Chapter 6: Ichinose Honami (Patreon)

Chapter 6: Honami Ichinose

...

Honami Ichinose was, without question, a model student — excellent in both conduct and academics.

Feeling her unusual warmth and personal magnetism, Satoru Ajimu realized that if she'd suffered so much in the original story, she really must have enrolled in the wrong school.

Blow after blow, on top of getting jerked around by the fake protagonist — rumor had it she later turned yandere and then fell to the dark side.

"And you are?"

"Oh, forgive me. I'm the representative of Class 1-B, Honami Ichinose."

The beautiful girl introduced herself with easy confidence.

Her composed bearing made it easy to overlook her voluptuous figure — honestly, she didn't look like a fifteen-year-old at all.

"I'd like to talk with you, Ajimu."

"Me?"

Ajimu looked a little surprised.

"Yes... because you know what a jujutsu sorcerer is, don't you? You know what sorcerers are about to face."

"What makes you think that?" Ajimu asked, figuring he hadn't been that obvious.

"Weren't you acting awfully fearless, Ajimu?"

At his counter-question, Ichinose looked him straight in the eye.

"The students in Class B and Class D acted fearless too," he said.

"No — being fearless while knowing the truth and being fearless out of ignorance are two different states. And the very question you're asking now only proves my point."

Ichinose's tone left no room for doubt.

Faced with that, Ajimu decided arguing further was pointless.

"...I do know some things. But do you really think I'll just tell you for free?"

"Points."

Ichinose said it flatly.

"Points can buy anything at this school. Buying the information I need from you should be possible too, shouldn't it?"

The girl clearly understood how important Private Points were... and yet she still chose to spend them on information.

"I don't quite understand," he said.

"You clearly know becoming a jujutsu sorcerer is dangerous. Why not just withdraw?"

In fact, this year's Class B was far kinder and friendlier than the previous year's, or the year before that.

That was precisely why they hadn't adapted well to the original 'meritocracy' system — and why they wouldn't be able to adapt to the coming 'cursed-technique supremacy' either.

"It seems you didn't hear about this during your interview, did you, Ajimu?"

Ichinose seemed to sense something, a faint smile crossing her face.

"At first, once I found out Advanced Nurturing High School had become a Jujutsu High, I really did think about withdrawing. But the instructor at my interview told me Advanced Nurturing High School is a Jujutsu High backed heavily by the state."

"As long as I graduate normally, the state is willing to provide all kinds of support — including covering my mother's medical costs in full, and even sponsoring my little sister's enrollment at a prestigious school."

Hearing this, Ajimu turned his head to look at Ai Morishita.

"Right — that instructor told me the same thing. As long as I graduate, whether from Class A or Class B, I get to pick any university I want."

The instructor Morishita had faced had told her about the same special provisions. Clearly, those added impromptu interviews existed for one purpose: to keep newly enrolled students from withdrawing, by spelling out exactly what benefits the state was offering.

But Kento Nanami clearly hadn't told him any of this.

Ajimu didn't think that dependable adult had simply forgotten or overlooked it.

"Ha. Seems Mr. Nanami's already pegged me as being 'on that side.'"

To be precise, Nanami had figured he'd never voluntarily withdraw in the first place, so there was no need for the persuasive pitch — he'd just laid out the state's benefits to him plainly, as a matter of fact.

"In that case, I'll send you the information once I've organized it. Though honestly, I don't know all that much myself."

"Besides, there's a specialized class once a week — the information covered there might be even more detailed."

Even so, Ajimu still felt Ichinose wasn't suited to this school.

But as a daughter, Ichinose could hardly refuse what the state was offering. Her mother had already worked herself into illness; enrolling at the tuition-free Advanced Nurturing High School had eased the family's burden, but she still had a younger sister in school, and both her sister's future education and her mother's illness would cost money.

"Well then, let's exchange contact info."

Ichinose let out a breath of relief and leaned in, phone in hand.

A sweet fragrance drifted over him.

Once they'd added each other's numbers, Ichinose asked a few more questions — for instance, she was curious what he'd been discussing with the cashier employee.

That was how she learned about the different discount terms for each class.

Her expression turned serious, and she seemed to grow even more tense.

Class A getting better treatment than the other classes made it easy to guess such treatment was meant to stir up competition between the classes.

And given Class B's temperament, they probably weren't cut out for competition — at least not this year's Class B, whose members were a bit too good-natured for that.

"I understand. Thank you, Ajimu."

Having learned about the discounts from him, Ichinose hurried off.

Ajimu hadn't mentioned that points could also buy specialized classes, but Ichinose, who understood how important points were, would surely want to save as many as she could.

"Impressive — becoming class representative on the very first day."

Class A had drive and a fair amount of initiative — but it had taken a warning as dire as 'even good swimmers drown' from him before they'd fallen into any kind of unified step.

And now Class B had already picked a representative, moving far faster than Class A had managed.

