Karuizawa Kei stood at the entrance to the rooftop.
She quickly rehearsed her words in her head.
Her core goal was to persuade the other party to join the Boxing Club. After all, more than half of the seniors would graduate next year.
Currently, the only first-years capable of carrying the weight of the club were Yamada Albert and Shimizu Akira; the club desperately needed fresh blood.
However, thinking about the caller being a bullied first-year, she couldn't help but feel a surge of sympathy.
'Which class is she from?'
Definitely not Class C; her own classmates wouldn't use such a distant tone. Besides, Class C didn't really have anyone who enjoyed bullying others anymore. Class B was also unlikely—with Ichinose Honami around, she certainly wouldn't allow bullying to persist.
That left Class A and Class D.
What if the girl remained hesitant after being persuaded? Karuizawa struggled with the thought for a while before making up her mind.
Perhaps she could share her own past experience of being bullied; that might win the girl's trust.
Of course, she wouldn't reveal it directly as her own past, but would tell it as the story of a "friend of a friend" to show she could truly empathize with that feeling of being picked on.
After ntally preparing herself, Karuizawa took a deep breath and gently pushed open the rooftop door.
The door creaked in the wind, and a cold winter gust swept over her, making her instinctively shiver. She looked around; the vast rooftop held only a few dust-covered air conditioning units. She didn't see the girl who had called.
"Is anyone here?" she called out tentatively, her voice wavering in the wind.
No response.
An inexplicable sense of unease rose in Kei's heart. She reached for her phone to call the girl, but the screen suddenly lit up with a text from the unknown number: Walk forward to the edge of the rooftop. I'm over here.
She hesitated but followed the instructions. As she reached the edge, she finally saw a girl in a first-year uniform standing with her back turned.
Her slender fra felt strangely familiar.
"Was it you who called ?" Kei asked, softening her voice.
The student turned around slowly, a aningful smirk on her face. "Manager Karuizawa... Good afternoon!"
Kei froze. "You're Yabu Nanami from Class 1-D!"
This woman was one of the Class D "gyaru" trio who always hung around with Manabe Shiho. A person like her being bullied?
"So easy to trick, Karuizawa! You really are a stupid woman!" Yabu sneered, making no effort to hide her malice.
Kei's heart tightened. Based on her middle school experience, when a female student treated her this way, it usually ant the bullying was about to begin.
"Boring! I'm going back!" She turned imdiately to leave.
However, at that mont, the rooftop door was pushed open again, and several Class D students sward in. The arrivals were Ryuen Kakeru, Manabe Shiho, Yamashita Saki, and Ishizaki Daichi.
"Karuizawa Kei!" Manabe approached with a cold laugh. "You think you can escape that easily?"
Kei instinctively took half a step back and scanned her surroundings. Ryuen stood at the front with his hands in his pockets; Manabe and Yamashita blocked her path on the left and right, and Ishizaki's hulking fra completely obstructed the exit.
She was effectively trapped on the rooftop.
"What do you want?" Kei asked, forcing herself to remain calm.
"Making trouble under the surveillance caras—aren't you afraid of being expelled?"
Ryuen sneered.
"What a coincidence. When we ca up just now, the rooftop caras 'happened' to be covered in black spray paint. So right now, the surveillance room can't see anything here, you stupid woman."
This was part of the preparation he had made this morning. Behind her, Yabu Nanami let out a triumphant giggle.
Manabe stepped forward.
"Karuizawa Kei! I haven't settled the debt for you talking back to over the sumr! You got lucky during the VIP special exam, but no one is here to protect you now."
A sudden force struck Kei's back. Before she could react, her phone was snatched from her hand. Yabu Nanami smirked as she brandished the phone, intentionally walking in front of Kei
before throwing it onto the ground. Ryuen then stepped forward and kicked the phone toward the rooftop door.
"Sorry," Yabu said, tilting her head with a fake smile. "We can't have you contacting those senpais in the Boxing Club. If Shimizu Akira rushes here to save you, our plan will be ruined."
Kei retreated half a step, her face pale.
Her phone was gone! This group had planned everything. They deliberately chose this mont to reveal themselves, using talk to distract her so Yabu could steal the phone from behind. Without a phone and trapped on a remote rooftop, she was truly in a bind.
"I told you, didn't I, Karuizawa?" Ryuen cracked his knuckles.
"You're going to pay the price. The boxing tickets, mocking in public during the sports festival—today is the day you pay your debts."
"Hahaha! What a stupid woman!" Manabe laughed at Kei's panicked look.
"No way? You actually thought soone wanted to join your pathetic Boxing Club? The senpais are almost all gone; who would want to go? Yabu made up a story and you ca running?"
"Hilarious!" Yamashita mocked. "What's inside your head? Would a normal person ask to et you on a rooftop?"
"Of course she would co!" Yabu clapped her hands gleefully.
"I specifically studied people like her who have been bullied. As soone who has suffered the sa, how could she ignore a plea for help?"
Kei's breathing beca ragged.
"Stop talking nonsense! What bullying? I have no idea what you're talking about."
"Still pretending!" Ryuen's sharp gaze locked onto her trembling legs.
"Haven't you noticed your knees are shaking? You're this scared before we've even touched you... It seems those past experiences of being bullied have left you with a conditioned reflex."
Ryuen intentionally slowed his speech, enunciating every word: "Do you need to help you rember? Grabbing your hair and slamming you against a wall, sticking gum in your hair, drenching you with cold water in winter, slapping your face—the first one on the left, then the right..."
