“Oh, right. I remembered your name! It’s Lionrostone, isn’t it?”
Such a ridiculous name came out of nowhere that the boy stared at her in disbelief.
“W-What are you talking about?! My name is Rodney!”
“Ah, right. That’s it. I got confused.”
“How do you even confuse names that badly?!”
Lopez grinned at the flabbergasted Rodney before turning to the child beside him.
“And you are…”
“M-Miles!”
Apparently anticipating another bizarre nickname, Miles blurted out his own name before she could speak.
“Now that you know, why don’t you sit down?”
Following his grumbling suggestion, Lopez looked around the classroom for an empty seat.
The arrangement was simple: the twins sat together, while one child sat alone.
She walked over to the lone student.
He was the same thin, scruffy-haired boy she had seen near the incinerator not long ago. His shaggy hair covered most of his face, and somehow he looked even skinnier than before.
They all get the same meals here, don’t they? Why is he so thin?
“Hi. We’ve met before, haven’t we?”
“……”
As she greeted him and sat down beside him, the boy politely informed her:
“If you cross this line, I’ll cut your hand off…”
“I’ll be careful.”
Why were all the children here so terrifying?
To prove she wasn’t intimidated by a single kid, Lopez casually twirled her pencil.
Then the pencil accidentally crossed the line he’d drawn on the desk.
Immediately she snatched it back.
“……”
“I’ll let it slide this once…”
Fortunately, thanks to the shaggy-haired boy’s mercy, her hand remained attached.
An awkward silence settled between them.
Just as Lopez opened her mouth to ask his name, Rodney marched over.
“Hey! Y-You! Get up!”
“Why?”
She blinked up at him.
Rodney’s face instantly turned bright red.
Well, Lopez was pretty.
For a moment he simply stared at her with a dazed expression. Then, as if possessed, he leaned closer and sniffed.
He smells like a puppy.
A smile tugged at her lips.
Only then did Rodney seem to come back to his senses.
His face still crimson, he stammered loudly,
“J-Just stop talking and stand up!”
Standing up wasn’t difficult.
Lopez obediently rose from her seat.
Rodney visibly flinched, apparently not expecting such compliance.
Still, he awkwardly masked his surprise, planted his hands on his hips, and lifted his chin.
“Class Three has its own rules, you know?”
“Oh, I see.”
“There’s an initiation ceremony!”
“Oho?”
The more enthusiastically she reacted, the more Rodney puffed up with pride.
“If you pass the initiation, we’ll officially recognize you as one of us!”
“And if I don’t?”
“Then you’re not part of Class Three!”
“But the teacher said I’m in Class Three now.”
Which meant she was already in Class Three.
When she pointed that out shamelessly, Rodney looked completely thrown off.
Apparently thinking Lopez was being difficult on purpose, Miles stepped in.
Compared to Rodney, Miles looked much gentler.
“It means we won’t accept you as one of us!”
“Exactly!”
Rodney secretly gave Miles a thumbs-up.
I can see you, you know.
Miles proudly raised his chin.
Then he pointed at the boy sitting beside Lopez.
“If you don’t do it, you’ll have to sit with this idiot every day! And play with him too!”
“That’s right!”
Rodney nodded vigorously.
“So hurry up and—”
Unfortunately for his speech, Lopez interrupted with a stern expression.
“You shouldn’t call your friend an idiot.”
Rodney and Miles froze.
Their mouths hung open.
Clearly, they had never expected her to say something like that.
Rodney immediately whipped around to look at Miles.
A blatant attempt to dump responsibility onto him.
Panicked, Miles flailed before blurting out:
“W-What? Then what are we supposed to call him?!”
Surely they weren’t about to admit they didn’t know their classmate’s name.
Yet to Lopez’s surprise, both boys looked genuinely troubled.
Pretending not to notice, she smiled.
“Like I asked your names earlier, you should ask his too. What’s your name?”
The shaggy-haired boy fidgeted.
Then he answered in an incredibly tiny voice.
“Don’t talk to me…”
“Hm. That’s a unique name. ‘Don’t Talk to Me.’”
Well, there you have it.
Seeing her expression, Rodney and Miles looked at her like she was hopeless before returning to their seats.
Kids, why are you looking at me like that?
The boy beside her wasn’t much better.
He was staring at her as though she were completely ridiculous.
Still, a look like that wasn’t enough to kill her.
