"I have to go. From now on, don't casually send your selfies to other people. Even I'm not as trustworthy as you seem to think."
After ending the call without hesitation, Aragaki Shun checked the time on his phone. There wasn't much time left before his dinner date with Karuizawa Kei.
He had no intention of deliberately showing up late.
So Aragaki Shun gave up his leisurely stroll and broke into a run, gradually increasing his speed.
After running for a few minutes, the high-end restaurant they'd agreed to meet at finally came into view. Not far from the entrance, a girl with light-brown hair tied in a high ponytail was anxiously looking around, occasionally glancing down at her phone, probably checking how much time remained before their meeting.
Aragaki Shun calmly slowed down until he was walking at his usual pace. Only then did Karuizawa Kei finally spot him, her face lighting up with delight.
He wasn't even out of breath, so there was no need to straighten his clothes or compose himself. He simply walked up to Karuizawa and greeted her calmly. "Looks like I'm a little late. Sorry for the wait."
"No, that's not it. There's still plenty of time. I just came early to place our order. It's not your fault, Aragaki."
Karuizawa Kei hurriedly waved her hands. She needed a favor from Aragaki Shun, so she couldn't risk upsetting him over something so trivial.
Besides, she was telling the truth. There were still a few minutes until their agreed-upon time. He really wasn't late.
But under normal circumstances, if a guy knew he was going on a date with a girl, wouldn't he show up ten or fifteen minutes early?
Today, she'd been the one to invite him to dinner and the one to arrive early. From the way he acted, he didn't seem to take the date very seriously.
Karuizawa Kei couldn't help feeling uneasy. She didn't know if she'd be able to achieve what she wanted.
"All right, then. Let's go in and eat."
Aragaki Shun could sense the worry weighing on the girl's mind, but he didn't say anything about it.
Aside from studying, his greatest passion was good food. They could talk about everything else after the meal.
Karuizawa Kei pressed her lips together and nodded. She led the way into a private room she'd reserved.
Before long, the waiter began bringing out a variety of dishes that looked quite appetizing.
"Hm?"
Aragaki Shun looked over the spread on the table, surprised. He raised his head and gave Karuizawa Kei a strange look.
He had to admit, the dishes were all to his everyday taste. The girl had clearly gone out of her way to find out what he liked.
"...You put a lot of thought into this."
After a moment's silence, Aragaki Shun gave a small nod while Karuizawa watched him nervously. Then he devoted all his attention to the meal.
A little over ten minutes later, Aragaki Shun felt that his body's energy reserves were fully replenished. He stretched and turned his gaze toward the high-ponytailed girl, who had been trying to speak for some time.
"Let's pay first. After that, we can find somewhere suitable. Or do you want to talk about your situation here?"
Karuizawa's heart sank. Before she could figure out what he meant, she saw his gaze settle on a spot on the wall. A conspicuous camera was openly recording everything.
"I'll go pay now."
Karuizawa Kei immediately called the waiter over. After speaking with him for a while, she reluctantly took out her phone and transferred the Private Points needed to cover dinner.
Damn, six thousand Private Points for one dinner. If she remembered correctly, the Class D students had only a little over twenty thousand points to spend this month.
She'd really gone all in.
Whatever she wanted from him must be very important to her.
"Where are we going now?"
After paying, Karuizawa glanced at Aragaki Shun, her eyes flickering. She'd thought she was prepared, but it turned out she'd been far too naive.
"My dorm? Your dorm? Or somewhere else without surveillance? You can choose."
Aragaki Shun stood up and deliberately offered her those options, watching her reaction with interest.
Just as he'd expected, the girl was visibly shaken. A trace of panic and unease surfaced in her violet eyes.
Still, she forced herself to smile sweetly and moved closer to the boy, her voice taking on a flirtatious tone. "If that's what Aragaki wants, I'm fine with anything."
Aragaki Shun looked away, already bored. In an ordinary person's eyes, there might not have been anything wrong with Karuizawa Kei's gyaru act. But with his instincts at the peak of human ability, he could sense things that were impossible to discern at a glance.
He didn't need any other reason to be sure that everything she was showing him was an act.
"In that case, come with me."
Leaving Karuizawa to make her own choice, Aragaki Shun set off ahead of her without a care for whether she followed.
And, unsurprisingly, Karuizawa Kei—who had been tormented by indecision for over a month—had no intention of running away halfway.
The two of them rounded several corners, one behind the other, and headed straight for the club building.
Aragaki Shun led Karuizawa into the Cultural and Entertainment Club's Activity Classroom. Most people had gone to the cafeteria for dinner by then, and no other Class A students were there.
"E-excuse me for intruding..."
