Seventy-two hours later.
The same old-fashioned Japanese-style conference room.
But this time, the atmosphere was completely different from three days earlier.
Gone was the fine Gyokuro, gone was the curling tea fragrance. The air carried an aura of despair and decay.
All the directors sat ashen-faced in their seats, gaunt and hollow-eyed, as if they had aged twenty years in three days, drained of all their vital spirit.
The conference room door was pushed open soundlessly.
Tanaka, that loyal hound of Seiji's, still in that meticulous tailored suit, with the gentle yet bone-chilling smile on his face, walked in.
Behind him followed two bodyguards in black, who set a heavy attache case down on the center of the conference table with a thud.
Tanaka didn't say a single wasted word, didn't even look at any one of those seated.
He simply opened the case, took out copies of the same acquisition offer from three days earlier, and placed them, one by one, before each director, as though distributing notices of death.
The same terms, the same price, the same demands.
"Gentlemen,"
Tanaka's voice broke the deathly silence.
His tone was polite and refined, yet carried a condescending cruelty. "My boss's patience has limits. This is the last chance."
This time, no one slammed the table and rose, no one shouted angry insults.
In the conference room, there was only a suffocating silence, and the heavy panting of several directors driven by fear.
The first to break was the handlebar-mustached descendant of old aristocrats.
Looking at the document before him that would determine the fate of his family's century-long foundation, his hands trembled violently. He picked up the pen, but his hands shook so badly that several times he couldn't align it with the signature line.
In the end, he let out a wail like a beast on its deathbed, and using all his strength, scrawled his name.
With the first, came the second.
One after another.
Those old-era elites who had once stood lofty above all, now resembled a group of prisoners awaiting judgment, silently signing their names on that document that proclaimed the end of their era.
To preserve, for themselves and their families, the last shred of dignity.
...
One o'clock in the afternoon.
The grand auditorium of Shuchiin Academy was packed to the rafters.
A sternly worded emergency notice had gathered every teacher and student of the school to this place.
Everyone was uneasy, whispering and speculating about what had happened.
"Is the school festival being cancelled? Or has some scandal been exposed?"
"I heard something big happened with the board of directors. Could it be true?"
Amid the crowd's discussions, the principal stepped onto the podium.
He was an old man in his sixties, always known for his steadiness and rigor.
But at this moment, the hand holding the microphone was trembling slightly. His forehead was covered in cold sweat, and his face was as pale as a sheet of paper, as though bearing tremendous pressure.
He cleared his throat and tried several times before any sound came out.
Facing the thousands of teachers and students below, he opened his mouth with difficulty:
"Teachers, students, good afternoon."
"The reason all of you have been gathered here today is that there is an extremely important matter that must be announced."
"Following... following a unanimous decision by all members of the former board of directors, our school's board has, as of this morning, completed its restructuring."
Before his words had finished, an uncontrolled commotion rose from the audience.
Restructuring of the board? This was a matter of sufficient magnitude to shake the entire school!
The principal ignored the commotion below. He took a deep breath, and as if drawing on the last of his strength, continued:
"Now, please allow me to introduce, to all of you, the new chairman of the board of directors of our Shuchiin Academy..."
His voice paused there, as though that name weighed a thousand pounds.
"Mr. Seiji... Fujiwara!"
The instant the name "Seiji Fujiwara" rang through the entire auditorium via the amplifier, the whole place fell into a deathly silence.
Everyone was frozen in place, as though hit with a binding spell.
That name, which existed like a demon king in the campus rumors.
He, had become this school's... supreme ruler?
Beneath the thousands of gazes mixed with fear, shock, and disbelief, from the side curtain of the auditorium a tall, slender figure slowly emerged.
Seiji Fujiwara wore a sharply tailored black suit, no necktie, the collar of his shirt slightly open, both hands tucked into his trouser pockets, looking at ease and casual.
The gentle smile on his face, he walked up to the podium step by step, as if he had come not to attend some teacher-and-student assembly, but to inspect the territory he had just conquered.
Standing behind the podium, he surveyed those young faces below, gone white with fear.
Seiji smiled and picked up the microphone.
"Hello, everyone."
He opened his mouth. His voice wasn't loud, but through the speakers it carried clearly into every person's ears, with an oddly magnetic quality.
