"Alea jacta est."
- attributed by Suetonius to Julius Caesar when he led his army across the Rubicon river in Northern Italy.
⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯⎯
When April began, I put on my ANHS uniform and stepped out of the house. For the first time in a while, both of my parents were home—and they had even gotten a car to drive me to school one last time.
"Are you ready to go, Yuki?" my father asked.
He's a stoic and steadfast man. Maybe it's a communication issue, but he expresses himself differently than most. Even so, his feelings still come through in his own way.
"Yes, Father. I'm ready," I replied in a formal tone.
"Yuki-chan, don't forget to leave all your electronic devices in your room, okay?" my mother reminded me, though I had already taken care of that.
"Yes, Mama. I locked them in my safe," I said with a smile.
Father gave a small nod, signaling us to get in the car and head for Advanced Nurturing High School.
As we drove, Mama—sitting in the passenger seat—turned and asked, "Yuki-chan, what class section are you in?"
I let out a nervous laugh before replying. "I'm probably in Class 1-C, if I consider factors beyond just my entrance exam." I sighed lightly.
From the rearview mirror, I saw Father nodding in acknowledgment. Mama smiled and said, "Class 1-C, huh? That brings back memories, doesn't it, Tenzou-kun?"
What did she mean by that…? I wondered.
"Indeed, Shiro," Father replied. "But I'd rather Shirayuki learn how things work at this school for herself. It's not our role as alumni to tell current students how the school operates, right?"
He wore a faint smirk as he said that.
So they really did go to ANHS... I wonder what it was like back then, I thought, gazing out the window at the school in the distance along the coastal road.
My new home for the next three years.And the place where everything will begin.
❄️❄️❄️❄️~ COTE: TSQ1Y ~❄️❄️❄️❄️
We arrived at the school gates. I hugged my parents goodbye, grabbed my luggage, and walked off without another word.
After the security check cleared my bags, I made my way to the bulletin board to check my class placement.
Class 1-C Adviser: Sakagami Kazuma
1. Hayashi Yumi (F)
2. Inoue Ayumi (F)
3. Ishizaki Daichi (M)
4. Isoyama Nagisa (F)
5. Kaneda Satoru (M)
6. Kimura Ryo (M)
7. Kinoshita Minori (F)
8. Kobayashi Emi (F)
9. Komiya Kyogo (M)
10. Kondou Reo (M)
11. Manabe Shiho (F)
12. Matsumoto Satoshi (M)
13. Mio Ibuki (F)
14. Morofuji Rika (F)
15. Nakamura Aya (F)
16. Nakaizumi Shirayuki (F)
17. Nishino Takeko (F)
18. Nomura Yuuji (M)
19. Oda Takumi (M)
20. Okabe Kuroda (F)
21. Ryuuen Kakeru (M)
22. Rokujima Minoru (M)
23. Satomi Hiroshi (M)
24. Shiina Hiyori (F)
25. Sonoda Masashi (M)
26. Suzuki Hidetoshi (M)
27. Suzumiya Takeshi (M)
28. Takahashi Kenji (M)
29. Tanaka Hiroko (F)
30. Tokitou Hiroya (M)
31. Watanabe Okuro (M)
32. Yamada Albert (M)
33. Yamaguchi Megumi (F)
34. Yamashita Saki (F)
35. Yamawaki Asuma (M)
36. Yabu Nanami (F)
37. Yajima Mariko (F)
38. Yamamoto Keisuke (M)
39. Yoshida Yuka (F)
40. Yoshimoto Kousetsu (M)
Just as I thought. Class 1-C, I mused, taking a deep breath.
My eyes paused on a familiar name—Ryuuen Kakeru. Just seeing it lit a fire inside me. Even after a year of readjustment, I knew my body couldn't compete physically with Class C's delinquents. So I needed to establish dominance early.
"It's time to get things done," I muttered and walked into the school building, quickly locating Class 1-C's classroom.
