"Uh, sensei, you sure you didn't make a mistake?" Hikigaya Hachiman forced a smile. "Dorm rooms are single-occupancy. I know that much."
"Sensei, this would put us in a bind. Could you retract that order? It's really against school regulations," Ayanokōji Kiyotaka also raised a hand to object.
"Do as I said. Go report to the dorm supervisor and explain. That's the correct move. Unless you two would prefer a three-man room?" Riku looked at them mildly.
"Man… how high-handed," Ayanokōji shook his head, face unreadable as ever. Given Riku's willful streak and how he'd treated the assistant homeroom teacher, he already knew this was not someone a student could push back against.
Of course, what weighed most on Ayanokōji was that nakedly appraising, hunter's look Riku kept giving him. It triggered a conditioned… fear.
"Give me a break," Hikigaya muttered as he slumped back into his seat. He could see what Ayanokōji saw. "What a pain."
He'd come to this school to bury his past and ease his family's load, only to get slammed on day one. Not only were there so many different yet similarly dangerous "types" among the students, but even the teachers were a handful.
"In all sorts of ways, I've got high hopes for you two. So be sure to 'get along,' okay?" Riku's lips curled, amused. "Front row, pass these packets back. They outline the school's special rules."
Riiing!
Just as the handouts finished moving, the bell rang.
Riku didn't linger. He left the room with his usual calm.
The moment he stepped out, Karuizawa Kei hurried after him.
Kushida Kikyo watched, eyes narrowing. That teacher was definitely not simple, and he might know things about her.
In that case, she needed leverage… The teacher and Karuizawa clearly weren't ordinary acquaintances. Start there…
Her eyes flashed; she clenched her fist ever so slightly.
"Hey, Kikyo, what do you think of Mr Dola?"
"I think he's super handsome!"
A knot of girls swarmed over, chattering. Kushida's sunny act had won plenty of goodwill.
"Sigh, I feel the same. But Karuizawa seems unusually close to him, like they're familiar." Smiling, Kushida fanned the flames.
"You're right… that is curious." Boys and girls alike pricked up their ears, faces full of interest.
Kushida's smile deepened a fraction. 'Let them dig something up for me.'
While her corner buzzed, Horikita Suzune was left completely alone, ostracised. Riku's words hadn't shaken her; she sat cold and angry, pride badly bruised.
"To be honest, I don't much like you," Ayanokōji said suddenly, turning to Hikigaya, an easy line to misread.
"Actually, I don't much like you either," Hikigaya replied, dead-fish eyes steady.
The solitary are keen observers. As Pascal said, man is a thinking reed; we're always thinking. The solitary needn't share their thoughts, so they think deeper, see what others miss. Hikigaya saw Ayanokōji's danger; Ayanokōji saw Hikigaya's unordinary core. Those dead-fish eyes seemed to see right through people, and Ayanokōji was the one being seen through.
He'd read some of Hikigaya's insides as well, but he hated being read. The hidden self, the dark part, was not something he'd show lightly.
They looked alike yet headed opposite ways.
"Instead of watching me, you should probably watch that too-young homeroom teacher," Hikigaya said frankly. "I'm a loner. I won't interfere with you."
"Who can say," Ayanokōji replied calmly. "I'm not planning anything."
"So troublesome," Hikigaya groaned, dropping his head to the desk.
…
Meanwhile, Karuizawa Kei had chased Riku all the way up to the school's rooftop.
On the rooftop, Karuizawa Kei naturally hugged Riku's right arm, nestling it in her softness. "Riku-oniisan, why did you come here to be a teacher?"
Tilting her face up at his handsome profile, she blinked her bright eyes, obvious joy on her expression; her voice carried that girlish softness. The move, the look, she was absolutely acting spoiled.
Riku was long used to this from Kei. He patted her head lightly and smiled. "Because teaching here will be fun. And I can look after you, Kei."
"Mm…" That hit a bit too hard; Kei's pretty face flushed at once.
"Hehe, as expected, Riku-oniisan is the best." Kei showed a tender smile, blinked, and rubbed her head against Riku's right arm.
