In practice, I originally just wanted to be a slacker.

After a period of time...

"Students from each class, please line up in two rows in your respective class area as required. First-grade students, please line up according to the location of your homeroom teacher."

A male voice came through the loudspeaker in the auditorium. Upon hearing this voice, most of the students began to line up on their own. The student on the far east side of the auditorium who was the first to act was probably a third-year student, judging from his height and weathered appearance.

The slowest group is naturally the first graders; even with instructions from the homeroom teacher, they still dawdle.

After lining up, Tatsuya Kamio stood at the back of the line for personal reasons, with a girl from his class to his right and... to his left.

There's no one on the left...

what's the situation?

This should be the second-year team.

Tatsuya Kamio's Class 1-D has a total of forty students, twenty boys and twenty girls. If they are divided into two rows, there will be twenty rows.

Kamio Tatsuya was standing at the very back, making him the twentieth person. The number of people in the right column was correct, both being twenty. However, the second-year class on the left had eighteen boys and nineteen girls.

Three people were late? Or did they all have diarrhea?

No, not likely.

From Kamio Tatsuya's position, it's not just the classes adjacent to Class 1-D, but also the classes further away, and even up to the end of the third year, that are not full.

I roughly counted them, and there were almost twenty people in total.

Surely not everyone in this group has diarrhea or is late?

has a problem……

Chapter Six: The Operation Begins

Even after the opening ceremony ended, Tatsuya Kamio still hadn't seen the missing seniors arrive.

"If I had known I didn't have to attend the opening ceremony, I would have gone straight back to my dorm."

"Yes, a lot of students from the upper grades didn't come."

Hearing the whispers of those nearby, Tatsuya Kamio was speechless.

Damn it?

So you didn't notice the shortage of upperclassmen, but you thought those few people didn't want to attend the opening ceremony?

Looking around, the first-year students seemed to be very accepting of the absence of the older students, and no one seemed puzzled by their absence.

Am I overthinking things?

Tatsuya Kamio felt somewhat out of place with his first-year classmates.

After the lengthy opening ceremony, the school announced that students were free to do as they pleased, and Tatsuya Kamio took action.

Regarding the question that had been lingering in his mind, Tatsuya Kamio chose the simplest and most direct approach: to ask the older students directly. As his classmates, they must know something, right?

So let's find a student who seems easy to talk to.

Just then, a girl wearing an unconventional school uniform happened to pass by Tatsuya Kamio.

The other person had long orange hair, wore an orange top, and had a sunflower hair clip in her bangs.

Yes, you're the one. Judging from your aura, you seem like an easy person to talk to, and most importantly, you're very beautiful.

"Excuse me, senior, I'm sorry to bother you."

The girl, who was suddenly called out, looked at Tatsuya Kamio, who had spoken, with some surprise, and then pointed to herself in astonishment.

"Are you calling me?"

“Yes, beautiful senior.” Tatsuya Kamio nodded affirmatively. “May I ask you a question?”

Upon hearing Tatsuya Kamio's words, the girl did not immediately agree. Instead, she sized up Tatsuya Kamio before speaking.

"Are you a first-year student?"

"Yes, I am a student in Class 1-D, Kamio Tatsuya."

"Class D?" The girl's voice was slightly surprised, but she quickly masked it. "I'm Asahina Nazuna from Class 2-A. Is there anything you want to ask, Kamio-kun?"

I was so lucky that the first person I contacted was willing to answer my question.

After a silent sigh, Tatsuya Kamio asked his question: "During the opening ceremony, I noticed that not only the first-year students, but also the second-year students, couldn't gather forty students in any of the classes. What could be the reason for this?"

Could it be that everyone got food poisoning?

At this point, even Tatsuya Kamio laughed.

Upon hearing this question, Asahina Nazuna laughed.

"Kamio-kun's observation and action skills are truly top-notch, especially his action skills."

While Tatsuya Kamio wasn't the only one to notice the small number of students in the upper-grade classes, he was truly unique in directly seeking answers from upper-grade students.

That's why Asahina Nagisa praised Kamio Tatsuya's exceptional action skills.

"The answer is simple. They didn't get food poisoning, nor did they have any urgent matters to attend to. They left the school; in short, they dropped out."

"Drop out?" For the first time, Tatsuya Kamio showed a look of surprise. "With such good conditions at this school, they're willing to drop out?"

Asahina Nagisa smiled without saying a word, seemingly unwilling to discuss the issue further.

Noticing the other person's expression, Tatsuya Kamio realized something: perhaps they didn't drop out of school voluntarily.

So, being expelled means violating school rules?

But is it a coincidence that someone in every class is expelled?

"Um, could you tell me why they dropped out of school?" As he spoke, Tatsuya Kamio checked the time. "It's almost noon, so I can treat you to lunch as payment for helping me answer my questions."

Asahina Nazuna had a good impression of the junior schoolmate named Kamio Tatsuya; he was tall and handsome.

Although he was a student in Class D, the aura he exuded was completely different from those idiots in Class D.

If it weren't for the incredibly naive way the other person struck up a conversation, I probably would have thought they weren't even that age.

"I'm sorry, junior, I'm afraid I can't have lunch with you."

Just after Tatsuya Kamio extended the invitation, a male student's voice came over.

