The First Lesson Is Taught by an Unknown, Ordinary Japanese-Language Teacher with a Textbook. / Chapter 15: Ryūen Shō Will Never Forget This Painful Day

A few rays of sunlight slipped through the curtains of the dim room, falling on a lump in the middle of the bed. A hand struggled out from under the covers, fumbled around on the bedside table, and pulled a phone into the bed.

The next moment.

Mikage Touji shot upright, sending the blankets flying into the air.

Oh no! I'm going to be late!

After getting himself ready at lightning speed in five minutes, Mikage Touji grabbed his schoolbag, slammed the door shut, and sprinted toward the school building.

Question: What's the happiest thing to encounter when you're about to be late?

Answer: Another student who's about to be late!

On the school path, Mikage Touji came to an abrupt halt in the middle of his mad dash. Seeing Morishita Ran walking along at a normal pace, the two braids swaying against her chest, he secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

He caught his breath and casually walked past Morishita Ran on her left.

Morishita Ran glanced at him from the corner of her eye but said nothing.

Once he'd put some distance between them, Mikage Touji smirked and quietly quickened his pace.

Before long, the patter of little leather shoes sounded behind him.

Mikage Touji thought, This is bad. Keeping his expression calm, he continued forward, increasing his pace in an attempt to widen the gap.

But that only made the footsteps draw closer and closer.

She'd seen through his intentions!

Mikage Touji realized that if things continued like this, she'd soon overtake him.

He couldn't just sit around and wait!

Mikage Touji took a deep breath, adjusted his schoolbag, and put all his strength into his legs. He sprinted down the school path, hoping to put some distance between them all at once and award Morishita Ran the honor of being the last one to arrive in class.

But before he could celebrate, he sensed someone sprinting right behind him.

At this point, Mikage Touji stopped pretending. Facing the oncoming breeze, he shouted to the person behind him, "Give up! Morishita, you're definitely going to be the last one in class."

"That line should be returned to you word for word. With the blood of a long-distance runner in my veins, Morishita Ran could never lose to you. Face reality and accept your miserable fate of arriving last in class."

"Wait, wasn't your grandfather the Pirate King? How did he become a long-distance runner?"

"Don't trouble yourself over it..."

On the school path leading from the Advanced Nurturing dormitories to the school building, a crowd of students hurrying along stared in bewilderment at the boy and girl sprinting down the path.

Outside the peaceful Class A classroom, a sudden burst of hurried, disorderly footsteps rang out.

Under the gaze of the entire class, Morishita Ran crossed the finish line first. Ignoring the fine sweat beading on her forehead, she raised a hand and shouted, "First-place gold medalist, Morishita Ran!"

Right behind her, Mikage Touji staggered and collapsed onto the ground, panting heavily, his face full of unwillingness. "I actually... lost to mere Morishita..."

"Mikage Touji, you're hopeless," Morishita Ran said, squatting down as she held down her skirt. Watching him gasp for breath, she covered her mouth and laughed. "I didn't expect you to be such a weakling..."

If my body hadn't been so thoroughly wrecked by my upperclassman yesterday, and if I hadn't woken up aching all over, struggling to move my legs, there's no way you'd have beaten me!

Of course, Mikage Touji would never say such a lame excuse out loud. That would only make Morishita Ran tease him even more.

"There's still time, so go buy me a bottle of water."

Morishita Ran lifted her chin slightly and made use of the privilege of being the winner. Pointing toward the door, she gave Mikage Touji, the loser, an order as if it were only natural.

"Can't you show me a little sympathy?" Mikage Touji struggled to his feet and headed for the vending machine.

"Sorry, my mother told me to take advantage of a bargain whenever I see one," Morishita Ran said righteously. "Hurry back. I want it cold!"

"You shouldn't drink cold beverages after exercising. What are you, a little kid?"

When Mikage Touji set a bottle of Pocari Sweat on Morishita Ran's desk, the bell rang right on cue.

The first lesson was Japanese Literature, taught by an ordinary teacher whose name Mikage Touji didn't know.

As a transmigrator, Mikage Touji's grades in Japanese Literature weren't very good.

These lessons skipped straight to high school material without building on any foundation. To Mikage Touji, they were like listening to a foreign language. Before long, he'd start feeling drowsy.

For example, there was something like "the twelve uses of auxiliary verbs"...

You're making this impossible for me, Fat Tiger!

The other subjects were all right. Even if the material in the textbooks was somewhat different, the underlying principles were the same, so he could keep up if he worked hard.

Three lessons passed in the blink of an eye, and next came Mashima Tomoya's English class.

As the bell rang, Mashima Tomoya entered the classroom with his usual stern expression. Strangely, he wasn't carrying any lesson plans.

As if he'd noticed the students' confusion, Mashima Tomoya explained.

"This lesson has been temporarily changed to a homeroom meeting at Katsuragi's request." After speaking, he looked toward Katsuragi Kōhei.

Katsuragi Kōhei nodded to him and walked to the lectern with steady steps.

The Class A students immediately understood. The information they'd bought the previous night had all arrived, and Katsuragi Kōhei was about to announce it in class.

After confirming that all the students were present, Katsuragi Kōhei looked toward the door.

A green-haired boy was already keeping watch in the hallway. It seemed he was making sure no students from other classes passed by. If Mikage Touji remembered correctly, his name was Totsuka Yahiko. He seemed to have been following Katsuragi around a lot these past few days.

However, for Mikage Touji, who already knew the answers, this was a lesson he could use to slack off.

He took a book out of his schoolbag. It was called The Long Goodbye, written by the American author Chandler Lemons. Mikage Touji had borrowed it from the school library to pass the time.

