Unlimited Ambition

I didn't care, but a look of confusion appeared on Chunri's little face.

"Um, Kyon... how many people are there?" Haruhi tugged at my sleeve and asked.

"Around fifty thousand," I replied casually.

“Fifty thousand people…so many…” Chunri seemed somewhat disappointed for some reason.

“I’ve seen many more,” I said casually.

Kasuga, however, clearly didn't believe me and made a face at me. Then she asked, "So, how many people are there in all of Japan?"

"One hundred and twenty million," I replied casually.

"Then the whole world..."

Six billion.

Six billion... It's unbelievable, it's so much...

"Spring Day, what's wrong? You look terrible." I noticed then that Spring Day was acting strangely, completely unlike her usual fiery self. So I asked her.

"No, it's nothing," Haruhi shook her head, forced a smile, and replied.

"Is it because there are too many people here that you feel uncomfortable?" I asked. "If you're really not feeling well, you should leave early. There's nothing much to see anyway."

Chunri hesitated for a moment, then nodded in agreement. Afterward, I explained the situation to my future father-in-law, who was enjoying watching through binoculars.

My future father-in-law brought us here, largely with the intention of nurturing the relationship between Haruhi and me. Naturally, I agreed. Seeing that Haruhi's expression was off, I became even more worried, so I helped her out of the room.

On the way back, Chunri remained in a low mood. Everyone thought she'd be fine after a good night's sleep. But to their surprise, she was silent and tense at school the next day as well.

"Haruhi, what's wrong with you?" Sasaki, who was on the other side, naturally noticed Haruhi's unusual behavior and asked.

"It's nothing." Haruhi still forced a smile, seemingly unwilling to speak.

At that point, I had a premonition that I was drifting further and further away from my daily life.

During lunch break, contrary to my usual behavior, I forcefully pulled Chunri's hand and led her to the rooftop.

"What are you doing?! You idiot Kyon?!" Haruhi tried to resist a few times, but found that she couldn't break free from my grasp at all. She had no choice but to follow my will and walk forward.

"Don't speak!" I said as I pulled out a paperclip and skillfully picked the lock on the rooftop. Then I took Haruhi's hand and led her inside, locking the door behind us.

"What exactly do you want?!" Haruhi asked, shaking off my hand as she saw me stop. "If you don't give me a straight answer that satisfies me, don't think I'll let you off the hook!"

"Haruhi, what's wrong with you these past few days?" I asked. "Sasaki and I are both very worried about you. Has something happened? If so, could you tell me?"

Chunri pursed her lips, seemingly hesitating about something.

"Trust me, okay?" I said, holding Chunri's hand.

Springtime lowered her head: "Ordinary."

"Ordinary?" I was a little confused, wondering what Chunri was talking about: "What do you mean by ordinary?"

"I'm talking about the life we're living right now!" Chunri raised her head, seemingly very excited. "Don't you think our life right now is just too ordinary?!"

"Isn't being ordinary good enough?" I asked rhetorically.

"Ordinary is definitely not good!" Kasuga continued to shout. "Think about it, there were 50,000 people in the stadium at the time, like ants. And Japan has 120 million people, and the world has 6 billion! 6 billion! What I thought was a very happy time was actually the most ordinary, the most mundane thing, something that happens hundreds of millions of times every day! After knowing this, wouldn't you feel unhappy?!"

"But..." I think I understand why Haruhi was being stubborn. Come to think of it, this is a common problem among teenagers. To put it simply, it's all about being a bit of a chuunibyou (middle school syndrome). We're currently in the second semester of middle school, and soon we'll be in that chuunibyou phase too. So it's understandable that Haruhi would act up at this time.

"So, what kind of life do you want to live?" I asked. "Like the precarious life in the Middle East? Like the life in Africa where you can't even get enough to eat?"

...Or perhaps, like me, being chained up like a dog for amusement, getting a bone when happy and a kick when unhappy—is that what life is like?! Thinking about this makes me a little angry. These are such ordinary and lovely moments, so precious, and yet here stands a brat who's still dissatisfied with them.

“…No, that’s not it. What I mean is, the life I want is…” Haruhi stamped her foot as she spoke, but then paused. Perhaps she herself didn’t know what kind of life she really wanted.

"Alright, Chunri, stop being stubborn, okay? Compared to those who are suffering, your life is already pretty good. Even compared to those around you, you're doing very well. You have a stable family, loving parents, a sharp mind and good health, a lovely appearance, and friends who truly care about you. What more could you ask for?"

