Apr 28, 2025
...............................................................................................................................
^that's my initial reaction. No words. Just... blank surprise.
Here's the thing. I avoid romance with a passion. I did end up on this page multiple times in the past, but I could never bring myself to properly start it because I genuinely dislike romance stories. For example, I was reading a certain novel by George Orwell just fine until people started making out. I genuinely have NOT picked it back up ever since (which does make me realize I should probably get back onto it eventually. I mean, it's a good book).
Well, in that sense, this chapter has defied all my expectations. I'm sure the romance will come rolling in at some point, but the point is that I didn't think that the story would do anything beyond romance. But it did.
First of all, I think this is genuinely the first novel I've read where it's written in third-person. And you did it very well. I personally think third-person sometimes makes things complex in writing, but it seems that there's no issue here (it also made me realize that I can probably learn from this novel, but this is a bit of a tangential comment).
Another thing that caught my attention was the fact that you've clearly done your research. Your mention of Rengo Sekigun made me go and search it up, and lo and behold, it's an actual part of Japanese history. That caught me off guard. I mean, who brings that kind of stuff up? It really did add on to the immersion. It's like evidence that this isn't just a story with characters who happen to have Japanese names--it genuinely tries to place these characters in their appropriate settings.
And about the blackmail that happens in this chapter. I think it was a very interesting way to subvert expectations (bringing up the teacher's past just to send him a video of him clogging a toilet and running away). If Tani actually had blackmailed him with anything "official," I would have begun to think that he was ridiculously equipped for a student... but then he ended up having something a bit less serious. This FITS his identity has a student. He's clever, but he's not like a hardened criminal. This sets the tone of the rest of the novel excellently. The story isn't life or death, but there's some real stakes here.
There's also small things that fit in an anime, like the line about "electrical signals" that travel in sparks between the two.
So all in all... The chapter works. It's defied my expectations. It's impressive.
... There's not much else to say. I'm not exactly sure yet how this story will play out (and how I would/will react to it), but this is a very strong opening.
... I'm honestly still in shock. Well, I guess I should probably end the comment here. You did an excellent job. 
You've clearly put in the effort.
Eh. The only way I can truly confirm this is if someone else rolls around and interprets my writing in a way I did. But yeah, I probably freaked myself out because it was late at night.
I was going back and forth wondering whether or not I should mark this as horror or not (unfortunately there isn't an "existential horror" tag). And I can't even tell if I'm the only one who feels this strange dread (perhaps to the point of even causing mild fear) coming from these pieces of writing or there actually is something strange in these chapters that are a bit freaky.
Very interesting psychological results, at least to me as the writer. Not sure about the reader.
I didn't realize you drew that much stuff for this novel. And I see in advance that there's many more characters who will later join this club 
