Dazed, feeling some comfort on his back, Chu Hui opened his eyes in confusion only to find himself lying on a Japanese tatami mat. Surrounded by an unfamiliar environment, strange information flooded his mind.
Without rushing to observe his surroundings, Chu Hui closed his eyes to digest the information in his brain.
World: "School Days."
Identity Setting: You are an exchange student from China, currently attending Sakakino Academy, and an amateur photography enthusiast.
Task 1: Capture the hearts of Katsura Kotonoha and Saionji Sekai. You may also actively increase the number of targets; rewards double for every additional person, but they must be plot characters.
Task 2: Stay alive.
Reward: 3 crystal points.
Penalty for Abandoning Task: Obliteration.
Current Remaining crystal points: 3 (Initial crystal points)
Buttons available during the Newbie Protection Period: Heal, Berserk.
Heal: Spend 1 crystal point to Heal, instantly recovering from all non-fatal injuries.
Berserk: Spend 1 crystal point to activate Berserk, increasing physical stats by 25% for a short duration. Lasts five minutes.
Opening his eyes, Chu Hui's emotions were a mess. He hadn't expected that after lying flat at home, he would wake up in the world where Makoto-kun fought. Was he not even allowed to lie flat here?
School Days is an old anime with profound educational significance. The story can roughly be summarized as the protagonist, Ito Makoto, drifting between two female leads. Due to his indecisiveness and unfaithfulness, he is eventually stabbed to death by one of the heroines, Saionji Sekai.
Saionji Sekai's end wasn't pretty either; she was killed on the rooftop by the blackened Katsura Kotonoha, who cut open her stomach to see if Ito Makoto's seed was inside.
At the end of the story, Katsura Kotonoha took Ito Makoto's head and went on a boat trip around the world. This is the origin of the terms "Nice Boat" and "cleaver" on the internet.
In short, this story is terrifying. When he first watched it, he had wished he could cross over and kill Ito Makoto himself.
However, now that he was facing the same fate, he felt a bit apprehensive.
He didn't want to be a scumbag, but the problem was he had no choice. The culprit responsible for him facing all this would simply not let him off.
Thinking of the culprit, Chu Hui couldn't help but recall his encounter from not long ago.
When he first woke up, he was in a mysterious space.
A cleaver, claiming to be formed from the obsessions of scumbags across all dimensions, had kidnapped him. Its purpose was to make him fulfill the dying wishes of those scumbags who were unwilling to die, and he had no power to resist.
Next, what he had to do was balance two boats, three boats, or even more.
This world was the first world he had traveled to.
As the saying goes, every inch of a harem is bought with an inch of blood.
In the world of "School Days," the ending for Makoto-kun being a scumbag was getting the cleaver. Now that Chu Hui had to emulate him, how much better could his result be?
Thinking of the bloody ending in the anime, Chu Hui felt a bit stifled.
What made him even more stifled was Task 2: Stay Alive. It seemed to be hinting at something, implying he definitely couldn't escape the cleaver?
No, I must survive.
Looking at the two newbie protection buttons floating before him, Chu Hui felt a bit more comforted. This meant that as long as he didn't receive a fatal injury, he had three chances to mess up without sinking the boat.
He called out to the cleaver in his mind a few times but received no response. Chu Hui shook his head and began to observe his surroundings.
This was a reasonably sized residential unit with a separate bedroom, kitchen, and bathroom, specifically provided by Sakakino Academy. It seemed the identity the cleaver arranged for him was quite good, being able to have the school provide such a house.
Walking into the main hall, Chu Hui checked the calendar. It was currently the second semester of Japanese high school, and tomorrow was the day he would report to school. Since he was arranged by the cleaver to be a scumbag, the timing of his arrival was just before the anime plot began.
If his memory served him right, Saionji Sekai already had a crush on Ito Makoto, and Katsura Kotonoha had also started to notice this seemingly harmless boy. The love triangle hadn't formed yet, and Katsura Kotonoha didn't even know the other two yet.
The turning point of the plot was a seat change in Class 3. Saionji Sekai accidentally saw that Ito Makoto's phone wallpaper was a picture of Katsura Kotonoha. There was a school legend circulating among students that if you kept a picture of your crush as your wallpaper for three weeks, your dream would come true.
Saionji Sekai then offered to help Ito Makoto.
This happened at the beginning of the story, probably very soon.
Chu Hui felt he had to do something, otherwise both task targets would become difficult to woo, and they would follow the plot's development toward an absolute tragedy.
Saionji Sekai's crush on Ito Makoto made her harder to win over. From the original work, the reason Katsura Kotonoha cared about Ito Makoto was actually that he often peeked at her on the train.
From this, it was clear she was a girl who lacked affection. Perhaps he could try to emulate that and get her familiar with his face first.
After weighing it for a moment, Chu Hui made a decision. As for the setting where rewards would double for increasing the number of targets, he gave up on it after a brief thought. Doubling the reward meant doubling the difficulty, and thinking of that made him a bit cowardly.
...
In the afternoon, Chu Hui took his camera and went out. Seeing the familiar buildings along the way, he felt a sense of unreality.
The scenes from the anime had become reality.
