I barely remember anything about this school neighborhood.
Maybe I got lost again this time.
Well, it doesn't really matter.
I can still ask someone about the whereabouts of the dining hall in Class 2.
It was pretty quiet, probably because the students were still enjoying their breakfast.
Even so, I was lucky because I saw a man sitting on a bench by the roadside.
I approached him and intended to ask him.
"Excuse me, senior. Can I ask you a question?"
"Who are you? Your face looks unfamiliar, are you a new student?"
"Yes, you're right. I'm a student of class 1-E who just started school today."
"Eh?! Why is a first year student here? Especially 1-E?!"
"Is there a problem with that?"
She was surprised when I said 1-E and so I asked if there was a problem with me being in 1-E.
Again and again, I found one person who looked down on class 1-E.
I actually didn't care, but again I was curious why class 1-E seemed so underrated.
Well, I'm sure that this guy is just influenced.
Just ignore it.
My goal was to meet Rose and talk to her, not to talk to this guy.
"It doesn't matter, anyway. Sorry, forget it! So what did you want to ask?"
"Where is the second-year dining hall?"
"Hmm... you just need to turn left from here and keep walking until you find it."
"Is that so? Thank you, senior!"
"Be careful! This school is not a child's playground."
"Yes, I understand. Thank you for the warning, senior!"
I didn't want to deal with this guy any longer, so after thanking him twice I left immediately.
I knew that too.
This school was more troublesome than I expected, which was why I wanted to talk about it with Rose who had a year of experience living in this school.
I could only talk to Rose because she was the only senior I knew.
After walking for a while following the man's directions, I finally found the dining hall next to Class 2-A.
In that place there was also a teacher guarding in front of the room.
The one guarding was a woman and of course it was different from the first class earlier, the one guarding the first class was a man.
"What's the need?"
She asked as I approached her.
"Excuse me, Teacher. Did you see a rather tall girl with a twin tail hairstyle enter this dining hall?"
I answered her while asking back.
"Is she your sister?"
"Umm, no. She's not my sister, I just met her this morning."
"As a new student, it's great that you can come here alone without any expression."
"Is that a compliment?"
"Depends on how you take it."
"Then, I consider it a compliment."
"Good, are you happy?"
"I don't know."
Our conversation stopped for a moment.
While talking, we didn't really look at each other.
Even now, we don't look at each other anymore.
"Oh, yes. What's your name?"
She started talking to me again.
"Satomi Adney."
"His nickname is Satomi? Or Adney?"
"Whatever."
"Alright, Satomi. What's the deal with the twin-tailed girl? Look, if you tell me her name maybe I can help you."
"Well, her name is Annette Rose, if I'm not mistaken she's in class-..."
"2-B, right?"
Wow, she looked so proud to interrupt me.
I wanted to immediately cut off the conversation that was happening now, but it was a bit difficult.
She's a teacher after all, so I guess I'll let her feel satisfied.
"Yes, that's right. Did you see her?"
"Of course, everyone must be interested in her, especially since she's the student with the fastest grade advancement record than most other students. Just imagine, in one month she was able to go from grade 1-E to grade 1-C. And now she's already in class 2-B."
"Wow, that's great."
"You don't look impressed at all, what's with that flat tone of yours? You should be more enthusiastic!"
"Okay."
"Listen, Satomi! It doesn't matter which class you're in, what matters is your desire to become a genius. If you're serious, then you can do it in any class."
Of course, I was a bit in awe of this teacher because she was different from the rest.
Most of them just looked down on E class, but she was completely different.
I understood why she didn't ask about my class origin.
She just wanted me to study seriously here regardless of where my class was.
"Satomi, what are you doing all the way here?"
That voice, I was sure that it was Rose.
So my guess was right that she was in the second grade dining hall.
"Oh, Rose. This guy was looking for you earlier."
"I'll see you again, Rose."
She came out of the dining hall and was greeted by my presence.
"Why, Satomi?"
"Well, do you have some free time? I want to discuss something with you."
"Let's talk somewhere else!"
"Okay."
"We're leaving first, Ms. Laurent! Thanks for keeping her company!"
"No problem."
Soon Rose and I left, leaving behind a female teacher whom I learned was named Laurent.
