In their past lives, the classmates were all friends with Riku.
They found him funny, relatable, pitied him, attracted to him and went to him for advice since he was one of the smartest people in class.
They all loved him.
That was until their eyes were opened to his disgusting actions.
Jealousy, hatred, his narcissistic behavior, the superiority complex, hypocrisy, the way he was insincere—the list goes on.
It happened one by one. They noticed how he always makes everything about himself, he turned long time friends against each other just so he could join their group, and then there was Taneki. This one was the one that took the longest for them to notice, for some reason.
It was when he pinned someone's stolen item against him, putting all the blame on him. The thing is, Riku didn't know that there were witnesses to his deed.
The item in question was a phone accessory belonging to Haruno, who's known for her bad temper when something bad happens to her or her stuff.
And to make things worse, once Haruno found out that her thing was with Taneki, she got creeped out by the idea that he had some, suspicious motive behind it.
The tiny Panda was opened and Lo and Behold, an A*rTag.
This resulted in a gang up against Taneki, where some boys were called by Haruno to "teach him a lesson he'll never forget."
But later on that day, the boys who saw what Riku did informed her about his actions. *Haruno didn't apologize to Taneki, for anyone asking.*
This was the first day when suspicion arose among the students about Riku's true nature. And as time passed, almost the entire class was convinced that the dude was a psycho.
But since they pretended not to know, it ultimately led to their deaths.
That was the part that kept them from shit talking him any more, since they knew that they were also responsible for the results.
Since there were also other students in the party who weren't other worlders, well, lets just say that Riku's reputation was now over.
Later, after the party was over, everyone went back to their own rooms. Haizea got into Nyla's room. Other reincarnations paired with each other as well.
Even though there were multiple beds in each room, she got a little clingy to Nyla, jumping into hers at night.
But the events of the day made Nyla barely able to sleep. Excitement from seen her old classmates, horror from now remembering that they all died, shock from finding out that they are still there—it was taking a toll on her mind.
The view from her room balcony was the only thing that soothed her. But now that she knows something new about the sky, she couldn't take it in.
Now that she had the chance to take a closer look at the moon, there was a crack running across its surface from the hole close to the side. Someone who was able to do that was the one they were supposed to fight?
The next day, classes resumed as normal after the building was repaired using magic.
The whole class was given the lecture of a lifetime now that their teacher knew there were other worlders in her class. None of them were expecting it to be like that.
Ever since then, school life had gotten quite peaceful.
The weaker students began practicing their attacks. This was mostly done through hitting targets or dueling with swords or magic.
Those who aren't meant for the field worked on theory. War strategies, studying the weaknesses of their enemies, the history of their actions, weapon making, scouting magic.
Lessons went smoothly. No discrimination between nobles and commoners, the strong and the weak, the intelligent and the... other.
New concepts were learnt by the other worlders, such as the world calendar.
This was a question asked by Kaori, who found the calendar a little different from what she was used to. Faelan was happy to explain.
The death calendar. 60467 years and counting.
It began on the day of The Falling.
The day when the continent-level Heaven's Tower in the middle of the sea fell, over 60,000 years ago.
Apparently, just surviving something like that was an incredible feet on its own. So incredible that they felt it was important to know exactly when it happened.
Each year consists of 10 months, none of which are named. Each month consists of 5 weeks. Each week consists of 6 days. 30 days in a month, 300 in a year.
As for the "death" part, they say its because of how much death and destruction it brought about on the planet. Makes sense. But unfortunately, it would seem that it was not the case.
According to a theory that was brought up a few decades ago, they say that the real history has been altered and lost in time.
There's no real way of proving it though.
Once the students learnt that something like the Heaven's Tower could bring about so much destruction, a new question arose.
In the long destroyed military kingdom of Crinelis, a Tower, similar in shape but much much smaller, stands there.
This was a Tower summoned by Nerezza Vingar, the archenemy of mankind.
If one man could use such power, then... How? How were they supposed to beat him?
And just like that, the students opened their eyes to the danger that they all face.
One man.
Worse than monsters and demons.
Nerezza Vingar.
