Silence swallowed the room.
The sound of a feather falling could be heard.
The agriculture teacher couldn't believe it.
The students in the classroom couldn't believe it.
No one, except for me, could believe what they'd just witnessed.
Hahahahahaha.
I kept a straight face like everyone else but inside, I was cracking up. It was strange, seeing the first few paragraphs of the novel come to life.
It was like watching a live-action adaptation except it was happening in real life, in front of me.
The reason why everyone was in disbelief was because this was the first time in academy history that a student was late to this specific teacher's class because of how strict she was.
Yes, you heard that right.
This was indeed the first time that this had ever happened.
Unless you informed her the day before that you had an appointment or came down with an illness, there was no reason for you to be late or miss class.
She even sent out numerous emails days prior, to the point that it looked like spam, telling the students that if they were late to the first day of the second semester, they'd be EXTRA-punished.
Logically speaking though, throughout all the years she taught at the academy, it would make sense for students to have gotten sick the morning off, missed their bus, got stuck in traffic, had an accident, or couldn't find her classroom in time.
But the shitty god doesn't exactly run on logic; he wanted to ensure that the readers knew that the main character was different from the others so what better way than have him be the first to be late?
"What's your name, boy?" asked the teacher who had pushed her glasses all the up the bridge of her nose.
She said it the exact way she did in the novel.
"Arthurr... Arthurr Dragonpen," he answered.
Get it?
The typical Arthur Pendragon name that was used in modern fantasy stories — but just slightly altered so that it looks original.
I even almost let out a disappointed sigh hearing it out loud for the first time. Reading in novel form was already bad enough; real life stung me in the heart.
"Arthurr, care to explain to me and the rest of the class why you're late?" she asked with a chilly voice.
"Ms..."
He didn't know her name because this was his first time at the academy.
"Ms. Morgan," she informed him.
"Ms. Morgan, I'm late because I had to help this poor grandma cross the street, then I grabbed a balloon out of a tree for this little girl who was crying, and finally I saved this little black cat who was about to get run over by a car," he explained his tardiness.
Everything he said was the truth but all the students began to hold their laughter back because they all thought he was joking.
An unintentional class clown.
"So Mr. Dragonpen, you think that my classroom... MY CLASSROOM... is the place for you to practice your comedy material? Hmm, is that right?" asked Ms. Morgan who started tapping her foot on the floor which meant that her patience was waning.
"B-but I wasn't joking," he said, looking confused at the sudden rise in her voice.
"Now you're not only tardy but also a liar," she said, shaking her head in disappointment. "Or... are you calling me a liar?"
"Wh-what? No," he shook his head.
"Arthurr, I'm going to count to five and you better answer me truthfully by then or else... I'll have no choice but to reinforce some rules."
Realizing that he was unable to get out of the situation, as Ms. Morgan counted to five, Arthurr had no choice but to just stand there in silence.
"I'm very disappointed in you Mr. Dragonpen. Take a seat and come see me after class to discuss your punishment," she said as she walked back to her desk and sat down.
This was Arthurr's first time experiencing such a teacher before. In his entire life in his village, he was used to friendly adults who were patient and believed in the youths.
Looking around the room for empty seats, Arthurr found one that he liked.
Although it was the seat I also wanted because it was simply the best, I purposely didn't take the seat in the back by the window because that was the one that Arthurr needed to sit in.
Lucky you, Mr. Main Character.
In that seat, to his right, in front, and diagonally were going to be the three female protagonists he would end up getting involved with.
As expected from a world influenced by the story written by the shitty god, no one else took the seat despite the fact it'd be the first one taken elsewhere; there was quite literally a gorgeous view outside of the small academy park with sakura trees that were always in sakura snow season.
As Arthurr was walking the aisle, embarrassed by the public shaming from the teacher, the gaze from his peers, and slightly frustrated by the fact that Ms. Morgan assumed he was lying — the cannon fodder stuck out his foot intending to trip him.
I began to count down in my head.
Three... two... one...
Does he dodge the foot like a cool badass MC and punch the cannon fodder to assert his dominance?
Nope.
