Wolf in Sheep's Clothing // A Classroom of the Elite Story

[Ch. 2] First Cracks

Instead of regular dorms one might have expected, it seemed like the school was keen on providing the utmost comfort to its students, at least on the habitual side of things. It was indeed hard to imagine better conditions at any other institutions, but all this opulence would normally come at a price.

It was the second morning of school, with Shinzo coming back to his room from the usual morning run to quickly shower and head to class. It was his ritual for the day, you could say. One run in the morning, one in the evening, preferring outdoor running to treadmill whenever the weather was on his side. He's been at it for a whole year now, with no signs of looking to stop. Not until he would finally catch up to his ideal, assuming that was even possible.

Today was the start of regular classes, so Masaki had to get himself back into the learning mindset. {It's all a matter of motivation.}, he splashed his face with cold water, before putting on his uniform in order to leave. He's gotten a good idea of the general layout of the island. The sheer size of it was fortunate for him, it meant he could alternate routes for his runs, to keep things sort of fresh. But before closing the door behind him, he gave his room, rather an apartment, a good look. {Yeah, there's no way this is all given away without some safety mechanism in place. Way too fishy.}, he shook his head, shutting the door.

In the halls of the building, you could hear the elevator going up and down, or hurried steps on the stairs, a sign of life, and a sign that the school truly began. {Well, I guess they do have good soundproofing.}, considering the boy didn't hear any of this noise before leaving the room. A good and much needed addition. Considering his usual morning routine, the chances that his friend already left for school were high, as Yuma Isogai would rather be several minutes early, just in case. Even if nothing ever happened to justify this safety net of a timeframe.

But to Shinzo right now, he had a bigger curiosity in his heart. There's 3 words the boy valued dearly, maybe too dearly at times, and one of those would be 'teacher'. He's seen his teacher now, but there's a difference between teaching something and being a 'teacher' in his eyes, and the first month should be giving him a pretty good idea of where his teacher lied on the axis.

"Hello~!", an almost musical greeting echoed in his right year, as Honami Ichinose has been attempting to get his attention for the past minute, while the boy was lost in thought. "Are you ignoring me on purpose?", she pouted.

"Morning to you as well, Rosy.", he poked her puffed up cheek, taking the girl by surprise. "Oh wow, now you actually look red!", the boy laughed at his classmate.

Ichinose took a step back in recoil, as she assumed the perceived shyness from yesterday to be somewhat genuine. And yet, in just one instance, she was reversed and pinned when it came to embarrassment.

"Are you perhaps a bully, Shinzo-kun? Like a sly fox?", she tried to regain her composure, as this makeshift assault was the last thing she expected in the morning.

But to the boy, this was just his regular self. Perhaps his and Japan's usual more reserved attitude to social interaction were at odds here, not that he cared too much.

"Oh, really now? A fox?", his grin was evident, choosing to continue the charade his classmate started, albeit unknowingly, yesterday. "I like foxes. But you're not quite there yet."

"Hmm. So you don't deny you're akin to an animal? Are you maybe into those animal spirit things? What animal would I be in that case?"

"Yeah, no. I may be westerner to a degree, but I am not that crazy about that sort of stuff. BUT...if i were to say...", he eyes Honami up and down, from her strawberry hair, down to her chest and legs. "You're quite the cutesy rabbit."