Chapter 88

I kept insisting.

The establishment of a student council.

Expansion of CCTV.

Reinforcement of security personnel.

Increased patrols.

Improvements to student welfare facilities, and so on.

It wasn’t the hypocritical kind of agenda that claimed to “serve the students” while really serving one’s own interests.

I went through each point that could truly help students enjoy a better life at the Academy.

As I spoke, the expressions of the attendees changed in various ways.

Some looked at me as if wondering why I had suddenly turned into a proper educator.

Some were anxious, afraid their pocket money might be cut off.

Some were suspicious of my intentions.

Some were furious but suppressed it because we were face to face.

And, rarely, some seemed to genuinely sympathize with my points.

But I knew the truth.

That it wouldn’t be accepted anyway.

‘This deeply rooted Academy cartel isn’t going to just poof disappear overnight.’

Thanks to my influence, they couldn’t completely ignore me.

But if I didn’t keep paying attention, it would surely fizzle out as if nothing had happened.

And that was exactly what I was aiming for.

The minutes of this financial policy discussion were basically made public to students.

No one bothered to check them, but with a little effort, anyone could find out exactly what had been said.

‘All that matters is leaving behind the fact that I presented sincere improvement plans for the students.’

I planned to spread these minutes among the students at the right time.

Sure, I didn’t know how many would actually read and react to them.

But at least a few would have their blood boiling.

‘The groundwork is well set.’

I was planning to cause an Android revolt in the Academy.

In the original Part 1 Act 3, Ciel was the Transmigrator protagonist.

But thanks to the Butterfly Effect, the scenario got tangled up and skipped.

Still, the episode was far too important to just let go.

Besides, if another Transmigrator—someone like Araya—decided to use it, that would be troublesome.

It was better to proceed while I could take the lead.

That way, the damage would be smaller, and I could steer events in my favor.

If I used the ‘Liberator’ in my possession to start the Android uprising, the Academy would fall into chaos.

Then I’d let Iri handle the chaos brilliantly.

If she rose from “Fallen-born criminal” to “Hero of the Academy,” my plan would succeed.

If that happened, students—regardless of affiliation—would begin to resent the corporate side.

And they would start demanding an organization to represent their rights…

In other words, the establishment of a student council.

I would then push for the student council using their demands as justification, and make Iri the president.

That’s where Raina’s public opinion campaign would shine.

Finally, I’d hold the Minjung Faction principal, Joy Bennet, accountable for the incident and force her out—three birds with one stone.

A truly perfect plan.

Except…

‘I have a feeling it’s going to get messy in the middle.’

It was my intuition.

Based on my instincts—sharpened from devouring countless web novels, movies, and comics—and my experience clearing up to Act 4 of Part 1, there was no way this plan would flow neatly as I envisioned.

‘But what can I do?’

If I left things alone and Part 2 of the scenario never started, time would just keep passing.

Iri would graduate under conditions not much better than being ostracized.

Miyu would graduate as a shut-in machine otaku.

And Silence, being a third-year, would graduate even sooner.

Was I supposed to just let him leave like that?

‘No. Absolutely not. No way in hell.’

Why did I even come to this world?

To possess Aaron Stingray, a munchkin-level powerhouse, and just act like a thug?

To blow money, get anti-aging surgery, and live over 200 years in luxury?

Well… that didn’t sound too bad, but still.

That wasn’t what I truly wanted.

I came here to witness those scenes I had read in the novel with my own eyes.

To stay by my favorite characters’ sides and see them live happily.

So…

‘I’m going to watch every single event with my own eyes.’

Part 1 had been rushed and tangled in various ways, but Part 2?

I was going to savor it bite by bite.

Causing the Android revolt was fine.

But if my people got seriously hurt in the process, that would defeat the purpose.

‘So, I need to train them.’

…Or so I thought.

But it wasn’t as easy as I imagined.

First problem—

I was insanely busy.

‘D-Damn it, I have no time…!’

I’d been feeling it ever since I possessed him, but…

Being chairman of the Stingray Foundation for Human Resource Development was not a cushy position.

If I only had to manage the Academy, that would be one thing.

But I was in charge of finding talent, signing contracts, and managing them across the whole of New Valhalla City.

Of course that wasn’t going to be an easy job.

‘Things were better when I could dump work on Benedict…’

It was great that I dealt with my scheming younger brother, who was always looking to stab me in the back.

But now I had to handle all the tasks I had dumped on him before, and it was a headache.

After being buried in unwanted workloads for quite a while, I finally managed to free some time to meet the kids.

And that’s when the second problem appeared.

“Looks like everyone’s here.”

“Yes…”

“……”

Iri, Miyu, and Silence.

On top of that, though not Stingray Special Class scholarship students, Ciel, Maria, and even Raina were here too.

As I watched for a few minutes among these ones who had gathered promptly at my order—

‘…What’s with this atmosphere?’

It was awkward.

So awkward it felt suffocating.

First, Iri and Miyu were stuck right next to each other.