Class C still had no representative. With cursed energy and cursed technique thrown into the mix, whether the old Class C leader Kakeru Ryuen could still rule his class through brute force alone was anyone's guess.

Class D... well, Class D wasn't even worth discussing.

"That monster's finally gone," Ai Morishita said, looking scared.

"Is it really necessary to be that scared of Ichinose?"

"One look and you can tell she's a ravenous monster with a huge appetite. You'd better keep your distance, or — or you'll get eaten right up, bones and all..."

Morishita hunched her shoulders and gave him a little warning.

Her timid act was so cute he couldn't resist reaching out and patting her little head a couple times.

"What are you doing! ヽ(≧□≦)ノ"

"Let's go," Ajimu said, just smiling.

"Huh?"

She hurried to catch up again, tailing him like a little shadow.

No — by her own logic, she was the protagonist here, and it was only because she was tagging along that he, the mere side character, got any screen time at all.

The two of them headed to the dorms first to pick up their room keys.

The school's campus had four dormitory buildings in total. Three were student dorms, with each of the three grade levels living in a separate building.

The remaining building housed the teachers and the staff who worked at places like the shopping mall.

It was something of a unique arrangement.

Ajimu and Morishita quickly got their room keys from the front desk manager on the first floor, along with a handbook of dorm regulations.

Ajimu flipped through the handbook, occasionally snapping photos of the important rules with his phone to post in the class group chat.

Some Class A students had come to the dorms around then too, though most of them were there just to scope out the room conditions.

The dorms, for instance, were standard single-occupancy rooms for an island-nation high school — small but private, fully equipped with air conditioning, a separate bed, a desk, and so on, with roughly eight tatami mats' worth of space not counting the kitchen and bathroom.

Some rooms even came with a balcony, with excellent lighting and ventilation.

Ajimu's own room, 202, had a small balcony, and the bathroom even had a compact washing machine.

This matched roughly what a few Class A students had found when they'd checked their own rooms.

Among the things Ajimu photographed was a dorm rule stating: "Relationships unbefitting a high schooler's status are prohibited."

In other words, openly engaging in ■ activity was banned.

Then again, that was only natural — they were students, after all. Normal relationships between boys and girls were one thing, but improper conduct between the sexes was definitely off-limits.

This rule stirred up quite a commotion in the class group chat.

Though the girls lived on the higher floors, the student dorms were technically coed.

The dorm rules banned boys from staying in the girls' dorm past 11:00 PM, but set no such time limit on girls staying in the boys' dorm.

It didn't even prohibit boys from going up to the floors where the girls lived.

"...That's a bit absurd."

Ajimu genuinely thought it was ridiculous, especially since he'd noticed the convenience store counter selling family planning products earlier.

Commonly known as condoms.

Sure, the island nation had different customs — over eighty percent of high school couples reportedly broke up right after graduation — but students there still loved dating in high school all the same.

"The room's pretty ordinary~"

His little tail, poking her head in and around the room, delivered her verdict.

"Why haven't you gone back to your own room yet? Check what's missing there so you know what to buy at the store afterward."

"No rush. The rooms are all the same anyway."

As she spoke, Morishita set down the daily necessities she'd picked up earlier from the free-supplies area, right on the floor.

Eyeing a pack of sanitary pads in the bag, Ajimu felt his eye twitch twice — he really couldn't predict what this girl would do next.

Morishita even started rummaging through the room for treasure.

Watching her dive under the bed, Ajimu raised a hand to shield his eyes.

Compared to girls her age, Morishita's figure still looked a bit unripe, but as her upper body pushed under the bed, her skirt rode up over her raised hips, baring a generous stretch of thigh — the thin stockings tracing soft, delicate lines that made Ajimu realize she really was a girl in the bloom of youth after all.

"Why is there no treasure?"

"I heard boys always hide their treasure under the bed."

A moment later, Morishita crawled back out from under the bed, her pretty face scrunched up in utter confusion.

Naturally, Ajimu felt he understood her thought process even less.

"Has it occurred to you that I just moved into this room?"

"What?! ヽ(°◇° )ノ"

Morishita's face went slack with shock.

No — it wasn't an act. She really was a little shocked.

He pulled out his phone to check the time; meanwhile, messages kept pouring into the class group chat.

"Come on, let's go eat first."

Ajimu hadn't forgotten that a certain white-haired girl had invited him to lunch.

So he headed to the cafeteria with his little tail in tow, following the address she'd sent him to a private room on the third floor.

Whether it was just his imagination or not, in the third floor's common area, a gentle yet imposing middle-aged man was watching him with a subtle look in his eye.

Incidentally, the man had a thin head of silver hair.

He looked, at a glance, like the ultimate overworked corporate drone.

Inside the private room, the girl radiated a quiet, delicate aristocratic air, an ethereal, dreamlike quality — as if she were an Alice fresh out of Wonderland.

Yet on that slightly babyish, pretty face was a coy almost-smile, sultry and teasing.

One look and you could tell she was a top-tier sadist.