Ti flew by, and with the four morning classes over, the students welcod the school’s dismissal bell.
Aozawa stretched lazily.
The long, golden hair in front of him shifted, revealing the girl’s delicate, porcelain doll-like face as she asked, "Aozawa, do you have any plans for the afternoon?"
"I’m going to take a stroll around," Aozawa replied offhandedly.
For the past few days, he had been playing in the sky and the sea. Today, he wanted to walk the streets, drink bubble tea, eat barbecue, and incidentally deal with so individuals detrintal to a harmonious society.
"Maggie, are you trying to ask out?"
"Wishful thinking. I’m going to continue studying this afternoon and don’t have ti to wander around."
Phoenix Academy Maggie shrugged, the slight movent sending ripples across her white blouse.
As the heir to the Phoenix Academy family, Phoenix Academy Maggie had to constantly improve herself, without the leisure of aimlessly wandering outside.
A "happy education" is for ordinary people.
For soone like her, destined to take over the Phoenix Academy family, the entire vacation would be overshadowed by a heavy load of elite education.
"You should occasionally tell your mother you want to go out and have so fun during your break."
"Such a request would be seen as a sign of weak willpower in my mother’s eyes."
Phoenix Academy Maggie answered casually, then retorted, "Besides, I don’t think learning is a painful thing. It’s a joy to continuously expand my knowledge and understanding through books. Don’t you find it enjoyable?"
"No, you’re overthinking it. Even when I try to study hard, all I get is pain."
"Aozawa, when you face a difficult advanced math problem, the process of solving it is arduous and torturous. But at the mont you find the right solution, doesn’t all that hardship beco aningful? Don’t you think so?"
"I only think your words are more terrifying than a nightmare."
"...If you don’t like learning, how do you persist?"
Phoenix Academy Maggie was surprised.
She had always thought that Aozawa was like her, a person who derived pleasure from learning and therefore studied hard.
"Because I want to get into Tokyo University."
Aozawa shrugged, packed his textbooks into his bag, stood up to leave, and casually patted Hojo Tetsuji on the shoulder. "Hey, Tetsuji, school’s out. Stop sleeping."
"Hmm," Hojo Tetsuji woke up. For him, any class other than physical education had a powerful hypnotic effect.
Phoenix Academy Maggie frowned slightly and asked, "Tetsuji, how late do you stay up playing every night before bed?"
Hojo Tetsuji answered truthfully, "I’m always in bed by nine."
"Are you a reincarnated pig? Going to bed so early, yet you still sleep so soundly in class."
"Miss, if I don’t sleep through class, I’ll definitely die of boredom."
Hojo Tetsuji showed a rare trace of fear. He was dismissive when facing dozens of delinquents, but in front of a textbook, he was utterly subservient.
Phoenix Academy Maggie sighed inwardly. Ah, neither of my friends understands the joy of studying.
The three of them chatted as they left the classroom, then parted ways at the school gate, each heading ho.
...
After lunch, Aozawa arrived at Shinjuku Station.
No matter when he ca here, he always saw a large crowd of people.
So were heading out, others were going in.
Shinjuku Station alone has over two hundred exits. These exits, of all sizes, are hidden throughout Shinjuku like a maze, and the slightest inattention could cause soone to get lost within it.
Aozawa’s favorite thing to do was to randomly pick an exit.
He followed the flow of people, letting it carry him wherever it might.
He didn’t have any specific plans. He was just wandering around Shinjuku. In such a pri, expensive area, there were plenty of delicacies, as well as a darkness unnoticed by ordinary people.
Aozawa changed into casual clothes, hands in his pockets, and activated his X-ray vision, casually scanning the pedestrians around him.
Black, red, light black, white tiger...
The X-ray Ability could strip away a person’s glamorous exterior, revealing their truest inner self.
If you asked Aozawa how he felt, it was as if he were in the world of an adult manga.
Aozawa remained unfazed as he followed a few people out of an exit. To his left was a fruit shop, and to his right, a bookstore. An older woman was squatting nearby, seemingly waiting.
"Young man, don’t rush off," the curly-haired older woman said, handing him a flyer. "High housing prices, low salaries, bullying from your boss, mories of being tornted during your student days. Do you feel anxious about your past and present life?"
This string of chant-like lines made Aozawa pause. He glanced down at the flyer stuffed into his hand.
World True Love and Peace Church.
The lines the older woman recited were the slogans printed on the church’s flyers.
"Please don’t be troubled by the anxieties of reality. In the presence of God, all of you will be saved. We at the World True Love and Peace Church welco any believer who wishes to be saved."
Hearing this, Aozawa’s face showed a hint of contemplation.
Seeing his expression, the older woman instantly knew that this young man was the type of believer the World True Love and Peace Church desired.
In truth, the older woman’s connection to the church wasn’t deep. She was simply hired to distribute flyers and didn’t need to morize any difficult lines, just repeat a few chanical phrases.
To most people, only a fool would believe those lines.
Yet those who considered the lines foolish were precisely the kind of people the World True Love and Peace Church aid to filter out from their potential believers.
They only needed believers attracted by the fixed lines, not those with brains or the ability to think independently.
The older woman would stand at different exits of Shinjuku Station every Saturday, handing out flyers.
Most people would glance at such flyers and imdiately hand them back; she faced countless rejections every day.
Only those truly tornted by life to the point of desperation, perhaps even contemplating death, would cling to the flyer like a drowning person grasping at the last straw. They would then beco devout believers of the World True Love and Peace Church.
"Young man, I used to be as anxious as you. At my age, no company wants to hire for anything. Ever since I joined the World True Love and Peace Church, I’ve found a group of like-minded companions. Everyone in the church is very kind and good-hearted. You’re lucky to co today; our church is holding a grand ceremony. Would you like to take a look?"
The older woman said expectantly, "The address is on it. At the entrance, rember to ntion my na, Matsukawa Kaseko."
If she managed to recruit a believer into the church, Matsukawa Kaseko would receive an additional reward of 50,000 Yen.
This was her motivation for zealous recruitnt.
"No, I’m not interested."
Aozawa handed the flyer back. He morized the address on it but didn’t plan to visit the church looking like himself.
Instead, he planned to attend the ceremony with a different identity, in another guise.
Depending on the situation at the ceremony, he would decide whether he needed to adopt his outlaw persona.
A hint of regret appeared on Matsukawa Kaseko’s face. Unaware that she was about to lose her ’job,’ she inwardly lanted, I missed out on the 50,000 Yen reward.
She continued to stand at the entrance, distributing flyers to passersby.
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