This is an IF story with some changes to the original setting. In addition, it is a gag.

I wrote the story based on a different setting from the main story, so some of you may feel a little
uncomfortable with it.

Side Story: IF Story: Shishõ Survival Route

It happened when Nozomu was promoted to the third grade, after he realized his own escapism.

It was a battle that made Nozomu realize the fact that he had been shutting himself away to protect
his own weak heart while claiming it was for Lisa’s sake.

After Shino’s life-threatening lesson, Nozomu finally began to look forward.

Because of the injuries he sustained in the battle with his mentor, his grades at the end of the
semester were not the best, and he was still in the tenth class. But even so, Nozomu’s mind was
refreshed.

A fresh start. Nozomu waited in the classroom for the arrival of his new homeroom teacher, Anri, to
start the class with a fresh mind and a new outlook.

“Etto.....Good morning~ everyone~. First of all~ please take your seats~”

Anri walked into the classroom, her voice somewhat choppy.

A puzzled expression appeared on her face, which should’ve been always smiling.

What on earth was going on?

The 10th class tilted their heads at the unusual expression on Anri's face but took their seats.
After making sure that all the students were seated, Anri checked the attendance list in her hand
and began to communicate with them.

“Etto, everyone, you’ve all started the third year of your school lives~ and the classes will be very
different from the ones you had in the second year, so there will be a lot of difficulties~ but let’s do
our best~! Of course, the teachers will do their best as well, so you can count on us~”

With those words, an inexplicable atmosphere begins to drift through the class.

This is the 10th class’ classroom which just entered their third grade. There has been little change in
the number of pupils in the class, but the numbers have dwindled slightly.

The end of term examinations is the culmination of a year’s work. The students who have
disappeared have been expelled for inadequate performance in the examinations.

It is also clear from the fact that their classmates have hardly been replaced that most of them have
not been able to go to the higher ranks.

It would not be an exaggeration to say that the results of this final exam would determine their lives
for the next year.

Those who performed better would be treated accordingly. On the other hand, if they didn’t do well
enough, they would have to live in the lowest class for another year.

However, the students in the upper classes are also working hard. It is not an easy task to overtake
them.

That is why it must be frustrating for the 10th class who didn’t make it to the higher ranks in the last
exam. The only one who was motivated in such a situation was Nozomu, who was involved in a far
more ridiculous commotion than the end-of-term exams.

As if sensing the atmosphere in the classroom, Anri yelled out, “Let’s all do our best~!” But the
reaction of the students was still not favorable.

“Etto.......”
The gloomy air of the almost unresponsive students drowned out Anri’s powerfully raised fist, which
sagged.

“O-oh, that’s right~! I’d like to introduce you all to a new friend~ A transfer student has arrived in
this classroom today~”

Pacing quickly, Anri headed for the classroom entrance.

Her tone was slurred, and her gaze was swimming in the air. It was obvious that she was trying to
force a change of subject, but her cute little movements were as if she was a small animal.

Nozomu’s cheeks began to relax at the sight of Anri, but then he tilted his head when he heard
something he didn’t expect to hear.

“Transfer Student”

In the two years he has lived in this city, Nozomu has never heard of such a thing, at least not during
his school life. The other students seemed to be the same, and all of them looked wide-eyed and
surprised.

Inspired by the word “transfer student” whispered conversations began to unfold here and there.

What kind of person is it? Why at this time of year? Why skip the first and second grade? If they’re
coming to this class, they’re probably not a big deal, right?

Ignoring the reactions of his students, Anri places her hand on the door of the classroom.

Her mouth was drawn into a sort of tired expression. This was something that bothered Nozomu.
But Nozomu’s doubts would soon be answered.

“Etto....then I’ll introduce her to everyone~”

In one fell swoop, Anri opened the door to the classroom.

A beautiful girl.....dressed in a white uniform with a sword at her waist, but with a yuan in front of
her, sashayed out of the open entrance.

She was a bit on the small side compared to girls of her age. Her height has simply shrunk over the
years.

The bare legs peeking out of the skirt gave them a pure shock, followed by a raging feeling deep in
the stomach. As they say, don’t show it, hide it.

