Chapter 260: The First Ryuen Group Championship

Forest school, gymnasium.

Faced with Nagumo Miyabi's provocation, the gaze behind Horikita Manabu's glasses sharpened abruptly. To everyone's surprise, this former Student Council President, always so steady, slowly nodded under the watchful eyes of the entire student body.

"Fine. But the rule is, it must stay within permitted bounds, and must absolutely not involve others."

Nagumo's smile deepened. He spread both hands theatrically. "Of course."

Under the gazes of the whole school, Nagumo agreed readily, and this duel that had drawn the entire school's attention officially began.

Watching this, Fuyuji Mikage, who had been lurking at the edge of the crowd the whole time, ready to bolt at any moment, shook his head with a sigh.

Manabu probably thought that with the entire male student body as witnesses, Nagumo would keep his word. After all, he still had a year left as Student Council President. Going back on his word would undoubtedly damage the credibility of his rule going forward.

On the other hand, it was also because during the time Nagumo had spent with Manabu, though he was a bit of a wild card, on the whole he still followed Manabu's instructions. Two years of working together on the student council had built up trust bit by bit.

But unfortunately, Manabu had miscalculated one thing...

Fuyuji looked up at the sky and let out a long sigh.

And that was that, faced with a Manabu about to graduate, even if it meant unilaterally declaring victory, even if it meant going back on his word, even if it meant damaging the reputation he'd painstakingly built over two years, Nagumo would still choose to do it.

What was the reason behind this? A distortion of human nature, or a decline of morals?

Horikita-aniki, it wasn't this rigid personality of yours that ruined you. It was the world that ruined you!

...

After witnessing the agreement between the current and former Student Council Presidents, the crowd of onlookers who had eaten their fill of drama dispersed, each led by their supervising teacher to the group dormitories.

Compared to the school buildings outside, which were well-maintained and looked antique from the exterior, the group dormitory could be described as something that would explode if you looked at it twice.

A stale chill floated at the tip of the nose, mixed with dust and some kind of damp smell. The ceiling looked like it might collapse at any moment, the peeling wall plaster like the cracked, withered skin on the back of an old man's hand.

In the center of the room, six wooden bunk beds were arranged neatly. Since the group was short three people, compared to the other full rooms, this one seemed a little more spacious. But only a little.

"This bed isn't going to collapse on us while we're sleeping, is it?"

Shibata So, carrying his luggage bag, reached out a hand and shook the wooden bed, his eye twitching wildly. The next second, a creaking sound came out.

"Very possible," the bat-like diplomat Hashimoto Masayoshi picked up the thread with a smile, scanning the group dormitory's environment. "There's not even a bathroom. If you need to go at night, you have to run outside."

"Heh..." Ryuen Kakeru let out a scoff. "Look at these spoiled rich kids. Can't even handle this much?"

Before the words faded, a fierce light flashed in his eyes. Without any warning, he raised his right leg and kicked out with sudden force!

Bang!

An ear-splitting crash exploded in the cramped room. The bunk bed near the door was kicked so hard it slid backward a short distance with a harsh scraping sound. A violent, savage aura instantly filled the entire space.

"Sa," a venomous, cold smile surfaced on Ryuen's face, "enough talk. Now it's time for you to obey my commands as your leader."

With that, he pulled out that same CPU-style speech he'd been using for nearly a year without ever bothering to revise it, one that even Class C students used as a sleep aid.

"As long as you obey my commands, I guarantee—"

"Mmhm~" Kouenji Rokusuke flicked his blond hair and walked straight past him with his eyes closed. "Sorry, dragon boy. I'm not interested in class points. Beautiful me is not defined." With that, he set his luggage bag on the top bunk near the balcony, as if no one else existed.

"Actually... I'm Class A's weirdo. I'm not interested in class points either. Do whatever you want. If you''ll excuse me." Fuyuji followed, claiming the other top bunk near the balcony.

"I am interested in graduating from Class A, but I have a grudge against you." Hashimoto smiled, patted Ryuen's shoulder a few times, and went to the bunk below Fuyuji's.

"You sleep in that bed yourself. When it collapses at night and crushes you to death, you won't have to go to prison." Yukimura Teruhiko pushed up his glasses and calmly helped analyze the situation for him.

"Do you need me to help move the bed back into place?" Shibata tried to win him over with enthusiasm.

"..." Yamauchi Haruki walked past with his head ducked, thinking, 'Why does this feel different from what I imagined?'

...

