Chapter 3: Potential unleashed
1128 Words
The morning sunlight crept through the cracked window.
For the first time in years...
Shiro woke up without despair.
He slowly opened his eyes and stared at the stained ceiling above him.
The memories of his previous life were still there.
The betrayal.
The divorce.
The empty train ride.
The mysterious monk.
The golden tears.
Then the memories of **Shiro Shiki** surfaced.
The lonely child.
The bullied genius.
The abandoned teenager who died quietly after surviving on expired ramen.
Two lives.
Two tragedies.
Yet one body.
Shiro sat up and stretched his frail arms.
His bones cracked loudly.
He looked down at himself.
His body was weak.
Very weak.
But his mind...
His mind was sharper than ever.
Forty-two years of experience combined with the natural intelligence of a prodigy created something frightening.
His thoughts moved at incredible speed.
He remembered thousands of stock charts.
Investment theories.
Economic cycles.
Human psychology.
Negotiation tactics.
Patterns.
Everything connected together inside his head.
He smiled.
"This world hasn't changed much."
If there was one thing he still possessed...
It was knowledge.
Knowledge that had taken him decades to acquire.
Knowledge no high school student should possess.
He had no intention of wasting it.
**The First Step**
The old apartment contained almost nothing of value.
After searching every corner, he found an old laptop covered in dust.
The screen flickered weakly when it turned on.
The password?
"123456."
Shiro sighed.
"So careless..."
The internet still worked.
Slowly.
Painfully.
But it worked.
He spent the entire day researching markets.
Companies.
Currencies.
Crypto.
Real estate.
His eyes widened.
He knew exactly what would happen over the next few years.
Certain companies that were almost worthless would explode in value.
Others would collapse.
He couldn't become rich overnight.
He had no capital.
But he knew where to start.
He sold the few belongings in the apartment.
Old textbooks.
Broken electronics.
Unused furniture.
Even a cracked bicycle.
After three exhausting days...
He had saved just over ¥85,000.
It wasn't much.
But to Shiro...
It was the seed of a forest.
For months he lived like a monk.
He ate the cheapest meals possible.
Rice.
Eggs.
Vegetables nearing expiration.
He exercised every morning despite his weak body.
Push-ups.
Squats.
Running.
Stretching.
Little by little...
The skeleton-like teenager gained strength.
His shoulders widened.
His posture straightened.
His pale skin gained color.
His long black hair was tied neatly into a ponytail.
His deep blue eyes slowly regained life.
People who passed him on the streets no longer saw a dying boy.
They saw someone quietly rebuilding himself.
Every spare yen went into investments.
Small.
Safe.
Calculated.
He never gambled.
He simply followed history.
The market moved exactly as he remembered.
One investment doubled.
Another tripled.
Then another.
Months became a year.
His account grew larger and larger.
Hundreds of thousands.
Millions.
Then tens of millions.
He wasn't lucky.
He was prepared.
And preparation defeated luck every time.
**A Promise to Himself**
One afternoon he walked past the apartment building that had once been his prison.
He stopped.
Looked back.
Then smiled softly.
He remembered the final page of the diary.
"I wish someone would talk to me."
Shiro closed his eyes.
"I haven't forgotten."
He wasn't doing this for revenge.
Not anymore.
The old Shiro Akuma had died in those mountains.
This life belonged to both of them.
He would become someone Shiro Shiki could be proud of.
Not through hatred.
But through happiness.
That became his promise.
**A Place to Call Home**
Nearly eighteen months after awakening...
Shiro stood in front of a small wooden house.
It wasn't large.
It wasn't luxurious.
But it was clean.
Warm.
Peaceful.
Cherry blossom trees lined the nearby streets.
Children played outside.
The train station was close.
And only fifteen minutes away stood the high school he wished to attend.
He signed the papers.
The keys rested in his palm.
His own house.
The first home either version of Shiro had ever truly owned.
He entered quietly.
The floors smelled of fresh wood.
Sunlight entered through the windows.
The backyard was tiny.
Yet flowers bloomed there.
He sat in the empty living room.
No furniture.
No decorations.
Just silence.
But unlike before...
This silence felt comforting.
He smiled.
"Welcome home."
Weeks later he slowly filled the house.
A bookshelf.
A desk.
A bed.
Kitchen utensils.
Exercise equipment.
Second-hand furniture.
Nothing extravagant.
Everything practical.
The spare room became his study.
Its shelves overflowed with books.
Economics.
History.
Mathematics.
Psychology.
Programming.
Philosophy.
He studied until midnight every day.
Not because he had to.
Because he wanted to.
Learning was no longer a means to survive.
It was freedom.
**Toward Tomorrow**
One rainy afternoon, Shiro walked to the school gates.
Students laughed as they entered.
Some complained about homework.
Others chased each other.
Teachers greeted them.
He simply stood outside.
Watching.
For a long time.
He had never experienced this.
The original Shiro had dropped out before reaching high school.
The old Shiro Akuma had spent his youth buried beneath work.
Neither of them had ever enjoyed student life.
He quietly made another promise.
"I'll graduate."
Not because society demanded it.
Not because he needed a diploma.
But because two people had missed the chance.
One by poverty.
One by obsession.
He would live for both of them.
**The Hidden Genius**
Admission season arrived.
The entrance examination was considered one of the hardest in Tokyo.
Thousands applied.
Only a handful succeeded.
Shiro entered the examination room wearing a simple uniform.
His expression remained calm.
The first mathematics page appeared.
He finished it in seven minutes.
The second.
Five minutes.
The third.
Four.
The invigilator glanced toward him several times.
Surely this student wasn't serious.
Then came language.
History.
Science.
English.
Everything ended before half the allotted time had passed.
The other students stared as Shiro quietly handed in his paper and left.
Outside...
Cherry blossoms drifted through the wind.
He looked toward the blue sky.
His heart felt strangely light.
Two weeks later...
The faculty office of the prestigious school fell into chaos.
Teachers gathered around a single exam paper.
One instructor adjusted his glasses.
Another reread the mathematics section for the fifth time.
The vice principal slowly lowered the answer sheet.
"...A perfect score."
Silence.
Another teacher whispered,
"Not just mathematics."
"He scored perfectly in every single subject."
The room became deathly quiet.
Someone finally asked the question on everyone's mind.
"...Who is Shiro Shiki?"
Far away, unaware of the commotion he had caused, Shiro sat beneath a cherry blossom tree eating homemade lunch while reading an economics textbook.
For the first time in two lifetimes...
He wasn't surviving.
He was living.
And somewhere within the halls of his future school, whispers had already begun.
"A monster has arrived."
**End of Chapter 3**
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