“Oh, so you have got one? Let’s have a look!”
“Fine...” He didn’t want to come off like an uncooperative jerk, after all. He reached for his bag, placed it on the desk and started rummaging through it.
“Hey, what’s that?” Shota pointed at the bag. He’d taken interest in a hunk of metal poking out of it.
“This? This is the Captains of Crush Gripper No. 4. It’s for improving your grip strength.”
“Huh? That’s weird. Can I see?”
Yuichi pulled the gripper from his bag and handed it to Shota.
The Captains of Crush Gripper was an advanced gripper made by IronMind Enterprises, Inc., designed to improve your grip strength. They ranged from No. 1 to No. 4. To close No. 4, you needed a grip strength of about 160 kg. There was no way an average high school student could close it.
Shota strained hard, trying to close it. Yuichi watched him out of the corner of his eye as he searched for the photo booth stickers.
“What, class chaos on the very first day? What part of ‘wait quietly in your seats’ didn’t you understand? Well, whatever. Just take your seats already. I’m Hanako Nodayama, and I’m your homeroom teacher.”
Yuichi’s search for the photo stickers was interrupted by a feminine, incredibly unmotivated voice. He stopped to look up at the teacher’s lectern.
At some point, a woman bearing the label “Homeroom Teacher” had arrived in the room. She didn’t look comfortable in the suit she was wearing... to put it mildly. Her hair was a total mess, with a half-assed brown dye job. She didn’t seem to care about her appearance at all.
“Let me say one thing to start off: Do not mess with me. Now hand out these print-outs. Um, you there. Split ’em up and pass ’em back. Everything you need to know for high school life is on there. You hear me? It’s all on there. So you won’t need me to explain anything or answer any questions. Got it?” Hanako forced the print-outs on the first student she saw.
Their homeroom teacher’s attitude seemed to be having an immediately demoralizing effect on the class. The papers were passed out according to Hanako’s instructions.
“Huh? I don’t think there are enough,” Shota said as he turned back to face Yuichi. It seemed Shota had gotten the last for their row.
Yuichi looked around to see if any rows had gotten extra. It looked like Yuichi was the only one who hadn’t gotten one.
“Excuse me, but I didn’t get a print-out,” Yuichi called out, holding up his hand.
A few students turned to look at Yuichi.
He suddenly felt a stinging pain behind his eyes. He squeezed them shut as the world turned white around him.
“Hey, what’s with you? You got middle school syndrome or something? One of those ‘Hnngh! Be still, my right eye!’ types? Because high school seems a little late to start that stuff.” Hanako’s words were mixed with mocking laughter.
“...Ah, sorry. It was just a sudden headache. I’m fi—” Yuichi began to sit up, then froze, his jaw going slack.
“Zombie.”
“Witch.”
“Anthromorph.”
“Dating Sim Childhood Friend.”
“Vampire.”
A whole crowd of people with bizarre labels were looking at him. Everyone’s labels were different. Before then, they had all just been “Classmate.”
What’s going on? But he didn’t have more than a second to to think about it. Someone’s eyes were fixed on him. He turned to look, and felt a new chill run though him.
“Serial Killer.”
Their eyes met.
A terrifyingly beautiful girl had affixed Yuichi with a cold, sharp gaze. Above her short-cropped hair floated the label “Serial Killer.”
What does “Serial Killer” mean?! What would someone like that be doing here?!
He didn’t understand it at all. He turned back pleadingly to “Ace Striker” in front of him, realizing at the same time that he could do nothing to help.
“What’s with the gawking, huh? Trying to pick a fight with your homeroom teacher on your first day, are you?” Hanako’s drawl pulled Yuichi back to reality.
“Oh, um, I’m sorry. I just didn’t get a print-out.”
“Anyone have extra? Guess there’s not enough, then. Someone share with him.” The teacher sounded like she didn’t care the least bit how it turned out.
“You can look at mine,” Shota said, offering his own print-out helpfully.
“It’s up to you guys to read it for yourselves. Don’t come crying to me later saying that you weren’t aware of something. Now I guess we’ll use the rest of our time for introductions. Come up to the front in roll order and tell us who you are.”
Yuichi looked at the print-out Shota had given him. It had a seating chart, too.
“Serial Killer” was Natsuki Takeuchi. Her roll number was 37. Her seat was the second from the front on the right side.
Even with all those weird labels like “Zombie” and “Witch,” “Serial Killer” seemed the most extreme. How else to interpret it other than that she was a murderer?
For that matter, what do the labels even represent?
He had assumed they had something to do with the person’s role in society, but he didn’t have any solid proof of that. Still, given what he had seen so far, they did seem to relate to the person’s life somehow.
As Yuichi turned the problem over in his mind, the students began introducing themselves. Yuichi was #14, so he had a ways to go. He decided to listen to the introductions while he could. Maybe he’d gain some insight into the nature of the labels.
“Zombie” was Risa Ayanokoji. She was a girl with two ponytails mounted high on her head.
“Hello! I’m Risa Ayanokoji. I know my last name sounds pretty fancy, but we’re not rich, so don’t sponge off me, okay? I played volleyball in middle school, and I’ll probably do it in high school, too!”
She seemed a bit on the dense side, but she spoke energetically enough. Her complexion was healthy, too. There was nothing zombie-like about her.
I don’t get it... What does “Zombie” mean?
Did it mean she was dead? But how?
“Witch” was An Katagiri.
She had long black hair, with bangs long enough to hide her eyes, and an aura of gloom all around her. She certainly resembled his idea of a witch.