Chapter 322

After lunch, still worried about the bullied student, I headed down to Class 1-C.

A hulking upperclassman with a different colored name tag loitering in the hallway naturally drew stares.

A few students recognized me, probably from when I clashed with the Judo Club during the winter term.

"Hello..."

A female underclassman I didn't recognize offered a timid greeting.

When I reflexively nodded back, she and her friends burst into giggles. It felt pretty good, honestly.

Good looks really do pay off.

Approaching the open back door of Class 1-C, I peeked inside.

Hiyori was sitting in the back, chatting away with her friends in a warm, cheerful atmosphere.

Someone must have cracked a joke; she clapped her hands with a loud smack, her exaggerated reaction undeniably cute.

The kid being bullied was sitting toward the middle of the room.

The punk whose calf I had kicked in the cafeteria was back at it. He pettily kicked the desk leg, snickering with his posse as they harassed the kid again.

Why was he acting like a little bitch, sneaking petty jabs instead of just being openly hostile?

That question was soon answered.

The punk stopped his covert harassment and sauntered over to Hiyori.

"Asahina! You said you play Apex, right?"

Hiyori paused her conversation and glanced up at his booming voice.

"Yeah. I just started playing not too long ago."

"Want to play together today?"

"No thanks. I don't play games that much. Plus I have plans today, so maybe next time."

"Oh, really? All right then."

Wow. The same thug who had been extorting kids in the cafeteria completely changed his tone in front of Hiyori, turning into a docile little sheep.

He obviously had a huge crush on her.

It was only natural, of course, but that didn't stop it from annoying the hell out of me.

Having taken the temperature of the room, I drew in a deep breath.

Then I spoke in a low voice—one that easily carried across the entire classroom.

"Hey, you. Come here."

The bustling classroom instantly fell silent as every pair of eyes snapped toward me.

The bullied kid, the punk I had kicked, Hiyori, and the rest of the class all whipped their heads in my direction.

"Oh? Matsu—"

Hiyori's already large eyes widened even further as she was about to call out to me, but she was interrupted. "Me?"

The punk, catching my glare, pointed a finger at himself.

Interrupting Hiyori when she was talking to me? Ten demerit points. Death penalty.

"Yeah, you."

"...What is it?"

Listen to that disrespectful tone. He had all the makings of a perfect problem child to make me look good.

As he stepped toward me, his little gang swarmed out with him, wearing aggressive scowls.

Such great loyalty. School had barely even started...

It made me feel a little lonely. If Takashi were here, he would have been a solid backup.

I wondered how he was doing lately. Maybe I should give him a call.

"What were you just doing?"

"What do you mean?"

"You were bullying him, weren't you?"

"No."

"You literally just kicked his desk leg."

"What are you talking about? I never did that."

If he was going to lie, he could have at least been confident about it instead of nervously shifting his eyes toward the others.

Total amateur hour.

"Where's your name tag?"

"On my desk."

"Name."

"What's it to you?"

"Your name."

I repeated myself with an openly annoyed scowl. The punk flinched slightly before reluctantly answering.

"...Nishida."

"Is that how you talk to an upperclassman?"

"It's Nishida."

"Nishida what, punk."

"...Nishida Yuji. Why? Are you a big deal or something?"

Asking if I was a big deal without even throwing in a proper title.

I guess calling me sunbae-nim would have killed him.

I could read a guy like this like an open book.

"Yeah. I am."

"Like who?"

"None of your business. Just know I'm watching you."

Punks like Nishida, who stood right in front of me boldly baring their fangs and snapping back, weren't scary at all.

The ones you really had to watch out for were the creeps like Tetsuya, who reeked of sinister, obsessive energy.

The type who would see a beautiful woman get out of a parked car, memorize the phone number on her dashboard slip, and obsessively stalk her.

Just picturing it gave me goosebumps.

"Do whatever you want. Jeez..."

Grumbling in a pathetic attempt to save his pride, Nishida spun around and dragged his posse away.

I mentally lamented the complete lack of basic respect these days, before abruptly realizing I hadn't been any different during my own freshman year. I smacked my lips and let it go.

"What was that about? Did something happen?"

Hiyori had approached the back door without me noticing.

I deliberately pointed an index finger straight at Nishida's back.

"That kid, Nishida or whatever his name is. Keep an eye on him."

"Whyy?"

"He's been bullying a classmate."

"Who did he bully?"

"Him. The kid with glasses sitting toward the middle."

"Noguchi?"

"I don't know his name, but watch out for him. He was doing it in the cafeteria earlier, too."

"Really? I had no idea. I'll make sure to let Miho know."

"Don't just pawn it off on Mitsushima. Keep an eye out yourself, too."

"Got it. Did you come all the way down here just for that?"

"Pretty much."

