The last time I was in Engineering, it killed me. Very literally.

 

I followed Yokoso-san around. She was saying some things, but somehow, the words just went in one ear and out the other. I couldn’t understand her at all. Pretty sure it was English, too.

 

Well, I recognized every other Ufufu, so it wasn’t like I was completely out of it…

 

I hated Engineering. The professors didn’t care. If they did, their higher ups didn’t. I felt like I was being worked to death just for a bit of credit.

Existential peanuts. That’s what it was.

And because of that, I didn’t care to check left and right when I crossed the road. I was on the last leg of my thesis that time, too. It was sort of a shame that all that effort just went poof with my life—but hey, not my problem anymore!

 

 

…For some reason, I was back here again. It wasn’t the same university, thank God, but I couldn’t help but wonder if it would be the same thing all over again.

 

 

We stopped by an open field in the middle of campus. My last university had a paved plaza, but this one felt much more open and free. Truly, grass is superior to stone.

Maybe things would be different this time?

I gotta make sure I wasn’t actually getting ahead of myself here. Not just about university, but with everything else going on, too.

 

I know I said I wanted to try setting up a cult, but it all happened without me even lifting a finger. I wanted to do it for fun, but it turned into some sort of add-on to our little resistance organization against Bean.

 

 

Everything’s going on without my say-so.

 

 

Then and now, I never really could make things go my way even once, huh?

 

 

If asked… I just wanted to have fun. Something small for myself, that no one could ever take away.

 

 

“Nii-san!”

 

 

Ah, I must be hearing voices. That must be my unborn sister crying from the future. My parents wanted a lot more than two kids, but due to circumstances, it’s just me and Sis.

 

“Nii! San!”

 

Was it just me or was the voice becoming clearer?

 

 

Yokoso-san stepped into a defensive stance.

 

 

Eh?

 

 

Yokoso-san turned around, her eyes round in fear.

 

“Nii-san!”

 

Ah, I know this voice.

An embrace caught me from behind.

 

“You’re enrolling here! You’re enrolling here, aren’t you!”

 

It’s my cousin. Her arms were squeezing my waist. I tried to turn to look, but she was stuck to my back, so we just ended up rotating as a unit.

 

“Ahhh ahaha, Hana, what a coincidence.”

Yokoso-san was stunned for a moment, and just as fast as she went into a war footing, she withdrew her stance and went back to neighborhood shopkeeper mode, complete with a friendly smile.

 

“So? Who’s this woman?”

 

Oof. Sharp words from Hana.

 

Please. Play nice. I beg you.

 

“H-Hana, she’s a friend.”

“A friend?”

“A friend.”

“A friend, huh… I see.”

 

I couldn’t really see her as she was behind me, but I could imagine that she was wearing a sharp expression on her face. Hopefully not.

She was always a little bit on the weird kid side, but I’d always thought that kids should be kids. Besides, it wasn’t like it was hurting anyone, after all.

She turned out to be a genius, to no one’s surprise. That’s how she was in her 2nd year of Political Science at 15 years old, and I was still stuck here being a lost high school graduate at 17. Go figure.

 

Still, this atmosphere…

 

I checked and Yokoso-san was wearing a smile, but the type that was calculating your every move.

 

The two of you, you’ve just met, the heck!

 

“Why hello~ Please call me Yokoso, nice to make your acquaintance~”

 

It was just for a split second, but there was a pause. Hana was probably hyperanalyzing Yokoso-san.

 

“Ohhh I see, I see! Please call me Hana, Yokoso-san!”

 

There was another split second of deafening silence. It was as if two predators encountered each other on the borders of their territories.

Invoking Time Out, I took a moment to think about this. The solution I came up with wasn’t the best, but anything will do!

 

“S-Say, Hana, why don’t you show us around campus for a bit? We’re new here, after all.”

Hana looked to me and smiled.

It was a genuine smile. Thank God.

“Certainly!”

