Unlike Nagumo, who slinked in the shadows as an awkward loner, Suzuki talked with absolutely everyone. He didn't have fiery, unbreakable bonds of friendship like a standard shounen protagonist, but he maintained a perfectly calculated, highly amiable relationship with every single classmate.
Actually, it was more accurate to say that they all approached him first.
Why wouldn't they? He was the most influential man in their entire class. If they didn't stay on his good side, they wouldn't get access to his vast intelligence network, his stockpile of Earth-grade food, or the financial lifeline he controlled. He was especially popular with the girls, who constantly pestered him for his secret to staying impeccably clean in a filthy dungeon. But despite his friendly facade, Suzuki remained highly wary of several people—especially the sweet, innocent-looking girl currently asking for his advice.
"What are you guys talking about? Let me join!"
Eri's best friend, Suzu Taniguchi, practically bounced over. She was the smallest girl in the class, radiating pure, hyper-energetic sunshine as she looked curiously between Suzuki and Eri.
"Oh, it's nothing major," Eri smiled, her voice dripping with sugary innocence. "I was just wondering if there were better ways for me to use my Job skills. Since Tanaka-kun is so incredibly smart, I thought he might have some ideas."
"That makes perfect sense!" Suzu beamed.
No one doubted Suzuki's terrifying intellect. He had completely orchestrated their survival for the past two weeks. Theoretically, they should have understood their own magical Jobs better than him, but considering he had literally solved their entire logistical crisis... what if he did know a better way?
"Tanacchi! Please tell us! Teach us your secrets!" Suzu begged, giving him a massive, adorable puppy-dog stare.
"....."
Suzuki looked between the bouncy, cheerful Suzu and the secretly unhinged Eri. He honestly wondered how the original plot's tragedy had ever occurred with these two at the center.
"I don't know if my advice will help," Suzuki started smoothly, adjusting his glasses. "But Suzu, you are a Barrier Master, right?"
"Yup! That's me!"
"It's just my personal observation... but right now, you're using your shields like a frightened turtle. You wait for a monster to attack, and then you throw a wall up directly in front of someone to block it."
Suzu nodded vigorously, her cheeks flushing slightly. "Well, yeah! That's how a shield is supposed to work, right?"
"Wrong," Suzuki said flatly, his voice dropping into a cold, clinical tone. "That is an incredible waste of mana, and it leaves you entirely reactive. A barrier isn't just a defensive shield; it is a physical, unbreakable object that you can summon instantly into any empty space. Stop thinking of yourself as a defender. You have the power to entirely reshape the geometry of the battlefield. You control the terrain."
Suzuki knew Suzu's survival was vital. She was Kaori's primary bodyguard. He needed her to be significantly more lethal.
"For example," Suzuki instructed, his dark eyes locked onto hers. "If a dungeon wolf charges at Kaori, do not put a giant wall in front of Kaori. The wolf will just run around it. Instead, spawn a two-inch-high, unbreakable barrier directly in front of the wolf's front paws while it's in a full sprint. It will violently shatter its own legs, and you will use almost zero mana."
Suzu blinked, her mouth falling open.
"Furthermore," Suzuki continued relentlessly. "If a monster opens its mouth to bite Amanogawa, don't shield Amanogawa. Spawn a small barrier vertically inside the monster's mouth as it bites down. It will snap its own jaw."
"...."
Suzu's jaw completely dropped. Her cheerful, bouncy demeanor entirely short-circuited. She looked down at her twin iron fans, suddenly realizing she wasn't just a squishy support character; she was a walking, invisible torture chamber.
Ten minutes later, during the next skirmish, she tried it.
CRACK!
"GAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!"
A massive dungeon wolf let out an agonizing, high-pitched scream as it tripped over a microscopic barrier at full speed, both of its front legs snapping completely backward in a shower of blood and bone.
"Now," Suzuki called out casually from the backline. "How about making a heavy, flat barrier right above it, and letting gravity drop it to the floor?"
"O-Okay!"
Suzu nodded, her eyes wide with a terrifying new thrill. She spawned a heavy magical ceiling directly above the thrashing wolf and deactivated her levitation control.
CRUNCH! CRACK! SQUELCH!
The sickening sound of bones flattening echoed through the damp cavern.
"....."
The entire class stopped fighting. They slowly turned and backed away from the bouncy, diminutive Suzu Taniguchi, staring at her in absolute, paralyzed horror. The shortest, cutest girl in their grade was suddenly the most terrifying entity in the room. They all collectively swallowed hard, imagining what would happen if they ever made her angry.
"Stop right there, Taniguchi," Suzuki ordered calmly. "Don't flatten it into a paste. You severely reduce the market value of the pelt and the magic core if you completely crush the monster."
"Got it!"
Suzu looked incredibly happy. She practically skipped back to the rear vanguard and threw her arms around Suzuki's waist. "Thank you, Suzucchi! That was amazing!"
