Class in itself wasn't very different from what I was used to.

Though our seating arrangement was a bit different.

Digging into my memories, I recalled that the method of determining spots was quite different from when I was human. Seating wasn't done by your attendance order nor by lots, but by your race.

For example, as an arachne, I was automatically placed in the rear two rows due to my body size. Even though I wasn't very tall, since my body was long, I was placed together with the larger races like the centaurs and cyclops.

Though for the sake of being able to see, I was placed in the second rear row. Botan was in the rearmost, being as tall as she was.

Ren and Michiko were amongst the middle rows, being medium sized monster girls. These were the most numerous. Ren got a window seat so she could eat even while studying as a special accommodation.

Lastly, the very front row was for the small races. Unlike all the other rows, this one was a compressed row that had double the seats anywhere else. In the rear rows, we just dealt with the fact that some of us were wider than the others. It wasn't like anyone was supposed to walk between the desks during lessons in the first place. But since some of the smaller races were really small, it was easy for them to share a single desk.

The fairies were especially big on this, as four of them shared a single desk due to their especially small size. Though dwarves and imps were included in this row, making their total numbers similar to us large races, while the medium sized races made up the bulk of the class and overall population.

Off to the side even without turning my head, I could see the class prez leaning in and adjusting her thick glasses to see the far off blackboard.

I covered my mouth as I smirked at her.

(That stuck up bitch. That's what you get when you're too stubborn to ask for a change in seating arrangement.)

A single desk at the front row in the corner belonged to another arachne who wasn't so meaninglessly prideful. Of all of us arachne, she was by far the largest and normally should have been in the far rear row under normal conditions.

But she was a tarantula type, and they were notorious for their bad eyesight. From what I could tell, she was nearly blind if it wasn't for those thick glasses she wore. And even then she managed to get a front row seat to help deal with her bad eyesight.

Frankly speaking, I was a bit scared of that girl. Not only was she huge, but somehow she knew exactly where everyone was, despite her bad eyesight. The only way to avoid her was to climb a wall, as she was too heavy to do that without the help of some prepared silk.

Maybe she just had insanely good hearing? I wasn't too sure about the particulars though.

But despite all the differences in the races, there wasn't much different in the classes themselves.

Math, language, history.

Well, Biology was a bit different, as it concentrated on more general points and didn't go into detail about any specific race for obvious reasons.

History was quite a bit different as well in places from what I skimmed through the textbook, but overall world history didn't change much, just the details. Like how Cleopatra was apparently a lamia.

But in the end, school was school. Not exactly the height of excitement. Especially when I had a lifetime of arachne memories who already saw all of this as boring as the human me saw human schooling.

Finally, when the chime rang for lunch, we were released from our daily purgatory.

At least for an hour.

The four of us quickly made our way to the cafeteria.

"Ah! Stop using the window Shiraigumo-san!"

Ignoring the loud annoyance, I took a shortcut with Michiko out the window down to the first floor while Botan carried Ren in her arms this time.

Despite how fast Michiko and I got there, the cafeteria was already buzzing with activity.

Or rather, it was huge.

Despite this supposedly being the same school I had been going to as a human, so many things had changed, and the cafeteria was a prime example.

The ceiling was tall, the doors enormous, and the space itself was incredibly wide. The number of tables seemed to be the same, but they were spread out much further than before, and there was a distinct shortage of chairs.

Though thinking about it, that wasn't a surprise as there were a decent number of people who had no use for chairs. I myself being one of them.

Most of the people who've arrived were either from classes already close to the cafeteria or avians, with the occasional wall climbing or jumping species mixed in like myself.

"Not enough slee...*yawn*?"

"I'm not you. Let's go get lunch."

"Mmm'kay."

We quickly lined up and ordered our food.

I got a tonkatsu, extra extra pork and half rice. Before such a thing wouldn't have been too appealing due to the imbalance of ingredients, but the arachne me found it just perfect like this. I really had turned into a carnivore it seemed. I also got some fruit juice as a drink.

Mitsuki went for an oyakodon.

