Chapter 1: I Am a Pervert

A life of mediocrity, working everyday, facing people I don't want to face.

The only thing I look forward to is the unchanging tomorrow, because change is usually not a good thing.

Although already smoothed out, the rough sandpaper continues to grind, creating new wounds.

In the past, I could numb myself with anime and games, but gradually, spiritual sustenance could no longer satisfy the ever-growing void.

“Sigh…”

Amidst this tired sigh, a dazzling, heavy light approached, and the piercing, panicked sound of a horn grew louder, until… Bang!

Ishikawa Hayato opened his eyes.

At that moment, his eyes burst with light. He threw off his covers and jumped out of bed.

With his hands on his hips, he yelled upwards.

“Today, I am also sufficiently a pervert!”

“Brother! You’re so loud!”

From the next room, his sister complained loudly.

But as a pervert, how could he only accept complaints and not respond?

Ishikawa Hayato swiftly opened his door and, without a word, rushed into his third-year junior high sister’s room. He pointed dramatically at his sister, who had just gotten out of bed and was still in her pajamas.

“Oh, my foolish sister, do you dare to defy me, your Brother?”

Ishikawa Hayato’s movements were graceful, and his handsome face was filled with righteousness.

It was just that he was still wearing light blue pajamas.

His sister, Ishikawa Hibiki, instantly blushed, not from shyness, but from anger.

With a brother like him, she would never have to worry about low blood pressure in this life.

“You! Get! Out!”

She yelled, grabbing the nearest hard object without a word. She stood up, took a small step back, displayed her skills as the Ballet Club President, performed a high kick, and after gathering momentum and landing, swiftly threw the alarm clock.

An alarm clock thrown at a speed of 100km/h!

*Clock throwwwww~!*

*Bang*

Ishikawa Hayato steadily caught the alarm clock thrown at his face, placed it on the floor, lips curved upwards, and walked out triumphantly.

He even closed the door behind him.

Walking back to his room, Hayato changed into his school uniform. The dark brown, suit-style uniform did not fully highlight his handsomeness.

But he still tilted his head back in satisfaction and picked up his small bag.

“The second evolution of a pervert, high school student, begins!”

…Ishikawa Hayato walked down from the second floor.

Having experienced a terrible life, he decided to live a different trajectory in this life.

If he continued to be timid as in the past, not resisting the various things that suffocated him,

Then no matter how many lives he lived, he would only remain an insect.

A tiny, dispensable, yet desperately toiling insect.

“Good morning! Dad and Mom, this is a greeting from your pervert high school student.”

Ishikawa Hayato walked down the stairs and raised his hand to greet his parents, who were sitting at the dining table, one reading a newspaper, the other drinking coffee.

“Good morning, Hayato.”

His mother completely ignored his strange statement, responding softly.

“Mm.”

His father nodded.

These two, after years of his pervert remarks, had grown accustomed to this small, abnormal greeting.

Ishikawa Hayato sat at the dining table and began to eat breakfast. Not long after, Ishikawa Hibiki also came downstairs.

When she saw her older Brother sitting at the dining table, her eyebrow twitched. She walked over hesitantly and sat next to him.

But she quietly moved her chair a little further away from that pervert.

Ishikawa Hayato, who was eating toast with sweet ketchup, noticed the movement of the chair. He turned to look at his sister, who was wearing a long-sleeved autumn/winter school uniform and black tights.

He extended his hand and smiled, giving a thumbs up.

Instantly, Ishikawa Hibiki shivered, looking at her parents with alarm.

Her parents, however, ignored it completely.

For her own safety, Ishikawa Hibiki decided to deflect the trouble.

“When is my pervert Brother going to get a girlfriend?”

Her father, a doting dad, didn't even lift his head from the newspaper and casually chimed in.

“It’ll be harder to meet a girl you like after high school.”

“Mom agrees too, you know, Hayato can’t keep being so perverted, girls will be scared away.”

Facing the Three people's assault, Hayato took a sip of coffee and swallowed the last bit of bread.

He stood up.

“In two months, I’ll show you the power of a Harem King!”

With that, he walked confidently towards his parents.

“A farewell kiss from a high school student!”

With their helpless yet relieved expressions, he kissed each of them on the cheek.

Finally, he walked towards his sister, and despite her alarmed gaze and desperate resistance, he also kissed her on the cheek. Then he picked up his school bag and went to the entrance.

“Good afternoon! This is an early greeting from a pervert! Bye bye.”

“Have a safe trip~”

His mother said goodbye with a smile.

Stepping out of his house, Ishikawa Hayato raised his hand generously to greet the elderly neighbor who was watering flowers next door.

“Good morning, Grandpa, please give me your granddaughter's LINE!”

“She’s only 7, how would she have one! Get lost, you brat!”

Hearing the neighbor Grandpa’s laughing scolding, Ishikawa Hayato smiled and quickened his pace a bit.

Along the way, he greeted everyone he knew. Facing his usual pervert greetings, some people completely ignored the perverted part and responded with a smile, some complained, and some even responded to him in a similar tone.

He smiled all the way.

Until he saw a girl standing in front of a shop window, and the smile on his face turned to surprise.

“So that’s how it is…”

…Although he had knowledge from his previous life about various artistic works, Ishikawa Hayato didn't really want to use them.

He wanted to live a different life here, relying on himself.

Perhaps he would encounter bad things, perhaps he would still fail, perhaps he would still hit rock bottom.

But he felt that if he took other people’s works as building blocks for his road to success, wouldn't he become the kind of person he hated most in the past?

Obtaining money by unscrupulous means, usurping the efforts of others to build his own status.

Perhaps his thinking was a bit radical, but he had his own pride.

He didn't want to be corrupted.

He had already lost everything, but if he lost even the last bottom line in his heart,

Then what would he have left?

Therefore, for the past decade or so, he had lived an ordinary life. Although he was a bit of a genius and occasionally wrote novels with novel plots to earn some pocket money, he had always been very ordinary.

But this did not align with his ideas.

How exactly was he going to live differently?

He had been thinking about it.

And today, when he saw the girl in a pink tracksuit, carrying a Guitar, with various band ornaments on her hand, and several band badges on her bag, it suddenly sparked an idea.

He knew, no, he might know this girl.

If he wasn't mistaken, her name was Gotou Hitori, a severely socially anxious person, a character he knew from anime and games in his past.

Now, she stood before him.

Alive, three-dimensional.

Her face showed some anticipation as she looked in the mirror, with some inexplicable smile. After her gaze shifted, her face suddenly tensed, and she walked forward with stiff movements.

Ah, she was discovered.

Ishikawa Hayato felt no guilt at all for staring at the girl for a long time and scaring her.

Instead, he unhurriedly followed behind her.

“As a pervert, following someone should be quite normal, right?”

Ishikawa Hayato thought about it. It was very reasonable, so he didn't care at all and followed the increasingly nervous Gotou Hitori.

...

'Wh-what should I do, I'm being followed!'

Gotou Hitori nervously quickened her pace, but…

'He also quickened his pace!!'

Hitori felt a life-or-death crisis and desperately thought.

'That person was wearing the same school uniform as her, so he should just be going to school normally, right?… No! Then why did he speed up when she sped up?'

'C-could it be that he saw the band merchandise on her and came to strike up a conversation?'

Hitori stopped, turning her head back stiffly and vigilantly, but her head was like a jammed gear, unable to turn at all.

'This won't do!!'