The spinning chair comes to a halt.
“Aris mentioned something similar too. She said he declared he would take the most dangerous role and protect everyone.”
Before her private meeting with Kim Deok-Sung, a conversation shared with Saionji Aris floats in her mind.
Famous for being as strict with others as she is with herself, the Student Council President rarely gives praise. This was the first time Seira could recall her doing so.
Seira’s gaze grows heavy.
“To fight against those monsters…”
To protect everyone, he dares to confront the shadows lurking behind.
It’s an absurdly reckless thing to say, especially for a first-year student.
But then again, it’s something an average hero candidate would never dare utter.
The opponent is a colossal mastermind who has directly or indirectly slain four out of the five heroes who saved the world.
Any ordinary student would surely lose their fighting spirit at even a glimpse of such a being.
“To engage in a battle with them… It’s a conversation that shouldn’t even slip from the tongue with half-hearted resolve…”
But he wasn’t ordinary.
He boldly declared his intention to fight them.
Yoshizaki Seira could see the determination in Kim Deok-Sung’s eyes.
Still, even so, it was a request that should logically be refused from the standpoint of a principal aiming to protect students—it was utterly ludicrous.
Yet, for some reason, Yoshizaki Seira had accepted it.
“Just like him.”
Someone sprang to mind.
A man she had unrequited love for her entire life, who shared the same black hair and black eyes.
The swordmaster, Kurosawa Akira.
“You were just as reckless.”
A wistful emotion dances in Seira’s crimson eyes.
“You never sought personal fame. You undertook the most dangerous missions and aimed to save everyone.”
The heroic figure, as if painted in a picture.
That’s how he became the leader of the Five Crowns.
Thirty years ago, the man who saved the world.
It’s no coincidence.
In the resolute stance of Kim Deok-Sung, who boldly declared he would fight against evil to save everyone, the image of the swordmaster reflected back.
That’s why she allowed it.
“If only I were 40 years younger…”
They might have actually gone on a date.
With that thought, Seira vigorously shakes her head.
“To make me feel genuinely moved, what a bold kid…”
Seira’s eyes narrow.
She takes a sip of the matcha placed on the table.
The astringent and bitter aftertaste lingers in her mouth.
“Ah, what a bothersome little brat you are.”
Seira shakes her head.
The swordmaster is dead.
No matter how much Kim Deok-Sung resembles the man she loved, he is not the swordmaster.
It’s impossible for the dead swordmaster to come back to life.
Therefore, revenge must be taken.
For the sake of the one who is gone.
Yet, she can’t help but be preoccupied with it.
Her mood becomes strangely sentimental.
Swish.
As Seira fans herself with the black lace fan.
As she fanned herself, it happened.
“Chairman! Excuse me.”
The door to the Chairman’s Room opened, and the pink-haired beauty, Mayuzumi Mayu, walked in.
“Mayuzumi-san? What brings you here?”
“The student team formations for Imgan School are finished! I came to report to you, Chairman!”
Mayuzumi cheerfully placed the documents on the table.
Her ample chest bounced in front of Seira.
“Now that I think about it, Akira liked big chests, didn’t he?”
Seira glanced down at her own chest.
Matching her young looks, it was disappointingly flat.
The difference was as stark as Everest versus a local hill compared to Mayuzumi’s chest.
She felt a pang of jealousy.
In a small voice, she muttered, “That little brat really inherited all the useless parts from him.”
Seira puffed her cheeks.
“Chairman?”
Mayuzumi, not catching Seira’s words properly, tilted her head in confusion.
Seira’s face turned red.
Whoosh.
She hid her face with the fan.
“It’s nothing. By the way, Imgan School. Has it really come to that time already?”
“Absolutely! Following tradition, I paired students in sets of two! Chairman!”
As Seira flipped through the documents while listening to Mayuzumi’s report, she noted the standard pairing rule: male students with male students and female students with female students.
But there was one odd pair.
[Kim Deok-Sung] [Shinozaki Rin]
The only pairing of a male and female student.
Seira’s gaze stopped there.
“It seems Ichiro-kun has taken an interest in that little brat.”
That day.
After Kim Deok-Sung won against Shinozaki Rin, she had sensed something was off when the two were alone.
Recently, she had even received intel that Shinozaki Rin had been lingering around Kim Deok-Sung.
“He must have ordered that little brat to seduce my daughter.”
