After the club introductions ended and Kurato and the others returned to the classroom, what awaited them was a very long silence.

"....................."

Every student in the class was staring at the blank university-style blackboard.

Looking over the scene, the teacher stood in front of the board, sighed, and leaned her body against the podium.

"Girls, be a little more proactive. At this rate we’ll never decide anything."

The teacher’s voice carried a mixture of exasperation, worry, and faint impatience as she addressed the class.

‘What are we doing right now? We’re deciding the committee officers.’

There are positions like class representative, health committee, library committee, broadcasting committee, purchasing committee, sports festival committee, cultural festival committee and so on.

Two students from each class are selected for each committee, and they work together with committee members from other classes.

For example, the library committee manages book lending at the library, and the sports festival committee participates in planning and running the sports festival.

Among those, the committee that has to be decided first is this one: the class representative.

The teacher introduced this star position with a loud bang.

But they immediately hit a wall.

No one raises their hand.

Well of course.

They’re still first-years, they don’t know anything yet, and no one wants a position with a lot of responsibility like class representative.

Even Kurato is thinking it would probably just take up too much time.

"This is troubling. Yashiro-san, what about you? And you, Yushima-san?"

The teacher targets the two B-rank girls who act like the leaders of the class.

But the two look at each other instead of answering.

Seeing that, the teacher furrows her brows even more and looks around the classroom searching for a solution.

"Hmm... then let’s decide the vice representative! The vice representative should be a boy."

The teacher glances toward someone like Sato-kun and says this as if she just had a brilliant idea.

The class immediately begins murmuring.

"If the vice representative is a boy..." voices can be heard here and there.

Amid the chatter—

"Teacher, what is she talking about?"

A voice comes from behind.

Kurato is surprised.

Because the voice of Nishikaze-san, who is usually so gentle, sounds like she’s criticizing the teacher.

When Kurato quickly turns his head, he sees Nishikaze-san looking surprised by his sudden movement.

"Sorry for startling you, Nishikaze-san. I just wanted to ask what you meant."

"What do you mean?"

She looks blank, so Kurato explains.

Then—

"Huh? But it would be cruel to make a boy do committee work."

According to Nishikaze-san, it’s already impressive enough that boys even come to school.

Just living a school life surrounded by female students puts a huge burden on them.

At other schools—or even here at Sakurajō—some boys become truant, or spend most of their school life in the infirmary or club rooms because they can’t handle it.

"So adding more work on top of that would be unreasonable. I don’t think any boy would volunteer."

Nishikaze-san’s opinion.

Just her personal opinion.

But apparently she wasn’t wrong.

Kurato notices Suzuki-kun sitting a little behind her.

His face is pale as he looks down.

His fists are trembling on top of the desk.

Sato-kun looks the same.

He looks like he might cry and is whispering something to himself.

Watanabe-kun, sitting by the window, is staring at the sky with a beautiful smile.

He looks like he’s about to ascend to heaven.

Just as Nishikaze-san said, they really don’t want to do committee work.

It seems their school lives are already overwhelming enough, and they’re exhausted by living surrounded by girls.

Thinking back, Sato-kun and the others shrank back even when girls greeted them today.

During lunch and classroom moves they stuck close together with the other boys to protect themselves.

Watanabe-kun even erased his presence the moment he entered the classroom and completely faded out from the girls’ awareness.

They seemed unable to get used to interacting with the female students the way Kurato and Keita had.

Well, in Keita’s case it would be more accurate to say he was absorbed rather than getting used to it.

But is that really okay?

If they just run away saying they hate it, they’ll never gain anything.

Kurato faces forward and raises his hand.

He has to show them at least one possible solution.

They need to see that boys must act instead of always hanging their heads.

"Um, Makishima-kun? You’ll be the vice representative?"

"If necessary, I can be the class representative too."

At this point he’s already committed.

Vice representative or class representative—it doesn’t matter.

Since nobody wants to do it anyway, he might as well become class representative and assign the rest of the positions himself so they can go watch clubs sooner.

Kurato’s resolve is firm.

His raised hand is steady.

The teacher jumps in surprise.

"I can’t believe a boy actually volunteered! I’m so moved! Everyone, Makishima-kun will be our vice representative! Applause!"

‘Hey, stop that! Don’t applaud something like this! Is this elementary school!?’

Kurato writhes in embarrassment as the applause continues.

"Alright, next is the class representative. Is there anyone who wants to do it?"

And his offer to become class representative has already been rejected.

Now the classroom is silent again.

At this rate they’ll never get to club visits.

As Kurato collapses onto his desk in frustration, the teacher groans.

"Umm... being class representative is quite troublesome, you know? Only raise your hand if you’re absolutely determined to see it through."

‘What is she saying? That’ll just make people less willing.’

Kurato lifts his head—

And many of the girls are raising their hands.

About half the class.

Wait, even Sato-kun raised his hand.

Good, he looks like he’s feeling better.

"Alright then... the class representative will be Yashiro-san. Please take care of it."

"Eh?!"

The teacher selects the representative by herself, and the girls immediately start booing.

But the teacher ignores them, calls Yashiro and Kurato to the front, and leaves the rest of the meeting to them.

