The Overlord's Supremacy Classroom

Meritocracy of the Mediocre

Author: Huang Yinya

Introduction:

As everyone knows, "having a sister and a house, with parents both busy" is the standard configuration for a protagonist, but Hoshino En does not think so.

A father he has never met, a selfish and jealous mother, a younger sister waiting to be fed, and himself, under immense pressure.

--He does not feel like the protagonist splashing sweat in a rose-colored youth; he is merely a mediocre passerby serving as background scenery.

Mediocre. That is the definition he has set for himself.

On this day, the mediocre him received an admission notice from Advanced Nurturing High School.

This is a school backed by the government, and since he is just a mediocre person, it is only logical to go without resistance once admitted, right?

As a background character, staying away from the protagonist's main plot and enjoying his own mediocre life—that is also logical, right?

As a mediocre person, studying hard, improving himself, and incidentally supporting the people he likes—this is equally logical, right?

"So, can you all stop now? I don't think there's anything worth fighting over."

Sakayanagi Arisu & Ichinose Honami & Karuizawa Kei & Shiina Hiyori & Ayanokoji Kiyotaka & Kushida Kikyo & Love: NO!!!

Hoshino En: "..."

Did something strange get mixed into this group?

First Semester of Freshman Year:

Chapter 001: Mediocre One, Welcome to Advanced Nurturing

In the month of March, when cherry blossoms were budding, Hoshino En received his admission notice from the high school.

Tokyo Metropolitan Advanced Nurturing High School. Despite the "Tokyo Metropolitan" label, it is actually a national school, a renowned institution claiming a 100% employment and college advancement rate.

Not only that, although this school implements a full-year boarding system, all costs such as tuition and lodging are waived. Consequently, it is favored by students from all over the country, and the number of applicants every year is endless, reportedly reaching tens of thousands.

Due to certain experiences during middle school, Hoshino En accepted a recommendation from the principal and chose this school as the place to spend his "rose-colored" high school years.

Of course, he does not believe a single word of the aforementioned benefits of applying to this school.

All that talk about a 100% advancement and employment rate, all that talk about free tuition and lodging—these claims reek of a heavy scam. There is no such thing as a free lunch in this world.

So—

"Hello? Yes, that's right, the admission notice arrived. Did you receive yours?"

"You didn't? I see, I understand."

"It's fine. There's still some time before school officially starts. With your ability, getting into a high school with a high deviation score won't be difficult."

"Mm, although I received mine, I feel like there's a trap hidden inside. In the worst-case scenario, I might not be able to communicate with the outside world for these three years."

"Exactly, so I'm planning to prepay my phone bill for these three years. Don't lose this number; contact me when I get out."

"Goodbye."

--Therefore, he had asked his good friend, whom he met while studying at a city library, to apply to this school as well.

The other party was an honor student with high academic ability just like him, but the difference was that the friend was a hardcore otaku who loved the 2D world, while he was an autistic youth with very few friends.

Although Hoshino En had the advantage in physical strength due to his diligent exercise, there were no physical tests in the written and interview exams for admission, so in terms of hardware, the two of them were equals.

However, now that only Hoshino En was selected out of the two with similar abilities, it shows that ability is not the necessary condition for admission to this school; there must be other influencing factors.

And apart from ability, the only difference between Hoshino En and the other party was—the other party did not receive a recommendation from the principal.

Thus, one can deduce the following conclusion: Advanced Nurturing High School recruits students based on recommendation letters from middle school principals across the country; the so-called interviews and written tests are merely smokescreens to confuse the public.

Thinking of this, Hoshino En's mood grew heavier.

He agreed to accept the principal's recommendation letter last December, and three months have passed since then. If Advanced Nurturing truly determines new students based on internal recommendations, then this period was enough for the government-backed school staff to obtain his entire life history.

Not just the paper contents written on the submitted resume, but what he did and when, and how he would react under certain circumstances—the other party might already know it all like the back of their hand.

In other words, his personality had already been sized up by the school.

This is absolutely terrible.

Despite his complicated feelings, Hoshino En did not reject this invitation.

The school is backed by the government. If he were to suddenly say he wasn't going at this stage, he might end up on a government blacklist, and his life would be over.

Moreover, although there is a possibility of false advertising, he was an honor student in middle school, so the principal shouldn't be malicious enough to sabotage him.

So, since he's already here, right?

April 1st, the day the cherry blossoms are in full bloom.

Following the requirements of the student handbook distributed with the admission notice, aside from the unified school-issued handbag for necessary stationery, Hoshino En arrived at the bus stop leading to the school, clean and empty-handed.

Stepping onto the bus that had come to a halt, since it wasn't one of the final stops, there were just enough empty seats.

But also because it wasn't the earliest stop, there were already several students sitting inside wearing the same uniform as him.

One was an expressionless youth with a brown center-parted hairstyle, a boy of few words.

A cold girl with waist-length hair sat in the bus, reading a book with intense focus.

