[HOMEROOM SESSION]
Those two words were written largely on the board, as our teacher cleared his throat before he began to write something else underneath it.
[Morgan Lafleur]
âGreetings, everyone! My name is Morgan Lafleur and I will be your teacher from now on. And yes, I am your homeroom teacher.â
â¦
The young boy standing in front of meâin front of the whole class was my teacher. Yes, my homeroom teacherâ¦
Did I just make a bad first impression�
This year looked bleakâ¦
âIf you donât know, the homeroom teacher assigned at the first year will always be your homeroom teacher until you graduate from Basic Levelâs Special Class 4, to better assess your growth and help you improve.â
â¦Teacher, did you just read my mind?
I changed my mind, yup, it shouldnât be
it should be â
Oh, how good, Lyra! Why must trouble always come after me? I just want to live a peaceful lifeâ¦
In the beginning, how could they assign such a young teacher to be our teacher?
âSensei!â
As the class went into silent, Luca bravely raised his hand.
âYes, is there any question?â
âYes, Iâm sorry if this might be rude, but you look so young and Iâm wonderingâ¦â
Thereâs a slight pause.
ââ¦Ah, of course.â
Our teacher snapped out of it and finally looked at us with understanding eyes.
âAh, my hair. No wonder. So, to answer your questionâ¦,â Morgan-sensei put his hair at the back of his earsâand, voila, his ears are pointed!
âI am a dwarf. My real age? Itâs a company secret. However, I am indeed your real Sensei⦠and not a Senpai, okay?â
He smiled as he explained things but I could sense how he put an emphasis on [
] part as his eyes darted at me.
U, uhhh⦠Like I said, it was a misunderstandingâ¦
I lightly bowed my head, hoping that heâd interpret that gesture as an apology.
âOkay, first of all! Welcome to Harmonia Academy and congratulations on entering the special class! You are all the chosen children of this year, so letâs clap our hands first thing first!â
We clapped our hands obediently. Some of the kids even cheered out in their happiness.
âSecond, let me brief the essential rules of our school. First and the foremostâequality. You may say your full name and your familyâs status, but when youâre interacting with one another, drop any kind of different treatment based on status. So, if thereâs any of you who acts bad with the excuse of your familyâs high social standing⦠please, by all means, report them to me and Sensei will definitely punish the bad kids!â
As if to make sure the kids understood he was serious, he made a tapping gesture with his teaching stick and put on a scary face.
â¦I thought the dwarves were quite childish, just in line with their appearancesâ¦?
I might need to revise my prior knowledge.
âThen, you need to know that Harmonia Academy is full of unique and potential studentsâand often, their peculiarity attracts bad people⦠So, please, do not reveal any of the schoolâs strange and unique things to outsiders, especially to those who seem bad. You can tell only your closest ones and fellow students here. You donât want to have your friend kidnapped because you carelessly tell people about their uniqueness, right?â
What a weird rule, but it indeed has some⦠facts.
Tolerance and secrecyâah, yeah, they are the codes of this academy.
Though I doubt children around my age could really adhere to them, but well, the security in this academy is top-notch, so there hadnât been any major incident happening.
âMoving on to the next important thingâyour schedule. I will distribute this paper to you, so make sure to read it well.â
When Morgan-sensei delivered my paper to me, I awkwardly smiled at him, and his expression didnât change. Is this a good sign that he has decided to let the past be bygones?
My attention is focused on the paper next.
[ Day 1 - General Knowledge (Math, Science), Home Economics
Day 2 - Social Studies: Geography & History
Day 3* â Magic, Physical Combat, Elective (Music, Arts, Literature)
Day 4 - Moral & Etiquette, Physical Education
Day 5 â Reading, Practical Classes or Adventure ]
Day 3 seems so packed⦠Wait, thereâs a star next to it, so will there be some explanationâ¦?
âOkay, pay attention to Day 3, you will see a star there.â
â¦Sensei, do you really have some kind of mind connection to me?
âYou have to take at least one of the three: Magic, Physical Combat, or Elective. You can even take all of them. They are held at different hours, so you can take them all without any worry. You can also stay in to practice more if you only choose one out of the three.â
I read carefully the lessons provided in Elective: music, arts, and literature.
â¦Okay, I will just take magic and physical combat classes.
âLyra, which classes are you taking?â Luca asked.
âMagic and physical combat.â
âAh, same with me.â
âEh? Iâll only take physical combat, Luca,â Kiri added.
âAh⦠Guess I will be the only one alone⦠Iâll only take Elective⦠it will be artsâ¦,â Iris looked a bit disappointedâ¦
âUh, should I take it, too?â I began to contemplate.
âN-no! Taking two are already tiring for you, right? Iâll be fine!â
Iris quickly shook her head as she looked at me in a worry.
