"We're here." As Raize pondered his future, Hiratsuka stopped. Raize also halted, looking at the plain door before him—there wasn't even a nameplate.
This kind of classroom was usually used for storing miscellaneous items, now repurposed as a clubroom.
Clatter—
As the sliding door opened, Raize followed Hiratsuka inside.
The classroom was spacious and clean. Desks and chairs were neatly arranged at the back. The curtains were drawn open, a gentle breeze fluttering them as it flowed into the room.
A girl sat upright on a chair, surrounded by an aura of mystery, giving off an untouchable, lofty presence, with a beauty that felt out of reach.
Bathed in sunlight, her long hair shimmered softly. Her features were refined and beautiful, her facial structure delicate, her skin fair and translucent, her pink lips perfectly shaped.
Jet-black hair cascading past her shoulders paired flawlessly with a face so cute it bordered on unfair.
Hearing the door open, the ice-cold beauty Yukino frowned slightly and closed the book in her hands.
"Hiratsuka-sensei, you're always so careless. Can't you knock before coming in?"
"Sorry. Just treat my footsteps as knocking. We're familiar enough anyway," Hiratsuka replied with an attitude of apologizing while clearly intending to do it again.
"Footsteps as knocking? You used to kick doors open, but I'm not going to accommodate you," Yukino complained, frowning slightly.
Raize gave Yukino a calm glance upon entering, then left the conversation to the two of them, adopting a posture of quietly observing.
However, neither of them could ignore Raize's strong presence. Even without flexing muscles, his height of over 180 centimeters—taller than even Hiratsuka—made him impossible to overlook.
Some people were impossible to ignore even when silent.
When Yukino was quiet, she radiated an icy aura, like a conspicuous block of ice in the heat of summer.
When Raize was quiet, he emitted a sense of danger, like an aggressive carnivorous animal, making even a safe environment feel threatening.
"Hiratsuka-sensei, what business do you have bringing this student here?"
As she spoke, Yukino cast a somewhat ambiguous gaze toward the calm Raize.
In truth, she knew of Raize—especially after what had happened to his family.
At school, Yukino's academic performance was excellent, but she could never reach the very top compared to certain classmates.
Several male students consistently dominated the top five ranks. Though intelligent, she still fell slightly short of them.
Akuru Akutsu, both strong and scholarly. The genius Uesugi Fuutarou. The invincible Sakamoto. The diligent Yuiga Nariyuki. Student council president candidate Shirogane Miyuki. And at the very top—Yotsuki Raize.
Since these six appeared, the top six rankings never changed. Except for Raize, who never budged from first place, Shirogane and the others constantly tried to drag him down.
Before awakening his memories, Raize also competed fiercely with them. Without his father's urging, he still refused to let his grades slip.
These six, all proud of their academic ability, constantly pushed one another higher. Others simply could not break in or compete.
To Yukino, these six men blocking the path ahead were an absolute wall of despair.
Their family backgrounds were not as strong as hers, yet after investigating, she found they worked far harder than she did academically. This deeply stimulated the proud second daughter, making her eager to surpass them.
"It's like this, Yukinoshita…" Hiratsuka glanced at Raize's calm expression and explained her purpose.
Raize wanted to establish a game development club. Yukino's club lacked members. Wanting to keep a close eye on both, Hiratsuka planned to merge their clubs, nominally using Raize's club to cover for the rule-breaking Service Club.
She had already asked Raize beforehand. He had no objections—as long as he had a place to work. Even if it was used as cover, it didn't matter, as long as it didn't interfere with making games.
Sharing a space with Yukino posed no problem for him.
"So you mean my club will share this room with his club… this…"
"It doesn't follow the rules," Yukino couldn't bring herself to say it. Her own Service Club occupying a classroom alone was even more against the rules. Calling others out would be hypocritical.
Hiratsuka had already bent the rules for her, and Yukino knew it. She didn't want to make things harder for her.
But for someone with no friends and poor social skills, sharing a space with someone who was barely an acquaintance was honestly embarrassing.
Yukino looked at the handsome black-haired, blue-eyed boy beside Hiratsuka. His blue eyes were somewhat similar to hers.
Yukino's resembled ice crystals.
Raize's resembled the blue sky.
Through rumors, she knew a little about what had happened to him, and she sympathized deeply with his tragedy.
"You don't need to worry about Raize, Yukinoshita. His rumors are similar to yours—he's definitely not a bad kid," Hiratsuka said, mistaking Yukino's gaze for concern over his reputation.
For the sake of these two troublesome kids, Hiratsuka really had her hands full.
"…Hiratsuka-sensei, don't worry. I have no resistance toward this classmate. I agree to what you proposed."
The perceptive Yukino combined what had happened to Raize with the tense and worried expression on Hiratsuka's face, and understood that the teacher was worried about Raize.
She was worried that Raize, who had gone through such a tragic incident, might run into serious trouble, which was why he needed someone to look out for him.
