Baka to Tesuto to Syokanju:Volume1 The Second Question

Second Question

Please write down the idioms which fit the following meanings:

(1)Fail to do something you are good at

(2)Encounter consecutive unfortunate events

Mizuki Himeji's Answer

(1)“Even monkey will drop from the trees”

(2)“Have a leaking rooftop in a rainy day”

Teacher's Comment:

Correct. There are other answers for the first part of the question, such as “Horses losing their front hooves”, “Even fishes may drown”; other answers for the second part would be “Good things don't start coming, bad things never stop happening”, “A year full of misfortune” etc.

Kouta Tsuchiya's Answer

(1)“Even horse will drop from the tree”

Teacher's Comment:

That would be an incredible scene.

Akihisa Yoshii's Answer

(2)“Have a leaking rooftop and landslide occurs”

Teacher's Comment:

Aren't you too unlucky?

---

“What the... Isn't this room too large to be a classroom?”

Stepping into the third floor that I never had a chance to get to last year, a classroom which was five times larger than usual was located right in front of me.

Maybe this was the Class A that people had been talking about? Let's see what's in there.

“Congratulations to everyone for making it to the second year. My name is Takahashi Youko and I am the homeroom teacher for Class A. Nice to meet you.[1]”

I stopped and looked into the classroom through the big window, there was an intelligent looking woman with spectacles standing in front of the classroom. She had her hair tied up together at the back of her head and dressed up neatly in suits.

When she stopped her speech, her name didn't show on the blackboard. Instead, it showed up on a plasma TV which was huge enough to cover the whole wall. How luxurious! How much money did they spend on that?

“First of all, please check the things that are given to everyone. Everyone should have a laptop, personal air-conditioner, fridge, adjustable chairs etc. Are they working properly?”

There were more than enough space, and facilities and equipments that were enough for 50 students to use.

The fridges were filled with drinks and snacks. Every student had their own air-conditioner which temperature could be changed however they want.

If you looked around in the classroom, you would notice that the ceiling was made of glass, high class drawings were hung on the walls with ornamental plants around the room, the interior design looked like the lobby of a five-star hotel.

“Beside the text books and the reference books, the food and drinks in the fridge are provided by the school, free of charge. If you need any other facilities or equipments, feel free to let us know.”

I could smell the fragrance of the red tea, it seemed some students had started using the facilities and made some red tea.

“Now, let me introduce the class leader. Kirishima Shouko, please come forward.”

“Yes.”

The person, who stood up and answered the call, was a girl with a black long hair and her outlook resembled a Japanese doll.

She was a gentle looking girl who had a beautiful face, along with a dignified aura around her which made her look like she was free of secular affairs.

Everyone in the classroom was looking at her.

Class leader ---- the person who scored the highest in the class division examination in this class.

In other words, the smartest person in Class A was also the smartest person among the second years, that was why she was getting all the attention.

“My name is Kirishima Shouko, nice to meet you.”

Although everyone was looking at her, she still introduced herself as usual.

It seemed everyone was staring at her eye, but when I looked carefully, actually all of them were female. It seemed the rumours were real!

She was very famous as soon as she enrolled into this school. Everybody knew how beautiful she was, and a lot of guys confessed to her. However, no one ever succeed.

Since then, there were rumours around saying she liked girls-----I see, the tide didn't start without wind.

“Everyone in Class A, please work together with Kirishima from now on till the end of second year and study hard together! The 'WAR' starts now, please don't lose to anyone else. ”

The homeroom teacher concluded the speech, Kirishima bowed and returned to her seat.

Oh no, I should hurry to my classroom.

I quickly walked along the corridors with the extremely fast pace.

I stood below the sign with 'Year 2 Class F' written on it, stopped there with some hesitation.

Would being late to class gave my classmate a bad impression?

Was anyone in the classroom disgusting, scary or hard to deal with?

What kind of comrades was I going to have for the rest of the year? I was beginning to worry about this when I thought about it.

“Well, maybe I just worry too much.”

It was just being late; there was nothing to worry about.

Come to think of it, we were classmates; there was nothing to be afraid of! Maybe they would start to worry about me that I was late because I was not feeling well (actually it was because I overslept).

Calm down, there was nothing to worry about. I needed to trust the comrades whom I would have to work together with from now on.

