Hearing Emiya say that, Shizuka's interest was immediately piqued.
"How many did you find?"
Emiya thought for a moment.
"Besides the Four Campus Kings, Saekano, and Eromanga Sensei that I just mentioned, I also found CLANNAD, Baka and Test, Nisekoi, Masamune-kun's Revenge, School Days, and Strawberry 100%."
"My Online Game Wife Is a Girl, LoveLive, Otome wa Boku ni Koishiteru, Seitokai Yakuindomo, We Never Learn, K-On!, Love, Chunibyo & Other Delusions."
"White Album 2, Slam Dunk, The Prince of Tennis, Touch, KimiKiss, Minami-ke, Bamboo Blade, True Tears, Toradora!, Seitokai no Ichizon, Kissxsis, Bakuman..."
At first, Shizuka listened with great interest.
But as Emiya's list grew longer and more outrageous, she finally couldn't take it anymore.
"Stop. Stop. Stop."
Emiya obediently closed his mouth and looked at her with a smile.
Shizuka rubbed her temples.
"Are you sure this world has integrated that many stories?"
"One hundred percent sure," Emiya replied, nodding.
"That's way too exaggerated," Shizuka said, using his own words against him.
"Right?" Emiya smiled. "I think it's exaggerated too."
"And those are just the ones I've already found. There are definitely more I haven't discovered yet."
"If anything, it'll only get more ridiculous from here."
He continued calmly.
"And I also found a common point among them."
"What is it?" Shizuka asked.
"Almost all of these stories take place in schools."
"The protagonists are mostly high school students."
"And most of them are just ordinary romance stories."
"High school students? Romance stories?"
Shizuka's face darkened again.
"So I'm guessing this is a large, integrated campus romance world," Emiya concluded.
Shizuka suddenly had a realization.
"I get it now."
"No wonder I can't get married."
"It's not my fault. It's the world's fault."
"In a world where high school students are busy falling in love, how is a woman in her thirties supposed to get married?"
Emiya was speechless.
The world's fault?
That was some impressive blame-shifting.
He couldn't help letting out a cold laugh.
Shizuka, however, acted as if she hadn't heard it at all.
"When are you planning to leave this world?" she asked.
Emiya shook his head.
"I'm not leaving for now."
"You're not leaving?" Shizuka frowned. "Why?"
Then she suddenly thought of something.
"Wait... you're not planning to use your knowledge of the plots to seduce those high school girls and build a harem, are you?"
"Oh," Emiya said, eyes lighting up. "So that's an option."
Shizuka was left speechless.
She was just about to scold him when she remembered something Emiya had said before.
He had already stated that he wouldn't pursue modern, educated women.
The reason was simple.
They wouldn't be able to accept his idea of a harem.
"So what are you actually planning to do?" Shizuka asked, calming herself and growing curious.
Emiya replied seriously.
"I'm going to save a few tragedies."
"Tragedies?" Shizuka frowned. "Isn't this a campus romance world? What kind of tragedies could there be?"
"Even romance worlds have tragedies," Emiya said.
"I recently found a school."
"Miyazono Middle School."
Shizuka's expression sharpened.
"Does something tragic happen there?"
Emiya nodded.
"It's from Your Lie in April."
"The female protagonist, Kaori Miyazono, is a violinist."
"She looks bright and cheerful, strong on the outside."
"But she has an incurable disease."
"At the end of the story, her surgery fails."
"She dies."
Shizuka clicked her tongue.
"So that girl... Kaori Miyazono isn't dead yet?"
"I checked. She's still alive."
"She has an incurable disease," Shizuka said slowly. "Do you have a way to help her?"
"Of course," Emiya replied without hesitation.
An incurable disease wasn't a big deal.
She wasn't dead yet.
An incurable disease in this world didn't necessarily mean incurable in another.
Emiya had plenty of medicines that could cure incurable diseases.
The most effective one was the all-purpose panacea from the DanMachi world.
One bottle was enough to create a miracle.
It could heal even fatal injuries.
It could even revive the dead.
If that wasn't enough, he could simply ask a god for help.
Aqua.
Loki.
Even Hestia.
With divine power, saving a mortal was trivial.
So in Emiya's eyes, an incurable disease in this world meant nothing.
