Hub World, Earth, Japan, Tokyo.
"Yakumo-Chan! Tatsuo-Kun!"
While the group walked towards the class assignment boards, a familiar voice drew their attention back towards the school's main gate. When they turned to look, they were not surprised to see Chiho running towards them while waving one hand and holding her school bag in the other.
"Good morning, Chi-Chan." Tatsuo said, the first to reply.
The other greetings came shortly after Tatsuo's. And before long, Chiho joined the group while breathing heavily after running, her breasts bouncing with each breath and drawing the attention of the boys in the courtyard.
"Sheesh... What in the world do you have to eat to get boobs like those?" Mikoto asked while glancing between her own rather sizable assets and the ones that look too big for Chiho's petite frame.
"I must admit, they are quite impressive." Akira added.
"How crass." Eri said disdainfully. Though, she also snuck the occasional glance at Chiho's chest.
"It's not fair!" Tenma shouted in anguish as she crouched down and punched the ground. "She's smaller than me in every other way! So, why is she so much bigger than me there?"
"It's okay, Nee-San." Yakumo said consolingly while crouching next to Tenma and patting her sister on the shoulder.
Meanwhile, Chiho's face was a worrying shade of red. The fact that the other girls were so loud and obvious with their comments embarrassed her to no end.
"Please stop..." Chiho muttered quietly as she covered her face with her hands.
Meanwhile, Tatsuo, Kasumi, and Ayane only watched the group of girls with amused expressions on their faces. However, before things could go on for too long, Tatsuo stepped forward and tapped Chiho on the shoulder.
"Alright, that's enough." Tatsuo said with a smile. "If you all keep going, Chi-Chan's gonna faint from all the blood rushing to her head. Besides, we still need to check our class assignments. If you wanna keep teasing her, at least wait until we're done with that."
"No! No more teasing!" Chiho shrieked, causing everyone to laugh.
With that, the group finally made their way over to the class assignment boards. However, not all of them needed to check their classes, as Mikoto, Eri, and Akira already knew which class they were in. They also told Tenma, letting her know she was in Class 2-C with them.
As for the others, Tatsuo, Yakumo, and Chiho were all placed in Class 1-D. Ayane was put in Class 2-D. And Kasumi ended up in Class 3-B.
'Hmm... I recognize a few of the names in my class.' Tatsuo muttered internally while reading the other names on his class roster. 'Mom really made sure that Miyazono-San was in my class. Oh, and there are a few from another series, too. Especially that girl. If that's really who I think it is, things are gonna get interesting. I'll be able to find out what his real name is, too. It was an eternal mystery for the fanbase in my past life. Oh, and that girl, Sarah, is in our class, too. I thought she transferred in part way through the year. But I guess I was wrong.'
Just before looking away, Tatsuo caught sight of another familiar name. However, this one did not make him interested. Instead, it made him have to stifle a laugh. Luckily, everyone was too focused on finding out which class he, Kasumi, Yakumo, Chiho, and Ayane were in to even notice.
'Harima-Senpai is in our class, too.' Tatsuo thought to himself while laughing internally. 'That's right, he managed to get held back last year. Yet, he'll somehow end up in Class 2-C by tomorrow. I didn't think begging and pleading worked in cases like this... But what the heck do I know?'
"We're in the same class!" Chiho cheered while hugging Yakumo.
"We are." Yakumo replied with a nod and a small smile.
"Which class? Which class?" Tenma asked excitedly while looking up and down the rosters for the first year classes.
"Class 1-D." Tatsuo replied casually. "We're all in the same class again."
"That's good." Kasumi said softly. "You'll be able to help each other whenever you need it."
"Yup!" Chiho said with a wide smile on her face. She then put on her puppy dog eyes and looked at Tatsuo and Yakumo pleadingly. "Will you guys help me study again? My grades got a lot better after I started studying with the two of you.""
"Of course." Yakumo replied softly.