After I made up my mind, I pushed the door open and greeted the classmates in the room with my most sincere voice.

“Sorry, I am a bit late.”

“Hurry up and sit down, you Itsuki!”

My perfect image was ruined!

“Didn't you hear what I have just said?”

Come to think of it, this person spoke really rudely. Being a teacher didn't grant you the right to speak in this impolite way.

I glared fiercely at the guy who was standing on the podium.

He was unexpectedly tall, probably close to 180 cm! His body was slim but not thin, which made him looked like a ruthless boxer. Slowly looking up, I saw a pair of eyes filled with will power, wild looking handsome face, and the short hair on his head looked like mane.

“Yuuji, what the hell are you doing?”

This guy was not a teacher; he was my bad friend, Sakamoto Yuuji.

“I am taking the place of the teacher on the podium because the teacher is late.”

“You are taking the place of the teacher? You? Why?”

“Somehow, my score is the highest among all of us in Class F.”

“So that makes you the class leader?”

“Yes, that's right.”

Yuuji cunningly smiled. After listening to what he had just said, I smiled as well. In other words, if I could take care of Yuuji, no one could stop me doing anything in this class.

“Therefore, everyone in this class is my subordinates.”

Yuuji proudly overlooked the classmates who were sitting on the ground.

---

Yes, everyone was sitting on the ground.

Why? The answer was very simple, because there were no chairs.

“On the other hand ... This classroom really befits the name of Class F.”

I should found a place and sat down first.

“Sorry, please let me through.”

Suddenly, a weak voice came from my back.

A stupid looking old man, with untidy hair, dressed in a wrinkled shirt, is standing there.

“It is homeroom meeting now; can I put a chair there?”

Since he didn't wear an uniform, and looked far from being a teenager, I thought he should be this class homeroom teacher.

“Roger that.”

“OK.”

Yuuji and I answered him separately and returned to our seats.

The teacher waited till we were seated, then stood on the podium and spoke slowly:

“Good morning everyone, my name is Fujihara Shin; I will be the homeroom teacher for Year 2 Class F. Nice to meet you.”

Fujihara sensei originally planned to write his name on the dirty board, but he failed to do so. Oh my god! The school didn't provide chalks?

“Does everyone have a japanese-styled table and a cushion? Please raise your hand if you don't have any of them.”

There were around fifty students squeezing in this small little classroom, without writing tables. There were only tatamis, japanese-styled tables and cushions. What a brand new and luxury set of facilities! Although I had been informed about this since my first year, but seeing the real thing still shocked me.

“Sensei-----My cushion doesn't have any cotton in it.”

There were numbers of students’ reported to the teacher with regards to the faulty equipments.

“I see. Bear with it”

“Sensei, the leg of my table breaks into half.”

“Did they give you the glue? Stick it back yourself later.”

“Sensei, the wind is blowing in from the broken window, it is very cold here.”

“I see. I will report to the school and request for plastic bags and cellophane tape to repair it.”

In the corner of the room, spiders were webbing around freely, and you couldn't find any place on the wall that was clean and free from drawing or writing. This was terrible, was this an abandoned house?

“If you need anything else, try your best getting it yourselves.”

The smell of mildew coming from somewhere was filling up the classroom; it must be caused by the mildew below these old tatamis.

“Let's start the self-introductions! We will start from the person sitting beside the corridor.”

When Fujihara sensei finished his speech, among the students who were sitting in a circle, one of them stood up and started the self-introduction by telling his name.

“My name is Kinoshita Hideyoshi, a member of the drama club.”

I was wondering who was speaking, so it was Hideyoshi.

He had a unique way of speaking, with a slim body and a loosely tied shoulder-length hair at the back of the head, even I who already knew him had a glimpse at ----- No, even when I looked at him carefully, his cuteness could easily made me think that he was a girl. That's right, that was Kinoshita Hideyoshi, my classmate last year.

On the other hand, if he dressed up in a female uniform, and changed his way of speaking, he would definitely be treated as a girl. This could happen easily in a class full of smelly guys like this.

“Therefore, nice to see you.”

Hideyoshi smiled subtly, and ended his self-introduction. So... so CUTE! Wait a second Yoshii Akihisa, don't fall for the trick! He is a guy!

“Tsuchiya Kouta…”

I kept mumbling the same warning I had been telling myself numerous time from last year, and the next student already started his self-introduction.

