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ArabicAnime Crossover: Tokyo Reincarnation Game — Chapter 12
Chapter 12: The First Day at Shuchiin Academy
A thick, suffocating red mist swirled through the quiet living room, parting to reveal Asagiri sitting exactly where he had been before the nightmare began.
“I’m back…”
He didn’t immediately sink into the plush, expensive cushions of his sofa to relax. Instead, his gaze dropped to the white fabric beneath his thighs. Before entering the instance, he had taken a ballpoint pen and drawn two thin black lines on the upholstery, framing the outer edges of his legs. Now, those two ink marks aligned perfectly with his trousers, one on the left and one on the right, down to the millimeter.
‘It seems that upon exiting an instance, you are deposited in the exact spatial coordinates you occupied prior to entry,’he noted silently.’No displacement. Not even a shift in posture.’
Having confirmed the physics of his return, Asagiri looked up at the sleek wall clock. It read exactly six o’clock in the morning, perfectly matching the digital display on his phone. An hour had passed in the bloody corridors of the instance, and exactly one hour had ticked by in the real world. The flow of time was strictly synchronized.
He leaned forward, dropping the heavy, blood-stained chainsaw and the electric drill onto the glass coffee table with a heavy clatter. Pulling out his phone, he tapped the unsettling eye icon on his screen. Sure enough, the APP had updated with several new lines of text.
[Congratulations on completing your first instance. Please review the following operational rules:]
[1. Ordinary individuals who are not Players cannot perceive this APP on your device.]
[2. The APP is bound to the Player’s soul, not the hardware. You may switch devices at any time, and the APP will automatically migrate to the phone currently in your possession. Hardware damage or loss is irrelevant.]
[3. Players cannot bring real-world tools, equipment, weapons, or armor into an instance, nor can real-world items be used to disguise your appearance. Only everyday civilian clothing is permitted upon entry.]
[4. You will receive a mandatory entry notification three days prior to a scheduled instance. Players must clear a minimum of one instance per month. Exceeding this time limit will result in forced teleportation to a random, highly lethal instance.]
[5. Players may choose to actively initiate an instance via the APP (requires a three-day processing period; immediate entry is prohibited. A mandatory one-week cooldown applies between all instances). If a Player achieved an A- or higher rating in their previous run, they will receive a special privilege notification upon their next entry.]
[Time remaining until next mandatory instance: 0 days.]
“The newcomer tutorial doesn’t count toward the monthly quota?” Asagiri murmured, his lips curving into a faint, dry smile. “How surprisingly humane of them.”
He nodded in satisfaction. For someone like him, the ability to dive back into the meat grinder was a feature, not a bug. The S+ rating reward he had ripped from the tutorial was only the foundation. He needed to snowball that early advantage as ruthlessly as possible to ensure he stood at the absolute apex of the Player hierarchy.
After all, the reality he inhabited was a bizarre fusion of various worlds. While he hadn’t personally witnessed anyone throwing fireballs in the streets just yet, he knew perfectly well that even the seemingly mundane slice-of-life sectors of this city harbored ridiculously formidable individuals.
The high school section of Shuchiin Academy, which he was scheduled to attend today, was practically a breeding ground for such figures.
Dismissing the rules, Asagiri handled to his personal status panel. He didn’t strictly need the digital interface to understand his own power—the visceral connection to his Persona was etched into his mind—but seeing the raw data was useful.
[Current Persona: Demi-Fiend]
[Demi-Fiend: The Persona born from the deepest recesses of your heart when confronted by the absolute fear of death.]
[Strengths: Strength, Endurance, Defense, Speed, Agility.]
[Weaknesses: Lacks ranged offensive capabilities.]
[Passive Ability: Upon manifesting this Persona, your physical parameters undergo a massive enhancement. Because the Demi-Fiend embodies absolute, unwavering determination, you are permanently immune to illusions, brainwashing, hypnosis, and all forms of mental interference.]
[Corresponding Tarot Card: The Emperor (Upright)]
Reading through the final lines of text, Asagiri noticed the sky beyond his floor-to-ceiling windows beginning to bleed from a dark indigo into the pale gray of dawn. He locked his phone, stood up, and headed to the bathroom to wash away the phantom stench of the instance, preparing to welcome his mundane high school life.
To provide a brief overview of his current domestic situation:
Utsunomiya Asagiri. Incoming first-year student, Class 1-A at Shuchiin Academy.
And… that was it.
Parents deceased. No little sister to manage. He was a completely unattached orphan who just so happened to own a sprawling, two-hundred-square-meter single-floor luxury apartment right in the beating heart of Tokyo’s bustling Shibuya district.
A few hours later, the morning sun bathed the imposing wrought-iron gates of Shuchiin Academy in a bright, golden light.
Asuna stood near the entrance, dressed in the pristine, elegant uniform of the academy. She kept nervously running her fingers through her smooth chestnut hair, her eyes darting down the street. The knot of anxiety in her chest had absolutely nothing to do with the standard first-day-of-school jitters. It was entirely focused on the person she was waiting for.
‘Was Utsunomiya-san telling the truth?’she wondered, biting her lower lip.’Is someone like him really a student here?’
Earlier that morning, Asuna had successfully summoned the rapier into her hand, confirming that the lethal swordsmanship and skills she had acquired from the death game had crossed over into reality.
To be completely honest, she was terrified.
Both of Asuna’s parents were high-powered executives, constantly traveling or buried in corporate work, leaving her to effectively live alone as she entered high school. They had initially insisted on hiring a live-in nanny to manage her daily life, but Asuna, wanting to assert her independence, had politely but firmly declined the offer.
Looking back on it now, that refusal was the greatest stroke of luck she had ever experienced.
If a nanny had been present to notice her sudden, inexplicable disappearance from her bedroom in the dead of night, her parents would have been notified immediately. The police would have been called, a massive search would have been launched, and upon her sudden reappearance, she would have had absolutely no rational way to explain where she had been.
Right now, the only person in the entire world who shared her secret—the only person she could safely speak to—was Utsunomiya Asagiri.
Just as her anxiety threatened to peak, Asuna caught sight of a familiar figure strolling casually up the tree-lined avenue.
She wasn’t the only one who noticed him. Dozens of students lingering near the gates subconsciously turned their heads, their conversations trailing off as the boy approached. Even within the elite grounds of Shuchiin Academy, an institution overflowing with the beautiful heirs and heiresses of Japan’s top families, his presence was magnetic.
He wore the solemn, dignified Shuchiin uniform, but he hadn’t bothered to button the blazer, letting it hang open like a casual street jacket. What should have looked sloppy instead gave him an air of dangerous, untouchable elegance.
“Utsunomiya-san!”
A wave of deep relief washed over Asuna. Her face lit up with a brilliant smile, and she practically jogged over to meet him, her previous fears evaporating at the sight of his calm demeanor.
“Yuuki-san,” Asagiri replied, offering a polite, understated nod.
Suddenly aware of the numerous stares directed their way, Asuna felt a flush of heat rise to her cheeks. She realized her enthusiastic greeting might have looked a bit too intimate for two people who supposedly barely knew each other. She quickly raised a hand to tuck a stray lock of hair behind her ear, lowering her voice as she stepped closer.
“Um… I actually checked the preliminary class rosters for you,” she murmured softly. “I’ve been placed in Class 1-B, and you’re…”
“I know,” Asagiri interrupted smoothly. “Class 1-A.”
“Huh? You already know?”
Asuna blinked, thoroughly confused. The official class assignments weren’t supposed to be public knowledge until the notice boards were unveiled later this morning.
How could he possibly know that already?