1 Prologue of the Novel

The world is a cruel place. When someone is successful but falls from grace, it's hard to look the other way and make other people understand your pain. You become everyone's target, they see you as pathetic, ridiculous, you even become a laughing stock wherever you go.... That's just what I'm going through right now.

-It's so funny!

-He's fallen in the manure!

I had mistakenly fallen into a mud filled with manure that was on the academy grounds. Even though it was the agricultural area on the grounds, it's kind of absurd that there's something like this so close to where the students walk through. I was trapped all the way up to my chest. I tried to escape by dragging myself out, but the area around my feet was too slippery, and it caused me to sink deeper into the manure. If I go on like this, I will reach the point of drowning.... The urge to vomit came over me as I inhaled the foul smell. I tried my best to ask for help from my companions, basically begging for their help, but all they did was stare at me.

-Help me, please! Get me out of here!

...But the only thing that my cries for help provoked was laughter among all the spectators. Apparently, they like to use me as an excuse to amuse each other. Some of them took out their smartphones and started recording me as I struggled to get out of said place, while the rest were calling other students to come and see the trouble I was in. They were idiots.

The girl I was paired with in the test of courage, Misaki Horaiki, appeared on the scene and came face to face with a guy who was taking a photo of me to post on Twitter.

-He's Taiga Makihara, people call him; 'Ace of Fortune'.

-Really? He was a great pitcher, but he's started to decline in many ways.

I gritted my teeth in humiliation. Damn, where did the 'Noblesse Oblige' go? That's the name of the prestigious academy I was enrolled in this spring. At the same time, it serves as a motto, in French it means; "noble ancestry obliges honorable conduct; privilege brings responsibility."

The academy has its roots from clans of the Edo period. In the Meiji period, only members of noble families could enter the academy. Even today, the academy is full of children of politicians and wealthy people. My parents are normal businessmen, nothing socially remarkable, but I played baseball on the national U-5 team, so I entered as a special sports student... But before I started school, I was in a car accident, and I couldn't play baseball again.

In my mind I was desperate for some help, I kept repeating things to myself like; "please remember the motto of this academy, and help me!"

But there was not the slightest sign in them of wanting to help me. On the other hand, the Noblesse is a student committee that is above everyone else in this institution. In addition to being the student council, their role is to embody the school motto and support all students. But I'm beginning to believe that even they are a cruel joke who look down at everyone who has problems.

Konoe R. Chika is the chairperson of the committee. She gave a welcoming speech to the new students, many were moved by her words and the way she addressed everyone, causing several people to shed tears... I wish she was around, maybe she could help me.

No doubt she was a very beautiful girl... Gueeh. The scat almost goes into my mouth, and my nose, I can only breathe in bursts.

-Please, please, please, please help me, I'm in serious trouble!

After my last desperate attempt to call for help, all my colleagues were still unmoved, they kept pointing their smartphones and laughing at me.... There was no point, that's how the world works anyway. After the car accident, the media used me as a story to exploit. I was nauseated by the sad stories that were aired about me.

On social media and public opinion sites, people were saying things like; "I was too small to be a pro anyway." And all the girls who were excited every time they saw me throw the ball, turned their backs on me and wanted nothing to do with me.

The neighbors who praised me as "the hero of our town" took pity on me and turned their backs on me... I'm fed up with all this. I'd rather drown in a dung pit... The moment I let myself sink; a sound shivered in my ears...

-What's all the fuss!?

The crowd split in two and a woman walked among them. Her long, blonde hair fluttering in the night breeze glistens in the moonlight. She was neatly dressed in her school uniform, and with her cold blue eyes she had the aura of a schoolgirl. But her breasts and long legs in black pantyhose give off an air of sensuality that she could not hide.

She was the president of Noblesse, sophomore Konoe R. Chika. She has an approval rate of over 90%. Her grades are always the highest in her grade. She is also a great athlete and has helped many sports clubs win many tournaments. She is the definition of an "exceptional student". She is also an influencer with over 200,000 followers on her social media, in addition to being a talented young actress, a member of a prestigious theater company and an active volunteer.

She is the most perfect woman I have ever met. She has blonde hair and blue eyes because her father is American. The girl gasped when she saw me sink into the manure pit, and glared at the rest of the students.

-What are they supposed to be doing!? Don't you realize that he needs help?

I was completely paralyzed after hearing her strong tone of voice. I guess she's just trying to appeal to the goodwill of the guys. But how good can someone be if all they do is leave others to their own devices?

