Prelude II

[ ~ Chapter • Start ~ ]

Days passed, and I began to notice something about one of the students from another class I routinely have a class with.

One kid named Hajime Nagumo was being bullied by several of his classmates due to their own reasons, and further investigation proved me that the main cause of most of them was a few students' infatuation to one girl.

Kaori Shirasaki. And who were infatuated by her? Of course, it was Kouki and Daisuke, the latter just hated that average boy with no concerning grades, and the former was unintentionally making most of the students of his class hate him.

"Hmmm.... what can I do about the both of them?" I questioned myself as I looked at the door of the classroom of 32 that had been pretty loud inside.

I should call Kaori to my room in lunchtime so I could try dispersing more attention away from Hajime Nagumo, aside from that it was my time to enter their classroom.

Entering it casually, the students eventually became quiet and some others returned to their proper seats, with Eri trying to catch my attention with small gestures.

Unlike usual, we had a long discussion about Social Studies ranging around 45 minutes, and the lesson was simply two parts of sociology.

"..... With that ends our discussion. Tomorrow, you will have a written test, and.... Miss Kaori, please go to my room at the end of your classes this day, we have some things to talk about." I spoke in a slightly serious tone, whilst keeping my professionalism at bay.

The students had shocked faces as if they did not expect this to happen. Some of them took my words too seriously and immediately tried to defend her.

P.S. They were Daisuke Hiyama, some male students and a few female students.

In my defense, this was a huge gamble by me, lose some respect and possibly get warned, avert more unnecessary bullying inside this campus in return if it succeeds.

If this gamble fails then more unnecessary things will happen to me. I might even lose my job, but I considered becoming a NEET with my magic and internet stuff if I did.

Then this time, my dear student, Kouki Amanogawa immediately stood up, slamming his palms on his desk, bringing their attention to him.

"Everyone, please be silent!" He yelled, before looking at me with an understanding smile. "I'm sure Sensei knows what to do best, so please sit back down!"

"Thank you, Amanogawa. I will take my leave now."

Despite sometimes you unexpectedly get some students to gain the worst luck in this high school you get a silent applause from me.

Sarcastically speaking, of course.

I mean, his grades are good or perfect, but that doesn't mean his personality is the best. I didn't like him because of his ideology that he persistently keeps, and everyone is too blind to see through him.

I meant most of the people inside the school didn't see who he truly was, and I cannot legally make him transfer to another school.

It's like he has a lot of plot armor equal to a protagonist from those manga, light novel, and anime I didn't really like.

Anyways, I have jobs to do, relaxing my body meant better than minding that for a long while. Things will happen and I am prepared to face consequences.

A few hours later, in my room, a person entered, though that person was not who I expected.

"Eri?"

"Sensei, I wanted to know something. Do I really love Kouki?"

"..... Why would you even love someone who doesn't care about anything but his ideals?" Was my answer to her question, though it took her a while to answer me back.

"..... That's right...." She scratched her neck, as if remembering something important. "But, what if I wanted to kill someone you love?"

"As if. You can't kill my love for manga and otaku stuff." Was my response to her half-serious question, but that also meant she had felt quite downtrodden. "But.... if that was really someone more precious than anything, I'd rather die with them than gain a meaningless purpose."

Flabbergasted, Eri considered my words, turned around and then left without a word, leaving me to defeat my eternal rival who was called "Paperwork" again.

I did mean what I said just recently. I originally didn't have much purpose, so I spent my time procrastinating by videogames, manga and other things that allowed me to spend my free time.

At least, until I began to remember past lives two years ago. My recently boring life full of solitude was going to change.... maybe it had already changed quite much, and I can't help but let out a smile of relief through it.

I want to go to other worlds to find out more about my fully unrecalled past lives (except the Martial Artist me, he's lived his life and I was somewhat envious of him). That's why I'm training in secret, making my magic develop and other things.

The moment I heard three knocks, was when I was taken away from my monologuing, seeing a certain girl outside it, I already knew what I should do.

"You may come in, and sit on the seat near the desk." I spoke, and the student entered the room.

