At first, he thought she was just distracted and bumped into him by accident.
But now, as Shirogane looked at her…
"I'm Shirogane Miyuki. And you are?" he asked.
"..."
She didn't answer.
The ponytailed woman suddenly fell silent. "You wouldn't know me," she said.
And with that, she simply turned and walked away.
Shirogane had already met quite a few students at this school and noticed that Class D had its fair share of strange ones.
Could this odd woman be from Class D as well?
That thought crossed his mind.
There was no voice in his head, which meant the narrator system wasn't around at the moment.
Over the past few days, he had learned to recognize when it was active.
Based on his guess, the narrator came from the future and seemed to know a lot about Advanced Nurturing High School and its students. But it wasn't always present—it seemed to have its own schedule, like it was attending classes too.
Apparently, its "parents" had arranged for private tutoring, and every night, it even took the time to push him to study. Must be exhausting.
Still, it didn't seem harmful to him. So, just like keeping a pet, he figured it wouldn't hurt to keep it around.
Of course, that was not something he could say out loud.
Shirogane took out his phone, snapped a picture, and sent it to Shiina.
Before long, he got a reply.
[...That's Chabashira Sae, the homeroom teacher of Class D. But why did you take a picture of Chabashira-sensei? I know most guys mature late, but Shirogane, please don't go down the wrong path.]
Shiina quickly followed up with another message.
[Kushida saw the photo you took. She recognized her right away—she's their homeroom teacher. Apparently, their teacher is pretty laid-back.]
[Teaches history but rarely asks questions, ends class right on time, and doesn't bother controlling the students' behavior—]
Shiina seemed to be sharing a lot of information.
But something felt off. It was more like Shiina had deliberately sent this message in front of Kushida.
After all, the way she described Chabashira-sensei's teaching style… their own class's sensei did the same thing. And both of them knew why—it was just how this school worked.
So, the teachers wouldn't interfere too much with the students.
They just let the students lose points on their own to see how disciplined they were.
But the fact that Shiina was comfortable sending this message in front of Kushida meant their relationship had already reached a decent level.
That was a bit unsettling.
Still, Shiina didn't seem like someone who was easily swayed. Shirogane recalled what the narration system had said about her when Sakayanagi was keeping Kamuro under control.
Shiina wanted a real friend.
But a real friend wasn't just someone you got along with—it had to be someone you could truly trust.
Could Kushida be that person?
Back in the elevator, Shirogane had seen Kushida being all friendly and caring toward Horikita, though it felt somewhat fake, like she was more interested in getting on Horikita's good side.
And someone looking for a genuine, close friendship probably wouldn't have the energy to juggle so many different relationships.
Thinking of Kushida reminded Shirogane of Ichinose—the girl from Class B who had mistakenly thought of him as her senior.
With that in mind, Shirogane headed to the cafeteria on the first floor.
But even after waiting for quite a while, he didn't see Ichinose—the other student known for being incredibly sociable, just like Kushida.
So, during the afternoon classes, he opened his notebook early and wrote down the name "Chabashira Sae," waiting for the narration system to come online.
Sometime after the second period ended, he finally heard a voice in his head.
[Today, I was forced to study calculus. It's supposed to be a college-level subject, but they made us learn it anyway.]
"How old are you?" Shirogane wrote in his notebook.
[Uh… I can't say that. I'm not allowed to reveal too much about myself.]
The narration system seemed hesitant.
"Then how much do you know about Chabashira Sae?"
Shirogane only knew the basics. He had also heard from a senior, back when Ryuen was causing trouble, that there was once a case where a lower-ranked class had successfully risen through the school's hierarchy.
Back then, Chabashira's class had climbed from Class D to Class B. Now, she had returned to the school as Class D's homeroom teacher.
It was supposed to be an inspiring story.
But the Chabashira-sensei Shirogane met today gave him a strange feeling.
[Chabashira Sae, homeroom teacher of Class 1-D. She was once a student in Class D herself. She was classmates with Hoshinomiya, the current Class B homeroom teacher. Both were prominent figures in their class, which eventually rose to Class B. However, they failed to reach Class A before graduation. Despite that, both of them did well enough academically to get into good universities. But Chabashira regretted never making it to Class A, so she returned to teach at this school. Hoshinomiya, noticing Chabashira's decision, gave up a promising job offer and chose to return as well.]
"..."
That sounded complicated.
But one thing was clear—Chabashira-sensei was obsessed with reaching Class A.
She had been in Class D before, and since her class never made it to Class A, she had regrets. Now, as a teacher of Class D, it was hard to tell whether she was projecting her old dreams onto her current students.
Especially since…
This Class D had two major genius-level figures. With such powerful resources at her disposal, maybe the dream she failed to achieve back then could become a reality now.
Of course, assuming that outright would be a bit too much.
Still, Shirogane felt that his guess was about 80% correct.
Because—
In the past two weeks, he hadn't interacted with many students, nor did many people know him.
Yet, a homeroom teacher from another class could call him by name. That was strange.
The most likely reason she knew him was because she had been keeping an eye on the class battles. Although Ryuen was taking control of Class C, Shirogane had made a name for himself by reporting the incident at the shopping district.
So, from the students to the teachers, Class D was full of problems.
And now—
The problematic teacher had just finished the second lesson.
"That's it for today's class. Finish the practice problems on your own," Chabashira Sae said. Then, she suddenly stepped down from the podium.
"Horikita Suzune, come with me for a moment. Since you started school, you've been studying ten hours a day, right?"
"..."
For a brief moment, after Chabashira Sae said that, the whole class turned to look in one direction with puzzled expressions.
---------------------------------------
You can read 10 chapters ahead on patre on
patr eon.com/JYouyi