The crimson princess

Pov Hoshino Rin,

My name is Hoshino Rin, I am 16 years old, and I am finally starting my studies at Kuoh Academy.

This school is run by May Eucus, the head of the Eucus family, the most prominent family in this city.

To enrol, I only had to fill out a form. There was one question I didn't understand, so I left it blank. After completing the form, I was officially registered at the school.

Professor Tearju, my teacher, was a very beautiful and incredibly kind woman.

Tearju: "Don't worry if you're nervous about making friends; they're all very nice."

She left me standing outside the classroom door to quiet the class before giving the usual speech for the arrival of a transfer student.

Tearju: "You can come in now."

I walked in, feeling very shy because I didn't want to make a bad impression.

I wrote my name on the board, but when I turned around, I was horrified by how stunningly beautiful the girls in this class were.

I don't consider myself ugly—in fact, I can confidently say that I'm a very beautiful girl. But my beauty pales in comparison to the girls standing before me.

Maybe that's why the boys didn't hesitate when they found out I was a girl—after all, they're used to being surrounded by beauty.

Rin: "My name is Hoshino Rin. I hope we'll get along."

Almost immediately, a dark-haired boy who looked rather goofy raised his hand.

Goofy Boy: "Are you on the list of untouchables?"

The question caught me off guard because, when I filled out the form, I had been asked if I wanted to be an "untouchable." Not understanding the meaning, I had declined.

Rin: "No, I'm not."

The boy suddenly burst into excitement.

Boys: "FINALLY! A GIRL WHO ISN'T ON THE UNTOUCHABLE LIST!"

You could almost see a giant question mark hovering above my head—I didn't understand a thing.

Brown-Haired Girl: "Shut up, you animals."

She was very beautiful and wore a red armband on her left arm, which made me think she was part of the Discipline Committee.

Tearju: "You can sit next to Haruka."

She pointed me to an empty seat next to a cute girl with twin curly pigtails. She was also wearing a Discipline Committee armband, as were the two girls seated near her.

She seemed very kind, and it wasn't just an impression—because as soon as I sat down, she turned to me with a warm smile.

Haruka: "My name is Hanabishi Haruka. Delighted to meet you!"

Rin: "Nice to meet you too."

The class was quite interesting. Even though I don't usually like science, Professor Tearju explained things so well that everyone listened attentively.

When the bell rang for the break, all the boys rushed toward me, only to be dispersed by a girl with blue hair and another with yellow hair.

Blue-Haired Girl: "I swear, these boys only need a girl to not be untouchable to completely forget how to behave properly."

Rin: "Excuse me, but what does the term 'untouchable' mean?"

Yellow-Haired Girl: "It makes sense that you're confused. If a girl is untouchable, boys will be severely punished if they try to confess their feelings to her or behave inappropriately. More than 50% of the girls here are untouchable, so the boys have started to get discouraged."

Rin: "Why implement something like that?"

Haruka: "Because Inglis-nee-san and a few others, including me, are protected by the director. The principal is Inglis-nee-san's mother and doesn't want any boys to get near her. Me, along with some other girls, are the children of May-sama's servants, so she protects us by keeping the boys away. Eventually, there were so many girls on the list that she decided any girl who wanted to could opt in. However, the punishment for boys approaching an untouchable girl who wasn't personally added by May-sama is less severe than for those who were specifically placed on the list by May-sama herself."

Blue-Haired Girl: "Furthermore, anyone who dares to approach Inglis-nee-san or has any perverse thoughts about her might be expelled from the school."

Yellow-Haired Girl: "Two of the male pervert quartet were already expelled for trying to discover her three sizes, and we never saw them again. That was the day we all witnessed the cruelty of May-sama."