"I am Hiroshi"

All the students in the class and the teacher looked towards the door. Then a boy entered the class. 15-year-old Hiroshi doesn’t carry the look of a child rather he appeared to be more like a mature adult. He entered carrying a book in his left hand. The subject of the book was 'Exogenous Plants Cultivation Manual-V'. There was pin-drop silence in the class and all the students and teacher were in trance.

All the girls’ hearts suddenly started beating wildly and the flush was spreading from their necks to faces. Hiroshi was wearing a black robe and a small earring in his left ear which was barely visible. His face was frigid and expressionless. His walking style and demeanor resembled those of a noble. Everyone was stunned for a moment and before Teacher asked him to introduce himself, Hiroshi himself took an initiative and started to introduce himself.

“I am Hiroshi Hanzawa from Zither Clan.”

His voice carried a magnetism. It's one thing to have good looks but he also had a very calm and overbearing voice. Then suddenly a male teacher entered their classroom in a rush and said to the lady teacher who was dazed,

“Miss Yu. Is the student Zhang Wei here? He entered the wrong classroom. He is a student of my class".

Miss Yu who was dazed while looking at Hiroshi suddenly became sober and replied “Ah. There he is.” She said while pointing towards Zhang Wei. The teacher who came to look for Zhang Wei glanced at Hiroshi’s cold face while passing, then at the flush faces of girls in the class, and shake his head and thought, 'handsome boys always bring lots of trouble'.

Then the male teacher left the classroom with Zhang Wei. Miss Yu's class regain its silence again. Hiroshi then asked Miss Yu, “Where should I sit?”

Miss Yu said, “Ah, I forgot there is no footstool left here in the classroom. I will go and ask the administration department for another footstool. Wait for a little while”.

Hiroshi slightly nodded his head toward the teacher. After the teacher left the classroom, Hiroshi walked towards the wooden board. All the students in the class were curiously staring at him and trying to figure out what prank he was trying to pull right after entering the class on his first day.

Hiroshi observed the diagram of a plant drawn on a wooden board for a while. He then picked up a duster from the teacher’s desk and erased the whole diagram. All the students took a sharp intake of breath and starts to murmur among each other. Yi Chen who was also looking at him with a frown abruptly stood up after seeing this.

“What are you doing?”, he said in a commanding voice.

Hiroshi then turned around to look at him and placed the duster back on the desk.

‘Ha so he is not a fool after all and can understand the law of the jungle’, Yi Chen thought amusingly. But before he could enjoy this feeling he saw Hiroshi next pick a chalk from the desk and started to draw the same diagram. His slender fingers moved rapidly on a wooden board and within a few minutes, a beautiful descriptive illustration of a plant Deadly Nightingale appeared on a board.

When Hiroshi put a chalk back on the desk at that time Ms. Yu also returned to the class with an attendant who casually look for an empty spot in the class, and found one near the window where he placed the stool and left the classroom. After settling this issue she asked Hiroshi to go back to his seat. She then looked at the class and found them looking at the board with awestruck expressions. She then turned around to look at the board and was momentarily amazed at such a detailed diagram. In the middle was a diagram of a plant with every organ from roots to its fluorescence in detail with half of the organ showing its outer appearance while the other half in cross-section and next to each organ was a small box with a little note about its uses in alchemy. And at each corner of the board, the life cycle of the plant according to its different seasons was drawn. This was such a rare herb and it's rare to find someone who knows such complicated details about it. The diagram she has drawn was taken from a very ancient scroll she got from the restricted area of their Academy’s library.

Hiroshi after sitting on his stool noticed a strange gaze among all the ones directed at him. He turned around to see an ordinary-looking girl staring at him with a strange interest. Her skin was wheatish in color and her amber-colored eyes were unblinkingly staring at him. When he looked at her he found that gaze and features somewhat familiar but he couldn’t remember where he saw her. He has a photographic memory so he can remember every face he had seen in his life but he found this scenario strange that he can’t remember her face right now. This made him frown a little bit. Then he diverted his attention toward the book he had in his hand and zoned out everything around him.

On the other side of the room near the wooden board, Ms. Yu after carefully analyzing the diagram on the board looked back at Hiroshi and nodded her head with a smile.

‘He sure is on another level and has merits for being a son of zither clan leader’, Ms. Yu thought.

Then Miss Yu started her lesson and after half an hour the bell rang indicating the end of class.

“Your homework is to practice these diagrams at home. I can ask any student tomorrow to come here and draw it on board so you must practice it. Drawing with your hand will help you to remember it clearly. Got my point?”

“Yes Miss”, after giving the instructions Ms. Yu left the class. After this class, they have a lunch break.

Hiroshi was keenly looking at the board where Ms. Yu has drawn some more diagrams of plants. He was analyzing the missing information that can be added to it. Although he was interested in alchemy when he was little, but at that time due to his school he couldn’t give so much time to alchemy so his foundation wasn’t very strong. In the past few years, his main focus was learning all about different herbs that can be used in alchemy and building his foundation. Before leaving, his father requested some of his friends who are world-class alchemists to teach him, now he could feel that his foundation in alchemy is pretty good. His purpose in coming here was to know where he stands and if his knowledge and abilities are less than these people who have studied alchemy in the academy for many years then he has to work hard. But after attending this class he was sure about one thing: his knowledge is far ahead of them. Now next he has to determine the difference in the foundation that involves making concoctions and pills and for that, he has to wait for the final competition.

Hiroshi heard that it was a lunch break but he was not interested in going to a crowded area. He opened a book in his hand and started to read from where he left off. But soon he was surrounded by all the students in the class. When he looked towards them he saw all the girls have a pink hue on their faces. After a moment's pause, a girl suddenly came near his stool. Twirling her hair with her fingers she asked with somewhat a coquettish tone,

“You’ve joined our session in the midway so you must be in need of our previous notes. How about I help you with it?”

Hiroshi looked at her with a little frown. His gaze then landed on the distant boy who has an ugly expression on his face and was trying to get free from his buddies.

Miao Su was momentarily dazed by just this one look from Hiroshi and her heartbeat was going crazy. She was always biased towards the handsome guys but in all previous cases, she was always superior to them in terms of looks and power. She is famous for being a school goddess of this school because of her stunning looks but for the first time, she was feeling somewhat inferior in front of this guy.

“No need”, she then heard him say. She clenched her teeth with anger and thought,

‘Who does he think he is? So what if he is the son of the Zither Clan Leader? She is also a princess of the Fox Clan. I will see if he can still resist when I’ll use the enchanting spell on him.’

She opened her mouth to say something when she saw that Hiroshi stood up and went towards the ugly girl in their class who was about to go out for lunch break. They were a little far away so Miao su couldn’t hear what he said.

Hiroshi didn’t know why but this feeling that he knows that girl but couldn’t remember her was continuously itching him and he couldn’t concentrate on anything. So before she could leave the class he wanted to ask her a question. Hiroshi blocked her path near the door and the girl stopped and looked at him with some apprehension in her eyes.

“Have we met before?”

Her doe eyes stared at him for a moment then she shakes her head in ‘No’ and went outside.

Hiroshi has taken notice of every micro-expression of hers. When she looked at him for a moment he saw her clench her hands slightly that were holding the books.

He then turned and looked toward her disappearing figure.

The mysteries this girl holds were making him more curious and intrigued. 

His focus was interrupted by the whispering of students behind him.

“He is a very handsome guy but his standards for selecting girls are very low,” a boy remarked that was followed by guffaws from the whole class.

“Shut up Yi Chen. You shouldn’t discriminate against people like this. So what if she is ugly? So what she is mute? She is still a person like us”, Miao Su said in a loud voice so Hiroshi could hear her.

Hiroshi slightly snicker at her remark and started to walk toward the nearest forest.

Miao Su stomped her feet when she saw his callous demeanor. 

She then also left the class with her minions tailing behind her.