First Day of School ①

I woke up from my futon inside an inn within the campus. It’s actually already 3 days since the start of the entrance examinations itself. I couldn’t even expect how easy the test actually was for me.

As I was having breakfast in the common room within the inn, I also noticed others who were also having their own breakfasts as well. I think they were also the students as well, but the erringly silent room was probably my own fault as well… Why? Well…

…

Flashback...

When I arrived at the Math Building after I received my stub, a guard was standing in the front of the building. That guard looks like a foreigner like the bouncers I see in anime. When the guard has seen me, he started to speak to me in English.

[Boy, where’s your stub?]

[Is it required, Mr. Guard?]

[Ho… You can speak English fluently with a good accent, huh? Alright, you’ve already passed the second phase. Proceed to the leftmost room on the first floor of the building.]

[Thank you very much.]

[You're welcome.]

The two of us then greeted each other back in Japanese. I guess he could also speak and understand Japanese as well. How cool…

After that encounter, I went to the leftmost room where there was a table in front of the door which I bet would be where the stub would be collected. And when I went there, I was right.

[Your stub, please.]

[Here.]

I immediately gave my stub to the ones collecting it in which the lady who was on the table then wrote up something on a paper and then gave it to me as she said.

[Here’s your paper bracelet. Wear this on your dominant hand’s wrist before entering the room. This will be proof that you’ll be participating in the exam. Other necessary instructions will be made by the examiner. Do you understand, Nakamura-san?]

[Yes, thank you.]

I replied as I did what she told me and then entered the room which actually was a person short of being actually full and the examiner himself was already there in front of us.

[Since this room’s full now, let me tell you all the instructions that will be given to this test since this test is a very hard one.

Examinee numbers 00022, 00102, 00392, 00431, 00456, and 00462. You guys are out of my exam room.]

When the examiner said it, the 6 out of 50 examinees who were here immediately got frozen as the examiner then added something. Good thing that my examinee number was no. 00500.

[These six have already been proven to collaborate with one another to cheat on the test using pencil tapping techniques. We have 8 cameras around the room as well as hidden cameras that are installed in this room. You six, get out of my exam room, now.]

As the examiner said, all of the 6 who were called for cheating immediately left the examination room. After that, he then added something else…

[Although I would also say that I am not forbidding any kind of cheating in this test but if I caught anyone cheating in this room, you need to get your pencil down and get out of this room after I called your examinee number. Is that crystal clear to you all?]

[[[[[Yes, sensei!]]]]]

[Good. You have 100 minutes to finish this 100-question test. Start now.]

I nodded to myself as the timer started and when I checked the contents of the actual test, I realized something as to why the test is extremely hard this time around. Very strict monitoring on the tests, and above all…

[So that’s one of the reasons why this test was deemed to be really hard… These questions are not just your typical questionnaire that can be answered by someone who graduates middle school.]

The questions and the needed answers for these questions are 4 years ahead in terms of subjects that would be taught… In short…

[What the hell, this is some university-level trick questions we have here… Are they really serious to approve this one on a high school examination?!]

And to be honest, I would bet that everyone else would’ve thought about that as well… But if there’s something that I’ve done in the past…

It’s actually the fact that I reviewed the Tokyo University Exam questions myself before I even made it into my 3rd-year middle school…

For now, I steadily answered every question that I can answer in this examination. After the exams were done 1 hour and 40 minutes later…

[Times up! Flip your answer sheets now!]

As the examiner said that, everyone who remained here flipped their answer sheets including myself.

Around 27 out of 50 students actually remained with some leaving either because they couldn’t keep up with the test and walked away, or they were caught cheating by the examiner.

After the examiner collected all of the answer papers…

[Alright everyone, you guys have passed the third phase of the examinations. We will notify all of you examinees when the results are up if you guys have passed the final phase. You may all leave now and reclaim your stubs from the outside.]

The examiner then told all of us to get out of the examination room in which we then all obeyed his orders as we got out of the examination room and reclaimed all of our stubs back while they reclaimed the paper bracelets as well.

