“You sure are a piece of trash, aren’t you?”

Hearing these harsh words Fuyuki looked to his left only to find another boy looking at him with an expression full of pity.

“Don’t worry, when I become the Shogun, I will make you my left-hand man.”

Looking at the one who spoke these pleasant words, Fuyuki just gave a single nod and turned his head away to look at the faraway tree in the school garden.

I didn’t see anything. I didn’t hear anything. Everything around me is air, nothing more, nothing else.

“Hey! Why are you ignoring me!?”

Ah! So loud! No… no, it’s just the wind blowing past me.

“Are you ignoring me, hah? Is that what it is!?”

The wind sure is loud today, I hope it dies soon.

“Did you just curse me in your mind!? I won’t die that easy, I will have you know!”

It’s the wind. Just the wind.

“When I become the Shogun, I will marry Azami, you know that beautiful girl, Azami Ruri? And then I will…”

“Ah shut up boy! How much do you speak?”

Perhaps getting annoyed by the boy’s talking Fuyuki finally snapped at him.

“You just called me a loser and then you say that you want to become the shogun-or-whatever-it-is, tell me how will you become something like that when you are standing outside the class with a loser!? Will you just blab your way to the top?”

With his eyes red and breath rugged Fuyuki almost shouted at the top of his lungs.

Taken aback, the boy tried to retort but looking at Fuyuki’s expression, he stopped.

“W-why would you say something so horrible?”

Noticing that he had indeed gone too far with his shout Fuyuki turned his head once again towards the boy and looked at him.

Blue eyes, dark grey hair with a cheerful face, wow, this guy would really look popular if manages to grow up decently. By the way, now that I think about it, I haven’t seen my own face yet.

Looking at his face, it really makes me wonder how I look. Well, I guess I will see my face later.

This boy… perhaps I should make friends with him, honestly, I don’t know a thing about this place, but I guess it would be better for me if I were to at least get a general idea and constitution of this place and society.

“Sorry for shouting, my name is Fuyuki, what’s yours?”

“I am Kenji! No family name by the way. And I am going to become the leader of this country, that is, to become the shogun!”

Why is he telling me his goal!?

Well anyway, I guess I should have him answer all my questions.

“Wow, that’s a great goal! But it’s a very difficult feat to achieve, I suppose, isn’t it?”, Fuyuki asked, his voice sounding so sweet that even the trickiest of devils might fail in front of him.

As soon as Kenji heard Fuyuki talk about becoming the shogun a smile involuntarily formed on his face.

“Y-yes that’s right, only super strong people can become the Shoguns, not only that you will have to be extremely knowledgeable if you wish to become the Shogun!”, with his face as red as tomato Kenji replied while averting his gaze away from Fuyuki as if he was going to eat him or something.

Not minding his attitude one bit, Fuyuki asked.

“Hmm… I see, so Kenji, since you want to become the Shogun then tell me the general political situation of this world, like how many countries are there, what kind of fighting styles are used in different nations, etc., you know, the basic stuff, like the name of rulers and their strengths, and… hey, hey!! Are you alright!? Hey!!!”

Fuyuki’s calm voice soon turned frightful as he literally saw smoke rise from Kenji’s head.

What happened? Was that poison!?

In a panic Fuyuki held Kenji’s hand and transmuted some of his inner energy into Kenji’s body, hoping for him to get better, but to his surprise even then the boy refused to move.

He was lying on the ground like a dead log.

“Or maybe should I say a dead dog, what do you think, narrator-san?”

Shut up, or I’ll get you killed off.

*Ahem!*

Now, where was I? Oh yeah, I waaaas here, yep!

Continue!

What do I do now!? What the hell happened to him!?

Fuyuki panicked as his face got drenched with cold sweat over the recent development, he couldn’t help but imagine what the future might hold for him were he to get connected with Kenji’s disease or whatever-it-could-be-called.

The last thing he wanted was to get into trouble just after he had reincarnated.

Should I bury him somewhere?

No, no, no, no, no! I shouldn’t think about something like that!

But if I do get caught with his corpse lying around me then I will surely be in a lot of trouble.

Aaaah!!!! What should I do!?

As he tried to run his mind to save himself from the situation his mind started coming up with various solutions, but in all of them, poor Kenji was the one who was at the receiving end. In some cases, he was fed to the animals and in some, he was drowned in the water.

