The Saint!

In April, you could see beautiful cherry trees, with masses of blossoms blooming and drifting down. It was a little less friendly to people with pollen allergies and rhinitis, though.

Beihai knew this was a special day. He was leaving behind a suffocating family and heading to an unknown school.

Whatever the case, he had finally stepped outside. Seeing the falling cherry blossoms, he couldn't help praising them. The weather was lovely, and he felt much freer already.

After all, his tuition was completely covered for all three years. That meant he didn't have to find a part-time job or think up all sorts of ways to survive. He could even enjoy a good learning environment. How could that not make him happy?

"So this is what freedom feels like?"

When he reached the bus stop, he found that the bus had already left. Beihai had no choice but to walk leisurely toward school.

The culprit behind all this was probably his somewhat sluggish mental state, which had slowed his movements too.

The Involution King's effect was great, but it placed a heavy burden on his body. Beihai had only avoided dropping dead because the system was holding him together.

If it had been a high-speed train, Beihai would have found it troublesome and figured he'd have to wait for the next one. But there was no need to worry about that with a bus. After all, the bus stops were close together.

He only needed to walk for a few minutes to reach the next stop. By the time Beihai finally made it to the school, he found his assigned class on the notice board.

There were four classes in all, each represented by a letter: A, B, C, and D.

Just then, a lively voice suddenly sounded behind him.

"You're a little late, classmate. You should pay more attention to the time. The opening ceremony's about to start, so you might not be able to go to class just yet.

"Oh, right, I almost forgot to introduce myself. I'm Kikyo Kushida. Nice to meet you."

Hearing the voice, Beihai turned around and saw a pretty girl with orange hair and a particularly nice figure. And she was really only sixteen? That size?

Beihai's radar went off. His Goblin trait had activated. In other words, the girl was a bona fide saint. Why would a saint be so nice to a goblin?

As a goblin, he knew his place. Goblins often looked in the mirror, then asked their chief for confirmation.

Beihai had a theory: this saint was nice to everyone, the gentle, sweet type. Otherwise, she had some other motive.

Facing the saint, Beihai's face reddened without him meaning to. He seemed unaccustomed to a pretty girl talking to him, yet he also longed for it. The words that came out of his mouth were even a little stammered.

"Th-thanks, Kushida. I'm Beihai. I just overslept a little, so I'm late. I'm really sorry."

As he spoke, Beihai didn't forget to scratch his head. With his thick glasses and long hair, there was no need to explain. Kikyo Kushida could tell at a glance that he'd stayed up late gaming. He was obviously an ultimate shut-in.

Kikyo Kushida seemed amused by his appearance. She clapped her hands, her face alight with a cheerful smile, and said, "You're so cute! You don't have to explain yourself to me. Nobody's going to blame you."

That one sentence had completely sealed the deal.

Beihai obediently followed her to the opening ceremony.

Kikyo Kushida turned around, still wearing a bright smile, but inwardly she was mocking Beihai.

A shut-in? How disgusting. Who wants to hear all that? Has he never seen a pretty girl before? Still, someone like him should be easy to control.

This is so effortless it's almost boring. I only have to crook a finger, and he'll be grinning like a fish.

After she turned away, the shy look vanished from Beihai's face. He was thinking, too. She seemed like the type who wanted to get along with everyone and become the universally acknowledged school goddess.

Besides, girls like that were usually two-faced. On the surface, they didn't look down on anyone and smiled at everybody. He figured they had plenty going on inside.

But the way he'd acted just now would probably make her lose interest in him pretty quickly. He'd seemed far too easy to win over, and she wouldn't waste much time on him.

The opening ceremony was nothing special, no different from those at other schools. The principal and school officials welcomed the new students, gave some empty motivational speeches, then wrapped up with a bit of brainwashing.

Beihai stood behind Kikyo Kushida. That was another kindness on her part. Given the persona he'd put on, it would have been hard to refuse. He even had to act a little pleased about it.

Kikyo Kushida smiled, looking as if she'd expected this. She was now completely certain she'd won Beihai over.

Beihai, meanwhile, figured she probably wouldn't approach him again after this.

Once the ceremony ended, everyone went back to their respective classes and the crowd dispersed. Beihai noticed that the four classes seemed to have very different levels of discipline.

After his class was dismissed, there was no acting class representative or anything like that. Everyone scattered chaotically, as if there wasn't even a temporary leader.

Normally, when a school held an event like this, wouldn't a teacher lead the class through it, then take everyone back to their classroom?

Why did it feel like the students were managing everything themselves?

The upper-year students already had class representatives, which didn't surprise Beihai. But all four lower-year classes were left to manage themselves—and wasn't the gap between them a little too wide?

Beihai shook his head. Why should he care about any of that? It wouldn't get in the way of his studies.

Back in his classroom, he sat at his desk and took out his books to study. He continued until the teacher walked in.

Based on Beihai's usual assumptions, the first person to enter would generally be the homeroom teacher. As expected, he was right: she introduced herself as their class instructor, Sae Chabashira.

She said she would be in charge of them for the next three years. In other words, they wouldn't change classes.

That was nothing new. At the vocational high school Beihai had attended in his previous life, a homeroom teacher would teach the same class for all three years, too.

What interested Beihai most was the points she mentioned, along with the S System. They could be used to buy just about anything considered common knowledge. Points exchanged at a one-to-one rate, and a new batch would be deposited into their accounts every month. This month, they'd received 100,000 points.

The school was also extremely strict about bullying and would crack down hard, so they didn't need to worry about having their points taken away.

The classroom was anything but calm, especially after the 100,000 points were announced.

The class instructor didn't stop them. She waited for everyone to quiet down on their own. When nobody had any questions, she left without another word.

She left in a hurry, and the moment she was gone, the classroom descended into total chaos. The noise made Beihai's head buzz.