The final bell rang at last.
The echo of the announcement slowly faded in Class C's classroom.
At the lectern, the teacher tossed the stub of chalk into the tray with a faint clack, then briskly dismissed the class.
As the adult's figure disappeared at the end of the hallway, the stifling air in the classroom seemed to melt away all at once.
The students let out a collective sigh, shedding the prim, practiced posture they had maintained all day.
The scrape of chairs and desks, the click of bags opening and closing, and snippets of conversation quickly mingled together. At some unspoken signal, everyone around him formed a few little groups and began streaming toward the classroom door.
"Phew..."
Not wanting to squeeze through the crowd, Kujo simply stayed in his seat, quietly watching everyone leave.
Only after most of the students had gone did he slowly get up and head to the other side of the classroom.
Like the other students, Kujo was looking for a little group of his own.
When he glanced out the window, he realized that the classmate he usually ate lunch with had already disappeared.
There was no need to wonder where he'd gone. He was surely off on a date with the beauty who sat next to him.
Kujo was used to being alone.
Having lived two lives, he had long since grown accustomed to the dull routine of going between three places.
Even after being transported into the world of a novel he knew well, Kujo still had to spend the next three years working hard to keep up with entrance requirements and exams.
The novelty he'd felt when he first arrived in this world had completely worn off.
What should have been a thrilling story about turning his class around had become a routine of checking in at the dormitory, the school building, and the cafeteria.
Most importantly, he was running low on personal points. Even if he scrimped and saved, he could barely make it to the end of the month. Every day, he could only reassure himself that things would work out somehow.
Unfortunately, this was the Advanced Nurturing High School, a school that put strength above all else.
Whenever he thought about that, Kujo couldn't help feeling uncertain about his future as a student.
Only graduates of Class A received guaranteed placement for further education or employment. Kujo was currently in Class C, ranked just one place above Class D.
But compared to the lower-ranked Class D, this was, without exaggeration, the class with the least potential in the original story—a class with no chance of ever reaching Class A.
At this point, Kujo wasn't even confident he could avoid being expelled, let alone move up a class or get into a good school.
The classroom grew quieter and quieter, until the last few voices faded beyond the door.
Kujo turned his gaze away from the window and realized that he wasn't alone in the room. Someone was still seated not far behind him, diagonally to the side.
< src="https://e1.kuangxiangit./uplos/chaptersnew/507/178683/260220/1771589259-100437152-113230459.jpg" alt='Shiina Hiyori'>
She was a beauty with a bright future ahead of her.
Her soft, cherry-blossom-pink lips were always curved in a shy smile. Wisps of hair behind her ear trembled as she turned the pages, and her fingertips danced lightly over the corner of each one.
Kujo noticed that whenever the girl turned a page, she carefully smoothed down its corner. She was clearly someone who cherished her books.
< src="https://e1.kuangxiangit./uplos/chaptersnew/507/178683/260220/1771589302-100437152-113230459.jpg" alt='Shiina Hiyori'>
Perhaps she had finished a chapter, or perhaps the profound silence of the classroom had caught her attention. She suddenly looked up, and their eyes met without warning.
A peculiar stillness settled over the classroom. Even the sound of the air moving seemed clear.
For Kujo, it was more accurate to call it awkwardness. Almost instinctively, he looked away first.
Even so, he could still feel the girl's gaze resting quietly in his direction.
I should leave...
Before the strange atmosphere could build and before he did anything even more impolite, the sensible thing would be to get up and leave naturally, as if nothing had happened. But before Kujo could put that plan into action, the girl called his name first.
"Kujo."
< src="https://e1.kuangxiangit./uplos/chaptersnew/507/178683/260220/1771589460-100437152-113230459.jpg" alt='Shiina Hiyori'>
Her voice was so soft that Kujo hadn't even realized at first that she might be calling him.
He turned his face toward her hesitantly and silently pointed at himself.
"You're staying late again today, Kujo?"
Kujo paused.
He had never interacted with this girl before. To be honest, he wasn't even sure she knew his name for certain.
Her out-of-the-blue greeting left him confused, and he could only remain silent.
In truth, Kujo did know something about the girl. He knew the entirety of her story in the original work. He even knew that, in the latest part of the story, she was jokingly called "the final winner" by everyone.
Because he was a transmigrator.
