Lunch was udon, and the toppings were really good.
Of course, as a student, what mattered wasn't what he ate for lunch.
Shirogane had noticed that the teachers at this school were no joke. They were strict in class and never asked questions. He had nothing to say about that—it was the first month, and students were being evaluated on their behavior, so the teachers were probably aware of it and didn't interfere with what students did in class.
But the textbooks were different. The versions had been updated, and the difficulty seemed higher.
In a normal school, you could study the textbook, do the exercises in the book, and be fine.
But here, if you only relied on the textbook and its exercises, you'd be completely lost when taking the test.
In other words, just understanding the textbook wasn't enough—you had to buy extra practice books and do tons of problems, raising the difficulty from level 1 to level 3 before you could even hope to pass.
But Advanced Nurturing High School was different.
Their textbooks already came with extremely difficult practice exercises. If you could master those, you'd already be at level 3.
Of course, this was something that only a book-loving student like Shirogane would notice.
And now.
Shirogane stood in the second-year area.
Before heading to the student council office, he decided to check things out in the upperclassmen's section first.
He also needed to confirm which grade the numbers on the two blackboards Ryuen had taken pictures of belonged to.
The students' living conditions were different—each grade had its own dorm building.
In other words, students from different years were completely separated.
The teaching areas were also separated.
On one hand, the school had enough space. On the other hand, Shirogane guessed it was probably to reduce interactions between different grade levels.
For example, if first-year students started interacting with upperclassmen from the very beginning, they could easily gather information from them. But if the school had a system for assessing freshmen's behavior, wouldn't that system be undermined?
And—
The longer students stayed in this school, the more experience they gained. It wouldn't be surprising if an upperclassman used their knowledge advantage to outsmart and manipulate younger students.
This wasn't just a fairness issue—this kind of thing probably wasn't in the school's best interest either. After all, the school wasn't pouring resources into just one class year; its goal was to train every batch of students.
But from a student's perspective, that would mean younger students were basically just prey for the older ones.
With their already limited allowance, they'd probably end up being exploited even more.
That's rough.
Still, what caught Shirogane's attention yesterday at the electronics store was the strange pricing—a voice recorder cost more than a computer.
It made him wonder. Maybe the school wasn't actually trying to raise students to be completely honest and upright.
Sure, a voice recorder could be useful for recording lectures. But it could also be used to secretly record conversations and gather information.
Phones had built-in recording features too, but they weren't as convenient to place discreetly as a voice recorder.
So... was this an intentional design? Were students expected to use voice recorders to collect intel?
On the first day, the narrator had described Ryuen as a tyrant who used underhanded methods to push his class forward.
At that time, Ryuen hadn't been expelled yet.
So—
Shirogane started to suspect that this school wasn't just looking for rule-followers. Maybe it wanted students who could adapt, strategize, and do whatever it took to succeed.
And people like that... thrived in the real world.
In other words, the school wanted to shape students into survivors who could make it in society.
Right now, Shirogane was standing in front of a small blackboard in the second-year area.
A1210
B780
C430
D200
The scene matched the photo Ryuen had taken yesterday exactly, confirming that these numbers were the class evaluation scores for the four second-year classes.
And that Class A had actually been promoted from Class B. Meaning, they successfully overthrew the previous A Class and were now leading by over 400 points.
But even after an entire year, the highest score was only 1,200 points—which meant that dealing with the special exams wasn't easy.
"Um… Senpai?"
While Shirogane was deep in thought, a curious voice suddenly came from behind him.
Senpai?
Surprised, he turned toward the voice.
A girl with delicate features was walking over.
Not only was she beautiful, but she also had a striking figure.
Her long, silky blonde hair was dazzling, and her confident yet sweet smile was so charming that people couldn't help but be drawn to her.
Even after seeing several cute or beautiful girls, anyone would still find her attractive.
She was truly a stunning girl.
This school was amazing. Back in middle school, Shirogane had been completely focused on studying and paid no attention to his surroundings, but even he knew there weren't nearly as many cute girls back then.
From the adorable Sakayanagi to the graceful and composed Shiina, the angelic Kushida from Class D whom he met in the elevator, and even the student council president's serious-looking Horikita Suzune—this school was full of rare beauties.
And now, another one had appeared.
His thoughts were moving quickly, but Shirogane immediately realized that this girl must be a first-year student.
With his dark circles and intimidating look, she probably mistook him for an upperclassman.
"What do you need?" Shirogane asked. "This isn't a place for first-years to be wandering around."
"Uh, well..."
The cheerful girl scratched her head awkwardly. "Actually, I just enrolled yesterday. My name is Ichinose Honami."
"I received 100,000 points as living expenses. I know everyone needs to buy essentials when they first arrive, but..."
"I still feel a little uneasy, so I wanted to see how the upperclassmen are doing."
"I don't think the school is going to keep giving us 100,000 points every month."
So she had already noticed something was off about this school and came to check things out.
Rather than blindly accepting the school's generosity without a second thought, she was trying to understand how things worked.
"What class are you in?" Shirogane asked.
"Class 1-B," Ichinose Honami replied. "Um, senpai, what's written on this board you're looking at?"
As she spoke, her eyes sparkled with curiosity.
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