Shaking his head to suppress that slight sense of weirdness, he boarded the train and headed toward Katsura Kotonoha's house.
Katsura Kotonoha's family was a well-known wealthy one in the neighborhood, so Chu Hui easily found the address.
At dusk, he arrived at his destination and pretended to be a photography enthusiast taking pictures near the entrance.
In the original work, just because Ito Makoto often noticed Katsura Kotonoha, she began to care about him. It was clear she was a girl who lacked attention. Chu Hui had no clue how to woo her for now, so he planned to emulate that and get her familiar with his face first.
However, Katsura Kotonoha and Makoto-kun often exchanged glances on the train in the morning; he had to ruin that as soon as possible.
Chu Hui pondered silently.
After a while, he saw a slender figure slowly approaching from the corner of his eye. Chu Hui took photos even more vigorously, intending to catch Katsura Kotonoha's attention.
However, Katsura Kotonoha stared blankly at the boy taking photos in front of her house, her face turning slightly red. She looked like she didn't dare to approach, yet also seemed to have something she wanted to say.
Chu Hui had been watching Katsura Kotonoha from his peripheral vision and was very confused. Why was she blushing? Is it because I'm too handsome?
He thought narcissistically.
After waiting for a long time without Katsura Kotonoha striking up a conversation, Chu Hui suddenly realized that she had a slight phobia of men and wasn't an extrovert. She probably wouldn't take the initiative to talk to him.
So he turned around and raised his camera to take a photo of Katsura Kotonoha. But he was too nervous; the lens had just moved to her chest when he pressed the shutter.
With a click, a photo of her surging chest was produced.
Katsura Kotonoha was stunned at first, then her face quickly flushed. She quietly took a step back and looked at Chu Hui warily.
This is so damn awkward.
Chu Hui calmly took the photo and handed it to Katsura Kotonoha, saying with an apologetic face, "Sorry, I didn't see you there. Here, I'll give this photo to you."
Katsura Kotonoha hesitated for a moment but still took the photo.
Seemingly embarrassed about taking Chu Hui's photo for free, Katsura Kotonoha took the initiative to speak: "Are you taking pictures?"
Chu Hui nodded with a smile: "Yes, I'm a photography enthusiast. The scenery here is quite nice, so I couldn't help but take a few shots."
Katsura Kotonoha's house was very luxurious and the scenery was indeed good, so this excuse didn't arouse suspicion.
Pausing, Chu Hui looked at the school uniform Katsura Kotonoha was wearing and said, "You're a student at Sakakino Academy, right? I'm an exchange student from China named Chu Hui. I'll be going to your school tomorrow. Maybe we'll be classmates in the future."
"An exchange student from China?" Katsura Kotonoha glanced at Chu Hui in surprise, most of her wariness dissipating. She said softly, "Hello. Your Japanese is really good. Nice to meet you, I'm Katsura Kotonoha."
Language proficiency was a cheat the cleaver had given him.
The two talked pleasantly, and Chu Hui took the opportunity to suggest, "Katsura-san, I have a habit of taking pictures of beautiful things I see to keep them. May I take a few photos of you?"
"Beautiful or something..." Katsura Kotonoha blushed immediately, but felt a hint of secret joy in her heart. After hesitating, she nodded in agreement. Although it was their first meeting, for some reason, her impression of this student from a foreign country was quite good.
So, Chu Hui proceeded to take photos of Katsura Kotonoha. He didn't make any strange requests and stopped after just a few shots.
Looking at the developed photos, Chu Hui praised again, "Katsura-san, you are so beautiful, you must be the most beautiful girl at Sakakino Academy."
"No! Student Chu, don't say such things!" Katsura Kotonoha denied in a small voice, her pretty face tinged with an embarrassed blush.
Seeing the photos in Chu Hui's hand that captured her so vividly and beautifully, Katsura Kotonoha's tone sounded quite joyful: "Student Chu, your skill is amazing!"
"That's because my teacher's surname is Chen," Chu Hui replied casually. Seeing Katsura Kotonoha's confusion, he didn't dare to continue teasing her and quickly changed the subject.
Afterward, Chu Hui took his leave.
Originally, Chu Hui had planned to ask to enter the garden of Katsura Kotonoha's house to take photos, but on second thought, it seemed too abrupt, so he gave up.
His purpose for this trip was only to establish a presence in front of Katsura Kotonoha and leave an impression using his identity as a Chinese exchange student to prepare for subsequent actions. Being too hasty would instead arouse suspicion.
Watching Chu Hui's departing back, Katsura Kotonoha hesitated, unsure whether she should remind him that his zipper was down.
In the end, Katsura Kotonoha just muttered "strange foreigner" and returned home.
It wasn't until Chu Hui got back to his place that he realized his zipper was open. With an embarrassed look, he realized this was a bad habit developed from being a lazy shut-in staying home alone all day. He hoped Katsura Kotonoha hadn't noticed.
-------------------------------
Hope you enjoy this fanfiction if you do and would like to read the next 50 chapters in advance, pls do check out my Patreon:
patreon.com/MariaLight
Also don't forget to give me a Power Stone if you do like this fiction. Your support really motivates me to continue doing my best in translating, Thanks!!