When Yūki Asuna and Asagiri stepped into the gym, they saw several students and a few young-looking male and female teachers already working out on treadmills and other equipment.
The moment the two opened the door, several curious glances turned toward them, because, unlike the teachers and students already working out, Asagiri and Yūki Asuna were both still wearing their school uniforms, which were unsuitable for exercise.
This was unavoidable. Today was just the first day of school, and the school hadn't yet distributed the gym uniforms they had purchased based on the students' submitted sizes. For this reason, there were no 1st-year freshmen to be seen in the gym.
What normal student, on their first day of high school, wouldn't go check out clubs they were interested in, but instead come here to exercise?
Seeing that the others only glanced at them before returning to their workout, without keeping their eyes fixed on them, Asagiri frowned, looking slightly displeased.
"Hmm? No one is shooting me hostile glances... I see. It's only the first day of school, and only one morning has passed. Although my story is circulating in the high school division, it hasn't reached the point where everyone recognizes me yet... Looks like I still need to try harder."
Yūki Asuna had gradually gotten used to Asagiri's habit of saying startling things, but she couldn't help but feel the urge to comment.
"Seriously... I've truly never met anyone who is so eager to be excluded and bullied..."
"Excluded? Don't be ridiculous."
Asagiri shook his head, looking as if he'd heard a bad joke.
"I have no need to associate with them anyway, nor am I the type of person who needs to integrate into some collective and use the false pretense of harmony to gain self-acceptance. In my view, most of the students in Shuchiin are fundamentally unworthy of interacting with me. As for bullying... that's even more nonsensical."
Asagiri smiled, speaking words that surprised Yūki Asuna.
"This bunch of Shuchiin students, trying to bully me? I made a deal with Ashikaga-sensei, and I will fulfill my promise to her—to change Shuchiin's nauseating, decadent atmosphere."
"I don't have the time to catch every one of those obstinate individuals one by one. So, I will let them come to me, and then I will inflict the real bullying on them, letting them personally experience the despair of being humiliated yet utterly powerless."
"This can also be seen as educating them on the principle of 'Do not do unto others what you would not have them do unto you.' They want to attack me, but I will repay their malice with virtue. Tsk, how truly gentle of me."
Hearing this, Yūki Asuna didn't know how to respond. She only felt a sense of worry.
Her worry wasn't for Asagiri, but for the students of Shuchiin, especially the freshmen in their grade who had to spend three years with this Demon King.
Don't forget, this Utsunomiya-kun was someone who dared to talk and laugh with a three-meter-tall blood-faced Careworker, beat five delinquents so badly they were hospitalized, and even committed murder the first time he entered an instance.
If you thought about it, the attempts at bullying by these pampered Shuchiin students would probably be seen by him as little more than children playing house.
She wondered who the next unlucky victim to provoke him would be.
A few minutes later, Yūki Asuna followed Asagiri to the squat rack. She watched as he loaded heavy iron plates onto both sides of the barbell.
Just as Asagiri finished loading the plates and was about to start squatting, a large, broad-shouldered middle-aged man in a tracksuit, who looked like a gym teacher, noticed the activity. He frowned and quickly walked over to caution them.
"Hey, student, that weight is too heavy! And you're not even wearing a weight belt! You must be new to the gym, right? Start small and warm up, then gradually add weight. Squats are very dangerous. If you really want to train, I can spot you. That would be much safer."
Facing the gym teacher's kindness, Asagiri simply smiled and shook his head. He walked directly up to the bar and, in a perfect posture, settled the heavy barbell onto his shoulders. Then, under the teacher's disbelieving gaze, he completed a squat while talking.
"This is just warm-up weight for me."
The gym teacher was stunned, his face blank.
"Ninety kilograms... is just a warm-up?"
Ninety kilograms for a squat wasn't an exaggerated weight for the male teacher, who had a degree in physical education. In fact, in a professional gym, this weight wasn't considered high.
However, a high school student performing a ninety-kilogram squat without any protective gear and without warming up—he had genuinely never seen that before.
Just then, Asagiri did something that left the gym teacher utterly speechless.
"Still too light."
As he said this, he picked up two more 25kg weight plates from the floor and added them to the barbell. Including the previous ninety kilograms, that was now one hundred and forty kilograms.
At this point, not only the gym teacher but everyone in the gym stopped what they were doing and watched with wide eyes as Asagiri lifted the one hundred and fifty-kilogram barbell. He performed a squat effortlessly, and even bounced lightly when he stood back up.
"Holy cow..."
"Is that guy... human?"
"The bar is actually bending... how strong is he..."
"Where did this master come from? I've never seen him before."
Everyone in the gym, including the teacher, was completely dumbfounded.
Although the gym teacher had seen plenty of people who could squat one hundred and forty kilograms, someone doing it this easily would definitely be hailed as a muscle god in a professional gym.
Crucially, Asagiri's physique wasn't the kind that looked bulky or overly massive; he was lean and tall. The ability to lift such an exaggerated weight showed incredible natural talent.
What the gym teacher didn't know was that this wasn't even Asagiri's limit.
He could already squat one hundred and forty kilograms as a single repetition in junior high. He was only testing the physical stat boost provided by the Jaki-ō Persona's passive effect. Based on his own perception, with the Jaki-ō passive boost, his maximum squat weight could easily exceed two hundred kilograms.
However, doing that in public would be too shocking.
Seeing Asagiri rack the barbell, looking completely unexerted and even relaxed, the gym teacher seemed to realize something. He asked tentatively:
"Could it be... you are the legendary freshman, Utsunomiya Asagiri-kun?"