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Volume 11, Chapter 1: “The Teachers’ Battle”

After Tsukishiro had left the staff room and before classes had begun for the day…

“Mashima-sensei, Hoshinomiya-sensei. I’d like to borrow the two of you for a bit.”

Chabashira called out to her two fellow teachers. They were both friends and rivals who, in the past, had competed against each other at this very school.

Having known each other for a long time, the two of them gathered their important documents and followed Chabashira out of the staff room without asking any questions. They walked down the hallway together as they headed to where the students would be waiting for them.

“It’s depressing, isn’t it? We have to announce an exam where someone’s gonna get expelled.”

Hoshinomiya was the first one to break the ice.

With a deep sigh, her gaze fell upon the attendance record.

“I wonder who’s gonna disappear…”

Even though it wasn’t easy, Hoshinomiya was still trying to face the facts.

“I’m not sure someone will. There aren’t very many ways around it, but they still have some options.”

“You mean, overriding the expulsion with twenty million points, right?”

Despite saying this, Hoshinomiya was also well aware of the reality of the situation.

As things stood, none of the classes had that many points.

“If there’s a bright side, I guess it’s nice that they don’t have to pay 300 class points as well. Forced expulsions are something they’re still experimenting with. That might be obvious though.”

It would usually cost twenty million private points as well as 300 class points to override an expulsion, but this time, the class points were exempted from that.

Although, that alone wasn’t enough to sway the students and teachers into accepting the mandatory expulsions.

“In any case, I can’t help but feel dissatisfied about Acting Director Tsukishiro’s way of doing things.”

“Well, you’re not alone on that, Sae-chan. He just popped up out of nowhere and, like, started doing whatever super unreasonable thing he wanted, didn’t he?”

Hoshinomiya snuggled up to Chabashira as if she was clinging onto her, only to get pushed away with an annoyed expression.

“Complaining isn’t going to change anything. If you say too much, your neck will fly.”

“Are you really one to say that to us, Mashima-kun? You were really going at it with the Acting Director yourself. It made me super-duper nervous. And after all that, you’re saying we can’t do the same?”

“Chie is right. That man could fire the teachers for all he cares. He probably knows there’s always plenty of replacements. In fact, that’s probably what he wants.”

“Maybe he plans to get rid of the teachers who oppose him, like Mashima-kun, and then hire new ones who are more convenient to him.”

Chabashira and Hoshinomiya were considering the idea that Tsukishiro’s speech in the staff room might’ve been a plot to weed out the teachers who oppose him.

Mashima didn’t disagree with the idea either.

“You too, Sae-chan. You went through so much to reach Class C, so don’t go doing anything crazy, ‘kay?”

“You seem pretty calm even though we’ve started to close the gap.”

“No way… Sae-chan, you’re not fantasizing that your class might make it all the way to Class A, are you?”

Hoshinomiya stared at Chabashira with peering, round eyes, forcing Chabashira to turn and look away.

While Hoshinomiya had a habit of absentmindedly saying things sometimes, in most cases, her words had actually been carefully calculated.

Having been acquainted with her for such a long time, Chabashira knew about this tendency of hers all too well.

“…No. Even I’m not that foolish.”

“Oh good. If you had said yes… that’d have been like, way too much for me!”

Hoshinomiya playfully waved her hands in front of her, acting like she had been overcome with surprise.

Mashima couldn’t stand listening to their silly conversation any longer.

They were like carnivores facing off against each other on the savannah. Only one would come out on top.

“Are you two still fussing over what happened back then? How many years need to pass befー”

“Mashima-kun. The amount of time that’s passed has nothing to do with it.”

“She’s right. It’s completely irrelevant.”

Although Mashima tried cutting in to mediate, the two of them quickly glared him down and forced him to back off.

Even though Mashima had boldly stood up to Tsukishiro, there were still some adversaries he wouldn’t dare to confront.

“…I see. At any rate, I’m in no place to say anything here, but don’t bring your personal feelings into these upcoming exams, okay?”

“We wouldn’t do something like that. Right, Chie?”

“Of course not. Right, Sae-chan?”

Chabashira and Hoshinomiya were still trying to sound each other out, but on the surface, they glossed it over as though nothing had happened.

“Just refrain from doing anything careless, Chie. That’s all I’m going to say.”

With that, Chabashira quickly wrapped up the conversation and walked away, headed off to Class C.

The two of them stood silently as she left.

“You aren’t really bringing your personal feelings into this, are you?”

Mashima spoke up as they watched Chabashira leave in a sour mood.

“Don’t lump me in with her, Mashima-kun. I’ve already gotten over any lingering attachments I had. But that girl hasn’t changed at all since back then. She’ll never be able to move past her days as a student. That’s why she’s still stuck up on that good-for-nothing first love of hers, but she would never admit to that.”

“…You’ve got a terrible look on your face.”

“Eh? No way. Do I really?”

Hoshinomiya then took out a folding mirror and made a sweet smile.

“Okie-dokie! I look super cute today too. Don’t you think so?”

“Don’t ask me.”

“How heartless! Well, whatever.”

As Hoshinomiya put away her mirror, Mashima offered her a piece of advice.

“Be careful not to have the carpet pulled out from under you. This year’s Class D… No, Class C is different from usual.”

While there was still a gap in class points, even the teachers wouldn’t be able to predict how the future special exams would play out.

“You may be right, but I’m not too worried since I have Ichinose-san on my side. Besides…”

“Besides?”

“If they seem like they’re getting close to reaching us, I’ll pummel them back down myself.”

“You wouldn’t poke your nose into a competition meant for the students would you?”

“I wouldn’t do anything like that. It’s just, I’m not gonna go easy on Sae-chan. I just wouldn’t want to interfere to the point where the teachers start to fight amongst themselves.”

“You sound serious.”

“That’s because I can’t afford to lose, especially to Sae-chan.”

Ever since their student days, that was just the type of relationship they had.

Both as friends, and as rivals.

(Chapter 1 End)