Caste Crusher Tsukimura-kun - Prologue

School caste.

It was the most important word in this story, and the most abhorrent.

The origin of the word was the original caste system in India.

The news caused by this social system often pops up even in Japan, usually with an egregious and grotesque ending.

Every time we see or hear about it, we wonder, “would the caste system ever go away?” But we, who have somehow created our own caste system in Japan, made the possibility nearly impossible.

The caste system in schools — the School Caste.

However, we have no choice but to escape from school.

We have to fight our way through this place called “school” from as soon as we could remember until we venture out into society. We also have to accommodate the School Caste.

That’s why — School Caste eats away at our hearts.

The disease is spreading.

Fukuzawa Yukichi has said, “Heaven does not create a man above another man.” But now we are learning in school how to look down on, discriminate, classify, and distinguish between people who are naturally the same as us.

No, we are being forced to learn that.

Because that is the skill we need to fight in this place. If you don’t learn this, you will be at a disadvantage in many situations. You will have a hard time finding a partner to pair up with in gym class, and you will end up feeling isolated and alone in all kinds of situations. Even if they are humiliated, they cannot complain about it and have to live with a huge debt in their hearts.

Of course, it goes both ways.

The debtor learns the pain of being distinguished and the debt giver learns the pleasure of distinguishing others.

As a result, monsters are born.

There are already tens or hundreds of thousands of monsters unleashed in Japan. People who think they are superior to others. And those who think they are inferior to others.

—The “strong demons” and the “weak demons”.

And they will surely end their lives without ever realizing that they are demons.

This is not good for Yukichi, who is now resting in heaven.

But he should be given some relief as he is about to pass the baton to Shibusawa Eiichi.

That’s why I thought.

—Is there a way to get rid of the school caste?

Something has to be done.

I think about it every day.

But I don’t have the power. I’m just an ordinary person, I’m not superhuman. I can’t fly, I can’t use magic, I can’t use supernatural powers. If I get stabbed with a knife, I die. If I get hit over the head with a baseball bat, I die.

I die even if I’m made of wood or metal.

I can’t even start a revolution. As a mere student, I cannot bring a truly equal, moral, and better student life system to Japan right now.

So…now I thought I’d start with what I can do.

It is a tiny resolution.

There is no way to eradicate school caste from schools—right now, the limit of what I can target is…a class at most (I think that’s still pretty big).

I want to do my best to crush this thing that is taking away freedom from everyone in my class.

I may be wrong. Maybe this kind of decision itself is unworthy of me.

However, as I have said many times, I am not a superhuman. There are limits to what I can do. But I do have my advantages.

I, in this class…No, at least our grade, I think.

Actually, I, Tsukimura Hibiki — am at the top of the school caste that exists at “Hachioji Municipal High School” which I am currently attending.

School Caste…To crush such a system from the top or the bottom? I thought about the title of a movie, which was only popular for its theme song, for a minute.

It must be easier to crush the School Caste from the top.

That was why I had climbed to the very top — That was a lie.

Somehow, I always find myself naturally at the top. The view from that “place higher than anyone else” was natural to me, a normal and expected view.

I sometimes feel really bad about the mass of contradictions I have.

But I’ve made up my mind.

—I have decided that I would do what I could do, even if it was distorted.