But to be this blatant about it…
“I could be magnanimous and let it slide, but…”
This time, she didn’t want to let it go easily.
She felt a mischievous urge rising.
“Mayuzumi-sensei.”
“Yes, Chairman! It’s Mayuzumi Mayu!”
“Due to the recent model gate terror incident, for this Imgan School session, we’re prioritizing student safety. What do you think, Mayuzumi-sensei?”
“I’m fully in support of the Chairman’s opinion!”
Mayuzumi smiled brightly.
Seira’s crimson eyes sparkled.
“Good. Then… I will re-organize the teams. Since two-person teams feel risky, for the sake of safety, I think we should make it six-person teams for this Imgan School.”
She picked up a pen and started jotting names on a white sheet.
[Group 2]
[Kim Deok-Sung] [Kurosawa Yuji] [Ishihara Daiki]
[Nishizawa Eri] [Shinozaki Rin] [Olivia Napoleon Bonaparte]
Seira smiled as she looked at the groupings she wrote herself.
“Alright, let’s go with this, Mayuzumi-sensei.”
“Understood! Chairman!”
Bowing 90 degrees, Mayuzumi took the documents Seira wrote and scampered out of the Chairman’s Room.
Thud.
As the door to the Chairman’s Room closed, Seira’s lips curled into a playful grin.
“Now, shall I let Ichiro-kun in on this exciting news?”
With her phone in hand, her fingers dialed Ichiro’s number.
*
Tokyo.
Shinozaki Mansion Garden.
By the pond where brightly colored koi were swimming.
In a dark green yukata and geta, the middle-aged man with green hair, Shinozaki Ichiro, sprinkled fish food on the water’s surface.
As soon as the food was scattered, the vibrant koi surfaced to eat.
“You called for me, Lord.”
In a calm voice from behind Ichiro, a voice echoed.
A calm voice echoed from behind.
Ichiro turned his head.
There stood a beautiful girl with a dark blue ponytail, dressed in the Shuo Hero Academy uniform, Shinozaki Rin.
“I received a message from the President today.”
Ichiro’s gloomy eyes sank heavily.
Rin lowered her head.
“…I heard the group assignments for Imgan School have been changed.”
Rin’s body flinched.
Imgan School.
An event where Ichiro was ordered to team up with Kim Deok-Sung and take him down for sure.
And suddenly, a variable appeared?
“Fortunately, you and Kim Deok-Sung are not in the same group.”
“Then… what do you mean by a change?”
Rin rarely questioned this time.
A different reaction compared to when she merely listened to the Lord’s orders.
But Ichiro didn’t pay any attention to Rin’s change.
“That raccoon president is planning to assign six members per group for this Imgan School, using the excuse of students’ safety.”
Ichiro’s eyebrows twitched.
A plan disrupted.
While he never thought it impossible, it was still annoying.
“You’ll be in the same group as Kim Deok-Sung, Olivia Napoleon Bonaparte, Nishizawa Eri, Ishihara Daiki, and… the disgrace of the Kurosawa clan.”
A composition that felt purposeful.
All members with whom she had some acquaintance.
Rin thought so.
“Things have gotten a bit complicated, but… anyway, Rin. The one thing you need to do is to do whatever it takes during the Imgan School to make Kim Deok-Sung your man. Eliminate the other competitors. Absolutely.”
Ichiro’s gaze fixed on Rin.
Other competitors.
At that word, two women’s faces appeared in Rin’s mind.
Her rival, whom she never wanted to lose to again, Olivia Napoleon Bonaparte.
And Nishizawa Eri, who had the audacity to insult her, calling her a ‘muscle girl’ and a ‘woman full of fat on her chest.’
Losing to those two women was worse than death.
Rin lowered her head.
“I understand, Lord.”
“Good.”
A cold smile spread across Ichiro’s face.
He turned his back and slowly scattered the koi food he was holding in the pond.
Blub, blub.
The koi fish came back to the surface.
Splash, thud.
The Shishiotachi beside the pond hit the ground with a sound.
*
“Hello everyone! It’s Teacher Mayuzumi! So, today I will announce the group assignments for Imgan School!”
During HR time.
Teacher Mayuzumi’s voice reached my ears.
My seat next to me was still empty.
Due to Nishizawa’s suspension ongoing.
A blessing in disguise.
If Eri had been here, my blood pressure might have risen.
