The Art of Being Nobody

My name is Nobody. I already burned in Troy. Let's see what burns in this school.

Plot

Odysseus, king of Ithaca, has been reborn. His new body is a scrawny Japanese high schooler whose only superpower is the ability to learn a hundred times faster than ordinary people. Now, to keep from dying of boredom, he'll have to navigate the school hierarchy, pit yakuza against rich brats, earn the trust of a top student with a secret poetic gift, and maybe even make a friend. All of this — with the unflappable face of a man who has seen Troy burn.

Opening scene

Meisei High School — January 16, 2026, 7:43 AM --- The classroom on the third floor smells of cleaning solution and something metallic. The morning light creeps through the windows, illuminating dust motes dancing above the desks. Two janitors, Tanaka and Sasaki, push their cart along the corridor. They've done this route a thousand times. Open classroom 3-C, air it out, wipe the board, check for forgotten belongings. Routine. Boring. Safe. Tanaka-san pushes the door open. The smell hits her first. Thick. Sweet. Wrong. Then she sees the floor. A dark red pool stretches from the teacher's desk to the back wall, reflecting the pale fluorescent lights. It's still wet. In the center of it, sitting cross-legged as if waiting for class to start, is a boy in a stained school uniform. Sasaki-san drops her mop. It clatters on the floor. The sound echoes. The boy turns his head. Slowly. Smoothly. His face is pale, smeared with dried blood, but his eyes are calm. Empty. Observing. He looks at the two women without recognition, without fear, without anything. Then he speaks. His voice is low, even, with a strange cadence that doesn't match his teenage face. The boy: "Good morning. I apologize for the mess. I seem to have fallen." He rises to his feet in one fluid motion. Blood drips from his trousers onto the clean floor. He steps out of the pool, leaving red footprints. Tanaka-san can't move. Sasaki-san fumbles for her phone. The boy walks past them into the hallway, his footsteps leaving a trail. He doesn't look back. --- The Infirmary — 8:15 AM The nurse, Tanaka Yumiko, has seen many strange things in twelve years at Meisei. Kids with broken fingers they claim happened "playing sports." Girls with panic attacks before exams. Boys who come in reeking of alcohol and lie about it. But she has never seen a boy walk into her office covered in dry blood with absolutely no wounds. She checks his pulse. Normal. Pupils react to light. Reflexes fine. No cuts, no bruises, no signs of trauma. The blood on his clothes is his blood type, but there's no source. Tanaka Yumiko: "Sato-kun... what happened?" The boy: "I fell. Hit my head. I'm fine now." His eyes drift to the window. He seems uninterested in the conversation. Not nervous. Not evasive. Just... elsewhere. The door opens. Director Yamamoto enters. He nods at the nurse, who steps out. The door clicks shut. Director Yamamoto sits on the edge of the examination table. He looks at the boy for a long moment. Director Yamamoto: "Sato-kun. I've spoken to the janitors. They told me what they saw. I'm not going to ask what really happened. I don't want to know. Do you understand?" The boy turns his gaze from the window. Meets the director's eyes. No fear. No gratitude. Just acknowledgment. The boy: "Yes. I slipped. Nosebleed. Went to the infirmary." Director Yamamoto nods slowly. He's dealt with difficult students before, with rich parents, with problems that needed to disappear. But this one... this one is different. There's something behind those eyes that makes him want to leave this room quickly. Director Yamamoto: "Good. There's spare uniform in the locker room. Change. First period starts in twenty minutes." He stands, pauses at the door, then leaves without another word. --- The Corridor — 8:32 AM You walks through the hallway. Students fill the corridor, laughing, shouting, shoving. The first bell hasn't rung yet. There's Takahashi Kohei at the end of the hall, surrounded by his athlete friends. He's loud, gesturing wildly. Tension visible in his shoulders. He glances at every teacher who passes. There's Amano Yuki, walking alone with a textbook. Her posture is perfect. Her face is blank. There's Chan Wei, slipping through the crowd like a shadow, avoiding eye contact. Near the stairs, Ito Ryo hunches over his laptop, oblivious to the chaos around him. You continues toward classroom 3-C. --- Classroom 3-C — 8:35 AM You enters the classroom. The seat at the back, by the window, is empty. The desk has scuff marks on its surface — footprints, probably, from someone using it as a footrest. Students are settling into their places. A few glance up as You passes, then look away. Unremarkable. Unnoticed. Kohei is already seated two rows ahead, surrounded by his friends. He's laughing at something. When You walks by, his eyes flicker toward him for a fraction of a second. The laugh pauses. Then continues. Yuki sits at the front, her back straight, a notebook open on her desk. She doesn't turn around. Chan is at the far end of the row, near the window. He looks up briefly, meets You's gaze for a moment, then quickly looks down. Ryo isn't in this class. He's in the parallel room. The desk by the window is empty. The one with the scuff marks. The one that, according to memory, belongs to the boy whose body You now wears. The second bell rings. Sato-sensei, the history teacher, shuffles to the podium. He smells faintly of alcohol. His eyes are tired. He opens a textbook without looking at the class. Sato-sensei: "Open your books to page 47. We're continuing with the Meiji Restoration." Pages rustle. Someone coughs. A phone buzzes and is quickly silenced. You sits down at the desk by the window. The seat is still warm from whoever occupied it before. Outside, the city stretches gray under the January sky. The lesson begins.

Characters

Tags: Student Athlete HighSchool Arrogant Confident Protective Overprotective Leader Male Human Modern SchoolLife School Youth Bully Female Cold Mafia Family Beauty Introvert Aloof ArrangedMarriage Reliable Shy SociallyAnxious Hacker Genius IQ Anime Ambitious Manipulative Two-faced Prideful Rational RichPerson Music Brooding Lonely Calm Loyal Principled Strong Fighter Swordsman Patient Silent Kind Mature Doctor Gentle Soft Teacher WorldWeary Scholar Friendly Cheerful Energetic Naive Optimistic Police Senior Guardian Suit Stubborn Angst Rebirth Supernatural Fantasy Reincarnator System Mysterious Non-human Transmigration ParallelDimensions Transmigrator Strategist HiddenIdentity Growth

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By: vector_fonran

Stories

Redirecting to ISEKAI ZERO...