2 The Velvet Theater.

After falling asleep with surprising ease, Ren was awakened by the sound of a soft piano song being played, accompanied by a melodic voice. 

Opening his eyes, he saw himself sitting in the middle of a stage in a grand theater. A soft, velvety blue color enveloped everything in the room, with large, deep blue curtains covering the stage. The curtains opened by themselves to reveal a mostly empty audience, save for one seat.

In front of him, sitting with his legs crossed on the only chair in the audience was a man with an extremely long nose and bulging eyes. He wore a black suit with white gloves adorning his hands. With a broad smile, he spoke in a deep, resonating voice.

"Trickster, welcome to my Velvet Room. I am delighted to make your acquaintance. I hope you won't disappoint me in the future. This place exists between dream and reality, mind and matter. It is a room that only those bound by a contract may enter."

He made what appeared to be a script he held disappear before continuing.

"I am Igor, the master of this place. Remember that well. I summoned you here to meet you properly. However, this is quite a surprise. The state of this room resembles that of your heart and, for that matter, your fate. So do be sure to put on a proper play for us."

Ren looked around the room for a few seconds before asking.

"My fate, huh? Were you the one who brought me here?"

Strangely, when he looked at the long-nosed man, he felt as if the man in front of him was wearing a mask. An almost illusory veil covered the man's face in his eyes. It was something he had never seen before. Though to be fair, this entire experience was like nothing he had ever seen before.

He let out a deep chuckle before answering.

"You are here because you were chosen as the trickster. I wish I could give you more guidance, but the room has spoken. It seems I have meddled enough by creating a contract with you. Any more than this, and someone will come to ruin our fun. From now on, most of your questions will have to be answered by your stagehands."

Almost as if he had forgotten, he snapped his fingers before speaking once again.

"Ah, how rude of me. Allow me to introduce them to you."

Walking in from one side of the stage were two young ladies wearing a blue uniform that matched the color of the entire room. They had platinum blonde hair, and each wore an eyepatch on opposite eyes as they walked perfectly synchronized. They looked like a pair of twins whose only real difference was their hair. One had a long braid, and the other had her hair braided into buns on the sides of her hair.

"To your left is Caroline. And to your right is Justine."

"It is our duty to assist you in the play you will create. We will do our best to give you the freedom to put on a proper show." Said Justine as she gave a small bow.

"That's right! So you better not disappoint our master by putting on a sloppy show." Caroline added before standing straight in a military-like fashion.

Before Ren could get a word in, Igor interrupted.

"It seems your time here is up for now. All other introductions shall be postponed until your next visit. Until then, you'll do well to remember. The world is your stage, and it is in your best interest to create proper entertainment. Be it chaos or order, we shall be observing you, Trickster."

The curtains separating Ren from Igor closed almost instantly, and the stage lights above him turned off, leaving him in total darkness. Before he knew it, he was awake once again. Waking up with a startle, Ren found a small blue butterfly flying away.

"Put on a proper play, eh? I'll show you a proper play." He said to himself with a smile before shaking his head and getting ready for his first day in school.

"If my whole existence in this world is for entertainment. Then I am going to make sure to have some fun too."

— — —

All in all, the first day was mostly just a simple formality. Some papers had to be signed to finalize the transfer. But it was mostly just the principal saying the phrase "You will be expelled" every other minute in between warnings to behave myself.

At the very least, his homeroom teacher was pretty cute, though she seemed all but thrilled to have him in her class. She was a young woman by the name of Sadayo Kawakami. She had dark brown messy hair and tired eyes. She was somewhat cold while she guided him through the school. But whatever dislike she might have had towards him didn't stop her from doing a great job. Instead of half-assing the introduction, she made sure to give proper answers to any questions Ren had about the school. Even added a few of her own personal tips in order to do well in class, including how to introduce himself to his classroom the next day.

After all of that, Sojiro drove me back to Leblanc. After which I was left to spend the rest of the day getting everything ready for school the day after. 

