Ex-Demon Lord & Ex-Hero's Reincarnation Rom-Com: How Did This Happen!? School is a Battlefield～ - Ex-Demon Lord Recalls Past Life in the Classroom

"Taiyou, you're up next! Wait, what the hell are you doing?!" 　In the line waiting for their turn, Asakura Taiyou had both hands clasped behind his head, making a ridiculous face. It was a Monday in June, and the grounds of Saint Luminous Academy were filled with the harsh, beating sun and the smell of earth. PE class, high jump. The waiting line stretched out lazily, everyone bored out of their minds. 　Taiyou was, as always, the class mood-maker. His brown, unruly hair was bouncing every which way today, and his slightly loosened navy tie swayed sloppily. He opened his large, round eyes even wider, making his friend Shouta laugh. " Just watch! My magnificent leap!" 　Taiyou puffed out his chest and took an exaggeratedly deep breath. At the sight of his grin, showing his slightly pointed canine teeth, a voice from the line called out, "There he goes, getting carried away again." 　But honestly, he was a little nervous. His PE grades were decent, but he was bad at the high jump. His somewhat slender body, at 172 centimeters tall, somehow felt small when he looked up at the bar. 　He took his starting position. He began his run-up, sprinting toward the bar. 　He jumped. 　At that moment, his feet tangled. " Whoa!" 　His own voice sounded distant. His body twisted awkwardly, and he fell onto the mat back-first. The impact of hitting his head turned his vision pure white. 　And then, inside Taiyou's head, a landscape he had never seen before spread out. 　A black sky. A burning, crimson earth. A gigantic fortress visible in the distance. The castle was jet black, towering amidst the flames. Caligula Fortress—for some reason, the name almost slipped from his lips. 　Estrea. 　The name of another world. 　A world of swords and sorcery. Humans, elves, and demons warred, and about eight hundred years ago, there was a great war. Taiyou knew this. No, it wasn't just knowledge. He had been there. 　The Dark Continent Forneus. A wasteland filled with miasma. And then, his own title— " Alice...!" 　A low, intimidating voice. It was his own voice, yet not his own. The Great Demon Lord Satanas. Taiyou's past life. The Demon Lord who fought the Hero Alice and perished with her in mutual destruction. Those memories surged in like a tsunami. 　—So, I was a Demon Lord. 　Taiyou thought this with a dazed mind. " Asakura-kun! Are you okay?" " Taiyou, can you hear me?" 　His classmates rushed over, looking worried. He heard Shouta peering into his face, and the voice of the class PE rep suggesting they take him to the nurse's office. But to Taiyou's ears, everything sounded muffled, like he was underwater. 　And then, beyond the crowd of people, he found her. 　Kujou Mitsuki. 　Her silky black hair, reaching down to her waist, swayed gently in the breeze. Her narrow, violet eyes were looking straight at Taiyou. Unlike everyone else, she didn't look so much worried as uneasy. As if she was looking at something terrifying. 　A neat and proper beauty with her uniform ribbon tied perfectly, Mitsuki was the top intellect of their grade, always cool and composed. She stood alone, a little distance away, staring intently at Taiyou. 　Her figure overlapped with the image that had flashed back in his mind. 　A female knight in silver armor, holding a holy sword before the jet-black fortress. The Hero Alice. Those violet eyes were— "(...No way.)" 　A chill ran down Taiyou's spine. 　Mitsuki, too, seemed to sense something, her shoulders trembling for a split second. And with a shaken expression she never normally showed in public, she bit her lip. 　The moment Taiyou collapsed, a faint memory of the final battle had also flickered through Mitsuki's mind. The sensation of the holy sword Floresta shattering. Her mission as the hero chosen by the Goddess Lucera. And the enemy she was meant to defeat—the Great Demon Lord Satanas. 　Even after class ended, Taiyou was resting in the nurse's office. Lying on the bed, he stared at the ceiling. His head no longer hurt. But his heart was a mess. "(So I was a Demon Lord in my past life, huh...)" 　His memories of Estrea were fragmentary. Leading the Demon Lord Army Valgrim, trying to conquer the entire world. Having executives known as the Four Heavenly Kings. His motive was a twisted ideal of peace: "Unify all races by force and eliminate conflict." "(But in the end, I was defeated by the hero...)" 　It was mutual destruction. He died, and the hero died too. That should have been the end of it, yet for some reason, he was now a high school student in Japan. This city of Hoshigaoka was a suburban city about forty minutes by train from Tokyo, with a population of around 180,000. Saint Luminous Academy was a private co-ed school on a hill. The total student body was just over seven hundred. In such an ordinary place, the former Great Demon Lord remembered his past life just from hitting his head during a high jump. " ...This is the worst." 　Taiyou sighed and left the nurse's office. 　The after-school classroom was empty. 　The evening sun streaming through the windows dyed the desks and chairs orange. Taiyou sat in his seat at the back by the window and gazed blankly outside. He could see the townscape of Hoshigaoka. A small residential area, and the commercial district in front of the distant station. He could see the row of cherry blossom trees continuing along the Hotaru River. 　He had a pointless thought: fireflies fly around the Hotaru River in the summer, right? "(Mitsuki...)" 　The expression she had shown at that moment. 　It wasn't just worry. It was a look as if she had become convinced of something—those eyes. "(No way, is she also...)" 　The classroom door slid open with a clatter. 　Taiyou turned around in surprise. 　Kujou Mitsuki was standing there. " ...Oh." 　Mitsuki also seemed not to expect Taiyou to be there, and she gasped for a moment. But she immediately returned to her usual cool expression. " What are you doing here at this hour?" " Ah, I was sleeping in the nurse's office. Just got back." 　