Well, I donât think it would be a problem with me having one lifetimeâs worth of experience and lessons stored in my head, but to be honest, Iâm not that interested in any of the Elective, so wellâ¦
âAhem! Can I talk again?â Morgan-sensei, whose existence was kind of forgotten because the students were noisy due to Day 3âs menu, cleared his throat and started to talk again.
âYour teacher for Day 1, 2, 4, and 5 will be⦠me! At least for this year. For Day 3, your teachers will depend on the classes you take. Hmm, okay, I shouldnât be bombarding your small and cute heads with more information, so thatâs it for now! More explanation will be given when the real classes start. Now, can I have your introduction?â
Which means, I will be meeting Morgan-sensei a lot. Morgan-sensei, you are not a petty person whoâd hold such a grudge against a little girl like me⦠right?
âMy name is Kiri Elsworth, just call me Kiri⦠Nice to meet you,â Kiri briefly introduced himself in front of the class, bowed down, and quickly went back to his seat.
â¦Poor Kiri, he became the first to come up and introduce himself!
Some who recognized the name [Elsworth] gasped.
They seemed to realize who Kiri is and speculate something else⦠which will be confirmed soon as Lucaâs already standing in front.
âMy name is Lucius Aideen seo Navarrete, but just call me Luca. Nice to meet you!â
Yesâan uproar happened so quickly as Lucaâs identity was confirmed.
âWeâre in the same class as the crown prince?!â
âOh my, my parents often say that if I make some foolish blunders in front of the royal family, my mommy and daddy will be in trouble!â
âWhoa, is this the real life?!â
Noticing the uproar and uprising tension, Luca clapped his hands.
âHey, hey, remember the school rule? Nothing is going to happen! Iâm just your classmate!â
His expression already showed his disappointment. Ah, well⦠Luca, you canât expect them to just be calm and say, âOh, the crown princeâs here. As expected. Howdy, Luca?â
â¦Ekh, which means, itâs my turn now!!
âIâm Alrescha Lyra Hartmann, please call me Lyra. Itâs nice to meet you and I hope we all can be good friends.â
I can hear the other kidsâ reaction, and theyâre likeâ¦
âEeeeh, her eyes are of different colors?!â
âItâs the Hartmann, of course itâs natural for them to have hete⦠hete⦠I forgot, but Papa has told me about it once.â
âEh, everyone from her familyâs got different eye colors?!â
âWhoa, we have the crown prince and his future-knight aide⦠and now we have one of the four dukesâ daughter here? This is [Special] Class, indeed!â
I can only smile stiffly and sit down. Iris turned even more timid because of the other kidsâ uproar before her turnâ¦
Forgive us, Iris!
âMy name is Iris Soreil, and uhm⦠itâs nice to meet you!â
Her voice was small but by the time she said [itâs nice to meet you], it sounded like a shout for Irisâ size!
Ahaha, speaking of her shy personality, thatâs just so adorable!
I feel the impulse to hug her right here, right now, at this very moment, but I shouldnât be asking for more attention and trouble on my first day at school.
The introduction continued as I realized some were from noble houses while there were also those who came from ordinary families.
11 students in my class are humans. Some also have the genes of other races mixed in, but only a small portion of itâjust like me.
There are 3 beastmen, one dwarf, and one elf⦠Ah, weâre missing oni, eh?
But well, we still have members of the [Black] faction and [White] faction!
â¦I didnât mean to discriminate or group them, but we simply grouped them based on the faction that most of the races took.
[Grey] or [Neutral] faction is usâthe humans and mixed breeds might be categorized here, but that depends.
[Black] or [Dark] faction consists of Oni and Beastmen.
[White] or [Light] faction consists of Elves and Dwarves.
Meanwhile, the remaining raceâthe dragon race stands alone, turning blind eyes on our conflicts. Theyâre kinda cool, huh?
So, yeah, my class essentially has all three factions present.
Morgan-sensei then shared his entertaining stories and some other important matters before realizing what was in the next agenda.
âAh, after this, we will be taking a tour of the academy⦠Since itâs your first day and all, be happy that the real lessons will start tomorrow instead!â
All of us cheered at Morgan-senseiâs announcement! Some were cheers of disappointmentâwait, do you like to study that much? Those who got disappointed over such a joyous announcement, come to me, let me lecture you right away!
Oh wait, this is their first time at school, perhaps they couldnât wait to start studying for realâ¦?
Ah, really, children⦠They donât understand the sufferings that they will experience soonâ¦
Unless they really love studying.
I remember somebody had announced that their hobby was studying during my lifetime as Reinst⦠Ah really, what a hobby.
After the cheers calmed down, Morgan-sensei opened his mouth, like he wanted to say something, but thenâthe speaker in our class made a sound.
