"I'm just trying to remember the bitter past and appreciate the sweet present." Mikage Touji tried to defend himself, embarrassed and indignant.
"Anyway, do your best. By the way..." Mikage Touji swallowed the last bite of his Mountain Vegetable Set Meal, picked up his tray, and stood. "I get the feeling this school has plenty of secrets beyond this one. You could have a pretty exciting time here."
"That's an infuriating thing to say, you mere Mikage Touji." Morishita Ran picked up her tray too. "On the name of my grandfather, One Piece, I absolutely refuse to lose to you!"
"Huh?" Mikage Touji turned his head. "What am I even competing with you over?"
"Treasure belongs only to the first person to discover it."
Mikage Touji had no interest in such a childish provocation. He started to leave. "Whatever you say. Have fun, Morishita."
"Looks like I won, Mikage Touji. You're nothing special." Morishita Ran wore a satisfied expression. "Then again, since you're Ultraman, there's no way you could beat me, a Kamen Rider."
"Oh... Morishita, so you're on Team Toei."
Mikage Touji stopped in his tracks and turned around, smiling without warmth. "No wonder you were so hung up on my self-introduction."
Ultraman and Kamen Rider were the two biggest franchises in Japanese tokusatsu. Their rivalry and collaboration over nearly half a century could be called an "epic love-and-hate saga of the tokusatsu universe," and the fans' private flame wars were too numerous to count.
"Today, Kamen Rider emerged victorious." Morishita Ran gazed at the lights going out in the distance and sighed. "After all, Ultraman and all that is already outdated..."
"You've got some nerve. How can that childish stuff for little kids, Kamen Rider, even compare to Ultraman, who is the very embodiment of light? Then again, you're a professional seller of children's toys, so it suits a childish girl like you, doesn't it, Morishita?"
"..."
A few hours later, the scene from the bus played out again in the cafeteria. Sparks seemed to fly between their locked gazes.
"After school, two days from now," Mikage Touji suddenly said.
"In the Class A classroom," Morishita Ran replied at once.
"Whoever finds more of this school's hidden rules—"
"Wins the competition." Morishita Ran stepped closer too.
"The loser—" Their eyes met, and they said in unison, "Admits Kamen Rider (Ultraman) is fake!"
"Deal!"
Their palms smacked together.
Chapter 5: A Cheat Ability!
That was all well and good, but I had absolutely no idea where to start.
Watching Morishita Ran walk away, full of enthusiasm, Mikage Touji felt a headache coming on.
After thinking for a moment, he took out his phone and opened the class group chat he'd just joined.
It was full of A Class students discussing the school.
But none of them had posted any information about the school's rules. Hashimoto Masayoshi, who'd said he would ask upperclassmen for information, was silent too. Looks like Katsuragi was right: this wasn't information he could get easily.
Usually, all it took was a certain number of points to get an upperclassman to talk. It wouldn't cost them anything, but still, none of his classmates had heard a thing.
Mikage Touji drank the last of his bottled water, tossed the bottle into a trash can with a clatter, and looked toward the school building.
"Has the school forbidden them from talking about it?" Mikage Touji clicked his tongue. "That's sneaky!"
The most pressing thing now was to figure out the system the school used to evaluate its students. That was the core of everything. Once he understood it, he'd make progress on the other questions too.
"This school measures students by their ability. Since you were accepted, you each have the corresponding value and potential. All you need to do is maintain that value." Mashima Tomoya's voice echoed in Mikage Touji's mind.
Value? Ability? Potential?
Speaking of value...
Mikage Touji began pacing along the path.
What was a student's value, anyway?
A breeze brushed past, ruffling his bangs.
"Dogs who score below 600, don't talk to classmates who score above 650. Your starved brains will lower their knowledge concentration."
Mikage Touji shuddered and shook his head hard.
No, no, different country, different country. I've even been transported to another world, so why am I still thinking about the terror of being crushed by academic performance?
As for ability...
[A mass shooting has occurred at a U.S. university. A student entered the campus carrying an assault rifle and opened fire on students in a classroom, leaving XX dead and XX injured.]
No, no, that's not going to happen. This is Japan, a country with the rule of law, at least.
So... given the circumstances in Japan, what did they mean by a student's value?
Academic performance had to count for something. Given Japan's strong club culture, physical ability probably mattered too. But morality and social skills were so intangible. Unless the school had some kind of god's-eye view, how could it judge those—
Mikage Touji froze. He slowly raised his head. His big, flat face was clearly reflected in the surveillance camera at the upper right...
It wasn't impossible, after all!
"Yikes—"
Mikage Touji sucked in a sharp breath.
Following this logic, if value could be ranked, then there was a good chance the school also divided students into classes like the advanced class, honors class, remedial class, and regular class based on their grades.
At that moment, the impressive figures of all the top students in his class appeared in Mikage Touji's mind.
Our class probably isn't the worst... right?
Mikage Touji's face twitched.
No, there was no way they could be the worst! Mikage Touji quickly stamped out the thought. Apart from him and Morishita Ran, who were both oddballs, the other students' discipline and character were there for all to see.
After organizing his thoughts so far, Mikage Touji felt he was already very close to the truth.
It would be easy enough to test the theory: just compare the students in each class.