Taiyou answered while looking off in a completely different direction. He couldn't look her in the face. 　Without a word, Mitsuki approached her own seat—the next row over, across the aisle—and took a textbook out of her desk. A forgotten item. 　The silence was heavy. 　Just the two of them in the classroom. " ...You saw it, didn't you." 　Mitsuki murmured. "Huh?" " You saw it too, didn't you. That dream. That... memory." 　Mitsuki's voice was trembling slightly. She seemed like a different person from her usual strong-willed self. " Why are you here?" 　Mitsuki turned around. Her violet eyes were glistening, as if she was about to cry. "Why are you... why is Satanas appearing before me again?" 　With those words, Taiyou was certain. 　As he thought, Mitsuki also had the memories of the Hero Alice. 　His mind went blank. He didn't know how to answer. The urge to run away and the impatience that he had to say something assaulted him simultaneously. 　But looking into Mitsuki's eyes, he felt he couldn't deceive her. " ...Yeah. I was... probably, Satanas." 　Mitsuki's shoulders flinched. " But I'm not him now. I'm Asakura Taiyou. Honestly, I don't really remember what I did in my past life. I don't even want to remember. The me who was a Demon Lord is now just a regular high school student, bad at studying, knocked myself out hitting my head on the high jump—I'm that kind of idiot." 　Taiyou himself no longer knew what he was saying. " So, well... the past life is the past life. I'm not Satanas anymore. I'm not your enemy. I want to be myself... or rather, I want to properly be Asakura Taiyou." 　It was clumsy wording. Uncool and incoherent. Far from a declaration of resolve from a Great Demon Lord. 　But that was his honest feeling right now. 　Mitsuki stared at Taiyou for a while. 　Then, suddenly, she let out a soft laugh. " ...What is that." 　A laugh. 　It was the first time he had heard Mitsuki laugh. " Too idiotic... The Great Demon Lord regaining his memories from a high jump... fufu..." 　Mitsuki continued laughing, covering her mouth. Taiyou, drawn in, laughed awkwardly too. 　It was a scene unimaginable in their past lives. Mortal enemies who had tried to kill each other, sharing a silly laugh in a classroom bathed in sunset. " ...I understand. If you say you want to be who you are now, that's fine." 　Mitsuki said this, gracefully wiping away tears of laughter. " But don't tell anyone about this. Not that I have the hero's memories, nor that you were the Demon Lord." " Got it. I won't tell anyone." " Promise me. ...Well, I'm going home. Please lock up." 　Hugging her textbook, Mitsuki quickly left the classroom. Left behind were the quiet, twilight classroom, and Taiyou. 　Taiyou was remembering Mitsuki's smile. "(That was the first time I've seen her laughing face.)" 　She was always cool and a little hard to approach. But when she laughed, she was innocent, just like a normal girl. "(...She was cute.)" 　His heart skipped a beat. It made an annoying sound. 　He didn't think it was love, or anything like that. He thought so, but still, deep in his chest felt strangely restless. 　The guilt was still there. The memory of fighting and wounding Mitsuki (Alice) in their past life clung to a corner of his mind. But more than that, he wanted to see that smile again. "(I wonder if I can talk properly with Mitsuki from now on...)" 　Taiyou murmured this to no one in particular. 　The next morning. 　A peaceful morning visited the town of Hoshigaoka again today. The voices of students echoed through the school building of Saint Luminous Academy. 　Taiyou had come to the classroom a full thirty minutes earlier than usual. " Alright, today for sure, I'll act normal... and greet her normally!" 　It was a resolution he had made last night in his futon. The past life is the past life. Now is now. He would interact with her normally, as a normal classmate. 　Just then, Mitsuki entered the classroom. 　Their eyes met. " M-Morn...!" 　His voice cracked. 　His heart started pounding loudly. The memories of the Demon Lord Satanas, Mitsuki's smile from yesterday, and all sorts of things floated up in his mind simultaneously. 　Mitsuki also stopped her feet for just a brief moment. Then, with her usual cool face, she headed straight for her seat. " ...Good morning, Asakura-kun." 　A curt reply. But her ears were slightly red. 　That alone made Taiyou elated, and in the process, he knocked over a nearby stack of textbooks, sending them all clattering to the floor. " Ah!" 　The eyes of the entire class gathered on him. " Taiyou, did you mess something up again?!" " Your voice cracks just from greeting Kujou-san? What are you, some pure-hearted maiden?" " Actually, are you two surprisingly close?" " C-C-Close, it's not like that at all!" 　Taiyou denied it, his face bright red. Mitsuki also stopped her hand placing her bag down, pretending not to hear, but her cheeks were pink as well. " Taiyou, I used to think Kujou-san hated you, but it seems different now. More like, the more you fight, the closer you are?" " I said it's not! It's not like that! Right, Mitsuki!" 　When Taiyou looked at Mitsuki as if seeking help, Mitsuki glared at him with a sharp, piercing look. But deep in her eyes, they were glistening just like yesterday. " I don't know anything about that. Would you stop making a racket all by yourself?" 　Saying that, Mitsuki turned away with a huff. 　That gesture, again, squeezed Taiyou's heart tightly. "(As I thought, it's impossible... I don't think I can act normal.)" 　Suppressing his annoyingly pounding chest, Taiyou collapsed onto his desk. 　Outside the window, the same unchanging blue sky spread out today as well. But only the air around Taiyou seemed to look a little different. 　Everything was different from yesterday. 　The ex-Demon Lord's hectic school life had now

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Episode 1

Name: Ex-Demon Lord & Ex-Hero's Reincarnation Rom-Com: How Did This Happen!? School is a Battlefield～
Author: Novelia

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