Anime Crossover: Tokyo Reincarnation Game — Chapter 88

Chapter 88: The Highly Anticipated Spring Exam

“Like a mayfly trying to topple a giant tree…”

Kaguya Shinomiya murmured the words under her breath, her voice barely a whisper. She slowly raised her head, locking her crimson eyes directly onto Asagiri’s indifferent gaze.

“Are you deliberately trying to provoke me?” she asked, her tone perfectly measured yet carrying a sharp edge. “The reputation of the pure-course students… That is not a burden I can bear alone just by acting on my own arbitrary whims.”

“Oh? You’re not falling for the bait?” Asagiri replied, a dry, mocking laugh lacing his words.

Standing a short distance away, Iwanaga Kotoko blinked in mild astonishment. ‘How can someone like you even exist?’ she thought, observing the exchange. Using cheap provocation was one thing, but openly admitting to it the second he was called out? It was far too honest. It completely bypassed the standard rules of engagement, tearing down the psychological warfare Kaguya was trying to establish.

Before Kotoko could analyze his bizarre social tactics any further, Asagiri shifted his stance, his expression flattening into absolute pragmatism.

“However, it doesn’t matter what you personally claim,” Asagiri said, his voice cutting through the quiet morning air of the classroom. “In the eyes of everyone else in this academy, you are stepping up to challenge me while carrying the entire reputation of the pure-course faction on your back. You should be acutely aware of that reality by now, shouldn’t you?”

Faced with his blunt assessment, Kaguya found herself entirely unable to refute him.

In the long, storied history of Shuchiin Academy, a situation like this had simply never occurred. Kaguya was the eldest daughter of the Shinomiya Family. She was of absolute noble birth, impeccable in her speech and manners, and flawlessly dominant in both academics and athletics. To compound her overwhelming status, the current chairman of the academy’s Board of Directors was Oko Shinomiya, her older half-brother. With all these factors combined, Kaguya stood as the absolute pinnacle of the pure-course hierarchy—the flawless idol they projected all their pride onto.

Utsunomiya Asagiri was her absolute antithesis.

His speech, his mannerisms, and his ruthless way of handling obstacles were completely alien to the rigid, suffocatingly dull traditions of the Shuchiin student body. What defined him was his sheer, unpredictable abstractness. He was a mixed-course student who had only transferred in during high school, yet on his very first day, in broad daylight, he had violently shattered the unspoken caste system dividing the pure-course and mixed-course students. His words had been aggressive, dismissive, and entirely unapologetic.

Both of them were exceptionally brilliant, standing at the absolute apex of Shuchiin Academy’s academic and physical rankings. But beyond that sheer competence, the two shared absolutely zero similarities.

It wasn’t just Kaguya who was anticipating the arrival of the spring exams. A massive faction of arrogant, conceited pure-course students—who secretly knew they lacked the sheer intellectual firepower to crush Asagiri themselves—had presumptuously dumped all their hopes onto Kaguya’s shoulders. They desperately wanted her to secure a flawless victory so they could comfortably bask in her reflected glory, using her triumph to validate their own fragile superiority complexes.

But what if Kaguya lost?

She didn’t want to lose. More accurately, she simply could not afford to lose. She was a daughter of the Shinomiya Family, bearing that heavy, suffocating surname. The sheer humiliation of being defeated in academics by a mixed-course commoner was a reality her pride would never allow her to accept.

“Say whatever you want to say,” Kaguya replied, her voice dropping a fraction of an octave. She narrowed her eyes, a chilling, absolute determination bleeding into her crimson irises. She stared straight through Asagiri and enunciated every single syllable. “I will win.”

Right on cue, the sharp, rhythmic clicking of high heels echoed against the polished floorboards. Miwa Ashikaga strode slowly into the classroom, dressed in a sharp suit skirt and her signature gold-rimmed glasses.

She cast a brief, calculating glance toward the corner where Asagiri and Kaguya were standing in their standoff. She didn’t offer a lecture, simply stating in a cold, authoritative tone, “Utsunomiya. Shinomiya. Return to your seats.”