“S-she's going to be a student in this classroom starting today, her name is Shino Mikagura-san”

“Umu! I’m Shino Mikagura. Nice to meet you all”

An 80-year-old woman wearing a pure white uniform stood in front of the 10th class.

Everyone in the class was dumbfounded with their mouths hanging open. It was understandable.

In addition, some of them were looking down and holding their mouths. If they opened their
mouths, would they spew out abusive words, or would they spew out something else? Either way,
the mismatch between Shino and the student uniform left everyone speechless. Except for one
person......

“What in the world are you doing---------!!”

“You can see it with your own eyes, can’t you!? I also came to this academy!”

It was Nozomu, her only disciple and heir to her art of swordsmanship, who raised a loud voice that
echoed throughout the class.

On the other hand, Shino, his mentor, was beaming with confidence at the cries of her student. But
Nozomu had no idea what the basis for that confidence was, given the way she was dressed......

“You know that’s not what I meant! What are you doing here at the academy!?”
“I just came to check on my very cute apprentice. There’s nothing strange about that, is there?”

“Why are you looking at me with an expression as if saying “Why is it strange that you’re here?””

Nozomu shouted as he pounded his desk with a bang, but Shino kept tilting her head curiously.

“More importantly, didn’t you pass away Shishõ!?”

Or rather, the person in front of him was supposed to have passed away just a few days ago. She
was a very important person to Nozomu, and if she was still alive, he would definitely be in tears.

But the outrageous scene in front of him caused Nozomu to shout out loud.

Shino, on the other hand, crossed her arms with a mysterious look on her face.

“That shouldn’t be the case though.......”

“Gulp.....”

“Before I noticed, I crawled out of my grave myself! Somehow, I seem to have been cured of the
sleeping sickness. For god’s sake, the world is full of things I don’t understand, even at my age.
Ahahahaha!”

“I seriously don’t get why you’re dressed like that------------!”

Pointing to his mentor's disgusting outfit, Nozomu raised his voice.

In all honesty, Nozomu didn’t want to point it out either, but he had reached his limit.

After reflecting on his school life and himself, Nozomu finally had a fresh start. Needless to say,
Shino was a big part of his life.
If he saw someone, he respected dressed like this, it certainly would be.......understandable

“Now that I think about it, what do you mean by “student”! Rather than that, you’re much more of
an “instructor” aren’t you!?”

“Umu, Indeed I did hear something like that from Jihad-dono......Well, um....... I can observe the
behavior of my disciple this way! You’ve been taught everything about the Mikagura style, but there
are still some things you’re not ready for. It is my duty as your mentor to keep a close eye on you!”

“If so, an instructor would be better wouldn’t it!? Why did you come to the school as a student!? I’ve
never heard of an S-rank being a student before!”

“Even se-sensei’s never heard of something like that either~~”

In response to Nozomu's loud voice, Anri muttered weakly as her shoulders slumped. Apparently,
she too had been swept away by his Shishõ's unprecedentedness.

She looked exhausted, which was unusual for her who was always cheerful and full of energy. It
might be cruel to ask her what had happened.

“Well, it’s fine, isn’t it? There’s no age limit for a person to become a student at this academy, is
there?”

“That’s....true but......”

Shino took a swipe at Anri, who raised her voice in protest. Sure, there’s no age limit, but even so, it
was unnatural.

What in the world did this shut-in do.....?

Torn between the urge to ask and the refusal to listen, Nozomu took a deep breath to calm himself
down.
“There are a bunch of things I don’t agree with, but if you've been a student for a hundred years......
can’t you at least do something about that uniform!?”

“Hm? Why? Doesn’t it look good on me?”

Putting her hands on her hips, Shino plucked at her skirt as if to show off. At that moment, Nozomu’s
paltry composure was instantly blown away.

In addition, several students who were holding their mouths ran out of the classroom, but Nozomu
couldn’t blame them. In all honesty, he wanted to get out of here too.......

“It’s the opposite! I’m so on the edge of everything, I don’t even know where to start!”

“What do you mean by opposite!”

However, the only person who could stop this mass of disaster now was himself. Driven by such an
unfamiliar sense of responsibility, Nozomu continued to raise his voice.