With intimacy like that, the two looked less like childhood friends and more like a couple, just a single sheet of paper left to pierce.
Riku, however, was in no rush. In the real world, if you rush a harem without laying the lines, the whole thing collapses. He might not be ordinary, but matters of the heart are still plenty troublesome.
Kei, for her part, was thinking about Shiro. She knew all too well how extreme Shiro's brother-complex was. If she confessed without first breaking through that wall, the consequences were unimaginable.
And Kei also worried that, if Riku only saw her as a little sister, a failed confession would ruin even what they had. So she could only press down the heat in her heart that wanted to take a step closer.
"Kei, let go for now, you'll hurt your reputation if people see," said Riku, looking at the girl clinging to him.
"I don't care what other people think." Secretly breathing in that unique scent on Riku that enchanted her, Kei muttered.
Riku didn't press it further and simply let Kei hold on. As for a certain eavesdropping girl, whatever. She wasn't any real threat; he'd just "train" her later if needed.
At the rooftop door, Kushida Kikyō was peeking at the two not far away, eyes narrowing.
She'd cared too much and followed to check it out and stumbled on a crucial piece of intel.
Sure enough, their relationship wasn't ordinary. Judging by this, Karuizawa Kei probably liked the teacher. In that case…
Thinking so, Kushida slipped away. She wanted to keep listening, but getting caught would be bad.
What she didn't know was that she'd been noticed the moment she started tailing them. Riku simply chose not to bother with her little schemes.
Just a mere pushover student, did she think she could flip the sky?
"About the points, spend them sparingly," Riku said suddenly. A teacher shouldn't be telling a student that. But Kei wasn't "just another student," was she? In Riku's eyes, so-called rules weren't worth half as much as the people close to him.
If he didn't warn her, with her love of trends, she'd burn through them in no time.
"S-System points?" Kei tilted her head, puzzled.
"I forgot you ran out before even reading the handout," Riku said, half laughing, half exasperated.
"Alright, class is about to start. Head back. And remember what I said, go over the materials carefully later," Riku said with a shake of the head.
"Okay, got it." At that, Kei finally released Riku's arm, laced her hands behind her back, and left the rooftop cheerfully.
First Year Class D Kei had barely returned when a few girls surrounded her.
"Hey, Karuizawa, what's your relationship with Mr Dola? You two seem really close," one girl asked, full of curiosity.
"Sigh~ You noticed? Actually, Riku-oniisan and I are childhood friends," Kei said as she rubbed her hair, speaking without overthinking it.
"Childhood friends?"
"Ahh, so jealous having such a handsome childhood friend!"
At once, a bunch of girls chirped with envy. Kei's vanity was thoroughly satisfied, and she felt proud; people praising Riku made her even happier than being praised herself.
"Childhood friends, huh…" In class, Kushida Kikyō kept chatting with her sunny smile, but inside her thoughts were racing.
Ayanokōji Kiyotaka's eyes flickered just a little. Hikigaya Hachiman looked like he couldn't care less.
Horikita Suzune, though, glanced toward Kei. She'd already decided Riku was an enemy she had to overcome, and she wanted intel on him.
The bell rang.
Class started again, and the students had to return to their seats.
Riku came in and began lecturing, calm as ever.
As Riku taught, Horikita Suzune was shocked to realise that in a single period, he covered content that it would take a typical veteran teacher five classes to finish, and he made it incredibly easy to grasp, burning it into her memory.
This level was anything but ordinary.
Thinking that, Suzune suddenly felt a little crushed. Riku looked so young that she'd assumed he wasn't much older than her, someone who'd gotten in by connections.
After finishing two periods, Riku left the school.
There were two real reasons he'd come here to teach. First, to add a little seasoning to life. Second, to farm a Rainbow Chest that spawned at this school.
In this complicated world, the refresh rules for treasure chests had changed again. They no longer spawned on the strong.
