I was walking to school as usual. It was September, the start of our second semester. I managed to maintain my score of 85% in the end sem exams too. It wasn't a big deal for me though.

There were many students around and in the corner of my eye, I noticed Yasurouka walking in front of me. I developed a habit to match my time with her over the course of the past month.

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Looking at the gentle expression on her face reminded me that everything turned to normal again. All those memories and moments we spent together again rounded up to nothing.

The sound of me confessing to her was reverberating in my mind. Yasurouka wasn't a vessel anymore. I was able to make her fall for me and neutralise her as my target.

I looked at her smile as someone greeted her. Her smile was clearer than before. Her body language showed that she indeed started to believe in herself. Her opinion about herself definitely went up.

I started walking quickly and walked past her. For a brief moment she looked at me but judging from her blank expression, she definitely reacted as she would if it were a random classmate of hers.

I wonder if these targets actually forget everything, as Lilith said, or it just becomes harder for them to recall their memories.

It has already been a few days since I made her fall for me. So that means that everyone involved in this event has already got their memory alternated.

Today I had a specific thing in mind which I wanted to do. I have been observing a certain individual for quite some time now and today; I made up my mind to make my move.

I went up to the class, and it seemed like everyone was in a good mood as it was the start of the new semester. I walked up to my desk and sat down.

Gaisen and Tsūmen were talking to each other. I decided to join in on their conversation.

"Good morning."

"Morning, Saishi-kun"

"Good morning."

Both of them greeted me.

"I can't imagine I managed to score this, even though I was spending most of my time in club activities." Tsūmen laughed awkwardly.

"Well, you studied hard so it paid off. Don't be surprised like that." Gaisen said.

Tsūmen scored 64% which was actually a good mark considering how he doesn't study at all and spends most of his time playing games and reading manga.

Gaisen on the other hand was in the similar range as me. Talking about him, I didn't know how much he scored.

"Oi Gaisen-kun, how much did you score?"

"Ooof… it's 87%" He sighed.

"Ah, that's good though." But judging from the way he said that, I could tell that he wasn't satisfied with his marks.

"What? Are you not satisfied?"

"Not it's just…"

"Look at this guy! He got 87% and still isn't satisfied. I can't believe you?!" Tsūmen said. Well from his perspective it was a really good mark.

"No goddammit!! If I studied just a bit more, I could've scored 90%." He said, as he was pissed off. I could understand his feelings though. Being so close to something you wanted to achieve but not being able to get it by a small margin is a really frustrating feeling.

"I can understand." I nodded.

"Well, no use of sulking over marks now. It's already done. Let's try our best this semester." Tsūmen said.

"Didn't you say the same thing last semester, too?" Gaisen narrowed his eyes at him.

"Did I?" Tsūmen turned towards me for affirmation, but I rejected his request.

"You did. And you still wasted your time watching anime and playing games."

"Don't expose me like that, jeez dude." He mumbled.

"Well, you're right. It's no use thinking about it now." Gaisen said.

"That's more like it." Tsūmen laughed.

As we're talking, our homeroom teacher, Ms Tachibana, entered the class, and all stood up to greet her. Since it was the start of our new semester, she was briefing us about the syllabus of her subject and topics she will be covering this semester.

After explaining the syllabus to us, she probably read the atmosphere of the classroom and noticed that some students were disappointed, and some were upset. She told us to study more diligently and that marks aren't the only thing that matters.

I will agree with her that marks aren't the only thing that matters. There are many other things which can be considered while judging a student. But compared to them, marks are the major thing that matters.

Though, I appreciated the fact that she was trying to cheer us up. And to be honest, none of us scored bad on her subject, which was English. So she definitely knows how to handle students. She cared not only about marks, but cared about us students too. That's why we liked her so much.

It was lunchtime, and I looked in front of me and caught sight of the person I was looking for. They were smiling while talking with their friends. I took out my mobile and opened my texting app.

I searched for this person's name and opened their chat. It was empty since this was the first time I was about to text them. I tapped on the media option and selected a photo, which I had saved for this moment. I sent it and added a text with it.

"After school, wait for everyone to leave."

I waited for the text to get seen by them. I noticed them looking at their mobile and checking the text I sent them. As soon as they saw the picture, they stopped smiling and their body tensed up. I could tell from afar that the colour of their face was gone, and they were at a loss.

Our eyes met with each other for a slight moment, and I could see the fear in their azure-coloured eyes. Fear is what makes someone weak, but at the same time, it's a potent weapon to control people.

I was satisfied with their reaction and put my mobile back in my pocket. I knew that they didn't have any other option rather than obeying what I texted them. I know they won't be able to tell this to anyone, except that one person who was close to them. But I have already thought this out thoroughly and her chances of doing that were close to zero.

If I can tame this person, then they will be someone who will be a really useful asset to me in the near future.