Evening.
The red hues of the setting sun painted the world on a warm glow. The first day of the new year in Advanced Nurturing High School was coming to an end. The air was thick with excitement and hope for the future. Students languidly making their way to the dorms after an eventful first day.
At the moment, Kiruyin was walking towards the dorms in slow but heavy steps. Each step felt like a hit to his will. He wanted nothing for to just lay down right there in the road and pass-out. His head throbbed so hard that it felt like it was going to explode.
Unable to take it, he sat down on a nearby bench. Looking at the setting sun from there. Clamours of Students passing by behind him seemed like a distant sound. He rubbed his temple to ease the tension.
Kiruyin couldn't help but feel this current headache felt more like muscle cramps. Why? Because inside his skull, it feels like his brain his actually convulsing like what happens in muscle cramps.
'Did I use my brain way too hard that it's having brain cramps?'
He thought in disbelief. After the chess club, Kiruyin had went to the Go club, learned how to play and as planned, the Senpais ganged up on him to teach the arrogant Kouhai a "lesson".
They were all serious from the start. Not giving him any easy way to victory. His plan and camouflage didn't help much. It was all about tactic and adaptation at that point. But Kiruyin gave it his all. He studied the Senpais moves, analysed them, reasoned why the moves were made and came up with his own move to counter.
His brain was forced into full focus mood. He almost lost many times but always managed to come back. Even he was astonished at his own learning speed. He learned a game he has no idea about ,played for the first time and contented with toe to toe with national level players.
Go club senpais were serious dudes. They took every match like it was their last. Betting also went on and he never lost by the moment he had amassed over 400,000 points. He wasn't kicked out but the senpais ran out of points instead.
They insisted that he play with them more as they called over the real deals of the club.
Kiruyin was once again thrust into difficult position by the Senpais. And he got a first hand experience on what the actual national level players look like. They were quietly intense. Their aura radiating genuine intimidation and confidence on their craft.
But even then, Kiruyin somehow managed beat them as well. All the Senpais were thrilled instead of disheartened. They cheered loudly and pestered him to join the club when the time came.
But Kiruyin refused politely. But he was smiling like them as well. Although he was sweating and was feeling mild head ache at that time, it was a novel experience.
After saying goodbye to the Go club senpais, he went to the restroom to fix his appearance and went to the Shogi club. There, he managed to get over 300,000 points before he had to quite and leave because of severe head ache. Which lead to the current situation of him panting like a dying dog.
The total points he earned today was nearly 1.2 million points. But it brought him no joy.
'I'm never doing this again.'
Kiruyin thought to himself. Vowing to never do such bothersome task to earn points again unless necessary. Although the process was fun, the risks were too much. Unnecessary exposure will hinder his future lazy life style. The amount he has will definitely be enough to lead a luxurious style life here.
He reclined on the bench and massaged his head on his own.
"Off~~
Pain~ Without love~~
Pain~ It's not enough ~~
Pain~ I like it rough ~~
'Cause I rather feel pain than nothing at all~~ arrgg!! Why am I singing!? Oh. Goodness. My brain isn't braining bro. I need to go and get some sleep."
Kiruyin thought as he slowly got up and started walking again. But inside his heart, he was feeling exhilarated that the "pain~~" was making it hard to express.
'Hehe~ yoooo. Who would have thought that I was one of those hidden geniuses bro? Damn! I learned two new games and instantly became a pro! LET'S GOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!'
He celebrated internally before winching in "pain~~".
He still found it hard to believe. But the proof was infront of him and he can't ignore it. But still, he felt nothing different other then this mind fucking headache. He was still himself and hadn't become some cold analytical monster.
'Did you lie Alijandro?'
Kiruyin felt somewhat disappointed about the fact that he still couldn't plan 100 steps ahead and flex his 10,000 IQ. But there is nothing he could do.
... Or so he would like to say to convince himself that the improvement he was feeling was a lie he was feeding himself but the fact was, his thinking did improve.
Massively. Explosively. Begrudgingly.
'Damn. Was my brain so Overpowered from the beginning that it had to seal itself to keep me from going feral? Damn. Daaaaaamnnn!!'
Kiruyin tried to solve some math problems on whim when he exited the club building and he was stunned by the result.
The problems that would take him few seconds before took none! As if the answers and questions came at the same time. The theories he didn't understand or, didn't bother to, solved itself just him thinking about it.
Dots connecting on their own and solving complex problems within seconds. Kiruyin can effectively say that he understood everything he had learned up until now to an intimate degree.
It was really a weird feeling. But fun nonetheless.
He arrived at the dorm and took the elevator. Few others were with him. Girls whispering among each other and giggling while sneaking glances at him.