A short while later, the other classes' students filed into the room one after another, picked their beds, and throughout the entire process, not a single argument broke out. One had to say, with Ryuen, this universally disliked target, serving as a unifying scapegoat, everyone behaved surprisingly amicably.

A cold draft gusted in through the door crack, stirring the loose hair on the forehead of Ryuen, who stood frozen at the door like a statue, revealing the bulging veins at his temple. Blood rushed uncontrollably to his cheeks and neck, the burning sensation traveling from his skin all the way down to the bottom of his heart.

"Hello, I'm Fuyuji Mikage." A hand extended, hovering in midair.

"Hello, I'm Hamaguchi Tetsuya." Hamaguchi, on the neighboring top bunk, froze for a moment, then revealed a mild smile and reached out to shake it amicably.

Just then—

A faint click sounded. The room's old wooden door was gently shut.

Everyone turned toward the sound. Yamada Albert and Komiya Kyogo stood to Ryuen's left and right.

"Everyone," Ryuen slowly turned around, that chilling smile back on his face, "I don't remember... ever giving you the right to refuse."

"Oh?" Hashimoto rose from his bed with interest, showing not the slightest intention of backing down. "So you're planning to use violence to make us submit?"

"I'll use it if necessary," Ryuen said, glancing at Kouenji, who was lost in his own beauty. He swept a circle around the room, then suddenly grinned. "But... I have a better plan now." Unnoticed, he had already walked over to a bed, examining something.

Shibata, who had originally intended to step in and mediate, followed Ryuen's gaze and his eyes suddenly lit up. He swung his arms, eager to try.

"That thing? If it's allowed, please let me join too!"

Hashimoto also wore a look of understanding. "When you talk about a joint camp, this is a mandatory ritual, isn't it? Usually it's done at night, but now works too."

Ryuen took a heavy step forward. Beside him, Yamada Albert and Komiya Kyogo also began cracking their knuckles.

"Ready to die, you bastards?!"

"Ah! Huh?" Yukimura, positioned between the two, turned his head left and right in a panic. "What on earth are you all talking about?"

Even Yamauchi, who had been completely clueless at the start, seemed to catch on. His face turned ghastly pale in an instant. He quickly stumbled back a few steps, his back pressed tight against the wall, and stammered, "W-wait a minute. I did win a championship in this back in elementary school, b-but I think the material is a bit off, isn't it?"

"That thing?" Fuyuji was a little uncertain.

"Yes." Hamaguchi confirmed with a bitter smile.

With a muffled thump, Kouenji flipped once in the air and landed in a gymnast's graceful pose.

"How could such a youthful, beautiful thing happen without me participating?"

Satonaka Satoru and his newly made friend Watanabe Norihito huddled in a corner, trembling.

"I don't need to explain the rules, right? Those who don't participate automatically submit and obey my orders for the whole week."

Ryuen grabbed the pillow at the head of the bed. Stuffed full of buckwheat, just by bringing it here it weighed three or four pounds.

"Naturally." Hashimoto raised a smile.

"Of course!" Kouenji put away his mirror.

"I'm pretty strong, you know." Shibata twisted his neck.

"No helping it. I don't like violence, but it's come to this..." Fuyuji jumped down from the bed.

Led by Ryuen, the three Class C members lined up. The pillows were tossed up and fell, tossed up... and fell again...

"Three..."

"Two..."

"One!"

Instantly, several furious roars bursting with "killing intent" exploded in the room at the same time:

"Die, Ryuen!"

"I'll kill you, Hashimoto!"

"Man!"

"Charging shot!"

"Beautiful, invincible, strongest!"

"Psychic bomb!"

"Nut projectile!"

In an instant, the previously somewhat spacious room transformed into a chaotic battlefield! The buckwheat pillows, weighing several pounds, became howling cannonballs, spinning meteor hammers, heavy sandbags, flying wildly through the cramped space at astonishing speed and force.

Dust billowed in the air. The already precarious wall plaster began to fall with a rustle. The entire dormitory building could hear the explosive, artillery-like intensity of this group's battle.

Among the remaining few.

Yamauchi silently burrowed under the bed, leaving only his rear end sticking out;

Hamaguchi lay prone on the top bunk to dodge the constantly flying cannonballs;

Satonaka and Watanabe each propped up a blanket as a shield, huddled tightly in the corner;

Yukimura... Yukimura was now sprawled on the ground, life or death unknown. Tragedy! Positioned in the center, he had taken two stray shots.