He has killed millions in only one year, showcased incomprehensible power, and proved why he's the most evil being to ever exist.
How were they to beat him?
You'd expect everyone to be asking this question, but not even a fifth of the class thought about it.
Most of the other worlders were just confident. Take Kenzo for example. In his previous life, he was an otaku.
He has watched many isekai animes and just good vs evil type of animes in general. In their cases, the heroes always won, no matter what.
To him, they had a secret weapon: Plot Armor.
With something like that on their side, they can't loose any fight.
"I know how to prove it." He said. "Take the monster from the other day as an example. That was only an A class monster, meaning almost everyone in this class can beat it. If that's what the army of monsters consists of, then they stand no chance. Especially since we have the likes of Nyla and Hagiwara. They're probably the strongest humans we have, aside from our teacher of course."
While others reprimanded him for the stupid argument he was trying to make, Riku was listening in on their discussion.
Since his true nature had been revealed, everyone tries to act as if he doesn't exist. Even when he tried to approach them, lets say by joining them during lunch on one table, everyone else just ran.
While he sat alone, his rage was steadily increasing. All the work he did had now gone up in flames.
Not to mention the large group seating across the cafeteria, discussing about how Nyla and Daichi are the strongest in the world, completely leaving him behind.
Then he noticed other girls, older, most likely second years, getting angry at the group that glorified Nyla.
That reminded him. On the day they took their exams, Nyla and Caerwyn seemed to know each other, based on the eye contact they were making. But how could they?
Now that he thought about it, he just remembered that there's another hero in the school. One that is stronger and more skilled than any of them.
Nyla likes to walk around the school grounds alone.
She'd watch weaker students train their magic, and those that specialize with weapons practice with each other. It was hard to tell why she liked it.
Sometimes she'd even help them. When they asked her to showcase her power, or to use her for target practice. That might sound evil but she's the one who suggested it, that way she could give feedback whether their attacks are actually doing damage or not, whether it was easy to dodge or not, and ways on how they could improve.
One time, she came across Riku who was also doing target practice, but with a sniper and a target so far away it couldn't be seen with naked eyes. Luckily the school was in the middle of nowhere and it had some pretty large grounds.
'Now that I think about it,' her thoughts, 'how come no one has questioned the fact that he's using guns?'
She saw his other weapons when unpacking his things on the first day.
Then she thought that maybe they did ask him, but news couldn't spread since no one wants to talk about him.
"Hey Nyla." A boy called her. The one that she wasn't able to hold a conversation with since they met again in the school. Daichi.
"What is it?"
"Wanna spur? Sword against spear."
Before she could answer, there was a small gust of wind that distracted her. That wind reminded her of Haizea, her best friend. There was something that she never got to tell her ever since they met in this world.
...
The sun was setting. Its golden shine matched the color of the fields being harvested.
Most of the farmers were tired and decided to finish their work for the day. They had quite the haul.
On one side of the field, was a walled city. A small one. On the other side, to the north west, a dense forest. A little further from there, you could see the great wall that divided the land of monsters and that of humans.
From this forest, there was a road that connected to the main one from the city.
A man on a horse emerged from that forest, pushing the horse's speed to its limits.
He was visibly distressed.
"Monsters! Monsters are coming this way!"
The farmers found it hard to believe since they haven't had a monster attack in 15 years.
But their doubts were soon unfounded when a huge orc emerged from the forest. It was even taller than the trees.
They wasted no time to flee back to the safety of the city, but one farmer noticed its odd behavior.
The monster was quiet. Only its steps made noise. And it paid no mind to them or the city.
More trees shook, and without warning, a whole army of giant monsters emerged. They mostly consisted of minotaurs, orcs, hobgoblins and gnolls.
But there were a few ogres and other monsters who's only form of recognition came through description.
They completely ignored the small city and marched right passed it.
A soldier, though overwhelmed with fear, watched the direction which they were talking.
While the city alarms were ringing, and adventurers were called, he asked for a map from his fellow soldier.
He was shocked when he found out then told his commander.
The monsters were headed for the capital of the empire.