Halfway through her command, Ashikaga’s eyes caught a glimpse of a small head wearing a white beret, perfectly obscured behind the two taller students.

“Oh, and Iwanaga,” Ashikaga added flatly. “Stop hiding back there and go to your seat.”

Kotoko rolled her eyes, letting out a quiet sigh as she stepped out from the shadows. ‘I wasn’t intentionally hiding,’she grumbled internally.’These two are just ridiculously tall and entirely blocked me from view.’ Even though she had been standing right next to them the entire time, she hadn’t contributed a single line to the dramatic tension, completely written out of the scene’s framing.

At that exact moment, Kotoko finally understood the daily existential plight of Kato Megumi.

“As you are all well aware, the exam is about to begin,” Ashikaga announced, her voice easily cutting through the remaining murmurs as the classroom fell into absolute silence. Her sharp gaze swept over the seated students.

“This exam will operate differently for Class A compared to the rest of the grade. I will not be serving as your invigilator today. Therefore, before the bell rings, I will outline a few critical parameters.”

She paced slowly across the front of the room. “Cheating is, naturally, strictly prohibited. There are two real-time surveillance cameras active in this classroom—one at the front, one at the back. Dedicated security personnel will be monitoring the feeds continuously. Additionally, two external invigilators will be stationed here.”

“You will be tested on three subjects: Arts, Science, and Foreign Language. All three blocks will be conducted consecutively today, concluding precisely at 3:00 PM.”

Ashikaga paused her pacing. Her gaze drifted through the rows of desks, resting briefly on Kaguya’s rigid posture before sliding toward the back corner of the room, locking onto Asagiri’s relaxed, almost bored expression.

“I have only one requirement for this class,” she stated, her tone dropping into a quiet, heavy absolute. “You will secure the highest average score in the entire grade. As for who manages to achieve the highest individual score… as your homeroom teacher, I am highly anticipating the result.”

Half an hour later, deep within the opulent confines of Shuchiin Academy’s Board of Directors meeting hall.

Sitting at the very head of the sprawling mahogany table was a middle-aged man. He was balding, possessing a remarkably average physique but carrying a distinctly sleazy, arrogant aura. Oko Shinomiya leaned back in his leather chair, a mocking smile twisting his lips as he looked down the table toward Miwa Ashikaga.

“Ms. Ashikaga… Oh, excuse me, Ashikaga-sensei,” Oko sneered, his voice dripping with condescension. “I am genuinely surprised you bothered to attend today’s board meeting. I was under the impression you had finally recognized your own limitations, realized you were entirely incapable of shouldering the responsibilities of a board member, and decided to play house as a simple high school teacher instead.”

“Heh.”

Ashikaga didn’t even bother to look at him. She calmly raised a hand, pushing her gold-rimmed glasses slightly up the bridge of her nose. “Once this spring exam concludes, you will realize exactly how foolish those words are. If my memory serves me correctly, Kaguya Shinomiya—a student in my class—is your younger sister, is she not? If she is utterly crushed by Utsunomiya, I wonder if you will still be able to maintain that smug expression.”

“Oh? So that is your grand strategy?” Oko scoffed, leaning forward and resting his elbows on the table. “You intend to use Kaguya’s academic failure to threaten my authority over the board? You are far too naive, Ashikaga. She is merely a…”

Oko abruptly bit his tongue, swallowing the rest of the sentence. He had almost called Kaguya a love child in front of the entire executive board. Publicly declaring that she wasn’t a true, legitimate piece of the Shinomiya Family was tantamount to dragging his own family’s dirty laundry into the spotlight. After all, a love child was exactly that—the living, breathing evidence of a mistake made by his father, the current patriarch Shinomiya Yanan, who had foolishly developed genuine feelings for a woman from the red-light district.

Realizing his near-blunder, Oko swiftly pivoted his angle of attack.

“Even if she loses,” Oko continued smoothly, “it will merely serve as definitive proof that she is entirely unworthy of carrying the Shinomiya surname.”

“Oh? Is that what you tell yourself?”