âAnnouncement: thereâs a sudden thing occurring, so all students and teachers should quickly make their ways to the auditorium. I repeatââ
Morgan-sensei closed his mouth and murmured, âHmm, I wonder what it is⦠Could it be
â¦? Oh wellâ¦â
I was hoping heâd give some kind of explanation, but no. He immediately gathered us together to form a tidy line as he led us out of the room, joining the other teachers and students who also formed the tidy lines.
âLyra, I wonder whatâs this about?â
âHmm, Iris, I wonder about it, too. Hey, Kiri, Luca! Got something in mind? You two were inside the classroom longer than us.â
âWell, we didnât really talk to the others that muchâ¦,â Kiri timidly said.
âWe were more focused to talking to each other,â Luca confirmed.
â¦Not good.
I want to find out!!
Guess I need to obediently walk and wait patiently for the announcement in the auditorium.
But as soon as we didnât talk to one another, we managed to pick up gossips from the other students.
âCould it be aboutâ¦
âOoh, the rumored girl?!â
âReally, who heard about it first, is it even real?â
âOh, I hope itâs real! Iâd like to see that girl!â
âAre you sure that the rumored girl is reallyâ¦?â
âYes! I heard that she is a pureblooded dragon!!â
â¦Say what?
Wha?!
A⦠D-dragon?!
The four of us seemed like we had the same thing in our mind, as we observed one anotherâs surprised expression.
âL-Luca, you really havenât heard of anything? Y-youâre the crown prince, and if thereâs indeed such a matter as the appearance of a pureblooded dragonâ¦â (Lyra)
âI really have no ideaâ¦â (Luca)
âL-Lyra, if Luca didnât even know about it, could it be that it was only a gossip?â (Kiri)
âA dragon here? Oh myâ¦â (Iris)
We kept walking despite our confusion and speculation, but then a senior shouted.
âHey, change of venue! My friend said that thereâs going to be a battle between the dragon and the [Void] user in the stadium!â
The teachers were surprised and they quickly conversed with one another to figure out what they should be doingâbut then the studentsâstarting from the older onesâall started to run in the same direction: to the stadium!
Some teachers were like, âScrew it!â and followed the students, so the other teachers also followed and guided their remaining students to join the others to the stadium.
On the other hand, I froze.
A dragon⦠and the⦠what did he say? A battle between the dragon and the⦠[Void] user?!
Is there other [Void] users here?
Or⦠is it my�
Wait a minute, it could be a prank that the naughty child devised to trick usâ
Yes, that must be it!
Suddenly, another ringing voice resounded throughout the whole school building as another announcement telling us to stay calm and to head towards the stadium could be heard.
ââ¦â
I was wrong. Iâm sorry, dear senior. You were telling the truth, after all.
âL-Lyra, your older brotherâs a [Void] user, right?â Kiri asked me after he heard the content of the announcement and deduced that the rumor about a battle between a dragon and a [Void] user might be true.
Cold sweats started to drip from my forehead. I nodded.
âThen, is your older brotherâ¦?â Luca asked.
I couldnât deny nor confirm itâI was wondering of the same thing.
Mom would definitely know and talk to Alt-nii if she knew of another [Void] user, but the two of them didnât say anything about another [Void] user, so chances areâ¦
â¦Alt-nii is fighting the dragon girl?!
A dragonâs power is said to be so strong that the appearance of a single mad dragon could induce chaos in a city bustling with humans or elves or oni.
A dragon is said to hold way a lot more powerâboth magical and physical powerâin comparison to other races.
Whatâs a single human in front of such creature?
The image of my brother being beat around the bush by a ferocious dragon was projected into my mind against my own will.
Heck, my mind, what are you thinking?!
I snapped out of my thoughts and quickly ran to the same direction as the other students.
Thatâs right, itâs better to clarify the situation with my own eyes.
âAh, Lyraâwait!â Iris shouted from behind me, but I didnât let my steps slower at all.
âAfter her!â Luca commanded, and I guess that was when they started to run after me.
I donât understand. I canât comprehend the things happening in my second playthrough of the game called as [Life].
My first playthrough was relatively boring and⦠well, monotone. No notable ups and downs, or eventsâ¦
But this?
Troubles kept happening, and now, Iâm going to encounter a real and living pure-blooded dragon for the first time in forever?
I meanâthe history books said that the dragons all decided to move away to another continent with harsh environments, not wanting to get involved with the other racesâ battles, and from then on, it was near impossible to encounter them here?
And a dragon was last seen at around⦠300 or 400 years ago when the most influential female ruler of Riviera was on her way to take the throne?
A dragon appearing againâdoes this mark some kind of big event thatâs going to happen in the future?
â¦And thereâs my brother, as the user of the legendary elementâ[Void].
â¦Both of them are rumored to be up against each other at this very moment.
So, do the troubles come after me, or do they come after my big brother?
Will I be a close witness to a future keynote change in the history?
For the time being, letâs focus on our nearest future.
I continued to run with all my might while chanting my words that seemed more like a prayer at this point.