The second day of school.
“A-choo!”
Mikage Touji rubbed his nose and walked listlessly into the classroom.
There was still a long time before class started, but over a dozen people had already arrived.
Some were already flipping through their textbooks to preview today’s lessons.
“Morning, Kito-san,” Mikage Touji casually greeted Kito Hayato, who was sitting in the front row.
“Morning…”
Kito Hayato seemed a bit surprised that Mikage Touji had greeted him, but he quickly reacted and responded in a low voice.
He had switched to a pair of white gloves today; one had to wonder if he wore a new set every day.
Bypassing Kito Hayato, Mikage Touji swayed squint-eyed toward his seat.
Last night, while researching his abilities, Mikage Touji’s imagination ran wild.
He remembered a must-have skill for training mental power from ancient web novels—Meditation!
Legend had it that this was a skill that could absorb the essence of heaven and earth to enhance one’s spirit.
Given such a powerful effect, Mikage Touji naturally had to test its depths, so he followed an online tutorial and began meditating on his bed.
Twenty minutes later, surrounded by the spiritual energy of the world…
Mikage Touji fell asleep while sitting up.
As a result, he spent the entire night being blasted by cold air.
Bang!
His mind wandering, Mikage Touji felt himself collide with a soft body.
The “thud” of falling books followed immediately into his ears.
He had hit someone!
Mikage Touji opened his mouth to apologize, but a slightly panicked voice beat him to it:
“I’m sorry!”
Mikage Touji: “?”
He opened his eyes.
A girl with her hair tied to the side was frantically picking up her books.
“Uh,” Mikage Touji crouched down to help pick them up, “Yamamura-san, I’m pretty sure I’m the one who walked into you, right?”
“H-hiii!” Yamamura Miki, having gathered her books, looked startled.
She lowered her head and repeated weakly, “I’m sorry.”
“No, no, my point is, I didn’t look where I was going and hit you.
Why are you apologizing…
wait!” Mikage Touji seemed to remember something, his face turning fearful.
“Don’t tell me you were sent by that Morishita girl to interfere with me, and you’re apologizing because you feel guilty?”
“N-no, that’s not it.
I don’t know Morishita-san,” Yamamura Miki explained hurriedly.
“Then why apologize?
Clearly, it should be me apologizing to you.”
Yamamura Miki’s voice grew a bit dimmer.
“Because I…
I’ve never really had much of a pr-presence, so—”
“So ‘I’m sorry I bumped into you,’ it’s that simple.” Mikage Touji stuffed the books back into her hands.
“Eh, n-no—” Yamamura Miki clutched her books with one hand while waving the other frantically.
“No what?
If you don’t apologize when you hit someone, things will be awkward later.
Anyway, please take care of me for the next three years.
I’m heading out.”
With that, Mikage Touji bypassed the stunned Yamamura Miki, walked to his seat, and plopped down.
“Mikage-kun, you’re quite kind.”
Next door, Shiraishi Asuka put down her pen, closed the notebook she was writing in, and spoke with a peaceful smile.
“That girl Yamamura seems to have a bit of a low presence, so she’s afraid of being a burden.
You forced her to accept the apology directly so she wouldn’t overthink it, didn’t you?”
“Is that so?” Mikage Touji replied casually.
“I didn’t really see it that way.”
His ability primarily affected the mental plane and amplified his sensory perception, so he didn’t actually feel like Yamamura Miki’s presence was low.
‘Wait!’
Mikage Touji had a second thought.
The fact that he—someone who could amplify his perception—had managed to crash into Yamamura Miki was, in itself, a problem.
“It’s likely true.
Yesterday during self-introductions, she didn’t seem to get much applause, even though she spoke quite well,” Shiraishi Asuka continued.
During yesterday’s introductions, as long as one wasn’t terrifying like Kito Hayato or abstract like Mikage Touji, people would usually give at least a little courtesy applause.
The fact that Yamamura Miki received so little suggested she really was remarkably unnoticeable.
“Speaking of which, Shiraishi-san, your observational skills are excellent.
I didn’t even notice.”
“Not at all,” Shiraishi Asuka covered her mouth and said with a smile, “I just happened to see it.”
“Mm-hmm.” Mikage Touji hummed a low response.