Given Riku's level, he could blow away most beings in this world with a single breath. Even the few "troublesome" ones were nothing more than mild annoyances; if he got slightly serious, they'd be gone.
So in this world, only Rainbow Chests existed, Rainbow Chests that could be opened only by meeting specific conditions.
And for the chest spawned at Tokyo Metropolitan Advanced Nurturing School, there was just one condition: lead Class D to Class A by ordinary means.
Still, even if it was for a Rainbow Chest, Riku wasn't going to bust his back over it. Pleasure and relaxation came first.
So he had no intention of meddling too much with Class D, just whip a few geniuses when needed, per the doctrine of strategic laziness.
Tokyo, Ashikaga Ward, Block 1 Riku instantly warped back to a certain apartment building. More precisely, to Shiro's room.
Compared to seven years ago, Shiro's room had gotten far more complex. Various high-end devices were set up; four displays were lit with game footage. It was clearly the currently popular character-raising online game "Fantasy World."
"Nii-chan, you're back, hurry up and duo with me in ranked, we need to farm the new map." In front of the screens, Shiro sat in her chair and spoke as Riku appeared beside her.
Shiro had grown since seven years ago. She wore a sailor uniform; her silver hair fell to the backs of her knees, casually draped; because she hardly ever went out, her skin was very pale. She wore over-knee socks, looking every bit the shut-in gamer kid.
Her face was even more delicate than before, but she still looked very young. As for her figure, there hadn't been much change.
"Shiro, you secretly bought this many snacks again?" Riku glanced at the unopened bags piled on the floor and table and shook his head.
"Nutrition. Important." At that, Shiro let go of her mouse, played with her foot for a moment, then her hands on her chest murmured with grave seriousness.
"There's no nutrition in junk food." Riku ruffled her hair, rolling his eyes.
In the end, he couldn't bring himself to crush her. Not now and probably not later either.
"Shiro, don't fixate on size. A woman's worth isn't decided by that. And Shiro is already a beauty." Riku patted her head with a grin.
"But, you're always staring at Karuizawa's… figure. Care to explain?" Shiro slid him a ruby-eyed side-glance; in that moment, her gaze turned razor sharp.
"Ahem." Riku nearly sprayed the cola he'd just sipped.
"Knew it. Bro's a liar. You like big more than small." Shiro kneaded at her "little buns," muttering, unwilling to concede.
"Like small, like big I'm omnivorous…" Riku huffed.
"Being able to declare you're a perv with a straight face, Shiro is impressed." Shiro looked at him with undisguised disdain.
"What's wrong with men being perverts?" Riku said breezily, like he was pronouncing on the world.
"Bro, come on, ranked queue and map farm." She steered things back, clearly not wanting to linger on the topic.
Riku smiled, took his seat, and controlled two characters at once. Of course, he could pilot hundreds or thousands, but that'd be boring. He wasn't some score-grinding maniac; games were for fun.
"Oh, right, someone sent you a marriage request just now. I declined it for you," Shiro said suddenly.
"Uh." Riku rubbed his nose.
In "Fantasy World," PK in the field was common; he'd helped some girl before, and she'd stuck to him ever since, going so far as to want their accounts to get "married" in-game.
But, well, a female avatar isn't necessarily a woman, and a male avatar isn't necessarily a man. To avoid catfishing and because the name felt familiar, Riku had quietly checked with his [Star of Omniscience and Omnipotence].
Sure enough: the girl was the heroine of a no game no life. In terms of net addiction, she outclassed even Shiro and Sora in the original timeline. Shiro and Sora could at least distinguish game from reality; they were just attached to the net.
This girl had already blurred the line between game and reality.
After Riku helped her, she kept clinging just as Shiro said, all the way to "let's get married" (in-game, at least)…
This girl who can't tell game from reality is a very pretty high-schooler, and she's even the one chasing after him.
Thinking of that, Riku felt a twinge of pity.
"Uh, Shiro, my adorable imouto (little sister), how could you turn her down for me before your big brother got back?" Riku cleared his throat; true to a man's nature, he planned to educate Shiro a bit. "It's not right to mess with onii-chan's computer without asking."