Based on her expression alone, she was completely wondering what I wanted to talk, and moments later, she sat down and looked at me as I looked at her face.

"Sensei.... Is there something wrong with me?" She asked, making me think about one ordinary boy.

"It's about Hajime Nagumo. It is obvious he was being bullied, so I decided to find the root of his problems, and my investigation eventually led to you." I admitted, leading her to be silent.

Her hand being on her mouth, and in disbelief she tried to deny it.

"Were you aware of it? If yes, I think you might have tried to stop them but actually couldn't. If not, then it wouldn't matter if you answered either."

There was a visible nod, so then I began to tap on my temple to think of something that would affect her.

I asked her a few different questions, one of which was if she loved Hajime, if she liked Kouki, if there were any other friends that had some sort of sisterly bond with, and a few questions.

She answered in kind, though in the first question she was pretty awkward about him. On the second, she admitted Kouki was still very flawed, and on the third she admitted that she had a sisterly bond between Shizuku and Suzu.

Aside from that, all of it gave me a simple, hard conclusion.

"It's... going to be hard to say this, but..... I don't see signs where Hajime accepts you as a romantic partner, but as a friend. And right now, you are burdening him by merely interacting with him too much." I concluded.

"But, why am I being a burden to him, sensei?" She asked, before I pointed to her forehead.

"Think about it, why do you think your friend whom you are romantically interested in is being bullied?"

A grim realization dawned on to her, and she grimaced in sadness, as if finally seeing that it was her own fault that caused some of Hajime's problems.

"Miss Shirasaki, I suggest you interact with him less, more specifically away from those who bully him, they might be infatuated by you. You may leave now."

[ ~ Line • Break ~ ]

That night.....

While I had gained another memory from Oscar Orcus, I began to use magic and my swift hands to dismantle a damaged microwave that I took from a disgruntled neighbor who did not mind me taking it here.

Unlike other magics from the Astral Magician and the World Guardian, Oscar's magic was very unique.

I mean, Creation Magic is very, very convenient and versatile the moment you figure out how to use it, plus transmutation is very convenient in making materials out of useless trash and several times cheaper than Creation Magic.

And no, I did not dismantle the microwave to repair it. I dismantled it to create a mini energy converter I should call the "Proto Energy Conversion/Generation Core", which may generate energy and also convert other sources of energy into more of that type or perhaps other types of energies.

Taken from the "Scientist", of course.

But, as I was tinkering on it, a voice came from behind me.

"Sensei? What are you doing?"

Oh, it seems Eri caught me using magic, so I actually did admit it to her, and despite her becoming tired, she was actually excited to see me use magic, and do magic herself.

So... I used the "Astral Magician's" knowledge to grant her the capability to use magic, but in the promise that she wouldn't use it on public no matter what.

Let's just say she was great at holding that specific promise under the made up threat that she would be dissected by scientists from other countries.

[ ~ Chapter • End ~ ]

Author's Commentary: The entire Prelude is basically just Satoru changing things before canon starts. Hopefully I executed them right....

I'll also try to limit the drama, and not make this fanfiction a boring murderfest when it eventually comes to the matters of Tortus.

Though I'm kinda sorry for Hajime tho.

Also, question: Which character do you dislike in Arifureta (Except Daisuke Hiyama, Kouki, and the most obvious ones)? For me, I kinda didn't like Tio because she's a copy of Darkness (from KonoSuba).

Another Note: Bros and Gals will be pissed off because of some random stereotype of the MC granting power to people, lol. He merely just awakened her ability to use magic.

[ OMAKE ]

In the next days, and upcoming weeks and months, Hajime Nagumo has become bullied far less, but also left alone more often.

Even though he noticed that it was due to Kaori interacting with him far less often, she seemed to look strange every time she saw him.

Why?

It's probably just about Kouki or anybody inside the campus and she had, by chance, looked sad when looking at him.

.... Questions aside, he minded his own business as usual, slumping himself to sleep on his desk.

But despite what was happening to Kaori.... did something happen to her? Hajime glanced at Daisuke Hiyama for a moment.

He couldn't put Satoru into fault actually, because he was a kind (yet strict) person, truly.