Sometimes the Heroine Is Scarier Than the School Bully
Sometimes the Heroine Is Scarier Than the School Bully
The morning dawned.
And with it, Ian let out a sigh.
It was nearly time to leave for the academy.
"Hahh."
He dreaded going back. Pongpongi's reputation had already been in the gutter, but after the suicide fiasco, it had punched straight through the floor into a basement.
Which was, in fact, the official scenario.
"In the game, at least he got to vanish into obscurity."
Going by the original story, following the suicide incident Pongpongi disappears entirely—until his grand re-entrance, by which point he half-destroys the academy in a corrupted state.
"Though it was nice while he was gone."
This was the guy whose nickname from day one had been 'Newbie Slasher.'
Even the players had never looked kindly on Pongpongi.
Oh.
Actually, come to think of it—once Pongpongi vanished, growth buffs and item drops got a lot harder to come by. The difficulty of raising characters spiked sharply.
At the time, I'd chalked it up to some pay-to-win mechanic.
But looking back, it was probably because the pushover—the one who'd been doing all the giving—was gone.
"Oh well."
Ian resolved to sever every last one of Pongpongi's growth buffs and doormat antics. The story wasn't going to derail just because of a possession.
As he rose from his seat, a realization hit him.
"Right—the lunchbox."
The original Pongpongi had always woken up at the crack of dawn and spent about two hours preparing lunchboxes. That was why Ian had found himself awake so early without meaning to be.
And naturally, those lunchboxes had been made for Rina.
"I have no intention of doing Pongpongi things... but I do need to pack a lunch."
Food at the academy was outrageously expensive. If he wanted to avoid hunger, he'd have to bring his own.
First, he shoved the extra lunchbox that had been pulled out back onto the cupboard shelf.
After a moment's thought, Ian boiled the ingredients haphazardly and jammed everything straight into the container.
'Food is nothing more than nutrients.'
Carbohydrates, protein, fat, minerals.
What matters is the macro ratio, not the flavor.
... Come to think of it, did this world even sell chicken breast?
Pongpongi, the broke idiot, had always insisted on needlessly expensive ingredients.
From now on, he'd stick to a diet of chicken breast and sweet potatoes.
"Still plenty of time left."
Using modern cooking techniques had slashed the prep time dramatically.
Ian stepped outside into the open space beside the dormitory.
"I'll train every morning."
Regular training was a must if he wanted to grow stronger.
During the hours Pongpongi used to pour into lunchboxes, Ian decided he would train instead.
Specifically, he'd work on spells he could use right now.
[Extraction], [Transformation], [Restoration]
Those three spells comprised the entirety of what Pongpongi had learned.
Obviously, he'd still put in the effort to master new magic. But for immediate growth, refining what he already knew was just as crucial.
Having tried it once yesterday, it wasn't hard at all.
"Hup!"
A sheath of iron armored itself over his arm.
"If I can get this right, could I actually pull off an Iron X?"
Cold metal wrapped his skin from forearm to shoulder.
If he covered his entire body with this and layered on a few auxiliary spells to increase destructive force, it almost seemed like he could move just like the heroes from the movies he'd loved.
"Honestly, I do wonder if this is the right way to use magic."
Though it wasn't the game that was unusual—Ian himself was the odd one out.
Pongpongi lacked any proper combat magic, so he was essentially gumming his way through fights, compensating for missing teeth with stunts like this.
It was an application possible only because Kim Ian was a Fanta X Aca veteran.
'If I whipped this out in public, people would lose their minds.'
Is that bastard using witchcraft? That's heresy.
No great mage could ever accept such a thing as magic!
Reactions would fly from every direction.
But so what?
"As long as it performs, who cares."
Right now he was using iron, sure. But with a bit more effort, couldn't he extract high-quality metals like titanium?
Pongpongi's talent for [Extraction] and [Transformation] was just that overwhelming.
"If he'd put half the effort into himself that he wasted on others, he could've broken through to 4-star without breaking a sweat."
In so many ways, the guy was pitiful.
And Ian had no intention of becoming pitiful himself.
Maybe that had been Pongpongi's real sin.
'Working harder for other people than for himself.'
It's a common mistake.
You get so afraid of how others see you that you focus on them and, paradoxically, never notice yourself.
Eventually your own worth plummets. People stop paying attention. Then, to win back the attention you've lost, you start playing the pushover—a vicious cycle.
The so-called vicious Pongpongi cycle.
Pongpongi had it. Ian doesn't.
Because from now on, he would focus on 'me,' not other people.
The daily morning training was proof of that.
There were plenty of ways to get stronger, but he had no intention of slacking on his training from here on out.
After a quick wash and a change of clothes, Ian left the dormitory.
Before he knew it, it was time to head to the academy.
◆
Lichten Academy.
The setting of Fanta X Aca, located in the city-state of Lichten, which sat slightly off the continent's center.
True to its reputation for scale, every building was grand and elegant. The immaculate gardens and roadside trees spoke for themselves, and even the students crossing the grounds were, without exception, flawless in appearance and conduct.
But wherever people gather, being surrounded by glittering things doesn't guarantee a character to match. On the contrary, wealth and character often run in inverse proportion—and the illustrious Lichten Academy was no exception.
Around the corner of a building.
— Thud
Alongside a classic sound effect, I bumped into someone.
The books I was carrying spilled to the ground.
'I really need to build some muscle.'
With that thought, I immediately lowered my head.
I had the feeling they'd walked into me, but politeness came first.
"Sorry about that."