The two of them sat in the front-most seats of the rear section, one on each side of the aisle, making them quite conspicuous.

The rows of seats behind them were packed solid with students wearing the uniform of the Advanced Nurturing High School.

Meanwhile, the single seats in front of them were already occupied by adults dressed in formal business attire.

With that, aside from the "Priority Seat" that had been deliberately left empty, there seemed to be only one spot left to sit.

Hoshino En walked up to that stoic boy and gave a slight nod. "Excuse me."

The stoic boy, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka, replied, "..."

"It's fine."

He shifted his legs to the side, allowing Hoshino En to walk to the empty seat by the window.

Hoshino En sat down steadily just as the bus began to move.

Cherry blossoms fluttered outside the window, but the destination was clear—an artificial island separated from Tokyo by the sea.

It was no wonder they didn't charge tuition; if they did, this setup would likely be more expensive than some private elite schools.

However, this confirmed his hypothesis.

His gaze swept aimlessly over the scenery outside, and Hoshino En sighed deeply in his heart.

Given this setup, it was likely they really wouldn't be allowed to leave freely for all three years of high school.

Sure enough, there was a massive trap waiting here.

The bus passed one stop after another, and quite a few more students boarded.

A tall man with slicked-back blonde hair aggressively sat down in the Priority Seat.

A girl with short brown hair and a well-proportioned figure was forced to stand, as there were no seats left.

Of course, these were not the issues Hoshino En cared about.

What he cared about was: they were almost at the cross-sea bridge leading to the artificial island, so why weren't these adults getting off?

The student handbook required freshmen to arrive at the bus stop by nine o'clock and take the designated bus to the school.

In other words, this route had no destination other than the school.

Therefore, these adults clutching briefcases and keeping a constant watch on their phone screens were highly suspicious.

At this time of day, what was the point of occupying seats on this "student-only" bus instead of going to work?

Unless, this was their "work."

Hoshino En looked out the window; the massive artificial island was drawing closer, and the bridge leading to it was within reach.

Before that, he saw the final bus stop.

Well then, let's test whether his deduction was correct...

The bus came to a halt, and the front and rear doors opened.

However, not a single person got off; all the adults remained quietly in their seats.

Not only that, but an elderly woman with white hair, leaning on a cane, slowly paced up from the front entrance.

But clearly, this was the last stop before the artificial island, and there were no seats left on the bus.

With the Priority Seat occupied, she had no choice but to stand.

A long silence spread through the bus; not a single person was willing to stand up and offer her their seat.

Hoshino En: "..."

"No way, it's that extreme?"

He couldn't help but mutter a small complaint.

His deduction was correct, but the school seemed even more depraved than he had imagined.

His voice was quiet, but Ayanokoji Kiyotaka, sitting right next to him, heard it clearly.

He glanced at his classmate, his golden eyes flickering with confusion.

What happened?

Was he surprised that no one offered their seat to an elderly person?

Although he lacked common sense, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka himself had no intention of giving up his seat.

This classmate looked like he might be difficult to get along with, but was he actually a "good guy"?

Then, just as Ayanokoji Kiyotaka had predicted, the "good guy" sitting next to him stood up and offered his seat to the elderly woman with the cane.

"Thank you, young man."

"It's nothing, don't worry about it."

Placing his bag on the seat to hold it, Hoshino En walked over to the elderly woman, supported her as she walked slowly to the seat, helped her sit down, and only then did he take his bag and stand to the side of the aisle.

He even personally helped her over; it seems this classmate really is a pushover.

Ayanokoji Kiyotaka made his judgment.

Forming a connection with such a person would likely make for a comfortable high school life.

Hmm, I'll have a chat with him when we get off the bus.

Is Hoshino En a good-natured person?

Certainly not. He could barely guarantee his own well-being at the moment, so how could he possibly have the spare time to look after others?

He had simply judged that this was likely a test, which was why he had filled in the answer when everyone else remained silent.

Even if he hadn't spoken up, someone among the working adults occupying the seats would surely have voiced their intent to give up their seat.

So, with free points and a free impression boost on the line, what reason did he have not to take them?

Standing by the aisle, the rear door for exiting was just to the front-left of Hoshino En.

Looking through the glass of the bus door at the scene outside, Advanced Nurturing High School was right before his eyes.

Huu—

Sayonara, my freedom.

Once the bus came to a complete stop and the doors opened, Hoshino En was the first to step off.

He carried his bag and walked slowly through the gates of Advanced Nurturing High School.

Welcome, my high school life, already destined for darkness.

First Year, First Semester:

Chapter 2: Let's Have a Blood-Pumping Self-Introduction!

Because his class assignment information had been written in the student handbook distributed in advance, Hoshino En did not encounter the "crush of people" scene common at typical schools when checking class placements.

Following the map marked in his student handbook, he arrived at his classroom, Class 1-D, where a seating chart for all the students was posted on the front door.