First Day of School

"Taku-chan, are you really okay? You're not pushing yourself? You've got enough attendance already, so it'd be fine to wait until high school starts, you know?"

Mom spoke to me with a worried look. The reason was simple: today was my first day back at school in a long while.

"I'm fine, Mom. Kaede and Arisa will be with me… besides, if I slack off now, I feel like I'd lose the will to go to high school too…"

"Taku-chan…"

Mom murmured my name as if overcome with emotion.

"It's fine, Mom! Trust Arisa and me! On top of that, everyone in our class understands Shouya's situation!"

"You're right… with the two of you, I can rest easy…"

After watching Mom settle down, I went back to my room to change.

In my room, a gakuran and dress shirt had been laid out. The dress shirt was crisp white, without a single wrinkle. I slipped the gakuran on over the shirt and headed back to the living room, where everyone turned to look.

"It's been a while since I've seen Taku-chan in his uniform ♡"

"Mhm, mhm, it really suits him after all! ♡"

Mom and Kaede praised me in my uniform.

It wasn't just me. Kaede and the others had already changed into their uniforms too.

Kaede and Sakura, in the middle-school division, wore white round-collar blouses, navy jumper skirts with red trim along the hem, and matching navy boleros, with red ribbons peeking out at their necks. A slightly childish uniform, but very cute.

The high-school division wore navy blazers with the same big red ribbons, white shirts, and navy skirts with the same red trim as the middle-school uniform. Maybe because it was cold today, both of them had sweaters on under their jackets.

"Th-thanks."

Now that I thought about it, this was the first time I'd worn proper clothes since being reincarnated into this world. So being praised for them was a first too, and I ended up getting embarrassed.

"You all look g-good in your uniforms too…"

To cover my embarrassment, I complimented everyone on their uniforms.

"Right?! You finally get how cute our school's uniform is, Tak-kun! ♡"

Karen-onee-chan was the most delighted, and she started going on about which parts were cute.

"Geez! Karen-onee-chan! We're out of time, that's enough! Okay then, Mom, we're heading out! ♡ Satsuki-san, we'll be in your care!"

"Yes. Leave it to me."

"We're heading out."

In time with my 'we're heading out,' Mom, the maids, and Kuroda-san, who was staying behind this time, sent us off with 'have a good day.'

We headed to school in Sakamoto-san's car, same as on the day of my discharge. Or rather, from now on my transportation would almost always be a car driven by one of the Protection Officers.

"Shouya, if anything happens, rely on me or Arisa right away, okay?! I mean it, okay?!"

Kaede pressed the point hard. She'd been brimming with confidence earlier, but she was worried about me too, it seemed.

"Yeah. Got it."

"Onii-chan! You can rely on me too, you know? ♡"

"That's where you rely on your Onee-chan! Tak-kun!"

"My, my, if it comes to that, rely on me, your top Onee-chan and student-council vice-president, okay, Shouya? ♡"

The car ride was lively with the question of who I'd rely on.

After driving for a while, a large building came into view.

"Shouya-sama, we're about to arrive."

As Sakamoto-san said that, an enormous modern building rose into view through the window.

"That's… the school?"

"Yep, that's the private Keisei Academy High School and attached middle school that we all go to."

It was nothing like the school buildings I'd pictured. A round, sprawling structure stood near the front gate. Technically a high school, but it looked more like an overseas high school or a university campus.

Sakamoto-san pulled into the rotary, and after saying goodbye to my sisters other than Kaede, I walked a short distance to the entrance.

"The boys' entrance is this way."

Apparently the boys' shoe lockers were separate from the girls'. Following Kaede, I passed through the door into a room with about forty shoe lockers, and spotted the one with my name on it.

When I opened my locker, a flurry of papers came tumbling out. Could these be… love letters?

"Ah… Shouya's always been so popular that this happens if he lets his guard down for a moment…"

"What do I… do with these…?"

