The Mastermind is a Middle School Student (KHR FF)

Parent(less) Participation Day

(18: wow this is kinda sad)

[-1-]

It wasn't until the sun rose did Eitou remembered what was bugging him.

Right, parent participation day.

Rolling out of his pink bed like a dignified sushi roll, the gardener slowly went through his daily routine. Showering, cooking, eating, all with the same squinty eyed sleepy gait; no matter how much sleep he got, he's always sleepy.

Parent participation day, for Eitou, had never been a memorable one, whether in his past life or this one. For once, in his past life, it is indeed better for no one to arrive, and in this one, he'd rather die than let his current guardian show up during this day.

In short, none of his business.

But it is indeed fun from another perspective. Seeing how his classmates' differ from their guardians, and where they are similar. It's surprisingly easy to understand where something came from, and surprisingly (and sad, from an adult perspective) explained a lot of the problems his classmates have.

An eye-opening day.

Eitou blinked, staring at the classroom door in front of him. From the outside, he could already hear the much higher noise level than usual, indicating that there are more people inside than usual.

Disregarding the fact the he zoned out the whole way to school, Eitou expressionlessly slid the room open.

"Oh, Yukimura-kun! How are you doing?"

"Yukimura-kun? Ah, look at him, prim and proper. Now look at you, button your uniform up!"

"Ah, that's the child of the Yukimura family, isn't he?"

"His hair is so long... Does the school allow this?"

"I heard his father.... Yes."

Eitou was stunned, not expecting so many people inside the class. Even classmates that usually arrive late are already seated here. He tentatively looked at the window, is the sun rising from the west?

He squinted his eyes a bit before spotting his desk, in relief, he quickly made his way over while greeting acquaintances with a smile.

Some he met at the market, some he met at his usual makeup store (he is NOT ready to meet his usual gossip buddies in school, but here he is.) and others...

Um, yeah, never met these people before.

Stranger or acquaintances —

With a frozen smile on his face, Eitou looked at the crowd slowly forming around him with half moon eyes, and felt his cheeks getting phantom aches.

Inside his head, he very much regrets being so friendly with the aunties in the market.

[-2-]

"Just as we had learned last week—"

"—GOOD JOB TAKESHI, WE'LL HAVE FATTY TUNA TONIGHT!!!—"

"...Ehem, we discussed, the first step is to find the median to the data." The teacher expressionlessly continued.

Halfway through the lesson, Eitou belatedly realized one thing; his class is right above 1-A. You know, The Class™?

Since there are a bunch of adults cramped at the back of the class, the windows of all classes are naturally opened to allow for better air circulation. A causes B, B causes C, and now class 3-A can hear everything that happens below their floor like a gossipy neighbour.

Despite the teacher— who's also the school's principal — best attempt of composure, murmurs from the parents are still ongoing.

"Class below... Noisy..."