Asakusa Tōru woke up unusually early today.
Of course, this wasn't because he was so excited about the new semester that he couldn't sleep. He had long since stopped having high expectations for something like going to school.
Though he was curious about which class he'd be assigned to, that wasn't the point.
The point was timing.
After obtaining a reward like the Infinite Recorder, a plan had taken shape in his mind.
A plan that only he—someone who could take out a recorder the very moment school started—was capable of carrying out.
"Class 1-B, huh. Should I say it's unexpected, or only natural?" Arriving at Advanced Nurturing early and looking at the class listed next to his name, Asakusa Tōru raised an eyebrow.
In this life, he had awakened his past-life memories quite early. From childhood, he'd displayed remarkable ability, and in the eyes of most people, he genuinely qualified as what one might call a "genius."
After all, being able to sustain himself without parents, keep up with his studies without falling behind, and even earn a fairly Generous remuneration copying light novels—no matter how you looked at it, in other people's eyes, he belonged in the category of geniuses.
His only real shortcomings were probably having no parents, and lacking friends.
After all, in order to convert the advantages he possessed—advantages that diminished with the passage of time—into solid foundations as efficiently as possible, he had almost no spare time to waste on socializing.
This world was a hodgepodge crossover anime world. Although most works followed similar trends in terms of era and development, there was no guarantee that discrepancies wouldn't arise.
If even a slight deviation appeared in the information he remembered, his lead would be forcibly turned into a disadvantage.
If that weren't the case, he wouldn't have chosen copying light novels as his source of funds—he'd have already been stirring up the financial markets.
Well, even though he called it "copying" light novels, he didn't actually have the ability to perfectly reproduce entire stories. He merely took vivid, interesting ideas from his memories and trial-and-error adapted them into stories of his own.
But it was precisely because of this that he understood how vast the gap was between himself and the truly overpowered geniuses in actual stories.
Yes—he was talking about that certain someone who, at the age of fourteen, had already written works with over fourteen million copies in circulation.
Back to the main topic.
At Advanced Nurturing High School, students were ranked downward and assigned to one of four classes: A, B, C, or D.
On the surface, it looked like an ordinary class assignment, but in reality, it was an evaluation imposed by the school based on its own unilateral criteria.
Class A—premium workhorses.
Class B—mediocre workhorses.
Class C—muddying the waters.
Class D—special-grade defective products.
The exact wording might vary, but Asakusa Tōru felt the essence was more or less the same.
As a side note, the previously mentioned 100% advancement and employment rate was a privilege enjoyed exclusively by Class A.
Therefore, aside from Class C, being placed into any other class would have been within expectations for Asakusa Tōru.
If his shortcomings in interpersonal negotiation were ignored, and one looked purely at academic ability and the like, there was no doubt he could have been placed into Class A.
Much like a certain well-connected individual with serious physical defects—if the school wanted to prove that Sakayanagi Arisu's placement into Class A wasn't favoritism, then it wasn't impossible for him to also be assigned there.
Of course, that was only a possibility.
And if one factored in his interpersonal deficiencies, there was also a ready-made reference case: Miss Horikita Suzune, who mistook loneliness for aloofness and rejected social interaction.
In other words, even being placed into Class D wasn't out of the question.
But in the end, he was assigned to Class B.
"So they think my flaws aren't severe enough to be judged as a 'defective product,' huh?" Asakusa Tōru arrived at an answer in his heart.
After confirming his class assignment, Asakusa Tōru didn't head straight to the Class B classroom, nor did he follow the signs to the entrance ceremony venue.
Instead, after receiving his personal terminal, he followed the route guide and made his way to the Class 1-C classroom.
The spacious classroom contained only a handful of people. There were few students who arrived the moment the school opened, and even fewer in Class C.
Strictly speaking, at that moment, there were only two people in Class C.
One was a short-haired blue-haired girl who looked physically fit and strong, sitting in her seat with an expression of extreme boredom.
The other was a silver-gray–haired girl with a gentle, quiet demeanor, who seemed to be lost in thought.
If he remembered correctly, the former was named Ibuki Mio, and the latter Shiina Hiyori.
Without announcing his presence, in a perfectly ordinary, nonchalant manner, Asakusa Tōru walked into the Class 1-C classroom.
For first-year students, seating was assigned in advance—there was no concept of first come, first served. Everyone could easily find their own seat.
By the same logic, others could also easily find someone else's seat.
Ryūen Kakeru's seat…
Ah, it was up front.
Without much effort, Asakusa Tōru found his target.
Ryūen Kakeru's seat.
In this school that preached meritocracy above all else, in order to compete for the sole employment-guarantee privilege promised by the school, students competed against one another on a class-by-class basis.
As a result, a figure known as a "leader" naturally emerged.
Following someone's leadership, accepting their commands, and then aiming the blade at the throne of Class A.
And among them, the student who would later become the leader of Class C was Ryūen Kakeru.
If Asakusa Tōru had to label him, "unscrupulous" would definitely come first. As for "violent" or "autocratic," those were secondary.
Although Asakusa Tōru's fundamental purpose in enrolling at Advanced Nurturing was simply to make it easier and more convenient to write his daily diary—and he truly didn't care about Class A's privileges—if he got entangled with this guy during class battles… just imagining it made him feel sick.
So, to prevent that from happening, he needed to get ahead of things and secure leverage that could completely shut down Ryūen Kakeru's actions.
And clearly, the best, most suitable, most convenient—and earliest—leverage he could obtain…
Was today.
The very day Ryūen Kakeru would subjugate the entirety of Class C.
Rule through violence, bind interests to silence the victims' accusations, evade cameras through keen instincts, leaving no evidence behind.
But if Asakusa Tōru, as if foreseeing the future, left behind a recording pen—something that a first-year student should never have been able to obtain at this point in time…
What would happen then?