School was a stage.
Kazufuru Ooike inspected his appearance and clothing one last time and gave a practiced smile in front of the mirror before he left home.
Compared to those ordinary folks who wasted their valuable youth, he discovered the true nature of school life early on, and he dressed smartly every day in order to spend each day at school perfectly.
Just like an actor on stage, he would show off his dazzling appearance, graceful elegance, and eloquent communication, thus giving the audience a deep impression as well as raising his own fame and status.
As for finding yourself? Youth? Enjoyment? Haha, they were the shallow ideals of foolish and ordinary people who understood nothing about reality. The future was just a hazy fog to them—what else could they do besides wasting their time here?
Kazufuru Ooike saw reality for what it was long ago and had made detailed plans for his own future. To him, school was the prelude and stepping stone to society, and he intended to stand at the top of this comparatively simple enclosed society in order to have a head start when he entered society for real.
Naturally, an excellent impression and outstanding grades were necessary. The next step was to obtain a position in the student council. However, his highest goal was… an exceptional partner!
And who could match the student council president, Natsuya Yoruhana?
As he walked into the school and sighted her feminine figure, the corners of Kazufuru Ooike’s mouth arced upwards, and he went over to greet her familiarly.
"Secretary Ooike and President Yoruhana… the sight of them together is just like a painting…"
"Both of them have top-class grades and appearance, and they’re both elites that entered the student council as freshman students—they’re just too perfect!"
"Are they really not going out with each other?"
Listening to the whispers around him, a sense of pride welled up in Kazufuru Ooike’s heart, but he carefully hid his feelings, remaining impassive as he continued his conversation with Natsuya.
Most people in school knew that Natsuya Yoruhana was from a rich and powerful family, but they didn’t know the full extent of her family’s wealth.
However, Kazufuru Ooike was different. Although all his knowledge came from browsing the internet, that alone was quite shocking.
He didn’t understand why a lady of her level was studying at Genhana High School. Doubtlessly, this was an incredible chance for him—maybe even an once-in-a-lifetime chance!
As long as he succeeded in gaining her affection, he could reduce the number of years where he had to work hard by at least thirty years!
The moment he realized this, he worked hard at getting closer to this brilliant and beautiful lady from an illustrious family. And currently, he was one of the closest males at school to Natsuya Yoruhana.
Almost every student at school recognized the two of them as a perfect couple, and based on the president’s attitude towards him, Kazufuru Ooike also believed that.
Until today.
"That person will transfer into your class today, so please take good care of him, Ooike-kun."
Natsuya Yoruhana’s sentence as she smiled stirred dark emotions within Kazufuru Ooike’s heart, but of course he didn’t allow it to show.
"I will."
Seigo Harano.
This was the name that gave Kazufuru Ooike the deepest impression recently, because in order to allow him to transfer to Genhana High School, Natsuya Yoruhana even went to the extent of using her family’s connections.
As a student council member, he also helped with part of the process and saw the picture on the documents.
Seigo Harano was a good-looking handsome boy.
This caused Kazufuru Ooike to feel a sense of danger.
The picture could have been doctored; perhaps the real person wasn’t as handsome in real life. He could only silently console himself this way.
Year 1, Class 5.
When Ooike entered the classroom, he found that the new transfer student who was about to arrive had become the hot topic of class.
"I heard the new student is a boy—it’ll be nice if he’s handsome!"
"Eh, it isn’t a girl?"
"I wonder why he’s transferring at this time of the year."
"I heard that the President used her connections to allow him to join; maybe he has some relation to the President?"
"Perhaps he’s a young master from a rich family?"
Ooike maintained his smile as he greeted his friends, and when they asked him about the transfer student, he only smiled politely in response.
Suddenly, the entire classroom fell silent.
Ooike followed everyone’s lines of sight and saw the two people he expected.
Kahei Watari and Takashi Kobayashi.
The first boy had an imposing height of 1.9 meters and was slightly chubby. His eyebrows were thick and bushy, and he carried a dark, severe expression.
The other boy had dyed-purple hair and was wearing earrings. He had thin lips and slanted eyes. Pale cotton bandages were wrapped around his hand, and his expression was cold and antisocial.
They were the famous delinquents of Year 1, Class 5.
Legend has it that both of them had the incredible record of having individually defeated seven or eight hoodlums before, and when they acted together as partners, just their glares alone would scare any low-level hoodlums.
Even though there were countless legends about their fights outside of school, they had never acted up inside of school before. However, this wasn’t due to fear—it was more likely that they couldn’t be bothered to act.
Every time they appeared together in class, their fearful atmosphere caused everyone to unconsciously stop talking, hence the uncanny silence which currently permeated throughout the room.
They didn’t care about their fellow classmates’ reactions at all, and they kept chatting to each other as they walked towards the corner of the classroom.
"How was… last night?"
"I only defeated eight… not many."
"I only took out thirteen myself, not enough at all."
"Let’s continue tonight."
"Alright."
The simple conversation they had with each other was scary to the point where anyone who heard it felt their heart rates rapidly increase.
Only when they sat down at their seats and closed their eyes in order to rest was the classroom’s atmosphere able to relax, and conversation gradually started up again.
‘Hmph, morons.’ Kazufuru Ooike mentally snorted at them.
He looked down upon these hoodlums that acted tough but already belonged to the dregs of society. Although he was forced to admit their skill in violence did give others a forceful pressure that was difficult to resist.
Not long after, the bell rang.
The class’s teacher, a glasses-wearing unmarried woman who was twenty-nine years old, walked into the classroom, her face blushing deeply.
"Erm… everyone should have heard already that there will be a new student joining us today."
