The System Miss Wants Ying to Establish a Persona

"Ding-dong-dang-da, dong-da-ding-dong..."

As the school bell rang, Baiye Ying panted heavily as he stepped into the classroom of Class B. Thank goodness he hadn't been late on his first day. His seat was the only one empty in the entire room, so he hurried over to it.

The back row by the window—my home turf. Not bad.

"It's better to arrive at the classroom a bit earlier in the future, you know. By the way, I'm Kanzaki Ryuji. Nice to meet you." The student in the row ahead turned around to strike up a conversation. He looked like a very serious student; so this is Kanzaki.

Baiye Ying gave a slightly awkward smile and scratched his head: "Nice to meet you, Kanzaki. I'm Baiye Ying. It's my first day at school, and I ended up wandering around a bit too much without realizing it. It won't happen again, ahaha..."

Just then, a cheerful and lively woman walked in. She must be the homeroom teacher for Class 1-B, Hoshinomiya Chie.

"Minna~ I'm your homeroom teacher, Hoshinomiya Chie. You can call me Chie-sensei, or even little Chie is fine~. Rather than maintaining a stiff teacher-student relationship, it's better to be friends! Oh my, I accidentally talked too much. Alright, next, teacher will introduce this school to you!"

A very approachable teacher, most students thought, listening intently to the various rules of the school. Only one person had a wandering gaze and occasionally made strange expressions—yes, that was our brother Ying.

'You told me to establish an inscrutable persona!?'

[That's right. This is the only suggestion this system can provide within its current capabilities. After all, having fulfilled the host's wish, the system's power is exhausted. I cannot provide further benefits, and from now on, I will at most function as an AI you can chat with.]

'What? Then I'm... wait, nothing will happen if I fail, right?'

[If it is detected that the host has no intention of making Ayanokoji drop out, the newcomer benefits will be directly reclaimed.]

'...'

[They will also be automatically reclaimed upon failure.]

'Wait! Why? I've already been working so hard!'

[Effort is not an excuse; results are the only facts.]

'Damn it!'

[Therefore, please establish an inscrutable persona, host.]

'Hold on, isn't this just a suggestion? I don't have to listen to it, right?'

Having experienced ten years of hellish life in the White Room, Baiye Ying no longer wanted to play the role of someone else.

[If the host does not act in accordance with the persona, the benefits will also be reclaimed immediately.]

'Ah!? You're abusing your power!'

[The system is going to rest for a while now. Please do your best, host. By the way, even while the system is resting, the automatic detection program is still running, so please watch your words and actions.]

'Wait! You haven't told me how to establish an inscrutable persona yet! Wait, hold on!'

"Hold on a second!"

Baiye Ying shouted out subconsciously. He realized it immediately and hurriedly covered his mouth, but it was already too late. The entire class looked toward him, their eyes filled with surprise.

"Does this student have a different opinion? Could you please share it with everyone?"

The person standing on the podium had changed from the teacher to a beautiful girl. She had long, straight pink hair, an angelic smile, and beautiful, moving eyes. Even if Baiye Ying didn't know what had just happened, he recognized her as the future leader of Class B, Ichinose Honami.

"Um... classmate?" Ichinose tilted her head slightly, as if puzzled why Baiye Ying wasn't expressing his point of view.

"Oh... ahem."

Because Ichinose was simply too cute, Baiye Ying had accidentally become mesmerized. So, what were they talking about just now? Baiye Ying immediately started revving his F36-engine-like brain, thinking about what the most likely topic of discussion was.

"I think..." The whole class began to listen carefully to what this student who had interrupted Ichinose's speech was about to say.

"The whole class should introduce themselves first!"

The entire class was stunned. Baiye Ying noticed everyone's shocked expressions and couldn't help but grin. It seemed this opinion was a huge success, successfully advancing his inscrutable persona by a large step.

"Isn't that what Ichinose-san just said?" a student couldn't help but say.