Frankly, the first thing I thought when I heard her ordering it was cannibalism. But then again, just because it was bird and eggs didn't mean that it really had much to do with her as an owl mage. Hawks ate pigeons all the time, and that wasn't considered cannibalism in the slightest after all.

That said, there was no way I'd go and eat some spiders. That was just plain creepy.

On top of her tray, beside her bowl was a pair of large energy drinks cans. 'Hooting Day Energy. 600mg of caffeine to in every can to go an entire day after a productive all-nighter!' Along side the label, there was art of an owl mage with eyes opened to saucers giving an approximation of a thumbs up.

Now that I thought about it, she always had a can or two of these during lunch. That claim of 600mg of caffeine sounded like quite a lot. Then again, it wasn't like I knew how much was in a normal coffee, or how much was too much in general.

"600mg of caffeine? Sure that's enough?"

"I had another can in the morning so I should be fine."

That sounded like a lot. Maybe way too much. But Michiko was taking it in stride, so maybe it wasn't as bad as it sounded?

As we got to the cafeteria ahead of the others, we found a nice corner table and settled down there while the bulk of the students arrived using more ordinary means.

Seeing that huge wave of people made me glad to be an arachne.

While we waited, I absentmindedly worked on weaving some silk with my rear legs and spinnerets. The process was so natural to me that I had started doing it without even thinking about it, and barely noticed at first.

I quietly took a sip from my drink while absentmindedly staring at Michiko blowing on her huge cup of coffee.

Despite being a bird type monster, the owl mage in front of me had three little claws sticking out from the last major joint on her wings. Those claws worked a lot like fingers and she was using them to hold the cup.

"What is it?"

"Mmmmm...nothing really."

The way she looked at you with those huge eyes was a bit intimidating, so I quickly turned away.

After a few more minutes, I saw Ren and Botan. The alraune was being carried like before, but now she had a tray with both of their lunches on it. I waved one of my legs and Ren waved one of her roots back while careful to balance the tray she was holding.

The living armour carefully made her way through the throngs of people before arriving at our table and setting Ren down before taking a seat herself and being served her lunch.

A quick glance reminded me just how odd their meals were due to their races.

Ren was more reasonable, as it was a pair of brown drinks that vaguely resembled cold oolong tea, aside from the fact that her cups were as big as my katsudon bowl. The scent from it though gave away what it really was. Some sort of liquid fertilizer diluted in plenty of water.

Alaune drank a lot of water, but in exchange ate very few solids. I think it was connected to how she photosynthesized for her body's needs, which was why she spent so much time in the sun.

Botan on the other hand, being one of the phantasmal races, her meal was something which I had a hard time wrapping my head around. Her large bowl contained something which looked like thick mist, yet undulated as if it had a life of its own. The fact that she got a spoon meant that it was something which could be scooped.

Supposedly it was made from condensed mana. Phantasmals didn't need solid food in the first place since most didn't even have solid bodies. Even Botan, a living armour, her true body was actually astral in form, just hidden deep inside of that metal shell she wore almost like clothing.

Apparently phantasmals originally sucked mana out of other monsters who were able to produce mana from the food they ate, but that practice disappeared with the advent of civilization or something.

It did make me wonder though. Whether if Botan tried nibbling on us, whether she'd find Michiko more tasty than me or not. As an owl mage, she was supposed to be much richer in mana and capable of stronger magic than the rest of us.

But no matter how many times I saw it, phantasmals' food was strange indeed.

"Ah! Look at that! It's so cute!"

"Mmm..."

Only when they spoke to each other did I realize that the two were paying more attention towards something else while on the way over here.

Shifting my weight to the side, I peeked over to have a look.

A few tables down, there was what looked like identical twins sitting together, one was feeding the other her lunch. The two girls were quite humanoid, though they had horns on the top of their heads and small bat wings on their back. And despite their uniforms, it was clear that they had quite the curvy figures, with the way the cloth strained to contain their bodies.

