The Earth-Shaking Savior

(The author is about to go full wavelength. If I don't write wavelength, I feel physically uncomfortable, and my prose has degraded.)

Does [love] truly exist?

I don't understand the concept of [love]. When my mother died, I lost the nerve for [love].

There are many forms of love—pure love, blood-bound love, spiritual love, love born from bonds, and of course, carnal love. No matter which kind, I can neither express nor perceive it.

[I was originally moaning without illness, aimlessly spilling out love. Now these wandering, unsettled birds have a place to perch. You can see it from the letter.]

Humanity is rotten. I know this...

Just like a Kappa, unwilling to exist in this world. Humans are forced into birth, unable to choose their own origin.

[Having experienced that feeling and then lost it, I once tried to eradicate the concept of "love" from my mental world. I succeeded, but ultimately failed. Now I know that as long as I live, It will keep appearing. Reason is completely passive and powerless before It, because reason's analysis of various emotions is completed in a series of static events occurring within life, while love persists continuously in the dynamic flow of living. Therefore, reason's analysis of love is always lagging behind—unless I upgrade my brain, raising my computational power to a higher level of reason, only then might I complete the analysis of love. Using reason to resist or eliminate love is even more impossible, like the Maginot Line standing useless before the mechanized German army.]

"What does that Senior Nagumo want to talk to me about?"

Seishiki looked around. A storage room with no surveillance... Was he some infiltrating investigator who'd failed? If it weren't for the fact that Nagumo Miyabi had brought along his 'girlfriend'... Probably? If it were just Nagumo alone, he'd have to run immediately. Wait, he wasn't bringing his girlfriend to play that kind of... group... thing, was he? That would actually be acceptable.

"I'm interested in you, Otonashi Seishiki."

"Senior Nagumo has investigated me, huh?"

Quite a capable man. But that's about all he is... Seishiki appraised Nagumo Miyabi, who exuded a faint aura of a 'kindred spirit.'

"Become my man?"

"...Huh?"

Nagumo pressed one hand against the wall, using his height advantage to look down at the slender, petite Seishiki.

"I'm a guy, you know, Senior Nagumo. You into that sort of thing?"

Seishiki played dumb calmly. He'd already figured out the general situation. It was almost the same as what was happening in his own class...

"Become my ally, Otonashi Seishiki. You're someone with ability and talent... the kind of talent I need."

"Eh? Someone like me who just plays games is good enough?"

"Being able to beat the Student Council President makes you a talent one in ten thousand at this school."

"Conditions. What do I get out of it?"

Seishiki didn't feel like playing nice anymore. Since the other party had laid their cards on the table, there was no point in pretending to be naive.

"Points? Probably not something you need. Having five hundred thousand points by the fourth day of enrollment—I don't know how you did it, but at least you have a means of profit."

"Then how about I grant you three wishes? As long as it's within the school, I can handle it."

"That's more generous than Senior Horikita."

If he was going to set up a [gambling venue] at school, having backing was necessary. Perfect timing—the backing had come to him.

"So? Looking forward to working together, Senior Nagumo?"

Seishiki extended his hand. Nagumo grasped that small, soft palm in return.

He added Nagumo Miyabi as a contact. Strolling through the now-empty campus...

A lot had happened today. Classmate Sakayanagi Arisu's revelation of the rules, the founding of the club, and Senior Nagumo's invitation. He'd wanted to be a transparent person, but it seemed to have backfired.

But right now, he had to do this. He could only do this.

[Kiyotaka Ayanokouji, Atsuomi Ayanokouji, Shigemori Sakayanagi...]

He exhaled a murky breath and looked up at the azure sky, which seemed as flat as a texture.

A wail like thunder erupted from the restroom. Was that an animal hunting? That exaggerated.

Seishiki frowned. The school supposedly prohibited violence, right? School bullying?

With his build, there wasn't much he could do. It wasn't like he could charge in and get beaten up...

As expected, even a school that claimed to cultivate [talent] couldn't filter out the [scum]. Well, he was one too...

What should he do? There was only one option.

Seishiki completely distorted his voice into a feminine tone. Sorry, Classmate Sakayanagi, borrowing your voice for a moment.

"Ah! I think I just heard a scream! Hey, Katsuragi-chan. Let's go find a teacher quickly, that's bad, right!"

He then mimicked the sound of running footsteps and hid in a nearby classroom.

A guy with red hair came out of the restroom. Just from his looks, he didn't seem like a decent person.

Seishiki peeked out from his hiding spot to observe. This guy was a pure, violent DQN.

(Seishiki's Mini Encyclopedia: DQN comes from the Japanese pronunciation abbreviation of "dokyun," referring to someone who is unreasonably violent or even antisocial, or someone lacking common sense and education, like a particularly nasty delinquent.)

There was also a guy with a blockhead-looking face, and even a black guy? What kind of international school was this?

After they walked far away, Seishiki finally slipped into the men's restroom.

"You okay?"

He let out a gentle, reassuring tone. Of course, when someone is being bullied, their heart is extremely fragile and volatile.

Looking at the boy with the bowl cut and glasses, now with a bruised and swollen face.

"I... I'm fine... By the way, this is the boys' bathroom..."

"I'm a boy, you know."

Star Color extended a hand, but the boy in front of him trembled slightly and didn't take it.

