Coming out of the restaurant, Makoto sat in the taxi on the way home.
A cheerful Kei sat beside him like a little bird.
Realizing her boyfriend’s gaze was constantly studying her, the girl suddenly snapped to and quickly touched her face.
“Is my makeup messed up?”
“No, I just think our Kei-chan is quite an eater, like a little pig.”
“I am not!”
Kei touched her tummy in a panic, remembering how she had feasted on the French food.
Her expression was a bit embarrassed, but seeing his teasing look, she became a bit annoyed.
She couldn’t help but gently bump his chest with her head.
She even hummed as if she were unhappy.
No matter which angle you looked at her from, the current Kei was a sweet and cute girl deeply in love; no one would ever associate her with the pathetic creature she had been two months ago.
Makoto still remembered the first time he saw her.
It was in a small alleyway.
A few delinquent girls were hurling foul insults, and only when they saw Makoto, an adult, entering did they leave while grumbling.
The blonde girl they had been bullying was crouching on the ground, looking pitiful.
Her hair was a tangled mess from being pulled, her pretty face was covered in palm prints and bluish-purple pinch marks, and those purple eyes, which should have been lively and beautiful, were filled with despair and numbness.
It was then.
He “adopted” this poor little golden retriever.
He had originally thought it would take her a long time to emerge from the shadows, but he hadn’t expected that in just two months, she would return to her lively and cheerful nature.
She was like the dodder plant used in traditional Chinese medicine.
—So fragile that she needed to be parasitic on other plants to survive, yet her vitality was terrifyingly tenacious.
“Kei really is a pampered child.”
“Hehe…”
The girl snuggled in his arms let out a silly giggle.
Makoto stroked her small head with one hand while using his phone to look something up with the other.
Kei poked her head over to look.
Her large eyes blinked repeatedly.
“Hey, hey, what are you looking at, Makoto?”
“I’m looking for a school.
Strange, it should exist, but there’s absolutely no trace of it…”
Makoto’s tone was somewhat odd.
This wasn’t the first time he had searched for news about the “Advanced Nurturing High School.” However, despite the presence of Kei, Kanzaki Heavy Industries, and the Koenji Conglomerate, there was no information whatsoever about the Advanced Nurturing High School from classroom of the elite.
Makoto could only sigh with emotion.
A world where various anime converged was truly mysterious.
Over the past three months, he had generally understood that this was a world where many slice-of-life anime merged; for the time being, he hadn’t found any dangerous elements like “apocalypse,” “superpowers,” or “supernatural” occurrences.
Compared to that other movie world that possessed superpowers and which he had named Jumper, the slice-of-life crossover world he was currently in was undoubtedly safer and more suitable for settling down.
Therefore, Makoto had designated it as his main world.
In such a world, how should he live?
What should a real man pursue in this world?
Money!
Power!
Without money, how could he support himself?
How could he improve his quality of life?
And how could he pursue the women he liked?
By being Yasashii, or by relying on his face that was only slightly above average?
Without power, how could he handle those beautiful girls who couldn’t be won over with money?
If Makoto were just an ordinary traverser, he would spend his entire life striving for power and wealth.
Fortunately, he had a Golden Finger, allowing him to take a shortcut.
It was a path more primal and more violent than power or wealth.
—Strength!
Strength that could stand above a nation, or even many nations!!
Once he possessed such strength, he would be a supreme emperor.
What wealth or power could he not obtain?
What woman could he not have?
“My strength is still not enough!”
Looking at the night scenery flashing past outside the car, Makoto murmured softly.
But it didn’t matter.
With his Golden Finger in hand, he would only grow stronger and stronger; sooner or later, the day would come when he would be emperor.
…
“Good evening, Ms.
Nagasaki.”
“Good evening.”
Returning to his high-end apartment in Roppongi, Makoto happened to run into his dejected neighbor, Nagasaki Soyo, in the elevator.
Although he hadn’t heard the legendary line “Why did you play Haruhikage?” with his own ears, seeing Ms.
Nagasaki’s face looking absolutely devastated at this moment, Makoto figured the plot was progressing more or less the same way.
This cutesy-voiced girl of the band had likely clashed with her teammates.
Out of a subtle sense of mischief, Makoto intentionally poked at her wounds.
“I saw your live performance today.
Both songs were very good.”
“I-is that so?”
Nagasaki Soyo had grievances she couldn’t voice and could only force a smile.
“Mr.
Lin, thank you for the compliment.”
Admiring Ms.
Nagasaki’s expression, which looked as if she had swallowed a fly, he sincerely praised, “Especially the second song; it was truly beautiful.
Your band’s vocalist sounded as if she were screaming with her very soul…
What was that song called?”
“It was called…
it was called Haruhikage.”
“A good name.
It must be a song with quite a story behind it, haha.”
“Ha…
ha.”
The elevator doors opened, and Nagasaki Soyo walked out in a state of utter disarray.
Makoto held back a laugh and closed the elevator doors.
The luxury flat he had bought happened to be right above the Nagasaki residence.
Suddenly, his sleeve was tugged.
His little girlfriend, who had been silent until now, was looking at him nervously, looking as if she wanted to say something but was hesitating.
“If you have something to say, just say it.”
“Makoto…”
Kei looked like a puppy about to be given away, her eyes watery.
She bit her lip and hesitated for a moment before asking weakly, “Are you…
interested in that Ms.
Nagasaki?”
She wasn’t jealous.
She was worried.
She was afraid that once Makoto had a new love, he wouldn’t want her anymore.
In this distorted romantic relationship, Kei was in an absolutely inferior position.
In elementary school, Kei had been a cheerful, high-achieving student.
But after entering middle school, because she had good grades and was beautiful, she became the target of jealousy and bullying from the girls at her school.
There was no need to detail the bullying.
In the most serious instance, her left abdomen was stabbed by a sharp blade, and she nearly died.
Even now, there was still a scar there.
Precisely because of the bullying, Kei was forced to take a long leave of absence from school.
Her originally cheerful personality became timid, and she lost interest in studying, so her entrance exam scores were naturally disastrous.
According to the original plot of classroom of the elite, she should have been admitted to the Advanced Nurturing High School.
But in this world, there was no such school, and coupled with the fact that she happened to encounter a lecherous traverser, her life trajectory took a sharp turn.
Makoto spent a good deal of money to get her into Haneoka Girls’ High School, which had a very good atmosphere.
He also frequently made time to accompany her, allowing her to gradually emerge from the shadows of her past.
Although she felt her boyfriend was raising her like a pet, Kei didn’t care about that.
She craved having someone to protect her, and she was terrified of returning to that environment where she was bullied.
Combined with her naturally weak personality, she couldn’t possibly express her jealousy with confidence.
She could only beg her master not to discard her like a small animal acting spoiled, even going so far as to pleasingly take one of his index fingers into her mouth.
“Mm.”
She bit down gently a few times.
Makoto took a deep breath and, amidst his girlfriend’s exclamation, picked her up, feeling a wicked fire burning in his heart.
*Click.*
That was the sound of the door being closed.
“Waa!”
That was the sound of Kei being pressed against the shoe cabinet in the entryway.