«Please welcome Hakuto Tendo, of the Narkhalis family. Starting today, he will be your new classmate.»
Hakuto feels rather embarrassed—the cold gazes of his new classmates press down on him like heavy stones, as if silently asking, Who's this guy? Some stray the prestigious Narkhalis family picked up?
Or so Hakuto interprets their stares.
After that brief introduction to class 2-B of the Tsugumi Institute, the math teacher Misaki Yuunami—a captivating woman in her forties, with a toned and still enviable athletic figure, hazel hair tied in a bun, and eyes of the same color—invites him to sit at the only remaining desk, one next to the wall in the second row.
To his great surprise, Hakuto found out only this morning that Rika is in the same class as him, while Yuzu attends class 1-A.
«Well then, let's resume the lesson. Who among you can solve this logarithm?»
On the blackboard behind Professor Yuunami is a series of numbers and mathematical symbols that, to Hakuto, look like ancient, indecipherable hieroglyphs.
That's less a merit of the Tsugumi Institute and more a flaw of Hakuto's previous high school—a real den of delinquents on the outskirts of Tokyo. Unfortunately, that was the best Shin could afford after losing his real job and being forced into the harsh and poorly paid life of a manual laborer.
A moment after that question, Rika—seated at the first desk in front of the teacher's podium—springs to her feet.
The girls' uniform at the institute consists of a white shirt with a sleeveless black jacket with silver-colored trimmings, black tights that reach mid-thigh, and a black skirt that ends just above the tights. The boys' uniform, instead, is a suit that follows the same black and silver design.
Due to that abrupt and sudden movement, Rika's skirt lifts for an instant—an imperceptible fraction of a second—briefly revealing her firm, plump bubble butt, covered by white panties.
A heavenly sight that, however, seems to have gone unnoticed by the entire class, as none of the boys gave her strange looks or made any comments—only Hakuto appears to have noticed it, thanks to his particularly sharp, almost superhuman, eyesight.
"So I really am a pervert…" he repeats to himself, disheartened.
«My compliments, Miss Narkhalis. Brilliant as always.»
The teacher praises her—a compliment accompanied by the composed applause of the rest of the class—after Rika solves that complex mathematical problem in an instant.
Hakuto remains stunned by Rika's performance.
«Your stepsister truly has rare and unique intelligence. It's no coincidence she's the student council president, and also the most admired student in the entire institute. I even heard she gets daily offers from prestigious high schools around the world to finish her studies with them. Living with a globally recognized genius must be quite the fortune, right?»
«Yeah, I guess it really is a great fortune.»
That comment, directed at Hakuto, comes from his desk neighbor—a boy with bizarre carrot-colored hair.
Hakuto is caught completely off guard by those revelations—after all, he and Rika hadn't even exchanged a single word the day before, let alone talked about their private lives. Then again, Yuzu had warned him about her older sister's reserved and introverted nature.
«Anyway, my name's Itsu Thazreel. Nice to meet you.»
The boy introduces himself with a big, cheerful smile.
«Hakuto Tendo. The pleasure's mine.»
«Mr. Thazreel, Mr. Tendo has only been here for a few minutes and you already intend to lead him down the wrong path?! One slacker in this class is more than enough!»
«I apologize, Professor Yuunami. From now on, I'll be quiet as a mouse!»
Itsu even stands up and bows his head in apology, under the almost disgusted stares of the rest of the class—especially Rika's. He's definitely not a well-liked guy, that's for sure.