July 1st.

The start of a brand new month, and the start of our brand new lives as students of D Class.

Yesterday evening, there was a mass migration of students moving from Drachma Red to Zoa Green and vice versa.

Some students still weren't prepared yet, so the rest of the moving process would be staggered, but generally most of us in E Class arrived at Zoa Green without any trouble.

The only people who I knew stayed behind in Drachma Red for now were Nora and Katsumi, only because they bought a property there together.

They were still figuring out what to do with it, but I think Nora was going to rent out the place for anyone who wants it so he and Katsumi can make some extra cash on the side.

It's not a bad idea, to be honest. The house is nice and owning property is all the rage these days, so maybe investing in it early would pay off for them in the long term.

Meanwhile, I barely had anything to pack, so I was one of the first to move to the Zoa Green dorms without any issues.

We were assigned the same room numbers as we had before, but the difference in quality between the Drachma dorms and the Zoa dorms were already noticeable.

Not only were they larger, but they were higher quality as well. The bed in particular felt a lot more comfortable to sleep on since the mattress wasn't worn out.

I have to say though, the academy's technology sure is impressive. When it came to our uniforms, we didn't have to exchange it or anything.

Instead, the colour of the ties, blazer trimming, and summer shirt's lining changed automatically from red to green, reflecting our promotion to D Class. It was really cool to see happen overnight.

Regardless, when I woke up, the first thing I did was checking out the updated class points to see how much extra we gained from our performance this month.

1st Year Class Points Distribution
A Class - 810
B Class - 730
C Class - 650
D Class - 200
E Class - 40

At the end of the special exam, we were sitting at 110 Cl. Now we're sitting at 200, which means we gained 90 Cl as the monthly bonus.

It was the biggest monthly amount given thus far (D Class only received 70 Cl last time) but it reflected our comeback victory in the special exam. I think we deserved it.

That being said, the 90 Cl didn't help close the gap between us and C Class at all. There was a staggering 450 point difference. Even though B Class won the special exam, C Class gained the most Cl from it, jumping from 490 to 620 Cl.

However, they only gained 30 Cl this month, which was the least amount given. Tied for second least amount given was B Class and E Class, who only gained 40 Cl each.

Granted, it was enough to push B Class into the 700 zone and start threatening A Class, but 40 Cl was a pitiful amount for E Class. At the very least, it's double what we got last month, so I guess Zyriot's class must be doing something right that we didn't.

Finally, there was A Class, who despite losing 250 Cl, recouped an impressive 60 Cl. They were the best class, so this much was expected. It felt good to beat them in that area, though.

In addition to that, everyone's results from the finals were published by the school, posted as a display board in the hall. When it came to exams, there was no point hiding how well or poorly you did, since this school made all the results public.

That's why when I entered the academy, I headed straight to the 1st Year corridor to check it out for myself.

In particular, I was interested in seeing who won between Ryouta and Shimada in their challenge. These two have been waiting patiently for this moment, especially the outcome.

Speaking of which, Ryouta was here as well. He was standing in front of the board, scrutinising the results. It seems both of us came here early to avoid the large crowds of people that would inevitably form here to see how everyone else did.

"Yo, Ryouta-san."

I lightly called out to Ryouta, making him turn round to me.

"Hey, Takanori-san."

Ryouta greeted me, holding out his left hand for a handshake. He didn't look happy to see me though.

"How are you?"

I shook his hand. He flicked his chin at the board.

"Take a look for yourself and guess."

I looked at who came 1st and 2nd in the special exam.

Unsurprisingly, those spots were taken up by both Shimada and Ryouta.

However...

Shimada came first with 99%, whereas Ryouta came second with 97%.

By a measly 2%, he had barely lost out against beating Shimada.

"...that's rough."

This was Ryouta's only chance at getting rid of the problem child in A Class, and he had failed. Everything he did to get up to this point was now backfiring in his face, making the losses he sustained earlier feel even worse than before.

Not only did he let everyone else in his class down, who went along with his ideas and sacrifices to ensure this could happen, but he also let himself down by not winning in the place where it mattered most. The look on his face was devastating.