She looked curious: “Mikage-kun seems to be in low spirits.
Did you not sleep well last night?”
“You could say that.”
Mikage Touji closed his panda-like eyes and said gloomily, “I’m not used to the school beds.”
“Huhu.” Shiraishi Asuka let out a light laugh.
“Then…
why don’t you catch some sleep now?
I’ll wake you up when class is about to start.”
“Thanks in advance, then.”
Mikage Touji let out a mumble, found a comfortable position with his face against the desk, and quickly fell asleep.
Seeing him asleep, Shiraishi Asuka put her notebook back in the drawer, rested her chin on her hand, and quietly gazed at his face.
By now, the sun had climbed above the horizon.
The morning light filtered through the glass window, softly spilling over the boy’s face and coating him in a thin veil of light.
Shiraishi Asuka found herself lost in thought for a moment.
‘Are you…
really him?’
Mikage Touji always believed the classroom was the perfect sanctuary for sleep.
Here, no matter how severe the insomnia or how noisy the outside world, one could absolutely fall asleep during a ten-minute break.
As it turned out, Mikage Touji was right.
When Shiraishi Asuka gently touched his arm to wake him, he was fully revitalized.
The students were all present, and everyone had taken out their textbooks to preview today’s content.
Mikage Touji’s mouth twitched at the sight.
He now understood somewhat why their class was ranked first as Class A among A, B, C, and D.
With this intense “Grind King” aura, if Class A were actually the bottom class, he would wash his hair while standing on his head.
Of course, there were a few exceptions.
For instance, Morishita Ai, who was resting her chin on her hand while white clouds drifted through her blue-violet eyes, and Mikage Touji, who had been sleeping as if no one else were there…
Ahem, that’s not the point!
Mikage Touji slapped his cheeks with both hands to wake himself up and turned his gaze toward the surveillance camera in the classroom.
The main event was about to begin.
The idea that the school was evaluating the students’ “value” was, in the end, just a guess without evidence.
Finding evidence was actually quite simple: prove that even one part of the value evaluation was real.
Academic ability could be measured by exams.
Physical ability could be measured by competitions.
But for other aspects—if it really was as he imagined—they would have to rely on the cameras.
Furthermore, during this process, the teachers couldn’t give reminders; otherwise, they wouldn’t be able to test the students’ true levels.
So, under what circumstances would a student’s true level be revealed?
Mikage Touji had found the answer last night.
Under conditions of high freedom.
In other words, when the school’s discipline is highly relaxed.
So…
He just needed to observe the teachers’ attitudes toward classroom behavior.
If they completely ignored infractions, it was a clear sign that the school wanted to use the cameras to test the students’ various indicators.
With this in mind, Mikage Touji enthusiastically pulled out his book and stood it up on the desk, hiding his face behind it to quietly observe the classroom.
‘Come on, show me the true face of this school.’
Half an hour later…
Mikage Touji let out a third yawn, looking at the class with glazed eyes.
‘No, you’ve got to be kidding me.’
In the massive Class A, with 40 people, every single one of them was listening to the lecture with total focus.
They looked like they had a “reading addiction.” Shouldn’t there be a fixed NPC like a “Back-row Warlord”?
“…”
Mikage Touji yawned again, then as if remembering something, he slammed his book down.
‘No…
speaking of Back-row Warlords, there is one!’
Mikage Touji turned his gaze to the podium.
Mashima Tomonari was lecturing while holding a textbook.
“The Earth provides us with air, water, and…”
“Ahem!
Ahem!”
Mikage Touji coughed twice, and the attention of the whole class was immediately drawn to him.
Mashima Tomonari paused briefly, then kept his hands behind his back and continued lecturing.
“It gives us forests full of life and oceans so wide…”
‘Is that how it is…’
Seeing this, Mikage Touji’s expression turned arrogant.
Under the watchful eyes of everyone, Mikage Touji tilted his chair back, rested his head on Morishita Ai’s desk, and ignored her gaze which was gradually turning icy. This chapter is updated first at novelping . com.
Mikage Touji doubled down, lifting his legs and—clatter—placing them squarely on his own desk.
“We must protect our beautiful planet…”
Mashima Tomonari still didn’t react.
He continued to rigidly read from the textbook.
