The Situation

At Mr. Mashima's reminder, the students of Class A headed toward the Gymnasium, deep in thought.

The four first-year classes stood separately before the stage, but the atmosphere in each was clearly different. Class A was deep in thought, Class B was all smiles, Class C looked like a gathering of thugs, and Class D was making a racket.

Although the principal spoke earnestly onstage, there was no telling where the students' minds had wandered.

Lezheng's mind, at any rate, had already soared into the clouds. He imagined aliens suddenly invading right then, followed by him transforming into an armored hero to save the world...

"All right, that is all I have to say. I hope you enjoy the next three years."

As the principal finished his closing remarks, the students below the stage rose and left with a sense of relief.

Since the school had a rule forbidding students from bringing any belongings onto campus, most of them headed to the convenience store after being dismissed to buy daily necessities. Lezheng was naturally among them.

Lezheng casually picked out some daily necessities and put them in his shopping basket. Notably, he discovered a special section on the shelves with a label that read-free supplies.

The school provides a hundred thousand Private Points at the start of the year... and there's a special section in the convenience store. Even an idiot would realize something was off.

"This new first-year's pretty cocky!"

"You'd better not mess with me!"

"Hahaha, did you hear what he just said?"

An argument broke out in the checkout line. From what they were saying, it seemed some upperclassmen had tried to cut in line and been refused. Lezheng ignored the people arguing and instead followed behind someone.

Using the phone he had only recently been issued, Lezheng recorded a certain habitual offender's entire crime, then walked up to greet her.

"You look pretty practiced at that. An old hand, are you?"

"Wh-what are you talking about?" The sudden voice startled Kamuro so badly that she shuddered all over.

"Now I have evidence, Miss Thief." Lezheng waved the phone in his hand.

"You..." Kamuro gritted her teeth and glared at the person before her.

"Kamuro, you wouldn't want to get expelled, would you?"

"Y-you... what do I have to do for you to delete it?"

"That'll depend on what I need you to do later."

And so, the two lined up one behind the other, paid, and left the convenience store. Rather than head straight to his dorm, Lezheng planned to look around the school first, while Kamuro followed him the whole time.

When they passed a certain spot, a third person's footsteps sounded behind them. No... to be precise, they were not footsteps.

"Tap, tap, tap..."

The sound of a cane striking the ground stood out especially clearly just then.

"Good day to you both." The newcomer was the student who had asked that unusual question in class earlier.

"Hello." Lezheng nodded politely, while Kamuro paid the newcomer no mind. She was still thinking about how to destroy that evidence.

"If I remember correctly, you are both students in Class 1-A. Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Sakayanagi Arisu." Sakayanagi politely gave an aristocratic curtsy.

"Lezheng Youyan. Is there something you need?"

"May I ask what relationship you have with this... classmate, Lezheng?" Sakayanagi pointed at Kamuro.

"Hmm... as things stand, we're merely ordinary classmates." Lezheng waved a hand.

"I see. Then could I ask this classmate to come with me for a moment?" Sakayanagi looked at Kamuro with a smile.

"Tch! I'm busy!" Kamuro turned her head aside.

"What about this, then..." Sakayanagi rose onto her tiptoes and whispered something into Kamuro's ear.

Kamuro looked as though she had seen a ghost. Her gaze shifted back and forth between Lezheng and Sakayanagi, full of mixed feelings, before she finally left reluctantly with Sakayanagi.

Seeing the two of them walk away, Lezheng headed to the dorm alone.

A luxurious dormitory, luxurious decor, luxurious single rooms... and luxurious mixed-gender housing, though an older woman was specifically stationed on guard on the girls' floor.

The room had basic living facilities. After putting his purchases in their respective places, Lezheng began cleaning his room.

Once he finished cleaning, Lezheng began preparing dinner. His cooking could not be called good, only edible. After all, he only knew how to make three things: noodles, egg fried rice, and rice-fried eggs.

The night passed quietly. Tomorrow was destined to be anything but peaceful.

On the second day of school, Lezheng sensed something was wrong the moment he stepped into the dormitory. An air of confrontation hung over the entire classroom.

"Now that everyone is here, let's get to know one another, starting with self-introductions." The first to speak was the bald boy who had left such a strong impression on Lezheng.

"Oh my, I believe we can simply skip such a childish procedure." With both hands resting on her cane, Sakayanagi glanced at Katsuragi with a smile.

"Sakayanagi, what do you mean by that? Are you trying to start trouble?!" The person seated beside Katsuragi stood up angrily.

"Hehehe, Katsuragi, it seems your little dog has already started snapping at people indiscriminately."

"You!" Totsuka slammed a hand onto his desk, ready to fire back.

"Calm down, Yahiko!" Katsuragi first soothed the bristling Totsuka, then turned to Sakayanagi. "Classmate Sakayanagi, if that's how you feel, I'll have to ask everyone for their opinion."

"Suit yourself." Sakayanagi smiled.

In the end, the students in favor of introducing themselves were in the majority. Since Katsuragi had proposed it, they naturally started with him. His seat was in the upper-left corner of the classroom, practically the opposite pole from Lezheng's seat in the lower-right corner, so Lezheng ended up being the last to speak.

"Hello, everyone. My name is Lezheng Youyan. My idol is Zhou Ping, and as for hobbies, I like spacing out. Hmm... that's it."

"That's quite a unique hobby." Kamuro could not resist commenting the instant Lezheng sat down.

"You got your hobby wrong, didn't you? Shouldn't it be 'stealing'?" Lezheng did not actually say the final word, instead giving Kamuro a look that left her to figure it out herself.

"Bastard." Kamuro ground her teeth audibly.

During class, Lezheng also quietly sized up his classmates. Perhaps because they did not want to leave a bad impression on the teachers on the first day, practically everyone listened attentively and took notes.

Still, Lezheng did make a few discoveries when he went to the restroom during a break.

Class B was much the same as Class A, though a few people were sleeping with their heads on their desks. Class C's front and back doors were both closed, and occasionally, faint sounds of... fighting came from inside. As for Class D, Lezheng could only describe it as "a gathering of model students."

As Lezheng observed Class D, two gazes turned toward him from inside. He had been prepared to be noticed, though. After all, he did not think he could conceal something as obvious as standing at another class's back door, even if he had only stood there briefly.