He was a male student with blond hair and a fairly decent appearance, but for some reason, Tatsuya Kamio found him somewhat annoying.

However, he was very self-aware. Although he felt annoyed, he knew he was in an unfamiliar place and it was best not to offend anyone.

"Ya, have you finished explaining things to Chairman Horikita?"

Asahina Nazuna also turned to greet the boy named Miyabi next to her.

"It's just some routine student council reporting." The boy named Ya smiled and then looked at Tatsuya Kamio. "You're quite capable to have investigated this far in such a short time since you enrolled."

"Uh, you flatter me, senior."

"Your name is Kamio Tatsuya, right? My name is Nagumo Masaru, and I'm in Class 2-A, just like Nazuna. As for answering your question, Nazuna has already answered you. As for more information, we can't tell you for now."

Upon hearing this, Tatsuya Kamio wore a helpless expression.

"However, Kamio-kun, if you can find out the true nature of this school within a month, I can recommend you to join the student council."

A smile appeared on Nan Yunya's face.

However, this time even Tatsuya Kamio was stumped.

Um, what are the benefits of joining the student council?

I just want to be a fish swimming quietly, I don't want to join any organization and start living the life of a beast of burden early!

Moreover, this statement is tantamount to directly telling Tatsuya Kamio: This school is extraordinary.

In fact, Tatsuya Kamio had already discovered that this school was unusual, so Nagumo's actions could not be considered a leak to him.

"Um, what are the benefits of joining the student council?"

"Hehe, you'll find out once you join." Nan Yunya smiled mysteriously, then took out her phone. "Let's exchange contact information. I'll wait for the day you uncover the truth."

[Mission issued: Investigate the truth about the school and inform either Nagumo Masashi or Asahina Nazuna.]

[Task Reward: System Space Retrieval Attempt +1]

[Task penalty: none]

Although I have no interest in joining the student council, this Nan Yunya is clearly not a simple person, and it doesn't seem like a bad thing to be able to get in touch with her.

As for disliking someone, well, there are no eternal enemies, only eternal interests.

Moreover, even if a conflict does arise with the other party one day, it's better to learn more about them than to know nothing about them at the time.

Consider it as infiltrating the enemy's ranks ahead of time.

Most importantly, the system has issued the task.

This is the first task issued by the system, so I have to complete it.

So, Tatsuya Kamio took out his phone and exchanged contact information with Masaru Nagumo.

Then Asahina Nazuna came over and exchanged contact information with Kamio Tatsuya. In her words, how could such an interesting thing not include her?

Chapter Seven: Free meals aren't necessarily unacceptable.

The problem of insufficient students in the upper grades has been barely solved, but it has caused a new problem, which is the truth about this school.

However, rather than causing new problems, it was more accurate to say that it triggered a side quest.

Mission objective: Find out the truth about this school within one month and report it to Nan Yunya.

Task Reward: You will receive an opportunity to join the student council through Nagumo Ya's recommendation.

Intuition tells Tatsuya Kamio that the upperclassmen's student council is the key to finding out the truth, but based on Nagumo and Asahina's reactions, they must have been put on a gag order or something.

As for the option of whether those two people were deceiving or playing tricks on him, that option was also ruled out after careful consideration.

While pondering the question, Tatsuya Kamio followed the group of freshmen to the dormitory building for first-year students.

From the outside, the dormitory building looks like a standard apartment building, with more than ten floors and more than a dozen doors on each floor.

It's more than enough to accommodate 160 students from one grade.

Moreover, it's not just boys; girls have also moved into the dormitory building, meaning it's a co-ed dormitory.

However, while queuing to check in, Tatsuya Kamio noticed that the girls were staying on a higher floor, while the boys were staying on a lower floor.

When it was Tatsuya Kamio's turn, he took out his phone, showed his student ID, and placed the phone on the sensor area on the bar as instructed by the dormitory staff.

"Class 1-D, Tatsuya Kamio, right?"

The dormitory supervisor read out Tatsuya Kamio's name.

"Yes."

After a quick identity check, she took out a card from the drawer, operated the sensor, and placed it on the table between the two of them.

"The dormitory number is 404. The room uses a card lock, so please keep your room card and key safe. If you lose or damage your room card, you can come here to report it lost and get a spare room card."

Kamio Tatsuya took the card and examined it. It was a standard card, the same size as a bank card, which seemed to be the case worldwide.

Moreover, judging from her actions just now, she must have entered the room's data into the card, which is why this card became the key to room 404.

If we input the information from other rooms into this card, wouldn't it become a master key?

Just in case, Tatsuya Kamio asked another question.

"Um, the spare key shouldn't easily fall into the hands of anyone other than the room owner, right?"

"Normally, that's not the case, because spare keys are only made when needed."

"Can anyone make it when needed? You wouldn't just hand over a spare key to someone of unknown origin, would you?"

This is Japan, and there are quite a few perverts in Japan. Even schools aren't necessarily safe. Boys, you must protect yourselves when you're out and about!

"The room owner or an official from the school needs to be present, such as your homeroom teacher."

I see. That significantly increases the safety level.

After learning about the situation, just then an elevator came down from upstairs, and Tatsuya Kamio grabbed his keys and the dormitory rules booklet he had gotten from the administrator and rushed to catch it.

Outside room 404, I placed my room card on the sensor on the doorknob. After a faint sound, the door opened.