Yukino had founded the Service Club to help others. Even though Hiratsuka hadn't issued any formal request, this young and kind-hearted girl was still willing to help Raize, who might be heading toward trouble.
Yukino's ideals might be a little naïve, but there was no doubt that this girl's character was excellent and kind.
Raize understood the girl's true nature. Aside from having a few minor reservations about her ideals, he didn't dislike her at all.
"Good, as long as you agreed. You two look out for each other and get along well. I'll be leaving now."
After getting the answer she wanted, the female teacher Hiratsuka considered her task complete. With a faint smile on her face, she turned, waved her hand, and left Raize behind as she departed, closing the Service Club's door behind her.
Raize cast a subtle glance at the classroom door. With his current strength, his five senses far exceeded those of ordinary people.
At this distance, Hiratsuka's breathing and heartbeat outside the door were as clear to him as someone blowing air and beating a drum right beside him.
"Shizuka-sensei, as a teacher, could you please have some decency and stop eavesdropping outside the door? Who exactly are you worried about between the two of us?"
Raize walked over and lightly knocked on the door, startling Hiratsuka, who had been eavesdropping. Since she had been found out, there was nothing she could do about it.
Only after Hiratsuka's footsteps truly faded away did Raize, under Yukino's subtly curious gaze, unhesitatingly set up the spare desk and chair in the room for himself.
After taking his laptop out of his briefcase, he greeted Yukino, who was reading not far away.
"Second-year Class F, Yotsuki Raize. Please take care of me from now on, Yukinoshita. Shizuka-sensei has already told me about you and the Service Club. Since we'll be sharing the same room, if there's anything needed regarding club matters, feel free to speak up."
Raize politely greeted Yukino. Since they would be spending quite some time together, it was better to formally get acquainted and avoid awkwardness later on.
"Second-year Class A, Yukinoshita Yukino. Please take care of me as well, Yotsuki-kun. I hope we can get along well during the time ahead."
Graceful and well-mannered, like a refined young lady, Yukino also responded to Raize politely.
From the start, there was no confrontational atmosphere. The beginning was actually quite pleasant.
After that, the atmosphere between the two returned to silence as each focused on their own matters. Raize needed to make a game to unlock the game icon in the system.
He had a game company left behind by his father, so developing games wasn't difficult. The first step was to build up his company's reputation and brand, which currently had fairly average traffic.
He couldn't rush things. Taking steps that were too big could easily backfire. At this stage, Raize needed stability while lying low.
The latest games would be Sekiro and Devil May Cry 3, using these two games that could drive players "crazy" and make them "fall in love" as stepping stones.
Once enough wish power and faith had been gathered, he would be able to light up Sekiro and Devil May Cry in the system catalog. Although the power scaling of Sekiro's world was somewhat lower compared to the world-destroying strength in Devil May Cry, the system said these two games were the most suitable for his current stage to hone combat experience.
Playing Sekiro and Devil May Cry both increased combat experience. Raize deeply understood this. Just talking about Sekiro, going from a small shinobi to a warrior who could directly clash with the sword saint who changed an era—Sekiro had truly drained Raize to the bone.
Tap tap tap tap tap tap tap tap…
Raize, who had terrifying speed after clearing Sonic, typed so fast that it was impossible to clearly see his fingers. As for the abilities required to make games, his game system fully compensated for them.
Planning, programming, composition, engine construction far beyond its era, art design, game effects optimization—this system lacked nothing in any of these areas.
As a system that once datafied the entire multiverse, even though it had lost many functions, its foundation remained. To rise again, all it needed was effort from both itself and Raize.
Beyond collecting wish power and faith related to games, Raize also used novels and manga as supplementary sources.
Works like the "Big Three" and Dragon Ball—these phenomenon-level series all had related games. Fans of manga would play them for the sake of nostalgia alone.
Naruto-related mobile games and the Ultimate Ninja Storm series existed in the system only as dim icons that couldn't be lit up.
And the system's new game was almost finished loading.
So Raize, who was just starting out, was extremely busy but also very fulfilled. Everything was for the sake of becoming stronger.
Gaining power so that he could live with peace of mind in this dangerous world.
Casting a subtle glance at Raize's back as he worked, Yukino was quite curious about how focused he was.
But since they had only just started getting acquainted, Yukino didn't have the courage to strike up a normal conversation with Raize.
She didn't have a bad impression of him. Being able to steadily maintain his grades in such fierce academic competition required not only talent but also tremendous effort.
That such a person still had the spare time to participate in club activities was truly somewhat unbelievable.
Raize had founded the Game Club. Although Yukino couldn't see the main contents of his screen, she knew he definitely wasn't playing games.
She remembered that Raize's father seemed to own a game company. Thinking about it that way, Raize was probably making games as part of inheriting his father's career.
The two people, both not very talkative by nature, spent some time together in this quiet atmosphere.