"Are you being bullied? Didn't you go to a teacher?"

The savior he'd hoped for, 'Teacher Sakagami,' had long since become a breeding ground for violence. Being a good student who studied hard and behaved well to earn a teacher's favor was a thing of the past from middle school. He'd also resisted Ryuuen Sho's tyranny but couldn't do anything about it. What would someone who called himself a Roman Emperor do? The answer was obvious! The fastest way to make everyone submit was to spread [fear] and [violence].

"The teacher can't help me either..."

The pitiful boy let out a self-deprecating laugh. Maybe giving in to the [Tyrant] was the best way.

"Then why don't you resist?"

Star Color showed a hint of mockery, his aura twisting into madness. One phrase to describe it: [Chaos]. Like the evil god called [The Crawling Chaos] in the Necronomicon.

The boy roared in anger.

"You say that so easily, but I'm the one suffering violence! How am I supposed to resist? No one comes to help me, they just watch coldly! If it were you, what would you do?"

Star Color stood like an evil god looking down on all of humanity from a height, watching the man whose mental defenses were crumbling.

Almost broken... Time to input new data.

[Using fear to destroy the human heart, rewriting new data onto the ruined mind—this is the most basic of basics in mental control.]

"So what? You're taking your anger out on a complete stranger?"

"You're the one talking down to me like you're above it all."

"Then you really deserve it..."

The boy lunged at the slender Star Color.

"What, you want to use those methods on me..."

"No... I can't control it..."

The boy realized he'd acted out of anger beyond reason and was about to pull back.

"Take that anger and use it to resist them."

Star Color gently wrapped his arms around him and whispered in his ear.

"The one who plants fear fears the failure of that fear, the chaos it breeds. Calling a tyrant a tyrant is dangerous. Calling a slave a slave is equally dangerous."

"Hah... what are you even saying..."

"Your name."

A voice calm, settled, cold, suffocating, and devoid of emotion—like an electronic synth from a machine... the oppressive weight of a god.

"Kaneda Satoru..."

His mouth couldn't help but speak his own name.

"Then, Kaneda, have you heard of a very famous experiment?"

Star Color stood up and opened his eyes—

A sharp finger—pointing—at Kaneda Satoru.

"[The Seligman Experiment]."

"A dog is locked in a cage and subjected to dozens of electric shocks a day, random and without warning. Then that dog is placed in an experimental cage that also has an electrifying device. But this time, before the current flows, there's a sign—the lights dim. And a barrier is set up in the cage; if the dog crosses it, it can reach a safe zone... in other words, it can avoid the current. So, what do you think would happen if a normal dog and a dog that received random shocks entered the cage?"

"The normal dog would find a way to avoid it..."

Kaneda Satoru thought for a moment before answering. Smart enough. If he'd gotten it wrong, Star Color would have just said 'boring' and left.

"Right. The normal dog would gradually learn the trick and jump to the safe side of the barrier when the lights dimmed. But the dog that received shocks wouldn't avoid it—it would just endure the current obediently."

"Kaneda, you're just like that [shocked dog]. You've developed [Learned Helplessness]."

"Learned Helplessness?"

"When an individual, after long-term exposure to negative events that are unpredictable or uncontrollable, gradually loses confidence in changing or controlling the situation, producing a sense of helplessness. You're afraid of Ryuuen Sho, so you've slowly started to endure his violence. You're not giving in to his violence—you're giving in to your own negative mindset."

"Building on that point. What happens to a dog that, during its first shock, learns that 'pressing a button with its nose stops the current'? If that dog is then put in the cage we just described?"

"It would press the button."

"But one thing is the same: whether it's a normal dog, a trained dog, or a dog shocked randomly, they all get shocked. Because the condition of the lights dimming tells the dog the current is coming."

"So what you're saying is..."

"Since you have to face the current, why not resist instead of choosing to escape?"

"Kaneda Satoru, let me show you what this world really looks like."

Star Color spread his arms, and sunlight poured from his body like fresh blood splashing onto Kaneda Satoru, incredibly warm.

Star Color's face, backlit, turned eerily cold, his purple pupils flickering with a light not of this world—the light of a color from the stars. The color that corrupts everything, the deadly color, the beautiful color from the stars.

"The essence of this world is a [Bullying Show]. It exists in families, in schools, in society, in workplaces, between species, between nations. Bullying and violence are everywhere—parents, teachers, friends, family, lovers, classmates, bosses, all of them. From the moment we're born, we're already in a place called the [Hell of Bullying]... You who tremble! Listen up! Fools say there's equality, but everyone knows the world isn't equal. That's right! So then, fight back! Resist the bullies! An eye for an eye, twice over! No! A hundredfold return!"

Ordinary fools only comfort them, but a true leader, a true brainwasher, gives them a clear goal.

So, Kaneda Satoru, what is your choice?

Kaneda Satoru gritted his teeth and clenched his fists.

"I will take revenge on Ryuuen Sho!"

Within Kaneda Satoru's heart, Star Color appeared like a world-shaking savior.

[As for me, I extend my hand to both the bullies and the bullied... people.]

I can't stand the torment of writing daily life anymore. This kind of stream-of-consciousness style suits me better. The moment I write stream-of-consciousness, I feel completely refreshed, and my prose instantly improves.