“Exactly what I said! Don’t you realize it, you idiot!”

“What did you just say! Even though I summoned up all my courage!”

“I know you’ve been shut-in for too long and it takes courage to go out in public, but you’re going
about this in the wrong direction!”

“Um~ You two~ Please calm down a little~”

In this case, Shino’s definition of courage is, of course, the courage to show Nozomu her sunny side
up.

On the other hand, Nozomu’s courage was the courage of starting a new life in this city despite
being hated by people.
The fact that she said it was for him, in addition to the fact that she was still alive, should have made
Nozomu happy. However, all that emotion was ruined by the tragic scene in front of him.

In addition, their feelings for each other were strangely misplaced, but there was no way that such
deep thoughts can come to their overheated minds.

Gradually......on the contrary, Anri was desperately trying to extinguish the fire in front of her, which
was gradually heating up like a forest fire in the dry season.

“In the first place, it’s because you don’t understand a maiden’s heart! Isn’t that why you got
yourself into this mess!?”

“......I can’t deny that, but when it comes to that then Shishõ’s the same!”

“Like I said~ Listen to sensei~~!”

However, the fire had already reached a level that Anri could not handle. The argument between the
mentor and the disciple became even more heated, as she had no idea what they were talking
about.

“My poor little disciple! Where did your auspicious attitude from last time go!”

“I would if Shishõ was more proper.......I mean, that was the case just a while ago! But now Shishõ is
just a disaster!”

“Fue~h the two of them won’t listen to sensei~~!”

At last, Anri-sensei was in tears. The students around her were not bothered by the heated
argument. I mean, how could they possibly intervene in such an argument?

“Especially that uniform! Honestly, I’d be convinced if you said it, was a newly designed weapon!”

“What did you say!”

At that moment, the sound of something snapping echoed through the classroom. Then, with a roar,
a large shadow covered Nozomu.

“.......Ue!?”

A large object fell from above Nozomu’s dumbfounded head. It was the teacher's table made of hard
wood.

Shino, who had lost her temper with Nozomu’s rude words, kicked the table away, and poor
Nozomu was trapped underneath it.

“No-nozomu-kun~! Are you okay!?”

A panicked Anri rushed over to help Nozomu by pushing the table away.

But just as she was about to touch the table that had been blown away by Shino, a high-pitched
sound echoed, and the table was cut in half.

Nozomu crawled out from underneath the table where she had gone to in tears.

“Haa...haa....that was dangerous.......”

“Tsk!”

“You’ve got quite the tongue, spineless Shishõ! Are you trying to kill me? If I took a direct hit, I
would’ve died you know!?”

“It’s not like you’d die from something like this! In fact, you drew your sword and covered it with Qi
before the table hit you.

“That’s not the problem here---------!”

Indeed, in the nick of time, Nozomu had drawn his sword with his backhand, and while doing so, he
had clothed himself with Qi and interposed himself between the table and himself.

He was able to escape easily by cutting the table into two, although the momentum of the table
caused him to fall, it did not hit his head.

Even so, Nozomu could not stand this kind of treatment. His head was already in hot water from the
earlier argument, and he had completely lost all sense of self-restraint because his opponent was his
master.

“I’ve had enough! Return back the feelings I gave you at that time!”

“Hoho! Since you’re up for it, alright! It’s a good time to see how your body feels now that you’re
fully recovered! I’m going to give you a good beating and remind you of your Shishõ’s greatness!”

“You’ll never convince me if you dress like that!”

They both stepped in and swung their swords at the same time. A storm of sword slashes erupted in
the small classroom.

Desks were cut in half, chairs were blown away, and stationery was scattered.

“Kyaaaaaa!!”

“Uwa! My stuff! My stuff!!”

“Someone! Help-------!!”

As the screams and shouts of their classmates echoed, the battle between the two swordsmen grew
even more fierce.

“Kakaka, exhilarating, exhilarating. I feel like I’m sixty years younger again!”
“Tsk! You’re still going faster!? You’re making things even more difficult for me, you old hag!”

“Stop ~it~! Don’t destroy the classroom~!!”

