Chapter: 1 THE TEACHERS’ BATTLE

On a certain day in February, a little before the provisional Class Vote special exam had been officially announced…

The faculty of Advanced Nurturing High School were continuously busy with their work.

They were preparing everything for the upcoming promotions, expulsions, and graduation of their students.

Additionally, they were also preparing the final special exams for the entire student body.

It was a busy time where they were constantly swamped with work.

None of the teachers had the freedom to do anything but devote themselves to their work, day after day.

However, the teachers in charge of the first-year students had much more on their minds than their colleagues.

"That should wrap everything up regarding the details of the first-years' final special exam, as well as the incorporation of the new system we'll be putting in place."

A lone man finished up his explanation on the final special exam of the year in front of all of the staff members.

When it came to the second and third-year students, the explanation hadn't been too different from usual. However, that wasn't true for the first-years.

"If there are any questions, please feel free to ask."

Within this tense, biting atmosphere, the man looked around at each of the teachers who were listening carefully.

The silence lasted for several seconds. "If I may, Acting Director Tsukishiro."

With a raise of the hand, first-year Class A's homeroom teacher, Mashima, broke the silence that had been enshrouding the staff room.

Both Chabashira and Hoshinomiya, homeroom teachers of the same grade, turned their gaze toward Mashima as well.

The man, Acting Director Tsukishiro, had already noticed that many of the first- year homeroom teachers were harboring doubts about his plan. Rather, he thought that it would've been unreasonable if they hadn't seemed at least a little doubtful.

Tsukishiro was assessing their value as human beings.

He wanted to see whether or not they were mere working members of society. Whether or not they were the kind of teachers who only cared about their own paychecks.

"What do you want to say, Mashima-sensei?"

Having already anticipated Mashima's question, Tsukishiro let show a smile.

"While the special exams for the second and third years are just as difficult as they had been in previous years, the special exam for the first years is far more difficult than usual. There's a huge risk that there will be expulsions because of this 'Class Vote' provisional exam…"

As a teacher in charge of first-year students and for the sake of the future of the children, Mashima spoke out against Tsukishiro, unafraid of his title as the Acting Director of the school. And without waiting for a response, he continued to protest.

"Forgive my rudeness, Acting Director, but you've only just recently been appointed to your post at this school. Although I understand you've made this decision based on everything that has happened so far, I think it's somewhat inappropriate for us to do something that will force expulsions just because there haven't been any amongst the first-years yet."

Apparently amused by Mashima's question… or rather, Mashima's protests, Tsukishiro grinned with a white, toothy smile.

"A huge risk that there will be expulsions, is it? Haven't the students had to fear expulsion during every special exam so far? The rules of this school state that receiving just one failing mark would result in expulsion, right? I don't think an ordinary high school would have such a strict system in place."

"I'm talking about how unreasonable it is. Indeed, students who are unable to reach a certain threshold are expelled. That system isn't meant to be lenient. Truth be told, that very system has been getting numerous students expelled every year."

This school holds various special exams every year, all while keeping them within an acceptable range of difficulty.

Staying within those limits, this current batch of first-year students had nearly made it through the whole year without any expulsions. It's unclear whether or not it's because their level of prowess is different than that of the other school years, but there must be a reason why they've managed to come so far without losing anyone. To Mashima, it's important to take advantage of that prowess and help facilitate it for as long as possible.

To Tsukishiro, however, it was different.

"If it's just about getting numerous students expelled, then wouldn't this exam do the same thing?"

"No. This provisional exam is obviously different than the policies we've had up until now. I cannot approve of something that practically forces expulsions."

All by himself, Mashima stubbornly refused to back down, while the rest of the teachers simply remained silent.

"Besides, you abruptly decided to introduce an entirely new system for the final special exam of the year. Something like this has never happened before, and you've never given us any reason for it either."

Mashima's resistance was futile. The teachers had known this from the very beginning.

It would be impossible to overturn the decision. It simply couldn't be changed.

"It seems that Mashima-sensei's way of thinking is a little old-fashioned. Have you never considered the possibility that the way things had been done up until now was wrong?"

From within the staff room, the back-and-forth between Tsukishiro and Mashima continued to repeat itself. However, it was painfully obvious that Mashima was at a disadvantage. As a mere teacher, he was simply no match for Tsukishiro.

"Younger children absorb information far better than most adults would think. With that in mind, I decided against having the second and third-year students participate, narrowing down the focus of the exam to only the first-year students. After all, the first-years still haven't been completely tainted by the school yet. If this new system ends up being successful, it'll be easy to test it on the incoming first-year students in the future as well."

"These first-years have gotten this far without any expulsions. Do you really want to put an end to it, just like that?"

