Japan's most prestigious academy, Shuchiin Academy.
Inside the city gymnasium, the new semester's entrance ceremony was underway.
The gray-haired principal stepped forward with a genial smile and announced in a clear voice, "Next, please welcome the representative of this year's incoming class, Miss Kaguya Shinomiya."
Applause crashed through the hall like a rising tide.
A slender figure walked calmly onto the stage.
Long black hair fell straight across her shoulders. Her dark crimson eyes were cold, almost glacial. Not a trace of emotion touched her flawless face, and the distant aura around her felt like a wall that kept everyone else at arm's length.
The students below erupted into hushed whispers.
"T-That's Kaguya Shinomiya?"
"Yep! She scored first place on the entrance exam!"
"Shinomiya… you mean the Shinomiya family? One of the four great conglomerates?"
"Whoa. Even among the Pureblood (Chuin) students at Shuchiin, she's at the top of the food chain."
Most of the students present were only fifteen or sixteen. Every pair of eyes held the same mixture of curiosity and awe.
At Shuchiin Academy, the student body was broadly divided into two camps.
Pureblood (Chuin). The elite. Children born into powerful families and business empires.
And the Non-Purebloods (Konin).
Students who earned their place through exceptional talent, academic brilliance, or rare abilities.
Kaguya Shinomiya stood at the absolute peak of the first group.
"Good morning, everyone." Her voice came through the microphone clear and unhurried, not a single fluctuation in tone. Just hearing her voice was enough to feel the freezing arrogance deep in her bones.
"I am Kaguya Shinomiya, representative of this year's incoming class. It is my honor to be a member of Shuchi'in Academy."
"Haah…"
A lazy yawn drifted from the line of freshmen.
Makoto Nishikado half-lidded his eyes, looking like he might fall asleep at any moment. The elegant speech on stage failed to capture even a shred of his interest.
"Mako-chan!"
An annoyed whisper snapped beside him. "Can you stop looking half-dead all the time?"
The speaker was a blonde girl with her hair up in twin-tails, a face so cute it veered into baby-doll territory, and a figure that made the slim-fit black school uniform work considerably harder than it was designed to.
She was the kind of person whose appearance raised immediate contradictions.
Akizuki Airi.
Makoto's stepsister. The second daughter of his adoptive mother, Akizuki Kayoko. They had grown up together since childhood.
Makoto glanced toward the stage where Kaguya Shinomiya continued her speech with the same icy composure.
Then he looked at Airi, who was glaring at him with puffed cheeks.
One exhausted thought floated through his mind.
What kind of world did I reincarnate into…
Yes.
Makoto Nishikado was sixteen years old.
And a transmigrator from another world.
Not long after arriving here, he had confirmed something important. The world he now lived in was a bizarre crossover of everyday anime series.
Evidence was everywhere.
Newspapers regularly ran headlines about "The Savior of the Police, Detective Shinichi Kudo."
On the stage stood Kaguya Shinomiya, the daughter of a massive financial empire.
Earlier, while checking the class roster, Makoto had spotted a long list of names that felt absurdly familiar.
Yukinoshita Yukino. Suzuki Sonoko. Sawamura Spencer Eriri. Nanawo Akane. Kinoshita Kazuya. Ichinose Chizuru. Ajisai…
It was a fucking gathering of humanity's shining stars!
"No helping it. This is boring." Makoto clicked his tongue.
In this world he was an orphan. When he was young, Airi's mother had taken pity on him and helped support him, allowing him to grow up without starving.
Starting in middle school, Makoto used memories from his previous life to write novels under the pen name I Don't Eat Beef.
Then one book exploded in popularity.
Overlord.
The novel's sudden success turned him into a rising star in the light novel world. Financial independence came early.
The Akizuki household also had an older daughter, Akizuki Marina, one year above him and Airi.
But even with his success as an author, Makoto wasn't particularly happy.
In his previous life he had already been a somewhat famous web novelist. Repeating the same path in another life felt… dull.
