1 Chapter 1: Renaissance

I was minding my own business, solving my rubik's cube at the corner of the classroom while other kids were chatting to each other when a kid suddenly talked to me.

"Yoww, what's your name?"

A young boy with black short hair, wearing a white short-sleeved, buttoned-up shirt and brown slacks pants asked me.

"Hmm? Oh, You're Kuro, right? My name's Oritsu. Oritsu Murasaki. Nice to meet you."

I replied to him.

"Nice to meet you too. I didn't expect you to know my name. Hahahaha."

Kuro said as he scratched the back of his head

It's been 3 days now since the first day of school and I'm in the 7th grade at last. I'm surprised this kid still doesn't know my name even with all the introductions we have had in class during the past few days.

"Well, I've been taking my time into memorizing all the faces and names of our classmates, including the teachers."

"Hahaha. I mean, even though we're seatmates, I still don't know your name if I didn't ask earlier. So what's your plan? It's already break time."

"My mom prepared me something so I guess I will just eat it here."

"Why not eat with me on the bench?"

"I don't really like eating in front of many people."

"Then, that's the more reason you should eat there. Most of the students are in the cafeteria during break so there are fewer people there."

"If you say so. Do you have lunch with you or do I need to wait for you to get food in the cafeteria?"

"My mom also cooked me lunch. Let's go."

"Alright."

So me and Kuro went to the bench and we ate our lunch while chatting. All I can say is that he's a lively and talkative person. He will not have any issue when it comes to adapting to new environments and people. The most important skill in school life, socializing.

Even though we both just transferred here from different schools, no doubt that he has made more friends than the number of classmates I had talked with.

The life of an introvert, what can I say.

It's been half a year since I've returned to the past as a 12½ year old me. At first, you'll think that life will be much easier because I've already gone through with it. But that's far from the truth. If I had remembered the lottery jackpot when I was a kid then the situation would be different.

As a kid from a poor family, I need to be sure of all of my decisions because I can't waste any money. After all, there's no second chance to someone who has no money in this world. And me in the future is a great proof of that.

Anyway, thank goodness that the "me" in this time is still the good little boy who always listens to his parents. Even though I'm not really that smart, I'm proud of myself that I passed the entrance exam and interview for one of the best High School institutions in my city. It's just a public school run by the government but it has produced many very capable and elite members of the society.

Though I already graduated here in my past life, I'm still not sure of the effectiveness and the level of teaching here compared to other schools. I mean, if all the kids who get admitted here are smart and capable, then did the school really do something to develop them or were they already that competent from the start?

From my perspective, all I can remember is the stress and worries this school made me suffer. Well, that's probably because I'm not as smart and competent as the others. Even though I graduated my Senior High (12th grade) from this school, I still didn't get admitted to the college I wanted because of some unfair reasons.

That's why in this life, I will make sure to change my fate.

…

Week has passed. Me and Kuro got really acquainted with each other. I don't know why he always hangs out with me even though he has a lot of other friends who's less boring than I am.

In my past life, we're not really this close so I don't know much about him. What's more, I heard that he was transferred to another school in 8th grade because unfortunately he has a failing grade.

The thing in this school is, if you have a failing grade even in just one subject, you're immediately going to need to transfer to another school the next day. Once the head office receives it, you have no way of stopping the transfer process even if you have a lot of money. Ironically, based on my observations, a lot of rich kid meatheads still graduated while some of those poor smart kids didn't last long.

Though you can't use money or status to influence the decision of the head office once the report card is released, it can't be said the same to the school personnel. So the saying, "The teacher is not making the grades, but the students are", only applies to some students. But to the rest? It just bs.

So the fact that Kuro failed is surprising because all of his clothes, shoes, bags, watch, and other accessories screams money. It's probably because he and his family were one of the honest members of the society but just couldn't withstand the pressure of this school and failed. But I always thought that if you have a lot of friends, which I lack, you will have an easier life in this school. It's only thanks to a certain someone that I lasted long to even graduate.

A teacher entered our room and all of us stood up.

"Good morning, Mr. Akuma."

We greeted him in unison.

"Good morning, class. Take your seat."

Mr. Akuma is a scary looking dude with sharp eyes. He has jet black hair, slicked to the back and a pair of glasses. I called him scary because he's a tall man, probably 6'8", and has a muscular build which could intimidate a lot of students. You will not expect that he teaches math with such an appearance.

He looks very professional. In fact, all of the teachers are. You will not think that most of them, if not all, are receiving money from rich kids' families.

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