Normally, when one person bows and apologizes, the other side responds with something like 'No, no—my fault' or a simple 'Sorry,' and both go their own way. That's how the world is supposed to work.
I'd assumed that kind of common sense applied whether you were in 21st-century South Korea or a steampunk-adjacent fantasy backdrop.
But this time was a little different.
"Ah, fuck."
"The hell, you spineless piece of shit... Wait, it's Ian?"
"Hey, look at this—got a lot of nerve, huh."
The reaction wasn't exactly friendly.
Thinking back, Pongpongi's standing on campus couldn't possibly be good. Rumors about him being a chick-obsessed nutjob had to be flying everywhere.
Even so, these guys were way too aggressive.
A green vine was drawn on the outside of their nametags.
'Looks like they're from the Reconnaissance Department.'
I belonged to the Magic Faculty. Relations between Magic and Reconnaissance were notoriously bad.
[Moni Sichi]
[Di Sichi]
[Tri Sichi]
Just by the look of them, this had to be the Sichi brothers, the school's trio of bullies.
"Ah, I think my shoulder popped out?"
"Whoa, you okay? Fuck, that's gonna be a lot of medical bills."
"Hey, relax, relax. Ian's loaded, right."
I caught the drift.
Since Pongpongi was always rolling over for the heroines, some of these guys had started treating him like a genuine doormat.
'How ridiculous.'
I had zero intention of playing along with a fight this childish.
So, the direct approach.
"Didn't you guys hit me first?"
At this question of right and wrong, the Sichi in the center answered with dead seriousness.
"Nwee-doo-dwee-cheo-jja-nwa~"
Left Sichi and right Sichi cracked up like it was the greatest line ever spoken.
"Bwahahahaha!"
"So spot on! So spot on!"
"Hey, hey—hold up, let me show you an even better one."
Stretching his face like a monkey, left Sichi opened his mouth.
"Weh-beh-beh-beh-weh-beh-beh~"
"Bwahahahaha! Fucking identical!"
"Kkue-heh-heh! Kkeok kkeok!"
The childishness was beyond painful to sit through.
I picked up the books I'd dropped.
'Yeah, I definitely need to build muscle.'
If Pongpongi had invested even one-tenth of the time he wasted on heroines into working out, he'd have turned into a macho man.
I got up with a sigh.
Naturally, the Sichi brothers weren't about to let me go quietly.
"Hey, this fucker even shaved."
"What's the occasion?"
"Whoa, he even washed."
"Could you move? Shouldn't you guys be heading to class too?"
"Heh, our little sucker's all grown up!"
"Now he actually talks back!"
"Treat us just as nice as you treat the girls, you bastard."
I decided to ignore them and keep walking.
Even in a fantasy academy, there was bound to be something like bullying prevention.
'If you let kids who can use magic run loose, there'd be casualties every single day.'
I veered wide to go around them.
"Ooooh, Ian's ignoring us~"
"We won't hit you. We won't hit you. It's just... we're not used to seeing a cleaned-up Ian, y'know."
...What were they planning?
The moment I turned around.
"Whoops! Dropped some dirt!"
The center Sichi flung something from his hand.
My vision filled with dirt.
'I can't dodge this.'
As that calculation ran through my head.
I recalled the training I'd done yesterday and this morning.
<Extraction> wouldn't help.
'Then <Transformation> it is.'
I pulled up my mana and finished the chant.
— Grrrak
I was an earth-attribute mage, after all.
The scattered dirt clumped instantly into a solid sphere.
Flick.
With a slight tilt of my head, the dirt ball slid harmlessly past my side.
"...?"
The Sichi brothers blinked, flustered.
Just as they were about to say something.
"You!"
A sharp voice rang out from behind.
Turning toward the voice, I recognized her in an instant.
Rina Rosewell.
A warm, sociable personality to match her fiery red hair. Hints of elven blood. 3.5-star starting performance. 5-star potential. A fire-element spirit mage. The most popular heroine in Fanta X Aca, the one who never once lost the number-one spot in the 'character you most want to befriend' player survey.
At the same time, she was the heroine who had mercilessly shot down the homemade lunchbox Pongpongi offered her just days before the suicide incident.
— You had leftovers so you packed a second lunchbox? But why me? Why are you giving it to me, of all people?
Which made her one of the prime suspects who might have pushed Pongpongi over the edge.
'Get out of here fast.'
I immediately ducked my head low.
Honestly, a heroine scared me more than a bully.
A bully will just beat you up at worst. A heroine will try to kill you.
'She probably didn't see me.'
Just as I tried to slip away quietly.
"Those guys are seriously the worst. Are you hurt?"
Along with that kind voice, she grabbed my arm.
'...Damn it.'
Was this kindness genuine, or just a front?
I gave up trying to hide my face and looked at her.
"Oh? Ian? What are you—? Ah—!"
Rina clapped a hand over her mouth as if she'd slipped up.
And the smile that had looked so endlessly kind crumbled just as quickly.
"This is, well... Ian, without knowing and without me realizing, so, um..."
She stumbled over her words, flustered.
I had a pretty clear idea why she was panicking.
She was probably worried Pongpongi would get the wrong idea.
With his personality, if Rina had stood up for him like this, he'd have already married her in his head and started naming their children.
'Since he'd obviously jump to conclusions, of course she hates the thought.'
If Rina was the culprit, the instant I did something she disliked, the odds of being 'suicided' again would skyrocket.
My rule of conduct was clear.
Ignore the heroines.
"Don't worry. I won't jump to any more misunderstandings. Later."
"Huh? Ah...?"
Leaving the bewildered Rina behind, I walked away.