Haruhi shook her head, then gently hugged me, just like when we were little, leaning on my shoulder: "That's right, at least I still have you... Maybe that's what makes me so unique." As Haruhi said this, a smile returned to her face.

“That’s right, you still have me.” I repeated with a soft laugh. Then I hugged Haruhi in response.

After that, spring seemed to return to normal. I'd occasionally stare blankly out the skylight or something. But overall, everything was normal. So, I naively thought the matter was over. My daily routine returned to normal. At least before starting university, I had several more happy years to enjoy.

However, what Chunri said seems to make some sense. While ordinary times can be heartwarming, they can also feel a bit boring at times. Therefore, in my spare time, I take some time to write novels.

As for the subject matter, it was readily available, adapted from my own experiences. After all, I have billions of years of life experience and a sharp mind, so the novel received unanimous praise upon its release. I became one of the most popular new writers in Japan. Furthermore, I won the Akutagawa Prize with "Code Geass."

Speaking of which, that brat from the previous world seemed quite interested in this. Once I find a way to reverse time, I might have to go back there again. After giving her a good beating to vent my anger, I'll hand her one. With a combination of kindness and severity, I might just have to make that brat submit.

So, in the next six months, *A Certain Magical Index*, its sister series *A Certain Scientific Railgun*, and the comedy manga *Nichijou*, among others, were all released, firmly establishing my position in the light novel world. In my excitement, I rewrote a short romance novel based on my own experiences in this world. I rearranged my guesses about possible future love triangles and illicit affairs, and reintroduced it to the market.

And just like that, something went wrong.

I was in my second year of junior high, about to enter my third. Because I was putting too much energy into writing novels, my grades started to drop. My mom, having nothing better to do, enrolled me in a tutoring class. And for some reason, that's where I met Sasaki.

"Oh, what a coincidence!" Sasaki smiled at me like a lily.

"Indeed, what a coincidence." I didn't pay much attention to the word "coincidence." Because for me, there was nothing wrong with being with my lovely childhood friend.

And so, for the entire winter break, we went to cram school together. The usual routine was for Sasaki to come to my house to get me, and then I would ride my bicycle with her to the cram school, which was a little far away. We'd eat lunch there—usually a bento box Sasaki made for me—and then ride her back in the afternoon.

This makes me a little more distant from spring. But it doesn't seem to matter much, since winter break is only a little over a month long and will be over soon.

In spring, when the magnificent cherry blossoms bloomed again, I realized that I had made another mistake.

It had only been a little over a month since they last interacted. Haruhi had become quite irrational. She posted talismans everywhere in the corridors, moved all the desks and chairs in the classrooms to other classrooms, and even used a lime-spreading machine to draw huge, bizarre patterns on the playground.

"What's wrong with you?!"

I finally managed to help Haruhi get past the school's questions, and out of respect for my national kendo championship, the school agreed not to pursue Haruhi's responsibility any further. The condition is that I must keep Haruhi in check.

"You still dare to talk back to me?!" Haruhi seemed very angry and threw a book at me. I took it and saw that it was my new novel about a love triangle that I had published before.

"Is there something wrong with this?" I asked myself, a little uneasy. Although I was confident I'd kept my identity as a writer a secret, Kasuga's resourcefulness wasn't to be underestimated. If she found out, there would be a huge uproar. But I couldn't quite bring myself to do it.

“What’s written here—I trusted you so much!!!” Haruhi shouted at me, tears streaming down her face.

Oh no! Could it be that she really found out? Come to think of it, this book is indeed easy to relate to, and the content is a bit excessive, touching on moral issues a little too much. Who knows, Kasuga might break off our friendship because of this.

My heart skipped a beat. I didn't say anything after that, just stared blankly at the spring sun.

"I originally thought you were unique! But after reading this novel about the everyday lives of middle school students—what happened between you and me is just ordinary! Just like it says in the novel: This is my daily life, the most peaceful and ordinary daily life!"

This is indeed my daily routine... and yours too.

"So I've made up my mind! I'm going to break all of this! I'm going to make my life different! Since nothing strange is coming to me, I'll go find them!!" Haruhi said, then turned to leave.

I reached out my hand, but I couldn't grab her.

My relationship with Haruhi gradually became distant. For a period of time, she kept changing boyfriends, dating every boy in the school before dumping them. I couldn't stand her behavior, had a big fight with her, and then completely cut off all contact.

