???: "A-Ayanokouji-kun!"

When I turned around at being called from behind, there stood a beautiful girl with long pink hair—Ichinose Honami.

Kiyotaka: "Ichinose."

Honami: "I decided to take this exam too!"

Kiyotaka: "I see."

Yuki: "Kiyotaka, who’s this girl?"

Yuki asked with a smile, but her eyes weren’t smiling.

Kiyotaka: "I just forced a favor onto her on my own."

Honami: "That’s not true! My little sister was really happy! And even my mom’s medical expenses…"

Kiyotaka: "I’m glad she was happy, but I don’t know anything about the medical expenses."

Honami: "Really?"

Kiyotaka: "Yeah."

'That face clearly doesn’t believe me at all. Well, she’s right. More importantly, Yuki’s gaze hurts. So this is what they call a battlefield.'

But there was no way it would end there.

???: "Oh my, could it be Kiyotaka-kun?"

When I turned again at another voice from behind, there was a girl wearing a beret and holding a cane—Sakayanagi Arisu.

Arisu: "It’s been a while. It’s been 7 years and 73 days."

'Of course she counted. Ignoring her to avoid things escalating further would be troublesome. No, that’d be a bad move. I don’t know what she’d say.'

Kiyotaka: "Yeah. As expected, remembering even the exact number of days."

Arisu: "Yes. Ever since that day, I’ve been looking forward to meeting you again."

Yuki: "Ki~yo~ta~ka~"

Honami: "Ayanokouji-kun is popular, huh." 'So many rivals… what am I even thinking?'

Kiyotaka: "She’s the chairman’s daughter. We met a long time ago."

Yuki: "Oh, so it was that time."

'Good. Yuki’s aura has calmed down a bit. Let’s escape like this.'

But things didn’t go that smoothly.

???: "Ah, Kiyotaka!"

I had a bad feeling as I turned around, and sure enough, Kei was there.

Kiyotaka: "K-Kei. Long time no see."

Yuki: "First-name basis?"

Honami: "Then I want to get closer to Ayanokouji-kun too, so maybe I’ll call you by your name as well."

Arisu: "Kiyotaka-kun, it seems you have quite a lot of close female acquaintances."

Realizing the worst possible battlefield had formed, I held my head and silently pleaded with Shiro for help.

Shiro: "I’ll go ahead and check the exam venue."

As I watched Shiro run away with resentment, I tried to postpone the problem.

Kiyotaka: "There isn’t much time before the exam. Let’s go inside for now."

Yuki: "You’ll explain later, right?"

Honami: "Can I come with you too?"

Arisu: "Yes, that would be best."

Kei: "Me too."

'This is bad. My stomach is starting to hurt. There’s no point thinking about it now. I’ll calm down and think during the exam.'

Thinking that, Kiyotaka entered the venue while carrying this battlefield with him.

After that, we achieved the planned scores, and while carefully avoiding sensitive topics for each of them, I explained the situation, and for now things settled down.

* * *

~Night after the exam~

Yuki: "I thought you’d start picking up girls after high school, so I was really surprised."

Kiyotaka: "I just couldn’t leave people—my future wives—who were in trouble."

Yuki: "I’ll let that slide. But in exchange…"

Kiyotaka: "In exchange?"

Yuki: "You know, right? There’s not much time left until high school."

Kiyotaka: "Yeah. Until then, I promised to cherish only you."

And just like that, the night deepened.

* * *

~After the results announcement~

I visited my father to complete the enrollment procedures for the three of us.

Atsuomi: "That should be enough now. Hurry up and go."

Kiyotaka: "How’s the polygamy situation?"

Atsuomi: "I’ll handle it somehow, so keep quiet."

Kiyotaka: "Changing the subject, I recommend sending about two excellent individuals from the White Room next year as well."

Atsuomi: "Why?"

Kiyotaka: "Advanced Nurturing High School is a policy led by Onijima. There’s no better place to understand your enemy. Besides, it can also serve as surveillance on me."

Atsuomi: "...I’ll think about it."

'He says he’ll think about it, but knowing how he operates, he’ll definitely accept this suggestion. This creates a reason for Amasawa and Yagami to enroll.'

* * *

~2 days before enrollment~

Yuki: "Are both of you done preparing your luggage?"

Kiyotaka, Shiro: "Yeah."

Yuki: "Thinking about leaving this house tomorrow makes me feel a bit sad."

Shiro: "Yeah… but if our university ends up nearby, we can live here again."

Kiyotaka: "That’s true."

Yuki: "Let’s go to bed early for tomorrow."

Kiyotaka, Shiro: "Yeah."

Kiyotaka, Shiro, Yuki: "Good night."

* * *

~Day before enrollment~

Secretary: "I will drive you to the dorms of Advanced Nurturing High School."

After getting into the secretary’s car and riding for a while, a nostalgic building came into view.

Kiyotaka: "Thanks for bringing us this far. It must be tough being pushed around by that man, but do your best."

Secretary: "I’m honored. But it’s not particularly difficult."

Kiyotaka: "I see."

Secretary: "Yes."

With that, the conversation ended, and we headed to the dorms.

Then we organized our belongings and prepared for the morning of the entrance ceremony.

* * *

~Bus on the morning of the entrance ceremony~

The three of us got on the bus and headed to the school.

‘I want you to seriously listen to and think about the question I’m about to pose.

Question: Are people equal or not?

Right now, the socially unsuccessful keep shouting about equality without end.

They claim that the popularity gap between the popular and unpopular should be equal and desperately try to eliminate it.

But in reality, those who are popular are extremely popular, and those who are not are not at all.

In other words, the answer is no. Humans are unequal beings, and truly equal people do not exist.

However, I have no intention of correcting that disparity. The ones who try to correct it are a small number of good people and those who suffer from it, and I am someone who benefits from it.'

Thinking about how immature my thoughts were in my first life, I inserted this trivial monologue while gazing out the window with a detached expression, and then the nostalgic school gate came into view.

From here begins a romantic battle of geniuses…

Or rather, the story of me building a happy harem begins.

* * *

??? POV

~Before the Advanced Nurturing High School entrance exam~

Even though I was supposed to have become an adult, I somehow returned to my childhood, and to meet Ayanokouji-kun again, I decided to go to Advanced Nurturing High School once more.

???: "Oh? Is that Ayanokouji-kun over there?"

'However, it’s hard to believe that Ayanokouji-kun would be surrounded by so many people at this point. If they were all strangers, I could assume the others failed, but Ichinose-san and Sakayanagi-san are there as well, which makes it even stranger. Right now I’m just a complete outsider. Perhaps I should investigate after enrollment.'