"Yeah... fair is fair, though. I lost our challenge, so I'm leaving A Class."

Despite the disgraceful loss, Ryouta still acted with dignity. Even though he had no spot in A Class anymore, he still carried himself like an A Class student, even in the elegant way he turned his back on me.

"Which class are you going to join?"

"I don't know yet. Probably Zyriot-san's class."

It makes sense. Moving down to the second strongest class would impact him the least.

"Though, after that special exam, your class is also up for consideration."

"Really?"

If Ryouta moved down to our class, that'd make two A Class students joining our side, him and Yogen.

"To be honest, I didn't have much faith in you when it came to designing the exams. I firmly believed Senzaki-san would do a better job than you. However... after actually doing them, I've changed my opinion about you."

Ryouta looked at me over his shoulder.

"Not only did you fail three people in my class, but you also managed to drop Shimada-san by 1%. That's no easy feat."

In theory, Shimada should've gotten a perfect 100% since he had eidetic memory. However, one of my questions was able to trip him up, ruining his what should've been flawless score.

"Just the other day, you managed to expel someone."

"...I did indeed."

"And it wasn't just anyone either. You expelled an upperclassman. Not just any upperclassmen either, but the leader of 2nd Year A Class."

Part of me wanted to tell Ryouta the reason why, but it seemed superfluous and a bit unnecessary.

"Expulsion costs 20 million private points. You were still in E Class during this time. Theoretically, it should've been impossible for you to gather such a large sum in such a short amount of time, and yet... you still somehow managed to do it."

Ryouta turned around, facing me fully.

"Just who are you anyways, Takanori-san?"

I closed my eyes.

"I'm Takanori Yuuto. Nothing more, nothing less."

I opened my eyes.

Ryouta was gone, walking away.

I have a strange feeling I'll be seeing more of him in the future. How troublesome...

Anyways, before leaving, I took one last glance at the board. I came 63rd, huh?

As my eyes wandered down, I started entering the section for students that failed. I knew who failed in E and D Class, so I was more interested in seeing who choked up in A and C Class.

For A Class, their three failures were Kurase Takuya, Nashimoto Kengo, and Kamijo Mahina, all students who excelled at athleticism rather than academics. As such, I wasn't very surprised that they failed.

For C Class, their lone failure was Sugiura Motofumi. I only really knew the guy for being a good artist, so I guess him not being strong at academics makes sense.

After seeing everything I wanted to, I decided to head to class. On my way there, I nearly walked into E Class's classroom out of muscle memory.

I had to mentally remind myself that I was no longer a student of that class anymore.

I closed the E Class door and moved to the classroom adjacent to it. Grabbing hold of the handle, I pulled back the door to D Class, where the familiar sight of Nora reading a novel greeted me.

Seeing me, he waved at me with a small smile on his cute face. In this new classroom, Nora went back to sitting in his normal seat, as he was no longer held down by what was written in E Class.

"Takanori-kun..."

"Yo, Nora-san."

I sat behind him, at an actual desk. It felt so refreshing to no longer sit on a pillow, but rather a chair. It was such a simple luxury, but when we were in E Class, we took it completely for granted.

Now that we had it back, we weren't willing to give it up so easily.

As we waited for everyone else to arrive, me and Nora killed time by talking about Chess King since we both read the light novels.

By 8:30am, nearly everyone was in class by now. Well, Kita wasn't here and Tanaka was running late, but those kind of things were to be expected by now.

"I made it, de gozaru..."

Tanaka panted, managing to slip into class just before Chabashira-sensei could arrive.

As far as I could tell, everyone in our class was here. That meant no one was invididually promoted or demoted. However...

Following behind Chabashira-sensei was one new student.

He gave a heavy sigh, clearly embarrassed by what had happened to him.

It was former B Class student and one of Machida's lackeys, Ukishima Fusazane. He was wearing a Zoa Green uniform.

"Good morning, everyone."

Chabashira-sensei greeted us in an usually good mood today. Rather than smiling sadistically like usual, she had a genuine smile on her face. I guess the outcome of this month really made her happy.