Meanwhile, Katsuragi Kōhei began his performance.

"The main topic of this homeroom meeting is..."

As Katsuragi spoke, the class's relaxed atmosphere grew serious and heavy... Quite a few students furrowed their brows unconsciously, and silence settled over the Class A classroom.

In contrast...

Mikage Touji's fingertips glided steadily over the slightly rough edge of the page, making an almost inaudible, rhythmic rustling sound.

Then a small, pale hand pressed down on the page he was about to turn. "Wait a moment. I haven't finished reading."

Morishita Ran stared at the tiny print on the page without looking away, her hand holding the edge of the page firmly in place.

"Morishita, don't you have anything of your own to do?" Mikage Touji asked, half-lidding his eyes.

"I was going to make a Pen Gun out of some spare pens. But halfway through, I noticed you reading, Mikage Touji. You seemed more interesting, so I decided to share in your happiness," Morishita Ran said, eyes fixed on the page.

"..."

Forget it. He couldn't do anything about this woman.

"Fine, let's read together. I'll only turn the page when you say so, okay?" Mikage Touji said, removing Morishita Ran's hand with an exasperated look.

He sneaked a glance at Morishita Ran, who was completely absorbed. She looked cool and aloof, but her personality was a little childish. Her palm was small, soft, and white.

After a while, Mikage Touji looked back at the page.

The story was simple. The detective Marlowe met Terry, a drunk who'd been abandoned, in a bar and took him home. The two became friends as a result.

But...

Mikage Touji flipped back to the cover and looked at it. Wasn't this a detective novel?

Where was the mystery? How had the killer died?

Unfortunately, before Mikage Touji could figure it out, he felt a painful tugging sensation.

No! It wasn't a sensation. Someone was really pulling his hair!

Morishita Ran!

"I called you..." Morishita Ran said in a lowered voice.

Mikage Touji came back to his senses and realized the whole class was staring at him.

"Ahem." Mikage Touji closed the novel, cleared his throat, and looked at the class without changing his expression. "Is there a problem?"

"Katsuragi has already finished explaining the rules and made some arrangements. Do you have anything to add, Mikage?" Hashimoto Masayoshi asked from the other side of the classroom.

"They think you might have some unique insights, since you were the first to notice something was wrong with the school," Shiraishi Asuka quietly reminded him.

At the lectern, Katsuragi Kōhei also looked at Mikage Touji amiably, waiting for him to speak.

Mikage Touji put down the novel and, as though he really had listened to Katsuragi Kōhei the entire time, nodded solemnly. "I think Katsuragi's arrangements are already quite thorough. There's nothing in particular I need to add."

After hearing Mikage Touji's answer, the students turned their attention elsewhere and began discussing things freely.

"Then let's follow Katsuragi's plan."

"I'll keep an eye out for information from the other classes."

"I added that Ichinose from Class B as a friend. I should be able to find out quite a bit."

"I wouldn't recommend it. That woman's very capable. It'd be bad if she noticed something. By the way, I've got her as a friend too."

"Kushida Kikyou from Class D seems easy to fool. I'll give it a try."

"Compared to Katsuragi, it seems like the students in our class trust you more, Mikage," Shiraishi Asuka said with a smile from the next desk. "Don't you want to lead the class?"

When Katsuragi Kōhei had proposed his plan just now, some students hadn't been moved at all. Only after seeing Mikage Touji nod had they started taking action.

"Katsuragi's a good choice, at least better than me. Leaving the class in his hands is the best option," Mikage Touji said, shaking his head.

"As long as you're happy, Mikage."

A gentle voice drifted over. Shiraishi Asuka pressed her hands together and leaned forward slightly. "How did you figure out the school's rules, Mikage? I'm curious. Could you take me with you next time?"

"It was just a coincidence. The next time will probably be a long way off. I don't even know if there'll be a next time."

"Then... I'll keep waiting to hear from you, Mikage."

"Okay—"

"Mikage Touji, hurry up!"

Morishita Ran grabbed Mikage Touji by the back of his collar and dragged him over to her desk.

"I know, just wait a second. Why are you in such a hurry?"

"I bet Terry was only pretending to be dead. We never saw a body!"

"Maybe he killed himself?"

"No way. Someone like him would never kill himself."

Seeing this, a glimmer flashed through Shiraishi Asuka's eyes.

Chapter 15: Ryuen Kakeru Would Never Forget This Painful Day

This is yakisoba. This is bread. Put them together and you get yakisoba bread!

Of course, Mikage Touji had never eaten the stuff before. He'd only noticed that it was unusually popular when he passed by a bakery.

Following the crowd mentality of if so many people are buying it, it must taste good, he decided that this would be his lunch today.

And to go with it, he had UCC Japan Extra Strong Black Coffee!

Its unusual packaging caught Morishita Ran's eye among the dazzling array of products in the convenience store, and she resolutely bought a whole pack.

But after just one sip, Morishita Ran's normally cool face scrunched up. She gave the rest of it all to Mikage Touji.

The orange-yellow bread wrapped around glossy yakisoba, with mayonnaise, red pickled ginger, and shredded seaweed mixed in.

He put it in his mouth and chewed slowly.

The texture was unusual: first came the soft bread, then the slightly chewy yakisoba, followed by the savory richness of the mayonnaise.

He tipped his head back and gulped down some coffee...

All that remained in his mouth was bitterness and the taste of coffee. Mikage Touji's lunch was over.

Half an hour later, Mikage Touji walked into the restroom with a dark expression.

Morishita Ran! You really were sent by the heavens to mess with me!

As he entered the restroom, a burly student went in as well.