Arthurr distracted by all the emotions he is going through hits the foot, trips with flailing limbs in the air, regathers himself midair, and proceeds to roll in a perfect somersault; when he stands back up, he lifts both arms into the air like a gymnast.
Tadaaaaa. There it is.
When he told the class about why he was late, everyone had to hold their laughter back so they wouldn't get punished by Ms. Morgan.
When he did this crazy somersault that looked straight out of a cartoon, the held-back laughter burst out like a balloon filled with too much water.
"Hahahahaha!"
"Hehehee!"
"Hnouuuu.... hnouuuu," someone laughed like a horse.
That's overdoing buddy. What kind of laugh is that?
Even the three female protagonists who were written to be more mature than the rest of them, because why wouldn't they be, were softly giggling and chuckling.
People were literally crying from how hard they were laughing, knees were being slapped left and right, and people started to cough from excessive laughter.
Now that I've seen it... it's honestly not that funny.
If anything, this overreaction to the somersault is way funnier.
Arthurr looked around the room, not knowing what to do, his face was blushing red, and eventually just bowed a few times like he had done that circus act on purpose and then sat down.
Look at her. She's about to blow. Ka...boom.
Ms. Morgan's face had also turned red like Arthurr's; the only difference the feelings going on inside her were vastly different than his.
Her teeth were starting to turn into dust from how hard she was grinding them and the sound of boiling water could be heard above her head.
Wow. I can hear teeth from all the way over here. Impressive.
"Arthurr, take a seat. Now! And you... Dominick, was that your name?"
The cannon fodder nodded his head.
"You will also be staying after class. For now, go and stand outside of the classroom for ten minutes. Then you can come back inside."
"But I—"
"Hey... did I just hear a 'but'?" she asked, her eyes turning into lasers.
The cannon fodder, Dominick, gulped nervously and shook his head. He got up, received a look of shame from his classmates, and left the room.
This wasn't going to be the last of him.
He was going to do another stupid thing when he returned to the classroom.
Can't wait.
.
.
.
[Arthurr's POV]
Oh my gosh. I wanted to make a good first impression on my new friends. Now they must all think I'm an idiot.
I'm not an idiot. In fact, among all the kids in my village, I was ranked number two in terms of smartness.
The only person smarter than me was my childhood friend who was ranked number one.
As my classmates were introducing themselves one by one and because I'm so smart, I was able to pick up on the three things we needed to say.
Name. One memory about agriculture. One thing we did over the break. Okay... I got this.
I was concentrating on thinking about what I was going to say when I heard something fall onto my desk.
I looked down and saw a folded paper.
Looking around my surroundings confused, I saw a girl on my right with her jaw resting on her palm. She was looking at me and gave me this gesture with her eyebrows, telling me to read the paper.
Her blonde hair which looked like it sparkled was in a half-up, half-down style. Her green eyes looked like emeralds.
Her jawline was the perfect balance of sharp and smooth.
Beautiful.
I quickly corrected myself.
But not as beautiful as my friend.
Seeing that I still hadn't opened up the paper, she mouthed the words, "Open it."
I finally turned away from her and began unfolding the paper.
[Nice to meet you, Arthur]...
She spelled my name wrong.
Her handwriting fitted her as it was not only fancy and elegant, but each stroke of the pen was perfect.
...[II'm Grace Hartley. Your new seat buddy it seems. That was one of the best somersaults I've ever seen. 10/10. Would give you a gold medal if I had one.]
Grace... Hartley.
It was a short letter but it was sweet.
I turned back to her and whispered, "Thank you."
"Arthurr!" yelled Ms. Morgan, hearing me from all the way over there.
Oh, shoot.
"Sorry."
A few students were giggling softly including Grace who was trying her hardest not to.
"Sorry," she mouthed the word to me.
I turned the paper around and began writing my response.
[Nice to meet you Grace, I'm happy to hear that you liked my somersault. I have a question if you don't mind. Are we ever allowed to speak in this class or are we just going to be forced to keep our mouths shut the entire time?]
I folded the paper up and carefully threw it onto her desk.
She opened it and a few seconds later, a big smile grew on her face.
She looked at me, her jaw still on her chin, and she mouthed, "I hope so."