"How well they do in the short-term is meaningless. It's about how well they do in the future. Let's stay future-oriented."

Tsukishiro rebuked Mashima once again before proceeding to continue his point.

"The government has great expectations for this school. It's a new school where experimental ventures have been taking place, and its history is still shallow. That's why I think we should be willing to try all sorts of things."

"There's nothing wrong with being future-oriented. However, it seems to me that you're treating the current batch of first-years like guinea pigs. As a homeroom teacher, that is something I simply cannot approve of."

Mashima continued to challenge Tsukishiro head-on, trying every means at his disposal to change the direction the special exams were going in.

But, the implementation of the Class Vote provisional exam had already been decided. It was probably impossible for Mashima to stop it now.

"…Mashima-sensei, that's enough."

Fully aware of how futile his actions were, Chabashira finally intervened after Mashima had almost reached a stopping point.

For a moment, Mashima swallowed the words that were about to come pouring out.

However, the one to press the matter again was none other than Tsukishiro himself.

"It's not a problem. If you have something to say, I'd like to hear all of it. After all, I can understand the anxiety all you teachers must be feeling right now after all. Isn't that right, Mashima-sensei?"

"Then, by any chance, could you at least reconsider it?"

Mashima asked Tsukishiro if he would reconsider the provisional special exam. It seemed as if Tsukishiro was offering a lifeline, but that wasn't the case.

Unlike Chairman Sakayanagi, Acting Director Tsukishiro didn't have the slightest intention of listening to the teacher's opinions.

"Reconsider? It's not that simple. While it may be temporary, I am the director here. That is to say, even though the director holds the responsibility of determining the policies and guidelines at this school, the director is still just a

puppet. That said, I'm nothing more than someone who was expressly sent here by an even higher corporate body backed by the government."

With those words, Mashima's show of resistance quickly amounted to nothing.

Tsukishiro had made it clear that their opinions came second. The future of Advanced Nurturing High School came first and foremost.

"So you're saying it doesn't matter if students are expelled one after another because of these strict rules?"

"Those who don't adapt will be eliminated. That is how society works… no, that is the providence of nature itself. Besides, haven't we already compromised by allowing the incorporation of protection points? You should be satisfied enough with that, right?"

The tense atmosphere gradually began to calm down.

The slow-paced morning meeting was also drawing to a close.

"All things considered, the current Chairman, Mr. Sakayanagi, has been placed under house arrest due to suspicions over improper conduct. If that does happen to be the case, I simply can't inherit education policies that had been established by that kind of person. Of course, I do hope that he'll be cleared of all suspicions and be returned to his position as soon as possible, but…"

With a single clap of the hands, Tsukishiro quickly looked around at each of the teachers.

"Time's almost up, so let's leave things off here. Oh, that reminds me. I've been looking into whether or not our school can hold a cultural festival next year. I'm

thinking I'd like to hear all of your opinions about that, so I look forward to hearing back from all of you when that time comes."

"A cultural festival? As a matter of principle, we should be hesitant to do anything that would involve opening up the school to the outside world…"

This time, doubts arose from the homeroom teachers for the second and third-year students as well.

"That old-fashioned way of thinking is quite problematic. I believe that, in order for us to become a more nationally recognized school, the school needs to undergo change as many times as necessary. Naturally, we'll have to carefully select who we'll invite inside, but there's no need to worry about that. We won't open the school to the general public, instead, after a strict selection process, the school would only be opened up to those who are well-acquainted with the way the school works, like politicians. This way, information about us won't leak out into the outside world too excessively. In any case, I'd like for all of us to explore the opportunity with an open mind. You're all dismissed."

Just like that, Acting Director Tsukishiro wrapped up the meeting. The teachers' battle had come to its end, and the teachers were powerless to do anything about it.

Part 1

After Tsukishiro had left the staff room and before classes had begun for the day…

"Mashima-sensei, Hoshinomiya-sensei. I'd like to borrow the two of you for a bit."

Chabashira called out to her two fellow teachers. They were both friends and rivals who, in the past, had competed against each other at this very school.

Having known each other for a long time, the two of them gathered their important documents and followed Chabashira out of the staff room without asking any questions. They walked down the hallway together as they headed to where the students would be waiting for them.

"It's depressing, isn't it? We have to announce an exam where someone's gonna get expelled."

Hoshinomiya was the first one to break the ice.

With a deep sigh, her gaze fell upon the attendance record. "I wonder who's gonna disappear…"

Even though it wasn't easy, Hoshinomiya was still trying to face the facts.

"I'm not sure someone will. There aren't very many ways around it, but they still have some options."

"You mean, overriding the expulsion with twenty million points, right?"

Despite saying this, Hoshinomiya was also well aware of the reality of the situation.

As things stood, none of the classes had that many points.

"If there's a bright side, I guess it's nice that they don't have to pay 300 class points as well. Forced expulsions are something they're still experimenting with. That might be obvious though."

It would usually cost twenty million private points as well as 300 class points to override an expulsion, but this time, the class points were exempted from that.

Although, that alone wasn't enough to sway the students and teachers into accepting the mandatory expulsions.

"In any case, I can't help but feel dissatisfied about Acting Director Tsukishiro's way of doing things."

"Well, you're not alone on that, Sae-chan. He just popped up out of nowhere and, like, started doing whatever super unreasonable thing he wanted, didn't he?"

Hoshinomiya snuggled up to Chabashira as if she was clinging onto her, only to get pushed away with an annoyed expression.

"Complaining isn't going to change anything. If you say too much, your neck will fly."

"Are you really one to say that to us, Mashima-kun? You were really going at it with the Acting Director yourself. It made me super-duper nervous. And after all that, you're saying we can't do the same?"

"Chie is right. That man could fire the teachers for all he cares. He probably knows there's always plenty of replacements. In fact, that's probably what he wants."

"Maybe he plans to get rid of the teachers who oppose him, like Mashima-kun, and then hire new ones who are more convenient to him."

Chabashira and Hoshinomiya were considering the idea that Tsukishiro's speech in the staff room might've been a plot to weed out the teachers who oppose him.

Mashima didn't disagree with the idea either.

"You too, Sae-chan. You went through so much to reach Class C, so don't go doing anything crazy, 'kay?"

"You seem pretty calm even though we've started to close the gap."

"No way… Sae-chan, you're not fantasizing that your class might make it all the way to Class A, are you?"

Hoshinomiya stared at Chabashira with peering, round eyes, forcing Chabashira to turn and look away.

While Hoshinomiya had a habit of absentmindedly saying things sometimes, in most cases, her words had actually been carefully calculated.

Having been acquainted with her for such a long time, Chabashira knew about this tendency of hers all too well.

"…No. Even I'm not that foolish."

"Oh good. If you had said yes… that'd have been like, way too much for me!"

Hoshinomiya playfully waved her hands in front of her, acting like she had been overcome with surprise.

Mashima couldn't stand listening to their silly conversation any longer.

They were like carnivores facing off against each other on the savannah. Only one would come out on top.

"Are you two still fussing over what happened back then? How many years need to pass befー"

"Mashima-kun. The amount of time that's passed has nothing to do with it." "She's right. It's completely irrelevant."

Although Mashima tried cutting in to mediate, the two of them quickly glared him down and forced him to back off.

Even though Mashima had boldly stood up to Tsukishiro, there were still some adversaries he wouldn't dare to confront.

"…I see. At any rate, I'm in no place to say anything here, but don't bring your personal feelings into these upcoming exams, okay?"

"We wouldn't do something like that. Right, Chie?" "Of course not. Right, Sae-chan?"

Chabashira and Hoshinomiya were still trying to sound each other out, but on the surface, they glossed it over as though nothing had happened.

"Just refrain from doing anything careless, Chie. That's all I'm going to say."

With that, Chabashira quickly wrapped up the conversation and walked away, headed off to Class C.

The two of them stood silently as she left.

"You aren't really bringing your personal feelings into this, are you?" Mashima spoke up as they watched Chabashira leave in a sour mood.

"Don't lump me in with her, Mashima-kun. I've already gotten over any lingering attachments I had. But that girl hasn't changed at all since back then. She'll never be able to move past her days as a student. That's why she's still stuck up on that good-for-nothing first love of hers, but she would never admit to that."

"…You've got a terrible look on your face." "Eh? No way. Do I really?"

Hoshinomiya then took out a folding mirror and made a sweet smile. "Okie-dokie! I look super cute today too. Don't you think so?"

"Don't ask me."

"How heartless! Well, whatever."

As Hoshinomiya put away her mirror, Mashima offered her a piece of advice.

"Be careful not to have the carpet pulled out from under you. This year's Class D… No, Class C is different from usual."

While there was still a gap in class points, even the teachers wouldn't be able to predict how the future special exams would play out.

"You may be right, but I'm not too worried since I have Ichinose-san on my side. Besides…"

"Besides?"

"If they seem like they're getting close to reaching us, I'll pummel them back down myself."

"You wouldn't poke your nose into a competition meant for the students would you?"

"I wouldn't do anything like that. It's just, I'm not gonna go easy on Sae-chan. I just wouldn't want to interfere to the point where the teachers start to fight amongst themselves."

"You sound serious."

"That's because I can't afford to lose, especially to Sae-chan."

Ever since their student days, that was just the type of relationship they had. Both as friends, and as rivals.