"Ignore them! Just ignore them! If you tried to read all this, the sun would set before you finished!"

With that, Kaede stuffed them into a bag and tossed them into a nearby trash can.

But the love letters were probably addressed to the previous me, so even if I read them, sorry to say, there was nothing I could do about it. Kaede handling them for me was a real help.

Kaede ducked back in through the girls' entrance, then came around to meet up with me.

"Okay, let's go to the classroom!… Ah!"

Kaede caught sight of something, and when I followed her gaze, Arisa had arrived.

"Morning, Shouya! Kaede! ♡"

Both Kaede and I returned a "morning."

"Shouya in his gakuran, it's been a while～ ♡ Yep, looking good! ♡"

Arisa said it with a satisfied air after looking me over from head to toe.

"But I've only got a little while longer to see it, huh… Oh! Let's take a picture! ♡ To commemorate Shouya getting better! ♡"

"Sounds good! ♡ I'll take it with my phone then!"

"Oh, your long arms come in handy～ ♡"

The two of them got fired up, and we ended up taking a picture together.

"Come on, Shouya, scoot closer to Kaede! ♡"

Arisa kept nudging me with her shoulder. Each time, her hair swayed and a nice scent drifted over.

And every time I drifted closer to Kaede, another nice scent came from the opposite side too. Kaede and I supposedly used the same detergent, so why did the scents come out so different? Our shampoo was different, so maybe that was why?

Both my shoulders were pressed against theirs, and their warm body heat seeped into me.

When Arisa said "Come on, smile! ♡" I managed an awkward smile, and the shutter snapped.

"Fufu ♡ A picture with Shouya, I never could've imagined this before ♡ Shouya, let's take lots more pictures from now on! ♡"

Kaede was so happy with the picture of the two of us that she kept smiling and pestered Arisa to send it to her right away.

"Fufu～n ♡ I'm gonna set this as my lockscreen ♡"

Apparently Arisa was even going to set it as her lockscreen. I was happy she treasured a picture with me that much. Still, I wished I'd managed a better smile.

"Okay, let's head to the classroom!"

Guided by Kaede and Arisa, we arrived in front of the classroom.

"This is the boys' classroom."

"The boys' classroom?"

"Yep. It's where the boys take classes together, eat meals, wait around between periods…"

Kaede laid out boys' school life carefully, but to roughly sum it up…

Boys took P.E., health, and so on with only the boys of the same grade, and took classes like Japanese together with the girls. For the mixed classes, though, anything above a failing grade counted as good, so apparently boys didn't attend much.

On top of that, there was a class called "Boys-and-Girls Exchange," and since attendance made up 100% of the grade for it, skipping too much was a bad idea.

As the name suggested, Boys-and-Girls Exchange was a period for the class's boys and girls to mingle. Apparently all I had to do was chat with the girls in my class.

In short, boys came to school on days with health, P.E., or Boys-and-Girls Exchange, and as long as they did well on tests, they didn't have to come otherwise.

"There's Boys-and-Girls Exchange this morning, so when the time comes, I'll come pick you up again! ♡"

"See you later! ♡"

Once I stepped into the classroom, Kaede and Arisa headed off to their own classrooms.

In the third-year middle-school boys' classroom, I appeared to be the only one there. Checking the timetable for each third-year class and the boys' schedule posted on the wall, today had no boys' health or P.E., and Boys-and-Girls Exchange was only happening in my class.

For now, I decided to kill time on my phone until Kaede and the others came. I figured I'd also try out the app features Ichijou-san had unlocked, and while watching short videos I scrolled for any women who fit my taste, but nothing really clicked.

Come to think of it, I was already surrounded by beautiful women, so maybe my eye had grown too discerning.

While I was killing time like that, watching videos online, there was a knock at the door and someone came in.

"Izumi-kun, are you here?"

Poking her head in to check if I was there was a woman in a ladies' suit, brown hair held back by a barrette.