"Yeah, he didn't hear her just now, did he?"

"That's impossible, Ichinose is so cute, you can't look away once you see her. And if he hadn't been listening, why would he have interrupted her?"

"Um... classmate, I was just proposing that everyone in the class introduce themselves. I've already introduced myself, so let's start from the first student in the first row." Ichinose said with a smile.

What? I actually missed Ichinose's self-introduction!? No. My inscrutable persona has collapsed, and what succeeded it is the clown persona!

"This... of course I knew that. What I meant was, instead of starting from the first student in the first row, let's start with me, the student in the last row of the last group!" Baiye Ying could only forcibly cover up the fact that he hadn't been listening to Ichinose and barely managed to bluff his way through.

"So you were just impatient to have everyone get to know you. Then let's begin." Ichinose chuckled a few times, and the whole class looked at Baiye Ying as if they had suddenly realized something.

No way? You guys actually believe this?

"Ahem... My name is Baiye Ying, 16 years old. My dorm is 402, and I am unmarried. I previously attended White Middle School. I study every day until 10 PM. I don't smoke, and I don't drink. I go to bed at 11 PM and make sure I get seven hours of sleep every day. Before bed, I always drink a glass of warm milk, then practice 25 minutes of singing, dancing, and rap. Once I'm in bed, I fall asleep immediately. I sleep until dawn, never leaving any fatigue or stress for the next day. The doctor says I'm perfectly normal."

"That's that, right? That thing." A boy said to the boy in front of him.

"It really is that. I didn't expect Baiye-kun to be a fan of 2D culture. I actually wanted to introduce myself that way too, but he beat me to it."

"Phew..."

Exhaling, Baiye Ying finally relaxed. He began to listen to the other students' self-introductions and pondered how he should actually establish his persona.

"Hey, Baiye, you were actually spacing out just now, weren't you? When Ichinose-san was talking."

Hm?

Kanzaki, sitting in front of him, turned around and looked at Baiye Ying with a speechless expression.

So I was discovered after all?

"Ahaha... actually, I was just lost in thought thinking about what Hoshinomiya-sensei said." Ying scratched his head, explaining with an awkward laugh.

"Do you also think that 100,000 points a month for students is very strange?" Kanzaki became excited, as if he had suddenly found a comrade-in-arms.

"Ah... ye... yes."

"Then do you have any leads?"

"Uh... since it was the teacher who said it, wouldn't it be better to just go ask the teacher directly?"

!!!

It was as if a door to a new world had been opened for Kanzaki; he suddenly saw the light. He even muttered to himself from time to time about why he hadn't thought of that just now.

"Then, after the entrance ceremony is over later, let's go ask Hoshinomiya-sensei for confirmation together."

"Mm... okay."

On the way to the office, Kanzaki was chatting with Ying: "I didn't expect Ichinose-san to be so enthusiastic. We have to finish confirming this quickly so we can go to the party. We can't keep our classmates waiting too long."

"Mm... that's right."

Kanzaki looked at Ying, whose thoughts were clearly flying off somewhere else, and was speechless. This guy definitely didn't know that Ichinose had invited the whole class to a party.

Meanwhile, our brother Ying was still thinking about how to establish his persona:

Deep and unfathomable, that should mean being a riddle-maker who stirs up trouble from the shadows. I remember riddle-makers seem to only say half of what they mean and never explain things clearly. Yeah, I'll go with that from now on.

Inside the office, Kanzaki greeted Hoshinomiya-sensei and explained their purpose. Although Hoshinomiya-sensei refused to disclose anything, it was as obvious as a sign saying "there is no silver buried here," confirming that there was something fishy going on. Just as Kanzaki was pondering how to get the teacher to reveal more detailed hidden information, Ying knew it was his turn to act.

"Hoshinomiya..."

"Please sell..."

"Your..."

"To me..."

"I will use..." He held up one finger.

"To make a..."

Hoshinomiya and Kanzaki: !?