The room quieted briefly as I stepped inside before everyone returned to their own conversations. I calmly walked to my assigned seat, unaffected by the murmurs.
As I looked around, several faces stood out: sunglasses-wearing Albert, short blue-haired Ibuki, white-haired Shiina, long-haired Ryuuen, hazelnut-haired Ishizaki, and bowl-cut Kaneda. My eidetic memory filed each detail away.
A few minutes later, a middle-aged man wearing glasses walked in, holding a balloon tied to a string.
Without addressing the strange balloon, he picked up a whiteboard marker and began writing in Hiragana:
SakagamiKazuma
"Good morning, Class 1-C. I'm Sakagami Kazuma, your homeroom teacher for the next three years. I'll also be your Mathematics teacher," he said flatly, showing no sign that the balloon bothered him.
He then continued, "Now, let me explain the smartphones you'll find beneath your desks."
Retrieving the phone from the hidden compartment, I followed along as he gave a rundown of the device. We were told to scan our ID barcodes, confirming ownership of the phones. My phone lit up with my credentials and displayed:
Private Points: 100,000 pp
"With private points, you can purchase anything within the school grounds. Think of them as yen within this ecosystem. However, all activity on these phones is monitored. Transferring sensitive or internal data will result in expulsion."
I tuned out after that—none of this was new to me.
While the rest of the class buzzed over the points, Sakagami-sensei released the balloon, letting it drift. Seemingly meaningless—until I realized it was now blocking the classroom's security camera.
So the observation has already begun, I thought as I slipped my phone into my jacket pocket. Sakagami-sensei said nothing more.
"Everyone! May I have your attention, please?"
A familiar voice called out. It was Manabe, standing at the front of the room.
"Let's introduce ourselves before the entrance ceremony starts!" she said cheerfully.
Her energy instantly lifted the room's atmosphere. I remembered her well—ambitious and sociable. This was her way of gathering influence, probably aiming for Class Representative.
Interesting start...
"I'll go first! I'm Shiho Manabe. I love doing my nails, hanging out with friends, and fashion in general! Let's have a great time together!"
Before the next person could speak, a loud sigh echoed behind me.
"This is boring… Everyone shut your traps."
The irritated voice belonged to none other than Ryuuen. He stood up and slammed the table, commanding attention.
Now was my chance.
I let a commanding aura rise and responded in a mocking, authoritative tone.
"Oya? Smacking your own desk already? You'll be using that for three years, you know. What you're doing now is even more boring, Dragon Boy."
I leaned to the right, sensing his movement. Just as he lunged to grab my hair, I dodged, kicked my chair backward to the left, and locked his arm with mine. With one fluid motion, I shifted my weight, hooked his neck with my right arm, and threw him hard onto a table—his body crashing down with a loud thud.
The entire classroom went silent.
And just like that, I set the tone for the rest of the day—and the coming year.
Oh, the irony. The so-called Dragon Boy fell before he could even claim his throne.
❄️❄️❄️❄️~ COTE: TSQ1Y ~❄️❄️❄️❄️
The entire class became rattled with the fact that a girl smaller than the guy behind her had managed to outdo him in a physical fight with single swift move, a product of underestimating me using pure violence.
And now, he's laying his back at the table I'm using. Some were shocked in fear with some nearby even going as far as getting away from our sitting area quickly, while some were baffled by this sudden development.
When others was about to go to the door, I immediately made eye contact to those people.
"What happens in this room, stays in this room. Got it?" I said coldly, which made them flinch. They looked st Sakagami-sensei to only see him smile at this development.
When I'm sensing that Ryuuen is trying to move his body, I took a water bottle from my backpack while I got two of my fingers to cork his nostrils, thereby blocking his breathing from the nose.
With it, I started pouring over the contents of my water bottle to his opened mouth while looking at him with disinterest.
This is a more direct way of doing things when dealing with a battle junkie like Ryuuen, by inflicting instinctual fear.
