Tokyo, Adachi Ward.
Suimi High School, the boys' restroom at the end of the third-floor hallway.
Splash, splash.
Akihi Yu scooped up a handful of water and wiped his face. After turning off the faucet, he looked up at the person in the mirror.
The boy in the mirror was about 1.75 meters tall and sixteen years old. He was exceptionally handsome, with delicate features and fair skin, but his face was clouded by a listless expression, and his build was a little frail.
Tsk. How had he ended up transmigrating?
Rolling up his uniform sleeve, Akihi Yu looked at his slender arm and couldn't help sighing.
This body was far too weak. It was time to start working out again.
As a man, shouldn't he at least have some muscle definition?
But before that—
Wiping the water from his face, Akihi Yu turned to look at the three classmates who had entered the boys' restroom.
"So this is where you were."
"Did you think you'd be safe just because you hid in the restroom?"
Two stood on either side, while the third blocked the doorway. Together, they formed a triangle, cutting off the way out.
"Hey, you got your hands on such a big pile of money, but you won't share it with us 'friends'? That's pretty disloyal of you, isn't it, Yu~ classmate~~"
The boy standing by the sink wore a sneer, excitement in his eyes as he cracked his knuckles. At a public school in a place like Adachi Ward, one of Tokyo's least safe neighborhoods, the students who were just coasting through life made up two-thirds of the class.
The remaining third belonged to the class's "special" tier.
Like the transfer student standing before them, who had recently lost both his parents in a traffic accident: Akihi Yu.
He was the one they bullied and extorted!
"Does it have to be this cliché?"
Faced with this scene, Akihi Yu couldn't help sighing again.
Whenever people gathered together, they always sorted themselves into different ranks.
"Leave now, and no one gets hurt."
?!
The three stared at Akihi Yu in surprise.
"Huh? Hey, what kind of weird way to beg for mercy is that?"
"Are you actually thinking of fighting all three of us? Have you lost your mind?"
The boy by the restroom entrance laughed mockingly and spread his arms. If someone from the baseball club had said that, it might have sounded threatening—but this "sissy" thought he could threaten them?
"Quit wasting time. Let's make him face reality."
The boy by the sink had already taken a step forward. He didn't care how much money he could squeeze out of Akihi Yu; he was simply addicted to the feeling of punching someone.
Only when he was beating someone up did he feel like he wasn't the "good-for-nothing" his parents called him!
Just then, Akihi Yu stepped forward too, twisting his waist as he swung his right fist in an arc.
Ding, Divine Tree—
Thud!
His jaw shuddered, and the world spun before his eyes.
Before the guy by the sink could react, darkness swallowed his consciousness.
"Yamamoto?!"
A beautiful hook landed squarely on the other boy's jaw.
As the other two let out startled cries, their companion, Yamamoto, toppled stiffly to the side. He crashed heavily into the sink, then slid to the floor.
Now that he'd made his move, Akihi Yu didn't hesitate. After taking one down, he lunged at the dazed boy by the restroom entrance.
"Don't come any closer!!!"
He let out a shrill scream, instinctively drawing in his arms and holding them in front of himself. It looked like a boxing guard, but was really more like a little girl cowering in fright.
...System online,
Ignoring the noise in his ear, Akihi Yu reached forward with both hands and gripped the other boy's shoulder blades.
He yanked down while driving his knee upward.
"Ah~~~"
With a short scream, the unlucky boy took a solid knee to the stomach and dropped to his knees in the restroom, clutching his belly like a shrimp.
???
The third boy, who had been blocking the door, was horrified.
In just a few seconds, both of his "friends" had ended up sprawled on the floor. He instinctively turned to run.
Assisting host.
Akihi Yu rushed forward and reached out.
Grabbing the third boy by the collar as he turned and lost his footing, Akihi Yu yanked him backward.
Thump!
The third boy hit the restroom floor hard. The pain in his back brought out a trace of his "toughness."
"If you've got the guts, then—"
Thud!
A fist came down from above, stuffing his threat back into his throat.
Thud! Thud!
Akihi Yu hammered away, left and right.
The numbness and pain spreading across the boy's face instantly snuffed out his "toughness."
"I give up! I give up! I surrender!"
The pinnacle of life.
"What was that you just said?"
At the challenge from above, the boy covered his face with both hands, sniffling and blubbering as he frantically denied everything.
"I didn't say anything! I didn't say anything!"
"Not you? Forget it."
Akihi Yu stood up and frowned.
Had he heard some kind of voice just now? Maybe he'd imagined it.
*...*
Ding, the Divine Tree System has come online. This system is designed to help the host reach the pinnacle of life. Please confirm receipt of the core item: Seed of the Divine Tree.
A system?
So it was a system. No rush.
Akihi Yu glanced at the three guys lying on the floor and dusted off his hands.
"Let me borrow one of your catchphrases:"
"Don't let me see you again. If I see you, I'll beat you. Got it?"
"Got it, got it," X2
They didn't know why Akihi Yu, who had been at the bottom of the class, had suddenly exploded into action. But the truth that "a wise man doesn't fight when the odds are against him" applied in every world and every country.
Between the pain in their bodies and Akihi Yu's calm tone, the two boys scrambled up from the floor. Facing Akihi Yu, they could only crouch and nod like pecking chickens.
And Yamamoto, who had charged in first?
He'd taken a heavy hook to the jaw and was sleeping like a baby.
Under the two boys' frightened gazes, Akihi Yu straightened his uniform in the mirror above the sink, then walked out of the restroom.
He didn't care about the three guys on the floor.
Bullying at school was never something that could be eradicated, just as there would always be rich and poor people in the world.
The former Akihi Yu, after losing his parents and suffering a string of emotional blows, had been frail and easy to bully.
But once the transmigrator arrived, his way of doing things changed completely. His father's advice in his previous life had been: Don't go looking for trouble, but if someone dares to mess with you, hit them back on the spot!
Thump,
"Ah~~"
As soon as Akihi Yu left the boys' restroom, he collided head-on with someone hurrying toward him.
He instinctively raised a hand and grabbed for the other person. His gaze swept over her, and the fingers originally headed for her neck changed course halfway, turning from a grab into a steadying hand.
"Class Monitor?"
"I'm not the Class Monitor. I'm Nao."
The girl, who had stumbled from the collision, adjusted her glasses and corrected him irritably.
She had neat short hair and a gentle air, like a friendly older sister next door. Her round glasses gave her the look of a model student.
"I heard Yamamoto and the others were giving you trouble."
"Not at all."
Holding the girl by the shoulders, he spun her around and steered her away.
"We're all classmates. Why would we give each other trouble?"
"Come on, it's almost time for class."
"Ah~~ B-but..."
As Akihi Yu guided her along, the warmth of his hands came through her summer uniform. Her mind went blank, and she couldn't even figure out what to say in reply.
Yu... Why had he become so assertive?
Because he'd transmigrated!
It had happened just a few days earlier. He'd closed his eyes, opened them, and found himself in a bed on the second floor of a detached house in Adachi Ward, Tokyo.
In local terms, it was called an "ichikoku-ken." But that wasn't the point. The point was that the bewildered transmigrator had repeatedly confirmed this wasn't his body, and that more than a decade of memories had appeared in his mind. After climbing over the wall and repeatedly failing to find any trace of his former self, he had no choice but to accept it:
He had transmigrated, and into a parallel-world version of Tokyo.
"Hey!"
Before you continue