Hearing the truth directly from Rui that a seat change was indeed happening left us stunned.
What on earth had gotten into our homeroom teacher, Yamada?
"Hey, Rui. Did Yamada say he was the one doing it?"
"N-No, that's not it."
"Then who in the world did?"
"Hi..."
"Hi?"
"It seems to be... Hiyori-sensei."
Hiyori-sensei?! S-Seriously?!
...Hm? No, wait a second.
No matter how you look at it, that makes no sense.
"Why would Hiyori-sensei bring something like that up? Our homeroom teacher is Yamada, isn't he?"
"Apparently, Hiyori-sensei got into a massive fight during the faculty meeting over whether or not to change our class's seats."
Whoa there—going toe-to-toe with Yamada, that terrifying, old-fashioned teacher who walks around carrying a shinai? Hiyori-sensei is way too fierce!
"A massive fight between a rookie teacher and a veteran? Are you serious, Rui?"
"Yes. When I was looking for Yamada-sensei in the faculty office, a homeroom teacher from another class who's friendly with me called out and told me everything that happened in the meeting."
"Whoa, for real...? Hiyori-sensei is incredible."
Shocked beyond belief, Yuria actually looked somewhat unnerved.
Well, fair enough... Standing up to Yamada took some serious guts.
"But why did they get into such a massive argument over a seat change?"
"About that... Apparently, the initial spark came from complaints brought up by the subject teachers during the faculty meeting."
"Complaints?"
I didn't think we had done anything problematic enough to warrant that...
"Our class hasn't changed seats at all since the first seat change, right? So during class, whenever teachers call on students to solve problems at the blackboard starting from the window or corridor side, going in order always ends up hitting the exact same people. The teachers tried different methods to work around it, but they eventually demanded a regular seat change, saying it was a waste of time to keep planning around our fixed seating."
I-I see... That was certainly a fair point.
Even in an era where classrooms were becoming increasingly digital, calling on students to solve problems in front of everyone, or having them read aloud and practice speaking in Japanese and English, remained a staple of class.
Teachers often determined who to call on by attendance numbers, the date, or seating order.
Since our class was the only one whose seats never changed, constantly having to invent workarounds was probably a real headache for them...
"Yamada-sensei refused to listen, insisting that each teacher should just adapt on their own. That set Hiyori-sensei off, and in the end, Yamada-sensei backed down."
"No, wait, wait, wait. What I'm most curious about is everything that went down between Hiyori-sensei snapping and Yamada backing down?!"
That's the most important part!
"Hey, hey, Rui-chan, do you know how Hiyori-sensei persuaded him?"
"I don't know the exact details, but Hiyori-sensei's argument was something along the lines of 'students deserve their youth too'—she pushed back from a student's perspective rather than an educator's. Other teachers began chiming in with their support, and finally, with a word from the principal, Yamada-sensei had no choice but to reconsider."
Hiyori-sensei... No, Anju-oneechan, you're way too powerful.
They say a strong woman has a great ass line, too (no one says that).
"Well, regardless of how it happened, another seat change means we're saying goodbye to each other, huh."
"That's... how it will be."
"Airi is going to be so lonely~"
"Why are you guys getting so gloomy? Even if our seats are far apart, we can just gather around Ryouta's desk during breaks, right?"
Though Yuria spoke as if it were no big deal, her thighs seemed to wear a lonely expression.
"Hey, don't look at my thighs at a time like this!"
"O-Ow, that hurts, Yuria! What's the harm?"
Even while Yuria ground her knuckles into my head, I still couldn't take my eyes off those glorious thighs.
Still, thinking about it like that... this really was a grave issue.
No longer being able to worship Yuria's thick thighs to my left, Airi's massive chest when she turns around from the desk in front of me, or Rui's mind-blowingly gorgeous face to my right... was utterly devastating.
Wait... how did we decide our seats during the previous seat change again? If I remember correctly, that was a day I overslept and came in late, so it was all kind of a blur.
Even so, if only one of them, I really want to sit near these three again... in more ways than one.
And just like that, our second seat change was about to begin.