The number one prestigious school in Japan… Shuchi'in Academy.
Inside the city gymnasium, the new semester entrance ceremony was underway.
The gray-haired principal stepped up to the microphone with a beaming smile and announced loudly, "Next, let's welcome this year's freshman representative, Shinomiya Kaguya, to give her speech."
As his voice fell, thunderous applause immediately filled the venue.
A slender figure slowly walked up to the podium.
Her long, glossy black hair fell over her shoulders, her dark red eyes were cold as ice, her exquisitely flawless face showed no expression whatsoever, and the aloof aura radiating from her body seemed to shut everyone out.
The students below erupted instantly, whispering in hushed voices.
"Th-That's Shinomiya Kaguya?"
"Exactly! She scored first overall in this entrance exam!"
"Shinomiya... as in the Shinomiya Family of the Four Zaibatsu?" (T/N: Zaibatsu is the Japanese Business Conglomerate.)
"Wow… even among Shuchi'in's Pure Students, she's at the very top of the food chain, right?"
The high school students, all around fifteen or sixteen, had eyes full of awe and curiosity.
As Japan's premier super prestigious school, Shuchi'in's students had always been divided into two factions:
Pure… top-tier elites from distinguished Zaibatsu and wealthy families.
Impure… ordinary commoner students who got in through their own academic merit or special talents.
And Shinomiya Kaguya was the cream of the crop among Pure Students.
"Hello everyone. I am this year's freshman representative, Shinomiya Kaguya. It is an honor to become a member of Shuchi'in Academy."
The girl's cool voice spread throughout the venue via the microphone, completely devoid of inflection. Just by hearing her tone, you could clearly feel her innate coldness and arrogance.
"Haah—"
A lazy yawn sounded out of place from within the freshman ranks.
Nishikawa Makoto had droopy eyelids and looked like he could fall asleep at any moment, showing absolutely no interest in the brilliant speech on stage.
"Makoto!"
A light scolding immediately came from beside him, "Can you stop being half-dead all the time, you idiot!"
The speaker was a blonde girl with twin ponytails.
She had an adorable doll-like face, looking like an oversized loli, yet her proud figure filled out the slim, figure-hugging black school uniform with ample curves, creating a strong sense of contrast.
Aizono Airi. (T/N: It's actually Akizuki Airi, but since her mother hadn't married Akizuki Kozo, there's no way she should have the same family name, so I changed her family name to Aizono. As for MC's family name, since it's mentioned that Kayoko, Airi's mother is only her foster mother, it's fine for his family name to be different.)
Makoto's adoptive sister, the second daughter of his foster mother, Aizono Kayoko, and also his childhood friend who had grown up with him.
Makoto glanced at Kaguya, who remained expressionless on stage, then turned to look at the pouting Aizono Airi beside him. Only one helpless complaint remained in his heart.
'Really, what kind of world I have been reborn into...?'
That's right.
Makoto, age sixteen, was a Transmigrator from another world.
Not long after transmigrating, he confirmed that the world he was in was a slice-of-life, multi-anime crossover mashup.
The evidence was everywhere—
Newspapers were constantly running news of [Police's Savior - Kudo Shinichi] solving crimes.
A top-tier zaibatsu heiress like Shinomiya Kaguya stood at the podium.
And earlier, when checking the class assignment sheet, he had spotted a long string of names so familiar they hurt—
Yukinoshita Yukino, Suzuki Sonoko, Sawamura Spencer Eriri, Nanao Akane, Kinoshita Kazuya, Ichinose Chizuru, Natsuha...
What a true gathering of human stars!
"It can't be helped, it's too boring." Makoto shrugged.
In this world, he was an orphan. He had been taken in and cared for by Airi's mother since childhood, and had grown up safely.
Starting in middle school, he used his past life memories to write light novels under the pen name [God of Chicken].
[Overlord] had taken the light novel world by storm, making him a rising star and achieving financial independence early on.
The Aizono Family also had another daughter… Aizono Marina, the eldest daughter, who was one year ahead of Makoto and Airi.
