"Please come in and introduce yourself to the rest of the class."
Okay, that's my cue.
The moment I slid the door open and stepped into the classroom, I immediately felt all the attention lock onto me until I stood right next to the homeroom teacher.
For a moment, I briefly glanced at all the students in the class. Starting today, I would be surrounded by these teenagers, whether I liked it or not.
Who would've known I'd be transmigrated to another world as a younger version of myself? Never in my wildest dreams.
That was a lie. I did daydream about something like this occasionally. I was an author, after all; it was my job to write down my delusions in novel form.
"Nice to meet you, everyone. I'm Watanabe Akiharu. My close friends often called me Haru, but they're overseas now. The reason I'm transferring to this prestigious academy is because, well, it's one of the good schools around here, no?"
I didn't forget to flash my usual smile, as if to ward off bad luck. The girls took it like I was personally throwing flowers at them, whereas the boys... well, that was within expected results.
I was honestly quite thankful that my appearance remained the same, save for my age. More importantly, even my parents were identical to the ones in my previous life.
The only difference was that their professions in this world were much more confidential. The fact that I could attend this Chiba academy was one of the many reasons I believed in my own theory.
As expected of an academy where only kids from influential families could attend, they all had their own charms.
However, I couldn't care less about these snobbish brats who knew nothing of the cruelty awaiting them. What I was looking for was a young girl with long, dark-purple hair.
After all, she wasn't just an ordinary girl. Or at least, her future self would be far from ordinary.
The first thing I did upon waking up in this world was go on the internet and type in random keywords like I was button-mashing — things like Iron Man, Superman, or even All Might.
Fortunately, none of them matched the horrors I had in mind. It wasn't like I had been informed beforehand that I would be transmigrated, much less what kind of world was waiting for me.
So long as it wasn't Injustice or some family-planning lunatic, I figured I could survive with what I'd gotten from the Chaos Gacha.
But I was wrong. Terribly wrong. After all...
If the academy and Nagazora City itself were still standing, that meant she had to be a student here.
When our eyes met, she instinctively lowered her head with a slight blush, as if embarrassed that I'd even looked her way.
"Alright, quiet down, please. Then, Haru-kun, your seat will be right over there near the window. It's right behind Raiden Mei."
"Y-Yes!"
Hearing her name called out, Mei raised her hand slightly to show me she was the one the homeroom teacher had mentioned.
While walking toward my seat, I couldn't help but feel a little appreciative of my Adept Spycraft skill. If not for this wonderful ability, my face would've been perpetually stoic.
Though it still took me a while to practice in front of a mirror until I could perfectly mimic a normal smile. Yor was a good spy, but she didn't need to put much effort into her disguise because she was, unfortunately, an airhead to a certain extent.
What was genuinely scary about her was her combat skill and the unreasonable strength hidden beneath that thin frame.
I didn't think I could do something as crazy as her, at least not yet. If I put myself through some grueling training arc though, then maybe it wouldn't be an impossible path.
As I sat down in the empty seat behind her, I thought back to the day I found out what kind of world this actually was. Which happened to be yesterday, the exact day my parents decided to tell me they were sending me to this academy.
I had also coincidentally seen the news playing on the 8K Ultra Wide TV in the living room. The pretty news anchor was talking about the rising stock price of Raiden Corp. That's right, the one and only.
And yes, this world was, without a doubt, the game world I used to love. The story had made me cry just as hard as that time my first girlfriend cheated on me.
The game developers had even proudly called it a "heartwarming love story," but the only thing warm about it was the tears streaming down my cheeks.
Honkai Impact 3rd.
Raiden Mei happened to be one of the three main cast members throughout the beginning stages of the game, all the way to the very end of Phase 1.
I remembered playing up until the Overseer of Schicksal, aka the clown Otto Apocalypse, mysteriously disappeared after handing over his position to his granddaughter, Theresa Apocalypse.
The reason I stopped playing wasn't because I grew bored of the game, nor did I become too busy with life.
My old phone simply couldn't handle it anymore. I was a high school student at the time, so obviously I couldn't just pull money out of my ass to buy a new phone.
However, I wasn't left out completely. I ended up spoiling myself by watching playthrough compilations, or rather, a VTuber reacting to all the cinematic animations I had missed.
It was a wonderful story, and one might even say heartwarming. However, the journey up until that point was anything but sunshine and rainbows.
One character development followed another, punctuated by unnecessary sacrifices.
It was like witnessing a painter use their own blood as ink to paint a landscape. Sure, the result was exceptionally beautiful, but the context behind it was utterly heart-wrenching.
"Um... Watanabe-san?"
"Hm? Ah, yes."
I was pulled out of my recollections when a shy voice called out to me. I looked up and saw Mei looking at me as if she wanted to ask something. In fact, she wasn't the only one.
Before I knew it, it was already lunchtime, and the other students had gathered around my desk. They still kept a safe distance, not daring to approach me directly for some reason.
Mei had planned to eat with her friends, but they had practically pushed her into being the one to strike up a conversation with the new guy.
•~(Omnipov)~•
Honestly, she was just as curious about him as the rest of the class. He had mentioned his close friends being overseas; didn't that mean he originally lived abroad and had only moved to Japan very recently?
She had been hesitant at first because he looked so lost in his own world. But thanks to her friends' encouragement, she finally spoke up.
"What's up?"
"Oh, no. It's nothing. I was just trying to tell you that you might miss lunch, or something..."
Instead of looking offended at being disturbed, Akiharu nodded before replying.
"Thanks. You're Raiden Mei, right? You can call me Haru. We're basically friends now, aren't we?"
"Ah. Um, I guess?"
Mei didn't know why, but she felt extremely shy around the boy before her. She hadn't acted like this even when she first enrolled in the academy.
His red hair was striking, and his face was undeniably good-looking. Yet, there was something in his gaze that seemed to draw her in, though she couldn't explain how, or what exactly drew her to him.
"Then, Raiden-san, do you mind showing me around? I'm still not familiar with the academy layout. Wouldn't it be embarrassing if I got lost looking for the restroom?"
"Pfft."
Faced with his deadpan seriousness, she couldn't help but let out a chuckle at the "very serious" predicament he had envisioned. Something about it tickled her, and his immediate reaction only made it worse.
"Hey, I'm serious. This is a life-or-death situation for me, you know? I don't want my nickname to be 'The Shit-Stirrer' or 'Poop Man.' That's horrible."
"Ahahaha!"