I could have asked her to treat Noguchi well, but then the kid might end up developing a massive crush on Hiyori, so I skipped it.

You had to separate business from personal feelings, after all.

Honestly, even without me saying anything, now that Hiyori understood the situation, she would naturally go out of her way to be kind to Noguchi.

"I'll keep a close watch. Don't you worry."

Hiyori closed her eyes, giving me a sage nod and speaking in a mature, reliable tone.

It reminded me so much of Chinami that I had to speak up.

"Great, but why do you keep dropping the honorifics—"

"Quiet...! Keep your voice down...!" she hissed. "You just gave them a badass warning. If you act all flustered now, they won't take you seriously."

"Who? You?"

"No...! I mean everyone else."

"Aren't you the one making me look like a joke right now?"

"Am not. But sunbae-nim, did you actually see Nishida bullying Noguchi?"

Look at her immediately changing the subject. I wanted nothing more than to flick her on the forehead.

"Yeah."

"So you rescued him?"

"Rescued is a strong word..."

"I bet you punished Nishida in your own special way. With a little bit of... physical persuasion?"

If 'physical persuasion' meant flat-out violence, she was spot on.

"Why are you being so nosy?"

"Aww, are you embarrassed? Want a Suichu to feel better?"

Hiyori's face was glowing with delight.

She wasn't happy just to be talking to me—she seemed genuinely proud that I had stepped in to protect Noguchi.

She could have easily asked Nishida for his side of the story to cross-check, but she had chosen to trust my word without hesitation.

It made sense. Over the vacation, we had bumped into each other at the cafe as a customer and a part-timer. We had talked and gotten to know each other pretty well. She knew what kind of guy I was. Hell, if I were her, I'd trust me over Nishida too.

Wait a second. Why was Hiyori acting all proud of me?

She wasn't Miyuki. This was completely backward.

"I don't want it. I'm leaving."

"Okaay."

Smiling radiantly, Hiyori waved a hand at me.

I let out a dry chuckle at how naturally she had dropped the honorifics again, shook my head, and walked away from Class 1-C.

It felt like I had scored some points with her... but it left a weird taste in my mouth.

Either way, during club activities today, I was going to pull Renka into a tight hug without saying a single word.

Granted, Renka would probably snap at me and ask what the hell was wrong with me, but still.

When I finally returned to my seat just before class started, Miyuki asked where I had been.

I gave her the full rundown of what had happened, and her eyes went wide.

"That happened? Right before Matsuda-kun shared his sausages with me?"

"Yeah."

"How did I miss it?"

"You were busy talking to your friends."

"I was? I'm sorry. I'll make sure to keep a closer eye out from now on."

She didn't have anything to be sorry for.

Still, her declaring she would 'keep a closer eye out' sent a slight chill down my spine.

"So you gave that junior, Nishida, a scolding?"

"Not a scolding, exactly. I just told him I'd be watching him."

"Did you want to smack him but held it in?"

Smack him? I wanted to snap his neck, but I let him live.

Feeling too lazy to elaborate, I leaned back in my chair and tilted my head up. Miyuki gently stroked my hair, as if praising a good boy.

Mmm... the feeling of her slender fingers running through my hair wasn't bad at all.

The light taps against my scalp every now and then were pretty nice, too...

My Miyuki really had a knack for turning a guy on.

Even if she had learned it all from spending time with me.

"You said his name was Nishida Yuji? I'll keep an eye on him, too."

"Do whatever you want. But hey, was he on that list of freshmen you said we needed to watch out for?"

"No. That was the first time I'd heard his name today. If he was one of those kids, I would have recognized him the moment Matsuda-kun mentioned his name."

Which meant he was a nobody.

I had wasted a perfectly good adrenaline rush thinking he was an actual threat. I was definitely going to extort some School Store snacks out of that four-eyes, Noguchi, later.

"What's the criteria for that watchlist of yours, anyway?"

"It's just a heads-up on kids who got into trouble before they enrolled. There's no actual list. What do you think this is, some corporate blacklist?"

"You just said you would have recognized the name immediately. That means you've got them all memorized in that head of yours. How is that any different from a list?"

"Look at you being all logical today. Your brain seems to be firing on all cylinders—want to study right now?"

"Study? Ugh, class is about to start."

"Let's just go over a few things before the bell rings. Just a little bit."

Miyuki had gotten incredibly brazen lately.

One moment she was as demure as a proper young lady, and the next, she was bubbling with mischievous energy like this...

I loved how multifaceted she was.

Anyway, God... I definitely racked up some good karma today.

Sure, it involved a little bit of violence, but that's not going to come back to bite me, right?

Please take care of my bad karma yourself, and make sure only good things happen to me.

Offering that selfish little prayer of gratitude to the heavens, I reached into my desk drawer and pulled out my workbook.