She easily dodged Nozomu’s sword, and Shino struck a blow in return.

As he managed to deflect the cleave, Nozomu let out a swear word. And Anri, teary-eyed and
desperate, cries out, “Fue~h,” but they didn’t seem to hear her.

“Zeya!”

“Gaha-!”

Shino’s kick caught Nozomu’s body and blew him to the back wall of the classroom. Just before the
kick, Nozomu prevented a direct hit by inserting his sheath into the path of the kick, but when he
was blown away, he struck his entire body on several desks.

As Nozomu frowned at the pain of the bruises, he saw a shadow running at the edge of his vision.

“!?”

Forcing his aching body to stand up, Nozomu readied his sword. At that point, Shino had already
caught Nozomu in the blade sphere.

“You’re slow, Nozomu!”

A flashing cut-up strike struck Nozomu. Nozomu reflexively twists his body to escape the path of the
sword.

Shino’s slash scrapes the floor and passes in front of Nozomu, cutting through the back wall of the
classroom.

At the same time, the Qi technique “multi-Impalement” was activated. The countless blades that
exploded gouged the back wall of the classroom deeply.
A slit in the wall. The eyes of the homeroom teacher from the next class crossed Nozomu’s gaze.

“.........Ha?”

“Ah-, sorry......”

Nozomu sends a brief word to the homeroom teacher of the next class and returns to the battle. To
fight the mighty monster in front of him. And to prevent further exposure of the shame of his
people.

However, the means used to achieve this goal were such that there was no room for mercy or
hesitation, as Nozomu’s head was filled with blood.

Nozomu taps his Qi into the blade and thrusts it towards Shino.

Qi technique “Core Piercing”

This is a combination of “Phantom” and “Piercing strike”, a Qi-technique with extremely high killing
power.

But Shino lifted her mouth and, to his surprise, aligned the tip of her scabbard with the tip of
Nozomu’s protruding blade.

Nozomu’s sword stabbed into the carp mouth of the scabbard. Perhaps it was because she was
pouring more Qi than Nozomu into the sheath, but it didn’t bite any further and didn’t seem to
scabbard

In the next instant, the Qi technique “Core Piercing” activated. However, Nozomu’s core piercing
explodes inside Shino’s scabbard, and all the Qi blades were cancelled out by the Qi inside the
scabbard.

“Hah!?”
With Nozomu making a surprised voice involuntarily, Shino made a full turn by using the explosion of
Nozomu’s core piercing and slammed a momentum kick into Nozomu’s torso.

“Gaah-!”

“Wa-! What are you people!?”

Nozomu’s body was blown to the next classroom, widening the hole that had just been drilled by
Shino.

The ninth class’ homeroom teacher shouted in astonishment as Nozomu suddenly flew into the
room.

Shino, who had chased after Nozomu, jumped into the next classroom. Her appearance was full of
battle spirit, and her eyes were shining with vitality. She looked so full of life that it was hard to
believe that she had died only a few days ago.

“Hahaha! Nozomu, it’s round 2 now~!”

“Damn it! Enough already, you idiot Shishõ!”

“Stop it already~~~~~~~!”

Thus, the ruckus between the two of them spilled over into the next classroom, and the mentor and
student continued to run amok until Jihad and Linda stopped them.

Three of the classrooms were damaged beyond use, and the equipment in them was almost
completely destroyed. When Linda saw the damage, she was so stunned that she just stood there
for a while. It was truly a wonder that there were no human casualties.

Well, it can be said that this was only possible because Nozomu did not release the suppression of
his abilities......
If Nozomu had released the suppression of his abilities, what would have happened? It’s scary to
even imagine.

Because of this ruckus, Shino was expelled from school as soon as she transferred. Nozomu was
suspended from school for a week. It was no surprise. In fact, it could be said to be a warm-hearted
gesture.

Incidentally, Shino was later hired by Solminati Academy as a part-time lecturer by Jihad, who later
regretted his choice because he prioritized her high level of ability and pondered over her
unprecedented personality.

After that, however, this mentor and disciple will continue to cause a tremendous uproar, but that’s
for another “what if” story.