Self-Introduction

The classroom's clamour was finally broken by the arrival of a teacher.

It was as if a noisy jungle had fallen silent in an instant, so quiet you could hear a pin drop.

At that moment, the students of Class A swiftly displayed the quality known as excellence in front of their teacher.

Of course, they might simply have been eager to show off in front of a petite, adorable girl.

In any case, they quickly returned to their seats and sat up straight. Their speed made even Dongfang Yi glance over in surprise.

Though, back in my hometown... it wasn't anything worth worrying about. This was perfectly normal at any halfway decent school.

Nothing worth mentioning.

But this was Advanced Nurturing High School, where ability reigned supreme. Even Dongfang Yi found himself instinctively comparing these people, who would be spending the next while with him, to the students of Class D in the original story.

The group before him immediately struck him as having more of the air of elite wage slaves.

No wonder these were the outstanding students chosen for Class A at this school!

Dongfang Yi nodded slightly. It was a good thing they were so disciplined, after all, their interests were closely tied to his now.

The more points, the better for you, me, and everyone.

Mashima Tomoya took advantage of the moment to step up to the podium as well. After a brief self-introduction and a welcoming speech, he began explaining the school's point system and some related matters.

Dongfang Yi wasn't listening, though.

He had already opened the system shop, and was currently spending like a millionaire.

Thanks to Kushida Kikyo's friendship explosion, Dongfang Yi now had 12,135 points, enough to buy all three newly listed items.

[Passive Skill · Magic Hands]

System Description: Gives you magical dexterity. Greatly increases your efficiency when learning hand-based skills and improves the effects of those skills. The improvement grows with proficiency, up to a maximum of 300%.

Price: 10K System Points.

[Hall of Knowledge (Admission Ticket)]

Use this to enter the Hall once. There is a chance to obtain a skill.

Price: 500 System Points.

[Trial of Knowledge (Admission Ticket)]

Use this to undergo a skill trial. Train your skills and face challenges in a time-frozen trial ground. The experience you gain in the corresponding ability depends on the result of the trial.

Price: 1,000 System Points.

Dongfang Yi waved his hand and bought everything without hesitation. The two tickets barely cost anything, after all.

A mere 1.5K points.

12,135 → 635.

After all that hard work, he was back where he started before enrollment.

Dongfang Yi sighed. He knew perfectly well that system points were worthless if he didn't use them, but when the moment came, he still found it hard to accept.

It hurt. It really hurt.

I'm so poor~

To cheer himself up, Dongfang Yi forcibly dragged his attention away from the screen and pricked up his ears to listen to Teacher Mashima.

The content was simple and nothing new.

Things like how the student ID and point card were combined, how you could pay with your point card on campus, how you received 100,000 points in the first month, and how points were issued every month.

It was much the same as in the original story. If there was a difference, it might just be the difference between men's and women's speech patterns.

However, as a man with exceedingly high standards for food, an A+-rank cooking skill, and a destiny to bear the name of invincible, a mere 100,000 points was nowhere near enough to satisfy him.

One hundred thousand points was only Dongfang Yi's bottom line, not the limit of how much he wanted to fleece from this school!

If his plan went well, by the end of the first academic year, everyone in his class would be getting at least 200,000 personal points a month! At least!

Dongfang Yi gazed out the window, hiding the greed in his eyes. He felt a faint excitement and anticipation as his plan seemed poised to get underway.

At that moment, he desperately wanted to raise his arms and shout to prove his resolve:

I came to Advanced Nurturing High School for just one thing—

Making money! Making money! And more damn money!

[Congratulations, Host, on obtaining the Level 2 Title: Invisible Person · You perfectly evaded everyone's attention]

[Stealth Skill EXP +40]

[System Points +1,000]

Only then did Dongfang Yi belatedly realize that he hadn't turned off his Stealth skill.

What a pity. If only he'd known, he would've stood up and tried raising his arms to shout.

It really was a pity. By the time he noticed, Teacher Mashima had already finished speaking and left the classroom to prepare for the opening ceremony in the gymnasium.

Dongfang Yi had lost his chance to publicly humiliate himself.

Next, the bald man who looked so reliable... no, the lightbulb... stepped up to the podium.

Katsuragi Kohei, the man who'd wanted to join the Student Council at the start, but had unfortunately lost out because of the current Student Council president's "approval."

In some ways, he seemed surprisingly reliable.

In fact, if his future opponent weren't Sakayanagi Arisu, Dongfang Yi wouldn't have minded making his first choice to help Katsuragi secure his class and stay in Class A.

When it came to making money, it hardly mattered whether the leader was a man or a woman.

Besides, Katsuragi Kohei had plenty of virtues: he came from a poor family, hoped to graduate from Class A, showed no mercy, and had decent personal abilities...

But the most important thing was the first one: he came from a poor family. That gave him and Dongfang Yi a shared goal by default, making it possible for them to form an unbreakable alliance.

Unfortunately...

His opponent came from a far too powerful background. Victory was all but impossible.

Even Dongfang Yi, a cheater who knew the future, wasn't absolutely confident he could defeat the Little Princess, the unrivalled champion of Class A's internal battles.

Sakayanagi Arisu, a very capricious woman who was far more troublesome than Kushida Kikyo.

What could he do? He'd been assigned to Class A.

Life was hard. Yi Yi sighed.

After all, the future leader of Class A spent her days rescuing her childhood friend Ayanokoji Kiyotaka, announcing one-sidedly that she would settle things with him, and occasionally tormenting Ichinose.

