kscans

Chapter 110 - Episode 110

The second day of school at Shinonome Academy.

"Good morning, everyone."

"Good morning," the class replied in unison.

"How is my Japanese? Is it easier to understand than yesterday?"

"Yes. It sounds like fluent Japanese."

Yesterday, the translation device Smith-sensei was using hadn’t been properly adjusted, so his speech sounded a little broken, but today it sounded like normal Japanese.

"Good. I’m studying Japanese properly, too. I’ll do my best so that I can speak with all of you in Japanese one day."

For the last part, sensei turned off the translation device and spoke with his own voice.

"Now then. Yesterday we just had the entrance ceremony, a mock battle, and brief self introductions. Today, I’d like to share a bit more detailed information about everyone."

Smith-sensei sent data to the Electronic Board.

A giant electronic board, two meters tall and four meters wide, installed at the front of the classroom, displayed a self introduction card with many items.

"Please introduce yourselves by filling in the displayed items. The AI will automatically fill it in. You can skip things you don’t want to talk about, but basically, the items here are things that will be found out through the compulsory broadcast anyway."

Apparently, you could engage in PvP within the academy, and your rank could change as a result, so some people might have things they want to keep secret. Most of my information was already out there, so it was a bit late for me.

"Alright, let’s start with Hayate-kun."

"Yes, sir."

For some reason, I was called on. I had no particular reason to refuse, so I stood up from my seat.

"Just introduce yourself from there, while looking at the Electronic Board."

"Yes. I’m Shizukuishi Hayate."

First, the name field was displayed.

As I was thinking about what to explain next, an image of me in my dungeon exploring attire appeared in the slightly larger blank space below my name. In the column next to it was my full gear from when I cleared the most difficult dungeon in FWO. Below that, my fighting style, the highest grade of dungeon I had cleared in both real life and the game, and other details were displayed one after another.

"Huh, this is..."

My entire self introduction sheet was now filled out.

"Sorry. Information about you is already on summary sites and such, Hayate-kun, and it seems everyone except Ryunosuke-kun knows you well."

"Even I looked up at least this much about you on my own after you beat me so badly, Hayate."

"Yes. It’s a very good thing to be interested in your comrades. The people here are Japan’s top dungeon explorers. Whether as rivals who push each other to improve or as comrades who will conquer dungeons together, the attitude of trying to learn about one another is something I want you to value from now on."

I see. We weren’t just rivals anymore.

Due to a past trauma, I couldn’t explore dungeons in a party with anyone. But with Rena, that wasn’t a problem, and being with her has made it possible for me to enter dungeons with others as well.

Now, I could form a party not just with Naoto and Sakinon, but also with Ryunosuke and my other classmates to explore.

Because I always acted solo on my streams, people tended to think I liked being alone, but the truth is, I like clearing dungeons with a large group where everyone fulfills their respective roles. That was the original way to play FWO, after all.

More importantly, our lives were on the line in the real world. There was no need to take risks by insisting on soloing or pairing up with just Rena. Things I used to do in FWO, like spending two hours to defeat a mid boss solo, would probably be stopped by Rena in reality.

Everyone here is an ally. People who were evaluated as S-rank.

Apparently, the standard for that was being able to defeat a fake Hayate with a small group.

It’s a bit strange for me to say it, since people often ask if I’m really human, but I think the people here are pretty incredible too. It meant they had power close to a ninja’s, even without training.

Thinking about it that way made me a little excited. It wasn’t just that we had the strongest teacher. I also had eight of the strongest allies. It seemed like our range of strategies would expand.

"Since most of it is written here, it seems a self introduction isn’t really necessary. Once again, everyone, I look forward to working with you."