After that simple explanation, she gestured to outside the door, and her movement was sultry enough to the point where it seemed like she was flirting.
A boy walked into the classroom.
As he walked in, everyone in the classroom sucked in their breaths simultaneously.
The new student was tall and handsome, with a pretty face, clean-cut short hair, and a slightly shy expression… Even though he was wearing the same western-style school uniform as everyone else, he somehow managed to give off a charismatic impression, as if he were a noble at a banquet!
In the short time that he walked from the classroom door to the classroom podium, time seemed to slow down.
Just about all the girls in class had their moods markedly improve in just these few seconds, while almost all the boys had grim looks on their faces.
What the hell! Why did such a handsome guy come here!?
To be fair, if he was only a normal handsome guy, the boys wouldn’t have minded so much. However, since the person in front of them was clearly a S-rank super handsome guy, the boys were battling with complex emotions.
"Hello everyone, I’m Sei… cough, Seigo Harano. I transferred at this time due to various reasons, so please take care of me from now on."
Seiji smiled gently at everyone.
Cough, he was a bit nervous and he had almost accidentally said his real name.
Suddenly there was a huge commotion in class, and the volume was all caused by the girls.
"So handsome! Hey, don’t you think he looks a bit like the star Hidemi Kimura?"
"Eh? I think he’s more like Mitsuaki Kaneshiro?"
"He’s tall, handsome, and has a great atmosphere about him. I can’t take it anymore…"
"He’s even more handsome than Ooike-kun!"
When Kazufuru Ooike heard his name randomly being compared to the transfer student, his face started twitching, and his heart also twitched as well.
Kazufuru Ooike’s hope was futile—not only was the new student a handsome youth, he was a supermodel-level idol-like handsome youth that greatly surpassed his picture!
He instantly realized why the president had spent so much effort on helping this person transfer schools. Unfortunately, his newly acquired understanding made him sink even deeper into the abyss.
Apart from him, there was one other whose feelings had fallen deep into the abyss.
It was Mika Uehara.
Even though she had already expected it, when Seiji’s transfer was met with as much excitement as she expected, she still felt unhappy.
Yep, absolutely unhappy.
She pouted with her mouth, and muttered in her heart: ‘Humph, what’s with all this commotion? He was nothing but a disgusting fat otaku not long ago.’
Ironically, her own feelings almost completely overlapped with one of the school idol’s feelings, student council secretary Kazufuru Ooike.
The teacher arranged for Seiji to sit in the empty seat in the corner, and he happened to pass by Mika’s seat as he walked there.
She looked at him, and he glanced back at her and smiled.
Then, he sat down at his seat and greeted the students around him quietly.
Two of them didn’t respond to him, so Seiji assumed that they were most likely the two delinquents that Mika instructed him to stay far away from—Kahei Watari and Takashi Kobayashi.
Since as long as he didn’t bother them, there wouldn’t be any problems. After all, Seiji had no reason to meddle in their affairs.
Currently, he was enjoying the feeling of immersing himself in school again.
Only after experiencing the cruelty of society did he truly understand just how precious the days in school were.
At the beginning of class, he opened his system, and noticed that the option [go to classes at school] which had been grayed out all this time was finally available for selection. He instantly decided to select it. Then, he was overwhelmed by a desire to study and learn, and he was able to fully concentrate. He didn’t pay attention to anything other than the teacher and the blackboard…
After class.
Right when Seiji recovered from his [studying] status, he noticed that he had been completely surrounded by his classmates.
And the only ones surrounding him were girls!?
They chattered endlessly. With the fragrance of perfume and other good smells coming from their bodies, Seiji was slightly overwhelmed by all their questions.
"Harano-san, why did you transfer at this time of year?" This was a normal question.
"Harano-san, what kinds of things do you like?" This was a roundabout question.
"Harano-kun, do you have a girlfriend?" This was such a direct question.
"Harano-kun, are you straight or gay?" This one must be into boys-love…
...
"Okay, stop!"
After Seiji struggled for a while, a clear female voice suddenly rang out, which caused the girls to settle down.
Seiji looked at the speaker, and saw a tall, well-proportioned "handsome boy" with soft silver-gray medium-long hair and a bit of an invasive smile enter the crowd of girls.
"Free talk time is over now—the remaining time belongs to his official owner. Please back off now, thank you!"
"What are you talking about? His… his official owner—that’s not it at all!" Mika Uehara shyly disagreed with what this "handsome boy" just said.
"How is he not yours? He transferred schools because of you, and you live together. You even come to school together, right?" The "handsome boy" flashed a mischievous smile.
After a momentary silence, all the girls were shocked and stared at Mika with their eyes widened!
"That’s not it at all! He’s… the president… he... he’s just a renter at my family’s apartment!" Mika Uehara panicked upon seeing everyone glaring daggers at her, and she blushed furiously in embarrassment. In fact, she was so flustered that she started spouting out gibberish.
"Renter? Is it really just that? You know, you guys…"
"I’m begging you, Chiaki, stop going on! Everyone’s misunderstanding!" Mika tearily begged her friend.
Seiji smiled wryly.
"You must be Chiaki Wakaba, right? Mika’s best friend—she’s mentioned you before."
"Oh, so you directly call her Mika, do you? Hehe..." The tomboyish beauty in male clothes smiled with deep meaning. "That’s right, I’m Chiaki Wakaba. I’m pleased to meet you, Seigo Harano." She took a handsome posture before she reached her hand out to shake his hand. If it was an ordinary person doing it, it might seem pretentious, but it didn’t seem off at all when she did it; it was almost as if such handsome movements were patented by her.
"Pleased to meet you." Seiji smiled in return and shook her hand.