As for the class? Her classmates?

Sorry, she didn't even have that concept.

They were just toys for her amusement.

The only difference was that some toys were more pleasing to the eye, while others were an eyesore.

None of them were as appealing as the genius from the White Room, her childhood friend.

Dongfang Yi thought she really didn't need to be so persistent. Anyone with eyes could tell which of them was male and which female.

And Dongfang Yi was perfectly normal. He could issue them certificates proving which was which.

It wouldn't make much difference whether they settled things between them or not. With the Little Princess's health, which required a bottle of emergency heart medicine at home, what would winning even accomplish? Would they sit and discuss philosophy or play a harmonious duet?

Just imagine the scene if the Little Princess got her way.

In the midst of battle:

Tyrannosaurus used the Thirteen Needles of the Ghost Gate.

The first needle drew blood, the second pierced the stomach, the third brought the King of Hell!

And thus, the Thirteen Needles of the Ghost Gate was officially renamed—

The Three Needles of the Ghost Gate!

She might be a legal loli with white hair and a fortune, but she could still get someone a steady job.

On murder charges.

It wasn't that Dongfang Yi hadn't considered building a good working relationship with her and graduating from Class A together.

After graduation, maybe he could even live off the Chairman's family.

But after looking into it carefully, he abandoned that unrealistic idea and kept it as a last resort for when he was out of options.

Because Sakayanagi Arisu couldn't be trusted.

They had no shared foundation of interests.

The wealthy Little Princess didn't particularly care about graduating from Class A in the first place.

Whether she graduated from Class A or not made no difference to her.

So even if he managed to reach an agreement with her, he'd still have to watch out for a knife in his back.

Who knew when she'd sell him out without hesitation just because she found it entertaining?

He didn't want to spend his time planning strategies against outside enemies while also worrying that an idiot teammate might take a potshot and drag him down!

At the thought, Dongfang Yi's gaze sharpened, and his resolve to carry out his plan grew firmer.

Katsuragi Kohei's deep voice carried easily to everyone in the room. "Hello, everyone. My name is Katsuragi Kohei. As a member of Class A, I'm very glad to have the chance to spend the next three years at this school with all of you."

"As Teacher Mashima said, we won't be able to contact the outside world for the next three years. That means we'll need to support one another through any difficulties we encounter in our daily lives."

"So, I'd like to suggest that anyone who wants to get to know everyone as soon as possible stand up and introduce themselves, so we can all become familiar with each other."

As soon as he finished speaking, the guy who always played along immediately stood up and applauded, clapping so hard he made as much noise as an entire group.

Sure enough, just as Stand users were drawn to one another, fate would follow its own set course.

The speed at which Totsuka Yahiko was drawn to Katsuragi Kohei was truly incredible.

Still, perhaps it was only to be expected from Katsuragi.

Dongfang Yi felt that the aura projected by that serious face was no less imposing than a teacher's.

He looked away, quietly deactivated his Stealth skill, and turned to Sakayanagi Arisu in the front row.

The Little Princess still sat in her seat, looking toward the podium. She gave a slight nod, a warm, serene smile on her face. She looked perfectly at ease, and elegant.

She gave Katsuragi, standing at the podium, an approving smile.

For some reason, it made Dongfang Yi feel as though she were waiting for the bald Katsuragi to kneel and swear loyalty to her.

Next, everyone stood up one by one to introduce themselves. Apart from Sakayanagi Yuki, only Satoshi Ritonaka drew cheers from a large number of students—girls, to be precise—when he introduced himself.

Dongfang Yi had to admit that good looks were a major asset when it came to interacting with people. There was clearly a reason this guy had been voted No. 1 on the handsome guys list.

He probably hit the sweet spot for quite a few people.

It was just hard to understand why he later became a background character.

Maybe it was because... his looks outshone the original protagonist, Tyrannosaurus?

Come on, they already made him a Tyrannosaurus. Did they really have to make him so petty?

Dongfang Yi raised an eyebrow, suddenly feeling like laughing.

Before long, it was finally his turn.

He rose gently, placed his left hand over his chest, turned slightly to face the entire class, and bowed his head a little. His eyes narrowed slightly. "I am Dongfang Yi. I'm very happy to have met all of you at this school. My wish for this school year is to spend three peaceful years in Class A. I hope we'll get along well in the days ahead."

He thought he'd shown enough courtesy, but there was no response.

The entire classroom fell silent, not a sound to be heard.

Was I really that intimidating? Like Katsuragi?

He blinked, then sat down without a care. It was a small thing, not worth dwelling on.

Still, plenty of eyes remained fixed on him. But whenever he looked back, those students would turn their heads away without making it obvious.

Sigh, I'd thought I was handsome...

I guess I'd been mistaken.

Did people in this world have different tastes from back home? Or had I been too full of myself?

But Kushida Kikyo didn't...

Right, it was basically impossible to tell Kushida disliked you.

Unless she stopped hiding it.

So had I been flattering myself when I thought she'd go looking for me in every club?

He slouched forward, resting his head on his arms and looking sideways at the sky, hiding his face, which had flushed with embarrassment.

Not a great start.

He sighed, and for the first time, wished these three days at the school would hurry by.

I hope it won't be too awkward when I see that gold mine again. Amen.

As he ran from reality, Sakayanagi Arisu began discreetly observing him with her compact mirror from afar.

Perhaps he'd make a pawn with a little value~