"Stop right there!"
"No!"
"Thump!"
Jhin was awakened by a commotion in the morning. Before he could even open his eyes, he felt something small jump onto his bed and crawl under the covers.
"Waah!!" Suou Amane, who had chased Irisu Makina into the dorm manager's room, clearly hadn't expected to find a boy sleeping inside. She stood frozen by Jhin's bed, comb in hand, at a complete loss. "Um… who are you?"
The "little animal" in Jhin's blanket clearly didn't want to be caught. It fumbled its way onto his body, and the still-groggy Jhin instinctively hugged it, gently stroking the "little animal's" head out of a habit formed from sleeping with Kazami Kazuki.
"Hunyaa~" The "little animal" under the covers docilely enjoyed Jhin's head pat.
Suou Amane finally came to her senses and grabbed the raised part of the blanket on Jhin's body. "Get out here right now and let me comb your hair!"
"No!" A delicate, childish voice came from under the blanket, making Jhin fully wake up. He was hugging a person.
As Suou Amane grew more agitated and pulled with increasing force, the person under the blanket let out a deliberate cry, "Don't be so rough, ple~ase~ do~n't~"
"Stop dragging out your 'no' so lewdly!" Suou Amane was at her wit's end with her and had to let go.
Having girls barge into his bedroom first thing in the morning, with one of them even pressing her warm body against his—as a healthy young man in the prime of his life, Jhin couldn't handle it. He quickly peeled the person clinging tightly to him off.
"While it's certainly a pleasure to wake up and see beautiful girls, I must ask you two not to barge into my room so freely." Jhin sat up, using the blanket to subtly cover his very enthusiastic little brother.
"Ah, you're the transfer student the principal mentioned?" Suou Amane said, finally subduing Irisu Makina in her grasp, a look of realization on her face.
"That's right. Just call me Jhin. It's a pleasure to meet you."
"Eh? Jhin?" Suou Amane looked surprised, but she quickly put on a smile again. She stuffed the comb into Irisu Makina's hands, straightened her own slightly messy clothes from the scuffle, and shook Jhin's outstretched right hand. "Nice to meet you. I'm Suou Amane. You can just call me Amane, Jhin."
"My name is Irisu Makina."
"This child actually greeted a stranger on her own!" Suou Amane was astonished. Even she had spent a lot of time getting on good terms with Irisu Makina when she first came to the school; in the beginning, even getting a normal greeting from her was incredibly difficult.
"Hello, Makina." Jhin reached out and patted the head of Irisu Makina, who was slumped over the side of the bed, looking a bit listless after being caught by Suou Amane.
"He can touch Makina so easily." Suou Amane couldn't help but feel a pang of jealousy. She remembered how much effort she'd put into befriending Makina, and now Jhin could pat her on the head on their very first meeting.
"Now then, if you two would please step out for a moment, I need to get changed."
"So Jhin gets embarrassed changing in front of others," Suou Amane said, winking slyly.
"I think that's a normal reaction for anyone."
"Alright, alright. Makina, let's go out and I'll comb your hair."
"Ugh, I've been caught by the great demon lord Amane-nee." Suou Amane grabbed Makina by the back of her collar and led her out of the bedroom.
Jhin noticed that before Suou Amane left, she cast a glance—which she thought went unnoticed—at the lock on the dorm manager's door. It seemed she was already wondering if Jhin was Kazami Kazuki's brother, or just someone with the same name.
With the exception of Jhin, every student at this school had some degree of psychological trauma, or in other words, were all qualified problem children. The one with the deepest connection to Jhin was Suou Amane; she was the sole survivor of the tour bus accident that involved Kazami Kazuki.
The one who tied the bell must be the one to untie it. At the very least, Jhin had no good way to resolve her inner turmoil right now. It wasn't like he could just run up to her and say, "Hey girl, my sister isn't dead. Just hang tight at the academy for a while and you'll see her."