But even as a popular author, Makoto wasn't all that happy.
In his past life, he had been somewhat famous for writing web novels. Reliving a second life only to walk the same old path was somewhat dull.
No matter how many beauties this world had, they were just scenery in a slice-of-life anime.
What he truly yearned for were battle worlds like Naruto and Bleach!
Sharingan, Zanpakuto, Ninjutsu, Kido… those incredibly cool superpowers!
After all, for a guy—
If forced to choose between 'the girl he secretly loves' and 'piloting a Gundam', 99.9% of guys would unhesitatingly choose the latter.
After entering Shuchi'in, this sense of letdown was magnified infinitely.
No matter how successful his writing or how much money he made, he couldn't even begin to close the distance with super-Zaibatsu like the Shinomiya and Suzuki Families, and couldn't even catch up to regional powers like the Yukinoshita Family.
Damn, the more he thought about it, the more frustrated he got!
Airi glared at him, annoyed.
She was long used to her childhood friend's slacker attitude.
Then, as if remembering something, she leaned in closer and whispered, "Oh right, Mom said she's bringing a male coworker home for dinner tonight... apparently, he's her remarriage candidate. Don't be so listless then, and leave a good impression."
Hearing this, Makoto's expression changed dramatically.
A name exploded instantly in his mind.
That infamous number-one father of the anime world… Akizuki Kozo.
Thinking of all those unbearable scenes from the original work, thinking of how this innocent, tsundere blonde with twin ponytails would be gradually twisted and molded into a toy by that man in the future, Makoto's stomach churned with disgust.
'What to do? Secretly film his criminal evidence and have the police arrest him?'
'Come to think of it, in those doujins, there were always blonde bastards threatening the heroines with all sorts of bizarre reasons, cornering them until they had no way out.'
'Looking back now, those methods were brain-dead—'
'Did those heroines not know that a thing called the police existed in this world?'
'But Japan's police were indeed useless… they even needed a high school detective as their savior to solve cases.'
In fact, compared to calling the police, an even more direct thought crossed Makoto's mind—
Just kill Kozo outright.
Just then, Kaguya finished her speech on stage and bowed gracefully.
The principal returned to the podium: "Dear students, please follow your homeroom teachers back to your classrooms in an orderly manner."
At the front of Makoto's class, a tall, handsome female teacher in a white coat waved lightly and said crisply, "Alright, everyone line up and get ready to go back to class."
She had already introduced herself earlier—
Hiratsuka Shizuka.
That versatile teacher with an incredibly high appearance rate in multi-anime fanfiction.
Suddenly—
[Do you want to understand the meaning of life?]
[Do you want to truly... live?]
A mechanical, emotionless voice exploded without warning deep inside Makoto's mind.
In the gymnasium, many people's footsteps halted abruptly.
Makoto froze on the spot.
That ancient, déjà vu-filled dialogue...
[Reincarnation Game, preparing to start.]
[Dungeon World: Naruto]
[Objective: Survive the Night of the Massacre.]
[Countdown: 9, 8, 7...]
The cold countdown pounded wildly in his mind.
[3, 2, 1—]
[Game Start.]
The moment the countdown hit zero, Makoto, and everyone else present in the gymnasium, felt the world spin and turn upside down.
The next second-
The spacious, splendid gymnasium vanished completely.
In its place was an old, quaint classroom with wooden flooring.
At the front of the classroom stood a young man wearing a green vest, a forehead protector inscribed with the Leaf symbol, and a scar running across the bridge of his nose.
He scanned the class with a smile and spoke:
"Starting today, you are all students of the Ninja Academy! Study hard, inherit the Hokage-sama's Will of Fire, got it?"
Hearing these words.
Airi, Yukino, Hikigaya Hachiman, Eriri, and the others, all teleported into this simple classroom, stood there dumbfounded, completely at a loss.
But the confusion on Makoto's face lasted only two or three seconds.
Then, a wild, almost manic excitement surged from the depths of his eyes.
He couldn't help but roar inwardly.
'WOW!!'
'This is what I want!!'