Ignoring him, Lopez tried to lighten the mood.
“Don’t snacks come here?”
“Don’t Talk to Me” stared at her gravely.
“A-Are you stupid?”
“No.”
But none of the three boys looked convinced.
A week had already passed since Lopez had been demoted to Class Three.
Living among the children, she had learned two important facts.
First:
The students of Class Three all shared a storage room as a dormitory regardless of gender.
Which is why I’m currently living in a storeroom with three boys.
Second:
No teachers besides Megan ever came to Class Three.
So they’ve completely given up on this class, huh?
The novel had barely mentioned Class Three.
This was territory that didn’t exist in the original story.
A place for extras.
The abandoned class.
Even the daily snacks handed out in Class One never reached here.
Unlike the noisy bustle of Class One, this classroom felt deserted.
No wonder the kids turned gloomy.
More importantly—
The smell was awful.
The children seemed so accustomed to it that they didn’t even react.
But Lopez refused to let her nose rot away.
She marched over and threw the windows wide open.
Then, with the refreshing energy of a youth-drama protagonist, she declared:
“Let’s clean!”
“No.”
Rodney immediately rejected her.
He leaned back, lacing his fingers behind his head and sticking out his tongue.
Not that Lopez had expected cooperation.
She had planned to do it herself anyway.
“‘Don’t Talk to Me’! Want to help?”
“……”
He silently shook his head.
“Well, can’t be helped.”
With that, Lopez headed out to fetch cleaning supplies.
“Mediina, give me the broom. I’ll carry it.”
“No, it’s fine. I can handle this.”
“No way. Don’t clean. You’ll hurt your hands.”
“You’re teasing me again!”
Mediina glanced at Klein with a bright red face.
He answered with a beautiful smile.
A warm, sunlit smile reserved only for her.
“By the way, where’s Chester?”
“Don’t worry about that idiot.”
“Oh, come on. Can’t you two get along?”
Puffing out her cheeks, Mediina shook her head helplessly.
“You’re both my favorite friends.”
“……”
Klein fell silent.
He would do anything to make Mediina happy.
But becoming friends with Chester?
Impossible.
They were rivals.
And every time Mediina blushed while looking at Chester, Klein felt like his insides were twisting.
Crash!
A loud clatter echoed through the hallway.
Instinctively, Klein turned toward the sound.
Cleaning supplies were scattered everywhere.
And sprawled among them was Lopez.
For a brief moment, Klein’s body jerked forward.
He almost ran over.
“Watch where you’re going!”
Jerry snapped irritably while brushing off her skirt.
Face-down on the floor, Lopez mumbled:
“I couldn’t see very well.”
“I know! That’s why we bumped into each other!”
“That’s true.”
Despite the sharp criticism, Lopez nodded earnestly.
Jerry let out a disbelieving laugh.
“W-What are you even doing?”
“Trying to clean…”
“No, that’s not what I meant…”
Apparently deciding conversation was impossible, Jerry switched tactics.
“Oh right. You got demoted to Class Three, didn’t you? Hah. So who are you planning to frame this time?”
The sneer on her face was unmistakable.
“Careful, Jerry! You’ll end up getting accused of stealing too!”
The surrounding children burst into laughter.
One after another, they mocked Lopez as they passed.
Klein’s brow furrowed deeper and deeper.
“She’s not even saying anything. Why the hell are they picking on her?”
The curse slipped out before he could stop it.
Mediina quickly tried to calm him.
“W-Would helping her just bother her? Maybe she’d think we’re pretending to be friends?”
“Mediina, she’ll handle it herself. She’s in Class Three now. Stop worrying about her so much.”
“But…”
“What if she does something mean to you again? Come on.”
Yet even as he said it, guilt stained his expression.
He didn’t understand why every word involving Lopez came out wrong.
Biting the inside of his cheek, he looked away.
Meanwhile, Lopez had gotten back to her feet.
She dusted off her skirt.
A faint stain of blood slowly spread through the thin fabric.
Mediina immediately turned pale.
“Oh no! The infirmary—!”
“It’s fine! Let’s just go!”
Deliberately stomping his feet loudly, Klein strode past Lopez.
Almost as if he wanted her to notice he was there.
But no voice called out to him.
Nothing.
Didn’t she even notice me?
Curious, Klein glanced back.
The moment he did—
he regretted it.