No matter how many beautiful girls existed in this world, they were still just background characters in a slice-of-life story.
What he truly longed for were worlds like Naruto or Bleach.
A world of battles.
Sharingan. Zanpakuto. Ninjutsu. Kido.
Explosive supernatural powers that made your blood boil.
Because for a guy...
If you forced him to choose between "his secret crush" and "piloting a Gundam," ninety-nine point nine percent of men would choose the Gundam without hesitation.
After enrolling in Shuchiin, that sense of disparity only grew stronger.
No matter how successful his novels became or how much money he earned, he still couldn't close the gap between himself and families like the Shinomiyas or the Suzukis.
He couldn't even compare to local powerhouses like the Yukinoshita family.
The more he thought about it, the more irritated he felt.
Airi shot him another annoyed look. She was already used to her childhood friend's lazy personality.
Then she suddenly remembered something.
Leaning closer, she whispered, "Oh right. Mom said she's bringing a male coworker home for dinner tonight… I think he might be the guy she's planning to remarry. Don't act so lifeless later. Try to make a good impression."
Makoto's expression changed instantly.
A name exploded in his mind.
Akizuki Kozo.
That infamous "kind father" from certain adult stories.
Memories of the original plot surfaced in ugly flashes. The disturbing scenes. The twisted developments.
His gaze drifted to the blonde girl beside him.
This proud, innocent twin-tailed tsundere.
In the original story, that man slowly broke her down, step by step, until she was twisted and trained into a mindless toy.
The thought alone made Makoto feel sick.
What the hell do I do…
Should he secretly gather evidence and send the police after the guy?
Come to think of it, those stories always had a generic NTR antagonist using ridiculous threats to corner the heroine.
Looking back, that logic was unbelievably stupid.
Did those heroines not realize the police existed?
Then again…
Japanese police were notoriously useless.
They needed a high school detective to save them.
To be honest, compared to calling the police, the more direct idea in Makoto's head was simple.
Just kill Akizuki Kozo.
At that moment, Kaguya Shinomiya finished her speech and gave an elegant bow.
The principal returned to the podium.
"Students, please follow your homeroom teachers and return to your classrooms in an orderly manner."
At the front of Makoto's class stood a tall, sharp-looking female teacher in a white coat. She waved casually.
"All right. Everyone line up. We're heading back."
She had already introduced herself earlier.
Shizuka Hiratsuka.
The all-purpose teacher who appeared in practically every crossover fanfiction.
Then, without warning...
A mechanical voice exploded inside Makoto's mind.
Emotionless.
Cold.
Do you want to understand the meaning of life?
Do you want to truly… live?
Makoto froze.
That ancient, painfully familiar line...
Reincarnation Game preparing to launch.
Instance World: Naruto.
Mission: Survive the Night of the Massacre.
Countdown: 10… 9… 8…
The icy numbers hammered inside his skull.
Students throughout the gymnasium suddenly stopped mid-step.
3… 2… 1…
Game start.
The instant the countdown reached zero, Makoto and everyone else in the gym felt the world spin violently.
The next second, the spacious gymnasium vanished.
In its place stood a worn classroom with old wooden steps.
At the front of the room stood a young man wearing a green flak vest. A Konoha forehead protector rested on his head, and a long scar stretched across the bridge of his nose.
His gaze swept across the class.
Then he smiled.
"Starting today, you're students of the ninja academy! Study hard, inherit the Will of Fire of Lord Hokage. Understood?"
Inside the classroom, Akizuki Airi, Yukinoshita Yukino, Hikigaya Hachiman, Sawamura Eriri, and the others stared blankly.
They had been transported here just like him.
Confused.
Frozen.
None of them understood what was happening.
Makoto Nishikado stood among them.
The shock on his face lasted only two or three seconds.
Then something ignited in his eyes.
Wild.
Feverish.
His heart roared.
Guaaah!!
This is it!!
This is exactly what I wanted!!