The afternoon sun was lazy. On the bus bound for the Advanced Nurturing High School, groups of boys and girls chatted and laughed.
They were all happy and full of anticipation at the chance to attend such a prestigious school.
Yet one person among them seemed completely out of place.
"Hey, did something happen to you on the way here?"
The girl beside him asked, but the filthy boy only gave a slight shake of his head and said nothing. His gaze remained fixed on the scenery outside the window, greedily taking it in, a faint glimmer in his eyes.
The girl seemed a little confused, but politely smiled and let it go. Then she quietly started chatting with the others.
"He's so weird."
"Yeah, he was like that with me just now. He has no manners at all, and he smells awful."
"Shh, keep your voice down. Let's just ignore him."
Though the girls whispered among themselves, they had no idea the boy heard every word. He simply didn't think he cared.
Just then, up ahead in the priority seating, a blond man sitting with his legs crossed started arguing with a sweet-faced girl. Their bickering immediately drew everyone's attention, including the boy's.
"This is priority seating. I think we should let the elderly woman sit first."
"Oh, come now, miss."
"Even though this is priority seating, there's no legal obligation to give up your seat."
"But the elderly woman..."
The argument grew louder and louder. At a loss, the girl looked to the others for help, hoping someone would give up a seat for the elderly woman.
At last, just before the bus arrived, another woman offered her seat.
And so the matter was settled.
But among all the curious onlookers, there was one person who had been staring sidelong at the filthy boy from the very beginning. Nothing else seemed to interest him, and his cold gaze never changed.
A girl beside him, with waist-length black hair tied into a braided bun, noticed his odd behavior.
By the time they reached the school gates, the filthy boy had already vanished into the crowd. Ayanokoji had wanted to follow him, but the girl who had been sitting nearby—the one with long black hair tied into a braid—stopped him for some inexplicable reason.
With no choice, Ayanokoji reluctantly gave up on chasing after the boy.
When he asked why she had stopped him, her response nearly made him cry with frustration. She fired off all sorts of bizarre questions, including why he hadn't offered his seat and why he had kept staring at that person.
He had wanted to snap, "Who are you to me? Why do you care so much?"
Of course, he only thought it. He knew full well that if someone caught him in a compromising position over such a trivial matter, he'd never hear the end of it.
Meanwhile, the boy, who had arrived on campus earlier, was now in Chairman Sakayanagi's office.
"Tell me, young man. Apart from your entrance exam results, why can't I find any other information about you?"
"Do you have any idea how severe the punishment is for forging your identity to get into this school?"
The man with the most authority in the school reprimanded him, but the boy didn't seem to care in the slightest. In fact, he looked annoyed that the man's guards had dragged him here by force, wasting his time looking for somewhere to take a bath.
"Hey..."
The boy gestured with both hands to show he wanted to bathe. Worried that the man might not understand, he hurried over and slowly repeated the gestures right in front of him, all the while speaking softly.
It was an insult.
A complete and utter insult!
The man couldn't bear it. The boy had ignored his words and even had the nerve to look at him as if he were an idiot.
"You brat!" Chairman Sakayanagi slammed his hand on the desk and abruptly stood up.
He rarely lost his temper, but this was the first time he'd been so furious that the hair on his arms stood on end, his face turning bright red.
Yet the boy didn't seem to care. His half-lidded eyes suddenly opened, fixing on Chairman Sakayanagi for a brief instant before narrowing again.
The pressure radiating from those dark red eyes was so terrifying it felt suffocating. Even after only a moment of eye contact, Chairman Sakayanagi instinctively took several steps back.
This man is no ordinary person! That was his first thought.
Chairman Sakayanagi had worked hard for many years to become the chairman of this school. He had plenty of experience reading people and knew how to handle emergencies.
Even his daughter, whom he had always been proud of, had never made him feel such an overwhelming sense of pressure with a look.
Can someone like this really exist in the world?
Chairman Sakayanagi took a deep breath. The boy had forged his documents, and their conversation had been strange, but at least his purpose seemed simple: he merely wanted to attend the school.
"So..."
The ever-shrewd chairman seemed to have made a bold decision. He turned around, forcing himself to face the fear welling up inside him, and looked at the boy. "I-if you only want to enroll, I can help you. But you have to agree to a deal."
The man was sweating profusely, yet trying to keep his expression composed. A trace of satisfaction flashed in the boy's eyes. At last, he thought, this man was worth talking to. "Interesting. Let's hear it."
"I'll arrange an identity for you and place you directly in Class 1-A, the best class in the first year."
"All you have to do is make sure my daughter graduates in three years as a member of Class A."
"But remember, you mustn't tell her I arranged it."
"Hmm... you mean Arisu Sakayanagi?"
"I remember her. Isn't she pretty strong? Heh. You want me to protect her?"
The boy seemed surprised. The years he had spent in the White Room had wiped every trace of emotion from his face, but he hadn't forgotten his memories of his previous life. That girl wasn't weak.
"Wait, how do you know her?"
The boy didn't answer. He simply went on, talking to himself. "Whatever. I can protect her, but I want to join Class D."
"Huh? C-Class... D-Class?" Chairman Sakayanagi blinked repeatedly, thinking he'd misheard.
Other people dreamed of getting into Class A. Why would anyone want to go the other way?
"Tch. You don't need to ask where I want to go."
"That's fine, but in a class like that, I'm worried you..."
Seeing Chairman Sakayanagi's concerned expression, the boy scoffed. "Heh. What difference does it make where I am?"
"What, are you afraid I'll get expelled?"
"Ha... hahahaha!" The boy laughed with such abandon, as if he'd heard an incredibly ridiculous joke. He couldn't remember the last time he'd laughed like that.
After a moment, the boy spoke casually. "Heh. How about this? For the first midterms after enrollment, tell me how many points you want, and I'll score exactly that."
"N-no, that's not what I meant," Chairman Sakayanagi tried to explain.
But the boy had no desire to keep talking. He cut him off. "Forget it. Since you won't say, I'll do what I did this time and get exactly the passing score in every subject. If I get even one point more or less, I'll withdraw from school myself."
"You don't need to say anything else. Just sit back and watch."
As he spoke, the boy stretched and once again acted as if he wanted to take a bath.
His impatient tone only made Chairman Sakayanagi more certain that there was something unusual about him.
So he said nothing more, and the two of them struck a deal.
He even gave the boy his private contact information, something he almost never shared.
The boy didn't think much of this inexplicable trust.
"Here's your ID card. Fill in whatever name and address you like."
"I'll have someone enter you into the school's computer system later."
"01?"
Looking at the name the boy had written, Chairman Sakayanagi smiled wryly. "I did say you could choose any name, but that's a bit..."
As if he understood what the man meant, the boy picked up his pen again and changed "01" to "Rinya."
"Rinya, huh..."
Looking at the filthy boy, Chairman Sakayanagi couldn't explain why, but he had a powerful premonition that the boy's future would be brilliant—that he would make a legend of his own.
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