Everyone watched in horror as Ryuuen started choking from the water, an immediate effect of his nose being blocked by my fingers which is also holding his head upright at the same time.
When he tried to grab my arms again, I swung the metal bottle to his body where his liver is located. I took advantage of the centrifugal force from the water content inside the bottle to produce a force equal to that of a tennis ball impacting his liver at 20 meters per second.
"G-GAH!" Ryuuen struggled.
This is enough for Ryuen's body to struggle from a partial sensory overload as his body reflexively flipped himself to the side.
This made him fall from the table, and has all four of his limbs on the ground. Now out of my grasp, he gasps for air and coughing out the water that got into his lungs.
I looked around to see the horrified look on some of the girls' faces, some were intrigued, and some even holding their anger for my actions.
I snickered as I said to them.
"You guys haven't seen a real retribution in real time? You guys must have quite a peaceful school life, I envy you all." I sneered.
"Heh, what a joke! A little girl beating a guy like this?!" Ishizaki retorted as I looked over at his seat on the front.
"And what of it, Ishizaki? Aspiring to lead the class while you're excited with splurging your private points after the ceremony. Are you dumb?" I sneered back at him, which made him slam the table in anger.
"You dumb bi-" As Ishizaki was about to get in the stance of trying to attack me from a distance, Ryuuen, who was on the ground, was trying to grapple my legs to try and break it.
I sighed in exasperation inwardly as I let out a powerful kick on his shin which managed to tear the black stockings that I'm wearing but that kick made him fly and flip 180 degrees from his last position, now laying on the ground with his back facing onto it.
Ryuuen, expectedly, is just shy away from going unconscious so I then let out a powerful stomp on the ground just an inch away from his important family-continuing area, which made Ishizaki and other men nearby flinch in fear.
"Albert, Daichi, get up and hold this guy for me." I looked at both of them with a boring look on my face. The both of them flinched before nodding as the two giants approached me and got Ryuuen up from his spot with one of them held each one of his two arms.
"A boy who feels no fear, but pleasure from pain. I know what made you like that, Ryuuen Kakeru-kun. You'll blab all about how violence and strength rules this world as if the law of the jungle applies here.
But all I see is a boring battle junkie that can't hold a candle against a girl smaller than you. How pitiful." I said to him in disinterest as I looked at Albert and said to him in English.
"The sunglasses do look good on you, Albert." I complimented him.
"It'll be boring if I'm the only one who has what it takes to unify the class. Join me." I added the last sentence as an order.
This made Albert baffled for a moment before nodding at me in acknowledgment. I then looked over to Ishizaki and to everyone and declared to everyone in Japanese.
"If you guys want to continue receiving your money, be a good and disciplined high school student, as well as an exceptional and loyal subject of Class 1-C." I declared with a serious tone as I looked at Ryuuen with disinterest before adding "Or you'll know what happens to those that disobey my orders."
I looked at Ryuuen before pointing my two fingers towards his nostrils, making his body instinctively struggle as I grasped his mouth and said to him in an authoritative tone.
"Violence is the most powerful tool when everything is out of the table, not an easy way for an individual to reign over other people. Fear from this will turn to anger, and when anger comes, violence will be reciprocated through hate.
"In the end, your reign will end before you know it. Now, behave, will you?"
I said to him with a finishing evil smile on my face, which only Ryuuen, Ishizaki, Albert, and Sakagami-sensei noticed, with the two of them flinching in fear, Ryuuen furrowing his eyebrows and has his eyes look elsewhere to avoid contact with mine.
"You're a monster, tch." Ryuuen scoffed as Sakagami-sensei was appreciative of such a gesture.
Seeing that the spectacle has been over now, Sakagami-sensei clapped slowly with his usual stoic face before saying with a smile.
"Interesting, Nakaizumi Shirayuki-kun. Am I right to assume that Shirayuki-kun will become Class 1-C's Representative?" He asked with a slight smile now appearing on his face.
