[Chapter:8][A moment of respite.]

"I am Saya Takagi, a second year."

"Eh? She isn't going to call herself a genius and be all haughty and all?"

"Yo-you!"

Saya shouted as she hear what Grace said, making him jolt.

"Ah, sorry, did I say it out loud? Haha."

Grace laughed awkwardly, yet not even one present, even Dea-chan herself, needed to be able to read his thoughts to know it was an act.

After all, if they couldn't even see how 'fake' his laugh was, they might as well donate their eyes to those that would put them to better use.

"H-how dare you!? Do you know who I am!?"

Grace blinked, before giving her a sly smile.

"A genius?"

"Yes! A genius!", Saya shouted in anger, not noticing his smile.

"I, Saya Takagi, am a genius! My mind is much better than yours will ever be! What do…do…"

But then she froze mid sentence as she realised that she was doing exactly what Grace said she would, call herself a genius and act haughty.

"Yo-you!"

Saya pointed at Grace while trembling in anger, making him chuckle.

"I think I'll call you self proclaimed genius from today. Nice to meet you, self proclaimed genius, my name is Grace."

Rei, Takashi, Misuzu, Toshimi, and even Kohta laughed lightly as Saeko and Kyoko smiled. As for Shizuka, well, she's still as clueless as ever.

(Nice job!)

As for the little loli, Dea-chan gave Grace a thumbs up at how quickly he managed to diffuse the tension and make them relax even after everything they had been through.

Yes, Grace had purposefully infuriated the pink haired tsundere, all to make the others and even the tsundere herself relax.

Why? Simply because, while staying alert and tensed isn't so bad, being too tensed would only tire them out quickly and lead to mistakes that could possibly, or rather most definitely, be fatal.

And how could Saya, genius in her own right, not notice how the others had visibly relaxed their taut nerves? How could she not put one and one together to form eleven, and realise it was all a simple plan?

Although pissed at being used, Saya let it go nonetheless.

'Humph! It's not like I'm letting it go because you helped them! Not at all! It's only because…right! It's only because I don't want to be seen as petty!'

Typical tsundere. Heh.

As for Grace, he merely smiled at Saya, who gnashes her teeth in anger.

What, you thought just because she let it go, she wasn't angry? Meh. She has her own skyscraper tall pride for being a genius and all, and she certainly wasn't going to let him go when Grace actually mocked her pride.

As for what she'll do and if it'll work? Well, don't we all know where this is headed, dear degenerate readers?

((A/N : I'm innocent!))

On another note, the introductions continued.

"I am Shizuka Marikawa, your Nurse~~ Please take care of me~~"

(She asked you to take care of her, Grace.)

'Shut up, ecchi loli.'

Grace felt rather speechless at this little loli of his.

Sometimes, she's so innocent and cute, she blushes at the slightest tease, yet also joins him in dissing and making life hard for poor Author-san, she is also hyperactive whenever it comes to some things, yet she also likes to tease him when it comes to his currently non-existent harem.

'Isn't your character a little too chaotic!?'

At the end, though, he could only sigh helplessly.

Although he wouldn't admit it, not yet anyway, the little firefly had begun to grow on him, even if they had known each other for, what, an hour?

'Now that I think about it, that's right isn't it? I feel like I've known her for years.'

Grace chuckled mentally at the thought, but snapped back to the present when Toshimi, Misuzu, and Saeko were done introducing themselves.

Which leaves only the single hot teacher, Student A, and the other group, namely, the former MC, the 'guy who lived', and the orange haired spear girl.

((A/N : Yup, as I thought, spear girl sounds weird.))

You don't say?

Well, anyway, back to the scene.

"I am Kyoko Hayashi, your English teacher. It's good to see you all managed to stay alive, and once again, thank you for saving me from 'them', Grace-san."

Kyoko bowed to Grace once more, who felt rather awkward since he actually wasn't used to people bowing to him.

Unfortunately, it's practically a tradition in Japan to be humble, almost as widely spread as it is a requirement for every 'Young Master' in Chinese Wuxia to always sport a boner, even if the boner itself is around the size of a grape.

((A/N : No offence to Chinese, I'm just bashing those idiot 'Young-always-boner-Masters'.))

"As I said, it's alright, Kyoko-san."

Kyoko blushed lightly when Grace called her directly by her first name. But then again, you can't blame the guy. He was, after all, completely new to Japanese culture and name calling and stuff.

"My name is Takashi Komuro, a second year."

The former MC, 'To be cucked #1', and 'Trash type : Hypocrite' introduced himself next.

Alas, he actually smiled at Grace as he did to the others, knowing not that our dearest MC would cause to him suffering so, err, unbelievable and yet also great, that he'd much rather kill himself just to donate that Golden Point to Grace.

But well, that's for another chapter.

"Hisashi Igou, a second year. Nice to meet you all."

Or maybe not?

The 'guy who lived', who Grace assumed managed to survive due to his slaughter run where he farmed 696 Points, introduced himself next.

Although…Grace felt like a very, very precious part of him was in danger when he saw the glint in the guy's eyes as he looked at him.

(Oh, yeah, he's actually gay.)

'What the fuck!?'

Grace nearly screamed out loud as he instinctively clenched his legs together.

No wonder he felt endangered, and what was in danger was far more precious than even his life!