"Keep up the good work! Satomi!"
"What?"
I could hear a whisper from Ms. Laurent.
What enthusiasm?
I don't understand.
Well, never mind.
It's not important at all.
What was important was my conversation with Rose.
"How about talking about it in that park?"
Oh, that's the park where Fisa and I were relaxing before.
"That's fine."
I accepted her invitation to go to the park.
I actually wanted to relax and lie down enjoying the grass of the park, but since we were going to have an important talk, I couldn't do that.
Rose and I sat on a park bench next to each other with a little distance.
"What's wrong, Satomi?"
Rose opened the subject.
"Well, it's about the special rules."
"Sorry, Satomi. I can't talk about it with you."
"Why?"
"That's a no-brainer, because I don't trust anyone anymore."
"Can you explain why? You seem to be covering it up so hard."
"Yes, I don't mind if it's just that. Actually, the special rules have become information. And for anyone who has been caught spreading the information, then they will be punished."
"Then?"
"Sorry, I can only say that."
The explanation Rose gave sounded very short, and I'm sure that Fisa who heard it would definitely keep wondering what it meant.
But Rose's very brief explanation made me understand why.
Why was Rose so secretive?
Why didn't she trust other people?
I knew the answer.
Information.
Just like in war, information is very important to increase the chances of winning.
By knowing information such as the enemy's strength, battlefield, and so on, it will be an advantage for the side that knows it, and of course their chances of winning will increase.
Conversely, for those who lack information, the chances of winning will decrease.
It seems like Rose was once punished for being caught disseminating information, whatever it was that I didn't know.
Well, what can I do.
I'll offer her something.
"Is that so? If I help you uncover the stalker who's been bothering you all this time, will you tell me?"
"Huh?! What do you mean?"
I knew she'd be surprised by my words.
Ever since Rose escorted me and Fisa to class 1-E, I could notice some strange things about her.
First, Rose seemed too hasty to take me and Fisa to class 1-E.
Secondly, in the middle of the road she deliberately slowed down her pace so that we could walk together.
Thirdly, Rose didn't want to be reported by the stalker for spreading information, so she tried hard to hide it.
With those three things, I was sure that Rose was in trouble with a stalker.
I became even more certain after seeing her surprised reaction.
"I know you're having trouble with a stalker, especially since you don't know him. You feel scared, don't you?"
"What are you talking about?"
For now Rose is still evading by pretending not to understand, but I'm sure she'll admit it afterwards.
"You're popular because of your class record. I don't know how to make the grade, but I think you're really good. When you get scared, you'll warm up to distract yourself. The reason you hid it from us was because you didn't want the stalker to hear, right? Because he could be anywhere without you knowing."
"P-please, stop it!"
"Actually giving out information wouldn't be a problem as long as you don't get caught, but you can't do that because of that stalker you're afraid of."
"ENOUGH!!!"
Rose started shouting and raised her hand as high as she could, like she intended to hit me with her palm.
Her movements were easy to read, so I grabbed her arm before she did.
"AGG!"
"Calm down, Rose! Even if the stalker is here, he won't hear it because I deliberately spoke in a low tone."
I lowered her arm and now Rose looked resigned that I already knew everything.
"Sa-satomi, what you said is true, I've been followed by someone since the middle of first grade. I should have been able to get into Class A, but because I was caught giving out information, my points were reduced and I failed to get into Class A."
Points?
It seems like I heard something new that feels troublesome.
"I'll help you find the stalker, so can you give me the answers to some of my questions later?"
"Can you do that?"
"Yes, leave it to me!"
"Are you sure? I asked some of my friends for help and in the end they didn't believe me because she was hard to find."
Basically, Rose didn't know if she was still being stalked or not, and that's why she felt scared to open her mouth about anything.
Rose acted as if she was being stalked and she tried to prevent it.
If it's like this, I should at least find out who the person who had stalked Rose in the middle of first grade was.
I was sure that he was the one who reported that Rose had given information.
"I'll do it in three days, so can you answer some of my questions now?"
"Why are you so sure?"
"You have to trust me!"
"We-well, I'll try!"
It was a little hard to convince her, but fortunately Rose was starting to look like she believed me.
This was a good thing, so I could ask her a lot of questions about the school.