"From today onward, I am the new Master of this place."
Simple, direct, arrogant.
He didn't even bother with the official term "chairman of the board," using "Master" directly instead.
The students below, beneath that bearing of a king reigning over the world, were so terrified their breathing nearly stopped.
Seiji seemed to enjoy this feeling. He paused, then smilingly announced his first decision:
"I announce my first decision..."
"The reinstatement of student Kaguya Shinomiya's and student Ai Hayasaka's enrollment status."
"What?!"
The audience erupted instantly.
Student Shinomiya? Student Hayasaka?
Hadn't they disappeared?
So the rumors were false?
Just as the crowd was caught in shock and uncertainty, with even a sliver of wishful thinking sprouting, the side door of the auditorium was pushed open silently.
Two familiar, slender figures appeared at the doorway.
It was Kaguya Shinomiya and Ai Hayasaka.
They wore Shuchiin's winter uniforms, skirt hems crisp, long stockings pure white.
But on their faces, there was no expression at all.
They walked through the terrified gazes of the crowd, ascended the podium, and before all the teachers and students of the school, one on each side, stood like the most loyal of attendants behind Seiji.
The entire auditorium was silent enough to hear a pin drop.
All the rumors about "imprisonment," in this moment, received visual confirmation.
Seiji seemed to feel this wasn't enough.
In front of the thousands of teachers and students below, he extended his hand with utter naturalness, and as though stroking an obedient pet, gently caressed Kaguya's smooth black long hair.
In that instant, Kaguya's body went barely perceptibly stiff, then immediately relaxed.
Eyes lowered, brow soft, she let him do as he pleased, without the slightest resistance.
Then Seiji turned his gaze back to the students below, who had been completely stupefied, and continued speaking through the megaphone in his hand:
"Welcome to..."
"My school."
When Seiji spoke those words "welcome to my school," the students throughout the auditorium felt as if their brains had been struck directly by a miniature nuclear bomb, going blank instantly.
Time, in this moment, seemed to be stretched infinitely.
The scene before their eyes was absurd, like a nightmare they could not wake from.
That Kaguya Shinomiya, who had once stood lofty above all, regarded by everyone as the "Ice Princess," at this moment was like a docile cat, allowing the man to publicly stroke her hair.
And on her face, there wasn't even a hint of humiliation, only a deathly stillness of numbness.
At her side, Ai Hayasaka, that once-cunning gyaru student, was just as much an empty vessel that had lost its soul.
The "everyday" they had once been so familiar with and taken for granted, in this moment, was completely and cruelly torn to shreds.
This Shuchiin Academy, with its century of history, symbolizing elites and glory, had in a single night truly become a tyrant's private property.
And they, these once favored children of heaven, had also gone from being "masters" of the school to mere "subjects" in a tyrant's domain.
No, not even subjects.
They were merely... an audience.
A group of humble spectators forced to watch the daily drama of "the sovereign and his pets."
Fear.
Like a virus, it spread wildly through the air of the auditorium.
At the same time, a primal awe of absolute power, springing from the depths of the soul, replaced all youthful fantasies.
The old everyday, in this moment, was completely shattered, dead.
A new "reality," centered solely on Seiji Fujiwara, governed by the law of the jungle, descended.
...
Chika Fujiwara stood among the crowd, ice-cold throughout her body, as though she had fallen into a freezer.
Her body was trembling violently, beyond her control.
The world in her eyes was spinning.
Her best friend Kaguya, had returned.
But what had returned was only a walking corpse.
Those red eyes that had once flickered with prideful light over the smallest things, were now as hollow as two bottomless dry wells. They no longer reflected her image.
And that man, who shared the same surname as her, that Seiji Fujiwara whom she had once naively believed was merely a somewhat bad "villain."
What he now displayed was an absolute power like that of gods and demons, which her simple worldview could neither comprehend nor resist.
He didn't use schemes, didn't use trickery.
He used the most direct, most arrogant, most irrefutable means, in front of everyone, to forcibly twist and reshape the entire world according to his will.
"Lies..."
Chika murmured to herself, her mind blank, tears uncontrollably sliding from her eyes. "This must be... a nightmare..."
She suddenly understood.