Once I pushed down the jealousy in regards to those nice upper curves, I was able to recall what race they were. Succubi. The single most sexually aggressive race in the world.

But that didn't match with what I was seeing, as only one of them was being proactive in that relationship. While it wasn't impossible for a succubus to be more passive, it didn't feel like that was the case here, as I imagined that such a succubus would be subtly leading, rather than being completely passive.

(Ah, she's a doppelganger, isn't she?)

The one being fed with a bright red face while squirming in her seat acted so far out of the norm of a succubus that it was obvious even to me who didn't have any succubus friends could tell that she wasn't one.

Doppelgangers were a race that could imitate anyone's appearance, and generally were also good at imitating them as well. But there were limits, and it was clear that this succubus had pushed her well past those limits. They tended to be pretty shy and meek after all. That transformation was more of a defensive mechanism to blend in than something to proactively trick others for the sake of getting an advantage after all.

But as expected of a succubus, she didn't hold back on her lover just because they were in public.

My cheeks started to feel warm as the succubus kissed the doppelganger where some sauce dripped from her lips.

"Ahh, that's so nice."

Tearing my eyes away from that showy display, instead the sight of Botan with a hand pressed against her cheek as she watched.

"Yea, sure."

Ren on the other hand wasn't quite as interested it seemed, and split her attention between watching the pair and finishing setting up their meals.

When I turned away from the two, I was met with a pair of large golden eyes.

"Umm, what is it?"

Only then did I realize that she was staring at me for a while.

"You've been acting weird all day."

"Umm, well..."

"Did you finally hit puberty?"

With a smirk on her face, Michiko pressed her claws against the pair of huge round mounds on her chest.

Despite the fact that I was well aware that despite their appearances, that was just feathers and air, and that her chest was actually buried far deeply that rotund body her hers, it didn't do anything to stop my face from heating up.

"A, at least I have a real boobs, rather than air pockets!"

Despite regretting my words immediately together with an even more fiery flare on my cheeks, I stuck out my own chest to show off my latest gains as if I was trying to hide my embarrassment.

"Y, you two... it's lunch. If, if we don't hurry...umm..."

Botan's words faded without either of us even registering it.

The owl mage's glare made me want to retreat immediately, but I had already gone too far. The ball was in her court.

Michiko opened up her wings slightly and with a quick flap, she jumped up and landed on her seat. Then slowly, she reached out one of her talons over the table.

A cold sweat started to run down my back, but at the same time I felt like a deer in headlights, unable to move despite the clear danger to my health approaching.

*Clap!*

"Itadakimasu."

As if an enchantment was dispelled by a loud clap and clear voice, we all turned to see Ren lift her lunch in both hands and start gulping it down using a large straw.

My eyes turned back to Michiko, and after a quite moment, we both got back to our own meals. Michiko sat back down and I leaned forward, a embarrassed at how I was presenting my chest.

At the same time, I brought the finely woven piece of silk forward and held it open with my front legs. Grabbing my bowl of katsudon, I upended it over the silk mesh before dexterously folding it closed.

*Clap*

"""Itadakimasu..."""

The three of us clapped our hands and gave our word of thanks before starting our own meals.

I bit into my own with my fangs covering my lower mouth, injecting my venom into it so it could be predigested. My lower mouth lacked teeth of any kind beyond my fangs, so taking in solids was pretty uncomfortable.

Maybe that was the reason why my palps were so sensitive to smell? It basically did the job of the tongue since tasting what you were eating was pretty important. Though in us arachne's case, we got to 'taste' our food even before we put them into our mouths, so I guess we had a nice advantage in the case we ended up getting something that didn't taste good.

But in this case, the katsudon was great. Despite being deep fried, there wasn't any excess oil and the sweetness of the sauce as well as the richness of the partially cooked eggs was delicious.

Taking advantage of having two mouths, I went to enjoy my juice at the same time.

(Mmmm. Being an arachne is so nice at times like this.)

I knew that others saw all the extra preparations I needed to take to eat, as well as the extra time it took since liquefying my food took longer than chewing, but to me it was part of the experience.

