Chapter 42: Bullied

Sakura Garden Academy.

Upper-left Quarters.

Locking his room, a decent-looking boy smiled and passionately said. "Yosh! Looking forward to a brand new day!"

He was usually a quiet and reserved boy so his loud voice attracted quite a bit of attention.

'I, Imada Yoichi, a first year student, am in a brilliant mood.' Grinning from ear to ear, he took long strides and walked through the hallway. The reason for his bright mood was because last night, his long-awaited senpai whom he had a crush on accepted his feelings. 'Starting from today, I, Imada Yoichi, am a popular guy!'

When he reached his class, he heard a commotion.

"Ugly will always be ugly. Hmph! Just because you have changed your hairstyle doesn't mean we'll stop bullying you." A red-haired tall man snorted looking at a fat classmate opposite to him. He sat on the bench in a delinquent fashion.

"What's with the ruckus?" Imada tapped on his classmate's shoulder.

His classmate shrugged. "The fatass has changed his hairstyle."

"So?"

"So?"

"..."

"How dare he!?"

"Eh-eh! Yes!!" As if finally coming to his senses, Imada shouted towards the fat classmate. "You're looking good today, Fatso! Your charm has successfully increased by a negative. HAHAHAHA!"

"HAHAHAHA!"

"HAHAHAHA!~ Good one, Imada!"

"You hear that, Fatty? Learn to control yourself and not stare at my thighs from now on."

"No way, Emi-chan! He stared at your thighs? What a disgusting pervert!"

"Don't worry. As long as I'm alive, I won't allow that lowlife's hair to reach you."

"Aah~ Kiba-kun. Thanks to you, I can sleep peacefully."

Imada chatted along with others briefly before noticing a strange thing. 'Why is that fatso smiling? What is so funny?' Curiosity filling his mind, he sat on one of the nearest seats to his classmate, Arai Atsushi.

"What is so funny?" He took a good look at the ugly face and questioned with an intimidating tone.

…

Rewen, A.K.A, Arai Atsushi was turning on the gears of his mind when he saw a face close to him. "I was thinking how childish the insults were and how unfunny the jokes were." He said without thinking too much, then realized that he misspoke. "U-uhm, etto, I-I.. didn't mean th-that. P-please forgive me…"

At first, Imada was very angry but when he saw the look of absolute terror on the other party's face, he waved his hands. "Hmph! It's fine since you admit your mistake."

Rewen inwardly smiled. Before coming to the class, he had already decided on the image he wanted to maintain - a boot-licking timid trash fatso. He knew his limits. This world wasn't as kind as Earth. Like the system said, if he wasn't careful, he could even die. To avoid that, he has to maintain a low-profile. 'Until of course, I get my main character cheat. If I don't get that, then I guess I would really die before completing my quest…' He knew that there's no way he could become stronger significantly. 'As for my other talents, maybe I could-'

"Oi, what are you day-dreaming about?" His train of thoughts got interrupted by an annoying voice.

"W-w-what is it? I d-don't have any money…"

"Who wants your dirty money! Take this and bring me two cans of juice." Imada took out four silver coins and flicked it over to Rewen.

"I-I-I-I-I-uh…"

"Stop stuttering and go before I go berserk!"

Rewen ran off with the coins gripped into his hands. His tottering with his fat body attracted a bit of attention.

"Another errand? You don't have any mercy, do you?" The guy who was bullying Rewen earlier slapped Imada's shoulders and laughed.

"Of course. Who does he think he is? Though he is an aristocrat, he is unworthy to attend this sacred academy full of elites. It's only fair I use him." Imada snorted.

His fellow classmates laughed hearing him.

***

Meanwhile, Rewen got caught up into quite a predicament. He had just grabbed the two cans from the vending machine when a maniac was sprinting towards his direction and bumped into him.

If it was only bumping, Rewen would have let bygones let bygones. Having quite the trauma with bumping, the last thing he would do is do anything about it. Not to mention, his current situation wouldn't let him boss around even if he wanted to. However, unlike the laws of physics, the bumping didn't cause the both of them to fall on the opposite side. Rather, the figure who bumped into him fell over him.

'I couldn't see.' This was his first thought. 'What is this soft thing on my cheeks? Ah, I see." He didn't even need to think twice to know what the soft thing is. 'As expected, I'm a harem protagonist. This information is useful.'

He laid down still, not making movements. He wasn't sure if making any sort of movements would produce some unfavorable sounds from the figure so he decided against it. 'I'll just wait for her to get up on her own. Mm… the smell is not bad.'

"KYAAAH!!"

He wasn't surprised at the shriek. 'Luckily for me, I didn't touch them or do anything. I shouldn't get a slap-'

*Pah*

"Pervert!!"

Blood dripped from his lips. 'Three teeth? What a huge loss. Damnit! My right cheek stings!' He spat out three of his broken teeth and stared at the figure over him with a look that was almost about to cry. Needless to say, he wasn't actually about to cry but had to act like it. 'Weird. Normally, I would jump and curse at her totally disregarding time and place but why am I not the least bit angry this time?'

"Kuhhh…. S-sorry…" He gulped before rubbing his eyes with the ground dust to produce tears. "I-I'm… shhorry…"

"Look how ugly the pig looks."

"Serves him right! Who told him to get into Asuka-hime's way."

"H-hey, don't you think that guy's luck is too bad?"

"Don't feel sorry for him. He is the lowest trash possible. Sympathizing with him makes you no different from him."

"But isn't he the son of an aristocrat? Why is he treated like this?"

"Are you living under a rock!? Haven't you heard of the promise the Head of Atsushi Clan made five years ago?"

"Could it be related to the President of Hot Glacial Foundations' daughter!? Don't tell me this is the guy!?"

"It is him."

Amidst the surrounding commotion, Rewen glanced at the figure who fell over him and got a good look. Pigtails, blonde hair, large rack, an oval face… it wouldn't be an exaggeration to call the girl the prettiest girl Rewen ever met in his 18 years of life. Her face was fuming which troubled him a lot and he instantly increased his volume of his sobbing and closed his eyes.

The next second, when he half-opened his eyes, he noticed a hand nearing his left cheek. He didn't have time to think as he hastily tried to block it with his hand.

"..." The hand didn't reach his cheek. But.

His wrist twisted. His eyes slowly dimmed as he fell down.

"Hm! Who told you to block! Aah~ I'm so bored." She got up and dusted off the dirt from her skirt and turned to the crowd. "Boys, can you take him to the infirmary? No matter what, I can't be this heartless, right? Please?"

"""At your service!"""

"Be grateful, trash!" Three boys carried Rewen at his back and carried him to the infirmary.

[Imagine being 'not a superhero who's useless without a cape'.]

At this moment, the seemingly fainted Rewen weakly smiled. 'This is just the beginning. Besides, I had worse days.'

[Continue bragging. It's both interesting and satisfying to see you get thrashed on. Where's your pride and arrogance from earlier? Where did they go?]

'System.'

[What?] The system asked in a curious loli voice

'Show me her grade, just the grade and nothing else.'

[Huh? What grade?]

'Of course, her appearance. Don't I have [Appearance Grader]?'

[...]