Who was it? Ah, I knew this guy as well.

He was still as reticent as usual. He didn't have a huge body, but you could see that he was good in sports from the muscles he had. I didn't know why he was so shy, was it because he didn't want to stand out too much and got into troubles? Well, there were all sorts of people in the world.

However, I could only see guys in the classroom. Was it the same in the world that there were hardly any girls in the last class?

“...is my name. I grew up overseas. Although I can speak Japanese, reading is still a bit hard for me.”

When I was thinking about other things, someone already started the self-introduction.

“My English is very poor because I grew up in Germany. My hobby is ---”

OH! It was a girl this time; it was a precious treasure to the whole class. Finally, at least there was one girl in the class.

“My hobby is beating Yoshii Akihisa.”

Who was it? Who had this extreme, special and dangerous hobby?

“Hello---”

The person who was smiling and waving at me is---

“Ah, Shi---Shimada, it is you!”

“Yoshii, nice to see you again this year”

Another person that I knew, and my natural enemy from last year---Shimada Minami.

Why? Why so many people that I knew of were in the same class? Wasn't it strange? Was it what we called birds of feathers flocked together? I couldn't believe I actually was in the same level as these people!

“Nice to see you.”

OK, it seemed the person in front of me had just finished his self-introduction, it was my turn now.

I took a breath and rose up from the ground.

Let's start my self-introduction! The first impression was very important, in order to make a lot of good friends, I must stressed that I was a positive and optimistic person.

Suddenly an idea just ran through my mind, so I decided to use a relaxing joke to start my speech. I tried my best to speak in a funny way, and started my self-introduction.

“Er, my name is Yoshii Akihisa; feel free to call me 'Darling'.”

“DAR--LING!”

It sounded like a huge chorus formed by rough voices, it was more disgusting than I could ever imagine.

“Sorry, I take back what I have just said! Nice to see you.”

Although I had a fake smile on my face and returned to my seat, I still felt like I was going to vomit. I'd never imagined that they would really use that to call me, Class F was really horrible.

The self-introduction didn't seem to stop because of my feeling.

Just when I nearly fell asleep because the self-introduction seemed to continue endlessly with just stating the names, someone opened the door. A girl stood at the entrance, putting her hand on her chest and trying to catch her breath.

“I, I am sorry...I am la..late.”

“What?”

Everyone shouted out in shock, this was normal. Normally when this kind of things happened, everyone would be shocked.

“Actually you are coming at the right time, we are having self-introduction now. Please introduce yourself to the class, Himeji.”

“O..OK! My name is Himeji Mizuki, nice to meet you....”

Himeji used a smaller voice than her small body and said that.

Her skin was as white as the new snow, the long and soft hair at the back showed the gentle nature of the owner. With the cuteness of her appearance, she really stood out in the class full of guys.

However, her beautiful outlook was not the reason that caused everyone to be shocked.

“I have a question!”

One of the guys who had finished his self-introduction raised his right hand.

“Ah, ye...yes, what is your question?”

Being questioned immediately after stepping into the class room, Himeji couldn't hide that she was in shock of what was happening, but her action was similar to a cute little animal, it was so cute.

“Why are you here?”

The first question was very impolite.

But this was the same question everyone in the class wanted to ask.

Her cute outlook did attract others attention, more importantly her result was very good. Her result of the enrollment examination was the 2nd highest, and she was always among the top ten.

A good student like her shouldn't be in the lousy class like Class F. No matter whom you ask, the answer would be that she belonged to Class A.

“About this...”

With a nervous look on her face, Himeji’s body stiffed up and she said:

“I had a fever during a class division examination...”

After hearing that, everyone in the class nodded and said “So that's why.”

Leaving in the middle of the examination would result in zero marks. In other words, she didn't finish the class division examination last year, so she was allocated to class F.

Listened to Himeji's answer, many people in the class started to say their own excuses.

“Now that I think of it, I am allocated to Class F because of fever as well.”

“Yeah, it was chemistry right? That was hard.”

“I didn't do well because I heard that my brother was involved in an accident.”

“Shut up you singleton.”

“My girlfriend didn't let me sleep the night before examination.”

“Yeah right, that's the biggest lie I ever heard of this year.”

These guys were more idiot than I could imagine.