"I don't see why not." Tatsuo added with a smile. He then glanced at Tenma from the corner of his eyes. "As long as you're actually there to study and not just for the food."
That caused everyone other than Tenma to laugh while Tenma puffed her cheeks as her little pigtails flapped wildly in irritation. She then began frantically trying to defend herself, only succeeding in making everyone laugh even harder.
Ignoring Tenma's outburst, Tatsuo took a quick look at Ayane's and Kasumi's classes. While he did not recognize anyone from Kasumi's class, he recognizes a few people from Ayane's.
"So, she's in the same class as Harry McKenzie, the American version of Harima-Senpai. There's also that other guy, Togo, too. Oh, and I can't forget that big son of a bitch, Tennoji. I swear, if he tries to make a move on my Kasumi-Neesan, I'm gonna kick his ass.'
As Tatsuo thought about Tennoji, his aura leaked for little, causing the rest of his group to turn towards him in surprise. While Tenma, Mikoto, Eri, Akira, and Chiho were thoroughly dumbfounded by what they were feeling, Kasumi, Yakumo, and Ayane were all wondering what was bothering Tatsuo so much.
After a moment, Tatsuo realized what he was doing and quickly reeled in his aura. Then, with a sheepish smile, he turned away from the assignment board and started walking towards the school's front entrance.
"Come on, let's go." Tatsuo said, acting as if nothing happened. "The first bell should ring soon. We don't wanna be late."
"Hey! What the hell was that?" Mikoto asked as she chased after Tatsuo. "It felt like the feeling my dad gives off when he's about to have a serious match."
"Of course she would equate that scary feeling to martial arts." Eri said with a huff before following Tatsuo and Mikoto.
Chiho, Tenma, Eri, and Akira followed shortly afterwards. Meanwhile, Kasumi, Yakumo, and Ayane took their time following the rest of the group.
"I wonder what made Tatsuo-Kun so angry." Kasumi asked in a curious tone.
"Who knows." Ayane replied while shrugging her shoulders. "But you know what he is. It probably had something to do with pride or treasure. On top of that, he's a teenage boy. So, there's that, too."
"I suppose that makes sense." Kasumi said with a nod. "Still, I'm curious to know what it was exactly."
Hearing the conversation between the sisters, Yakumo could not help thinking back to her last conversation with Tatsuo. The one where he said he saw her as a treasure and wanted her to himself. And just thinking about him getting so angry for her made Yakumo feel a tiny flutter in her heart. Then, a step behind Kasumi and Ayane, she followed the rest into the school.
*Vroom~~~~~!*
Shortly after the group left, Harima Kenji, riding his motorcycle, rode through the school gates. And when the other students saw him, they all hurried away from him like he was the scariest thing they had ever seen. And to be fair, he probably was. Because despite not bullying the weak, Kenji was a delinquent. And to the average Japanese high school student, delinquents might as well be the boogie man.
After Kenji parked his motorcycle, things played out just like they did in the first episode of the School Rumble anime, resulting in Kenji being sent to Class 1-D. However, he never actually checked the class roster. So, he had no idea that he was temporarily in the same class as Tatsuo. Instead, the only thing he could think about was how to get into Class 2-C with his beloved Tenma-Chan.
Meanwhile, Tatsuo's group, after changing their shoes at the shoe lockers, separated to head to their own classrooms. Meaning, Tatsuo, Yakumo, and Chiho were now walking down the first-year class hallway, just about to reach Class 1-D.
"I'm getting kinda nervous." Chiho said in a small voice while looking back and forth at all the other students in the hallway. "I hope there aren't any bullies in our class."
"Even if there are, you don't have to worry." Tatsuo said nonchalantly. "I don't let people mess with my friends."
Hearing that, both Yakumo and Chiho smiled. At the same time, they reached their classroom and Tatsuo opened the door without delay, gesturing for the two ladies to enter first.
"You can be such a gentleman, sometimes." Chiho said with a giggle.