In the end, after going through billions of possibilities Fuyuki decided on the best one.

“Guess, there’s no choice but to bury you alive, it was short but it was unpleasant, I hope you get reincarnated into something good in your next life, thanks, you piece of shit”, giving his condolences Fuyuki grabbed Kenji by his ankle but before he could even move a voice interrupted him in his tracks.

“Or perhaps you could have asked me to come, hm? What do you think about that Fuyuki, how does this suggestion sound?”

…

“Great”

“Extremely great”

“Superbly great”

“Greatly great”

Hmm…

“Seems like you also need some improvement in the speaking area too, hah? Well don’t worry, since I am here, I will make sure I take great ‘care’ of you, but before that, let’s continue what you were about to do”, saying so the man in green garbs unsheathed his sword and pointed it at the boy Kenji who was lying unconscious on the ground.

“You know Fuyuki, you really lack in the area of cleanliness and evidence-hiding. You should know that before disposing of the corpse you should thoroughly make sure whether it’s alive or not”, waving his sword above Kenji’s unconscious figure with a fierce glint in his eyes, the man in green looked nothing short of a butcher standing in front of meat.

“Can’t have the pesky bastard sneak attack you when you are digging the ground, eh?”, he said as he gave a light smirk.

“I-is that so?”, with his voice shaking with fear Fuyuki somehow managed to utter a few words.

Shit! He really is serious about this!

Fuyuki thought as he unconsciously stepped away from his ‘friend’s’ corpse… ahem! I mean unconscious figure.

Fine trails of sweat could be seen on Kenji’s face, it looked as if he was about to gain back his consciousness but before he could ever get up, the teacher in green swung down his sword and…

“Haa haa”

It just cut through empty air as the one lying on the ground somehow got up and dodged the incoming sword.

“Haa haa”

Panting heavily while sweating bullets as if he had just escaped the jaws of death, Kenji was looking as pale as a corpse.

“What the hell were you trying to do Hotarou sensei!!!? You were really serious this time! Just because Yui-sensei rejected you doesn’t mean that you should take out your anger on me! I will fire you after I become the sho-aaahhh!!!”

Seeing Kenji blabbing his mouth off even Fuyuki couldn’t help but hide his face in embarrassment.

And seeing him almost getting strangled to death, he couldn’t help but shake his head in pity as he looked at the guy who was so arrogantly claiming to become the strongest person in the entire nation.

“It wasn’t a rejection you little shit, she just said that she needed some time, that’s all, it wasn’t a rejection, yes it was just that she wasn’t ready, yes that’s it, that has to be it, I believe…I hope…?”

Oh no, this guy is already on the verge of going insane, I shouldn’t provoke him anymore. I hope this kid understands the situation and doesn’t mess up even more.

“Bah! These are all excuses! Yesterday I saw her in that restaurant with Kaminari-sensei, and she was smiling a lot as well! Hah! Looks like you lost your only hope, hah sensei?”

…

Shit.

Looking at the situation there was one thing that was extremely clear to Fuyuki from his multiple years of fighting and struggling.

The two of them were royally fucked.

***

“So, what should we do now, my lord?”, with a voice full of sarcasm a boy, probably 8-9 years of age was hung upside down on a solitary branch of a tree.

“…”

Just beside him, there was another person strung up on the tree with dark grey hair and blue eyes hiding his face behind his hands, perhaps with shame.

The two boys were none other than Fuyuki and Kenji and the one who had strung them up like this was none other than their teacher whom the latter unknowingly embarrassed in front of the entire class by calling out his matter of rejection in front of the entire class.

The hurt teacher, in order to forget about his heart’s struggles, beat them until their asses turned red and then strung them up upside down.

“Go ahead, Shogun-sama, where has all your courage gone now!?”, once again reminding Kenji of his shameful behavior Fuyuki tried to release his anger, but sigh… something like this was nowhere enough for him to do that.

“For someone who wants to become a Shogun, you sure are sloppy, aren’t you? You know, even though the most important criteria to become a shogun is to be the strongest, in reality, there are many other certain criteria that you must follow if you truly do wish to become a shogun”

“At the very least, you should have basic knowledge about the world, your allies, and your enemies. If not, then just being strong won’t let you by in life, and…”, Fuyuki kept on telling Kenji about what he at the very least needed in order to become someone successful.