"Congratulations on your promotion to D Class. Honestly, I never thought I'd see the day where E Class managed to pull themselves out of the bottom of the dumps, and yet here we are. You've all worked very hard to get to this point."

Chabashira-sensei praised us once more.

"No one in this class has been promoted or demoted. However, someone new will be joining us instead. This is Ukishima Fusazane, and he was demoted from B Class."

Upon hearing that, a couple of guys, like Yukimura, Mitsuba, and Yamaguchi, all started snickering at him for dropping so low. Ukishima avoided eye contact with them, squarely keeping his gaze on his feet.

"He'll be your new classmate moving forward, so try to treat him well."

Chabashira-sensei then stepped to the side, giving Ukishima room to introduce himself. With reluctance, Ukishima stepped forward and greeted us.

"...like sensei said, I'm Ukishima. I'll be joining your class from today. Take care of me."

He didn't even bother making eye contact with any of us. He just quickly muttered through his words, clearly not wanting to be here. His apprehensiveness made the boys snicker at him some more.

"Feel free to take a seat."

Ukishima nodded and headed over to Kita's vacant seat, thinking it was open. However, Ayano stood up and stopped him.

"Sorry, but that seat's taken."

"It is?"

"The person usually sitting there isn't here today."

"...I see. Where am I supposed to sit then?"

"There."

Ayano pointed at a lone seat that was set up in the row behind me. Ukishima narrowed his eyes at the 26th seat with disdain, feeling even more like an outsider in the class now.

He sighed and walked past Ayano, muttering something. Then, he sat down at the open seat, burying his head into the table.

The class whispered between each other, unsure how to approach Ukishima now that he was part of our class. Aside from Machida's faction, Ukishima didn't really interact with anyone else. It was like he was an alien to the rest of us.

A few people looked at me to do something, but I didn't feel the need to babysit him. He was perfectly capable of making his own decisions, or friends, if he wanted to. There was no need for me to get involved.

I have to say though, I didn't expect him to be demoted from B Class all the way down to D Class. Then again... I should've seen this coming, since he and Ritaka did some really heinous things last month. Actually, that made me wonder...

"Chabashira-sensei."

"Yes, Takanori-san?"

"Was there anyone else who transferred classes in our year?"

"There were two other students, Kasai Touma and Ritaka Takahashi, both from B Class. They were both demoted, but to different classes. Kasai-san was moved down to C Class and Ritaka-san was moved down to E Class."

Not only did it mean B Class lost a total of three students this month, reducing their already small number of 24 students down to 21, but it also meant Machida's faction had been wiped out in the process, as he lost nearly all his men.

Naturally, our class was delighted by this news, and the laughter aimed at Ukishima became worser. After all this abuse from B Class in the last two months, it felt like karma was finally on our side, kicking them up the ass and doling out proper punishment.

However, even though the Machida faction dispersed, we now had to deal with the troublesome existence of Ukishima in our class. Knowing Machida, he wouldn't give up fighting simply because his group had disbanded.

Instead, he'd probably find a way to take advantage of the situation in an underhanded and sly way. I could already think of one way he could achieve that...

Looks like I'll have to interact with Ukishima after all.

If I don't, there's a high chance he'll turn traitor and spark unnecessary conflict. My priority with Ukishima should be to integrate him into the class smoothly so he realises that following Machida is a mistake.

During our free time in homeroom, I got up and approached Ukishima.

"Hey. I'm Takanori, the leader of D Class. Welcome to our class."

It felt good being able to say that. It was amusing how much it pissed Matsushita off whenever I did.

"Save the formalities... I'm not planning on staying in this dumping ground for long."

"What, are you going to move down another class?"

"Lame joke."

"I'm trying to be nice here..."

"I have no intentions of being nice to a Drachma defect like you... or any of you for that matter."

"Uh... you can't exactly call us that anymore. We're Zoa Green now."

I pointed at my tie. Ukishima laughed.

"In name, maybe... but you guys only just turned D Class just yesterday. To me, you dumbasses will always be E Class. It's just my luck that I get moved down to D Class when you pieces of trash are occupying it... ahh, damn it! Ritaka got lucky! It pisses me off that he gets to be in a class full of actually competent people... why the hell was I stuck with you losers?!"

