I (30), Who Works for a Black Company and Died While Regretting My Gloomy Life, Started Over From High School! - Chapter 30

30 And so the score was settled and the winner was decided.

In the hallway where the final exam results had just been posted, a plethora of students were looking at their names on the top 100 list. Some of them were shouting with joy, while others walked away with their shoulders slumped.

“But ‘The Prince’ Mitsurugi hadn’t come into contact with you yet… I was expecting some kind of event where he would say something like, ‘No matter how hard you try, it’s useless…’ at least once.”

Ginji muttered to himself, as we tried to move forward in the crowd to no avail.

I was a little cautious of him, but the guy hadn’t shown himself since the day he pushed this annoying game onto me arbitrarily.

“Maybe… for Mitsurugi this game is just a simple ‘task’ of eliminating the annoying bugs buzzing around Shijoin-san, and he only sees me as a mob character, an enemy he can easily win against, so he couldn’t care enough to be sarcastic.”

“Seriously, I can’t comprehend the thought process of a guy who thinks winning… is common sense.”

“Me neither. Well, that Prince-sama really thinks he is a nobleman or royalty. …Oh, I can finally see the bottom of the bulletin board.”

As I made my way through the crowd of students who were pushing each other, I finally saw the bulletin board. There was a big chart displaying each subject and the overall score, which most of the students came to see.

“…I want to get hit by a truck and get reincarnated in another world right now.”

“Whoa, hey, Ginji, what’s wrong with you all of the sudden?”

“I had never dreamed of being in the top 100, the only thing I cared about was getting an average score, but… the average is way higher than what I’ve scored until now…”

“That’s… yeah…”

I was lost for words to say.

If I had more time, I would help him study next time…

“Hey, you there. Look at me.”

“…Mitsurugi!”

When I turned my gaze in the direction of the voice, I saw a tall, handsome man standing there with a haughty look on his face.

Mitsurugi Hayato. They called him “The Prince,” and he’s a real piece of sh*t.

“Your name is… Nihama, right? I presume you haven’t forgotten about our game. It’s refreshing to see that I can finally remove you from Haruka’s surroundings.”

You b*st*rd…!

You brought up this whole “game” thing and now you don’t even remember my name!

“As I said back then, I don’t remember agreeing to your competition. That was just you talking to yourself.”

“Are you incapable of learning? As I told you before, you have no right to refuse what I had already decided. The loser of this game will never approach Haruka again. Once I’ve made my decision, that’s the rule, no matter what your intentions are.”

As if he was talking about common sense, Mitsurugi spouted a bunch of nonsense and sounded like a grade schooler throwing a tantrum.

(In a way, this rotten handsome guy is amazing… I’ve dealt with a lot of crazy complainers, but I’ve never seen anyone this crazy.)

“I heard of him before, but… seriously, this guy…? His craziness has no limits…”

Ginji, who is standing next to me, whispers to me in amazement.

Yeah, your senses are normal, Ginji.

This guy is crazy no matter how you look at it.

“Hmm, I’m dealing with you, so, I wonder how much futile effort you put in? “

“…You seem to be quite confident in yourself. Have you studied a lot?”

“Why would I? You can’t have a competition between a falcon practicing how to fly against a turtle that crawls on the ground. If the test was like that, I could get first place easily even on the ground. I’m not busy enough to devote more time than I need to.”

Mitsurugi spat out as if he was saying, “Don’t ask me something stupid”

His attitude, as if thinking that he is the strongest protagonist in the world, is especially annoying to me, who has the experience of an adult.

“Let’s get this over quickly then. Hey, you guys, get out of the way from the bulletin board!”

“Huh? Who the hell are you… Mitsurugi!? Sorry, sorry! I’m sorry, I’ll get out of your way!”

“I’m sorry! Mitsurugi-kun! Look, what are guys doing? Mitsurugi-kun wants to see the grades!”

When Mitsurugi gave his bossy command, everyone started to move aside.

No one can ignore his words.

His handsome face, his athleticism, his academic ability, and his parents’ social status, all of these factors, of which people normally only have one of, give him the power of a prince.

(It’s more or less the same in the adult world, but when you’re a student, you tend to confuse the size of those parts with actual human value. Although it is not necessarily great to be good-looking, popular, or athletic…)

Then, like when Moses parted the Red Sea, Mitsurugi and I walked through the divided wall of people and stood side by side in the place where the results were posted.

“Well, then, let’s have our game, Nihama! Take a bite out of your own inferiority!”

Mitsurugi deliberately announced in a loud voice, and the crowd surrounding us began to get noisy.

