After entering the Academy, every single student had to go through a thorough check and scan by the staff. The school wasn't playing around. They wanted to make sure no one brought anything beyond the bare essentials, just the school uniform and the small set of regular items they had officially approved.
Phones, laptops, or any personal belongings that weren't considered necessary were instantly confiscated the moment they were discovered.
Nothing slipped past their inspection.
When the procedure was finally over, and once they confirmed that each student had obeyed the rules, we were issued our ID cards and given permission to officially step inside the school grounds.
I glanced down at my own card, and my brows creased. Class D.
Of all places, they stuffed me into Class D.
This school was clearly sick in the head, but at the same time, it made sense. After all, even someone as dangerous, as outright monstrous as Ayanokouji had been thrown into the trash heap that was Class D.
But here's the strange part: I hadn't seen Ayanokouji on the bus ride over. That bothered me. Did the guy really fail to escape the White Room in this timeline? Or was something else going on?
Still, I doubted this was a simple coincidence. To me, it reeked of sabotage. People had always been jealous of me, envious of what I was capable of.
This wasn't the first time someone had pulled a cheap trick just to try and keep me down. When you're too far ahead of the pack, when your existence alone becomes "too peak" for them, people stop competing fairly. They resort to underhanded sabotage.
No matter. I would find out soon enough. Once I managed to get my hands on a phone and a proper PC, I could track everything down with my hacking skills, the skill my system had handed to me after I bred three girls.
I'd already tested it before. Government secrets? Accessed. Classified data? Exposed. Swiss Bank accounts? Cracked open with hardly any effort.
I even transferred money just to prove I could, then returned it afterward. It wasn't about stealing; I didn't need money. I already had plenty.
Besides, I had no interest in stealing from strangers who had done me no wrong. I could still draw a line between good and evil, and I wasn't stupid enough to create enemies without reason.
That wasn't clever villainy, it was idiocy. True strength came from building allies, not burning bridges. I believed in making more friends than enemies, because friends opened path to power, happiness, and peace, while enemies only dragged life into endless conflict.
While the other students shuffled toward the orientation speech being given by Horikita's older brother, I broke away on my own.
Swaggering through the campus mall, I passed by a handful of open shops scattered among the many closed ones.
My eyes weren't on snacks or clothes, though. I was searching for something specific: the electronics store.
That place would be useful in the future.
Not for shopping, but for leverage.
Eventually, my eyes landed on the man running it looked ordinary to most, but I knew better. He carried filth on his hands, skeletons in his closet.
Secret photos of Airi Sakura. Chat logs that revealed his perverted delusions. Enough evidence to ruin him completely.
And that made him useful to me.
Most mediocre protagonists in webnovels would immediately hand this kind of scum over to the police, waiting for some dramatic "justice" scene when he harassed Airi.
Pathetic.
They only knew how to react. But I wasn't like them. I was proactive. To me, this man was a resource to be repurposed. With the right pressure, he could become my dog, my henchman, working in my shadow and funneling half of his store's income to me every month.
And all the while, he would know his place, that someone like Airi was far beyond his reach, never a woman he deserved to even fantasize about
Not yet, though. Timing was everything. For now, I simply located the store, studied his face carefully, etched every detail of him into memory, and walked away.
My plans could wait.
With that done, I headed to my assigned classroom.
Class D.
As soon as I walked through the door, the arrangement of seats told me everything.
My spot was beside Suzune Horikita.
The absence of Ayanokouji in this class was clear.
His seat, his place, his role had been handed to me
I leaned back casually and greeted her with a smile, "Suzune-chan, it must be fate that we meet again."
Her eyes narrowed instantly.
Even with the yandere pheromones that might have bent the will of another girl, softened her heart, or stirred her impulses, Suzune remained Suzune.
Her core personality didn't shift in the slightest. She was still stiff, uptight, and forever carrying that constipated expression on her face as if the world existed to irritate her.
"Are you sure you're not following me, Ichinose-san?" she asked coldly, her suspicion sharp and direct.
I shrugged, leaning back into my chair with deliberate ease while scanning the classroom.
Almost everyone else had already broken off into little clusters, chattering, introducing themselves, forming groups with the eagerness of sheep sticking close to the herd.
Only Suzune and I sat apart, isolated, unclaimed by any circle.
Two outsiders in a room full of people desperate to fit in.
"It's just coincidence," I replied flatly, keeping my tone calm, casual, even playful in contrast to her intensity.
Her eyes narrowed again, but instead of pressing, she shifted her attack. "Why didn't you attend the orientation speech? Don't you think it's reckless? Ignoring the authority of the school the moment you set foot here? Breaking rules as soon as you arrive, do you want to stand out as a problem student?"
"Was attending the orientation speech mandatory?" I tilted my head, almost bored. "No one told me that."
And that was the truth. Nobody had said anything about it being an actual obligation.
If it really was a hard rule, then by now I should have been dragged out by the collar, punished, or even expelled, regardless of whatever family background I had.
Since that didn't happen, then there was no rule being broken. At least, not one worth acknowledging.
Rules are only rules if they're clearly stated and enforced. If not, then they're nothing more than illusions, empty guidelines dressed up to look like chains.
In fact, I had already thought about it differently: maybe the school wanted this. Maybe it was part of the test. To see which of us freshmen would obediently shuffle into the hall like mindless sheep, and which of us would have the guts to take a risk, to wander freely and explore on our own terms.
"You're reckless. Idiotic," Suzune shot back, brows furrowed in disapproval. "What if the school takes your defiance as a direct challenge?"
Her voice carried irritation, but underneath, there was a hint of genuine worry.
Still, I wasn't swayed.
I only smiled at her. "That's exactly why you fail, Suzune."
She blinked, caught off guard, her frown deepening.
"You see rules as the path to victory. But that's your mistake. Rules don't exist to protect the weak, they exist to protect the ones who create them. They're tools, created by those in power to enforce order, to create an illusion of peace, to deceive the people stuck at the bottom."
"If you want to win in this school, you can't just obey blindly. You need to be the one who writes the rules, who shapes them. If you live as nothing more than a follower, a sheep in their system, you won't just lose, you'll lose your dignity, your freedom, and eventually, everything you care."
Suzune blinked, confusion flashing across her face. "I… don't understand. What do you mean I'll fail? Why are you making it sound like this school is some prison, some cruel place? We've only just arrived, and already you're talking like this with such… incomprehensible words."
"You'll understand soon enough," I replied lazily, shrugging again.
Her reaction didn't surprise me, nor did it make me want to explain further.
She would get it later, when the S-System was revealed.
When the school stopped pretending to be ordinary.
Only then would she understand that my words weren't some cryptic nonsense, but a simple truth.
For now, though, I couldn't be bothered to explain any more.
I shut my eyes, ignoring the chatter of classmates, letting myself sink into my own calm silence.
The world could wait.
...
Yeah, here's the bonus chapter even though it hasn't reached 250 stones yet. This is for the effort of those who continuously sent stones for this story. Yeah, I'm inactive not because I have any problem, but because rules are rules. We hit the moderate number of stones, which only grants us 3 chapters per week.
Daily chapters only apply when the stones are high or very high.
So yeah, rules are rules after all.
See you later after the power ranking reset.
If you're enjoying this story, feel free to throw in all your power stones, rate it 5 stars, or add it to your library and collection. For every 250 power stones will unlock a bonus chapter.