Chapter 3: It seems He has no care for Clique
By the time the two arrived at school, it was almost time for the bell to ring, so the teacher and student duo both went to class, rather than separating to go into the classroom and teacher's room respectively. That was extremely convenient for him, considering he did not know where his own class was.
He knew the name of his class from his notebooks sure, but the exact position? He would need more than a few minutes to make head or tail of the school map. So it was nice to be led toward the classroom.
By the time the two came to class, the school bell has rung, and every student sat at their respective seats. There was only one empty seat in class 1-C, and he naturally assumed it was his seat. Lucky him.
[Oregairu Quest completed. Please go to the Quest screen for details]
"Alright, time for a roll call."
With those words, Hiratsuka-sensei started calling out the names of the students. Well, this was an important event to find out and remember the name of his classmates, so he paid attention to it. There were a few names he recognized.
Ebina Hina.
Hayama Hayato.
Hikigaya Hachiman.
Kawasaki Saki.
Those were all names from the series Ore no Seishun Rabukome wa Macchigatte Iru, or Oregairu for short. A series beloved by many, filled with barrages of youthful events all ending with pessimistic conclusions. It seemed like things around here were true to the series.
He and the main Cast of Oregairu were still in first grade. The event of Oregairu will not happen until next school year, which is not that long from now on considering it was already March. Well, no matter. He continued listening to the roll call.
After some time he finally heard another name which he was familiar with. His gaze went towards the widely smiling girl.
Kanbaru Suruga.
…Well, it seems the Monogatari series is here as well.
"Higashi Murasaki."
"Here."
The roll call continued without any excitement.
Higashi did not recognize anyone other than the people mentioned above, though maybe that was because he was lacking in otaku knowledge. Nevertheless, he tried his best to remember the names of his classmates.
Homeroom was short. There wasn't much to say about it. Hiratsuka-sensei mostly talked about how everyone should be diligent and not slack off during the break. She did not leave after her speech because apparently the first period was her class.
Hiratsuka-sensei teaches language. He was half-Japanese in his past life and he lived in Japan for about a total of two years, so language barrier wasn't too big of a problem. Subjects such as history will certainly be a troublesome ordeal though.
He took out the related books out from his schoolbag. He already found the class period schedule in Higashi's room so preparing the right books yesterday night wasn't a problem. He listened to the teaching, but his attention was mostly on getting used to writing Japanese in his book.
The first period ended without much trouble. Next was English… Which honestly stood at laughable levels. The materials were something he could do even when he was a middle schooler, and this was the 11th-grade class.
He had no problem with the class and soon enough it was the third period.
The third period was History. As one might expect he can make neither head nor tail of the thing. He idly checked his status.
[Higashi Murasaki]
[Lv: 1]
[SP: 0]
[LP: 60]
[Academic: 40/100 Adept Level]
[Physique: 50/100 Adept Level]
[Visual Art: 18/100 Novice Level]
[Musical Art: 20/100 Intermediate Level]
[Literature: 50/100 Adept Level]
[Charisma: 44/100 Adept Level]
[Luck: 50/100 Adept Level]
[Perk]
[Academic Enthusiast I], [Academic Genius I], [Physique Enthusiast I], [Physique Genius I], [Musical Enthusiast I], [Literature Enthusiast I], [Literature Genius I], [Charisma Enthusiast I], [Charisma Genius I], [Luck Enthusiast I], [Luck Genius I]
[Skill]
[-]
[Relationship]
[Hiratsuka Shizuka: 40/100 Friend]
He now has a rather high amount of SP saved up. The problem is he cannot buy any Skill from the shop since they are all locked. He checked the Love Shop once more.
Eh?
The previously locked skills were unlocked. Most of them were still locked but there were a few skills that can be bought. The similarity between them is the fact all unlocked skill costs 20 LP. Anything that costs beyond 20 LP still has LOCKED on them.
The only thing that has changed since he last opened the Love Shop was... Quests. He completed two quests, the Level Quest and the Oregairu Quest. He can't imagine how the Oregairu Quest would affect the Love shop, so it must have been the Level Quest.