It seems Machida's ideology had penetrated deep into Ukishima. It was like I was talking with a carbon copy of him.

"You know, instead of complaining and inadvertently insulting yourself, you could... I don't know, try to fit in with everyone else in the class?"

"I'd rather die than befriend dirty Drachma scum like you."

"Again, we're Zoa Green now."

"I don't care! I'll be out of this dump anyways by next month anyways... I swear it. I'll climb my way back to B Class and give you guys hell from above. Then we'll see who's laughing!"

It was clear that Ukishima was pissed because everyone in our class kept making fun out of him. While moving down was both a humiliating and embarrassing experience, it was made even worse when an entire class of people laughed at you behind your back.

As a loner, I knew this all too well.

"I'm not laughing at you, though."

"But everyone else is, so you might as well join in."

"Why should I? You're our classmate now. I want to get to know you."

"Are you stupid? I already said I'm planning to move back up. Don't act like me being here is going to be permanent."

"You might move up, but that process will take awhile. It'd be pointless to ignore you, even possibly for months."

"You're only talking to me because you want my cooperation. Unfortunately for you, there's no way I'm gonna stick my neck out for a bunch of idiots who can't even respect me."

"Why should our classmates respect you when you never respected us in the first place?"

"Because I'm better than all of you!"

"Oh, yeah? What are you good at?"

"My best subject is history. You have anyone better than me at that?"

I was honestly expecting him to say something about fighting, so this was refreshingly mature of him... I took out my phone and pulled up the results of the history finals.

"...yeah, two people actually."

"What? Who?"

"...Taiga-san and Nora-san. Both of them got a higher grade than you."

Ukishima had gotten a B, whereas Taiga had gotten a B+ and Nora had gotten an A*. Ironically, they're also two people Ukishima had messed with physically in the past.

"No way... that can't be right, let me see!"

I showed him the results on my phone. Ukishima's jaw dropped.

"I guess you're the stupid one, huh?"

"What about science? I'm also good at that!"

I looked it up on my phone. Ukishima got a B- on science, whereas Ayano got an A*. Even Yukimura was encroaching him with a C+.

"...do you want me to say it?"

"Just show it to me."

I showed him once more. Ukishima gritted his teeth.

"Funny enough, those three are also people who aren't bothering you. Take a look around."

Ukishima stared at Taiga, Nora, and Ayano, who were all doing their own thing and minding their own business.

Taiga was talking to her friends, Nora was helping Mikitaka with homework, and Ayano was quietly studying.

None of them were laughing at him.

"I don't need cooperation from you. I don't care how you spend your time here. All I want is for you to not interfere with us. Do at least that much if you want to earn your respect back."

Ukishima went quiet, burying his head into the table to end our conversation. There was no point in talking to him anymore, so I returned to my seat and sat down.

"Takanori-san. Come with me."

As I did, Chabashira-sensei called out to me, requesting me to follow her outside.

Now that I was class representative, no one thought anything of it, but I could tell it was a serious matter, since Chabashira-sensei tried to hide the distressed look in her eyes from everyone else.

I wondered what could get our tough and strict teacher to act this way? It was certainly unusual.

I got up from my seat once more and left the classroom, meeting Chabashira-sensei outside in the hallway. Even though she was trying to cover it up, the hand she was using to hold her tablet was shaking.

"What's the matter, Chabashira-sensei?"

Looking at me, she exhaled a tense breath. Something was definitely up. Chabashira-sensei was usually so calm, mature, and collected, it made seeing her look this vulnerable worrying.

"I can't explain right now... we don't have much time. Just... please follow me."

She muttered through her words quickly, like she didn't want to say them. I didn't want to add to her stress, so I quietly nodded and obediently followed her downstairs, to the ground floor.

We were making our way down the school when suddenly she stopped by a shut corridor at the end of the building. I'd never seen this part of the school before, mainly because it was far away and off limits. Only staff had access to it.

"Before we go in..."