In a corner where no one could see, the corner of his mouth twitched into a faint, subtle arc.
This bizarre scene and eerie atmosphere—even without it being spelled out—led the students to suspect something was 90%, or even 100%, wrong.
Finally, Mikage Touji simply stood up and, ignoring the gaze of the entire class, walked straight out of the room.
During this entire time, Mashima Tomonari made no move to stop him, continuing to narrate the text the whole way.
Five minutes later, Mikage Touji—carrying a bottle of free mineral water—strode back into the classroom with swagger.
Some students seemed to have deduced something from Mashima-sensei’s reaction, and their eyes bore into Mikage Touji’s direction with intensity.
“…”
Mashima Tomonari maintained a business-as-usual attitude, meticulously lecturing his course as if the scene before him had never happened.
Before long, the bell signaled the end of class.
Mashima Tomonari packed up his teaching materials and walked out of the room without a word.
The next moment, the entire class’s attention converged on the bottom-left corner of the room.
Students led by Katsuragi Kohei and Hashimoto Masayoshi quickly gathered there.
“Yo!
Mikage-san,” Hashimoto Masayoshi was the first to greet him, speaking in an enthusiastic tone.
“That stunt just now was testing the school rules, right?
Mind sharing the details?”
“I have the same intention,” Katsuragi Kohei said in a deep voice, crossing his arms.
“Mikage-kun clearly knew Mashima-sensei wouldn’t react before he acted.
Your intel must be far beyond ours.
If Mikage-kun is willing to share, it would be for the best.”
In Katsuragi Kohei’s view, Mikage Touji was someone who didn’t reject socializing but wouldn’t initiate it either.
If they didn’t ask, Mikage Touji might truly never say a word.
Mikage Touji tilted his head back to take a swig of water, then looked at Hashimoto Masayoshi.
“Hashimoto-san, did you ask the senpais yesterday?
What were their answers?”
“Unfortuntely,” Hashimoto Masayoshi shrugged, “I have no clue at all.
I threw away my pride and pestered them, even tried to trade points, but they weren’t interested at all.
Their answers were incredibly vague, stuff like ‘just do what you’re supposed to do’ and the like.”
“I have a few guesses on my end, but no evidence, so I can’t take it further,” Katsuragi Kohei said.
“Is that so…” Mikage Touji wasn’t surprised.
He said honestly, “In fact, I’m also only at the hypothesis stage and need to verify things further.”
“Need me to do anything?” Kito Hayato volunteered.
“Support in terms of points would be fine too; I’m sure our classmates would be willing to contribute,” Katsuragi Kohei added.
“No need for that,” Mikage Touji said.
“If I need it later, I’ll bring it up.”
“Need manpower?” Hashimoto Masayoshi leaned his head in.
“I’m more than happy to help with running errands or things like that.”
“No need for that either.” Mikage Touji shot Hashimoto Masayoshi a strange look.
He felt this guy was being excessively enthusiastic, almost to the point of brown-nosing.
Every time he saw him, Mikage Touji’s mind conjured the image of a sycophantic character from an old war drama, saying “Yes, sir!” with a fawning, weird accent.
“Alright,” Katsuragi Kohei nodded.
“If you need actual help, call me in the class group at any time.”
The break was short.
As the bell rang for the next class, the crowd around Mikage Touji dispersed.
“You really stole the spotlight, Mikage Touji.” A hollow voice drifted from behind him.
This time, Mikage Touji didn’t fall for it.
He leaned back, resting his chair against Morishita Ai’s desk.
“So, Morishita-san, are you ready to admit defeat?” Mikage Touji whispered.
Morishita Ai, having failed to trick him, felt a bit disappointed.
“Who knows?
My plan is progressing in an orderly fashion.
Such an arrogant posture—as expected of the Mikage Touji who possesses great darkness?
No matter.
Usually, people who pop the champagne halfway through end up losing everything.”
“Morishita-san, if I recall correctly, I’m the Ultraman who represents the Light?”
“Hmm?
But hasn’t your Light already run away?
An Ultraman without Light is just Alien Empera.”
“Tsk…” Mikage Touji hissed in embarrassed anger.
“This is exactly why I hate that scumbag who tricked my Light away when I was eight years old!”