Karuizawa Kei followed him inside. When she saw that their destination wasn't the boy's dormitory she'd imagined, some of her instinctive panic faded.
But that also seemed to prove that Aragaki Shun wasn't very interested in her after all.
The girl couldn't help feeling uneasy all over again.
"This is the clubroom I applied for. There aren't any cameras installed inside."
Aragaki Shun gestured for Karuizawa to sit on the sofa and poured her a drink, setting it on the coffee table in front of her. Once she seemed a little more at ease, he spoke frankly and laid everything out in the open—
"So, Karuizawa, can you explain everything to me now?"
"Aragaki, um, I..."
"If you're going to confess to me and say you want to be my girlfriend, then don't bother."
Aragaki Shun cut off the girl's hesitant, obviously false pretense. "Back in middle school, I met plenty of girls who had nothing on their minds but romance. Your performance doesn't come close to their genuine feelings."
"Forget it. Let's keep this simple. Tell me straight: what do you want from me, and what can you offer me?"
What did she want from Aragaki Shun? And what could she do for him?
Karuizawa Kei hadn't expected him to ask so bluntly.
She'd planned to first pretend to be an admirer, then slowly reveal her past and gradually earn his sympathy.
She hadn't expected him to see through her at a glance and corner her with nowhere to run.
"I..."
Karuizawa Kei's face went pale. Her eyes darted around as if searching for something to hold on to.
Aragaki Shun watched the girl struggle without a trace of pity for her cute looks. Instead, he laid it out bluntly. "I don't mind what you're trying to use me for, as long as you're worth that much in the first place."
"It looks like you're hiding some painful past. It's probably what's pushing you to approach me. But I'm not interested in your secrets, so you don't have to worry about me digging into them."
"I'll say it again: what do you want, and what are you willing to offer? If I think the deal is fair, I don't mind agreeing to your request."
As it happened, Aragaki Shun preferred transactions where both sides clearly stated their terms.
You put up your goods, I put up my bargaining chips. As long as both parties agreed, they could make the exchange right away, with no strings attached and no need to involve anything else.
Unfortunately, reality wasn't so simple. Most of the time, interactions between people couldn't be reduced to buying something at a store. They were tangled up in favors, feelings, and all sorts of complications.
Take the beginning, for instance. He'd never intended to become the heir to the Aragaki Family. When he'd been brought into the family at the age of five, he'd only been an ordinary adopted son, taken in on a whim by his adoptive father.
His younger stepsister, Ayase, had only been three then. His adoptive parents hoped they could have more children, and even if they couldn't, Ayase would inherit. If she wasn't suited for it, there were other members of the Aragaki Family who could take over.
He could have fought for the position if he wanted to. But after living two lives and returning to childhood with his memories of the previous one, Aragaki Shun found it hard to think of himself as a member of this world's Aragaki Family.
Or rather, he could regard his adoptive parents and Ayase as family, and he was willing to help the Aragaki Family whenever he could in the future. But becoming its heir and shouldering that responsibility still didn't feel quite right.
To put it plainly, the only people in the Aragaki Family he cared about were his adoptive parents and Ayase. He barely knew anyone else in the family, so he'd never thought about inheriting its name.
So, once he'd grown a little older, he tried his hand at writing light novels. Eventually, he and Senju Muramasa became popular authors under the same imprint. The main reason was, of course, to increase his influence and accumulate Source Power. But he'd also wanted to become self-sufficient and able to support himself.
It was just that he'd turned out a little too exceptional, and his adoptive parents, who still hadn't had any other children, had inexplicably set their sights on him.
To be honest, he'd rather Ayase had a younger brother to inherit the family business.
As for him, he would have been happy to remain an ordinary member of the Aragaki Family, occasionally using its name to resolve a few problems while building a career of his own.
After all, according to his values, accepting power meant accepting the responsibility that came with it.
As an ordinary adopted son of the Aragaki Family, all he had to do was find a way to repay his adoptive parents for their kindness. But if he inherited the entire family, there'd be far too much resting on his shoulders.
At present, Aragaki Shun could gain at least four points of Source Power every month. Even without any extra achievements, he could accumulate forty-eight in a year.
With his current physical condition—at the limits of human potential and immune to disease—he could easily live another hundred years.
In fact, he didn't need a hundred years. In just over a decade, once all his attributes had been strengthened past twenty and he'd acquired a few skills involving control over consciousness, he was confident he could become the Strongest Creature on Earth and make human society turn according to his will.
Given that, pure rationality would dictate that he distance himself from the ties of the world and avoid all outside distractions. He should lie low for a decade or so, then show up once he was invincible and have his way.