When we all got out of the Math building, everyone else sighed in relief as if all of them were super stiff under pressure from earlier and started talking to each other about their experiences which a few of them I overheard by accident.

[Oh my goodness… It’s legitimately hard like what they warned us…]

[Indeed, I was so panicked about those questions that I blanked out on… Like what in the world are those questions anyway?!]

[Yeah! It’s super damn hard!]

I can’t really blame everyone for that. After all, all of those questions were at a level that’s 4 years ahead of everyone which is quite surprising even for me but nonetheless got it all sorted out in the end. But good grief, I could also relate to all of them for the test being that hard…

…

Back on April 1st of this year…

When I get myself back to my room, I immediately packed my things in my bag as I then checked out of the inn where I’m staying.

I still have some time before the entrance ceremony starts so I immediately went to the student dormitory room for the first-year students.

[Good morning.]

[Good morning too. I’m here to pick up the uniform and the room number for Nakamura Kurayami?]

[Nakamura Kurayami, huh…? Let me see…]

As the male dorm mother within the dormitory opens his notes and starts searching through my name. When he did, his eyes immediately widened, and tried to recheck it again. After some rechecking, he then replied to me.

[Nakamura-san, your name is not listed in this building.]

[Huh? What do you mean by that?]

[It means that I’ll be the one who will lead you to your humble abode.]

When a voice from the front door replied to my question, I quickly turned around behind me as I can see a man in his 70s standing there. The male dorm mother quickly stood up and was quite frightened by his appearance.

[Ah, be at ease, Mr. Dorm Mother. I’ll be the one who’ll take care of this kid. Is that alright with you?]

[Y-Yes, President!]

[President?]

I quickly blurted out my thoughts as the old man smiled at me for a bit and replied.

[Are you alright with me leading you to your dorm?]

[S-Sure…]

I replied as I don’t think that I can’t really disobey someone like him without facing any kind of punishment so I followed him outside.

When we started walking on through the streets within the dormitory complexes, he then asked me…

[Nakamura Kurayami-kun, how did you answer those questions perfectly…?]

[Hmm?]

[I believe I might’ve not said it clearly but… How did you answer the questions on that test perfectly? Even the university-level trick questions…]

[…]

[They are all very hard on their own, and yet… You’ve answered it perfectly and pretty concisely. Answer me, young one. How did you manage on answering it perfectly?]

[It’s actually really hard, President-san.]

I replied to his question as he started looking at me as if he was asking for more answers. And well… More answers he will receive; I guess?

[There are certainly some multiple university-level trick questions, but I’ve also studied the exam questions and their answers from the past Tokyo University entrance exams myself during middle school.]

[Hooo… And do you think that’s enough for me to be convinced?]

[I think so. That’s the only thing I really did do to pass it. I just studied the Tokyo University entrance examination questionnaires. That’s all there is to it.]

I said to him as he stared at me pretty intently at first before he unveiled a smile that was different from when he smiled at the Mr. Dorm Mother earlier.

[You really got me good there, huh…? I’m impressed by your middle school performance from your report card, Nakamura-san. But I didn’t expect for you to actually demolished the test that was supposed to be the hardest examination within Greater East Asia.]

[Eh? Seriously?!]

[Indeed… That’s why you’ve been chosen as the freshman representative for this year’s entrance ceremony. So please prepare a speech, alright?]

[A-Ah… Y-Yes…]

I was completely stunned by what he said from the fact that I would need to talk in front of people, not that I have a problem talking with people in front of me.

When the two of us came across what seemed to be a decently-built suburban house on the outer edge of the dormitory complex, the President then took something like a key out of his jacket pocket and replied to me.

[Nakamura-san, in recognition of your early achievements… That house in front of you will be yours for the entire duration of your stay here on this campus and all of the basic house commodities here will be paid for by the campus. 

Your uniform’s inside so you should prepare now for the entrance ceremony. I’ll get going now so good luck.]