The two of them had always gone around together, so of course they were close, but it made the others feel left out.

First, Silence.

Because he’d joined the Special Scholarship lineup late, he hadn’t had much chance to build familiarity with the others, and since they were in a different grade altogether, I could see Iri and Miyu found him unfamiliar.

Apparently, one time fighting together in solidarity hadn’t been enough.

Next, Ciel.

She had essentially only ever met Iri, and even then just once, quite a while ago.

They’d had no real chance to get closer, so of course it was awkward.

And then, Raina.

Originally just an extra character, I’d brought her here planning to use her for something useful.

I was still debating whether to pull her into the Special Class, and naturally, other than Iri, it was her first time meeting everyone here.

Lastly, Maria.

Including her in this lineup was iffy from the start.

She had a decent level of acquaintance with Iri, but if you asked whether that was “friendship” or “camaraderie”… well?

Honestly, it would be stranger if Maria were close with these kids.

‘Alright, so what do I do with this.’

I had planned to give them separate training to prepare for the Android revolt, but at this rate, nothing—training or otherwise—was going to work.

‘If I stuck them all together like in the army and drilled them, would they get closer?’

That thought rose for a moment, then quickly vanished.

For one, I hated the military, and the results you could get through that kind of forceful method were limited.

‘I didn’t gather you all here just to see this sorry sight…’

Haah.

A sigh came out on its own.

The cause of all this was simple—

‘There’s no central figure.’

In the original work, the protagonist worked hard to manage relationships, going all over the place.

Naturally, he was close with his classmate Iri, but he also sought out Miyu and Silence at every opportunity to strengthen their bonds.

And on weekends or whenever they had free time, they gathered to do various things together, so they inevitably grew close.

But now?

Yep—no protagonist.

I’d grouped them under the label “Stingray Special Class,” but without any shared activities, there was no reason for them to spend time together… and so on.

‘This is just…’

Forget training—first, I needed to make them get along.

At the very least, they shouldn’t be awkward around each other.

“Iri.”

“Yes?”

“Introduce yourself.”

“S-suddenly?”

She seemed a bit flustered, but she quickly caught on to my intention.

She cleared her throat—“Ahem!”—and glanced cautiously around before speaking.

“Iri Elisbell. First year, Tactical Combat Department. Main weapon is a shield. That’s all.”

A short introduction.

Hey, if you were going to keep it that short, why did you bother clearing your throat?

When I gave her a slight glare, her face seemed to protest, ‘What? What? I did fine, didn’t I?’

“…Fine. Go around in order and introduce yourselves.”

Starting from Iri’s seat and going clockwise, it went Raina, Silence, and then Miyu.

I won’t even bother mentioning the massive effort it took to make Miyu open her mouth at the end.

Once everyone had gone, I introduced Ciel last.

“This is Ciel.”

“Hello~. Ciel is Ciel~. Nice to meet you all~.”

Her lively tone was completely different from before.

Iri’s expression clearly showed surprise, as if this wasn’t the Ciel she remembered.

I also felt a pang of regret at her sudden change in demeanor, but I forced myself to ignore it and continued.

“Iri, Silence, Miyu—you three are Stingray Special Scholarship students. From now on, you’ll be following my orders for training, missions, and various activities.”

“Raina Alton—you’re still in the verification stage. It doesn’t have to be combat-related. If you spend some time in the Special Class and prove you’re valuable enough to receive my support, I’ll consider officially providing you a scholarship.”

“Ciel is an Android. She’ll be assisting you in the Special Class. Depending on the situation, I may also consider deploying her in combat. Her citizenship will be issued soon, so treat her as a fellow human being, not a machine.”

They seemed to take the rest of it in stride, but the news about Ciel appeared to be a bit of a shock.

Everyone’s curious gaze turned toward her.

“Ciel, were you… an error unit?”

“Sorry for deceiving you, Iri.”

“N-no, nothing to apologize for. Where I lived before, there were a lot of Androids like you.”

Then Silence cut in.

“[Aaron Stingray. I have a question.]”

“What is it?”

“[Why am I the only guy here…?]”

“…”

This punk.

He really had to nitpick that.

If I had to explain, it was because the original novel was a harem series for the protagonist.

Still, in the original, counting the future members who’d join later, the male-to-female ratio was roughly balanced at 3 to 4.

The problem here was the lineup changes.

With the protagonist gone, “Guardian” and “Evangeline” hadn’t joined yet, and Raina had been added instead—leaving us at 1 to 4.

“…Coincidence.”

I couldn’t explain all that, so I brushed it off.

If you were surrounded by beautiful women, wouldn’t you be happy as a man?

But our pure-hearted Silence seemed to only feel guilty toward his former lover in this situation.

Poor guy.

Anyway.

Time to get to the main point.

“The reason I gathered you all here today is to assign you a separate task.”

“A task?”

“[Do we have to do it?]”

“A-a task…?”

“Uuuh! To think you’d give me a chance to be with Iri— I’m so moved!”

“…Quiet, all of you.”

Why is there so much background noise in here?

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