"Bro, you don't actually think it's a pity, do you? It's just the first time someone confessed to you in a game." Shiro shot her onii-chan a look of pure disdain and delivered her judgment in that trademark lazy voice.
Riku said nothing to Shiro's words, keeping a straight face as he watched her performance. 'Mm. As expected of my sister, she's adorable when she's jealous'.
He had already recognised the other party: Ako Tamaki, the heroine of And You Thought There Is Never a Girl Online?. Even so, that wasn't something he could say aloud; otherwise, Shiro would definitely reward him with a massive eye-roll.
As for being single… forget it, no need to flaunt wives from other worlds. In this world, he might as well count himself single. Yes, Riku declared that in this world, he is still a pure virgin, chastity intact!
Seeing Riku go quiet, Shiro assumed he had accepted his mistake and nodded in satisfaction.
"Bro, if you want an in-game wife that badly, then I'll marry you in the game," Shiro said, eyes glittering.
"My adorable imouto, did you forget? Both our game avatars are male…" Riku rolled his eyes.
"...!" Shiro's little face froze; her eyes widened a fraction.
She'd forgotten! Back then, because male avatars looked cooler, she picked a male model… a total misplay!
"Anyway, you're not allowed to marry anyone in the game except me!" Shiro puffed her cheeks a little, stubborn.
"Shiro, are you jealous?" Riku ruffled her hair with a grin, teasing.
"Mm," Shiro admitted frankly.
"I see. Then I won't marry her in the game." Riku pinched Shiro's soft cheeks again, chuckling.
Ako Tamaki might be great, but compared to Shiro, who'd been with him seven years, she was still far behind. Riku knew how to set priorities.
"Bro, ugh, stop squishing my face, you're blocking my view." Shiro kept piloting her character, muttering.
Riku smiled, withdrew his hands from her cheeks, and sat back at his own station.
On the game screen, a pile of messages was waiting.
Ako Tamaki: Riku, why did you reject me? (darkened-mood emoji)
…
Ako Tamaki: Riku, please, I'm begging you to reply. (crying)
Ako Tamaki: Riku, it was my fault, don't ignore me. (anxious)
There were a lot of messages. From "blackened" to panicked and then back to "blackened" again, the content plus the little emoji perfectly charted Ako Tamaki's emotional arc.
In Riku's recollection, Ako was indeed someone who blackened easily. Because she blurred the line between game and reality, she "liked having a knife" and, in a sense, could be dangerous. One careless move and things could go very wrong.
Get involved with her and you might just get "cleavered." But that's for ordinary slice-of-life protagonists. Putting aside that they currently had no strong real-life connection, even if they did, Ako Tamaki being an ordinary human couldn't possibly "cleaver" him; this universe could explode first, and it still wouldn't happen.
So Riku was very calm about any potential yandere showdowns.
Ahem, back to the point.
After reading through Ako's barrage of messages, Riku rubbed his chin. The simplest way out would be to ignore her and delete her friend's entry to cut ties cleanly.
But with Ako's personality, that would almost certainly trigger a real-life blackening that could hurt her or others.
"Forget it. I'm a proper gentleman; I can't just watch an innocent girl go off the rails. Saving a wayward maiden is a man's bounden duty," Riku muttered, perfectly straight-faced.
If the goddesses he'd casually swatted in Little Garden heard that, their divinities would probably explode from rage.
"Sorry, I was thinking it over. I can't accept your marriage request; we've only just met. But we can be friends," Riku typed and sent.
Ako Tamaki: Ah! I see! So you mean if we spend more time together, then we can get married!? (tears-to-smiles)
It was practically an instant reply; clearly, this blackening-prone girl had been glued to her screen.
"That depends on your performance," Riku sent at last; he couldn't bring himself to crush her. Given his promise to Shiro, it was unfortunate, but he definitely wouldn't be taking Ako as an in-game "wife."
Ako Tamaki: I'll do my best! (happy)
Another instant reply followed by a whole string of delighted emojis.