Could it be that he needed to level up to unlock skills within the Love Shop? That would make some form of sense. At level 1 he could buy all skills that cost 20 LP. By the way, there are 5 skills in each stat category except Misc. One costs 20 LP, another costs 40 LP, the third costs 60 and so on until the fifth skill which costs 100 LP.
Here is the list of skills he could buy on the Love Shop
Academic skill: Learning, Analyzing, Partitioning, Acceleration, Perfect Memory
Physique skill: Training, Breathing, Fighting, Weapon-wielding, Cultivating
Visual Art skill: Drawing, Photography, Painting, Sculpting, Visualization
Musical Art skill: Singing, Instrumental, Composing, Harmony, Symphony
Literature skill: Writing, Character, Conflict, Dialogue, Immersion
Charisma skill: Communicating, Flirting, Serenading, Acting, Sexual Act
Luck skills: Dice, Cards, Mahjong, Roulette, Lottery.
Misc. skill: Programming, Cooking, Sneaking, Architecture, etc.
There is an endless amount of skills in the Misc category, with varying costs.
Anyway, he currently has 60 LP and all kinds of skills which costs 20 LP each. It was only natural to buy three skills. The first he decided to get was Charisma skill: Communicating.
[Communicating Skill Bought -20LP]
[For buying a Charisma skill +5 Charisma]
[Thanks to Charisma Enthusiast I additional +5 Charisma]
He felt something changing within himself. He did not know what exactly changed but there was this strange warmth within him that seems to be all-enveloping. So buying skills increases the stat it relates with? He assumes there is something more to it considering the variety of Skills.
Anyway, he was left with 40LP and 54 Charisma. His next action was to decidedly buy the Academic skill: Learning and Physique skill: Training.
[Learning Skill Bought -20LP]
[For buying an Academic skill +5 Academic]
[Thanks to Academic Enthusiast I additional +5 Academic]
Now he has 50 points in Academic.
[Training Skill Bought -20LP]
[For buying a Physique skill +5 Physique]
[Thanks to Physique Enthusiast I additional +5 Physique]
Done. Also now he has 60 points in Physique stat, which should mean…
[Congratulations on reaching Physique Expert Level! Please choose a Perk as a reward.]
[Physique Enthusiast II: +200% Physique stat Growth Rate and replace Physique Enthusiast I]
[Physique Genius II: +200% Physique stat Effectiveness and replace Physique Genius I]
So what comes after Adept is Expert, got it. He took Physique Genius II. With this, his effective Physique stat is actually 180 points. That is almost double the human limit. This Gold Finger is broken with no two-ways of putting it.
The third class was done before he realizes it, and it was now time for the fourth period, which is physical education. Everyone, he included, went towards the changing room for their respective gender.
When he unbuttoned his clothes, he felt stares coming to his ways.
"…What is it?"
Most averted their gazes the moment he spoke those words, but there was one person who perked up instead.
Hayama Hayato, a popular student. In Oregairu he could be called one of the antagonists. He acts nicely towards anyone and everyone, plus he is also handsome, so he is constantly delegated into the mood-maker position.
"What a surprise. Since when did you have a six-pack?"
He looked downwards to his own abs; certainly, a six-pack was in place there. It must have been the effect of his high Physique stat then. Now the only question is how was he supposed to explain it towards his classmates?
Though it seems he did not need to do so.
"Were you training during the past two weeks you weren't around?"
"No- Well- there were certain circumstances…"
The youth before him seems to notice how Higashi did not wish to talk about it. Therefore he masterfully changed the topic.
"I've been trying to train too lately you know? But no matter what I tried I just wouldn't gain the muscles… Hey, is there any trick to gaining muscles?"
Get a Gold Finger.
…There was no way he could say something like that could he? Instead, he went ahead and made a quote.
"100 push-ups, 100 sit-ups 100 squats, and 10KM running. Every single day."
"…Well, that sounds tough."
He shrugged in response. It actually wasn't that strict of a bodybuilding plan, but then again they were high school students without much time to spare. Something over the top like that was something even the school jocks wouldn't do.
"By the way, are you okay now? We heard you got into an accident from Hiratsuka-sensei."
Hayama asked once more with a concerned look on his face.
