Several days had passed since life at Advanced Nurturing High School began.
However, my position within Class 1-B had not changed in the slightest since the first day.
No—in fact, it might have gotten even worse.
(...Another perfect day as the lonely Demon King.)
Before morning horoom, the classroom remained as lively as ever, yet simply by sitting in the back window seat, an invisible barricade with a several-ter radius naturally ford around .
My classmates chatted happily among themselves while occasionally sneaking glances at and whispering things like:
"His pressure is insane today too..."
"I feel like he'd kill you if you pissed him off..."
With Aizen-spec hearing, those frightened whispers reached with painful clarity.
(That's not it...! I just want to say "good morning" normally and talk about harmless stuff like which cafeteria nu tastes best...!)
Even as tears of blood flowed through my heart, my outward appearance remained fixed in the expression of an absolute being coldly looking down upon the noise of the lower world.
Then, amid all that—
a female student approached my desk.
The central figure of this class, the pink-haired Honami Ichinose.
"Good morning, Aizen-kun! Are you getting used to school life yet?"
Though her smile was slightly stiff, she still gathered her courage to speak to .
After helping smooth over the catastrophe during my self-introduction on the first day, she had probably noticed how completely isolated I was and decided to reach out again.
(Ichinose-san...! You really are an angel! Thank you, I'm seriously happy! I'll respond with the greatest smile ever: "Yeah, I'm getting used to it! Thanks for checking in, Ichinose-san!")
Internally crying tears of joy, I ford an extrely friendly smile and opened my mouth.
"—Good morning, Ichinose. ...However, saying that I would 'grow accustod' to this narrow little garden is not quite accurate. ...It would be more correct to say that this environnt is currently waiting to adapt itself to a transcendent existence such as mine."
(NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!! THERE IT IS AGAIN!! WHY?! JUST LET THANK HER NORMALLY, YOU CURSED EQUIPNT!!)
At my unbelievably arrogant reply, Ichinose forced an awkward laugh.
"Ahaha... r-right, Aizen-kun really is amazing, huh..."
But her kindness didn't stop there.
"Um, if there's anything you don't understand in class, feel free to ask , okay? We're classmates after all..."
(ICHINOSE-SAN!! You're seriously such a good person! This ti, this ti for sure, I'll just say normally: "Thanks, I'm counting on you!")
"—Classmates, hm? A beautiful word, yet an exceedingly fragile one. ...I shall acknowledge your innocent goodwill. However, it is about ti you understood that an eagle ruling the heavens would never seek aid from a colony of ants crawling upon the earth."
"...Huh?"
The smile vanished completely from Ichinose's face.
The classmates secretly listening nearby began glaring at with fear mixed with anger.
"He just called Ichinose-san an ant..."
"Seriously, who the hell does he think he is...?"
(AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!! THAT'S NOT WHAT I ANT!! I DON'T THINK OF HER AS AN ANT!! IF ANYTHING, I'M THE ANT!! JUST A NORMAL ANT THAT GETS EATEN BY AN ANTEATER!! I'M SO SORRY!! Ichinose-san, seriously, I'm sorry!!)
Inside my head, I was practically performing a flying dogeza and grinding my forehead against the classroom floor.
Yet outwardly, I simply gave a cold "Fuh" and turned my gaze toward the window like the perfect villain.
Ichinose gave a lonely smile.
"I-I see... Sorry, maybe I was being nosy."
Then she returned to her seat.
(It's over. I completely shattered Ichinose-san's kindness into pieces... I want to apologize, but if I open my mouth another poem will co out, and I don't even have her contact info...)
Despairing at my own uselessness, I could only wait desperately for the after-school bell to ring.
---
And then, after school.
I wanted nothing more than to rush to the library and heal my soul with Hiyori's smile.
But today, I had a "mission" that needed doing.
I took out my smartphone and opened the ssaging app.
The recipient:
my one and only close friend, Shiina Hiyori.
> Sorry Hiyori, sothing ca up today, so could you head to the library first? I'll co over as soon as I'm done.
The mont I pressed send, I gasped.
(...W-wait!? Wasn't that a completely normal ssage just now!?)
That's right.
Although the curse automatically transford my spoken words into Aizen poetry, it didn't apply to handwritten text or smartphone typing.
Looking at the perfectly normal high-school-student-like ssage on the screen, I trembled with emotion.
(Amazing! Written text works! I can communicate normally through writing!! Should I just live through written notes and emails from now on!? ...No, that'd probably be creepy in its own way...)
A few seconds later, Hiyori replied like an angel:
> Understood. Please don't push yourself too hard, okay?
I smiled softly and quickly headed toward the special building.
My destination was the area where the cultural clubs gathered.
At the very back was the room of the Board Ga Club.
Without even knocking, I slowly opened the door.
Several upperclassn were gathered inside, seated around long tables lined with chessboards, shogi boards, and Go boards, all deeply focused on their matches.
"...Hm? Who're you? A first-year?"
A blond upperclassman with piercings and a rough delinquent-like appearance glared suspiciously at from the nearest chess table.
"You here to join? Sorry, but we don't take slow-brained brats—"
"—No. I did not co to submit an application form."
I stepped elegantly into the room, slowly surveying the arranged ga boards.
"It seems you are engaged in quite the interesting 'gas.' ...Though for re entertainnt, the scent of blood hanging in the air is unusually thick. ...You are gambling points here, are you not?"
The atmosphere instantly froze.
