Eternal Saṃsāra: The Wanderer of Worlds

Chapter 33: Back to School Again

Note: Damn didn't think we wouldn't reach the 200 under 60 minutes goal :( I didn't even put a 24h with it since I was sure we would reach it. Oh well.

New Goal: If we reach 800 stones by 24 hours, I'll post 2 chapters at once. We are at 305/800 rn.

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We appeared at our school gate, and I realized my fame had only increased even though I didn't do much in the last episode of LoveMy. It's surprising how popular Dio is even in 2033.

I was half expecting to find Rias Gremory waiting on the bench as usual, but she wasn't there. It was a good thing, I just wanted to go to the class. When in my class, I found the seat beside me empty. Shoko wasn't back yet, I wondered when she would be.

Homeroom happened, and Shizuka Sensei stared at me for a few seconds before shaking her head.

"Aquamarine-kun, come meet me after class."

Dammit, I knew this would happen. Arts Program students can get leaves as much as they want, but the ones in General Studies have to let the school know beforehand. Shizuka knows I am acting these days, but she still expected me to at least let her know.

'Kill her. Why are you letting a female interrogate you?' Suddenly, a part of me wondered why must I, a Deific Entity, be bound by rules made for children.

I beat that part of myself to sleep; it was tame and almost silent these days, but since I experienced Dual Cultivation after so long, it peeked out looking for trouble. Sadly, I didn't have any reason to let the Crazy Demon talk shit in my head. I was crazy once, but now I am doing fine. I think. No reason to change that.

"Yes, sensei," I replied, and she motioned me to sit down.

….

In Japanese classes, after every period, there is a ten-minute gap before the next period begins. I walked out of the classroom during that time and went to the teacher's office. The door was open, and I stepped in after spotting Shizuka Sensei sitting in a corner in her long white coat as she read some papers kept on her table.

"Sensei,"

"Oh, you're here," she looked up from the papers, smiling. "Sit down."

I sat down as asked as she put her chin on her hand and smiled. "You skipped three days, one before Sunday and two after. That isn't good, you know? I understand one of them was for your shooting, but you should have let me know about them. Mhm, or did you skip all three days because of the shooting?"

"Uh, no. I had some personal things to take care of." I replied while maintaining gazes with her. "My bad, I should have let you know."

"Hmm," Shizuka hummed. "It's alright. Sometimes life catches up to us, just don't take sudden leave without letting me know next time. Ah, you have my number right?"

I nodded. She had a number that all the students knew, it was her work number. For a moment I wondered if I should pursue her for her personal number, but then I stopped myself.

"On a more light-hearted note," she said. "I have been watching your show lately. We teachers here have to watch at least three shows per month where our students are acting, it's a rule. Kind of weird, you might say, but hey who am I to complain? The pay is good, so we do as asked. Since that is the case, I decided to check out my troublesome student's show."

"Damn, sensei. You call me troublesome just because I skipped a few days?"

"Look at you saying 'Damn' so casually in front of your teacher, proves my point." One side of her lip rose, and she tilted her head at me. "But no, that's not the reason. You are troublesome as you are. You decided to join General Studies only to star in shows a few days after."

"I-"

"Nope, don't even say you had no plan to do acting. With looks like yours, that will sound insulting to the male students of the Arts Studies." Shizuka said as I shrugged.

"I'll keep that in mind."

"Mhm," she smiled. "But really, you act a lot different in school than you do in front of the camera. I wondered in the past how much of a Reality Show is 'real' and here you are answering it. I rarely saw you talk to anybody other than Shoko, your sister, and your cousin. Surprisingly, you are a good boy."

Madam, you have only seen me for what, four days? Obviously, I am not going to go after the girls in my classroom, they are literal children.

"Haha, I try." I replied.

"And you do well. Seeing your acting almost took me back to my school days. Ah, the teenage romance life truly is lovely. You should try to enjoy it a little in real life too, Aquamarine-kun."

