Miyabi Nagumo tossed the camera back to Kaneda Satoru.
"I was just helping you save face. You can handle the rest yourself."
"Thank you, Senior Nagumo."
Kaneda Satoru bowed to Miyabi Nagumo in thanks.
"Get the video off the camera and edit it a little. Then you can use it to threaten that guy. Whether you blackmail him for points or make demands, that's up to you. This is advice from a senior. I wouldn't share it with just any freshman."
"Okay... Thanks for the advice, Senior Nagumo."
At that moment, Miyabi Nagumo's phone vibrated. It was the 100,000 points Star Color had sent as a thank-you.
Seishiki Otonashi: [Thanks for your hard work, Senior Nagumo. Please accept this small token of my appreciation.]
Miyabi Nagumo looked at the 100,000 points with interest, then decided to accept them.
He replied, [How generous of you. I'll accept your kind gesture, Junior Otonashi. Was it really worth using your first wish on someone like him?]
Seishiki Otonashi: [Yes.]
Miyabi Nagumo turned off his phone screen and left the first-year teaching area.
"Why do I keep losing?!"
Star Color slumped over the table, looking dejected. Without cheating, his chances of winning a game of luck like this were practically zero. If he crushed beginners at strategy games, they wouldn't have any fun, so he'd been forced to go easy on them and play at their level.
"Tomorrow, I'll come up with a game that doesn't depend on luck!"
UNO, Azul, Monopoly.
Neither of the two had ever played board games before, but they both gave Azul glowing reviews.
After all, it was the world's number-one abstract game, a little like simplified mahjong. Designed for two to four players, it was a light strategy game well suited to helping couples grow closer. A game that had won prize after prize had to be fun~.
Akaya Nanaka stroked Star Color's head.
"Then I'm looking forward to seeing what game you bring tomorrow. Anyway, for the club's first day, coming up with a game like this was a lot of fun."
Star Color closed his eyes and enjoyed the feeling of Nanaka's fingers running through his hair. He sensed something a little unusual. So this woman wasn't as harmless as she looked...
A magician, or perhaps a Cheat Gambler? Her palm was very smooth, and it seemed to be peeling a little. There were tiny, hard-to-notice marks on her fingers, which looked like cuts from playing cards. When you trained your fingers to be nimble and learned to handle cards, it was easy to lose control of them and get cut. Her long, nimble fingers were a sure sign of a [Magician or Cheat Gambler].
Satoshi Satonaka looked displeased.
"Star Color is a boy. Please show some restraint."
"Cute boys are rare, you know. Feminine boys are quite a treat for girls."
Akaya Nanaka didn't seem to care at all how close she was to Star Color.
"Whoa, you're comparing boys to food? Are you a carnivore, Akaya?"
So far, the only person at school who seemed predatory was [the nurse], Hoshinomiya.
Star Color muttered weakly.
Still, Akaya Nanaka had short, neat red hair, and her green eyes gave her the keen gaze of a feline. She had a bit of a gal vibe, and her personality seemed pretty carefree. She was probably the big sister of some girl group in Class B. And she had an incredibly, incredibly, incredibly good figure... Otherwise, he'd never have let her touch his head.
(Chihiro Shiramami was flat, and Star Color didn't like that.)
"Not at all! I'm not that frivolous. I'm actually the type who's very pure-hearted when it comes to love."
"Huh? Oh."
Star Color had absolutely no interest in what she was like when it came to love.
"Why are you being so cold?"
Akaya Nanaka puffed out her cheeks, then pinched Star Color's.
"Because... I don't have any plans to fall in love."
"Hmph. People who say they don't want to date are always the ones who find someone fastest."
Akaya Nanaka glanced at her phone.
"Okay, I'm off to karaoke with my friends. Bye~."
Akaya Nanaka waved and left the clubroom.
"I'm going to the library to study, too. See you tomorrow, Star Color."
Satoshi Satonaka picked up his backpack and followed the person who had left just before him.
Star Color was the only one left in the clubroom.
"Akaya Nanaka, huh? I should keep a close eye on her."
Star Color fiddled with one of the little tiles in Azul. It was still unclear whether Akaya Nanaka was a Cheat Gambler... At least Star Color didn't sense the aura of a kindred spirit. Could she be a [Magician]? Well, it didn't matter. There was plenty of time to observe her.
(Evening—private room at a barbecue restaurant)
"Have a seat."