Chabashira-sensei clutched her lanyard tightly, looking like what she was about to do would kill her. Then, she let go of her card and hugged me tightly.

"...sensei?"

I don't know why, but her embrace felt hot and desperate. It was like a last ditch attempt to cling onto me.

"I'm so, so sorry, Takanori-san..."

She whispered, gripping the back of my blazer tightly. I couldn't see her face, but I thought she might even be crying.

After about ten seconds, Chabashira-sensei let go of me, staring at my face one last time.

It was a short hug, but it was full of meaning— one that I hadn't quite fully understood myself yet.

Recomposing herself, she turned around and opened the locked door with her lanyard.

As the gates opened, I was blinded by a strong light.

What lied beyond this point was a long corridor made of pure white.

And standing at the end of this corridor was the Headmaster, Satsubatsu Kirigaya.

However, he was obscuring something else.

Chabashira-sensei gestured for me to walk inside.

I did as I told, and she followed, shutting the door behind us.

My footsteps echoed as it bounced off the gently illuminated pure white floor.

I couldn't tell what it was made out of.

Marble? Quartz? Linoleum?

It was somehow simultaneously all three of these materials at once, yet also somehow none of them at all.

Even so, the texture was familiar. I'd definitely seen it before.

That's when it hit me.

It's fragments of the blue moon crystal, from the meteor...

I stopped walking.

I stared at the Headmaster, who's face was filled with fake indifference and apathy.

"Welcome, Takanori-san."

He briefly greeted me before stepping to the side.

I knew it...

Chabashira-sensei held her head low, struggling to hide her sadness.

"Nee, Satsubatsu-sama... can you please reconsider this?"

"I'm sorry, Shizuka-san. My hands are tied here. I can't do anything else."

"Please... there has to be something, anything to prevent this from happening..."

"There isn't. There's nothing we can do now except put our faith into Takanori-san."

"But... but there's no way I can let this happen in good faith... if Takanori-san goes in there, he'll... h-he'll..."

"...I know. But we don't have a choice. That man has more power than you and me. If we go against his words..."

The Headmaster trailed off, looking away. Chabashira-sensei gritted her teeth, her eyes full of pain.

"I don't care! If it's necessary, I'll take all the blame! As his homeroom teacher, I cannot accept this!"

It was the first time I heard her shout angrily before.

"Shizuka-san..."

The Headmaster grabbed her by the shoulders and sighed reluctantly.

"I understand how you feel. But this isn't the time to let your emotions interfere with business. You've got to separate yourself from your job, and this situation."

"But... I..."

Chabashira-sensei tried to argue against it, but deep down she knew it was true. As a professional, she had to step back and be neutral. Letting her personal feelings cloud her judgment would only make matters worse.

"There's no meaning in blaming yourself for not doing enough. You've done everything you could to protect Takanori-san up until now. It was only a matter of time before this would happen."

The Headmaster was right. This meeting was bound to happen from the very start.

"I'll be okay, Chabashira-sensei."

Taking a step forward, I tried to reassure her. Chabashira-sensei stared at me with watery eyes.

"Takanori-san..."

"I swear I'll see you again."

Chabashira-sensei gritted her teeth and nodded. The Headmaster consoled her by stroking her head.

"Promise me you'll make out the other side... alright?"

"I promise."

"And don't break it this time... like you did last time..."

"I made up for it last month, didn't I?"

"Yeah... you did."

Chabashira-sensei smiled slightly before she broke down crying.

"Takanori-san, you should go now. You don't want to keep him waiting."

"I know that... I know that better than anyone else."

I sighed, closing my eyes.

Let's put an end to this cruel fairy tale.

I opened my eyes slowly, coming face to face with a single door.

I put my hand on the touchpad and watched as the hatches twisted open.

Once again, a bright white light blinded me.

However, seeing the black silhouette of his back, I knew who it was straight away.

There was only one man who could remind me of <that> so easily...

"...how many years has it been since I last saw you?"

That man turned around, coming face to face with me.

"My son."

Standing before me was him.

I'll never recognise you as my father.

My wings of freedom were about to be severed.