Arriving at the place where the book fell, Keith surveyed the surroundings to locate the book.
'Where is that damn book? I could have sworn it fell on this place.'
While Keith was cursing in his mind, he finally found the book after minutes worth of searching.
A book with a brown cover was held in Keith's hands.
"Nonsensical Mathematics for dummies."
Reading the book title, Keith threw the book toward the bushes in anger.
"Isn't this that damn Math teacher's book?"
"Did someone obtain the book faster than me and replaced it?"
Thinking of the possibility that someone obtained the book from the sky instead of him, Keith gnashed his teeth in anger.
'I swear! If I see that thief, I'll beat him up till his mother doesn't recognize his face!'
After several curses, Keith recovered from anger and decided to return to his home.
***
Unbeknownst to Keith, a black silhouette was hiding behind a pillar while holding a brown book, with the title "End Note" on it.
A shade of white curved up the face of the black silhouette as it let out a shitty grin.
"To think that in this life of mine, I managed to secure the End Note before the End Harbinger obtained it."
"Hahaha! My regression wasn't worthless, after all! I have managed to outsmart the infamous End Harbinger!"
"With this book, I can finally avenge my little sister in this timeline. Don't die, Keith. I will be the one who will end you after all you have done to me and my little sister."
"Hahaha!"
After letting out a deranged laughter filled with madness and grievance, the black silhouette blended with the dark background and disappeared.
***
—Next day—
Waking up from his bed, Keith immediately combed his disheveled long purple hair while fetching the remote control.
Turning on the flat-screen TV, the news channel was live which caught Keith's interest.
\Breaking News! A group of students from Mint High School disappeared out of thin air! Witnesses described that a flash of white light and several magic circles appeared outside the classroom.\
\Is this the so-called hero summoning circle from the light novels or an elaborate diversion created by a notorious kidnapper?! Stay tuned as Brick News debunk the cause behind this mysterious incident!\
Watching the news, Keith's expression couldn't help but turn sour.
"Damn! Why didn't I attend the morning class? I could have joined with my schoolmates to become heroes from another world!"
Keith remembered that the entire class who disappeared out of thin air was his schoolmates from the classroom adjacent to his classroom.
So if he attended morning class, he would have noticed the commotion and joined in the fun.
The reason why Keith wanted to become a hero from another world wasn't that he was someone filled with justice and kindness. No, he just wanted to do whatever entertained him while justifying his actions as "for the sake of the greater good".
"Although I don't want to attend the afternoon class, I might as well attend it since I have nothing to do. Who knows? The gods might be cautious enough to summon a second batch of heroes and my class happens to be the lucky one to get summoned. I don't want to miss it this time."
Although Keith didn't have hopes that a second hero-summoning incident would occur twice, he decided to still attend class.
After taking a shower and eating breakfast, Keith wore his uniform and groomed his hair. Afterward, he rushed out of his house to Mint High School.
***
—An hour before the hero summoning circle incident—
In a medium-sized bedroom, a teenage girl with long bubblegum pink hair sat near her study desk while her attention was on a book with a brown cover.
"Now that I have acquired the End Note before the End Harbinger obtained it, I should make use of it to prevent the End Harbinger from becoming a threat to this world."
With a pen in her hand, Sherry Blossom twirled it and opened the book.
Resting her right hand on the End Note's blank page, Sherry ruffled her pink hair using her left hand as she thought of ways to take advantage of the End Note's power.
"The End Note has the power to end anything, whether it is the life of others or their fated encounter. My End Note is still at Stage 1 so my options are quite limited."
"I remember that the End Harbinger managed to become powerful by using this End Note to his advantage when he was summoned to another world along with his schoolmates."
"Although I prevented the End Harbinger from acquiring the End Note, with the End Harbinger's mindset, it won't be long before he becomes powerful even without the assistance of the End Note."
"I need to prevent the End Harbinger from being summoned to another world so that he wouldn't become powerful. If the End Harbinger isn't powerful, he wouldn't be a threat to this world."
After muttering while she formulated her plan, Sherry used her pen to write on the End Note's blank page.
[Keith McDowell's journey to another world will end.]
When she wrote that on the blank page of the End Note, the sentence she wrote immediately became tinted in red.
"Sigh, as I expected. Stage 1 of End Note isn't powerful enough to end a fated encounter."
Sherry sighed as she thought of ways to prevent Keith's fated encounter of becoming a hero in another world.
'How about I write it this way…'
[Keith McDowell's thoughts and interest in attending morning class will end.]
A second after she wrote that sentence, the sentence she wrote was instantly tinted in green.
"Hahaha! I am a genius! Even with the limit of Stage 1 End Note, I managed to prevent Keith from becoming a hero in another world!"
Although Sherry was delighted from being able to prevent Keith from becoming stronger, she suddenly felt empty inside her heart.
Afterward, tears trickled down her eyes as she silently cried inside her room.
"Keith, why do you have to trick my sister and kill her just for the sake of a book?"
"If you didn't do that, I wouldn't have minded you starting a harem. I know you had several affairs behind my back even when you had me as your girlfriend but I didn't mind since I know you had a good reason for it."
"But you have crossed the line after you killed my sister! You played with my sister's heart just to obtain her End Note and killed her afterward!"
-Thud!
Sherry slammed her fists on her desk. She vented her anger from the events that occurred in the past timeline.
"But why! Why do I still love you after all the things you have done to me!?"
"I hate you for killing my sister but I love you for taking care of me when I was bullied and ridiculed by others! I hate how I love you!"
Like a broken dam, tears kept on falling from her eyes as Sherry's bottled-up emotions from her past life started to let loose.
After regaining her composure, Sherry made up her mind.
"I have decided! If I can't bring myself to hate you and move on from our relationship, then as your former girlfriend, I will become your girlfriend in this timeline!"
"Since you haven't killed my sister in this timeline, we can still be together. I only need to prevent you from becoming stronger. Only when you are weak, can I, protect you."
"And to prevent that incident from happening again, I need to make sure that my sister wouldn't get the End Note. It's best if I obtain her End Note to upgrade the stage of my End Note."
"Only when all of that happens, can I keep you all to myself! Only I can possess you!"
With a lovestruck expression on her face, Sherry's breathing became unstable as her body temperature rose.
"Keith~ Just wait! I will make you mine, and mine I alone!"