Failing one subject in the mid-term or final exams would result in expulsion.
This was also one of the crucial hidden rules at Tokyo Metropolitan Advanced Nurturing High School.
The upperclassman from Class D had specifically warned him before she left:
"Even if you lose to other classes, or scrape by each month on free meal plans, just don't get expelled for poor grades—that would be too embarrassing."
Akira certainly didn't want to leave in such a humiliating way.
But this school was clearly not ordinary—what high school would force expulsion for failing a single subject?
The only good news was that the mid-term exams were still over a month away.
Starting from scratch to catch up on Japanese Language, at least to the passing line, should still be feasible.
But three formidable mountains stood before him: Modern Japanese, Classical Japanese, and Classical Chinese.
Modern Japanese was barely manageable, but Classical Japanese was like an undecipherable script—despite being full of familiar Chinese characters, their combination was obscure and difficult to understand.
'It feels very similar to the Classical Chinese I studied in my previous life... but because it's Japanese, the difficulty has multiplied several times!'
But even more troublesome was that the same Chinese character could have a dozen different pronunciations in old Japanese, and its meaning could completely change due to the agglutination of grammatical particles.
It was like facing encrypted text, with the key hidden deep in time.
"My head hurts..."
After Japanese Language class in the afternoon, Akira, as usual, rubbed his temples, his fingertips pressing against the throbbing nerves.
Japanese Language class wasn't like Mathematics or English—at least on the surface, it wasn't so "unapproachable." Even an elementary school student could barely understand some parts. But once he delved into the usage of each character and the rules of sound change in ancient language, his brain immediately felt like it was filled with lead, heavily sinking into a fog.
'They're all Chinese characters... why do they become a code when combined?'
As he was lost in thought, a faint voice suddenly drifted into his ear—
"Th-that... Shimizu-kun, yesterday... thank you for speaking up for me..."
He turned his head to find Sakura, his desk partner on the right, bowing her head, her fingers unconsciously twisting the hem of her skirt.
Her voice was as light as a feather. If his hearing hadn't been sharp, he would have almost mistaken it for the wind occasionally rustling outside the window.
"It's nothing! I was just in a bad mood that day, and the other guy was a troublemaker who skipped class all the time."
Akira waved his hand, his tone somewhat casual.
This wasn't entirely dismissive—he really was in a bad mood that day, and he really disliked Yamauchi.
'After all, this guy was at least half responsible for Class D's "zero-point feat." Ike and a few other guys were also led astray by him...'
"..."
Sakura remained silent for a long time.
Her gaze quietly swept over the almost brand-new Japanese Language textbook on Akira's desk—its spine was crisp, its page edges white, and there were barely any creases, clearly indicating it hadn't been opened much.
'As expected... Japanese Language is difficult for him, isn't it...'
She slightly parted her lips, seemingly wanting to say something, but ultimately just bit her lower lip gently, swallowing her words.
"By the way!" Akira lowered his voice, looking serious. "Just to confirm one thing—you really haven't confessed to Yamauchi, have you?"
"...No!"
This time, Sakura's voice suddenly rose considerably, causing several students in the front row to turn their heads curiously.
She quickly covered her mouth, her ear tips instantly turning as red as if they were about to drip blood.
Sakura's gaze lingered on Akira's face for a brief moment, then she quickly lowered her head like a startled small animal.
Akira raised an eyebrow, his gaze lingering on her slightly reddened ear tips.
'It seems there really was no such thing...'
'But then again, she really is the type who isn't good at talking to others.'
After school, Akira ate dinner and went directly to find Horikita.
He had initially thought that she might still be angry about him mentioning her brother during physical education class and wouldn't agree to go to the office to see Chabashira-sensei.
To his surprise, although the girl remained as cold as ice, her face taut, she still silently followed his steps.
When Akira pushed open the office door, Chabashira-sensei, as he had expected, was not present.
Instead, there was a young woman in a light pink silk blouse, casually leaning against the office desk.
The hem of her blouse was loosely tucked into high-waisted shorts, outlining a slender waistline.
Most striking were her long legs—they appeared even straighter and more proportionate against the shorts.
Her dressing style was far too casual, a stark contrast to the typical image of a teacher—yet she was currently sitting upright in a teacher's exclusive office chair.
Normally, a female teacher's standard attire should be a well-tailored suit skirt, paired with dignified black stockings, just like Chabashira-sensei's strict and proper appearance.
But the person before him...
She was practically a classic negative example that would appear in parent complaint letters—"How can you dress like this! My child spent class staring at the teacher, and their grades dropped all because of you!"—the kind of "problem teacher" that student mothers would collectively protest against.
However, in a fully enclosed campus like Tokyo Metropolitan Advanced Nurturing High School, parents could hardly visit the school at any time like in ordinary schools—after all, it was isolated from the world, and even the most basic extracurricular tutoring channels were cut off.
Just as Akira was deep in thought, the female teacher had already keenly noticed the movement at the door.
She tilted her head slightly, a lazy smile gracing her lips. "Oh? Two lovely students, who are you looking for?"
"Chabashira-sensei." Horikita stiffly stated her homeroom teacher's name, her tone clearly suppressing dissatisfaction.
"Eh? Looking for Sae-chan?" The female teacher lightly tapped her chin with her fingertip. This overly intimate address made Akira instantly realize that their relationship was far from ordinary. "She was just in the office~"
Seeing the other party make a gesture to invite them in to wait, Horikita immediately refused coldly. "No need."
To his surprise, the young teacher actually walked out into the hallway. She casually pointed to her face with her right index finger. "Let me formally introduce myself. I'm Hoshinomiya Chie, the homeroom teacher of Class B. Sae-chan and I have been inseparable best friends since high school! We still call each other 'Sae-chan' and 'Chie-chan' to this day~"
Then, the teacher named Hoshinomiya leaned closer to Horikita as if she had discovered something new. "Your demeanor is so much like Sae-chan's, but why did she specifically call you two over? How suspicious."
She blinked her curious eyes, lightly tapping her lips with her index finger. "Could it be... you've gotten into trouble?"
Seeing Horikita remain silent, she suddenly clasped her hands together, revealing a cunning smile. "Could it be—love advice?"
Horikita's brow twitched almost imperceptibly.