In this school, points were effectively equivalent to cash.
And the system clearly allowed students to transfer points between one another.
The blond senior narrowed his eyes.
"...Heh? Pretty sharp nose for a first-year."
"There is no need to sniff it out. The 'desire' writhing within your eyes is overflowing too openly to conceal."
"Hah, you sure talk big. ...So what? You here to report us, honor student?"
"Hardly. ...I'm rely asking if you would allow to join your board."
At my proposal, the upperclassn exchanged glances before grinning viciously like predators who had found prey.
"...Fine by . It's a senior's duty to educate cocky first-years who get carried away after receiving their initial 100,000 points. But the stakes are high."
"That is acceptable. If you intend to consu my ti, suitable compensation will naturally be required."
I sat across from the blond senior and picked up the white chess pieces.
(Good, they took the bait. I figured delinquent-looking seniors like these were definitely gambling points behind the scenes. Sorry guys, but for the sake of joining the sa class as Hiyori, your points are becoming my war funds!)
"Let's start small. One ga, ten thousand points."
"...Pretty cautious, huh? Fine then. Let's begin."
The match started.
My opponent wasn't an amateur. He knew standard openings and could think ahead reasonably well.
—But his opponent was simply far too monstrous.
The "Sosuke Aizen intellect" residing within my mind didn't see the chessboard as rely sixty-four squares.
It processed it as an ocean of calculations branching into tens of thousands of possible futures.
His breathing.
His eye movents.
The slight trembling of the fingers holding his pieces.
I read every fragnt of his thinking and perfectly dominated the board several moves—dozens of moves—ahead.
"...Checkmate. Your king died three turns ago."
"Wha—!?"
Barely five minutes after the ga began, the senior lost without even understanding how.
"...Damn it! Again! This ti, fifty thousand!"
"Very well. ...Though no matter how many tis we play, only your despair will deepen."
What followed was utter slaughter.
After the blond senior was utterly crushed in chess, another senior stepped up yelling:
"I'll take you on in shogi!"
He too had his rook and bishop completely sealed early on before his castle defense was smashed apart.
Then the club president-looking guy confidently declared:
"I won't lose at Go!"
Only to have all four corners of the board completely dominated until he eventually found himself unable to place stones naturally anymore and surrendered.
(This is insane...! Aizen specs are seriously broken. I can practically see where they're going to move next before they do. Being this overwhelmingly dominant... might actually be kind of fun!)
While I celebrated internally like an excited child, the seniors sweated profusely and transferred point after point into my account with trembling hands.
"What is wrong? Have your strategic minds already reached their limits?"
Crossing my legs like a king gazing down from a throne, I provoked them further.
"Damn it...! My living expenses for this month...!!"
"Please, one more ti! Just one more chance! I'll bet my remaining 500,000 points!!"
"...Very well. I do not dislike such blood-spitting desperation."
They had completely fallen into the swamp of gambling, losing all rational judgnt.
I deliberately exposed small openings to make them think "Next ti I can win," only to overturn the board the instant they committed.
An extraordinarily nasty playstyle.
And with it, I stripped them of every last point.
---
Two hours later.
The upperclassn lay collapsed across the clubroom floor, utterly exhausted and burned out white.
"...Ga set. I have grown weary of entertaining your clumsy little gas."
I elegantly stood and checked my terminal.
Added to my balance was:
2 million points earned in a single day.
Combined with the original six million from my and Hiyori's special hush money, our total had now reached eight million.
"...It was quite a aningful ti. How about it? Would you care to entertain again tomorrow to alleviate my boredom?"
When I asked with a smile, the seniors on the floor trembled violently and imdiately dropped into desperate prostrations.
"P-please...! Just never co here again...!!"
"We were wrong! Sorry for getting cocky! So please, just stay away from our clubroom!!"
Seeing these tough-looking seniors crying with snot running down their faces while begging a single freshman for rcy filled with a tiny bit of guilt.
(Whoa... maybe I went a little overboard. Ah well! They brought it on themselves!)
Leaving behind one final poem—
"...I see. If your hearts have already broken so completely, then it cannot be helped. Continue living while lanting your own insignificance."
—I exited the clubroom.
Walking through the hallways of the special building, I let out a deep breath.
(I earned more than expected. Two million in a day... at this rate, twenty million might not take long at all.)
But I quickly dismissed the thought.
(No, it's probably not that easy. The Board Ga Club seniors are completely terrified of now, and once rumors spread, nobody will gamble against anymore. There's still twelve million left to go... This road is still long.)
Outside the window, the sun had fully set and darkness was beginning to envelop the school.
(Maybe I can earn points through other clubs too? What about challenging martial arts clubs with sothing like: "If you can land even one hit on , I'll give you 100,000 points"? With Aizen-spec physical abilities, I'm completely confident I won't lose.)
For the pure and earnest goal of "joining the sa class as Hiyori,"
the reincarnated Sosuke Aizen's intellect rapidly devised extrely wicked sches to legally(?) fleece the students of this ritocratic school.
(...Alright, enough for today. I should hurry to the library where Hiyori is waiting.)
Behind the mask of a cold-hearted demon king, I pictured my best friend's face and broke into a lovestruck grin as I hurried through the school building sinking into the evening twilight.
Having secured at least one proper ans of communication thanks to the civilized invention known as email, I headed toward the library—where my beloved everyday life awaited —in the brightest mood I had experienced yet.
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