Once I determined that my food had been processed enough, I tore an opening in the silk pouch and started to suck out the contents.

Looking to the side, Ren was enjoying her lunch with half closed eyes. She looked so sleepy that I was a bit worried that she'd just conk out in the middle of her meal, but so far she's never done that, so it was probably a needless worry.

Botan on the other hand joyfully scooped out her...something...and plopped it down through the open visor of her helmet shaped head. Even more than any other phantasmal race, the biology of living armour was extremely mysterious to me. Maybe doctors and scientists understood what was going on, but I sure as hell couldn't.

Whatever the case, it was clear that she wasn't eating using any part of her upper body.

(Maybe her mouth is actually in her lower body like me?)

Turning to Michiko who was sitting across from me, I watched while she ate.

Despite not having proper fingers like the rest of us, she was the only one using chopsticks to eat. That being said, it was a special pair for use by avians. Rather than just being a pair of wooden sticks, hers had bands which she fit her claws through. So it kinda looked like she had extensions and was just eating with her wing claws.

But even though it looked a bit weird, she was dexterously picking at her food without dropping any of it in between chugs from her energy drinks.

"What?"

But in the end, the owl mage lightly glared at me for staring. It was my fault for being rude like that, but I still wished that she didn't turn so hostile so quickly.

"Nothing. Just, it's kinda quiet."

"Unlike you, the rest of us only have one mouth. It's difficult to eat and talk at the same time."

"I guess..."

A bit disheartened at my poor attempt at starting a conversation, I took slow sips from my drink in an attempt to make it last longer.

"In the first place, it's noon. Noon! Why should an owl mage like me have to stay up at a time like this?! They even make ogre faces go to school during the day! Why does the school system have to be so unfair?!"

(You're pretty talkative for someone who hates being awake during the day.)

I could only smile wryly while Michiko pointed at me with her chopsticks while ranting.

"Huh? Wait, what are ogre faces? Are they a type of ogres?"

The name sounded familiar, but I couldn't place it.

"Haaa?! And you call yourself an arachne?"

"Wh, what's that got to do with it?"

I backed off my upper body defensively.

"Ogre faces are a type of arachne. Sure, their faces might look like an ogre's, but they're more related to you than them! How can you not know an offshoot of your own race, even if they are pretty rare!"

"Well, sorry for not knowing every obscure variant of my own genus."

It's not like knowing all of them is actually useful in the first place. Even if I meet one, all I could say is 'huh, what a strange looking arachne' before moving on.

"Anyways, so what about these ogre faces?"

"Haaa...anyways, just like us owl mages, ogre faced arachne are nocturnal. In fact, they have it even worse than us since the morning sun burns their eyes out due to their sensitivity to light."

"Huh?! You mean they're blind as a bat?!"

"Bats aren't blind. They have very good eyesight."

(This girl just can't help but show off her knowledge.)

I bit my words to avoid getting even further off track.

"Anyways, ogre faces are like you. They don't have eyelids nor irises to protect their lower eyes, so the retina of their primary lower eyes get burned out every morning, only to regrow the next night."

"Wow, it must suck then."

Frankly speaking, it was such a far off fact that I had a hard time emphasizing on any level.

"It's really bad, especially for the younger girls, since they have to go to school during the day just because most of the races are diurnal! Imagine having to live most of your youth out with both sets of your main eyes blinded?"

"Erk. That would really suck."

It was hard to imagine it, but the very thought was quite terrifying.

"Haaa...It's because society expects everyone to conform dammit. I really wish my matron let me be home schooled instead."

"Wha?! If you did that, we wouldn't have met!"

"That's right Michiko!"

"Yea. If I have to come all the way to school, it's not fair if you didn't."

(We're the ones carrying you to school Ren.)

I gave the alraune a sidelong glance before turning back to Michiko.

"...glad to have..."

The owl mage mumbled something I had trouble hearing before turning her face far away from us, hiding the red tinge in her cheeks.

(Was it so embarrassing that you're showing us the back of your head?)