Ashikaga made absolutely zero effort to mask the sheer disgust radiating from her expression. Every single board member in the room could feel the sudden drop in temperature. Because Ashikaga hailed from a genuine, historically entrenched samurai noble lineage, she was one of the very few individuals in the country who possessed the political capital to openly antagonize Oko Shinomiya to his face.

“While I find your very existence detestable, Kaguya is entirely different from you,” Ashikaga stated coldly. “She is a genuinely exceptional student. If even someone of her caliber is unworthy of the Shinomiya surname…”

She intentionally let the sentence hang in the dead air, casually picking up her porcelain coffee cup and taking a slow, deliberate sip. The surrounding board members weren’t idiots; they instantly connected the dots she had laid out.

Kaguya Shinomiya was flawless. She was a national champion in traditional archery, maintained perfect academic scores, and possessed impeccable social grace.

And then there was Oko Shinomiya, the eldest son and supposed heir.

If one stripped away the terrifying weight of his family name, his actual, personal competence was highly questionable. He was driven by archaic, feudal paranoia and possessed a suffocatingly arrogant attitude. His only genuine talent lay in cutthroat power struggles and internal scheming—and even then, he only succeeded because he used the overwhelming financial advantage of being the eldest son.

At its core, the Shinomiya Family was a modern, ruthless business conglomerate, not some ancient dynasty playing out a court drama. Could a man whose entire existence revolved around petty internal conflicts truly lead an empire?

“Ultimately…” Ashikaga set her coffee cup down with a soft, definitive clink. She finally looked directly at Oko, whose face had already begun to curdle into an ugly scowl. “You simply refuse to accept reality. You are terrified of the fact that Kaguya, a mere love child, is infinitely more capable and far more deserving of the ‘Shinomiya’ title than you, the legitimate eldest son, could ever hope to be.”

Oko’s face twisted, the veins in his neck bulging slightly against his expensive collar. “You… you dare…”

“What? Did I strike a nerve?”

Oko forced a breath into his lungs, violently suppressing his temper. He stared at Ashikaga’s infuriatingly calm face and forced a mocking laugh. “To think that a descendant of a proud samurai lineage has been reduced to placing all her desperate hopes on a filthy mixed-course commoner. Ashikaga, you truly are degenerating by the day.”

“Are you actually stupid?”

Ashikaga cut him off instantly, a sharp scoff escaping her lips. “Have you completely forgotten how the samurai shogunate era even began? The capable rule. Do you honestly believe my Ashikaga lineage operates like you bloated, corrupt aristocrats? Oh, wait, I forgot…”

Her eyes narrowed behind her lenses, delivering the final, crushing blow.

“You constantly parade around acting arrogant, but the truth is… there is absolutely nothing noble about you. Deep down, you are keenly aware of your own mediocrity. That is exactly why you put on these pathetic airs and constantly weaponize the ‘Shinomiya’ surname to demand respect. It is genuinely laughable to watch.”

“Hmph.” Oko’s face was now a mask of pure, unadulterated gloom. He abandoned the verbal sparring, turning his gaze toward the massive digital monitor mounted on the boardroom wall. It was currently broadcasting a live, high-definition feed of the Class A examination room.

“You’ve developed quite the sharp tongue after playing teacher for a few days,” Oko said, his voice dropping into a dangerous, gravelly register. “I sincerely hope you can maintain this absurd level of confidence once the exam results are posted.”

“That goes without saying.”

Ashikaga’s expression remained perfectly serene. She turned her attention to the large screen, her eyes locking onto the feed. There, sitting in the back corner of the room, was Asagiri. He looked entirely relaxed, his pen moving across the examination paper with fluid, unbroken speed.

She reached up, adjusting her glasses one final time.

“Utsunomiya Asagiri is the most exceptional student I have ever encountered in my life,” she said softly, though her voice carried absolute certainty. “He is the only one whose existence perfectly aligns with my philosophy.”

“I have placed every single chip I possess on him.”

“Through him… I am going to completely tear down and rebuild Shuchiin Academy.”