Sixth Entrance Ceremony
After washing up, I changed into my uniform for the sixth enrollment ceremony.
Mental Healing is constantly active.
I pulled out the suit prepared in the closet and dressed in it with practiced ease.
...This was already my sixth first step.
That's right. I'd experienced this morning six times now.
"Haha..."
A hollow laugh escaped me. But the emotion bubbling up wasn't emptiness.
It was exhilaration.
Find true love and welcome a happy fate!
The mission message that rang out every morning on the first day appeared again. I grinned at it.
"Fuck that."
True love? I wasn't chasing that crap this loop.
Hell, did true love even exist in this world?
There was love that pretended to be true and then stabbed you in the back, sure.
That was the truth I'd learned.
And the truth for those girls was that the five male leads were better men than me.
So this loop, I wouldn't fall for it.
"This time, I'll be the one smashing them in the back of the head."
I owed it to the me from the previous loops otherwise.
The me who suffered and died in agony.
The me whose deaths meant nothing.
Even if it ended in a bad ending, who cared.
Ah, didn't Easy Mode lack regression perks?
Whatever. If this damn regression finally ended, I'd welcome it with open arms.
"I'm off."
"Yeah, do your best, Emil."
"Take care of yourself."
"Oppa... you have to come back."
"Hehe, Airi. I'm just heading to the academy. No need to worry."
This was my sixth farewell to my family.
After this, I'd never see them again.
...In the end, my little sister's worries were right.
My sister saw me off with the face of someone sending her brother to the battlefield.
Mom stroked her head, telling her not to worry.
But Mom. My sister's worries came true.
I never made it back home in any of the previous five loops.
But this time was different.
"Don't worry, Airi."
"......"
"Oppa will definitely come back."
"Really...?"
"Of course."
Sure, it'd probably be a bad ending.
But bad endings didn't have to mean death.
It could be dying alone as a lifelong bachelor.
That'd be fine.
I could just live as my beautiful little sister's reliable guardian.
After that, I boarded the carriage and headed for the academy.
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"Whew..."
After getting out of the carriage, I headed to Revel Academy's main gate with familiar ease.
Revel Academy.
Normally, you'd be tense for your first day here, but...
In a way, it's a place I've attended for five years already, so no tension at all.
I entered as casually as if I'd walked this path yesterday.
A ton of applicants came into view.
All of them here to take the entrance exam for this academy—gathered elites from the empire and foreign lands.
But among them, I spotted four who particularly stood out.
There they are.
The pink-haired girl wandering around like an idiot, looking lost.
The delinquent blonde glaring at her surroundings with arms crossed.
The mint-haired one grinning excitedly as she scanned the crowd.
The blue-haired one sitting on the ground nearby, staring blankly with an indifferent face.
...No sign of that last one, as expected.
She was a second-year, so she wouldn't show for the entrance exam.
Probably in the dorms or back home.
Anyway.
I noted these girls—the ones I'd face for the first time this loop—then indifferently looked away.
At the same time, the announcer took the stage up front and began shouting something.
"We will now begin the Revel Academy entrance test."
The test started right on schedule, as expected.
This is getting old now, too.
Sixth test already.
From the second loop on, I'd cleared the cutoff with room to spare.
Getting in wouldn't be an issue this time either.
But.
This time, let's mix it up a bit.
Unlike before, where just enrolling was the goal, this loop's target was solely those five heroines.
And entrance test scores boosted their favorability.
So nailing a good score here would be advantageous.
"You may begin the exam."
The test had three parts: written, interview, and physical.
Flutter...
Flutter...
I sat in my assigned seat and received the test paper from the front.
Before, I half-assed it since I was just an extra, but...
This time, full throttle.
The moment I got the paper, I dove right into solving it.
Of course, as someone who suddenly possessed Emil, I didn't know most of the content.
Some questions were on Revel Empire history and such.
But thanks to the possession convenience, Emil himself knew the answers.
So I, the possessor, pulled out and used every bit of knowledge the original Emil had studied.
But.
What the... why is this so easy...?
The problems were a breeze.
Math and magic calculation ones had stumped me before.
But I figured out most just reading the questions.
Scribble, scribble...
In the end, I finished the written exam thirty minutes earlier than the other students.
What the hell...?
After finishing, I rested my chin on my hand and pondered deeply.
Did repeating six loops let me memorize the answers...?
No, the written questions changed subtly each loop, so memorizing was useless.
Two possibilities then.
Perk power... or the difficulty got easier.
Or maybe both...
I grinned.
Either way, good situation.
Thanks to it, my entrance test score should be top-notch.
After that, I did the interview and physical test.
Needless to say.
The interview was a snap thanks to the Sweet Voice trait—I charmed and convinced the interviewers in seconds.
Physicals? Blossoming Talent kicked in, and I posted results better than any I'd gotten before.
A few days later.
"Freshman representative, Emil Tier."
I'd taken top score and become the freshman rep for the ceremony.
This is getting interesting...
The process I'd expected to be boring on the sixth go had flowed intriguingly.
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Clap clap clap clap clap—
As applause thundered, I stood and walked to the podium.
Whispers rippled around me.
"Whoa... that's the top scorer...?"
"He has a nice vibe, right?"
"He's handsome."
"Huh? Not handsome—cute."
"Hmm~, he's got charisma..."
Whether from Blossoming Talent or the rep event, their murmurs came through crystal clear.
...Handsome, cute, charisma.
Descriptors I'd never heard in previous loops.
How much easier did this get?
It was ridiculous.
"In the breath of spring, where new life sprouts..."
I read the freshman rep speech, glancing at the audience.
Too far to make out everyone clearly.
But some stood out sharply.
The five heroines, the five male leads.
And finally.
The game's protagonist, Sierra.
......Huh?
Sierra's expression from afar looked off somehow.
The other heroines and leads gazed with boredom or curiosity.
But she stared at me with a sulky pout.
Clap clap clap clap clap.
...What's that about?
She'd never looked at me like that in the previous five loops.
I'd been focused on the villainess heroines, so no real connection with her anyway.
So even as I stepped down from the podium, I kept an eye on Sierra.
She was still sulking at me.
After the freshman welcome party ended.
"Hey."
"...Pardon?"
Out of nowhere, she approached me.
Not any of the other five.
The original protagonist, Sierra.
"Do you... know me?"
"What? You just read the rep speech at the welcome party."
"Oh, right."
I blurted out a dumb question in my fluster.
This loop where so much had flipped.
For a second, I thought maybe Emil's past had changed slightly, making us acquaintances.
...But if not, why greet me?
Her approaching first was a first across all loops.
Previously, she'd only gotten familiar if I was targeting a heroine she connected with.
But now, she stood before me, arms crossed, looking haughty.
At that Emil Tier she'd never spared a glance in five loops.
"Anyway, good speech. You didn't shake at all."
"...Thanks."
"I'm Sierra. You're Emil, right? The top scorer this time."
"Yeah."
"I'm the runner-up."
Sierra said that and offered her hand.
"...Huh?"
"Runner-up. I'd have been top if you weren't here."
"I know, but..."
"So what? C'mon."
Sierra shook her hand again.
Meaning a handshake.
I gently took her hand, shook it, and drifted into thought.
Top score links me to Sierra...
This was totally unexpected.
...Not that I care about you?
"Hehe, anyway, let's get along. Seems like we'll see each other a lot."
But Sierra reacted the opposite of me, waving as she walked off.