'Hold. How do I know that? I'm not even looking... whatever. Too troublesome.'
But he paid them no mind. He had his head tiled back, trying to release the tension at the back of his neck a bit. And it felt masochisticly good. It hurt, but was also refreshing. So, ge pressed his head against the elevator wall harder. The girls got off on the third floor and him on the fourth.
The tension in his mind lessened a bit when the thought of getting near his room arrived. Almost making him trip as his body almost gave out.
Mind you, he wasn't physically exhausted at all. His brain was just refusing to work properly. Seeing that he was about to pass out, he cast an energy booster buff on himself.
"If I fall asleep in the hall way, I'm gay!"
With the energy booster buff, Kiruyin strode to his room and entered. The door close behind him. He kicked off his shoes and slouched on the bed. Feeling relieved. He almost fell asleep when he jolted once.
"If I fall asleep with bad posture, I'm gay!!"
With another energy booster buff casted, he shifted on the bed and got into a proper sleeping posture. He didn't bother to take off his uniform. Given that he may need to run to school if he woke up late. And given his current situation, happenstance of that is very high.
Kiruyin closed his eyes with a peaceful smile.
'Oh energy booster buff, how much I love you...'
:———————————:
The next morning, Kiruyin woke at 7. Feeling more refreshed than ever. Like the violent mind fuck he experienced yesterday wasn't a thing.
He sat up from his bed. Not even feeling the "I'm not sleepy but I'm not waky" urge. He didn't want to laze around!
An impossibility!!
~A Few Moments Later~
Kiruyin locked his dorm room and walked towards the elevator. He had done his hair. Combed it neatly to the side. Exposing his charming face to the full glory. His blazer was button-down. Pants without any wrinkles. His brown boots shining subtly under the light.
A small smile marred his face. His mood was very good. It was rare for him to feel this level of lightness. Most of the time, he feels this invisible weight pressing down on him. But now it felt that weight was gone and he could think without any obstacle.
As Kiruyin walked up to the elevator, he noticed few more than many things. His vision seemed more clear. World looked more colourful. Sounds were more crisp and clear.
Its as if his eye sight, hearing improved. Not only that, he felt weird sense of resonance when he touched something. And the intake of smell in air seemed more. Like someone increased the volume of natural oder of the hallway.
Kiruyin's eyes widened astonishment. With all the information intake, his brain should have felt a bit jammed but there was no such feeling. The refreshing feeling never changed. Not even the immense sensory data from his four senses could stop that.
Heck, Kiruyin felt like it wasn't even his limit, he speculated that all this and his brain was exerting more than 30% of its total power. And he also felt this new sensory details inputs gonna become background noise later. In other words, he will get used to this type of detail.
'Damn... my brain is Overpowered... huh. Why does this feel like some Japanese isekai manga title? Like, That Time I Reincarnated With An Overpowered Brain And Conquered The World While Musterbating On a Cuck Chair? Damn. That's. That's a damn good title bro. I better not let any mangaka hear this. Or the vanilla isekai will be cursed with NTR shit.'
Kiruyin threw the cursed manga title at the back of his mind and got into the elevator. He pressed the ground floor button and walked back to lean against the wall to brood about his improved, or more like awakened brain.
A smug smile involuntarily formed in his face which he shook off quickly.
"I don't know if I'm actually a genuine genius or not! Don't be smug Kiru-Kiru(the nickname he calls himself with)!"
He reasoned with himself for few moments until the smug feeling recesseded. He nodded in approval and waited to go down. The elevator stopped at the third floor and girls from other class got in. They tensed up slightly when they saw him. They became more attentive for some reason.
Blush creeping on the right face before they started to whisper among themselves while trying not to look back.
'... Do they find me attractive? No way right? How could I, someone made from my cheap fathers genes, be attractive? My mother was fool to marry a loser like him. But this? No way... but I will keep the tab open. Whose gonna ostracise me if I think girls like me? That blonde narcissist from Class-D openly loves himself. What's wrong if I do that behind closed door- fuck! That sounds wrong in so many different ways!'
Kiruyin felt the voice in his mind laughing it's ass off at his sus thoughts. He tried his best to keep his composure. If he suddenly started to scream like a little girl out of embarrassment infront of these gossiping girls, that would certainly mean social death. And that is not something he wants.
After a while that felt like it lasted way more than that, the elevator door opened on the first floor and the group of girls hurriedly walked out, laughing about something.
'... Probably me...'
Kiruyin grimaced and got out with a heavy heart. Worrying about his future.