(Heh, let me guess how it goes, the guy's gay, and Takashi is his crush, but Takashi likes Rei, but then Rei becomes mad when he messes up after her having to repeat a year and also because he wasn't taking any action in improving their relationship, so he confesses his feelings about Takashi to Rei, and the two somehow come to an agreement, and Rei uses Hisashi to try and spur Takashi's jealousy while Hisashi uses Rei to approach Takashi and try to make him fall for him…Yup, sounds legit.)

'…'

'The fuck did you come up with, Author-san?'

((A/N : The best way to get the girls 'and' the Golden Point without actually 'killing' the guy, since that would probably make the girls hate you. Now do your work earning me more readers and power stones and stop giving me work by breaking the wall, bastard!))

Grace could only sigh mentally before deciding on something.

'I'm sorry Takashi…but someone once told me I look like a guy from a BL hentai (looking at you #antilolilewding)…and I like, no, love girls…so I'm afraid I'll have to sacrifice you to save myself…don't worry though, just for you, I'll make sure to take good care of Rei, Saya, and even Saeko, even though you didn't do anything with her yet…'

After making a decision that would most undoubtedly make the readers clap for him, Grace let's the slight feeling of unrest and worry for his chastity rest as he looks back at the scene before him.

"My name is Rei, Rei Miyamoto. I am…a first year."

Rei seemed rather uncomfortable, calling herself a first year. Understandable, since she was forced to repeat the year because of a certain 'Special Tiered' Trash.

Takashi looked at her, and faintly felt like there was something wrong, or rather, like he had done something wrong, but alas, he had no idea that his fate had already been decided by a certain wall breaking protagonist, and he no longer needs to care about Rei, or any woman for that matter.

Again, that's a story for another chapter. So let's leave it at that.

Then, Student A raised his hand meekly.

"U-umm…my name is Eei Bee…I'm a third year…"

((A/N : I changed his name, got a problem? Bite me!))

"…"

"Uhh…"

The others looked at him, rather speechless.

They all know the basics of English, so of course, they realise how…'weird', Student A's name was.

"Ahaha, w-well, my last name is Bee, and my parents thought it would be a nice idea to name me Eei, so…"

But then the scene went silent as he mentioned his family.

Everyone in the scene, expect for Dea-chan, who just 'came to being', and Grace, who merely felt a pant of sadness along with a trace of hope, had a family. A living family, at least.

And while the two adults, Kyoko and Shizuka, didn't expressly show their worries, and neither did Saeko, as her father was a rather accomplished swordsman, the others except for Student A fell silent as they wondered how their families were.

They weren't idiots. Considering what was happening in the school, and no one came to rescue them yet, it was obvious the apocalypse wasn't an isolated case.

Of course, they also didn't know the exact situation outside, which is why, when Grace turned the television on, and the news began playing,

"…one, this i-! Ahh! Wa-Wait! Wh-What are yo-AAARGH-"

Another bout of silence ensued, merely this one was far, far more depressing and a lot tenser than the previous one.

......

*Beyond the fourth wall*

Ya know, folks, I'm kind of running out of funny ways to start this off.

But anyway, welcome!

Today, we're going to discuss about a certain character who would actually reoccur quite a few times in this arc.

And that is none other than…Student A!

Eei Bee, he can actually be considered my very first OC other than the MC, his sister Gabriel *cough* spoiler *cough*, and Dea-chan.

Well, more like pseudo OC.

Student A, in this arc at least, will be like one of those 'ever-supporting' best buddies that listen to whatever the MC says and gets a few benefits in return. Like the cliché 'Best and Loyal Fatty Friend' from Cultivation novels or 'Yes Men' from many other stories.

Basically, Student A's loyalty is at MAX, and it will remain at MAX even if Grace cuts his fingers off one by one slowly with a sadistic grin, not that he'll ever do that.

And since he's such a loyal errand boy, Grace will, of course, give him a few benefits as well.

The first one, for instance, is an ability card.

Ah, yes, Grace can use his 'Card Extraction : F-' ability to not merely extract Cards, but give them to others as well.

So what card will Grace give Student A? A 'Loyalty : D+' card that belongs to a certain group member whom I shall refrain from naming, since I want to see the readers' reaction when I introduce her.

Yes, 'her'. *wink* *wink*

Anyway, Grace will give that card to Student A, and since it's Rank is D+, it means that unless something happens that would make Student A become a Transcendent being, he will always be under the ability's effect. So no matter what, his 'Loyalty : MAX' won't change.

But!

In the off chance that he does become a Transcendent, which is a flag I intend to do justice to by the way, Grace will also spend 18 (2 times the amount for using it on others) Golden Points, when he has them in excess, to raise the ability Rank to A+, meaning the readers have no need to worry about him ever going against or even dreaming of thoughts of betrayal.

So!

After that's done, Grace will extract cards from anyone and anything and take all the useless or irrelevant or insignificant ones and shove them into Student A, thus making him an official 'Jack of all trades, master of none', a Jack that answers to Grace and Grace alone.

What do you guys and gals think? Should I do it?

Nah, who am I kidding? Even if you don't want me to, I'll do it. I mean, every OP MC needs a servant / butler with enough HAXes to make those 'oh so high and mighty' shameless Ancestors from big families or what not look like weaklings, right?

Heh, I might as well name him Sebastian. But then I might, just might, take Grace to 'Overlord'…

Nah, I'll stick to Student A.

P.S. Some of you might have noticed, but yes, I have a certain amount of hatred towards Cultivators, not towards Cultivation, but towards those idiots that think with the brains present in their toe nails, and see with the eyes present on their dicks, so I bash them the most and in every chance I get.

Peace out!

Adios!