‘Already at Imgan School.’
Imgan School.
The key episode from Volume 2 of the original work.
The Imgan School of Shuo Hero Academy takes place for a week in Hokkaido’s vast primeval forest area known as Jukai.
Under the pretext of developing survival skills for first-year students, it actually consists of scoring based on daytime exotic hunting and treasure hunting in the forest, appearing to be a survival episode void of blood and tears.
But as with most Japanese light novels, in reality, it’s more of a regular camping event.
Except for the incident that occurs during the courage training episode on the last day involving the Night Parade of a Hundred Demons.
‘In the original work, the protagonist and Shinozaki Rin were in the same group.’
The story from Volume 2 instinctively came to mind.
The principle of Imgan School is two same-gender students per group.
However, as an exception, the protagonist is teamed up with Shinozaki Rin, the title heroine of Volume 2.
‘There were the influences of Ichiro at play there.’
“The breath was on.”
Ichiro gave a chilling order to Shinozaki Rin to cripple the protagonist during their time at Imgan School.
However, despite feeling inferior, Rin, who secretly liked the protagonist, hesitated to carry out Ichiro’s command. Camping with the protagonist for a week made her gradually influenced by his kindness.
In the end, Rin shed tears and honestly confessed her feelings, blaming herself, but the dimwit protagonist kindly forgave her, hugged her, and decided to ‘save’ both his childhood friend and Ichiro’s twisted heart in this predictable episode.
“I guess I won’t have much to do in episode 2. The incident with the Beast Parade is a bit concerning, but that’s that.”
Rin and the protagonist would manage their relationship on their own.
Rin had already been a nuisance with her constant temptations.
If the protagonist saved her and they ended up well, it would be like getting something for nothing.
The problem was, who would my pair be? Given that the principle is same-gender pairs, I’d probably end up with someone like Ishihara.
That would suit me just fine.
“I haven’t had some honey in a while.”
I’m not particularly fond of camping, but just being free from the annoying original story’s intervention is enough satisfaction for me.
It’s time for some healing.
“Then I’ll announce it now! Yapp!”
Mayuzumi-sensei pressed the remote, and the presentation screen lit up.
“What?”
“Group of 6?”
“Suddenly a group of 6?”
Whispers filled the air, something was off.
My gaze hurriedly shifted to the screen.
There it was.
[Group 2]
[Kim Deok-Sung] [Kurosawa Yuji] [Ishihara Daiki]
[Nishizawa Eri] [Shinozaki Rin] [Olivia Napoleon Bonaparte]
The group arrangement was completely different from the original story.
On top of that, the member composition was a sight to behold.
Olivia and Ishihara were like angels compared to the others. They did their tasks well.
Nishizawa Eri was unpleasant, but that’s just how it goes.
It’s even worse that the protagonist, the last person in the world I wanted to be stuck with at Imgan School, is paired with Shinozaki Rin.
“What the hell.”
The dream of healing flew out the window at that moment.
Korean curses slipped out of my mouth.
Where did it all go wrong?
Just then, my smartphone buzzed.
[Did you receive the special gift I prepared? Little one. ≧ω≦]
Seeing the president’s message, I finally realized who orchestrated this mess.
Another round of Korean curses escaped my lips.
“This crazy…!”
Yoshizaki Seira.
That senile old hag really did it.
The preparations are complete.
Tokyo. Odaiba.
Like the Shuo Hero Academy, this commercial district is also built on an artificial island in Tokyo Bay.
Famous for the Yurikamome Line, Rainbow Bridge, Tokyo Big Sight, and the Statue of Liberty, Odaiba is the busiest area frequented by students due to its proximity to Shuo Academy.
Thanks to that, I was dragged to the shopping mall Tokyo Plaza in Odaiba with these damn group members.
It was for the Imgan School preparations.
“Of all days, on a Saturday, during my time off.”
In the original volume 2, this preparation shopping event was depicted as a date between Rin and Yuji.
But now, with the actual group of 6, it had morphed into group shopping.
As a child, I didn’t particularly enjoy shopping.
Just buy what you need and get out, why wander around so much?
Of course, ever since my mom got sick, I couldn’t shop like that anymore.
It made my mood sink a little.
“We’ve arrived.”
With Han Seo-Jin’s cold voice, the medium-sized bus we were on came to a stop in the parking lot.
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