Tokyo: The Player Behind the Scenes

The opening ceremony was nothing new; the principal looked to the present, reflected on the past, and looked to the future, addressing the students.

When the principal used the phrase "darlings of the new era" to describe the students in the audience for the third time, Dongshan Shen stared blankly at the ribbons in the hair of the girls in the front row, lost in thought.

Thinking about what new games the game system might refresh the day after tomorrow, I wonder if there will be any sequels to "Soul Swap".

After the principal, there were speeches from student representatives and so on. It was a struggle to get through the morning, and half of the morning was already over.

After taking some photos and receiving their textbooks, they finally returned to the classroom.

Although Shin Higashiyama's physique is now that of a sports student, he still showed a hint of fatigue the moment he sat down.

It's so mentally damaging.

What could be summarized in three sentences is instead taken up to two hours of explanation.

If he has the chance in the future, he will secretly sabotage every time he sees a leader giving a speech.

Inside the classroom, the students have now become more or less accustomed to Mr. Ikeda's presence, and during their free time, they at least dare to move around around.

"Lunch break is now starting. Afternoon classes will be scheduled according to the timetable. If you have time, get to know each other. We need to elect class officers during the morning meeting tomorrow. If you are interested in being the class representative, you can come to my office in advance."

"Ikeda said in a deep voice, glancing around at everyone," he said.

".yes!"

With Ikeda gone, all the students in Class 3 of Grade 1 finally breathed a sigh of relief, and the surrounding air pressure seemed to ease considerably.

"Do you want to be the class representative?" Chiba asked.

"No, I'm tired of it. Three years in middle school have exhausted my enthusiasm for management." Dongshan Shen served as class monitor for three years during his middle school years, and he was fed up with it.

In Japan, the mainstream school system is that elementary schools divide students into classes every two years, while middle and high schools divide students into classes every year.

However, this is not absolute. Komagome Academy, for example, adopts a three-year integrated system, which means that students are not divided into classes for three years of secondary school and three years of high school except for the purpose of advancing to higher education. So once you enter this system, you can basically forget about getting out of it.

However, the more important reason is that his cheat code hadn't arrived before, but now everything is different, and he's lost interest in playing house.

Even club activities might be phased out in two or three categories, leaving only the archery club. However, considering that the cheat code is related to games, the video game club might also need to be retained.

The reason he didn't want to leave the archery club was that he enjoyed the process of aiming at the target and then shooting through the crosshair.

It's normal for men to like to ejaculate something, right?

Chiba Shion's gaze shifted slightly, and after a few seconds of silence, she finally spoke.

"You seem to have changed a lot since spring break."

"Of course, I went from being a high school student to a high school student."

He calmly covered it up with a joke.

It must be said that Chiba's understanding of him was indeed quite profound. He could detect even the slightest abnormality, making him much more perceptive than his foolish younger brother.

A flicker of suspicion crossed Chiba's eyes, but he quickly regained his composure. If Higashiyama Shin hadn't possessed the Spirit-Nourishing Fire Eye, he probably wouldn't have noticed.

"Let's eat. I'm starving after standing here for so long."

Higashiyama Shin casually changed the subject, opened the lid of the bento box, and a delicious aroma wafted out, still tempting even without heat.

He had assumed that Chiba Shion, who was staying at her father's place, would prepare bento boxes, so he only made ones for himself and his younger brother.

Fortunately, his bento box today contained easy-to-serve foods, such as braised lion's head meatballs, tempura shrimp, vegetables, karaage chicken nuggets, and vegetable salad, with a plum seaweed rice ball as the main dish.

"Thank you."

Chiba took the chopsticks, her eyes bright, and started eating after Higashiyama Shin picked up the first piece of chicken.

"Would you like a rice ball?"

"What does it taste like?"

"plum."

"No."

"What a carnivore! Eat more salad."

".good."

The two of them ate the same bento box in the classroom, oblivious to everyone around them, which drew whispers from those around them.

Are they a couple?

"Of course, otherwise why would they be so intimate?"

"That woman, is that Chiba Shion?"

"It's her! She's so beautiful."

"Do men like this? Am I the only one who thinks she's just average? She looks down on everyone with that condescending attitude, tsk."

"Ahhh, Higashiyama-kun, my Higashiyama-kun!"

The two ate at a leisurely pace, finishing off the food in their bento boxes with perfect teamwork, except for the salad.

Chiba frowned, the lettuce and cucumber making a crisp, juicy sound as she chewed, but her expression was as if she were taking a bitter, thick medicine, serious and tragic.

Gulu.

After finally swallowing it, she shivered almost imperceptibly, and breathed a long sigh of relief. She opened her small mouth towards Dongshan, half-revealing her little tongue, to show that she hadn't cheated and had swallowed it.

Higashiyama Shin wasn't surprised at all. This guy was born with a dislike for vegetarian food and wasn't even very interested in carbohydrate staples like noodles and rice. He used to do shameful things like hiding food in his mouth and then secretly spitting it out when Higashiyama wasn't looking. But thankfully, under Higashiyama's influence, he's finally become less picky about food.

"Will we be full?"

"Six-tenths full."

"Okay, but don't eat too much." Dongshan Shen has always had a big appetite, and this little bit is only enough to fill him up to about 40%. However, he usually doesn't eat too much; 70% is enough for him.

"it is good."

Shinichi Higashiyama picked up the lunchbox and headed towards the nearest restroom.

Chiba stared blankly as Higashiyama Shin's figure disappeared through the doorway. Only then, feeling the gentle breeze from the window, did she take a foreign novel out of her bag, open the bookmark slot, carefully put away the metal bookmark, and begin to read.

