Ch.3835 – School Opening Ceremony

“Are you all ready?”

“Yes, Professor. But what’s with the camera…?”

“Haha, this? Well, it’s NoName’s official enrollment day at the academy, so I thought we should commemorate it!”

“The entrance ceremony is really for the first-years though.”

“But today, I want NoName to be the protagonist of the most wonderful story. Come on, could you stand next to the main gate?”

“Alright.”

It had been a really long time since I’d had my photo taken.

I generally disliked being documented, but in this life, I didn’t feel much resistance to it.

Not being able to speak to strangers was now a thing of the past.

Despite being born with what seemed like an extroverted temperament, I only remembered feeling exhausted when meeting people, yet when left alone, loneliness was the first emotion I felt.

Personality truly was an enigma.

March cherry blossoms were in full bloom.

Groups of female students giggled as they brushed fallen petals from their hair, while even the boys were completely captivated by the beautiful scenery today.

“I can’t tell who’s the real flower here. Look at this.”

“People will say you sound old if you use lines like that these days.”

Professor Cheon handed me the photo.

Just me in a neat school uniform, the Cephiron Academy gate, and cherry blossom trees. Nothing special.

Just a photo.

But Professor Cheon kept pressing the shutter and laughing heartily.

‘I suppose I’ll play along for a while.’

Besides, the subtle scent of cherry blossoms wasn’t unpleasant.

Personally, I found my acceptance as a transfer student to Cephiron Academy quite unexpected.

Professor Cheon didn’t seem surprised by the news, but I was certain that at least half of the admissions committee had been unfavorable toward me.

As this year’s only transfer student at Cephiron Academy, they probably thought it unnecessary to create an announcement just for one person, so Professor Cheon personally called the administrative office to note down all the pre-enrollment requirements.

We got my uniform fitted and bought a new bag.

The professor insisted that sneakers would make me look too casual, so we eventually compromised on plain black dress shoes.

If you asked whether I streamed during those two weeks, I did.

However, I’d temporarily said goodbye to League of Legends.

I never really found any goals or motivation in LoL to begin with, and after playing it for seven miserable years, I wanted some distance.

Without gaming, streams naturally became chat sessions.

But since I still found it difficult or awkward to interact with viewers, I would just talk about various topics without paying attention to the chat.

Mostly about magic circles.

I’d usually test out content I wanted to teach Lora, experimenting to see where people typically got confused.

Most of the time I was met with question marks in chat, but I’m sure some viewers understood.

Lora was extremely interested in magic.

Though I sometimes found it challenging to know where to start teaching her, given her lack of knowledge.

Still, she showed exceptional focus when I explained magic as if telling a story.

I had planned to teach her more about magic while playing World of Arsheria, but since she hadn’t yet mastered basic arithmetic and runes, I postponed those plans.

After two busy weeks, March 6th, the opening ceremony, was suddenly upon me.

Taking photos made me feel like a child again, but listening to the elderly principal’s speech brought me back to reality.

‘Do I really have to live with these babies?’

I looked around the auditorium.

Yes, they were young.

Much younger than I expected.

There’s a saying, isn’t there?

When you’re in elementary school, middle and high schoolers seem so mature, but as you move up to middle and high school, everyone younger looks like a baby…

It wasn’t this extreme in my previous life.

The average enrollment age at Kaizen Empire’s academies was around 18, and I was in my early twenties when I died before…

So I probably had less psychological resistance then.

But facing these seventeen and eighteen-year-olds made me feel incredibly small.

I even had to look up at them!

“Hello! Are you a new student too?”

“No, I’m a second-year.”

“A second-year?”

These awkward encounters weren’t just hypothetical—they were happening right now.

I’d recently grown past 110cm and was secretly proud, but these fast-growing kids had already passed 120cm and were approaching 130cm.

Third-years? Or maybe second-years?

I’d never been called short before, and it felt unfair.

Perhaps I was the one who had been overlooking society.

Since most of my relationships were formed through VR capsules, I’d grown accustomed to being treated as an adult.

But in reality, even these snot-nosed kids looked down on me.

“New students, congratulations again on your placement at our school. Cephiron Academy will support all your school activities with sincerity and love. Thank you for your attention, and with this, I conclude my opening remarks.”

