Lin Mu could only lean back in his seat and rest with his eyes closed. The lollipop in his mouth was slowly melting, its sweetness seeping out bit by bit and barely soothing his nerves.
But the classroom's commotion was like boiling water, growing louder by the minute.
All around him, the Class D students chatted and got to know one another. Some discussed whether the dorms were comfortable enough, while others complained that their suitcases were too heavy.
Some were curious about the shops on Academy Shopping Mall, while others gathered in groups to imagine future club activities and school festivals...
The constant chatter melded into a noisy din, like countless sparrows all chirping in his ears at once.
His brows furrowed slightly despite himself. He had planned to sleep with his head down, and now all he could think was, Annoying.
He absently squeezed the remaining candies in his uniform pocket, their plastic wrappers making a faint rustling sound.
At the same time, he felt secretly relieved that he had kept his Telepathy firmly shut off ever since entering the classroom.
If he turned it on now, dozens of jumbled voices would probably explode in his ears, a hundred times more chaotic than the simple physical noise around him.
Just imagine it: everyone in sight talking, voices filling his ears, while in his mind, he also had to "play" all the unspoken thoughts in their heads, along with their meaningless muttering...
It would be like cramming ten food markets into his brain.
Just thinking about it made Lin Mu's temples throb.
Forget it, forget it~
He sighed silently and nudged the nearly melted lollipop to one side of his mouth with his tongue. He might as well just focus on his candy.
At least the sweetness could ease some of his instinctive irritation.
As long as he didn't get involved and made himself part of the classroom furniture, he could endure things until the homeroom teacher arrived to take charge.
Once class officially started, there would be rules to quiet down this bunch of overexcited students.
Just as the racket in the classroom seemed about to blow the roof off...
A clear, hearty male voice suddenly rang out from the front, instantly drowning out most of the noise.
"Everyone!"
Lin Mu lazily lifted one eyelid and peered through his thick white lashes.
A boy had stood up near the aisle at the front of the classroom.
He stood tall and straight, with a bright, infectious smile. His clean-cut air gave him the feel of a natural leader, someone good at taking charge.
He raised one hand, palm down, and made two gentle but unmistakable gestures for everyone to settle down. His tone was warm and enthusiastic, yet perfectly measured.
"Could everyone quiet down for a moment and hear me out? The teacher isn't here yet, and carrying on like this isn't going to help. We might even leave the other classes with a bad impression."
He paused and looked around the room amiably. Once he saw that many students were paying attention, he continued.
"Why don't we take this chance for everyone in Class D to give a brief self-introduction?
That way, we can get to know each other faster and learn one another's names. It'll also help us become closer as classmates and get our next three years off to a good start. What do you think?"
It was a perfectly reasonable suggestion. Coming from a boy who looked so dependable, it was persuasive, too.
The classroom quieted considerably. Many students who had been busy chatting with those beside them looked up toward the front.
Lin Mu opened his eyes fully and glanced at the boy without much interest.
Self-introductions? That sounded like a hassle. He wasn't interested at all.
Meanwhile, across the room, Kikyo Kushida's eyes lit up almost as soon as the boy finished speaking, and her face blossomed into an enthusiastic smile of agreement.
She immediately raised her hand and chimed in with her trademark sweet, cheerful voice.
"I think that's an amaaazing idea! Self-introductions really will help us get to know each other faster. I'm totally in!"
With such a friendly girl leading the way, plenty of the other girls nodded along, murmuring, "That sounds good," and "Could be fun," their faces full of anticipation.
Clearly, they were happy to use this formal opportunity to make new friends and expand their social circles.
Some of the boys nodded as well, showing they had no objections.
When nobody voiced any opposition, the smile in the boy's eyes deepened. He walked over to the podium and made a simple "Nice to meet you" gesture before speaking in a bright, confident tone.
"Sounds good. I'll go first and get the ball rolling!"
He cleared his throat and looked around at the class, his eyes bright. "My name is Yosuke Hirata! Just call me Yosuke; there's no need to be formal.
"I really like sports, especially soccer. I've been playing since elementary school, and I'm planning to join the school soccer club this year and keep training.
"I hope we can become good classmates and good friends over the next three years, and work hard together! I look forward to getting along with all of you!"
A burst of warm, heartfelt applause followed.
Yosuke Hirata's introduction was bright and friendly, and he had won over most of the class almost instantly.
Lin Mu held the nearly melted lollipop in his mouth, his tongue absentmindedly pressing against the stick. Then his heart suddenly gave a little jolt.
Yosuke Hirata?
That name... why did it sound so familiar?
His brow twitched almost imperceptibly.
Before he had transmigrated, he'd watched plenty of anime and browsed lots of anime recap videos on short-video platforms.
He seemed to remember a name like that... connected to a particular anime setting.
He tried to dig up the hazy fragments of his memories from his past life. The anime had been called something like...
Classroom of the Elite? Right, that was it.
He vaguely remembered watching a few recaps or clips, but he hadn't followed the series all the way through.
At the time, he'd figured from the title alone that it was one of those school competition shows full of scheming and mind games—or maybe a slice-of-life series about striving to succeed.
Either way, it sounded like it would take too much brainpower or be overly intense. It wasn't suited to someone like him, who preferred easy, relaxing entertainment. So he'd scrolled right past without giving it much thought.
Could this world really be the setting of that anime?
A faint ripple stirred in Lin Mu's heart.
During the years he'd spent in an orphanage after transmigrating, he'd practiced a lot in order to understand and control his powers.
As his Telepathy range expanded, he inevitably picked up countless people's surface thoughts and fragments of their memories.
He was certain he had never "heard" or "seen" anything about "superpowers," "special battles," or "supernatural events."
From all the information he'd received, this world was just an ordinary, modern, scientific world, much like Blue Star in his past life.
At most... the management system and competitive philosophy of this so-called Advanced Nurturing High School were a little unusual?
It sounded like an exaggerated version of elite education.
Lin Mu's thoughts shifted slightly. For a moment, he even considered using his powers.
He could briefly "look into" Yosuke Hirata's past memories, or use a very brief burst of "precognition" to see whether he'd have any special "role" in the future.
But as soon as the thought crossed his mind, he swiftly cut it off.
Forget it, forget it, he thought, shaking his head.
There was no need to waste the effort or spend the energy.
Even if this school really was the "Meritocracy" school from the anime, so what?
At the end of the day, wasn't this just ordinary school life?
It wasn't as if some monster could suddenly attack the school like in a shonen battle anime.
Or the whole city could suddenly go up in a massive explosion because of a gas leak, like in a sci-fi movie.
(That one city has gas explosions every day, and I haven't seen anything wrong with it...)
In all ten years since he'd transmigrated to this world, he'd never seen such absurd, extraordinary incidents—not once in the news, on the radio, or while surfing the internet.
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