…I nearly flirted with her just now. I had to take a full look at her appearance, her tight boom and round hips. She was mature, beautiful, and hot. For a moment, my mind wandered toward a possible sweet but forbidden Teacher-Student relationship.

A moment later, I stopped those thoughts again.

If this was my early lives, I'd have pursued her without any hesitation. I remember what a captivating character she was in the Oregairu anime; the only reason she didn't end up with the main character was that she was "too old" apparently. Old age isn't a problem for me and my lovers, so I could pursue her without age being a problem. 

However, this is not one of my early lives. I am not captivated by just any character I saw on screens back in the day, they need to have more depth to themselves than this. Er, there are exceptions though, but that's for later. 

To begin with, just because I admitted to walking the Harem Route, doesn't mean I should run after any girl I find fanciful. I need to have control, too many women at too young an age wouldn't end well. 

Once and for all, I decided not to say anything inappropriate, to not pursue her. Maybe some other time, in the future. For now, I am busy with stuff as it is.

"I'll take your advice to heart.

"Alright then, Aqua-kun- Ah, is it okay for me to use your short name?" 

After that, Shizuka Sensei and I talked for a few more minutes before she allowed me off. I took my leave and my classes continued as usual until lunch break came.

* * *

[Third Person Point of View]

When lunch break came, Tsubasa decided to go meet Aqua on the 1st year floor. But before she could do that, Aqua himself was suddenly in front of her classroom.

This was the first time he had come here, and when Tsubasa noticed him, she felt a little touched. 

"Sup, Tsubasa."

Standing in front of the door, he called inside as all gazes fell on him. Tsubasa went to greet but then deadpanned when she saw that he had called someone else.

Of the many gazes that looked at him, he had called towards one particular brown-haired girl who wore glasses. That was Aika Kiryuu, a girl who might have looked like Tsubasa from the back. Still, she felt a bit offended that he mistook her like this, but luckily he quickly shook his head when he met eyes with Aika and looked around the classroom again to find Taubsa.

"Hi, Aqua." She called out and waved her hand. 

If he hadn't garnered attention before, he did now, because nobody came to look for her. Ever. More so such a handsome guy. People turned to look back and forth between him and her, and she felt herself smiling brightly. She didn't like attention, but it felt good seeing their stunned expressions. 

Tsubasa quickly put the books on her seat inside her bag and then rushed out to the door, everyone's gaze trailing behind her. She almost hugged Aqua before she paused, composing herself at the last moment.

'Nope, he's not my boyfriend, I shouldn't be touchy… in public, at least. Hehe.' She cleared her throat and looked up at him.

"You didn't have to come look for me, you know? I was going to go to you anyway."

"It's alright."

It was more than alright, she felt lovely seeing him come to take her, but she didn't need to tell him that here. 

Tsubasa was about to say something more when she realized he was looking inside. She turned to look back and noticed four particularly strong gazes amidst the crowd. 

One of them was Aika, who wore an oddly amused expression as she stared at Tsubasa and Aqua, while the other gazes belonged to three boys. The infamous Perverted Trio of Kuoh High looked at Aqua with jealousy while at the same time checking her out.

"Er," Tsubasa looked at Aqua, putting a hand on her chest. "Don't mind them, they are just perverts. Let's go, it's going to get late otherwise."

"Mhm," Aqua was still looking inside as he hummed. He finally turned around, with his hand holding hers. "We need to pick up Ruby too, let's go."

"Oh…" Without intending to, she made a disappointed sound hearing Ruby's name. She was subconsciously hoping for some alone time with him, but of course that's too selfish of her.

Tsubasa had to remind herself that no, she was not his girlfriend. She has chosen this path herself — because at that moment in the hotel bed, she knew he would move on if she pushed him away. She didn't lie when she said they wouldn't be a good couple, he was so secretive, but at the same time, her desire to be with him was all-time high after spending such a heated night with him. 

She didn't want to lose him, so she pushed herself into an admittedly foolish route with him.