“Nice..nice to see you.”

Among the noisy discussion, she ran to the space beside me and Yuuji. I never thought that I could stay in the same classroom and sat so close to her. To be honest, my heart beat wildly. She was very cute; it made me think that welcoming her in a lousy classroom like this was a serious crime.

“I am so scared...”

Himeji instantly sighed and lay on the table when she got to the seat.

Great! Since we were sitting so close together, this was a great chance to talk to her! Our love would start from this incident, and eventually we would become the destined lovers. That's right; this first sentence would be the key to the door of our happiness and future.

“Hime... ...”

“Himeji.”

Yuuji, who was sitting beside me spoke up first and covered my voice. Damn you Yuuji! My future plan “From classmate heading towards the red carpet of marriage---The spring that we met---Six hundred and fifty four episodes” ended without playing more than two minutes! What did you want me to show the audiences for the rest of the six hundred fifty three hours and fifty eight minutes!

“Y...Yes. Is anything wrong?”

Himeji looked toward Yuuji in panic and carefully straighten her skirt. Was it because sitting on cushion could easily wrinkled the skirt?

“My name is Sakamoto, Sakamoto Yuuji, nice to meet you.”

“Ah, my name is Himeji, nice to meet you.”

She bowed her head deeply and gave a salute greeting. From how she gave the greeting, her family education must had been very good.

“Well, are you still feeling sick?”

“I would like to know as well.”

I unwittingly cut into the conversation. I was sitting beside her during the class division examination, she didn't look too well at the time. I wondered if she felt better now.

“Yo..Yoshii?”

Himeji was shocked when she saw my face. Did you have to be so shocked like that? Was I that ugly? No way, this was impo----

“Himeji, sorry that Akihisa's ugly face scares you.”

What? What was going on here? Maybe Yuuji was trying to cover up for me, but I was not happy at all.

“That..That's not true! You see my eyes are filling with energy, my face is slim and beautiful, I am not ugly at all! Actually I...”

“Now that you mention it, your face doesn't look bad at all! I know someone who is interested in you!”

What? I'd never imagined that Yuuji would have such good information. I better confirmed this with him.

“Eh? Who is ...”

“Who...Who is it?”

Himeji's voice covered my voice. Well it didn't really matter since we were asking the same question. It seemed like girls in this age were interested in topics like this.

“I remember the name is Kubo---”

Kubo? Who was the girl with the surname Kubo?

“Toshimitu I think!”

Kubo Toshimitu --> (Sex/MALE)

“......”

“Akihisa, are you crying secretly?”

I was stained now; I couldn't be a bridegroom anymore.

“Don't worry, half of that is a joke.”

“What? How about the other half?”

“Oh right, Himeji are you feeling well?”

“I am fine now.”

“Yuuji, how about the other half?”

Since Yuuji was ignoring me, I raised my voice to catch his attention.

“You over there, silent.”

The teacher knocked the table a few times, the knocking sound served as a warning.

“I am sorry---”

(Crashing sound)

Suddenly, the teacher's wooden table turned into wood chips. The table couldn't even withstand a few knocks, how bad were the things we had here?

“....I will go and get a new table to replace it. Please be patient.”

The teacher felt embarrassed and quickly stepped out of the classroom.

Once again I realized how lousy were the equipments we had in this class.

“Ah ha ha...”

Himeji had a forced smile on her face.

Looking at her like this reminded me that, people like Yuuji and I deserved to study in a classroom like this, but it must be hard for her to study in a classroom like this.

Well, it was our own fault for not performing well in the examination. Being able to take care of our own health was a kind of strengths as well. However, just because leaving the examination due to illness, and ended up being allocated to Class F was just too ridiculous, they should have at least gave her another chance right?

The anger towards the unfairness of the class division examination swirled up inside of my heart. If that's the case, we should try our best in getting some better equipments for her.

I talked to the class leader who was yawning at the moment: “Yuuji, come here.”

“What do you want?”

“We can't talk here, let's go to the corridor.”

“Fine by me.”

I stood up and walked towards the corridor. At that time, Himeji and I accidentally looked at each other.

“Well, what's up?”

It was homeroom meeting now and no one was in the corridor, so we could speak freely.

“About this classroom...”

Of course it meant the class F classroom.