They quickly decide the health, library, cleaning, and broadcasting committees.

Several girls volunteer, so it goes smoothly.

As expected, Wakaba jumps at the broadcasting committee the moment the word ‘broadcast’ appears.

Kurato nearly bursts out laughing watching her.

Next is the sports festival committee.

The sports festival takes place every October.

It’s basically the elementary school sports day.

All students are divided into teams and compete in various events.

The team with the highest score wins.

What was the prize again?

In elementary school it was discount coupons from the local shopping street.

But at a prestigious girls’ academy like this, it’s probably something better.

"So, the sports festival committee..."

Before Yashiro finishes speaking, everyone raises their hands.

Apparently it’s very popular.

In the end, eight people volunteer.

"So how do we narrow it down to two? Voting? Or rock-paper-scissors? What do you think, Makishima-kun?"

Kurato thinks for a moment before answering.

"I don’t recommend voting since we don’t know each other well yet. So rock-paper-scissors might be best, but first I want to ask something."

"What is it?"

Yashiro tilts her head.

"Why is everyone so eager for this committee?"

The sports festival committee is extremely demanding.

They decide teams, events, rules, scoring, injury precautions, parent coordination, and security measures.

The workload is far greater than the other committees.

So why are so many volunteering?

Yashiro answers casually.

"Because the sports festival committee chair is Yasutsuna-senpai."

Apparently everyone wants to work with her.

She’s extremely popular among the girls.

Still, if that’s their only motivation, they might not last long.

Kurato explains the difficulty again and asks if they’re truly prepared.

Eight hands drop to three.

Since only two are needed, they decide it with rock-paper-scissors.

After an intense rock-paper-scissors battle full of murderous pressure, two winners celebrate.

The sports festival committee is decided.

Next is the cultural festival committee.

But suddenly no one raises their hand.

"Why is that?"

Yashiro answers immediately.

"The cultural festival isn’t very popular. You rarely get to use abilities. It’s things like running cafés, cooking, sewing cosplay outfits… things boys tend to like."

"That’s..."

Kurato is shocked.

Not only are male and female preferences reversed, but the cultural festival itself isn’t popular.

To him, the cultural festival is the highlight of school life.

A shining page in the album of youth.

So he passionately explains the appeal of working together on a class project.

Before he even finishes speaking, two hands shoot up.

"I want to try!"

"Me too!"

Two girls by the hallway volunteer.

Kurato is happy.

Not because they said they could do it—but because they said they wanted to.

With that, the class representative’s first job is complete.

"Thank you, Makishima-kun. You saved me."

As they return to their seats, Yashiro whispers that.

Her brief smile makes her look both dignified and her age at the same time.

Once all committees are decided, homeroom ends and it’s finally after school.

Club observation begins today.

Kurato stands up and turns around to greet his group—

But Wakaba’s seat is already empty.

"So fast..."

"Waka-chan probably went to the newspaper club."

Hearing Nishikaze say that, Kurato realizes.

That must be why she vanished yesterday too.

But this isn’t someone else’s problem.

He needs to go too.

He runs out of the classroom filled with anticipation.

* * *

But the results are terrible.

"Join as a member? Not as a manager?"

"Yes. If possible, I’d like to participate in training and eventually become a player."

The girl half-laughs.

A boy playing singles is unheard of.

Even in the ability club’s specialized training building filled with elaborate equipment, every fighter is female.

The only boys present are managers.

Even the kind senior Takasaki—an A-rank third-year—explains that managers only do chores.

Cleaning, drinks, timing, recording matches, analyzing videos, even spying on other schools.

Managers never train.

Even if they beat a player, they won’t be registered as one.

Managers stay managers for all three years.

Besides, Kurato is a shield-type ability user.

In this world shields can’t attack, so people assume they can’t win.

Still, Takasaki kindly suggests he try the team or section clubs.

They might have more flexibility.

Kurato thanks her and tries the other buildings.

But the results are the same everywhere.

Player entry is impossible.

Yet every club desperately tries to recruit him as a manager.

One club captain even grabs his shoulder and begs him to become her personal manager.

The other girls restrain her, shouting that he should belong to the whole team instead.

Seeing their predator-like eyes, Kurato realizes the danger and executes a strategic retreat.

Everywhere is the same.

No club will accept a boy as a player.

But they all want him as a manager.

Looking back at the training buildings, Kurato sighs.

Reality is harsh.

The ability clubs are extremely popular, and Sakurajō invests huge budgets into them.

With so many applicants, it’s natural they filter people out.

Turning away boys who are considered unsuitable for combat makes sense.

…Though he still doesn’t understand the aggressive manager recruitment.

Still, he refuses to give up.

Kurato looks forward and walks on.

Apparently, being a man means ability clubs reject you outright.

Men are pampered on the surface—but not considered combat assets in the Special Zone.

* * *

Memo

• Are the boys in the Special Zone overly spoiled?

• The protagonist becomes the vice class representative.

• The Ability Single, Team and Section clubs all turned him away.

• The three major academies in Tokyo are Sakurajō, Tenryu and Fudō. The name Seimei was also mentioned though.