"Every one of them slacks off more than the last!"
The test papers were handed out shortly afterward.
Qiji answered the questions at a rapid pace. In no time, he had finished them all. Not even bothering to check his answers, he stood up and, under the stunned or unsurprised gazes of his classmates, became the first to walk up to the teacher's desk. He placed his paper beside Teacher Tsukimi, who was still reading her novel.
Teacher Tsukimi glanced at him over the pages without saying anything. She merely waved a hand, signaling that he could leave.
With his hands in his pockets, Qiji left the classroom as the whole class watched him go.
When he handed in his paper, most of his classmates hadn't even finished the first page.
Huomu, for instance, was still scratching his head over the third essay question.
By comparison, everyone couldn't help sighing inwardly:
As expected of the guy known as the City of Kindling's greatest genius.
After handing in his paper, Qiji returned to the rooftop with practiced ease and lay down in a comfortable position. Then-
He promptly ended the livestream.
"???"
"Why did he end the stream?"
"We don't get to watch him sleep?"
"Open up! The community's here to spread some warmth!"
Qiji had two reasons for ending the stream at this point:
First, if he only livestreamed himself sleeping, his popularity was bound to fall once the novelty wore off. There was no need for that.
Second, sleeping was merely a pretext.
He was going to the library to look up more information on awakening an "Echo."
It couldn't be helped. Though he played the part of a genius, he wasn't a real one.
On camera, he napped and skipped class, like a prodigy who knew everything from birth without studying.
But behind the camera, he had to put in several times the effort to maintain that persona.
Chapter 9: A Possibility His Alone
There weren't many people in the library at this hour.
With practiced ease, Qiji found several thick, brick-like tomes in succession and sat down in a secluded corner.
The foundation of this world's supernatural theory lay in "Echoes" and the "Sea of Consciousness."
According to the setting, the world itself was an enormous resonant body.
All things "vibrated," producing Echoes of their own.
These Echoes recorded the traces of events, the ripples of emotions, and the truths of laws.
The Sea of Consciousness was the ultimate gathering place for all Echoes, the underlying ocean of all consciousness and information.
An Echo user's ability was, in essence, a process in which their consciousness resonated with a particular "Echo Pattern" in the Sea of Consciousness, then "replayed" its power in reality.
Put simply, a supernatural being's awakening meant connecting their consciousness to the Sea of Consciousness and "downloading" a "program" of their own from it.
Aside from a small number of exceptionally gifted people and those with bloodline inheritances, who were born with their abilities, awakening was usually achieved through profound experiences, extreme emotions, or special rituals.
Unfortunately, Qiji was an outsider who didn't belong to this world.
His soul's frequency wasn't entirely compatible with this world's "underlying protocol," making it countless times harder for him to connect normally than it was for a native.
But it wasn't entirely impossible!
Because he had-
Miracle!
Qiji raised a hand and brushed his fingertips lightly over the mask on his face.
In a little over a month, the "Miracle" on the mask would accumulate to its maximum of 9.1.
Being an "outsider" was a disadvantage, but from another perspective, it was also his unique advantage.
All things had Echoes-
In other words, he, a transmigrator who had lived in this world for ten years, must have left a "vibration" uniquely his own in the Sea of Consciousness simply by existing.
All he had to do was "replay" it in reality.
That was no different from creating an entirely new lineage of abilities out of nothing.
But as he had said before, it wasn't impossible!
After years of tireless deduction, Qiji already had a rough idea in mind.
He wrote and sketched on paper, quickly constructing a "possibility" that belonged to him alone.
[An existence that should not exist]
[A falsehood believed to be true]
[A blind spot in full view of all]
With those three "core concepts" and 9.1 points of "Miracle," he theoretically had more than enough to leverage the Sea of Consciousness!
The idea in his mind grew clearer, and Qiji felt that possibility drawing closer and closer.
As long as he could awaken the ability he envisioned...
Then even a fake playing a part would become a genuine genius!
After briefly organizing his thoughts and the information he had looked up, Qiji left the library and headed for the rooftop.
