Macho Man Doesn't want a Slice-of-Life

Smack!

"Ow, that hurts."

"Shut up!"

Inside the school office, only Rinji and Sagara Kaname were present.

With veins bulging on her forehead and a black paper fan in hand, Sagara had just whacked Rinji on the head.

Rubbing his head, Rinji looked helplessly at the fuming woman.

"Aunt Kana, why'd you hit me all of a sudden?"

"You've got some nerve asking that! Seventy percent of the second-year students fainted at once. If I hadn't cleaned it up quickly—and thankfully, no one was seriously injured—this could've blown up... Where the hell did you even get those flashbangs?"

"I have my sources."

"You little punk... Why would you do something like that?"

"Because the president was being surrounded. I had to bail him out."

"And your way of 'bailing him out' was knocking out every bystander?"

"Exactly. It was extremely efficient."

Rinji gave a thumbs-up.

Smack!

"Ow! You hit me again! Not even my dad hits me like this!"

Looking aggrieved, Rinji stared at Sagara, who looked ready to keep going.

"I've hit your dad on the head before. Why not you?"

"...That logic is flawless."

Setting the fan aside, Sagara massaged her temple.

"Sigh... Why did I even take this cursed job in the first place?"

"You mean looking after me?"

"Of course! That idiot father of yours dumped you in Japan and asked me to look after you. When we first met, you were such a cute kid. How did you turn out like this?"

"Aren't I doing great? Everything I've done here, both Dad and Uncle Sousuke have done too."

"Sure, Sousuke and your dad have done crazy stuff, but never this bad! The worst they did was carry guns to school, plant explosives in shoe lockers, tase their classmates, set lethal traps in the courtyard, electrify the bread baskets in the snack bar, turn the football team into mercenaries, and release bio-weapons on campus... How am I even alive!?"

"Calm down, Aunt Kana. At your age, emotional instability could trigger menopause..."

"Shut up!"

Thinking back to their school days, the thirty-something Sagara collapsed over her desk, clearly traumatized.

"Honestly though, was I really worse than them?"

"Could you maybe learn from your mom for once!? Stop copying your idiot dad!"

"If I remember right, you still married Uncle Sousuke in the end."

"…That's not the point."

After taking a deep breath, Sagara tried to stabilize her mood.

"Anyway, rein it in a little. I know you've done a lot of shady stuff to help Shirogane's campaign... like sending a certain student's whole family to Syria."

"I have been holding back."

"Could've fooled me."

"That guy was a die-hard 'pure' supporter. Keeping him around would've hurt the president's chances. Originally, I planned to eliminate him, but I held back. That's why he only got relocated overseas."

"And if you hadn't held back?"

"Car accident. Way cheaper than moving abroad."

"...All this for a student council election?"

"This election benefits me. The rest don't. That's reason enough for me to act," Rinji said calmly. "Everything revolves around me."

"…"

Sagara knew very well—the most dangerous thing Rinji inherited from his father wasn't power, strength, or wealth.

It was a way of thinking.

Dark Rationality.

The famous Austrian psychologist Sigmund Freud once said that human behavior is driven by "id" (desire) and "ego" (rationality). Instinct drives desires, and rationality suppresses them—like a brake.

Normal people feel like goofing off, stealing, or slacking off, and their rational side tells them, "That's immoral," "You'll go to jail," or "Don't you want that promotion?"

But not Rinji.

When a thought like "I want to stab someone" pops into his head, his rational side doesn't say "don't do it"—it starts analyzing: "What angle should I stab from?" "How to cause permanent damage?" "How to deal with the aftermath?"

For normal people, rationality suppresses desire. For Rinji, it helps desire form a plan.

He doesn't think "Should I do this?" He thinks "How can I make this work?"

Rules, ethics, human decency—none of that matters. Only the goal matters.

That is dark rationality.

"You just had to inherit the worst trait possible."

"Aunt Kana, if there's nothing else, I'm heading back. I've still got some prep to do for the election."

Seeing her still lost in thought, Rinji asked.

"...Fine. Just don't bring weapons to school anymore. That includes flashbangs. No knives either."

"Got it."

"Don't make that disappointed face. Just think of it as doing your poor, overworked aunt a favor."

"Understood."

Rinji gave her a polite bow.

"Thanks for all the trouble."

"Mm. Head on home."

"Alright."

As Rinji left the office, Sagara let out a long sigh and slumped onto her desk.

Although no one was hurt this time, it had technically been a security breach. She'd thought it'd be a huge mess to clean up, but the teachers in charge had all acted like nothing even happened.

That's when she realized—they'd probably already been silenced by Rinji.

He was thorough. Too bad he never applied that to anything good.

Fortunately, he still listened to her. If he ever stopped...

Staring at her black fan, Sagara murmured softly:

"Really hope this kid finds a girlfriend who can actually control him... just like his dumbass dad did..."