112: Chapter 112 The First Lesson of the School Year (Miscellaneous)

"Quiet! Everyone, quiet! You're all adults! Don't! Act! Like! Elementary! Schoolers! Making! All! This! Noise!"

Ms. Stuart shouted loudly, frantically slamming her notebook against the podium.

Although her standing on the raised platform beneath the desk didn't exactly command much authority, everyone quieted down out of respect.

Li Ming took his notebook out of his bag... he seemed to be the only one in the entire classroom carrying a backpack.

Pulling out a gel pen, Li Ming looked at Stuart expectantly, waiting for her to lecture or write something on the blackboard, just like how he used to attend classes.

Notes were to be written, never looked at afterward, and never remembered.

Stuart sighed. "Today is your first day of class. Looking at the time, your Ship Girls have already been training for an hour."

Someone grumbled softly; it was clear they hadn't managed to successfully build a Ship Girl.

"Mm, very good..." Seeing that it was completely quiet, Stuart took out her teaching materials. "Considering the actual work of a Commander, you usually don't need to personally command, but you must understand some basic knowledge. Therefore, you will also have to participate in tactical and military physical training in the upcoming courses."

Wails of despair followed.

Even Cliff was wailing? It was obvious they really didn't want to learn these things.

Li Ming felt helpless and turned to look at the class schedule Stuart projected onto the large screen.

It was okay, not too terrifying; at least the classes weren't packed together.

Tuesday and Thursday afternoons were actually free? Of course, it could also be time for club activities.

Not bad, a half-day of classes was only three hours.

Nine to twelve, two to five.

Nice.

Isn't this better than high school? What are these people howling about?

Well, foreign high schools might not be as exaggerated as domestic ones...

Forget it. Li Ming hunched his back and listened to Stuart speak.

"I will mainly be teaching you conventional strategies and tactics, as well as some exemplary war histories," Stuart continued. "This afternoon's physical education class will be with Instructor Lauren."

"However, today I'll give you a general overview of the upcoming rules, regulations, course planning, and the school's credit system. So don't worry too much; as long as you take notes, you can usually pass."

Cliff bit the end of his pen, watching Li Ming stare at Stuart as she stood on her tiptoes, struggling to write the upcoming regulations on the blackboard. Li Ming was listening to the teacher while rapidly scribbling something in his notebook.

Squinting at the handwriting in Li Ming's notebook, Cliff fell silent for a moment.

Calling it neat would be a stretch; it could only be described as looking like ants crawling. Cliff really doubted if he could even read his own writing.

After taking notes for a while, Li Ming suddenly looked up, nudged him with his elbow, and whispered, "Cliff, did your construction succeed?"

"Of course," Cliff answered softly. "What about you?"

"Me too, got them both times."

"Holy crap, you lucky dog..." Cliff kicked him under the table. "Did you also do some ritual like the others?"

"No, just a casual pull."

"You brat... Ouch!..."

"Ow!..."

"Li Ming, Cliff, you two." Ms. Stuart was all smiles. "Do you want to experience Ms. Stuart's special gift package like your good friend Finn?"

The two of them shrunk their necks, not daring to speak further.

Stuart put away her third piece of chalk and continued writing on the blackboard.

Her handwriting was much better than Li Ming's.

Seeing her resume lecturing, Cliff breathed a sigh of relief and whispered again, "Can you even read your own handwriting?"

"I can definitely read it myself," Li Ming replied, his pen starting to work again. "Back in high school, if you didn't write fast, you couldn't keep up at all."

"Then your schooling sounds exhausting."

"Who knows." Li Ming's hand didn't stop. He then looked down for a moment; yes, he could understand it for now.

Stuart glanced at them out of the corner of her eye. Li Ming was taking notes seriously, which was good. Although Cliff wasn't writing, he was constantly looking at Li Ming's notebook, so he was presumably listening.

As for the others...

Uh...

Sigh...

There really weren't many good students.

After Stuart filled the entire blackboard (the parts she could reach), she turned around and stood on the raised platform with her hands on her hips.

"Emile, why don't you tell me what I just said?"

"Uh... Teacher, I don't know..."

"Li Ming, you tell him."

"Um... Ms. Stuart just talked about the upcoming credit system, uh, and that mission scores from operations in cooperation with the Ship Girl Bureau will serve as semester evaluations." Li Ming glanced at his notebook. "Also, club points are an important part of the evaluation. If your overall comprehensive evaluation is a failing grade, you'll face retention, which is equivalent to holding back your Ship Girl."

Emile, with his brown hair and bulbous nose, stammered, unable to speak.

"Yes, I knew you weren't listening at all, so I wrote the general content here. Record it yourselves." Stuart sighed and tapped the blackboard.

The students took out their phones or notebooks, intending to write it down or simply take a picture.

God knows who would remember this stuff...

"If there's anything you don't understand, you can ask me," Stuart added, then looked at Li Ming.

Li Ming put down his notebook and held his water bottle, drinking with a series of 'glug-glugs,' looking very comfortable.

Cliff frowned while holding Li Ming's notebook, then took out his phone to take a picture... After a moment of silence, he handed the notebook back and took a photo of the blackboard instead.

Mhm...

Circling the classroom from the side to inspect, Stuart's gaze drifted toward Li Ming's notebook as she passed by.

...An average person might not necessarily be able to read it. But as a teacher, what kind of handwriting had she not seen?

Based on the patterns, Li Ming's handwriting was actually quite recognizable, just very scribbled, likely because he wrote very quickly.

But what was that on his left arm? A scar?

The distance was a bit far, and she couldn't see clearly.

Could he have been bullied? What a poor child.

Ignoring the fact that someone of Li Ming's stature would more likely be the one doing the bullying unless it was a group effort, Ms. Stuart cast a sympathetic gaze his way.

Li Ming, however, was completely unaware. He was just happily holding his cup—which looked more like a jar—while the others were busy recording the notes.

"What are you drinking? It smells so good..." Cliff poked him.

"Milk tea."

"...Unbelievable." Cliff facepalmed; no wonder he was drinking from that thing non-stop.

Black lines appeared on Stuart's face. Okay, he wasn't exactly... like a normal, well-behaved student.

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