“…Alright. I think we can begin.”

After school, a few minutes after Toudou Mizuki had gone home, Houjou Noa spoke up in the classroom.

“Yukari, block the door. Don’t let anyone in.”

“Yes.”

Shinonome Yukari, the vice class representative, stepped into the hallway and stationed herself so no one could pass.

“Now then—let’s start our very first class assembly.”

As she said it, Noa glanced to Isshiki Shizuku.

Shizuku rose quietly and walked to the lectern.

“First, what I’m about to say is a set of directives. This is not a discussion.”

Her voice carried clearly.

Noa guessed she’d been trained as the next head of the Isshiki family. The higher you stand, the more intimately you understand how your voice and manner shape people.

“Let’s keep this brief.”

Wearing a masklike smile, Shizuku began dispassionately.

“There will be some minor work done in this classroom over the weekend. You are absolutely forbidden from discussing it.”

Noa swept a cautious gaze across the room.

Most of the girls looked confused; very few seemed to grasp what was going on.

“You are strictly forbidden from taking Mizuki-sama to high places, near water, or anywhere else where there’s a risk of an accident.”

Anyone quick would catch her intent now, Noa thought, turning her eyes back to Shizuku at the lectern.

Her skirt looked shorter than before.

Well now, she thought with private admiration. That’s one way to play it.

“You are strictly forbidden from inviting Mizuki-sama to intense physical activity. In particular, avoid any exercise that involves raising the arm above the shoulder. If and when this restriction is lifted, I will notify you.”

That was news even to Noa.

They’d done their homework. She weighed possible sources.

“That’s all from me. Houjou-san also has something to say.”

As Shizuku stepped back a few paces, Noa moved up to the lectern.

From the slightly raised dais, she could read the class’s expressions well.

From a few, she felt something like hostility.

“I’ll keep mine short as well.”

With that preface, Noa drew a breath.

She was about to make a lot of enemies.

But it had to be said.

“First, let’s be clear about our premise. Toudou Mizuki is a boy who should, by rights, have been placed in Class A.”

No one said a word.

She was only stating a fact.

And from that, she spoke the conclusion it implied.

“So he’s out of your league.”

Unexpectedly, there was no pushback.

Everyone, it seemed, already understood that Mizuki’s assignment to Class K was an accident of circumstance.

“Give it a year and this class’s rank will climb to the top tier. With Isshiki Shizuku and me here, that’ll happen almost automatically.”

Then she cut to the heart of it.

“This is a request: after the ranking shift in the second year, I want you to exercise your class selection rights and transfer out.”

At Shirayuki Academy, a class’s overall performance over the year determines its rank at promotion time.

At that point, the entire class moves together regardless of individual grades.

It’s a kind of collective liability—designed so the classroom environment doesn’t whiplash around and impose undue stress on the male students.

“Look, this was the lowest class to begin with. We’ll raise the rank for you, and then you can spend the remaining two years in a class above the original K. It isn’t a bad deal.”

She let her gaze sweep the room, gauging reactions.

Faces that wanted to object.

Faces set in frustration.

Faces with resignation.

There were many responses, but no one voiced a rebuttal.

As the daughter of Houjou, Noa understood the power of numbers.

On day three, Class K still had no solid faction besides her own.

A large bloc was the simplest way to make people bow—and the Houjou family’s specialty.

“Upon graduation, the top-ranked class’s boy earns the privilege of joining the ruling class. That’s the rightful reward Mizuki should have had from the start. None of you wants to drag him down and get in the way of that honor, do you?”

And then she moved to close.

“You were lucky, that’s all. Be grateful you got to spend even a year with him—and then go.”

“I don’t like that.”

A sharp voice cut through the room.

It came from a short girl by the aisle, bored expression on her face.

Her black bob was streaked with gold highlights—striking enough that Noa fixed her gaze on the girl.

“Sorry—who are you?”

“Minaki Suzu.”

The red resolve in her eyes pleased Noa.

“Shirayuki’s class assignments aren’t decided purely by ability,” Suzu said. “For example, Kaminari over there is a top player—she won the national volleyball tournament. Under the athletics quota, she’d be D Class even if her grades were garbage. If she ended up in K, it’s probably because her height docked her points.”

Called out by name, Kaminari Nene started, then hunched her shoulders and tried to make herself small.

Her seat was toward the center, beside Mizuki; as the tallest girl in class, she stood out, for better or worse.

“And your point?” Noa asked.

“That you don’t get to decide who’s useless all by yourself.”

Noa couldn’t help smiling.

It was rare for anyone to bite straight back at Houjou Noa, daughter of a Shikoku Eighteen House.

“True. I didn’t expect much from you and didn’t look deeply.”

“Knew it.”

“Well, fine. As long as you don’t drag us down, that’s enough.”

Noa shrugged and, just like that, conceded Minaki Suzu’s point.

“It’s not something I can force anyway. I also meant to light a fire under you. Do your best.”

Suzu only glared, saying nothing.

I like that she doesn’t waste words, Noa thought, glancing toward Shizuku.

“That’s all from me.”

“Understood,” Shizuku said. “Does anyone else have a proposal or something to say?”

She addressed the room, but no hands went up.

“Then this concludes our first class assembly.”

◇◆◇

“Do you have time?”

After the meeting, in the empty classroom, Houjou Noa faced Isshiki Shizuku.

No one else was there.

Only Shinonome Yukari stood watch outside in the hall.

“Yes. It seemed you had something to discuss.”

“I do… First, thank you for convening the assembly so quickly, just as I requested.”

“No need to thank me. I would have called it myself to deliver my directives, even without your request.”

“I see…”

Silence settled.

Shizuku, before her, wore that masklike smile, unreadable.

Noa felt the temptation to prod the girl who would likely be her greatest obstacle.

“By the way—now that we’re at capacity, what will you do? You can’t squeeze any more of your people in.”

“No problem. I had no plans to.”

Shizuku’s expression didn’t change.

Noa couldn’t tell whether it was true.

“Oh? Just putting on a brave face?”

“I’m the Isshiki heir. I have to maintain fairness with the commoners as well.”

“As expected of the guardian of order. From your perspective, the Houjou side is just a rabble held together by numbers?”

“The Houjou family has achieved brilliant results for generations through effective use of retainers. There’s no need to disparage yourselves.”

With Shizuku’s true feelings still hidden, Noa’s interest cooled quickly.

Fine, she thought, and changed the subject.

“You know the cause of the ‘traffic accident,’ yes?”

“Yes.”

As expected.

Noa pressed a little further.

“Then have you heard of the call of the void?”

“No…”

So she really didn’t know.

Noa couldn’t help a flicker of disappointment.

Isshiki Shizuku was not the same as her.

“It’s the impulse toward death that comes over you at odd moments,” Noa said. “It isn’t a disease. In other words, medicine can’t cure it. We’ll have to keep a close eye on him.”

“…You’re well-informed.”

“Someone among my retainers is. I’m only parroting.”

She gave a small shrug.

“Oh—and I’ll admit I didn’t know he couldn’t lift his arm. Seems you’ve got a very special source.”

“…,” Shizuku said, falling silent.

Seeing that at last stirred an emotion in her, Noa smiled.

Finally, a crack in the mask.

“I won’t pry. But you’d better exercise the utmost caution regarding that source.”

“Yes. Of course.”

Almost in unison, they picked up their bags.

They had nothing more to say.

Which was precisely when people were most off guard.

“By the way, your skirt’s gotten rather short.”

Shizuku’s movement stopped.

Savoring the perfect hit, Noa left the classroom with a smile.