"If you need help," Shizuka said, "just tell me."
"I'll help."
"No problem," Emiya agreed.
...
After deciding to prevent a few tragedies in this world, Emiya stayed at Shizuka's place.
The next day, the new semester at Sōbu High School began.
Emiya didn't go with her.
He wasn't interested in Sōbu High School.
Nor Hachiman Hikigaya.
Nor Yukino Yukinoshita.
After Shizuka left for school, Emiya quietly headed to Sakurano Academy.
This school was infamous in his previous life.
Anime fans knew it well.
It was the home of Makoto Itou-one of the so-called Four Scum Kings.
Unlike the admired Four Campus Kings, the Four Scum Kings were universally despised.
And among them, Makoto Itou was the most infamous.
He also had the most tragic ending.
When Emiya first saw Sakurano Academy the day before, his initial thought had been simple.
Sacrifice Makoto Itou.
But after sleeping on it, he calmed down.
Killing Makoto outright felt excessive.
Yes, Makoto was scum.
But he hadn't committed an unforgivable crime.
He had merely toyed with a few innocent girls.
That wasn't a crime deserving death.
So Emiya decided that a light punishment would be enough.
At 7:50 a.m., Emiya loitered near the main gate of Sakurano Academy.
Students in uniform streamed in.
Among them, he spotted Makoto Itou.
Emiya immediately sent out a ripple of Psychic power.
"Hey, Makoto."
At that moment, a blond boy suddenly appeared and patted Makoto on the shoulder.
Emiya recognized him instantly.
Taisuke Sawanaga.
Makoto's friend.
So Emiya sent another ripple of Psychic power toward the blond boy.
When both ripples reached their targets, Emiya activated them simultaneously.
Boom. Boom.
In the next instant, two earth-shattering screams erupted.
"AAAAAAHHH-!"
"URRRGHHHH-AAAAAHH-!"
The two boys screamed like they were trying to hit a high note.
They clutched their blood-soaked lower bodies and rolled on the ground.
Blood splattered everywhere.
The surrounding students recoiled in horror.
Girls screamed.
Emiya nodded in satisfaction.
Then he quietly turned around and left.
No one noticed his presence.
After disabling the two boys' "tools of crime," Emiya felt relieved.
His steps grew lighter.
The story of School Days was destined to be completely derailed.
But Emiya didn't care.
It wasn't a touching story.
It was just disgusting.
A truly touching story was something like Your Lie in April.
To be honest, Emiya hadn't even finished watching Your Lie in April.
The later parts were too painful.
He couldn't bring himself to continue.
Especially when the story kept hinting that Kaori Miyazono would die.
He had wanted to send the author death threats.
So he dropped it halfway.
Later, he learned online that Kaori still died.
The surgery failed.
That outcome had made him curse endlessly.
Now, though, he had a chance.
He wasn't going to miss it.
This was his way of fulfilling a regret from his past life.
At the end of the day, it was nothing more than self-satisfaction.
The same applied to punishing Makoto.
Makoto hadn't offended him.
Emiya had no real reason to punish him.
He did it simply because he wanted to.
And Emiya didn't think there was anything wrong with that.
He didn't consider himself a savior.
Nor a judge.
But his actions saved people.
And that was enough.
Self-satisfaction was fine.
So Emiya went to the main gate of Miyazono Middle School.
Classes were already in session.
He missed his first chance to meet Kaori Miyazono.
But he wasn't discouraged.
He went to a nearby café, ordered a cup of coffee, and quietly read the light novel Love Metronome he had bought the day before.
To be honest, Emiya wasn't particularly fond of campus romance novels.
He preferred works like Campione! and Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon?
As for My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU, he had only watched the anime.
He was reading Love Metronome today for one reason.
The author.
Utaha Kasumigaoka.
He wanted to see what kind of novel Kasumi Utako had written.
As he read, Emiya quickly realized something.
Kasumi Utako's writing style was beautiful.
Her word choice was elegant and precise.
Unfortunately, the novel didn't move him.
The reason was simple.
He just wasn't interested in this type of story.
As for whether the book was good-
It was.
He could guarantee that.
Even ignoring the plot, the prose alone was enough to draw readers in.
And the plot itself wasn't bad.
But Emiya had seen too many stories like this.
So it failed to hold his interest.