Right before she had proposed that offer to him, her mother scolded her for that in her head; but to her surprise, the reason behind the scolding wasn't that she chose such a path – in fact, she said that harem was pretty common for supernatural beings – she only scolded her because she lost to a male in a sex battle.

She didn't heed to her mother's words aside from the part where she talked about harem. A harem… was where a man had multiple lovers. Aqua did suggest he was aiming for such a lifestyle back when he kissed Mem-Cho right after he kissed Tsubasa herself — in which case, Tsubasa doubted she'd ever have been his only choice of woman. So rather than being hurt later knowing he would most likely be cheating on her back, she made that bold claim.

'Even if I'm not his only one, at the very least,' she reminded herself. 'I am his first.'

She didn't mean it in that she was the first girl he slept with, from the way he pleased her that day, that was probably impossible. She meant that even if he were to make a harem — she was the first member of it. There was not much to it other than an internal sense of achievement, though her mother mistook that thought for a much more controlling idea.

<> Her mother yelled in her mind.

Tsubasa personally wasn't that headstrong. She loved him and would be happy as long as he loved her back. Someone else would fit the role of a Harem's Queen more.

As the lunch break passed, Tsubasa spent time with her lover as she basked in the feeling of this unusual teenage love life.

* * *

[First Person Point of View]

After lunch break ended and Tsubasa and Ruby returned to their classes, I did the same and got busy thinking.

Issei Hyuudo. I saw him before, back when he was on his fake date. He was a devil now, but I don't see much difference in him except for the Sacred Gear. Honestly, that level of exceptional artifact is far too good for him.

The [Boosted Gear] is unbelievably strong. The power to double my power every ten seconds sounds ridiculous, but it's true in this world.

If this kind of artifact were in any cultivation world I had been to, whether higher or lower realm, it would have caused mayhem across the entire world.

"What a waste that I can't take it…" In the classroom, I planted my face on my seat as I sighed.

There were multiple reasons behind this. One is — I can't use any Soul Scavenger spell or technique that I can use. That kind of Sorcery Spell would kill me if I tried to use it before I turned 18, but I have more than enough martial skills that could do the same. Sadly, I can't use them at the level where they can steal Sacred Gears while in [Gold]; certainly not one that has intelligence. I need to reach [Underlord] for that. 

That brings us to the second reason. The Boosted Gear has a sentient mind inside it. The Red Dragon Emperor will be able to read my thoughts and even memories. Putting aside how annoying it is for there to be a spirit in my head always eavesdropping on my thoughts, I don't want to show them to others. My memories are precious to me.

Normally destroying a spirit attached to an Artifact isn't that hard, but in this particular case, the artifact itself is Ddraig, it's going to harm the Sacred Gear badly if I kill his sentience. The abilities will get weaker.

Lastly, dragon artifacts won't go well with me. Unless I were to reach the 10th or at least 9th of my current power system, my White Tiger Soul will reject the item. After all, the White Tiger and Dragons are both natural enemies.

Ah, that reminds me of some pleasant and unpleasant memories. After our lifelong rivalry ended, I got pretty close to the Azure Dragon in my 6th life. Man, she was such a tsundere. 

…Fuck, I am getting distracted. 

Anyway, the point was, it's not possible for me to have the Boosted Gear. At least not until a long time into the future. 

"Actually, though…" I muttered under my breath as I raised my head. I put my chin on my hand as I looked at the whiteboard in boredom. "I can always give it to someone else. Someone whom I trust enough to have the power of infinite buff." Maybe.

There is no point in thinking about it. Issei is the current holder of the Gear, and from what I recall, taking it away might as well kill him. Since I have no real reason to kill him, I'll just wait and leap into Underlord for now. Afterward, we shall see.

This world is unpredictable, Issei wasn't even in Rias' peerage. Who knows what he will go through in the near future? Let me just wait and see.

….

The next day, Shoko was finally back to school.

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