 

 

 

Hana toured us around the campus.

 

 

As expected of one of the Big Four, the scale was just ridiculous. Most universities in the Philippines operated out of a single building or a small compound; government-run universities were typically bigger than the private ones.

The best indicator for size, though, was the sheer amount of history behind the university.

Before I was reincarnated, there were the Big Four: Ateneo, La Salle, UP, and UST.

Actually, I’m pretty sure they were called the Big Four because of the prominence of their basketball teams. No, I mean, yeah, they were pretty big and well-funded on the academic side of things, but having a basketball team was the better kind of advertising you could’ve hoped to have in this country.

So far, each of the Big Four have survived at least one world war and three regional wars. The names had changed, though.

 

“Katips-U”, “Salt-U”, “Revol-U”, and “Fort Tee”.

 

A lot can happen in two centuries, okay?

 

Both Ateneo and UP were located along Katipunan Avenue. Katipunan itself had taken on Akihabara vibes, but that’s it.

Ateneo started to be called Katips-U because UP actually got bombarded to bits during the Second Sino-Philippine War after its student population rose up in revolt. As a result, Ateneo was left as the only operating university along Katipunan for a while, so after a few decades of cultural shifts, it just ended up being known as Katips-U.

On the other hand, UP was remembered as “that university that went all Revolución”—no surprises there—so in commemoration of that, people just called it Revol-U. It was a pun for Revol-Ucion at first, but puns and jokes often turned into official vocabulary, so it ended up official and government-approved after a while. I hate it.

 

Meanwhile, La Salle turned into Salt-U as a pun.

“Sal” means “salt”.

I hate that one too. Blame their student government.

 

UST was turned into a fortress for the Philippine resistance at some point. At the time, they were calling it “Fort UST”, but then that got junked for being a mouthful, so then they tried “Fort Tomas”, but then it was too bland to be fond of.

They settled on “Fort T”, which later got spelled “Fort Tee”. It was nice, simple, and completely ignored the fact that they were using a heritage site as a military base. That last part was pretty important at the time.

Naturally, it was bombed to bits.

 

Out of all the Big Four, I think “Fort Tee” had the most normal naming sense. If only I wasn’t so traumatized about the place, it would’ve been nice to visit at some point…

 

 

“Oh, I need to pass by somewhere, is that okay? It’s on the way to our next destination, so don’t worry! And I won’t take long!”

Hana was as cheerful as ever.

Except when she made eye contact with Yokoso-san, but I’ll ignore that for now.

“We’re not in a hurry,” I said, smiling.

 

We walked a short distance, skirting around the edge of Minesweeper Field.

That was the field we originally met in. The name has a grizzly history. Incidentally, there’s a pond in the middle which used to be a massive landmine, apparently. Who did they hate so much that they’d make and set down a landmine that big, huh?

 

We eventually reached the front of what looked like an administration building. The signpost read “Student Government HQ”.

 

“President!” a student waved in Hana’s direction.

 

…No way.

 

Hana walked up to the student, who then stood stiff and saluted.

 

……No way……

 

“Report.”

“Ma’am! The opposition has been rounded up, and are now awaiting trial.”

“Very good. I will leave the proceedings to Kimberly as planned. I am in a good mood today, so I wish not to be disturbed for the remainder of the day.”

“Ma’am, yes, ma’am!”

The student rushed back into the building, shouting something like “The Overlord has given her command!” and I think I heard replies of “At Her will!”

 

Hana walked back to us.

 

“Shall we go?”

“Hana, as expected—no, actually, this is completely unexpected. What—”

“Shall we go?”

“No, wait, what was that—”

“Shall we go?”

 

What a troublesome cousin…

 

“S-Sure, let’s—where are we going next?”

“It’s almost lunch, so I though we’d go to the cafeteria! I’m quite proud of it, you know?”

 

She said she was proud of it as if she were the one who made it—

 

 

 

 

…I can see where this is going, but I’m denying it.