"Izumi-kun, nice to meet you. I'm your homeroom teacher, Harada. Looking forward to working with you."

My homeroom teacher had come all the way down to greet me, it seemed.

"Nice to meet you… I'm Izumi Shouya…"

I returned Harada-sensei's greeting. The fact that she'd said 'nice to meet you' meant she probably knew my situation.

"Right to the point, but Izumi-kun, do you think you can manage today's Boys-and-Girls Exchange? Everyone in the class understands your situation, so I think it'll be fine, but… if it seems too much, it's okay to skip today, you know?"

Harada-sensei was worried about me too, but I'd already decided to push through today. That was the whole reason I'd come. I didn't want to back down.

"I'm fine. I can do it."

"I see…"

Harada-sensei murmured it with relief and broke into a smile.

"Then I'll see you in the Boys-and-Girls Exchange class. Until then, feel free to spend the time however you like."

With that, Harada-sensei hurriedly took her leave. She must have figured I was bad with women and was being considerate.

After that, I killed time on my phone until the Boys-and-Girls Exchange class began.

 

*

 

A little after the chime rang, Kaede and Arisa came to the classroom to get me.

"Shouya, sorry to keep you! ♡ There's nothing you need to bring, so let's go! ♡"

Led by Kaede and the others, we moved through the school building and arrived in front of a classroom marked 3-1. The thought of finally meeting my classmates in this world for the first time made me nervous.

"Shouya, it's okay! We're with you!"

"Yeah, thanks…"

When I opened the classroom door and stepped inside, every gaze in the room turned toward me. They were all beautiful girls, no less than Kaede or Arisa, and being stared at made my body stiffen. Kaede took my hand like that and led me to my seat.

"Let's wait until class starts. Then it's self-introductions, so do your best, okay?! ♡"

Kaede was in the seat next to mine, with Arisa in the seat in front. My seat was at the very back by the window, so the only seats next to me were Kaede's and Arisa's.

"If things get bad, we'll cover for you, so it's okay! ♡"

Arisa straddled the chair in front of mine backwards. Her short skirt rode up, and her pale-green panties were on full view. My eyes were drawn helplessly to between her legs.

"Shouya, you perv ♡ But I'm glad I wore the cute ones today ♡"

"S-sorry…"

"I'm not mad ♡ If anything, I'm happy being looked at with those kinds of eyes ♡"

Arisa giggled "Nishishi" as she forgave me. The whole time, she didn't close her legs at all, and I kept stealing glances back and forth between her face and her crotch.

"It's not fair only Arisa gets to! Look at me too!"

At Kaede's jealous remark, for a moment I wondered if she was going to show me her panties too, but of course she wasn't.

"Hiking up a skirt and showing off your panties really would be perverted, you know～ ♡"

Arisa had apparently seen right through my lewd thoughts.

While I was chatting with the two of them, the chime rang, and Harada-sensei came in and quieted everyone down.

"All right! As everyone knows, Izumi-kun is back at school starting today! Give him a hand!"

Harada-sensei said it brightly and got everyone to applaud, building a cheerful atmosphere. Which just made me anxious about whether my clumsy self-introduction was going to wreck the mood.

"Then, Izumi-kun, first things first, please introduce yourself!"

Sensei waved me up to the lectern. Standing up there alone was nerve-wracking, but there was no helping it, so I just had to brace myself.

"Sensei～! Is it okay if Arisa and I come up front too? Please let us support Shouya!"

Kaede had thought ahead so I wouldn't feel alone. She and Arisa stepped up onto the platform together and flanked me on the left and right, standing like bodyguards.

"Come on, Shouya! ♡ Do your best ♡"

"We're right here with you ♡"

The two of them quietly cheered me on. With it all teed up like this, there was no backing out now.

"Everyone, nice to meet you. I'm Izumi Shouya… I look forward to getting to know you."

From this moment, my school life began.