“The class F classroom? It is worse than what I can imagine.”

“You also think so right?”

“Of course.”

“Have you looked at Class A equipments?”

“Yeah, it is so different from ours. I have never seen a classroom as good as that before.”

On one side was a classroom that didn't even have a chalk, with a blackboard full of cracks, on the other side was a classroom with an expensive plasma TV; nobody could accept the treatment difference like this right?

“I have an idea. Since we are second year now, let's have a 'Test Summoning War'!”

“A war?”

“Yes, and the opponent is Class A.”

“What is your purpose?”

Suddenly, Yuuji looked at me with wariness.

“Nothing special, it is just that our classroom is really lousy.”

“Don't lie to me. A person who is not interested in studying like you, now wants to have war over the equipment for studying? The possibility is lower than winning lottery.”

Damn! His sixth sense was still as good as ever.

“No..No, that's not right! If I don't want to study, I won't choose this school---”

“You chose this school because it has a high chance of getting to university, and the school fee is cheap right?”

Oh no! I talked to him about my reason of coming to studying in this school before.

“Ah---That's----It's because....”

What should I do? I couldn't think of any better reason.

“It is because of Himeji right?”

Shock!

My real intention was being seen through, I unwittingly straightened my back.

“How..How do you know that?”

“You are really simple! I just tested you a bit, and you just gave yourself out.”

The wary looking eyes disappeared, replaced by Yuuji's smile. I was cheated!

“That's not the only reason---”

“Yeah yeah, you don't have to explain anymore, I totally understand the situation.”

“Just as I say before, it is not what you think!”

Damn! I couldn't communicate with this guy.

“Don't worry; even if you didn't suggest it, I have already planned to declare war against Class A.”

“Huh? Why? Yuuji, you are not studying at all right?”

That's why he was not interested in the class equipments like me.

“I just want to prove that, result doesn't mean everything in this world.”

“ ? ”

“Also, I have just thought a plan that we can use to defeat Class A----Oh, the teacher is back! Let's get into the class room.”

I walked into the classroom when Yuuji urged me to get in.

“Let's continue with the self-introduction.”

After changing the table (which was still a lousy one), the homeroom meeting continued.

“My name is Sugawa Ryou. My hobby is---”

The plain self-introduction continued as usual.

“Sakamoto, you are the last.”

“Roger.”

Yuuji answered the teacher's call and rose up from the seat.

He kept his usual kidding mode and walked slowly towards the podium; it looked like he was filled with the dignity of class leader.

“Sakamoto is the class leader for Class F right?”

Facing Fukuhara sensei's question, Yuuji replied with a nod.

It was just the class leader for the worst class. Instead of saying it's an honour, it might actually be a shame.

But Yuuji didn't think like that, he stood on the podium with self confidence and overlooked at us.

“I am the class leader of Class F Sakamoto Yuuji, you can either call me Sakamoto or class leader.”

Most of the students in the class didn't really care about who Yuuji was, because he was just the smartest among the idiots in Class F. For most people, it was just the same as the pot called the kettle black.

“Now, I have a question for everyone.”

He looked into everyone's eyes, and spoke slowly.

Maybe it was because he got the timing right, everyone was looking at him now.

When he confirmed that he had everyone's attention, he moved his eyes to every corner of the classroom.

A classroom with the smell of mildew.

Old and dirty cushions.

Japanese tables with dirt left from sweats

We followed his sight, looking at these one by one.

“Class A not only has air-conditioner, it also has adjustable chairs.”

He took a deep breath, and calmly said:

“Are you dissatisfied?”

“Of course!”

The cries from the souls of every member in class F rang through the corridor.

“Aren't you? Even I am dissatisfied with the current situation. As the class leader, I can see a big problem in here.”

“That's right!”

“No matter how cheap the school fee is, it is unthinkable to let us use such equipment! We must tell the school to improve it!”

“We pay the same fee as Class A, but the treatment is too different!”

Complains were coming from everywhere in the class.

“You are right. Therefore...”

Satisfied with the reaction of the classmates, Yuuji showed a fearless smile on his face.

“As a class leader, I have a suggestion.”

Showing his tiger-tooth to his fellow comrades, he stated:

“I plan to declare a 'Test Summoning War' against Class A.”

Class F leader, Sakamoto Yuuji, had ignited the flame of the war.