Outside the Chessboard

The morning mist had yet to dissipate, and Ayanokoji Kiyotaka—or rather, Lin Yuan, the Chinese otaku inhabiting this shell—stood on the rooftop of the Advanced Nurturing High School library. He leaned one hand against the railing, his fingertips unconsciously tracing the coldness of the metal surface. This was his third week since transmigrating, yet every time he looked down at the campus shrouded in morning light, he still felt a moment of disorientation. Those sharp-angled teaching buildings, the winding tree-lined paths, and even the shimmering artificial lake in the distance all felt like phantoms traced directly from a 2D world into reality.

"System, oh system..." he murmured, a bitter smile spilling from his throat. Yes, he had a system, or rather, a fragmented "legacy." When he transmigrated, he vaguely heard a mechanical voice mention "Potential Unlock Module loading failed," and then there was silence. Now, all he could rely on was the near-cold rationality of the original body and his own memories as a veteran otaku of the original Classroom of the Elite story—though these memories were gradually disintegrating as he intervened.

"Ayanokoji-kun, Student Council President Horikita is looking for you at the Tea Ceremony Club." A light, feminine voice came from behind him. Lin Yuan turned to face the signature sweet smile of Kushida Kikyo. She had her hands behind her back, her uniform skirt fluttering slightly in the morning breeze, looking like a harmless, pure white lily. But Lin Yuan knew how much calculation was hidden beneath that smile.

"Thank you." He nodded, but his gaze swept past Kushida's shoulder, locking onto a figure in the courtyard below—Ichinose Honami was hurrying past with files in her arms, her hair tips tracing a caramel-colored arc in the wind. In the original work, she should have belonged to Class B, but the school badge on her chest right now was a glaring red. Class D? Lin Yuan's pupils constricted slightly. The butterfly effect had appeared earlier than he had anticipated.

Inside the Japanese-style room of the Tea Ceremony Club, Horikita Manabu sat kneeling before a low table, the sound of boiling water being poured into a tea bowl as crisp as a bell. "I heard you declined the invitation to join the student council." He pushed up his glasses, the rising steam fogging his lenses. "Can you tell me the reason?"

Lin Yuan took the tea bowl, his fingertips feeling the rough texture of the pottery. How would the real Ayanokoji answer? Perhaps he would brush it off with "I'm not interested." But he was not that perfect humanoid weapon; he was Lin Yuan, a soul forced to piece himself together in a foreign world. "President Horikita needs pawns," he sipped the matcha, the bitterness spreading on his tongue, "and I want to play the game."

The air suddenly froze. Horikita Manabu's movements paused for a split second, and the hot water nearly spilled from the cup. "Interesting." He suddenly chuckled softly and pulled a gold-embossed invitation from his sleeve. "Then, as a player, you would be interested in the 'Special Exam,' wouldn't you?"

At dusk in Room 404 of the special teaching building, Lin Yuan pushed open the heavy oak door. The classroom was empty, save for the sunset, which stretched the shadows of the window frames into cage-like bars. He unfolded the invitation; Horikita Manabu's handwriting was as sharp as a blade:

"Tomorrow at 8:00 PM, basement level of the old school building. The stake is 'Chairman's Special Authority'."

A rustling sound came from behind him. Lin Yuan turned abruptly to see Karuizawa Kei peeking out from behind a storage locker, her chestnut hair dusted with a few dead leaves. "D-don't misunderstand! I was just looking for the sports festival schedule..." She waved her hands in a panic, the ribbon at her uniform collar skewed to one side. But Lin Yuan noticed the mud stains on her heels—that was the red clay unique to the mountain behind the old school building.

"Want to cooperate?" he suddenly asked. Karuizawa jumped up like a cat whose tail had been stepped on: "Ha? Who would want to work with a gloomy guy like you..."

"You met with Ryuen from Class C in secret last week, didn't you?" Lin Yuan interrupted her, pulling a photo from his pocket—in the image, Karuizawa was handing a USB drive to Ryuen, with the grand piano in the third music room in the background. "By the way, that USB drive contained the predicted scope for the Class D midterm exams, but the real files had long since been replaced by Katsuragi with a 'Guide to Postpartum Care for Sows'."

Karuizawa's face turned deathly pale in an instant. Lin Yuan stepped closer, his shadow engulfing the girl's trembling shoulders. "Now, tell me what is hidden in the basement of the old school building. Or..." He shook his phone, the screen displaying a photo of Karuizawa and a certain third-year male student in a karaoke booth, "shall I let the whole school enjoy your 'Forbidden Love' special edition?"

The basement of the old school building was filled with a musty smell late at night. The moment the flashlight beam cut through the darkness, Lin Yuan saw them—three entire walls of filing cabinets, with labels marked "Expelled Students," "Accident Records," and even "Human Experimentation Applications." The safe at the innermost corner stood open, a stack of yellowed documents scattered on the floor.

<Advanced Nurturing High School Social Experiment Project: 47th Batch Adaptability Observation Report>

His fingertips brushed over the pages, cold sweat soaking his shirt. The Class D list clearly included Horikita Suzune, Hirata Yosuke... and Ichinose Honami, who should have belonged to Class A. And in the remarks column, someone had scribbled in red ink:

"Sample E-047 is abnormal, suspected of awakening 'Primal Personality', suggest priority processing."

Suddenly, a crisp sound of wood breaking came from overhead. Lin Yuan quickly turned off the flashlight, but it was too late—a slender figure climbed down the ladder into the basement, and moonlight leaked through the gaps, illuminating the person's long, silver-white hair.

"What a pity." Shiina Hiyori raised a stun gun, her pupils glowing with a faint blue light in the darkness. "You saw something you shouldn't have, Ayanokoji-kun... or should I say, Mr. Transmigrator?"