Several new classmates had originally intended to strike up a conversation with her when she was alone, but upon seeing this scene, they froze and awkwardly abandoned their plans.

"Seriously pretentious," someone muttered under their breath.

She and Shinichi Higashiyama are similar in some ways; they never took these people seriously.

Chiba's reading of foreign novels was also at her mother's request. She was required to read one English novel every month and write down her thoughts in English. If she didn't understand something, she was to learn it; if she couldn't learn it, she was to look it up.

Shin Higashiyama was greatly inspired by this and made a similar request to his younger brother, except that he only asked him to read Japanese novels.

At first, he needed to urge him on, but later he found that he would actually start looking for books to read on his own, and they were quite literary. Higashiyama Shin was very pleased.

He might have hidden qualities of a great educator.

As Dongshan approached the restroom with his lunchbox in hand, he saw his three delinquent classmates walking out with their hands in their pockets.

PS.

(Don't be misled by me. In reality, Komagome Academy only has two small classes; the rest are divided into classes in the second year of high school. The architecture, history, curriculum, and even the entire world of Komagome Academy in the novel are fictional. Please don't take it too seriously.)

Chapter 6: Strange Tales of the Old Building

"That idiot must have thought he was rid of us after being reassigned to a different class, haha, he definitely didn't expect to be in the same class again."

"He should be charged for his friends' fees during spring break too, he's really clueless."

"Tsk, I hope this person won't meddle in other people's business."

"By the way, Senior Inoue is preparing for tonight."

The leader of the delinquents glanced at Higashiyama Shin walking towards them, shut his mouth, and only continued after passing by, "...over by the old school building."

Higashiyama Shin stood behind the group, looking at the back of the leader of the delinquents, his brows furrowed slightly.

As he walked into the bathroom, lost in thought, he saw his classmate, Nobi, with a bruise on his face, clutching his stomach, kneeling on the floor frantically groping around, saying, "Glasses, glasses."

Through his blurry vision, a hand held out glasses to him.

"thanks, thanks!"

Nobita quickly took it and put it on, and the blurry world finally regained some clarity.

".broken."

Nobita's face was a little pale. After putting on the glasses, he found that one of the lenses was broken, with several conspicuous cracks, and even the temples were loose.

He put on his damaged glasses, gritted his teeth, and slowly stood up.

"You are... Dongshan."

"you know me?"

As Higashiyama washed the grease off the lunchbox on the sink, he casually asked...

"I've seen you at the video game club, but I've only been there a few times."

Higashiyama Shin had a good memory, and he was certain he had never seen this person before. But then he remembered looking at the list of members of the video game club, which only had the surname Nobi: "Nobi Tomoyoshi?"

"Yes, it's me."

Higashiyama Shin nodded, said nothing more, washed the lunchbox, and left.

If he were the class representative, he would have many ways to stop those bad behaviors, but he doesn't intend to take the position.

Let's see if the next class monitor can handle mediating these issues. However, with such a fierce teacher, it's likely that just asking him to intimidate the students would achieve good results.

"But why did that person just now have such ominous signs flashing around him? It was like he was going in and out of the gates of hell."

Higashiyama Shin didn't pay much attention to Nobi; he was still thinking about the delinquent leader he had just seen at the bathroom door.

In Higashiyama Shin's eyes, he was like a broken incandescent light bulb, just sitting there blinking and sparkling.

"The old teaching building?"

Without the other person's detailed birth information, he could only see some simple omens and could not know the origin of the other person's fortune or misfortune.

However, considering the location the other party just mentioned, it's easy to guess.

When afternoon classes started, Higashiyama Shin saw the ominous signs on the delinquent's body and was completely certain of it.

A great omen.

This level of ominous sign involves life and death; it all depends on whether one's destiny is strong enough and whether one possesses any powerful protective amulets.

Otherwise, he was basically doomed to die, unless some unexpected intervention stopped him from engaging in any further suicidal behavior.

However, this person's bad luck is already set in stone. Simply asking him to avoid the bad luck won't help. As the prize pool accumulates, giving him a super multiplier will only make his fate worse.

If the disaster can be completely averted, the Three-Nine Secret Abode has a way, but the one who casts the spell, Dongshan Shen, will have to pay a price.

Unfortunately, Higashiyama Shin was not a kind-hearted person, not to mention that he was a delinquent.

These kinds of people, although most of them don't deserve to die, that's according to the law. For the victims, it's just a relief.

Shinichi Higashiyama had no intention of giving any warnings; he was simply interested in what might happen to him.

The abandoned old teaching building at Komagome Academy is associated with many "mysterious legends".

It is rumored that the school building was completed in 1948. The original school building was destroyed during the famous Tokyo BBQ, so the school building that was rebuilt on the original site has been associated with many paranormal events ever since.

A classroom still in session amidst a raging fire, charred bodies waving to those outside through windows, and the sound of reading aloud drifting in at night.

These strange tales have been passed down from generation to generation among students.

Even after the old teaching building was completely abandoned and became desolate ten years ago, the discussion about it did not subside much, and even more versions emerged.

Many student organizations choose this location for their courage-testing events, but no deaths or injuries have ever occurred, so the school hasn't really interfered.

I had been to Higashiyama Shin a few times before, and I don’t recall anything special about it except that it was rather gloomy and cold.

It's just you scaring yourself.

But now that he has the Spirit-Nourishing Fire Eye, he can go and see if there are any differences later.

Before I knew it, it was past three in the afternoon.

The school bell rang throughout the campus, and the teachers paused their lectures. On the first day of school, the clubs had a lot to do, and many students rushed to the activity venues as soon as class was over, full of youthful energy.

"To the archery club?" Chiba Shion packed her bag.

"Ah."