A transmigrator who had entered the world of Classroom of the Elite, then, for special reasons, chosen to enroll at the Advanced Nurturing High School, and later happened to be assigned to Class C—a perfectly ordinary student.
Now, faced with this important Class C character from the original story, Kujo had never imagined that someone like him would one day have his life intersect with hers.
"My name is Shiina Hiyori." She had packed her bag, but showed no sign of leaving. Instead, she sat up straight and introduced herself clearly.
Kujo politely returned the introduction, but the girl seemed to have no intention of letting the conversation end there.
"Kujo, do you like books?"
The question itself was ordinary. From anyone else, it would have been a perfectly normal way to make conversation. But here and now, coming from her, it carried an indescribably peculiar feeling.
Kujo's heart gave a small jump. He reminded himself over and over not to get the wrong idea.
That absolutely isn't what she means.
Just because I'm a transmigrator, I shouldn't assume I'm the protagonist, or that girls are naturally going to fall for me.
That's absolutely impossible.
Avoid every possible dangerous flag.
Stamp out the last of my wishful thinking.
Stay away from an ordinary school romance.
Over the next three years, he had to either prepare twenty million points to transfer to Class A and enjoy the privileges that came with graduation, or build relationships with the prominent characters from the original story and try to scrape by.
Only then.
Only then could he survive in the cruel Japanese society after graduating from this school, live an ordinary life, and avoid repeating the failure of his previous one.
Firmly reinforcing these thoughts, Kujo met her gaze and kept his tone calm and distant.
"Shiina, I don't read much. Rather than reading other people's stories, I'd rather work hard for the life I'll have after graduation."
There was no doubt about it. That was a rejection.
Three years would pass in the blink of an eye. Once they entered society, their brief time at school would gradually fade from memory. No one could live in the past forever.
Kujo knew himself. He was an utterly unromantic realist, and there was no way he and the girl before him were destined to be together.
But to his surprise, after hearing his words, the girl showed no embarrassment or disappointment at being rejected. She simply exclaimed:
"Kujo, you're so mature."
At her words, Kujo felt a touch of self-mockery.
He'd merely been worn down by life, stripped of all the unnecessary edges and fantasies.
Put less kindly, he was just an exhausted adult, repeatedly battered by reality and dressed in a teenager's body.
But Shiina seemed completely convinced of her opinion. Her voice, faint at first, grew more excited.
"Then, if I could get you to like reading, Kujo... do you think it might change your mind?"
Her hands clasped together unconsciously, fingertips touching, as though she were trying hard to keep her expression calm.
She... seemed serious about the suggestion. She even seemed to be looking forward to his answer.
Kujo was completely dumbfounded.
He hadn't just arrived in this world. He'd already been here for several months before coming to the Advanced Nurturing High School. But he had never imagined that the first person to be affected by the faintest "butterfly effect," the one whose life would veer so dramatically from the original story, would be this girl who was always by the side of her books.
Before he could process this, Shiina spoke again.
This time, her voice was even softer, but every word was clear.
"I like you, Kujo."
As he listened to the girl, Kujo still felt as if his thoughts had completely frozen. He couldn't get a single word out.
"I like books, but I don't like lying. So I was only pretending to read just now, because~ I was waiting for you to notice me."
!!
"Someone like me might cause you all kinds of trouble in the future, Kujo."
?!!
"If you don't dislike me, you can just call me by my first name from now on. But I'll only call you Kujo, because I really like calling you that."
Whenever Kujo thought back on this moment in the future, he felt that he really wasn't a very good person.
He was like a fool, faced with an entire grove of cherry blossoms in bloom but unable to appreciate them. In the end, he stopped for a single leaf with an unusual pattern that happened to fall into his palm—and could never bring himself to move on.
< src="https://e1.kuangxiangit./uplos/chaptersnew/507/178683/250522/1747910848-100437152-113230459.jpg" alt='128168720'>
< src="https://e1.kuangxiangit./uplos/chaptersnew/507/178683/250908/1757320000-100437152-113230459.jpg" alt='Reference for Hiyori's personality'>
< src="https://e1.kuangxiangit./uplos/chaptersnew/507/178683/250908/1757319982-100437152-113230459.jpg" alt='Reference for Hiyori making the first move'>
< src="https://e1.kuangxiangit./uplos/chaptersnew/507/178683/250908/1757320162-100437152-113230459.jpg" alt='Reference for Hiyori being assertive'>
Before you continue