The World of the Ike Family

She said it with a determined expression, admitting her guilt.

"I'm sorry. I'm guilty!"

"Eh—"

"Sato, you're not running a fever, are you?"

Her classmates looked bewildered, not believing her at all.

"That's not it." Sato blushed as she explained. "I put the panties there, but I took the wrong pair. I thought they were mine, but they turned out to be Karuizawa's."

"Oh—"

"No way, could this be—"

"Sato, do you like Takeda?"

Sato neither confirmed nor denied it.

Which was basically a yes.

"Ah—"

Eito covered his ears. He couldn't tell which girl had screamed.

The scene was in chaos, especially the girls, who seemed very interested in this sort of thing.

They'd completely forgotten what had happened earlier. No one even went to comfort Karuizawa anymore.

At the same time, he received jealous looks from some of the boys.

So what was all this supposed to be?

Why had he suddenly been confessed to, with the entire class watching?

Weren't they talking about the panties?

He didn't believe Sato would put panties in his schoolbag. There was no point in doing that.

It didn't fit her, either. Secretly slipping your own panties into the bag of a boy you liked—what kind of yandere behavior was that?

Most likely, she'd stepped in to take the blame for him.

He was very touched, but—

"Eito, where are you going?"

Kikyo smiled as she tugged at his shirt. Her face was smiling, but he couldn't detect the slightest hint of happiness.

"I just remembered I have something to do, uh—"

"No, you can't. It's really awful to not give a girl's confession a proper answer."

"Fine."

Eito turned back to face Sato, resigned.

His mind raced.

It was impossible to say he wasn't interested in Sato at all. But when it came to love, he valued his friendship with her more.

He thought Sato was a truly wonderful friend.

Ayanokoji was his friend too, but he was so taciturn that Eito always felt like he was talking to an old man or woman in their seventies or eighties.

Sato felt more like a friend.

There was more to life than romantic love between men and women. Other kinds of affection were just as precious.

If he'd really wanted to win Sato over sooner, he wouldn't have waited until now without making any progress.

Even though he'd imagined this day might come.

As for how to answer her now—

He dismissed rejecting her outright. No matter how he looked at it, there was no way he could turn Sato down in front of everyone.

That left only one answer:

"I—"

"Wait!" Sato said. "Can I say something first?"

"Go ahead." Eito waved a hand.

Sato said:

"I know you might not like me. Other girls are better than I am." Sato glanced at Kikyo, who looked away. "But I'll work hard. I'll make you fall for me."

"Wow—what a confession! So romantic!"

"That's the kind of romance I want."

Eito ignored the lovestruck girls and said:

"What if I said yes?"

"Uh—" Sato hesitated, but then said, "I'm still going to stick to my choice. I know I'm forcing you to make a decision right now. Well, I'll wait for the day you take the initiative and confess to me. That's all..."

She ran off without giving Eito time to react.

"..."

"You must be happy now," Kikyo said with a smile.

"I'm okay..."

"It's fine. I'm not mad. I saw it coming a long time ago. I just didn't expect her to be so brave. Is this the power of love? I guess love really is something that makes people stupid."

As she spoke, Kikyo gradually fell silent.

She was very familiar with the word. She often heard people around her talk about it, and she often encouraged them herself. But when it came to her, it felt very far away.

She wanted to know, and yet she didn't.

After Sato left, everyone else gradually dispersed as well.

But the girls were bound to gossip about this for the next two days, and his daily life would veer off course.

As a transmigrator—and especially as a superpowered one—his life was bound to be extraordinary.

In the future, overturning an entire country single-handedly would be a simple matter.

So he didn't need to live like an ordinary person.

Ordinary people had to know their place. He didn't. He had no qualms about having a harem.

Besides, he'd come here to build a harem. He had power far beyond that of ordinary people, enough to make the girls happy.

Still, it was better to keep a low profile until he revealed the full extent of his strength.

When investigating the clues behind this incident, the first person he approached was Ibuki.

She looked listless, and even when he came over, she didn't so much as furrow her brow.

"What is it?"

"Nothing. I just wanted to ask if you saw who put the panties in my bag this morning."

"Didn't you put them there yourself?"

"Would I do something that stupid?" Eito said, exasperated.

Someone had already offered to give them to him. Why would he go and ask for them himself?

Ibuki said:

"So you want mine? They stink, though. Do you still want them?"

Would a normal person say something like that? It was obvious Ibuki was messing with him and changing the subject.

So he said:

"You don't have to say that. I know what they smell like."

"...Pervert!" Ibuki snapped at him angrily.

"So, Ibuki, are you still trying to get back at me?"

"What if I am? ...Fine, I admit it. I did it," Ibuki said nonchalantly. "But I was doing it for your sake, wasn't I? Getting a girl's panties for free—isn't a guy supposed to be happy about that?"

"My tastes aren't that shallow, but—" Eito stared straight at her, his gaze sharp. "So it really was you. Looks like I don't even need to investigate. Tell me, what do I have to do to forgive you?"

"...What are you planning?" Ibuki asked, backing away in fear.

"Ugh, I'm not usually the type to lose my temper. But when I do, even I'm scared of myself. Ahem—"

"Hey, what's wrong?" A bead of cold sweat trickled down Ibuki's face as she watched Eito suddenly start coughing.

"It's nothing. I'm just worked up. I'll be fine after I catch my breath."

"Hey, d-don't scare me like that."

"Cough, cough—Almost better. Come with me."

"Okay."

Remembering her mission, Ibuki followed him, even though she really didn't want to.

She already had a feeling she was in for trouble.

Ike's World

Eito considered himself a fairly forgiving person.

But sometimes, being lenient didn't make people realize their mistakes. Instead, it only emboldened them until they became completely unruly.

That was why appropriate punishment was necessary.

Especially at the beginning. He absolutely couldn't go easy on them; he had to make them understand who was in charge.

He'd learned this approach from dog training.

Applied to people, it needed some adjustments, but the principle was much the same.

The kinder you were to them, the less they treated you like a person.

And right now, he was punishing Ibuki, the one who'd dared to mess with him.

"Hey, are we done yet?"

Ibuki was doing sit-ups, while he sat at her ankles to hold her legs down.

From this angle, he could admire Ibuki's haughty expression and watch her breasts bounce with every sit-up.

Not that he was particularly interested.

"Only a hundred left. Keep going."

"Don't push it. I can quit and go straight back to the ship."

"You're doing great."

Eito praised her.

Making someone like Ibuki act was a mistake. It showed that Ryuen really was out of options.

In fact, he thought Class C was the one that really lacked talent.

Class D might seem hopeless, but no one was willing to listen. Someone like Koenji or Ayanokoji could easily stand up to Sakayanagi of Class A.

And this school didn't decide winners by academic ability. As long as you had a capable leader, even a good-for-nothing like Yamauchi could be useful.