Enrollment

Advanced Nurturing High School: 99.9% of our students find work in their desired fields, and we offer the latest facilities.

Students are free to choose their hairstyles and may perm or dye their hair. You could even shave your head at school if you wanted.

No tuition fees...

On the bus, Sagara Zoya listlessly flipped through the admissions guide for his new school.

"Heh. I wonder how much of this is actually true."

You couldn't trust promotional material. You had to judge things for yourself.

Of everything in the brochure, Sagara only believed the part about there being no tuition fees. After all, his dad really hadn't paid any.

Sagara had boarded the bus early, when there were still very few people on it, so he'd taken one of his favorite seats: the aisle seat on a pair of seats near the rear door.

Sitting like this was a way of hinting that he didn't want anyone beside him. Whenever there weren't any single seats, Sagara made a habit of doing it.

As the bus continued on its way, more and more people boarded. Sagara watched them get on. Many were wearing the same clothes as him. Were they his future classmates?

That was what Sagara wondered, but he had no desire to go up and greet them. The scenery outside the window interested him more. It was a shame the new school didn't allow students to bring their phones; otherwise, he'd have taken a couple of pictures.

"Ma'am, you can have my seat." A clear, girlish voice drew Sagara's gaze back into the bus. Only then did he notice that there was another sight to behold inside.

Beneath her rare cherry-pink hair, the girl had a youthful, vibrant smile that made one's heart skip a beat. The curves beneath her uniform added a beauty beyond her years.

"That's pretty incredible." Sagara reckoned she had to be at least a D cup.

"Thank you, dear."

After the old woman thanked her, the girl made her way toward the back of the bus.

Sagara glanced to the side and realized that, without him noticing, the only empty seat left was the one to his right. He hesitated for a moment, then got up and moved to the window seat.

"Thank you." The girl from before walked over briskly and sat down beside Sagara.

"No, it's nothing." Sagara shook his head, letting her know it was no big deal.

"Hello, I'm Ichinose Honami, from Class 1-B. I look forward to getting along with you." Judging by their clothes alone, it was obvious they were both new students at the same school, and Ichinose introduced herself with practiced ease.

"Sagara Zoya, Class 1-C. I look forward to getting along with you too." Sagara replied. Class B students sure were lucky. He wondered if Class C had any girls as pretty as her.

"What do you think of the school, Sagara?" Ichinose asked curiously.

"Not much to say. The next three years are definitely going to be rough." Sagara answered with certainty.

"Huh?" Ichinose hadn't expected him to say that.

"You get what you pay for." Sagara shrugged. "A school with no tuition fees that guarantees you a job—there's no way such good terms come without a catch."

"That does make sense." Ichinose looked a little troubled. "Hearing you say that, all my excitement about starting school has disappeared."

"Sorry, I shouldn't have said that. But you're kind of strange, Ichinose." Sagara also felt that he'd been too blunt.

"Huh? Is there something strange about me?" Ichinose asked, confused.

"Of course. Just being excited about starting school is strange enough." Sagara answered without thinking. "When I remembered yesterday that school started today, I was so devastated that I rushed to turn on the light and finish my homework."

"Huh? We had vacation homework?" Ichinose asked, dumbfounded.

"Obviously." Sagara nodded confidently. He looked so serious that Ichinose couldn't help getting flustered.

"We're graduating, so how could we have vacation homework? I just stayed up all night playing video games. Heh, you really believed me?"

Seeing Ichinose's flustered expression, Sagara couldn't help laughing.

"Huh? Huh!" When Ichinose saw Sagara laughing, she finally realized he was messing with her.

"Sagara!"

"Sorry, sorry." Sagara kept apologizing. Though they'd only just met, Ichinose had an oddly gullible air about her that made him want to tease her a little.

Seeing him like this, Ichinose decided not to press the matter. After that little joke, though, the two of them quickly became more familiar with each other.

"By the way, did you give up your seat for me on purpose?" Ichinose asked, finding a topic to talk about.

"Yeah." Sagara nodded and answered without hesitation. "I didn't want a stranger sitting beside me."

"Oh? So you don't mind me sitting here?"

"Of course not."

"But we didn't know each other before."

"But you're pretty, so I was happy to give up my seat." Sagara answered without hesitation. Just those two Qs of yours were enough for me to take notice.

"...Pretty?" Two red blushes rose on Ichinose's cheeks. Being complimented on her looks by a boy right to her face...

Ichinose really was not only gullible, but surprisingly innocent, too.

Soon, the bus arrived at Advanced Nurturing High School.

Sagara and Ichinose walked to the school building together. After saying goodbye, they headed to their respective classrooms.

Sagara wasn't particularly early. Quite a few people had already arrived in the classroom.

The desks were arranged in an eight-by-five grid, and each one had a name tag. Sagara quickly found his seat: the third row from the front, closest to the window.

He sat down and looked over his future classmates. Three of them stood out to him.

One was a Black guy sitting in the row in front of him. His build, far beyond that of an ordinary high school student, was hard to ignore. Another was his deskmate. She'd given him a brief greeting when she entered the classroom, then sat down and started reading. Of course, that wasn't what had made her stand out to Sagara. It was her looks.

He'd been a little disappointed earlier. There were some pretty girls in the class, but they still couldn't compare to Ichinose. It wasn't until the girl beside him arrived that Sagara realized the school really did have high admission standards.

Although her figure couldn't match Ichinose's ample assets, her quiet, refined, bookish air more than made up for it.

The last one sat in the very back row of the classroom. He had long red hair and his legs propped up on his desk. Eyes closed, he seemed to be concentrating. He looked like a street thug, with a roguish expression, and no one around him dared to go up and talk to him.

"What a colorful group of students," Sagara thought.