Although Takeharaminami Private Academy is not one of the four major academies in New Tokyo, which are known as the “Academy City,” it is still considered a top-tier private esper academy just below the four major academies. Reportedly, the school board’s plan in recent years has been to have Takeharaminami High School achieve outstanding results in the [New Tokyo Academy Esper Battle] held at Koshien in the summer, in order to smoothly join the ranks of the four major academies.

Hmm... If that doesn’t work, being the “fifth major academy” is fine too.

To this end, Takeharaminami Private Academy recruits students not only from Tokyo but nationwide, even lowering the academic score requirements.

The original Edward Harris, who lived in a small fishing village in Hokkaido, was invited to the bustling Tokyo Takeharaminami Private Academy after awakening his ability under these circumstances. In his first year, he enjoyed tuition waivers, off-campus housing subsidies, and meal plans for underprivileged students.

Unfortunately, after failing the academic proficiency test and repeating his first year, he lost these benefits.

He failed the academic assessment again in his second year...

By the time Edward Harris’s soul transmigrated into this world, he was already considered a “three-time veteran” at the school...

Damn it!

What a mess this is.

Calm down, calm down. I still have the Sin Handbook—if I work hard, there’s hope.

Edward Harris forcibly calmed himself down. After entering the school building, he didn’t change into indoor shoes but went straight to the classroom, found a seat by the window in the second-to-last row, put down his bag, and then went to the locker room of the sports department to change into his gym clothes.

Since there was still some time before the 8 a.m. morning meeting, he jogged alone to the sports field in his gym clothes.

Even though last night’s push-ups left his whole body sore today, persistence is key when it comes to exercise—only by constantly pushing your limits can you improve.

Human laziness is a scary thing. Edward Harris believes that if he makes excuses to slack off—putting things off until tomorrow, then the day after... Even with a cheat like the [Sin Handbook] that touches on “human limiters,” he probably wouldn’t improve much after a year.

The best time to plan for the day is in the morning.

So let’s start today!

......

When he arrived at the sports field behind the school building, Edward Harris found that he wasn’t alone. Quite a few students who understood the “early bird gets the worm” principle were already there—many people were using special equipment or martial arts to hone their abilities in the corners of the field, hoping to one day break through their current ability rank.

Standing on the rubber track, Edward Harris did a quick warm-up, then started running laps, gradually picking up speed.

In his mind, since last night’s push-ups could improve his [Constitution] stat, there’s no reason why jogging, as the most basic aerobic exercise, would be any less effective.

While running, Edward Harris also noticed a round-faced girl in a kendo uniform practicing suburi with a bamboo sword in an empty corner at the northwest of the field. She was so short—probably not even 1.5 meters tall—that she didn’t really look like a high schooler; people might even believe she was an elementary school student. In fact, Edward Harris recognized her as his classmate Lillian Cooper from Class 1-F.

If Edward Harris remembered correctly, her ability was Sequence No. 91: [Kama-itachi].

In the language of Wa no Kuni, kama-itachi is sometimes written as “Qiongqi,” a legendary yokai that appears as a whirlwind, attacking people it encounters with claws as sharp as sickles. The victim’s skin would be slashed with long wounds, but they wouldn’t feel any pain.

In this world’s ability sequence, [Kama-itachi] is an elemental ability, mainly involving the control and use of wind. In battle, users typically wield swords or shuriken as weapons, or directly unleash powerful elemental techniques.

However, after a [Kama-itachi] ability user in Kyoto Prefecture became a renowned swordmaster over a decade ago, most young [Kama-itachi] users now favor using swords in combat.

But as for Lillian Cooper...

Becoming a swordmaster might be a bit difficult for her.

Edward Harris wasn’t sure if her timid appearance in class was due to insecurity about her childlike stature, but she was always quiet and reserved, though gentle and kind to everyone.

Unfortunately, in this world, many people don’t return kindness with kindness. Plus, the quality of students in the repeating class is mixed; some even semi-publicly gave her the nickname “elementary schooler” to mock her height, and she never seemed to fight back.

During the academic test at the end of February this year, for some reason, she didn’t pass the assessment. After spring break, she was placed in the repeating Class 1-F with Edward Harris as her classmate. Who knows if she’ll pass next year...

......

Jogging is a rather boring activity, and it’s easy for the mind to wander. As Edward Harris ran, his thoughts drifted, which also helped distract him from the soreness in his body.

Time ticked by, second by second.

Soon, it was almost time for the 8 a.m. morning meeting.