But what surprised me most of all, though, is that Konoe-san had jumped into the muck where I was.

-Eh?

-No way...

Amidst the screams of the spectators. Konoe-san dived up to her chest, grabbed onto the grasses at the edge and tried her best to reach out. Is she really trying to help me?

-Come on, take my hand.

I was about to reach out my right hand, but I felt a faint pain in my shoulder wound. So I pushed my left hand with Konoe's, making her able to hold it, and in this way, she pulled me until we both could get out of the pit. I knelt down in the grasses as I began to cough. Dung was all over my clothes,

Making them heavy as well. My companions, half smiling, kept pointing their smartphones at me like irate reporters. I heard shutter clicks one after another, what more pictures do they want of me...? But at that moment, Konoe reached out her hands to protect me, blocking the cameras from my face.

-Stop right now! And delete the videos and photos you've taken!

Her voice is calm, but cold.

-If you post it on social media, Konoe R. Chika will never forgive you.

As if under pressure, everyone rushes to their phones to do what Konoe asked them to do.

-Come with me, let's go clean you up.

While everyone else was frowning at the smell, Konoe kept going with a "no shame" air. So, I hurried after her.

-Sorry, you just got dirty because of me.

-Don't worry, the more this story spreads, the more my popularity will increase. It will make Noblesse's job easier.

At first glance, it seems like a well-planned response to such a situation.... But there is a slight contradiction.

-So why did you tell them to delete the videos and photos? It would be easier for your popularity to increase if people saw you helping me.

-W-Well, that's because....

Konoe was speechless, and her cheeks turned slightly red. Apparently, such a response was a cover for the embarrassment she felt at having gotten into such a predicament. So, she decided to deflect the conversation.

-There is no need to worry about it, because manure is not as dirty as you think it is. If the dung is left to ferment, the heat of fermentation will turn it into WC and the parasite eggs will die.

Hmm, I wonder if he really cares about me?

-I see.

-Yeah, so don't worry about tha.... Eeeeeeeegh!!!

Konoe kneels on the ground, placing her hands on the asphalt and vomits.

-Umm... Will you forget what you just saw?

-As if an image had been erased from a smartphone.

Her blue eyes became moist from the tears that were about to well up. She knelt down again and cried out; "Oh, my God!!!" with very good pronunciation. It was clearly a situation I did not enjoy witnessing. But... Konoe-san saved my life. And that's not all. Even covered in dung, she's the most beautiful woman I've ever seen.

I've found a new target to replace baseball.

-My name is Taiga Makihara. I entered the academy on a sports recommendation.

-Ah, yes, I know who you are.

Konoe-san seems to know me too. After all, I was the right-hand man who led the team to the runner-up spot in the national baseball tournament in high school, and I was also selected as a U-5. I had been restarting to make the sports team at this academy.... But then I had an accident and broke my right arm. I have no complications performing tasks in my daily life, but I will never throw a ball again.

The reason the recommendation was not withdrawn was probably because the school was concerned about public opinion. I was briefly in the news as "the kid who risked his life to save his classmates from an out-of-control car." If I was shut out of this place, The schoold have become the target of public lynching.

-I want to join Noblesse's committee and work for you.

I want to be a person who embodies "Noblesse Oblige" like Konoe-san. Because I fell in love with her. I want to spend time with this person.

-I appreciate the sentiment. But to get in, you have to be in the top three of your grades. How good are your grades, Makihara?

In high school, I was able to study to some extent, but not to a level that would allow me to be accepted into a top school.

-My academic ability is... Almost at the bottom of the grade.

...But what does it matter? It's only third place in the school year, isn't it? I've practiced hard and I've been national runner-up, how can I not qualify? It should be possible with proper effort, using love as energy. I was very motivated, but Konoe-san gave me a reality punch.

-If that's the case, don't give yourself too difficult goals, but try to get used to the lessons first....

-No, I'm not going to change my goal of entering Noblesse. After I've washed off all this dirt, I'll start studying!

-Starting from today?

Anyway, I will be hated and ridiculed by my peers because of the manure, so it's perfect. Everything seems trivial to me right now, except for the fact that I want to date Konoe-san. That's my main goal.

-So that's the "Ace of Fortune". Not bad at all.

-I would have helped you, but I thought it was too much trouble.

-Hey Chika, you probably haven't noticed, but that Makihara guy has fallen in love with you, and it's getting interesting.

-However, it's extremely difficult for a person who has defaulted in sports recommendations to be in third place in his grade.

-We'll see what happens from now on.