The holiday ca to an abrupt halt. After one last blissful night, Natsu woke to find herself already in the second sester.
Though today marked the first day of the new term, Natsu's mind was already drifting toward winter break—still months away, but already a comforting thought.
So much had happened over the break it was almost dizzying, yet everything seed to be heading in the right direction.
Honestly, Natsu was pretty satisfied with how things had turned out.
Whether or not the events directly involved her didn't really matter. At the end of the day, she was just trying to protect the ordinary lives she and her friends had built.
If sothing felt like the right thing to do, she did it—no other reason needed.
"Alright, it's started. Gotta give it my all this sester too."
Standing before a half-height floor mirror, Natsu carefully checked her outfit.
No wrinkles on her blouse, her pleated skirt as crisp and clean as ever—everything was perfectly in order, just like any other Tokiwadai student.
Ordinary. That was a word Natsu had always liked.
It only took her a few minutes to get ready. With that, she hurried out the dormitory door.
The hallway was empty. A quick glance at the clock confird what she already suspected—she was once again among the very last to leave.
"Well, that's perfectly normal," she muttered to herself, calm as ever. "Nobody can wake up early every single day. Everyone slips up sotis."
She rembered a stretch not long ago when she'd been one of the earliest risers—a real achievent, if she did say so herself.
Today was just an exception.
As she walked, Natsu paused at the top of the second-floor stairs. She silently counted to three… and right on cue, a figure in a tailored won's suit passed through the lobby below.
Rule number one of surviving Tokiwadai: if you're among the last to wake up, for heaven's sake, avoid the Dorm Supervisor on patrol.
Only after the soft click-clack of the Supervisor's flats faded into the distance did Sonoko Natsu relax. She slipped down a side path toward the dining hall for breakfast.
Black satchel in hand, she strolled along the path to school, bored out of her mind.
She'd originally planned to take the campus shuttle, but lately she'd had the nagging feeling soone was watching her.
It had been several days since she'd run into anything like that dolphin girl incident.
Sure, her usual habit of fading into the background probably helped, but things had been suspiciously quiet.
Truth be told, she was pretty annoyed about being deliberately targeted like that.
After the dolphin girl was apprehended, Natsu had given her statent to the Anti-Skill instructor and picked up a few details. The girl hadn't known who'd hired her—just so rcenary who'd snuck into Academy City from outside.
Even though that lead had gone cold, Natsu had a pretty good guess about who was pulling the strings: fanatics obsessed with the Level 6 Shift Project. That narrowed things down considerably.
She'd been turning all this over in her head for days. Soon, she'd ask Uiharu to look into it. Clues always turned up eventually.
Shaking off her worries, Natsu refocused. Today's main mission was school. She straightened her posture, and once again, lted into the light.
First period of the new sester: Math.
The bell rang, followed by the familiar scrape of chairs being pushed back.
Classmates gathered their books and filed out one by one—but one girl with a bun stayed firmly planted in her seat.
"Natsu-san, I just got word—you're to report to the school board office this afternoon. The Chairwoman wants to see you."
Natsu, head buried in her desk and scribbling furiously through her math howork, felt a tap on her shoulder.
"Oh! Dagu-sensei."
She snapped her notebook shut instinctively. She'd worked so fast she was already several lessons ahead.
"So don't forget this afternoon. You've already prepped this far ahead? You really are diligent, Natsu-san."
Dagu-sensei sighed with quiet admiration. The bun-haired girl blushed faintly—she just hated wasting ti on howork after class, that was all.
"I'll rember," Natsu said firmly, nodding.
The Chairwoman wanted to see her—it had to be about that. After all, the physical exams were coming up soon.
She'd only seen Tokiwadai's Chairwoman once, back at the opening ceremony: an elderly woman with a full head of curly white hair, clearly fond of perms and keeping up with fashion.
Rumor had it he enjoyed smoking and drinking, much like Komoe-sensei. But like most teachers, he never brought those habits onto school grounds.
Still, eting the Chairwoman made her nervous.
Yet whenever Natsu got nervous, she always found a way to distract herself—and this ti was no different.
Suddenly rembering sothing, she smacked her forehead lightly, her expression thoughtful.
A talk with the Chairwoman… maybe this was her chance.
For ages, Natsu had been openly complaining about Tokiwadai's ridiculous uniform policy.
She'd even slipped several unsigned suggestion letters into the school mailbox herself—but they'd all vanished without a trace.
In Academy City, students had to wear uniforms all the ti—school days, holidays, you na it. And among the city's five elite schools, only Tokiwadai clung to this infuriating rule.
Maybe she could use this eting to propose a change—like only requiring uniforms during actual school hours.
Lost in thought, Natsu barely noticed Dagu-sensei watching her with concern.
"Natsu-san, don't worry so much. The Chairwoman's actually a very kind woman."
"Huh? Oh, Dagu-sensei, I'm fine!" Natsu shook her head quickly, snapping out of her reverie.
The Urban Legends Research Club room—this was only the second ti Natsu had stepped inside all year.
Normally, clubrooms were where students spent most of their ti. But Natsu's "club" was anything but normal.
Just as expected, even on the first day of the new sester, the room was deserted. Everyone else was out doing actual club activities—like shopping, apparently.
If not for the janitors, the place would've been thick with cobwebs.
Natsu blew a stray wisp of dust off a chair and sat down, satisfied. She was here to write that suggestion letter—properly this ti.
She'd decided: this one, she'd hand-deliver to the Chairwoman herself.
After a while, she tucked the carefully revised letter into her bag, checked her phone, and realized it was nearly ti for her appointnt.
Walking to the Chairwoman's office felt just like heading to a teacher's room—except with ten tis the psychological pressure.
Natsu was helpful, hardworking, and top of her class—but even she wasn't immune to nerves.
She hesitated outside the office door for a mont, then took a deep breath and knocked.
"Co in."
A strong, resonant voice answered from within.
Opening the door, Natsu found an elderly woman in a sharp suit seated behind a wide desk—about three feet across, piled high with docunts, yet ticulously organized.
"Good afternoon, Chairwoman," Natsu said, bowing slightly with practiced seriousness.
The mont she stepped inside, her nervousness vanished, replaced by sharp focus.
"So you're Natsu-san. Good afternoon."
The Chairwoman looked up, studying her carefully before rising to his feet. She pulled a file from a nearby stack and walked around the desk.
Natsu sat on the sofa, facing the Chairwoman of Tokiwadai Middle School, a single file now resting on the table before her.
"Natsu-san," she began, "the Academy City Board has issued the evaluation docunts for the Eighth-ranked Level 5. If there's been no error, Tokiwadai is about to welco its third Level 5. There are certain matters regarding your new status that I believe we should discuss preliminarily."
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T/N: While I am an inexperienced Translator, I have a Patreon! While it may seem empty as of now, webnovel will get 3 Chapters Every Day, and advanced chapters will be uploaded on Patreon.
It may not seem worth it now, but maybe in the future. Who knows!
[email protected]/AspenTL
If you guys wanna check it out.
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