An accident? Was Higashi not skipping class because of his parent's death? Could it be their death wasn't made announced in the school for whatever reason? Why bother covering something like that though? Was it on request of the original Higashi Murasaki?
"…The school didn't tell you?"
"What, was there some other reason you weren't at school?"
"…Well, if they didn't spread the tale then I suppose I shouldn't either."
Hayama merely smiled in response, not pushing any more than that. Instead, he grasped Higashi by the shoulder.
"Well, just remember we're here for you if you need any support."
The other males who were listening in nodded as well. However before Higashi was able to say formulate a response, everyone within the room heard a shriek.
"Hyaa! HayamaxHigashi forever!"
All eyes on the room went towards the source. Said voice came from the other side of a wall… A wall with a small hole on it. There was most likely someone on the other side of the wall, peeking at all the males, he included.
And he only knew one type of person who would scream out those words. The Fujoshi archetype. And conveniently there was one fujoshi he already met right before this.
"…What are you doing, Ebina-san?"
[+2 Affection for Ebina Hina]
"Hiiek!"
The person on the other side of the wall let out a small shriek again. He could already imagine her squirming behind that wall. Ebina Hina was a Fujoshi character from the Oregairu series. A rare specimen you usually wouldn't find except as either the protagonist of a shoujo manga or a gag-character in a shounen series.
"W-who is that? I don't know any person named Ebina."
She spoke again, this time with a heavily muffled tone. That kind of action won't fool anyone, but then again she probably wasn't expecting it to fool anyone in the first place and was doing it for social factors.
He exhaled a sigh. He could just scold her a bit, but that would be boring. She already set up the stage for a scene and it would be amiss for him to waste the chance.
"Then who might you be? Are you Yaoi Daisuki-san?" (Yaoi=BL, Daisuki=Love. Yaoi Daisuki=I love BL)
"Ah! How do you know my name?!"
Ah, she actually went with it. Hmm, now he needs to play his part.
"Oh, so it was Yaoi-san huh? And here I was thinking it was Ebina-san for sure." He smiled, thinking of his next few lines already. Maybe it was because of his high Charisma stat, but words easily formed within his mind.
"I have no idea why you would mistake me for this Ebina."
"Well, it was mainly because I have been thinking about her, I suppose."
"T-thinking about her?"
He gained the attention of everyone there and their grandma by this point. There was no backing down. Time to play the part and console this girl. He concentrated and searched for every small detail of Ebina Hina that he could remember from the novel, anime, and game.
Ebina Hina was a person who was satisfied with the status quo. In the story, she wishes things to stay the way they are. Even her obsession with BL was something she made to keep boys away from her, a fake personality so no males would confess to her, which is likely considering her popularity.
A completely normal and wonderful woman. Yet there was one thing about her that bothered him when he watched the show.
"Yes. She is beautiful, kind, intelligent, and has a sense of leadership. I even heard she's good at drawing. It is just such a pity…"
He paused there intentionally. As expected the other side chimed in.
"A pity that she likes BL?"
Her voice was smooth like they were talking about a random conversation like the weather or something similar rather than being on the accepting end of a confession. However, he shook his head.
"No, it is a pity that she does not love herself. A pity that rotten and selfish is the words she painted herself with."
A short silence.
That was what bothered him. The words she uttered at the end of her act. To label oneself rotten of all things simply because she wanted things to stay the way they are. To demean oneself simply because she wishes for what anybody else would have wanted as well.
"…Hmm… Are you sure that's not just your imagination?"
It might be incorrect. Maybe she has yet to dislike herself since there was a discrepancy of time from now until the moment when she declared those words. Maybe she still loves herself and will change her opinion later. However…
"It might be. Maybe my eyes are playing tricks on me. However if- just if- if she were to truly think so. Then I wish to tell her. That she is more beautiful than any diamonds. That she shines brighter than any star. That she doesn't know how her smile could make others feel."
"…"
With those words, he turned around and wore his gym uniform.
[Congratulations on reaching Acquaintance level with Ebina Hina. +20LP.]
[Congratulations on reaching Friend level with Ebina Hina. +40LP.]
[Level Quest Complete. Please go to the Quest screen for details]
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
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