"What are you talking about?"? Tatsuo asked while rolling his eyes. "I'm always a gentleman."
"A gentleman doesn't take two ladies to a restaurant that makes them do... that..." Chiho said, her volume dropping with every word until she was barely speaking at a whisper.
As her volume lowered, Chiho's face reddened proportionally. Yakumo's faced reddened, as well. Just remembering the sounds they made at Yukihira's made both of them want to find a crack in the floor and dive right in.
Chuckling at the two, Tatsuo couldn't help glancing at Yakumo, who had yet to speak to him since they met this morning. But he knew he could not rush an answer from her. So, he just let her be, shrugging his shoulders before following the two girls into the classroom.
When Tatsuo entered, he immediately noticed some of the people whose names he had taken note of on the class assignment board. For example, there were two blonde girls sitting on different sides of the classroom, one of which was Kaori while the other was the Sarah he mentioned. Then, there were two boys, one tall and one short talking near a desk by the window. There was another boy sitting near the center of the class who Tatsuo recognized as the one who's real name was a mystery. There was also a very pretty girl with purple hair chatting with a few of the girls sitting near her desk, too. However, the one who drew the most attention was the girl sitting directly behind the last boy with her arms crossed and an intense expression on her face.
'Yup, that's definitely them.' Tatsuo thought to himself. 'That means this world has even more supernatural stuff than I thought. But I really don't remember hearing any rumors about Tanabata from three years ago ever since Mom brought me home. And that sounds like something that would have been all over social media.'
Shaking his head, Tatsuo decided he could think about that later. Instead, he followed Yakumo and Chiho towards three empty seats near the back of the class. Then, just like he did in middle school, Tatsuo took the protagonist's seat right next to the window second from the back.
Yakumo took the seat behind Tatsuo while Chiho took the seat in front of him. Then, the three chatted amongst themselves until the door opened again and Harima Kenji, with a defeated expression on his face, appeared in the doorway.
When most of the students saw Kenji, they did not think much of it. It was the first day of school, after all, and there were bound to be students they did not recognize. However, Tatsuo and Yakumo were different.
For Tatsuo, Kenji could be considered one of his friends. So, he had to do all he could to not tease the older boy in front of everyone. As for Yakumo, she had heard about Kenji from her older sister, who was in the same class as Kenji last year. So, seeing him in a first-year classroom was quite strange to her.
Once again, Kenji did not notice he was in the same class as Tatsuo as he walked into the classroom with his head down, picked a seat near the back door of the classroom, and plopped down into it, slouched in his seat, and let his head hang backwards with an aura of "I'd rather be dead" emanating from his entire being.
After that, not much happened until the bell rang. Though, most of the students did decide that Kenji was not the kind of person they wanted to get along with. He did give off delinquent vibes, after all.
*Ding!* *Dong!* *Dong!* *Ding!*
When the bell rang, everyone rushed to sit down. For now, there were no assigned seats. So, it did not matter where they sat. However, no one held the belief that things would stay that way for the whole year.
*Click!* *Click!* *Click!*
Not long after the bell rang, the sound of high heels could be heard approaching the classroom. Shortly after that, the door slid open and Class 1-D's homeroom teacher stepped into the room.
Anyone who saw the teacher, an extremely beautiful woman with sharp facial features, long black hair that flowed down to her waist, piercing black eyes, and a slender build, walk into the room, every eye, except Kenji's, turned to look at her. Meanwhile, the teacher swept her gaze over the students and when it fell on Kenji, she let out a small sigh before fixing her expression and stepping up to the blackboard and picking up a piece of chalk.
*Scratch!* *Scratch!* *Scratch!*
"Hello students." The teacher said calmly while writing her name on the blackboard. And when she finished, she turned around and continued speaking. "For the next year, I will be your homeroom teacher, Osakabe Itoko. I also teach biology for the first and second years. Let's have a great year together."