think 'fear' would be more accurate."

Ayanokoji slightly corrected his word choice.

"Ahaha... I suppose so."

Hirata Yosuke laughed politely. Thinking back on Bai Yu's behavior, he felt that there was no need for him to worry at all.

As they spoke, he pushed open the storage room door and walked inside first.

Bai Yu and Ayanokoji immediately followed.

"It should be about this much."

Hirata Yosuke pulled out two baskets of standard tennis rackets from a corner. The handles bore the Advanced Nurturing school logo.

Custom-made... Come to think of it, even the athletic uniforms for PE were complete custom-made sets.

Ayanokoji's thoughts drifted slightly.

Bai Yu efficiently dragged one basket of rackets over. Each basket contained twenty rackets, so the two of them would need to make two trips.

For this amount of work, if they wanted to save time and effort, it would naturally be better to have four boys carry them.

Bai Yu thought for a moment. Then, struck by inspiration and seemingly unable to suppress another episode of his condition, he said, "Class president, how about we have Ayanokoji support both sides from the middle while each of us holds the outer side of a basket? Then we can carry everything in one trip!"

"President, you really are a genius!"

Bai Yu modestly cupped his hands. "You flatter me, you flatter me. Ayanokoji, please put a little more strength into it!"

Ayanokoji coldly refused, "I must decline!"

Bai Yu took a shocked deep breath and said mournfully, "Do you harbor treacherous intentions toward me, Centurion?!"

Just a mere centurion.

"Could you at least promote me to the rank of general before acting this shocked?" Ayanokoji retorted weakly.

"How could this be?!" Bai Yu let out an anguished cry.

Hirata Yosuke watched from the side with a peaceful smile. Just as he had thought, these two absolutely did not need to worry about failing to fit into the class. In that case...

He pondered for a while, then spoke in a somewhat composed tone. "Bai Yu, Ayanokoji, I actually have another request today."