The next day arrived in the blink of an eye, and with it came the journey to school. He wasn't a huge fan of the crowded trains in Japan, but at least they were cleaner and quieter than the ones he was used to. However, once he left the train station, he was greeted by rain. 

Standing just outside of the train station, he debated whether he should go inside to try to buy an umbrella or not before a beautiful girl wearing the same uniform as him stood next to him, watching the rain with the same expression as him. She had platinum blonde hair, which was styled into two bushy pigtails.

"Guess that makes two of us that forgot an umbrella. Do you want to share one if I buy one? I don't really know the way to school since I am new. So it would be great if you could help me out." Ren said as he put on a friendly smile.

The blonde girl gave him a look before smiling.

"Ah, you must be the transfer student! Sure, that sounds good! I didn't really want to walk through the rain either, and I didn't bring any money with me to buy one. Hopefully, you like our school! I'm Ann Takamaki, by the way. Nice to meet you."

After exchanging greetings, the smile on her face dropped as she added. 

"I do gotta warn you, though, that there are some nasty rumors going on about you. I know what it is like to have stupid rumors going on at school, so if it gets too crazy, you can always come to hang out with me and Shiho."

Her words were interrupted by the honking of a car horn. From which a middle-aged man with black hair and a square jaw shouted out, directed towards Ann.

"Do you want me to give you a ride to school? You are going to be late."

Ann gave Ren a slightly complicated expression, almost as if apologizing, before nodding her head and walking towards the man's car. The man inside turned to look at Ren after Ann had walked inside.

"Do you need a lift too?"

It was strange. Once again, Ren could see something out of the ordinary. Where the man's face was supposed to be, Ren could see a slightly transparent mask resembling that of a king, though half of the mask was split to reveal a strange grin on the otherwise serious face.

(Image here)

Almost subconsciously, he could tell the man inside of the car did not want him to accept his offer. The kindness he was displaying was nothing more than an act, a mask he put on. So, with the first genuine smile he had formed since arriving into this world, Ren answered.

"Of course! Thank you for the ride."

Running inside the car quickly, he gave the brightest, most genuine smile before asking with an innocent tone.

"You must be Takakamaki's dad, right?"

The smile the man inside the car was putting on instantly turned into a frown filled with anger for a split second before returning to normal.

"Ah, no. I am Suguru Kamoshida. I am the PE teacher at Shujin Academy. I am also an Olympic-level volleyball player. So you better give me some respect." Kamoshida said as he emphasized the fact that he used to play in the Olympics.

It was clear that he was used to being respected, and the comment Ren had made had irked him quite a bit.

"Ah, I've never heard of you. Was that a long time ago? Also, from an Olympic player to a high school teacher. That's a bit of a bummer, isn't it? My uncle is a PE teacher, and he used to work at a 7/11 before. Crazy how you are at the same job as my uncle."

Kamoshida gripped the steering wheel so hard his knuckles almost turned white as he gave out an ugly smile. Ann, who was next to him, was trying to stay as quiet as possible so as not to bring attention to herself. She seemed somewhat scared of Kamoshida. She was clearly debating what she should do in her mind. But before she could open her mouth and say anything, they had arrived at their destination.

"Well, would you look at that! Thanks for the ride, Mister Kamushada. It sure would have sucked to have to walk through the rain. Don't worry, though. I can't wait to see you play basketball!" Ren said with a bright smile as he deliberately got his name and sport wrong before running away into the school, with Ann following right behind him, hoping to get away as soon as possible.

He could have sworn he heard some muffled shouting coming from the car as he stepped through the gates of the school. Which only lifted his mood even higher.

Ann gave him a few concerned looks before saying.

"Uhm… I… I think you should be careful not to anger kamoshida… I… I am sorry I have to go warn Shiho." 

She was clearly freaking out over what had happened before running upstairs in search of her friend. Leaving Ren surrounded by random students.

'I'm supposed to meet with Kawakami now. Gotta let her know that I am going to be a good kid who will not get into any trouble whatsoever. No, siree. It's the purest of hearts right here. I even got to school early.' Ren thought to himself before happily strolling to the teacher's lounge.