The Boarding School Lie

The moment the gates opened, I knew something was wrong.

Not slightly wrong. Not “maybe I took the wrong train” wrong.

Catastrophically wrong.

The kind of wrong where your survival instincts start whispering, You should probably run.

In front of me stood a massive iron gate tall enough to make prison walls feel insecure. Beyond it stretched a campus that looked less like a school and more like the private palace of someone who owned several countries. Marble statues lined the path. Gardens were trimmed so perfectly they looked fake. A fountain sparkled in the center courtyard like something out of a movie.

And standing all around that fountain were students.

All girls.

Every single one of them.

Elegant uniforms. Perfect posture. Long hair swaying in the breeze like a shampoo commercial.

I glanced down at my own reflection in the gate.

Short black hair. Slightly wrinkled uniform.

Very much a boy.

“…Huh.”

Behind me, my parents climbed out of the car like this was the happiest day of their lives.

“Ren! Sweetie!” Mom called, throwing her arms around me before I could escape. “Your first day at boarding school!”

Boarding school.

Right.

That was the lie they’d told me.

Two weeks earlier, my parents got a letter from an elite boarding school saying I had been accepted. Which was very odd, because I didn’t remember ever applying in the first place.

I felt it was a bit fishy at first, but I thought, Hey, what could be so bad about this, right?

I get to be away from home and the farm, and I also have the chance to attend some richy-rich school for snobby kids.

I was mostly looking forward to the prestigious lunches I’d heard so much about. Buttery lobster and filet mignon buffets. State-of-the-art facilities. And cute rich girls with big boobies that maybe I could marry so I’d never have to work again for the rest of my life.

Right?

I was completely wrong.

I mean, to any other guy this might seem like heaven…

…but my gut told me I had just arrived in hell.

My dad slapped my back like he was congratulating me for winning the lottery.

“A wonderful place for education!” he said proudly. “One of the most prestigious academies in the country!”

I slowly turned back toward the giant golden sign hanging above the gate.

It read:

Seishin Elite Academy for Young Ladies

I pointed at it.

“…You two want to explain something?”

Mom smiled.

Dad smiled.

Neither of them answered.

I looked back at the sign.

“THIS IS AN ALL-GIRLS SCHOOL! YOU KNOW I’M A BOY, RIGHT?!”

Then at the crowd of girls staring at me like I had just escaped from a zoo enclosure.

Then back at my parents.

“…You said this was a normal boarding school.”

Mom squeezed my shoulders lovingly.

“It is!”

Dad nodded.

“For girls.”

There was a long pause.

I felt something inside my soul crack.

“You sold me.”

Mom gasped dramatically. “Sold you? Ren, how could you say something so horrible?”

Dad shook his head sadly.

“This hurts us more than it hurts you, son.”

That’s when I snapped.

“LIARS!”

Several girls near the gate jumped.

“You are lying!” I pointed accusingly at them. “You told me this was a normal school! This is clearly some kind of weird rich-girl academy!”

Mom waved sweetly as Dad started walking back toward the car.

“Oh Ren, don’t be so dramatic.”

Dad opened the car door.

“You’ll be fine!”

“You’re abandoning me!”

“Think of the opportunity!” Mom called cheerfully.

“The opportunity to die?!” I shouted.

But they were already climbing back into the car.

Dad rolled down the window.

“Remember, the academy promised excellent university connections!”

Mom leaned out beside him.

“And the money they offered us was very generous!”

My eye twitched.

“You admitted it! You literally sold me! How much was it? How much was I worth?”

“20 million yen,” he said proudly.

Dad gave a thumbs-up.

“Good luck, son!”

I guess I couldn’t be that angry.

Honestly… I probably would’ve sold myself for that much too.

And just like that, before I even finished my thought, they drove away.

I stood there in silence as the car disappeared down the road.

Wind rustled the trees.

The girls kept staring.

One of them fainted.

“…Great,” I muttered.

I grabbed my suitcase.

“Well, Ren,” I sighed to myself. “You’ve officially been abandoned in a castle full of girls who probably hate you. But maybe this is a good thing. I mean, if they don’t hate me… maybe I can have two or three girlfriends and build my own wonderful harem of beautiful, big-boobie rich girls.”

“Don’t even think about it.”

The voice came from behind me.

Cold.

Sharp.

Terrifying.

I slowly turned around.

Standing at the top of the academy steps was a tall woman in an immaculate black suit. Her silver hair was tied neatly behind her head, and her eyes locked onto me like a sniper locking onto a target.

Most importantly, her cup size had to be double Gs.

I could tell at first glance after my years of rigorous study of the beautiful female physique.

She descended the stairs with slow, deliberate steps.

Every girl nearby instantly stood up straight.

I suddenly had the strong feeling this woman could legally declare war on small countries.

She stopped a few feet in front of me.

Her eyes scanned me from head to toe.

Her expression did not improve.

“…So this,” she said flatly, “is the boy.”

I raised a hand awkwardly.

“Hi. I’m Re—”

“SILENCE, FILTH!”

I screeched in fear.

“I’M SORRY!”

Her eyes narrowed.

“You,” she continued, pointing at me like I was evidence in a criminal trial, “are the embodiment of every poor decision humanity has ever made.”

“…That seems a little harsh.”

“A walking disturbance. A waste of oxygen.”

“Still harsh.”

“A biological complication.”

“…Okay, that one doesn’t even make sense.”

Her glare intensified.

“Ren Arakawa,” she said coldly. “Welcome to Seishin Elite Academy.”

She paused.

“The only girls academy in the country.”

Another pause.

“And the institution that now considers you its greatest problem.”

I swallowed.

Above us, dozens of girls had gathered at the windows, staring down like curious spectators watching a rare animal.

One girl gasped.

Another dropped her textbook.

A third girl slowly pulled out her phone like she was documenting a rare wildlife sighting.

Whispers spread through the crowd.

“Is that him?”

“He’s really here…”

“That’s a boy…”

One girl frantically scribbled in a notebook.

Another hid behind a pillar.

Someone else whispered,

“Are boys normally that… tall?”

The woman in front of me folded her arms.

“You,” she said, her voice dripping with disdain, “are the academy’s first male student.”

She leaned closer.

“And every moment you spend here will be carefully observed.”

“…Observed?”

“Yes.”

She straightened.

“You are our social experiment. The only reason you were even accepted into this place was to be studied. You will follow every single rule and regulation accordingly…”

Her eyes narrowed again.

“…and I’ll make sure of it myself.”

And suddenly I had a very bad feeling about the rest of the school year.

Because if this woman had anything to say about it….

I might now survive the first week