Time passed little by little amid the impact of the pillows. Yet the seven people in the room grew more and more worked up, their force increasing. Every strike headed straight for the opponent's face. The pillows slamming into the walls made them tremble slightly.

Twenty minutes later.

Amid a chorus of panting, Ryuen braced both hands on his knees and wiped the sweat from his forehead.

"N-not bad, you small fry! To... to actually last through fifty percent of my power!"

Hashimoto sat on the bed, refusing to yield. "Heh... actually... I only used... thirty percent..."

"If I put in even a little effort, you'd all be in an ambulance by now." Fuyuji said honestly.

"Mmhm, this is merely the warm-up level for my perfect physique, boys." Kouenji continued his strange affected tone.

"You guys... are amazing!" Shibata collapsed onto the bed, unable to rise again.

Yamada Albert and Komiya Kyogo panted heavily and exchanged a glance. Both were silent.

Big brothers, please stop pretending!

"In that case," Ryuen stood up shakily and grabbed the pillow off the floor, "let me show you my true strength. One strike and I can kill you all."

"I see. So you're putting all your remaining strength into the final blow?" Hashimoto responded through gritted teeth.

"Interesting. Betting everything?" Kouenji grabbed two pillows at once. His marble-like perfect muscles began to swell as he slowly gathered power.

"Hey, you guys, you have to dodge this one, or you'll die!" Fuyuji reined in his smile.

"Aaah! Burn, my cosmo!" Shibata forced himself up from the bed.

The remaining students retreated back into their permanent fortresses.

For a moment, a strange silence descended on the room. The seven stood in various positions around the room, staring at each other with full concentration, gripping the pillows in their hands. No one moved first.

The air seemed to freeze. Even the floating dust seemed to hang motionless in midair.

They were waiting for a signal!

Outside the balcony, a cold wind gusted past, stirring up the dead leaves on the ground, scraping them along the floor toward the distance with a rustling sound.

Suddenly, from the nearby forest came a high, loud birdsong!

Now!

A cold glint flashed through all seven pairs of eyes at once. Their arm muscles bulged instantly as they raised their pillows high.

"Die!" x7

Seven roars exploded almost simultaneously!

In that split second, the room's old wooden door was shoved open with a swoosh! A dazzling head of blond hair appeared at the doorway. Nagumo's face, wearing that frivolous smile, poked in.

"Hey hey, juniors, making too much noise at the forest school can disturb others—"

"Fierce, savage serpent, devour him!"

"Dark Ball!"

"Death before surrender, great cheer!"

"Galaxy Supernova Explosion!"

"Man!"

"Watch my spatial slash that borrows Ryuen Kakeru's luck for the next week!"

Within 0.05 seconds, the frivolous smile on blond senpai's face froze, then instantly turned to terror.

"W-wait—"

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

A five-hit combo!

Time seemed to slow in that moment. Under the rapt gazes of the other students who had followed Nagumo over.

One pillow landed precisely on Nagumo's still-handsome face. His whole body flew backward. Then, in midair, the second, the third... continued to land accurately on his face, his body wobbling irregularly in the air, until the muffled thud of the fifth pillow rang out. The current Student Council President, Nagumo Miyabi, hit the floor with a dull thud. Dust rose around him. He lost consciousness completely.

Nagumo Miyabi, KO!

The whole world seemed to go silent for an instant.

The next second, the boys' dormitory erupted like a pot boiling over. Horrified gasps, gleeful laughter from those who loved a good show, and whistles all mixed together in utter chaos, unending.

"What's going on?"

Within mere dozens of seconds, the teacher patrolling nearby pushed through the crowd. Seeing the obvious swelling already rising on Nagumo's face, he turned toward the people in the room. His sharp gaze swept across the room, a wreckage like the aftermath of a hurricane, and he demanded loudly.

"Who did this?!"

"Him!" x9

Without a trace of hesitation, the people in the room tacitly made the choice dictated by bodily instinct. Nine fingers pointed in unison at the center of the room, at Ryuen, still holding his throwing pose!

"Bullshit! It wasn't me!" The veins on Ryuen's face bulged. He had been facing away from the door the whole time.

"It was him!" x9

Ten minutes later, amid a torrent of Ryuen's furious ancestral curses, Nagumo was carried off on a stretcher.

"You damn bastards, you treacherous mongrels! Assholes! Just you wait! I'll definitely be back!"

"See you tonight, leader!" x11

The members of Ryuen's group stood at the room door, their faces covered in earnest smiles as they watched him leave.

The outcome of the first day of the mixed exam: Ryuen Kakeru's defeat!

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