Mikage Touji suddenly stopped. The students had already been dismissed. The earliest he could make the comparison was tomorrow, when classes started.
Nothing for it. I'll have to stop here for now. Mikage Touji sighed and took out his phone.
[Light, When Are You Coming Back: Morishita, how's your progress? I'm almost at checkmate over here.]
Mikage Touji's mouth curled into a huge grin. Whether it was true or not, he might as well talk big first.
A little while later, Morishita Ran finally replied.
[Humans, How Interesting: Mikage Touji, as I expected, you evil fiend were sent by the heavens to stop me from exposing the truth of the world.]
[Light, When Are You Coming Back: Don't tell me I interrupted your plan again?]
[Humans, How Interesting: Correct. As a reward, you can come with me on a joyride to the ends of hell. I was eavesdropping in the café for information, but your text ruined everything.]
That was one way to do it, though it relied a little too much on luck.
[Light, When Are You Coming Back: In that case, good luck. I've already finished my task for today.]
[Humans, How Interesting: Don't worry about me. In two days, you'll understand that Morishita Ran is invincible.]
After bantering with Morishita Ran for a little while longer, Mikage Touji arrived at the entrance to the student dormitory. He raised a hand to his forehead and looked up.
The dormitory building was quite tall. Just by eye, it had more than ten floors. There was no way the boys alone needed that many floors, so the girls must live here too.
After getting an electronic access card from the dorm supervisor, Mikage Touji went to his room.
Room 404. A forbidden, unspeakable den of iniquity.
The sensor beeped, and the door opened. The room wasn't very big, but it had everything: a bed, a mini-fridge, a stovetop, and even a balcony.
Mikage Touji closed the door, locked it, and slowly let out a breath.
Now, then...
Mikage Touji's eyes suddenly widened. Silvery light flowed through his pupils, and his brown irises darkened like ink.
On the balcony, five ants were carrying the corpse of a dead aphid.
Three faint scratches intersected on the door.
The fridge was empty, with absolutely nothing inside.
Dust had gathered in the corner of the bathroom. Looks like the cleaners had been slacking off.
In an instant, information about the room rushed into Mikage Touji's mind like a flood...
Mikage Touji's mental power continued to spread... As its range expanded, a feeling of emptiness began to wash over him, as if his strength were being drained away. Sweat ran down the bridge of his nose and dripped onto his lips.
The next moment, the pale floor filled Mikage Touji's vision.
"Huff! Huff! Huff..." He knelt on the ground, panting heavily.
Mental control? Psychokinesis? Or Omniscient Vision?
He couldn't quite figure out what his ability was yet. He didn't know if it had been left behind by System-chan, either. The ability had appeared after she left.
But there was no doubt that this ability was quite advanced in any world.
Unfortunately, this was a world without magic. With these scrawny arms and legs, he could be beaten to a pulp by anyone with a single punch.
The biggest benefit was probably that his stamina recovered quickly and his senses had become sharper.
So far, Mikage Touji had developed two active skills.
One was the Detection he'd just used. As for the other...
Mikage Touji stared at the room key in his hand. Silvery-white light began to flow again.
The key card trembled, then wobbled into the air. It swam like a fish before finally coming to a shaky stop midair.
At best, he could use it to perform a magic trick for someone. For now, it seemed that the only way to improve was to use it more.
But!
Once I've spent three years lying low at Kouiku and gradually grown stronger, who'll dare raise their voice at me after graduation? I'll hit them with a Heaven's Obstacle Star-Crushing!
I'll become Happy Superman. When I'm happy, I'll super—
"Clack—!"
A sharp sound rang out as the key card dropped to the floor.
"..."
He struggled to get himself onto the bed, pulled the covers over himself, and peacefully closed his eyes.
Forget it. For now, I'd better figure out how to throw an empty bottle into the trash can accurately.
Chapter 6: I've Never Seen a Student This Arrogant
The second day of school.
"Achoo!"
Mikage Touji rubbed his nose and walked into the classroom, looking listless.
There was still plenty of time before class, but more than ten students were already there. Some had even opened their textbooks to preview the day's lessons.
"Morning, Kito." Mikage Touji casually greeted Kito Hayato, who was sitting in the front row.
"Morning..."
Kito Hayato seemed a little surprised that Mikage Touji had greeted him, but he quickly recovered and replied in a low voice. He was wearing a different pair of white gloves today. Mikage Touji wondered whether he changed them every day.
After passing Kito Hayato, Mikage Touji squinted and staggered toward his seat.
Last night, while experimenting with his ability, Mikage Touji had let his imagination run wild and remembered an essential skill for training mental power in old novels—meditation!
They said it could absorb the spiritual energy of heaven and earth to strengthen mental power.
With benefits like that, Mikage Touji had to test it out. He followed a tutorial he found online and started meditating on his bed.
Twenty minutes later, surrounded by the spiritual energy of heaven and earth...
Mikage Touji fell asleep sitting up.
Then he spent the whole night getting blasted by the cold wind.
Superstition was dangerous!
"Thud—!"
Wandering in his thoughts, Mikage Touji felt himself collide with a soft body. The sound of books scattering onto the floor followed.
He'd bumped into someone!
Before you continue