My daily routine is starting to fall apart. There's one less person accompanying me to school every day. Although theoretically, a boy and a girl is the normal pairing, I keep looking to my left and feel like something's missing.

This kind of life lasted for a year. Although Sasaki and I had not officially established a relationship, most people in the school already regarded us as a couple.

To be honest, this is really unfair to Sasaki. Every time her classmates talk about our relationship and express their envy, Sasaki will show a very forced smile—although to outsiders, such a smile proves her happiness.

Sasaki never once initiated a relationship with me. Although every time I went shopping with her, to amusement parks, movies, or coffee shops, she always seemed very expectant—and at the very last moment before we parted, she would look into my eyes, as if waiting for me to say something.

But in the end, I said nothing except, "See you tomorrow."

Haruhi continued her foolish behavior, causing chaos everywhere like an idiot. To be honest, I was getting tired of secretly hiding behind her and cleaning up her messes.

And just like that, four years of junior high school life passed in the blink of an eye. Sasaki ended up applying to a prestigious high school far from home. Kasuga, on the other hand, applied to the prefectural Kita High School, which was closer to home. I, however, held my pen, looking at my application form with hesitation…

Chapter Four: The Silly Couple

It's still a spring day with cherry blossoms in full bloom, but I'm all alone now. It feels a little sad.

In the end, I still chose North High School. Sasaki was heartbroken and didn't appear in front of me for a long time afterward. Some time later, he simply moved away. He must have been very disappointed in me.

How tragic.

Of course, my choice wasn't entirely due to Haruhi Suzumiya. A large part of it was also for the power of this dimension.

As mentioned before, this time, the power of the plane has been attached to Haruhi.

I first realized this three years ago, after the baseball game that Kasuga and I withdrew from early. It happened during the few days Kasuga wasn't feeling well.

This incident really startled me at the time. I thought to myself, there are a total of six billion people on Earth. How could it be so incredibly unlucky that it happened to be Haruhi?

It might be a conspiracy.

Having grown accustomed to being tricked in various ways, this possibility came to mind the next moment. At the same time, my attitude towards Haruhi changed slightly; we became less intimate.

Therefore, I must also bear some responsibility for the changes in my relationship with Haruhi before this.

But all of that is over now. I've made up my mind to win over Haruhi and extract the power of this dimension from her. Then I'll transfer it to myself.

With the support of an entire plane, reversing time and space would surely be a piece of cake.

That's the whole reason why I chose Beigao High School.

Alright, let's all cheer each other on for justice!

Staring at that bald headmaster, I felt a little uneasy. Seriously, do all headmasters have to be bald? And his perverse taste—the girls' uniforms were sailor suits with super short skirts. Ugh, what a weirdo.

When it came time to assign classes, I deliberately used a little of my resources to get myself into the same class as Haruhi.

Come to think of it, we're still in a cold war. I just greeted her, and all I got was a "humph."

How tragic.

Speaking of which, because it's close by, quite a few of my junior high classmates also chose this school. Many of them were only vaguely aware of my relationship with Haruhi. Seeing this scene, they all gave me ambiguous smiles. Especially that idiot named Taniguchi. That "Hahaha, got your comeuppance?" look on his face was just asking for a beating.

After that, I took advantage of the chaos to choose a pretty good seat, the second to last one by the window. Speaking of which, according to my memories from my past life, this kind of seat was reserved for the main character. It was practically made just for me.

After that, for some reason, Chunri angrily ran up and sat down in front of me. Her trembling ponytail seemed to be beckoning me: hurry up and tug it.

How adorable! This guy is so cute.

After that, a minor teacher walked in, with a bright smile that looked like he had practiced in front of a mirror for hours, and told us his name, so-and-so. He then said that he was the coach of so-and-so ball sport, and how fun so-and-so ball sport was, and encouraged us to join, and so on.

It doesn't matter anymore. It's just a trivial matter.

Just when I thought he would never finish speaking, he finally finished his speech. Next was the time for self-introductions.

Watching a group of ordinary people giving ordinary self-introductions, talking about their hobbies, the schools they graduated from, their favorite foods, and so on; some were very brief, some were quite good, and some were incredibly dull. I suddenly felt a little envious of these guys.

Finally, it was Haruhi's turn. She stood up, cleared her throat, and said, "My name is Suzumiya Haruhi, and I graduated from Higashi Middle School."

So far, things have been alright. If it ended like this, it would be a little monotonous, but not unreasonable—so I pulled her up. I was going to help her sit down so she wouldn't embarrass herself, and I wouldn't lose face as well.