Chapter 5 - Sensei Kirisu

Since Naruse Mio looked exactly like the Mio Basara knew, both in appearance and personality, that she didn't recognize him was like being hit with a bucket of cold water. So, with his mind still a little dazed, he stopped looking for the bathroom and returned to the room quickly.

'If she doesn't have any memories, I'll try to create them again. Besides, I still can't stop thinking about it...'

It didn't matter how many hours had passed; the memory of Moka Akashiya's white panties kept flashing through his mind. However, it wasn't because of the panties themselves, but because of the strange thing that appeared in front of him when he looked at the panties.

'I got Naughty Points at that moment, and it was because I saw her panties. That certainly had something to do with the strange ability that man gave me. Haaa! That's a lot to think about!' He thought and scratched the back of his head as he exclaimed internally.

Ortigia Academy, with its vast corridors and new faces, was intimidating enough on its own, and now Basara had to deal with these unexpected interactions and a strange system.

When he returned from his trip to the bathroom and opened the classroom door, he found the class in complete silence and staring at the front of the classroom. Feeling confused for a moment, he took a step into the room and quickly understood why everyone was quiet.

Standing next to the teacher's desk was a woman he didn't recognize. She was of medium height and had long pink hair. She was wearing a physical education uniform that seemed too loose for her body, but she was beautiful and young.

As Basara entered the room through the back door, he tried to get to his desk unnoticed. But...

"You're late, Toujou-san!" Her voice was cold and serious.

He barely had time to turn around to explain before he saw her raise her hand with a small piece of chalk between her fingers. With one swift movement, she threw the chalk in his direction. She had the aim of an expert marksman and the strength of a gorilla. A sharp, rapid sound cut through the air.

In reflex, Basara tilted his body to the side, and the chalk glanced off, hitting the wall behind the last seats in the room. He felt everyone's eyes burning into the back of his head. She turned around quickly and everyone looked straight ahead again.

The teacher's gaze was still fixed on him, as if he had committed some kind of serious offense just by entering the room. However, she threw no more chalk.

"Lucky for you that you dodged. You're a new student, right? I'll let it slide this time, but next time try not to be late for the restroom. When I get to class, I expect everyone to be ready. I don't tolerate lateness in my class."

"Yes, I apologize for being late."

As he sat down, one student in the back row whispered to his classmate: "Why is teacher Kirisu wearing a PE uniform?"

Soon, another student had the courage to repeat the same question louder. "Teacher Kirisu, why are you dressed like that today?"

She sighed, clearly still annoyed, but answered with the same serious tone she had just used with Basara. "Today we're going to retake the physical tests from the beginning of the semester. I want to see how you've progressed since then."

Basara frowned. Physical tests? In a magic academy? Not exactly what he had expected. However, looking at the buzz and the expressions of the other students when she said that, they seemed to take these evaluations seriously, as they were more nervous after she announced it.

"Let's go. Everyone went to the changing rooms. I want to see dedication in today's tests." She turned and left the room, expecting them to follow her.

Basara sighed, not knowing what to expect from these tests. As they walked towards the changing rooms, he heard some students commenting on the test more clearly.

"Ahh! Damn, I should have done more sit-ups in the last few months!"

"I fasted a few days last month. Has my strength increased?"

"I don't think I've evolved that much."

Moka was surrounded by a few students, and Koneko, the girl with cat ears who had barely spoken to me, was part of the same group. The girls who admired Moka for her beauty and friendliness also found Koneko attractive because she was small and cute.

When he arrived at the boys' changing room, Basara found a space in the middle of the room. As none of the boys had exchanged a word with him yet, he felt a little lonely as everyone chatted about the physical tests.

'If I'm not mistaken, the teacher said to just open any locker, and the things in our locker in the corridors would appear normally. Will that work? I've never seen magic like this,' he thought, and then opened the metal cupboard in front of him.

Surprisingly, the clothes were there, as promised, and Basara realized they weren't much different from the classic physical education clothes of an ordinary Japanese school. 'Besides, they're in my ideal size... I don't know how they do it, but it works,' he thought. First, he took off his school uniform blazer and then removed the white shirt he normally wore underneath.

It was then that Basara noticed the surrounding silence. He could feel the gazes of several boys watching him out of the corner of his eye. When he finally looked at them, he saw they were all staring at the scars he had all over his body.

The scars were something Basara was used to — they had been part of him for so long that he no longer cared. Some came from his rigorous training as a child, while others resulted from the incident that led to his banishment from the village. However, to someone who didn't know his history, this might all seem strange. Basara knew it was normal for the other boys to be so curious, as it wasn't the first time.

"Basara-san, did you... fight in a war or something?" asked one of his classmates, a slight boy who was sitting on a nearby bench.

"Shhh! You shouldn't talk like that, Tanaka-kun!"

Basara smiled with the corner of his mouth. "Actually, it's fine. You can look and comment. I was a pretty messy kid when I was younger, so I ended up getting a lot of these scars from accidents."

That was always the explanation he gave his classmates at the schools where he studied. This time, the reaction of most of them was to laugh a little and say that he didn't seem like the type of boy to get into trouble. However, some showed no reaction at all, and Basara felt they seemed to know he was lying.

When they finally finished changing and headed for the field, Professor Kirisu and a few girls were already waiting.

"Let's start with the endurance tests. Take advantage of the free time to stretch and warm up. I want to see every one of you doing your best. I don't accept laziness or excuses."

A few minutes later, everyone was running around the field, jumping over hurdles and carrying out a series of exercises that were more like military training than an ordinary physical education test.

Basara kept a steady pace, not wanting to stand out, but also not wanting to look weak and become the target of bullies. It didn't take him long to realize that the other students didn't have the same kind of physical fitness as him. Some were good, but Basara was used to a different level of demand.

At the last test, Professor Kirisu called everyone together and said: "Now that you've all finished most of the tests, it's time for the final test: the strength test."

"What?!"

"Now? But, teacher, I don't even have the strength to breathe anymore."

"This should have been the first test!"

Kirisu ignored the comments and held up a baseball. "You probably already know, but I'll tell you anyway. This test consists of throwing a ball like this as far as possible. Simple, right? But before anyone relaxes, remember that you're halfway through your first year and, so far, the dungeons have not granted permission to access to any student in this class."

'Dungeons? Is that a game?' Basara wondered.

His classmates' reactions suggested that this was well-known and clearly important information.

"Permission to access the dungeons will only be granted to those who prove their worth in the physical and magical tests. If you don't get satisfactory physical results here, you can forget about entering the dungeons this year, even if you are extremely skilled with magic."

Next to him, Basara heard a whisper from the same boy who had asked about his scars earlier.

"Damn, I needed that permission so badly... My brother got it in the first year and never stopped bragging about it."