I looked over to each and everyone's faces, in which others were having the faces of either being scared, intrigued and even some of them having reverence and respect in their eyes, but all of them have collectively agreed in this one thought.
Nakaizumi Shirayuki is Class 1-C's Class Representative.
My plan to take over Class 1-C has been completed.
❄️❄️❄️❄️~ COTE: TSQ1Y ~❄️❄️❄️❄️
After that event, I stood behind the lectern in front of everyone inside the classroom. Ryuuen, now back on his seat with his psyche forever changed by my actions earlier with a little hope of recovery. Albert and Ishizaki, and some others looking at me with a face of reverence, while some having disapproval and fearful gazes.
Oh well, all plans aren't perfect. After all, this was only a plan of taking over Class 1-C with a priority of subjugating Ryuuen before he could place a foothold to this class.
"Before we all go to the entrance ceremony, may I remind you all to have decency with our public image. The school does not reward students who do not observe things that I have told everyone beforehand.
Remember, you're only free to act like this because I approve of such acts. Do me a favor and act like an honor student. It's all for your own well-being anyway, thank you very much."
I declared in front of everyone as I can see everyone acknowledging this fact alone. Sakagami-sensei meanwhile looked at me with curiosity.
"The entrance ceremony will start in a little bit. Tidy up and follow me." He said as everyone else started to tidy up their things and went outside.
I followed suit with my luggage bag as only Sakagami-sensei and I were left inside the room. He then took the balloon that was now floating around the room and gave it to me as he said to me with a smirk on his face.
"Impressive deduction of the S-System, Class Representative. I expect more from you in the next three years, Shirayuki-kun." He smiled.
"Thank you, Sensei. I'll do my best to get everyone to reach Class A before we enter our second year." I said to him before I left the room with him leaving the room last.
As all of us arrived at the auditorium and the entrance ceremony started, Chairman Sakayanagi started his speech to everyone.
At one point, when Chairman Sakayanagi got into the topic of leadership and discipline, he himself stared at me for a few moments before averting his gaze and continued on with his speech until the end.
After the entrance ceremony has ended, the class has been dismissed since the official start of classes would be from tomorrow onwards.
It would be at this time too that every student is now free to do anything they liked for today.
The difference of mine from the other classes was the fact that my classmates left only after they went to me and asked for my permission for everyone to be dismissed.
I only insisted on spending their private points wisely before I left them to their own devices with indifference.
Some of the students went to the dormitories to check their room out, while others went to Keyaki Mall. After all, they were still eager to spend their private points on things that they needed to buy.
I for one would go back to the dormitory and have my luggage be brought out. Technically, it was not said in the brochure that carrying your own clothes within the school is not allowed.
That's also the case for me carrying my sanitary products with me as I hid it behind each of the clothes that I carried to this school. This saves me around a month's worth of expenses that would've added to my already-limited money.
Since gas, water and electricity usage within the dorms are free and aren't deducted from our private points, drinking and bathing water wouldn't be an issue for me at all, nor does heating or cooling the room too during the summer and winter months.
After confirming all of that, I went to the convenience store to get the free shampoo, hair conditioner and a body soap. Just this free stuff alone proves my conjecture to the class that what I've said to them is real.
Meanwhile, I witnessed a spectacular scene behind me as I left the convenience store.
"Wow- so scary~! Let me guess... You're from Class D, right?" An upperclassman asked.
"So what?!?!" the red-haired hot-headed boy replied, having spilled his noodles on the ground. That must be Sudou Ken from Class 1-D. Beside him was someone sitting on the bench, my target of protection.
It's Ayanokoji Kiyotaka, currently eating his cup noodles while busy listening to the conversation.
"The dog's barking! Anyway, you guys will face hell soon enough anyway." Another one of the upperclassmen replied as the three of them left Sudou and Ayanokoji to their devices.
That's also my cue for myself to leave the vicinity as there is no point in further contact with Kiyotaka this early, but it's close enough.