“Ah! I know, I know, and I have been trying a lot too, trust me I will become the best!”

Whatever looks like anything I say would just go over his head, better be silent I guess.

“You know….”, trying to change the subject Fuyuki was about to start again but before he could a voice interrupted him

“Kyaaah!”,

Turning his head towards the source of the voice, his eyes fell on a girl, with shoulder-length sky-blue colored hair, and deep blue eyes she was being held by her hair by a girl who looked around 13-14 years old.

Bullying, hah?

Behind that girl there stood a boy probably 1 or 2 years older than her who was looking at the entire thing happen in front of him with a satisfied smile on his face.

I guess, even if the times have changed, there are scumbags everywhere.

It’s not any of my business though.

These guys look to be around 4-5 years older than this body, it would be really bad if I were to fight them with all my strength.

To be honest, I am also quite confused about this, but, do I really stand a chance against that guy? The system of strength has drastically changed from my time so I doubt I would be able to defeat him.

Sigh… life’s so bad when you are weak.

Having decided to not interfere, Fuyuki kept on silently looking at the scene unfolding before him with a somewhat interesting expression on his face.

“Azami…”, but then all of a sudden, a voice that almost sounded like a murmur sounded in Fuyuki’s ears.

Turning his head to the side Fuyuki looked at the boy who was now burning with rage as the madness in his eyes caused even someone like Fuyuki, a battle veteran to gulp a mouthful of saliva.

Whoa! Such rage.

But alas! He wouldn’t be able to do anything, hell, I doubt he would even be able to get out of the binding…huh?

What!?

Fuyuki was just about to tell Kenji to back off but before he could ever do that, he saw something unbelievable.

Out of nowhere, a black aura covered Kenji and the rope with which he was tied got obliterated into pieces.

*Thump*

Falling to the ground with a thump, Kenji acted as if nothing happened and dashed towards the girl who was bullying Azami, the girl on whom Kenji happened to have a crush on.

“Raaaahhhh!!!”,

With a loud yell, Kenji dashed towards the bully girl, his eyes looking as red as a beast’s, and jumped on his target.

Fool.

But no matter how hard an ant tries to strike a lion, in the end, it would never amount to anything more than a tinge.

The same thing happened with Kenji as he found himself flying back, as before he could even touch a strand of the girl’s hair she suddenly appeared before him and kicked him hard on his abdomen, thereby sending him flying away without even he could pick up any struggle.

“Guhhh!!!”,

Falling onto the ground, Kenji groaned while holding his stomach tightly, his face contorted in pain as he puked a bit of blood.

“Don’t come near me, filth.”

The one who spoke these words was none other than the girl who had kicked Kenji.

Looking down at him, the girl’s face turned into a frown when she noticed that instead of fear, Kenji’s eyes were reflecting with anger.

“Looks like you wouldn’t learn this way, hah?”, she said in a voice as frigid as snow and raised her leg to hit Kenji once more.

“Don’t blame me, blame yourself for being weak”, her cold voice that seemed unfitting for her age, sent shivers down Kenji’s spine. But even so, he didn’t waver once, he just silently kept on looking at her, with his eyes as stable as an ocean.

But just before her leg could reach Kenji,

“Gah!”,

A stone came flying by and hit her on her leg.

Falling to the ground, she glared in the direction from where the stone came in.

“Coward! You dare sneak on me”

Her voice filled with fury reverberated through the entire grounds.

“Guh…”

Getting back on her feet she looked at her left leg which looked a bit swollen.

Shit! A sprain!?, she thought

Even after I had managed to pull back my leg at the last second!?

But how!? This isn’t possible!

This isn’t possible at all! It was probably just a…

“A fluke? Is that what you wish to say?”,

Breaking the girl off from her thoughts was a playful voice full of mockery.

“You…”, glaring at the incoming figure the girl released her full inner energy, thereby covering the entire place in her inner energy.

“You know what, bullying people is lame, it’s pathetic really”, the playful voice sounded once again, this time appearing even more sarcastic and mocking.

“So how ‘bout it? Should I teach you the profound art of bullying?"