He instantly forgot about his future when he saw the morning sun shining in the horizon. Painting the sea in orange. He stared at the scene for few seconds before he started walking towards school. He noticed that his distant vision was clear. He could see distant object better.
'Did my eyes upgrade as well? ... No. That's not it. It's just that the data processing power of my brain increased so fast that everything feels like an upgrade. My sensors were always like this, it's just that my brain was limiting the intake while ignoring the most. Because of that, the range of my central vision also increased. In turn making me noticed more things... hmm. That's most probably it. My hearing is also improving or am I noticing wrong? Cause I couldn't tell what those girls were talking about... argh. Whatever. Too much thinking.'
Kiruyin reasoned when he stopped infront of a vending machine to get some drink for morning. He looked into the options, trying to decide what to choose.
He felt that he had enough self discovery for now. It was getting boring so he dropped the subject.
Kiruyin bought a can of milk tea and noticed some when he paid.
[Points: 1,200,356]
'!!!'
"Whoooaaaa!!!! Daaaaaamnnn!!! I totally forgot about this!!! Yey I'm rich bro!! Kudos to me!!"
He cheered at himself and dropped that subject as well. Kiruyin had pooled all the points into his main account in yesterday evening.
Kiruyin started to walk towards the school again and he increased his speed. Half an hour before sensei arrived. He needed to relay his finding to the class and watch the girls become responsible!
"Hehehehe~ let's give them a little bit of rub with reality~~~ hehe~~ boi~~ (｀∀´)"
Kiruyin said with an evil laugh as he rubbed his hands in anticipation. He quickly reached the class and before entering, he looked around and fixed his expression and posture. He was standing at side of the gate.
Least someone saw his shadow from inside and noticed the anomaly. Those guys are wicked smart yo. Though they didn't get chance to express their intelligence, Kiruyin felt that they won't lose to anyone if they put the mind into it.
He shifted his shoulder backwards, put his hands inside his pocket, posture slightly caved inwards like he was feeling small and burdened. An uncertain expression appeared on his face.
A vibe of a boy with great secret but doesn't know if anyone will believe him radiated from him. He was about to open the gate when he stepped back and violently shook his head side to side. Giving his neat hair style an asymmetric look. Like he had seriously debated on what to do and unconsciously scratched his head in frustration.
He was read and walked into the class.
'13!'
And instantly, he felt 13 gaze on him. He paned his gaze for a moment and noticed there there really where 13 people looking at him when he entered, in clouding Ichinose.
'Insane!!!'
His heart skipped several beats. He knew his computing power and sensory awareness increased, but never thought to this degree. The gaze of the classmates quickly went away, making him relax.
He paused for a moment to look around. As if to find someone. Then hesitantly started to walk to where Ichinose was chatting with her friends.
Kiruyin stopped beside her desk and coughed to get her attention. His face showing hint of blush.
"C-cough! Itchy-I mean Ichinose-san. C-can I borrow your time for a bit? I have something I want to talk to you about in private."
He asked hesitatently. Almost slipping and calling Ichinose-san, itchy nose. That would have been the end of him if her friends and everyone else took that as a attemted bullying. Ichinose-san already became the class leader on the second day. She was not someone he could mess with.
Ichinose looked up to him with her beautiful eyes, smiling brightly.
"Of course, Sakiho-kun! Let's go outside then."
She said and got up. Kiruyin nodded and turned to walk out. Walking a bit fast. As if embarrassed.
"Nene~ is he going to propose? Honami-chan~ your getting confessed at on the second day. How envious~."
"Mmm~. And he kinda looked cute as well. Totally my type. Hehe~"
"Come on~ Mako-Chan, Sayo-chan~~. Cut it out. I'm going. Will be back in a minute.~~"
The girls whispered in a hushed voice behind Kiruyin ad we reached for the door.
'Damn gurl! Do you have no shame!? Talking out loud like that!? Even going as far as to pretend to say in a hushed voice!? Just to embarrass me!? Junior you dare!?!?'
But when Kiruyin panned his gaze before exiting it certainly looked like they they were indeed whispering among themselves. As no one reacted even remotely.
"..."
Kiruyin stood outside and reclined on a piller infront of the class. Facing the class, he watched Ichinose walk over with her anglic smile making him a bit dazed at her beauty. But he snapped out of it and put on a serious front. He needed to show his resolution. Not his uncertainty.
Or she may not fully grasp his explanation. Though, he felt it was unnecessary because from what he noted with the little time he had seen her, she is a person who would listen to others and help them, even if she herself gets in trouble for that.
'Admirable...'
"What did you wanted to talk about Sakiho-kun~?"
She asked sweetly. And in response-
"I figured out the S-System."
He said the most serious thing.