“Game…?”

“What’s this all about?”

“Nihama and Mitsurugi are competing for test scores?”

The people around us were buzzing.

I see… he said something like, “I’m going to educate you,” and this is the way he’s attracting attention to us. By appealing to the people around him for a “win-win” scenario to amplify my sense of defeat.

“I’d normally start from the top, but let’s see how far you’ve come.If I find your name in the top 50, I’ll give you a pat on the back.”

Mitsurugi grinned and began to trace the names starting from the 100th position with his finger.

This was probably another spectacle to get people’s attention and a prelude intended to torment me as much as possible.

“Well, well, I can’t find your name at all, can I? Or did you manage to move up a bit?”

The final exam consisted of 10 subjects, and the rankings listed here are the overall scores.

In other words, the maximum score is 1,000 points, and the game that Mitsurugi proposed is to see which one of us is closer to that point.

Then, …Mitsurugi’s finger continued to move upwards.

The students around me were watching with interest as Mitsurugi ran his fingers over the names of the top students, and I felt the multitude of stares directed at me.

“Ninth place, …eighth place, …seventh place, …sixth place, hahahahahaha! What, you’re not in the rankings after all!”

Mitsurugi mocked me.

The higher his fingers move, the greater his laughter becomes.

“What’s the worth in competing after all…what…?”

Mitsurugi’s fingers suddenly stopped moving.

The name and rank written on it was–

Overall score: 2nd place, Hayato Mitsurugi, 959 points

Wow, an average score over 95 without studying… you’re really smart, aren’t you?

“Impossible… I ranked second…? Then who’s in first… place…?”

Mitsurugi looked up to see the name at the top of the grade chart.

The students around us also focused their gaze on that single point.

And the name that was written there was–

Overall score: 1st place, Shinichiro Nihama, 971 points

“Hey… you did it, Nihama! Look at that, you’re really in first place! Hahahahaha! Holy… you really did it, you b*st*rd!”

Ginji screamed with excitement, and all the students who recognized me as ‘Nihama, the top-ranked student’ looked at me in astonishment.

“That’s… ridiculous. …This can’t be happening…”

Mitsurugi looked stunned as he stared at the result of the inferior me surpassing him, the self-proclaimed superior.

Well, it must be a shock for Mitsurugi, who has identified me as a small fry, to have his identity shaken.

But, I really did win, didn’t I?

I won against the winning team, and I was able to surpass them.

(Woooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo)

I cheered inside my heart, while feigning calmness on the outside.

To be honest, I was quite pissed off with this prince of sh*t, so I was somewhat exhilarated.

“What the… hell is going on? Why am I… to such a small fry…?

Mitsurugi mutters, still unable to accept reality, but well, there are many factors.

First of all, I’ve been keenly aware of the necessity of academic prowess in order to avoid joining a black company like I did in my previous life, so I’ve been putting a lot of effort into my studies in the present life.

Studying had been a painful task during my previous life, but this time around, I learned the value and enjoyment of it and I already achieved 10th place in the midterm test.

(But the biggest factor is, of course, Shijoin-san.)

When Shijoin-san asked me to teach her how to prepare for the final exam in order to be freed from her light novel ban, I continued to strive for perfection with a sense of joy and mission.

I didn’t want to say, “I don’t know,” when Shijoin-san asked me a question, so I memorized almost all the relevant subjects, made a “True Perfection Notebook,” which covered not only the content of the class but also the questions asked by each teacher, and even wrote the answers.

The study sessions themselves were held only a few times weekly, but I spent my private time constantly preparing for them.

And this activity has been going on since right after the midterm tests up until now, with a break with the cultural festival in between. In any case, the more I did, the more I could meet Shijoin-san’s expectations, and at the same time, the more I could improve my own academic performance. There is no better story than this.

(The fact that I had taken the same test in my previous life was also a plus factor. Of course, I had forgotten the contents of the test I had taken fourteen years ago, but when I was actually taking the class, my memory gradually recalled parts of the test.)

And as a result of all these factors, I learned so much that I can say I have covered the entire scope of this exam. Probably no one else has prepared for this final exam as well as I did.

“As I’ve been saying all along, I didn’t accept any sort of game with you.”

I threw my words at Mitsurugi, who was dazed after losing his overwhelming sense of pride.

“However, if you really want to compete with my score, I dare you.”

And so I said it.

The winners’ words, which I had never used in my previous life as a loser.

“It’s my win, Mitsurugi.”

Surrounded by the buzzing crowd of students, I made a declaration.