From that perspective, inheriting the Aragaki Family was completely unnecessary. He shouldn't even care so much about his adoptive parents and Ayase. In a sense, attachments were weaknesses too.
But people weren't purely rational creatures. At least, Aragaki Shun couldn't erase all his emotions and think only of his own interests.
If he really hardened his heart, he could choose to mind his own business and refuse to get involved with the Aragaki Family. Ayase would take on that responsibility, and his adoptive father could find a capable son-in-law to inherit the family... The thought irritated him. He'd rather take care of it himself.
He was working so hard to become invincible because he wanted to do whatever he pleased in the future. That wasn't a reason to suppress his nature and make himself miserable now.
If his life were in danger, he could endure humiliation and bear a burden. But marrying Ayase and inheriting the Aragaki Family clearly weren't that kind of situation.
Rationally, he'd always been reluctant to get too attached to anyone, so that when he lived a long life in the future, he wouldn't be moved by the deaths of those around him.
But in the end, he decided to let it be. When it came to feelings, he'd follow his heart. Even if the thought of outliving everyone made him sad someday, he didn't want to be consumed by regret and twisted feelings now.
The idea of watching Ayase marry someone else with tears in her eyes was something he just couldn't stomach!!!
In a little over a decade, I'll be the Strongest Creature on Earth. Am I supposed to put up with this now?
To hell with outliving everyone!
Source Power could do anything. He could always make a couple of skills for contracts or blessings and be done with it!
Of course, he only thought that way because it was Ayase. Faced with the stepsister he'd watched grow up, Aragaki Shun was willing to set aside his purely rational mindset of exchanging benefits and act on a whim.
Karuizawa Kei was another matter.
We hardly know each other, so let's not talk about feelings. Put all your bargaining chips on the table.
If we can make a deal, we'll make one. If not, forget it.
"Still hesitating?"
Watching Karuizawa Kei repeatedly open her mouth, then stop, Aragaki Shun made a show of getting ready to see her out. "I don't have much time to spend on this. If you don't think now is the right moment, come back when you've decided what you want and we can discuss a deal."
"No! I can't!" Karuizawa Kei's eyes flew wide. She seemed genuinely desperate and could no longer sit still. In a fit of resignation, she finally told Aragaki Shun what she wanted. "Please... please be my shield. Make sure no one bullies me at this school."
"As long as you agree to that, Aragaki, I'll do anything you want in return. Even... even that..."
At that, Karuizawa Kei could no longer hold it together. She slumped onto the sofa, tears streaming down her face. She looked so heartbreakingly miserable that anyone would feel for her.
For a moment, the girl seemed to be back in the nightmare of her middle school days. Because she was cute, the delinquent girls in her class had dragged her into the girls' bathroom even though she hadn't done anything. Bucket after bucket of ice-cold water had been poured over her head, chilling her to the bone.
But she could only endure it in silence. She'd tried to fight back before, only to provoke even harsher abuse from those girls.
There was nothing she could do on her own. She could only stay quiet and let them bully her, thinking that if she just gritted her teeth and put up with it, it would eventually end.
But her silence only made them more violent. Eventually, they went so far as to stab her in the abdomen.
At the time, Karuizawa Kei had been so terrified that she thought she was going to die.
Even after she'd struggled through it and survived, the scar on the girl's lower-left abdomen still reminded her of the brutal bullying she'd faced.
Time couldn't wash away that scar. Whenever she saw the wound, her stomach would cramp up, and she'd feel sick and want to throw up!
So after arriving at Advanced Nurturing High School, she'd done everything she could to hide her past. In public, she copied the delinquent girls who had bullied her, putting on the image of a tough gyaru and doing everything she could to climb to the top of her class.
But that wasn't enough!
A strength that was only an act would eventually be exposed. When that happened, the girls she'd fooled would be furious and turn on her. If it ever came to another stabbing, Karuizawa wasn't sure she'd survive.
So she couldn't let anyone see through her act. She had to keep acting tough. If she couldn't do that, then she'd become a lowly parasite, clinging to someone who was truly strong.
She'd give up everything as long as she could protect herself!
Her dignity, her freedom, even her body—she'd give up anything as long as she never had to face that hell again. It would be worth it.
With that in mind, Karuizawa Kei fought through the weakness in her body and forced herself to pull it together. Once again, she made her position clear to Aragaki Shun—
"That's it! If you're willing to protect me, Aragaki, I'll do anything."
"So that's what it was." Aragaki Shun nodded. That explained everything strange about Karuizawa Kei. "Then I want to know what you expect me to do to protect you. We're not even in the same class, and I can't keep an eye on you all the time."
Seeing that Aragaki Shun hadn't immediately refused, Karuizawa Kei was overjoyed and hurriedly explained her idea.
Before you continue