It was time for the new students to leave their parents and head to their assigned classrooms. Despite it being a brief separation, some children were on the verge of tears.

Since there was no reason for current students’ parents to attend the entrance ceremony, most academy students were busy chatting loudly with their friends.

“NoName, you can find your way home, right?”

“Don’t embarrass me, just go already.”

“Haha. Make lots of good friends! I’m rooting for you!”

I wasn’t imagining the second-years’ stares in my direction.

Some were even whispering while looking at my face.

Embarrassed, I quickly sent Professor Cheon home and waited for the second-year class assignments.

[Your student IDs should be updated. Please check your class assignments and proceed to your respective classrooms without confusion.]

All the academy students took out their student IDs from pockets, wallets, and bags.

Students who ended up in the same class as last year cheered, while those who were separated looked visibly dejected.

Even though there were only four classes per grade and everyone would be close by, class assignments seemed quite important to these kids.

Students began leaving the auditorium one by one, heading to the main building where the classrooms were located.

But even after everyone had left, I remained firmly in place.

‘I don’t have a student ID…’

Administrative processing in 2051 still had many flaws.

* * *

“A class?”

A voice stopped the boy.

He was still here? Si-hoo reluctantly turned around.

His parents had been waiting in front of the auditorium until he came out.

“Yes.”

“Of course. From now on, you’ll need to work even harder than you did last year. The other children won’t be playing around forever.”

“Yes, I understand… Mother.”

“You’re like me, smarter than anyone. You can do well in second grade too, right?”

“Yes… Father.”

Watching their retreating figures after those words, Si-hoo still found it difficult to deal with his parents.

He knew everything they said was for his benefit, but he couldn’t shake the bitter feeling.

Unlike first grade, where class assignments were random, from second grade onward, the top 10 high-achieving students and 10 highest-performing students were placed in Class A.

Of course, Si-hoo, as the top student, would naturally be in Class A, but he couldn’t help wanting praise from his parents.

It was 9:45 AM.

Students had until 10:00 to enter their classrooms, so he planned to wander around the auditorium for about 10 minutes to clear his mind.

‘Huh? Who’s that?’

Unusually, a child with hair grown past the waist to knee-length came hopping down the stairs.

They seemed to be just leaving the auditorium.

The girl had such a delicate frame that if she weren’t wearing a uniform, he might have thought she was in elementary school. She appeared to be deeply troubled about something.

“Haven’t you gone to your classroom yet? There’s not much time left until 10:00.”

Though no teacher would deduct points on the first day, he was concerned enough to remind her.

“I’m Yoon Si-hoo, second year at Cephiron Academy.”

“Oh, right. I’m No Name.”

Come to think of it, hadn’t the first-years already been escorted by their homeroom teachers before the class assignments were announced?

How was this child still in the auditorium?

“Would you like me to help you find your classroom?”

Ah, she must have simply gotten lost.

Si-hoo judged that although time was a bit tight, he could spare enough to escort her to the classroom.

“Cephiron Academy has a complex structure, so you need to learn the layout. The lower grade classrooms are especially hard to find at first.”

“This is the training ground. Fourth-years have classes here, but we’ve only used it for sports festivals so far.”

“There are three school stores, but for first-years, the north building is closest.”

“The cafeteria is on the second floor in the center of the academy. Go straight ahead from here and you’ll see it.”

“Over there is the middle school dormitory. It’s right next to the elementary school, so you might get in trouble if you’re noisy during exam periods.”

He introduced various facilities to prevent the journey from being boring, but the girl showed no particular reaction, making Si-hoo feel awkward.

So he changed the subject to the entrance ceremony.

“How was the entrance ceremony? The principal’s speech was boring, right?”

Though not comparable to the middle and high school ceremonies, the elementary entrance ceremony was still a significant event.

Some celebrities invited by the Cephiron Foundation even attended.

Although the principal’s final address was the most grueling part.

“It was good. Seemed strong too.”

“Huh?”

What seemed strong?

Si-hoo could only vaguely guess that the girl was indirectly expressing her impression of Cephiron Academy’s atmosphere.

Right, she couldn’t be talking about the principal.