A Late Bloomer's Powerful Restart ~My Second Life Starts at a Prestigious School Where the Gender Ratio Is Totally Off, and for Some Reason, All These Talented Girls Get Attached to Me...!?~ - 10

Chapter 10: The Guy-to-Girl Ratio Is 1:6

The day of the entrance ceremony finally arrived.

This marked the start of my second high school life. Teimon Academy was secluded, with vast grounds and beautiful buildings, but the number of people gathered for the ceremony was smaller than I had expected.

“Congratulations on your enrollment, new students.”

The principal’s greeting was calm and matter-of-fact. The atmosphere felt more like an ordinary academic high school than one with a long, prestigious history.

That was why his next words took a moment to sink in.

“You all took the same selection exam, but in fact, there are two separate categories: the recommendation track and the general track.”

I never thought he would reveal that outright.

Sure enough, the students around me either let out sounds of unease or desperately tried to hide the shock on their faces.

“Until now, we kept this fact hidden and selected a single freshman representative from the combined group. However, some voices of opposition were raised. Starting this year, we will choose representatives separately for each track.”

I see. The objections clearly came from the recommendation-track students.

The academy was run by the government, but it also received support from corporations through a donation system that allowed full tax deductions.

The fact that a school with such history still maintained spotless facilities, including the buildings, was proof of that.

After all, the general-track students had no way of knowing about the existence of the hidden recommendation track until now, so they could not have been the ones protesting.

“Freshman representative for the general track… Taiki Kashiwado.”

“Yes!!”

I answered the principal loudly and walked up to the podium.

Whatever the case, here we were.

I had earned the highest score among the general-track students, so I was chosen as their representative. I had assumed my score was better than Kurumi Kano’s, but now I wasn’t so sure.

“Next, freshman representative for the recommendation track… Kurumi Kano.”

“Yes.”

Her reply was quiet and flat. Yet her voice was cute, and together with her petite build, it gave the impression of a small animal.

No one could ever imagine that this girl would one day become the savior of the world.

She was the genius doctor Kurumi Kano, the one who established a cure for the incurable neurological disease known as Centromere Disease that would spread in the future.

Centromere Disease was a progressive illness that could cause memory disorders even in young people, so the name “Savior Kurumi Kano” rang out across the world once the treatment was found.

“Taiki… you are…”

A memory from my previous life surfaced.

On the opposite side, what was I to her? In the end, I never found out.

The only thing I knew for certain was that Kurumi Kano was unmistakably both my benefactor and my greatest enemy.

I had also suffered from Centromere Disease and had been treated by her.

“…”

When I glanced sideways at her face, Kurumi was looking back at me.

She smiled happily. Would I be able to shatter that delicate expression this time?

No, I should probably look for a path where we don’t become enemies at all.

The savior Kurumi Kano had another well-known title.

Anti-future-technology activist.

“Bow!”

There were no speeches or statements of resolve.

We simply bowed to everyone—not as ordinary freshmen, but as representatives of the general and recommendation tracks.

I worried that another hostile relationship was about to form.

As we stepped down from the stage, I finally realized what had felt off.

First, the number of students really was small.

It felt certain that there was only one class per grade.

But it wasn’t all bad. Among the new students, I spotted Sasa’s face and Ousei’s face.

On the other hand, Kuya’s face was nowhere to be seen. He must have failed the entrance exam. I didn’t feel sorry for him.

Yet there was one more problem.

This was a big one.

(Aren’t there way too few guys…?)

The gender ratio was clearly strange. Counting myself, there were only six boys.

That made the ratio 1:6.

I wondered how a national school could end up like this, but while counting, I noticed something I couldn’t overlook.

I finally found her.

A face I would never forget, no matter how many decades passed.

The girl I spotted in the very back row from the stage—Shika.

***

I met her during our school trip in high school, while wandering around Nara Prefecture.

The rest of my group treated me like a nuisance, so I ended up acting alone and walking around with no real purpose.

In the middle of that, it was only natural to notice a beautiful girl strolling around in her school uniform on a weekday afternoon.

Especially since she wore the uniform of the national Teimon Academy—the school said to gather children who would carry the country’s future—while eating fried potatoes in one hand.

But that was just a rare sight. I never thought I would actually get involved with her.

Not until a sudden downpour forced us to take shelter from the rain together.

Maybe she took an interest in a boy around her age. It was Shika who spoke to me first.

I didn’t know how to talk to girls back then, so all I could do was talk about myself.

Even though it was nothing but selfish rambling, she listened all the way to the end without ever looking bored.

She was the only one who ever told me I was a late bloomer with great potential.

Shika was the first person who ever acknowledged me despite my lack of talent.

That alone was enough to steal my heart completely.

***

Even though I had reunited with the girl of my first love, I couldn’t bring myself to talk to her right away.

Strictly speaking, I didn’t have the freedom to do so.

“Taiki, would you mind telling me your entrance exam score?”

The one asking was Kurumi Kano.

The room was still tense over the split between general and recommendation tracks, and since no one clearly knew who belonged to which track except us, all eyes gathered on the two representatives.

Most of those eyes belonged to girls, so the tension didn’t ease.

To be honest, I was surprised that Kurumi seemed unaware of the atmosphere when she asked. In other words, she was probably asking out of pure curiosity.

“454 points.”

“That’s impressive… you’re really smart.”

The whole class started buzzing.

From the girls came admiring comments like “Was the exam something you could score that high on?” and “The freshman rep isn’t just for show.”

In contrast, I also heard a voice say, “Pretty cocky for a commoner.”

It was clearly a boy’s voice.

I wanted to avoid being disliked by the few boys we had, but for now, I focused on the girl in front of me.

“What about you?”

“It’s a secret.”

“…Kurumi.”

“Hehe, just kidding. But a girl should notice when another girl feels embarrassed about losing in points. I got 451.”

Whoa, hang on. I had felt relieved when she said she lost, but then the unexpectedly high score made a cold sweat break out on my back.

A three-point difference. I thought I was prepared, but her wording still caught me off guard.

I see. They probably decided to pick separate representatives this year because both tracks had someone who broke previous records.

Once her score became known, the backlash would surely grow.

“Taiki, I have a suggestion. Why not aim to become a doctor?”

“Isn’t that a bit premature?”

How many ordinary first-year high school students already know exactly what they want to do in the future?

And medicine is a profession that deals with other people’s lives. I don’t think it’s something you should aim for half-heartedly.

“Besides, I—”

“No, Taiki. You’re definitely misunderstanding something.”

“Huh…?”

“You can’t become a doctor out of pretty ideals or kindness like wanting to save others. Only people with knowledge can become doctors. That’s why… I think you qualify.”

She spoke smoothly, as if she had read my mind and already predicted how I might refuse.

That’s right. The future savior was this kind of woman.

She didn’t treat patients out of pure goodness. She simply built her hospital’s reputation—for better or worse—and made her name known.

In that case, there was only one proper response.

“Could you ask me again in two years? I’m still doubtful about my own abilities.”

“That’s a good answer. I won’t forget. I’ll ask you once more.”

Kurumi seemed pleased with my reply and let the matter drop easily.

But why had she asked me to become a doctor? Was she looking for someone to use?

No. When she invited me, I sensed something in her—an important sense of mission.

What could it be? I hoped that, for her, it wasn’t something harder than saving the world.