Why her father had warned her, in that fearful tone, never to mention "Kaguya Shinomiya" again.
Because, they didn't live in the same world at all.
...
That night, every major media outlet in Japan reported the news on their front page.
[The Fujiwara conglomerate completes wholly-owned acquisition of Shuchiin Academy, Seiji Fujiwara to serve as new chairman of the board]
The press release was written in lofty terms, claiming the move was to "integrate top-tier educational resources to cultivate the next generation of leaders for the nation."
But in true high society, everyone saw through to the spine-chilling true meaning behind this news.
Seiji Fujiwara was no longer content to control economics and politics from behind the scenes.
He had begun to extend his tentacles toward ideology and the foundations of the future. Education.
Shuchiin, this century-old prestigious school that had delivered countless elites to Japan, would from today onward become Seiji Fujiwara's personal factory for stamping ideological imprints.
All students who walked out from here would bear the brands he bestowed, named "fear" and "submission," becoming the most loyal cornerstones of his future empire.
Everyone understood that an unprecedented, absolutely dictatorial era belonging to Seiji Fujiwara had officially begun.
And they, apart from kneeling, had no other choice.
...
...
Seiji did not linger long in the auditorium.
After enjoying the magnificent expressions of "end-of-the-world" on those young faces below, he departed in satisfaction.
He waved his hand, signaling the ashen-faced principal to disband the assembly.
Then, beneath thousands of gazes filled with awe, fear, and a trace of curiosity, he made his way to the top floor of the academic building, bringing with him Kaguya and Ai Hayasaka, those two most eye-catching "trophies."
The Student Council Room.
As the three of them walked through the campus like a king and his attendants on procession, all the students parted to either side in terror, like the parting of the Red Sea.
They lowered their heads, not daring to look directly at the three figures.
Seiji pushed open the door to the Student Council Room and walked in.
Sunlight still poured in through the enormous floor-to-ceiling windows, bathing the room in brightness.
But the instant he stepped in, the air in this place changed.
This was no longer a sacred ground of student self-governance.
He looked around once, then, as if announcing something perfectly natural, said to the principal trailing behind him and the ashen-faced Chika Fujiwara:
"Not bad here."
"From today onward, this will be my 'private lounge' at school."
"Clear out all the useless things inside, replace them with things I like."
After saying this, he walked straight behind the long desk and sat down languidly, propping his legs up on the desk.
Kaguya and Ai Hayasaka, as though they had rehearsed it countless times, one went behind him and began gently kneading his shoulders.
The other walked to the side pantry and skillfully began preparing tea and refreshments for him.
[Ding! Congratulations, Host, on successfully taking over Shuchiin.]
[System Reward Received: Passive Skill [Domain: Sovereign Academy]. Within the physical boundaries of Shuchiin Academy, all of your mental influence abilities, including [Voice of Order] and [Pressure Aura], will receive a 50% substantial enhancement in effect. Furthermore, you will exert a continuous, gradually pervasive mental intimidation upon all students and faculty within the academy, making it easier for them to submit to your will, and harder for them to generate any thought of resistance.]
Seiji felt the newly acquired ability and nodded in satisfaction.
Within this "domain," he was an absolute god.
...
...
The Fujiwara estate, the study.
Chika Fujiwara's father, the current Prime Minister of Japan, was looking at a report in his hands.
The report recorded in detail everything that had happened yesterday in the Shuchiin Student Council Room.
Including the basketball club boy's reaction, the posts on the forum, and... Yu Ishigami collapsing from illness.
He slowly placed the report into the shredder.
Watching the report be reduced to unrecoverable strips, his face, normally commanding authority without anger, showed no rage or sympathy.
What there was, was only a blazing keen glint.
He knew that Seiji Fujiwara's patience was nearly exhausted.
If he didn't soon produce a "pledge of loyalty" sufficient to satisfy that new king, then the next to be crushed would be him, and the entire Fujiwara Family.
And the most precious, also the only, chip in his hand, was...
He stood up and walked to the door of the study, and to his wife waiting outside the door, spoke in a cold tone:
"Go call Chika."
"Tell her that tonight, our most important guest is coming to the house."
"Have her... dress up properly."
He knew, the opportunity for his family to advance further had come!
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