There were no notebooks.
No textbooks.
Not even a change of clothes.
Instead, the suitcase contained nothing but mountains of nicotine and alcohol—vices that were strictly prohibited for high school students under Japanese law.
With practiced ease, Kaoru Hanayama reached into the suitcase, took out a pack of cigarettes, tore away the wrapping, and drew one out between his thick, calloused fingers.
He was just about to place it between his lips.
“W-Wait a minute!”
The security guard gathered every ounce of courage he had left and shouted, determined to uphold the school’s final line of defense.
Hanayama paused.
His calm yet intimidating gaze settled on the trembling guard.
“What is it?”
His deep voice rumbled like distant thunder.
“T-Those… according to school regulations…”
“Cigarettes… alcohol… and cigars are all prohibited on campus!”
The guard’s eyes were moist with fear as he struggled to keep his legs from giving out beneath him.
“…I see.”
Hanayama glanced at the cigarette in his hand.
Then at the guard.
The guard braced himself.
(He’s going to get angry…)
(He’s definitely going to threaten me…)
Instead—
“Rules are rules.”
“If that’s the school’s policy, then I have no choice.”
Without the slightest hesitation, Hanayama placed the cigarette back into the carton, closed the suitcase, and fastened the locks.
“Please keep these for me.”
“Thank you.”
“…Huh?”
The guard blinked.
Hanayama made no further objections.
Leaving behind a suitcase worth hundreds of thousands of yen in premium bourbon, Cuban cigars, and cigarettes, he simply walked through the checkpoint carrying nothing but the clothes on his back.
Only after the giant disappeared into the campus did the security staff collapse into their chairs in exhaustion.
“…I thought I was going to die.”
After confirming that he had been assigned to Class 1-D, Hanayama did not head directly to his classroom.
Instead, he wandered slowly around the campus.
It almost resembled a city.
Perfectly maintained rows of trees.
A sprawling shopping mall.
A movie theater.
Cafés.
Convenience stores.
Everything a student could need had been constructed on the enormous artificial island.
Yet beneath that glamorous exterior…
Hanayama immediately sensed something unusual.
(There are more surveillance cameras here than in some prisons.)
Mounted on streetlights.
Hidden beneath roof eaves.
Watching intersections.
Guarding alleyways.
Black dome-shaped security cameras covered nearly every corner of the campus.
Their density exceeded even that of the prison where Hanayama had once been incarcerated.
Every student’s movement appeared to be under constant observation.
Hanayama merely smiled faintly.
Being watched had long since become normal to him.
After finishing his tour, Hanayama finally entered the first-year classroom building.
By the time he reached the room marked Class 1-D, it was already 8:15 a.m.
Just then—
“This is so damn boring!”
“I’m not doing any stupid self-introductions!”
“Move!”
Bang!
The rear classroom door burst open.
Storming out was a tall, muscular boy with crimson hair—
Ken Sudō.
Already irritated by the classroom atmosphere, he intended to leave without another word.
“Hey! Get out of my—”
His voice stopped.
Outside the doorway…
Someone was standing there.
Not merely someone.
It felt more like a solid wall of flesh.
Imagine a young wild dog on the African savanna.
Separated from its pack, it barks loudly and charges through the grass, believing itself to be the strongest predator around.
Then…
Instead of prey…
It slams headfirst into the leg of a fully grown African elephant.
One weighing several tons.
A creature so enormous that it blocks out the sun itself.
At that moment…
Only instinct remains.
Only fear.
That was exactly how Ken Sudō felt.
He was the stray dog.
Standing before him…
Was the elephant.
Kaoru Hanayama.
“…Huh…?”
Sudō’s voice came out hoarse.
Standing 183 centimeters tall, Sudō possessed an exceptional physique for a first-year high school student.
His athletic talent had given him tremendous confidence in both his body and his fists.
But Hanayama…
Towered over him.
More than 190 centimeters tall.
166 kilograms of overwhelming muscle.
His sheer mass rendered ordinary concepts of strength meaningless.
Sudō found himself instinctively looking upward.
At the end of his gaze…
Was a face covered in countless scars.
And a pair of calm eyes.
Deep.
Still.
Like the bottom of the ocean.
Those eyes contained no hostility.
Only overwhelming presence.
For someone like Sudō, who viewed fighting as a way to assert himself…
The man before him wasn’t simply strong.
He was violence itself given human form.
Every pore on Sudō’s body tightened.
Without realizing it…
He took half a step backward.
His earlier frustration vanished completely, replaced by instinctive fear.
Inside the classroom, Yōsuke Hirata, Kikyō Kushida, Kiyotaka Ayanokōji, and Suzune Horikita all watched the doorway in silence.
Hanayama looked down at the frozen red-haired boy before him.
His expression remained perfectly calm.
“Finished?”
His deep voice echoed through the hallway.
“The class meeting.”
“Is it over?”
“Ah… n-no!”
Sudō answered almost reflexively.
“It… it’s still going!”
“I-I just came out on my own!”
Gone was the arrogance from moments before.
“…I see.”
Hanayama nodded once.
Then he simply walked past him.
Thud.
Thud.
Thud.
Each heavy footstep made the classroom floor vibrate ever so slightly.
No one spoke.
Everyone shared the same thought.
Is this guy…
really our classmate?
As for Sudō…
The determination that had driven him to storm out of class had completely disappeared.
Without a word, he stiffly turned around, returned to his desk, and sat down like a machine following orders.
He stared straight ahead, saying nothing.
Hanayama scanned the classroom until he found the desk bearing his name.
Kaoru Hanayama.
He lowered his massive frame into the chair.
Creak…
The sturdy classroom chair groaned under his weight but somehow held together.
The classroom remained deathly silent.
Click.
Click.
Click.
The crisp sound of high heels echoed down the hallway.
The homeroom teacher had arrived.