He estimated the time, preparing to start his stream.
But just as he reached the turn in the stairs leading to the rooftop-
He collided head-on with someone coming down.
Long, misty-purple hair and the faint fragrance of gaura flowers-the girl he had run into was unquestionably Liuli.
Liuli was livestreaming, and many of the comments in her stream were about Qiji:
"Where is he? My bro Qiji isn't sleeping on the rooftop. Where did he go?"
"I thought Qiji was guaranteed to spawn on the rooftop?"
Liuli had naturally gone to the rooftop to find Qiji.
She had been a little disappointed not to see him there just now.
But now that she had unexpectedly run straight into him on the stairs, the girl's eyes lit up, and a mischievous idea immediately formed.
"Oh!"
With a delicate cry, she seemed to trip over something. Losing her balance, she tumbled clumsily toward Qiji.
She was ready!
The moment Qiji instinctively reached out to catch her, she would move closer with the momentum, then reach out and snatch away that troublesome mask before he could react!
She wanted to see just what kind of face was hidden beneath it!
It couldn't be helped. She was simply too curious!
Qiji knew so much about her, and he had even said those things to her...
She strongly suspected that someone she knew well might be beneath the mask.
But faced with Liuli's highly deliberate fake fall, Qiji merely turned slightly to the side and dodged her with ease.
"Huh? Aaaah-!"
This time, Liuli was genuinely startled!
She had never expected Qiji to be so "ungentlemanly"!
Her hands flailed uselessly in the air, but she had already lost her balance, and her forward momentum sent her tumbling toward the dozen or so steps below!
Echo users of different lineages had vastly different areas of specialization.
As a user of purely Mind Lineage abilities, Liuli's physical condition was ordinary to begin with. On top of that, the long-term erosion of the Age of Gods Curse had left her constitution even weaker than an ordinary girl's.
If she actually rolled down the stairs, she wouldn't be seriously injured, but she would definitely end up bruised and sore all over for several days.
This guy has no manners at all!
Just as she was grumbling about Qiji inwardly and bracing herself for the pain-
Qiji suddenly raised his foot and stopped her fall.
"Phew..."
Liuli's heart settled, and she instinctively breathed a sigh of relief.
Good, at least this guy knows how to treat a girl gently...
But before she had finished sighing, Liuli suddenly realized that something seemed off.
The place where Qiji's foot was braced across her...
Seemed, perhaps, possibly... a little too intimate?!
Through the thin fabric of her uniform, she could clearly feel the hardness of his ankle bone, as well as...
Her own mound of fat being squeezed out of shape.
"!!!"
Liuli's face flushed red in an instant.
"Y-your foot... where are you touching?!" She was so embarrassed and flustered that her voice changed pitch.
"Hm?"
Qiji froze, belatedly realizing that their position did seem a little awkward.
Since Liuli had fallen sideways, he had hurriedly stuck out his foot to stop her, and the top of it had landed just below her armpit, against the side of her chest.
That astonishingly soft curve was now slightly dented and deformed under the pressure, taking on a visually striking, blood-stirring elasticity...
It feels... pretty good.
Qiji fell silent for a moment, then hurriedly withdrew his foot.
"Huh?! N-no, wait-I didn't tell you to take it away immediately!!!"
The support beneath her suddenly vanished, and Liuli lost her balance again with a startled cry.
To keep from actually rolling down the stairs, she lunged forward in a panic, instinctively seeking the nearest support.
Then she closed her arms around the only "pillar" within reach and clung to it tightly.
...Namely, Qiji's thigh.
Time seemed to freeze at that moment.
Liuli knelt on the steps, both arms wrapped tightly around Qiji's thigh, her cheek almost pressed against his lower body.
Chapter 10: The Safest Place
Qiji lowered his head slightly and silently regarded the "pendant" between his legs.
The two of them remained frozen on the staircase in that rather awkward and easily misunderstood position.
On Liuli's personal channel, the comments fell silent for half a second, then exploded: