The woman who walked in with an overpowering presence was a purple-haired old lady, scratch that, a purple-haired Onee-san.
Her long, lustrous red-purple hair hung straight down her back. Her cold, detached features made her appear extremely unapproachable, and her sharp gaze made the entire class instinctively avert their eyes the moment they made contact with her.
She wore a classic office lady suit, a white blouse beneath a purple blazer, matched with a short, tight skirt in the same tone. Below that was a pair of alluring black stockings that shimmered with a dangerously seductive sheen.
She looked to be in her late twenties or early thirties, the very age when a woman's elegance was at its peak. Her body's curves were simply too much to handle.
'We're doomed.' Ryoji sighed internally.
He never imagined their homeroom teacher this year would be Scáthach.
She was known as the Queen of Discipline at TYPE-MOON Academy, infamous for her ruthlessness. Her strictness was unmatched, not just within the school, but arguably across the entire Island Country. You'd be hard-pressed to find a stricter teacher anywhere.
The moment she stepped into the classroom, silence fell like a heavy curtain.
Everyone, including Akick, froze like prey before a predator, not even daring to take a deep breath.
"Very good."
Scáthach glanced around the room, and upon seeing that everyone was sitting up straight, she nodded in satisfaction.
"Today is the first day of school. There are no classes. Wait for the broadcast, then head to the gymnasium for the opening ceremony. After that, return here to clean the classroom. I don't want to see anyone skipping out. Understood?"
"Understood!"
A few boys in the front row shouted out with flushed faces.
'…Something was clearly off with them.'
"I don't know what you think you've understood, but I'm certain it's not what I meant." Scáthach didn't sound particularly disgusted, just gave them a look laced with subtle warning.
"Yes, ma'am! We don't want to understand!"
They only got more excited.
"Alright. Now we'll select a class representative."
She gave a low chuckle with a hint of sarcasm in it, clearly making a mental note of which students to keep an eye on, then moved briskly to the next agenda item.
"If anyone wants to volunteer, speak up. If no one does, I'll choose. I don't want to waste time on this."
The whole selection process took barely two minutes.
Talk about efficient.
Taking advantage of the pause, Ryoji glanced around the classroom.
Out of the 30 students in the class (not counting the teacher), there were several Heroic Spirit students. Suzuka Gozen and Achilles were just two of them, he spotted 4 or 5 others, both familiar and unfamiliar.
"If all of them had their Heroic Spirit memories and broke out into a chaotic Heroic Spirit battle, now that would be interesting…" Ryoji mused to himself with a hint of chaos-loving glee.
To him, normal school life was dreadfully boring. Back in middle school, he frequently skipped class. Driven by an uneasy sense of urgency, he used to roam all around the town, trying to find any connection to the hidden supernatural world, to break into the realm of the mystical.
But after searching all over Kinoko City, he couldn't find a single trace of Magecraft.
He even searched the web for legendary TYPE-MOON locations like Fuyuki City, but there wasn't a single clue. It was as if those places didn't even exist in this world.
That had left him feeling extremely discouraged for a time.
Even now, despite having regained his powers thanks to his "True Soul Awakening", he still couldn't give up the obsession with finding the hidden world.
After all, if he couldn't figure out which worldline he was in, he might just end up in a future where Human Order Incineration or Human Order Freezing happened.
And in this chaotic world, who knew whether Gudao would be able to save humanity?
If not, they were all totally screwed.
"If worst comes to worst… I'll just use Charm on Scáthach!"
Ryoji thought to himself grimly, though his inner voice was half-serious and half-mocking.
Scáthach, without her memories as a Heroic Spirit, would never be able to resist his Charm. He could pose her however he wanted, even tempered steel would become soft and pliable in his hands.
…The only issue was that Charm, as a skill, was way too brutal.
Once activated, the person affected would become his dog for life, losing their sense of self and even their soul. They would follow his every word, even die for him without hesitation. It was a complete and utter violation of their personality and dignity.
'Still, thinking about it… was kind of thrilling.'
As his thoughts ran wild, the school broadcast rang out across the entire campus.
At Scáthach's command, the students scattered like pardoned prisoners, all making their way toward the gymnasium.
Ryoji hadn't been chosen as class rep, and it seemed Scáthach had no intention of calling on him either. Normally, whenever a teacher picked class reps, they'd never skip over him, he always had to personally decline the position.
He didn't know what was going through her mind, but he was glad to stay out of it.
Scene Change, Opening Ceremony
"Ya~hey! Hello everyone! I'm the beloved big bro of all students, your principal, Merlin!"
Inside the gymnasium, a young man with white curly hair, dressed in a slim-fit suit, stood on the stage with a smile as bright as a blooming flower, waving to the more than 1,000 students present.
"Trash."
"Garbage."
"Scum among human beings."
From the crowd below, faint curses could be heard.
"Haha~ seems like there's some misunderstanding," Merlin laughed without a trace of concern, still smiling brightly. "But let's just pretend we didn't hear that!"
He pulled a sheet of paper from his coat pocket.
"The Director's a busy guy, so he gave me a written speech to read… ahem... hahaha, 'Welcome to school, you mongrel trash'... yeah, not exactly something I can say out loud, huh? Let's skip that."
Everyone heard that deeply offensive greeting.
But this sort of thing was an annual tradition, so it only caused a minor stir before people lost interest.
"Chirp chirp… tweet tweet…"
Merlin droned on for half an hour with the usual clichés, "Find your value," "Work hard to make something of yourself." Ryoji mentally tuned it all out and turned it into background chicken noises.
"Now, let's welcome the new student council president to give a speech."
"Umu! I have arrived!"
Ryoji's expression immediately turned serious.
Watching the radiant ojou-sama of the Roman Consortium step on stage and deliver her passionate speech, he nodded along solemnly from time to time.
That was one hell of a speech.
"Umu?"
"Umu!"
By the end of it, half the student body had been brainwashed by the "Umu Monster."
"Hmm?"
Just as Ryoji was mentally drowning in a chorus of "Umu"s, he suddenly felt a gaze lock onto him.
Being stared at was nothing new for him, but this one felt different. It lacked the usual burning admiration; there was no lust, no emotion. It was cold, clinical… calculated.
Following the gaze, Ryoji's eyes met Merlin's across the crowd.
The principal's sharp gaze pierced through the sea of students, landing on him with laser precision. The goofy stage smile was gone, his expression now held a probing, analytical edge.
When their eyes met, Merlin looked faintly surprised, then gave Ryoji a small smile before looking away.
"Why was he staring at me?" Ryoji frowned internally.
He didn't know Merlin well. Though Merlin was technically the school's principal, he was rarely ever on campus. Most school matters were handled by the vice-principal or department heads.
Had he heard the rumors about me?
Ryoji was well aware of his habit of stirring up chaos around school. But he didn't dwell on it too much, he just brushed it off.
(End of Chapter)
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