Setting aside whether she would even believe such a story, Jhin himself would feel like a lunatic. She didn't know his true identity; to her, he was just an orphan whose sister was gone and whose family had fallen apart. If he went up to her and said something like that, the best he could hope for was a polite, fake smile.
When Jhin walked out of his room, Suou Amane, Irisu Makina, and Komine Sachi were all waiting for him in the main hall, leaving him pleasantly surprised. "To have so many people waiting for me, it's quite embarrassing."
"Good morning, Jhin." Komine Sachi was surprisingly not in her maid outfit, but had changed into the school uniform.
"Morning, Sachi. So there are times you don't wear a maid outfit," Jhin remarked, thinking she wore it 24/7.
"I still wear the school uniform for classes. Ah, but don't worry, I have different models of my maid outfit for various situations, such as for sports, summer, medical use…" As if Jhin had flipped a strange switch, Komine Sachi began to describe her maid outfits to him at great length.
"Alright, alright, Sachi. Let's save the talk about maid outfits for later. We should get to school first, or we'll be late," Suou Amane quickly interrupted her.
"You're right. It would be bad if we were late and made the principal angry."
"If a pushover like Chizuru-Chizuru gets angry, it must be terrifying." It seemed Irisu Makina liked to call people in her own unique way.
After their chat, the group headed to the classroom, led by Komine Sachi. There, Jhin also met Michiru Matsushima, a blonde with twin tails. They introduced themselves amidst what could only be described as the most textbook tsundere remarks imaginable.
With a look of grave sorrow, Jhin placed both hands on Michiru Matsushima's shoulders and said, "Michiru, while your tsundere act is truly a success, the era of the tsundere is over."
"Gah…"
"Ah, Michi-Michi has turned to stone!" Irisu Makina said with curiosity, poking the petrified Michiru Matsushima with a finger.
"Tsundere… Tsundere isn't outdated!" With that cry, Michiru Matsushima silently vowed in her heart to show Jhin the charm of the tsundere, returning to her seat to begin scheming.
"Pfft…" Suou Amane snickered from the side, seemingly finding Jhin's teasing of Michiru Matsushima quite amusing.
"Good morning!" Tachibana Chizuru entered the classroom just as the bell rang, and the students all returned to their seats.
Seeing that no seat was assigned to him, Jhin unhesitatingly chose the second-to-last seat by the window—the so-called "protagonist seat"—and sat down.
Tachibana Chizuru's gaze swept across the classroom. Seeing only five students present, a complex expression appeared on her face. "It seems Sakaki-san is still absent."
"Hasn't she been like this lately?" Michiru Matsushima was a little envious of this blatant truancy, her tone carrying a hint of resentment.
"Indeed, she's only been coming to the classroom in the evenings recently."
"What's wrong with Yumi-Yumi?"
"Did something happen?"
The others also shared their thoughts, showing that their relationships with each other were quite good.
"Ahaha…" Tachibana Chizuru more or less knew the reason for Sakaki Yumiko's absence. When she first announced to the students that a male transfer student would be joining the school, Yumiko had stormed into the principal's office to protest.
"Principal! Are you trying to get us all raped by bringing a boy into an all-girls' academy?"
She had pushed through with Jhin's enrollment against all opposition. Sakaki Yumiko was probably using this method to silently express her dissatisfaction and protest.
Because the students in the classroom were from different grades, classes were mainly conducted through self-study. If they encountered something they didn't understand, they would ask an upperclassman or Tachibana Chizuru. This teaching style reminded Jhin of Nyanpasu's school.
Based on Jhin's age, he should actually be a second-year student like Michiru Matsushima and Sakaki Yumiko, but Tachibana Chizuru had placed him in the first year, considering his special circumstances.
There wasn't much to say about the class itself. With the knowledge Jhin had accumulated over the past six years, plus his previous life's, he was more than capable of handling high school or even university exams. After all, he had the "Within Reach" talent, allowing him to learn anything quickly.
On the surface, he pretended to read his textbook seriously, but in reality, Jhin was mentally contemplating the expansion and optimization of his electric discharge ability, something he had been working on for a long time.
_____
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