He said as he gave me the key to the house before waving his hand goodbye as he left me in front of the house that he said that I owned now.

While I was flabbergasted by that, my curiosity bested me as I checked the inside of the house which was surprisingly new and clear of any dust.

…

From the size of this house which is a 2-story house, it has a bedroom that’s connected to another room so I guess it’s meant as a study room and there’s also another bedroom too next door.

And then there’s a conjoined dinner and kitchen room that’s large enough for 10 people, a living room that can also fit that amount of people and a bathroom for the first floor, and the 2 other rooms on the second floor in which one room has double bunk beds for guests while the other room would probably be used for storage purposes and another bathroom.

I am sure that this house is actually a dorm that’ll be used for something like the top 5 students within the school or something like that…

But the fact that the President of the school actually gave me the keys to this place meant that this place would be for me alone.

I sighed heavily at the sudden realization that I’ll be alone in this house when I was so excited about meeting a roommate in the dorm building earlier…

But there’s no time to be frustrated right now as I located the uniform outfit that I need to attend to the entrance ceremony which is located inside the closet inside of the bedroom.

When I changed my attire into a school one, I immediately left the house with both the doors outside the house and the gate itself locked before traveling towards the Auditorium which is just a few minutes away. As I walked towards the Auditorium, I can see a lot of students wearing the school uniforms that I also wear…

And also… The media seems to be here as well when I see a lot of media vans that were parked on the side, and some of the reporters doing their own work as well so I realized that the media would also televise the entire thing as well, considering what I did during the exams a few days ago...

As I arrived at the auditorium, a girl that bears another patch as I am approached me.

[Nakamura Kurayami-san, please follow me. I’m Mayumi, the president of the Broadcasting Directive Club, and I was tasked with guiding you behind the stage.]

[S-Sure…]

I replied as it seems that the girl (Mayumi-san) whose hair was dark blue and her eyes boasting the same color is a senpai from the second year and she’s apparently the president of the Broadcasting Directive Club.

When I followed her behind the stage, I immediately saw the President-san from earlier as well as some people that appears to be within the same age range or a little bit on the younger side as the President-san. All of them except someone who was wearing the same uniform as me.

When I looked at him, he smirked a little bit as he started approaching me.

[Good morning. You must be Nakamura Kurayami-kun, am I right?]

[U-Umu… I’m Nakamura Kurayami.]

[I’m Miyamoto. I’m the current President of the Student Council here on this campus. May I ask to invite you for lunch later at the Student Council Building?]

[S-Sure… I’m free at the time of lunch anyways…]

[That’s good to know. Anyways, I’ll see you later, Nakamura-kun.]

He said as he waved his hand while walking back to his position. A few moments later, Mayumi-san whispered to me.

[It’s a tradition that the freshman representative would be invited by the Student Council on their first day of school. They’re inviting you to join the Student Council, but it’s not an obligation for the freshman representative to join the Student Council.

Anyways, I believe you will need to walk alongside them now as the program would start. If the light there is green, you guys should walk to the stage now. Good luck.]

She said as she smiled at me for a bit before going back to her post. Man… I’m being bombarded this early on… I regretted not holding back on the exam a few days ago…

But there’s no time fretting over it as I can see the red light becoming a green light in which all of us who were backstage began walking on the stage itself by the time the emcee called us.

[Man… That’s a lot of people… Around almost 300 students passed and became first years while there were also around 600 students from higher years, 250 or so faculty and non-faculty members, and the remainder were from the media…]

Holy shit, that’s around 1,200 people in this auditorium alone… Let alone everyone who was watching on their televisions as well…

[Ugh… I really wish that everything would just end this quickly…]

And with that, the program for the entrance ceremony started as per usual school stuff… but it’s more publicized than I’ve even expected.

But I still tried on keeping up with my appearance once I was on the stage. And I guess, it all bore fruit later on as everything in the entrance ceremony went well without a hitch…