"..." Kaori and Shizuku glared.
"...." The rest of the class stared in silence.
Suzuki didn't react physically to Suzu pressing her surprisingly generous chest against him. He was currently in absolute "Sage Mode." Between Shizuku and Kaori entirely draining his physical stamina the night before, he had absolutely zero biological interest in the bouncy Barrier Master.
"Suzu-chan," Shizuku warned, her voice dropping to a dangerously low, polite octave. "If you hug him any tighter, my sword might accidentally slip."
"Hahaha..." Suzu's face instantly burned red, and she scrambled away apologetically. "I'm so sorry! But seriously, Shizuku-chan, your boyfriend's brain is terrifyingly awesome!"
"....." Shizuku narrowed her eyes. What exactly did Suzu mean by that? Did she have personal experience with his "awesomeness"? Suzuki violently shook his head, silently pleading with Shizuku that he was entirely innocent of whatever crime she was currently accusing him of in her head.
"That was incredible... but what about me, Suzuki-kun? You won't abandon me, right?"
Eri Nakamura stepped forward, interrupting the glaring match. Despite not having the overwhelming, statuesque beauty of Kaori or Shizuku, Eri possessed incredibly fair skin and a deeply cute, approachable face. The way she nervously tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and looked up at him through her lashes would make almost any high school boy's heart skip a beat.
But when Suzuki looked at her, he didn't see a cute girl. He saw her assigned Job: Necromancer.
Even if he hadn't known the horrific details of the original plot, assigning a "Necromancer" class to a seemingly sweet, popular high school girl was a massive, flashing red flag that she was entirely unhinged.
However, since he had actively derailed the plot by essentially enslaving the capital's economy, Eri's timeline had shifted. Her deeply repressed psychopathy was a massive threat, but thanks to the overwhelming, multi-class power Suzuki now possessed within his [Manager] system, she wasn't an uncontrollable problem for him.
But what kind of advice do you give a psychopath to make her stronger without getting yourself killed?
"Nakamura," Suzuki started, his voice completely flat. "You primarily use spirit strings to manipulate objects and bind enemies, right?"
"Yes," Eri nodded, acting like a pure, gentle maiden. "I'm not very physically strong, so I just try to tie the monsters up so everyone else can hit them safely!"
Suzuki knew she was acting, and he didn't care. "That is an incredibly wasteful way to use garrote wire."
"Wasteful...?"
"Instead of treating your spirit strings like thick handcuffs, you should be treating them like razor wire," Suzuki explained coldly. "Spirit strings are infinitely thin and magically unbreakable. Stop tying them around the monster's thick waist. Anchor your strings, loop them tightly around the monster's carotid arteries, and stand perfectly still. If the monster lunges forward to attack you... it will literally decapitate itself on your wire. Let the monster's own momentum do the work."
Eri's eyes widened slightly.
"More importantly..." Suzuki stepped slightly closer, lowering his voice so the rest of the class couldn't hear. "If you eventually use your magic to take direct, neurological control of a monster's corpse... remember that a puppet does not feel pain. If your puppet's arm gets bitten off, don't panic and drop the spell. Use the jagged, exposed bone as a shank. Exploit your tool until it is completely, utterly destroyed. Do you understand?"
"Suzuki-kun! Sorry to interrupt, but can you please lend me three more mana potions?"
"I'll be right there, Kaori."
Suzuki immediately turned his back on Eri, effortlessly shifting back into his reliable logistics persona as he walked toward the healer.
But as he walked away, Eri didn't blink. She kept staring at his broad, bespoke-suited back. The cute, innocent facade completely melted off her face, replaced by a cold, deeply obsessed, entirely distorted gaze—the true, broken face she always hid from society just to be accepted.
Yet, in that exact moment, a thrilling realization washed over her.
She didn't have to act around him. He had looked directly into her darkness and instead of being terrified, he had simply handed her a sharper knife. He understood her. He could accept her exactly the way she was.
And because of that beautiful, terrifying realization, Eri Nakamura made a silent vow. She would never let him go. She would happily tear him away from Kaori, Shizuku, and anyone else who dared to stand in her way.
Shudder!
A sudden, violent chill ran directly down Suzuki's spine.
"What's wrong?" Kaori asked instantly, her eyes filled with deep, intimate worry as she reached out to touch his arm. "Are you feeling sick? Do you need me to cast a diagnostic heal on you?"
Her Priest magic could cure illnesses and fatigue, and she would gladly burn her mana to make sure he felt perfect.
"No... it's fine," Suzuki murmured, shaking his head and pushing the chilling premonition away.
Yes, everything was supposedly fine. The vanguard was holding, his logistics were flawless, and his two beautiful girls were safe.
And because everything felt so perfectly controlled, it made the sudden, catastrophic trap that triggered a few moments later entirely devastating. The artificial peace they had built was about to be violently ripped apart.