Miyabi Nagumo and Asahina Nazuna were already in the private room. Asahina Nazuna deftly flipped the meat on the grill with a pair of tongs.
Star Color sat beside Miyabi Nagumo and took a sip of piping-hot Genmaicha.
The tea's faint fragrance and the roasted rice aroma lingered on his tongue. Even though he knew it was cheap bagged tea, it still had a distinctive flavor.
"Um... Thank you for the meal."
Star Color breathed out a puff of warmth, turned his head slightly, and glanced up at Miyabi Nagumo.
Star Color's androgynous appearance made Miyabi Nagumo feel strange. He'd already been with women of all kinds, but the person in front of him was a boy. So why did he feel this odd urge to protect him?
"Why did you help someone so worthless?"
Miyabi Nagumo asked. He still wanted to know why Star Color had wasted a wish. He thought Kaneda Satoru was a lump of worthless stone, with no talent or potential to make it into Class A.
"Everyone takes the limits of their own perspective to be the limits of the world. Maybe Senior Nagumo thinks Kaneda is a lump of worthless stone, but if you polish a stone a little, it can become a sharp blade, can't it?"
"Oh? Then what's your take on it, Junior Otonashi?"
"Senior Nagumo believes in 'Social Darwinism,' doesn't he? I won't judge whether a theory is right or wrong."
"But I think the most important resources in the world are [friends] and [trust]. Friends should be your most important resource."
"Everyone has their own beliefs. Whether it's stubborn individualism or rigid collectivism, each has its advantages and disadvantages in human society. Senior Nagumo, you probably find it difficult to [think] from someone else's perspective, don't you?"
Star Color took another sip of tea and mused,
"Why does Social Darwinism emphasize the survival of the fittest instead of the survival of the strongest? Although humans have risen to the top through survival of the fittest under the laws of nature."
"Humans are contradictory creatures. Cooperation is a way to avoid being eliminated, but it's also a way to eliminate others more effectively. I imagine the school was designed according to the same rules."
Miyabi Nagumo hadn't expected the kid in front of him to understand the school system so quickly, let alone study it so thoroughly.
"In this new world, the most common and important dangers and conflicts aren't between social classes, between the rich and the poor, or between other groups divided by economics. They're conflicts between people belonging to different cultural entities."
"Do you know why Japan is gradually becoming a low-desire society? What happens to most people in an environment where they worship power, compare themselves to one another, admire the strong, and fight among themselves? In my view, this school can't solve all of Japan's problems. The fact that a national university has received government support for so long and yet has never produced anyone truly famous proves that."
"Do you think it's a coincidence that large numbers of people in a society have lost their ambition? A harsh environment changes people's perspective and their attitude toward life. Unfortunately, that's the state society is in now."
"Everyone takes the limits of their own perspective to be the limits of the world. Schopenhauer said that, and it seems you've fallen into that mindset, Senior Nagumo."
"So you think my views are wrong?"
Miyabi Nagumo listened carefully to Star Color's theory. It made some sense, but it also seemed to reject his own beliefs.
"You know the phrase 'survival of the fittest,' Senior Nagumo. People tend to focus on the important part and forget the rest of Spencer's words: [Natural selection is painful, but human kindness eases that pain]."
(Spencer was the one who proposed 'Social Darwinism.')
"Saving those who can't adapt is the true core of [Social Darwinism]. Trust and friendship may not bring you status or wealth, but they can enrich your spirit, and that's enough. Those at the top aren't necessarily happy, and even the poor can have a wonderful day."
"All living things yearn for happiness. Until the moment they die, all living things possess the same eternal happiness. Happiness is something no one can take away from you. If someone stronger took away your right to happiness, Senior Nagumo, you'd hate the strong and think you were simply too weak. That would create a pitiful cycle..."
"We can't accept outcomes without understanding what's going on. People should see the whole world clearly and live the right way. Love is the bridge between poverty and wealth... If you can see that bridge, Senior Nagumo, you might become even stronger."
"All you need to do is hold on to your beliefs, see the whole world clearly, and do what you think is right, Senior Nagumo. But never treat yourself as the limit of the world, or the world will swallow you up."
Miyabi Nagumo gave off the same aura as Star Color, so Star Color didn't mind guiding him down the right path. At least this guy could be one of the cards he played against [Destiny]. Star Color couldn't live happily himself, but the poor man before him, shackled by Destiny, still could...
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