Kei could no longer stop her body from shaking.
"Haha! Look at this woman! Ryuen only said a few words and her face turned white. Did she really suffer all those bullying tricks?"
"Incredible! I bullied so many people in middle school, but this woman is a top-tier specin of being broken!"
"I heard she doesn't participate in swimming lessons at all! Tsk tsk, I wonder if there are so ugly scars left on her body?"
Below Kei's left breast, there was indeed a hideous scar.
Every ti she showered, she would fall into a spiral of self-loathing. It was only after eting Shimizu Akira and joining the Boxing Club that this situation had slightly improved.
Ryuen caught her subtle flinch and sneered.
"Oh, so there are scars? Tsk tsk, looks like you were thoroughly bullied back then."
Although Ryuen enjoyed bullying, he usually only targeted those who didn't submit; he had little interest in those who were already obedient.
In middle school, bullying between classmates never happened in his class because he was the only one allowed to bully others.
Ryuen would, at most, beat soone up to vent; leaving scars on a girl with a blade... that's a step away from killing soone.
Why so much hatred? It wasn't worth it.
Ryuen snorted.
"Karuizawa, aren't you quite popular with the girls in Class C? 'Empress'—what a grand title. Now listen up—if you don't want your middle school bullying and those 'souvenirs' on your body to appear all over the school forums, be my new mole in Class C. From now on, during special exams, you must report every move of Shimizu Akira, Horikita Suzune, Hirata Yousuke, and Kushida Kikyo to without omitting a single detail."
He had learned his lesson. Since his own reputation was ruined, he would use the anonymous forum as a weapon—no one could trace the poster's identity.
"I'll give you five minutes to think. If you agree, I'll let you go today, and Manabe and the others won't bother you anymore. We'll call it even."
"No!" Kei refused almost instantly.
"I'm giving you a chance, Karuizawa!"
Ryuen's face darkened completely. He felt he had made enough concessions.
Usually, his style was to beat the person first and threaten them later. This ti he hadn't even raised a hand, and this woman dared to refuse without thinking?
The frustration from being thwarted in Class C this morning exploded. Ryuen stepped forward and spat, "What do you think you are? Kushida has her popularity as a weapon, Ayanokouji
has his brains—what are you? You dare defy ? You're just a fake gyaru. Without the Boxing Club, without Shimizu Akira, without those backers, what arrogant capital do you have left?!"
Kei's body shook uncontrollably. Her head was lowered, but she gritted her teeth and spoke clearly, word by word: "I admit, when school started, I was just a parasite. Without soone to cling to, I couldn't survive in this school.
To tell the truth, I'm very scared right now. Scared that you'll swarm , pull my hair, hit ... I'm afraid of all of it."
Kei went silent for several seconds before finally looking Ryuen in the eye.
"But to make sell out my class and betray Akira-kun? Never! I am no longer the fake gyaru who could be manipulated by anyone when school first started!"
"Ha? What is this woman talking about?"
"What a load of crap!"
"Her legs are still shaking; what's she acting tough for?"
To Manabe and the others, Kei's words were a joke.
They had bullied dozens of girls who acted tough on the outside but were hollow inside.
They had never seen soone this stubborn.
"You two stay back, let handle her!" Manabe took a step forward, her eyes malicious.
"I'll grab her hair and give her a few slaps; that'll make her listen. Let's see if she still dares to refuse being a mole!"
Manabe had held a grudge against Kei for a long ti.
She hadn't been able to win in their previous conflicts, and now that Shimizu Akira was away, it was the perfect chance to teach her a lesson. With that, Manabe raised her hand and swung at Kei's cheek.
But in the next second, Kei stepped back and evaded the slap.
"You dare dodge?!"
Manabe's fury intensified. She swung with her other hand, but again, her target nimbly avoided it. Manabe swung too hard, and since the rooftop was covered in a thin layer of winter frost, her foot slipped, nearly sending her to the ground.
Kei dazed for a mont. She looked at her hands, then at the clumsy Manabe. Without her noticing, her trembling legs had steadied.
"What... just as Senpai said, you people who like to bully others aren't as powerful as I imagined," she blurted out instinctively.
"What did you say?!" Manabe's face turned bright red.
"You little piece of trash who got bullied, you dare mock ? I'm going to tear your mouth apart!"
-
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1:30 PM, Day 0 of Winter Break.
Shimizu Akira was rolling up his sleeves, preparing for a deep clean of his dorm room. Suddenly, his phone rang. It was Yamamura Miki.
"Shimizu-kun! Sothing's wrong!" Her voice was panicked.
"I saw Karuizawa-san from your class go to the rooftop, and then Ryuen Kakeru and his group followed her! Sothing is definitely going to happen! Karuizawa-san... she's the manager of your Boxing Club, right?"
"I understand. Thank you for the heads-up. I'll be there right away!"
Akira hung up, changed his clothes at top speed, grabbed his jacket, and dashed out.
He didn't ask how Yamamura knew about Ryuen; he guessed it was likely Sakayanagi Arisu's doing. Ryuen was actually targeting Karuizawa Kei and had lured her to a remote place like the rooftop?
"Is this guy ever going to stop?" Akira was truly annoyed.
He had just been thwarted in Class C this morning, and he was back at it in the afternoon, targeting Kei, who had a history of being bullied?
'Kei, please be okay!'
About ten minutes later, he arrived at the rooftop door and ran into Kondo Reo, who was keeping watch.
"D-damn! Shimizu is here! Don't hit ! I didn't do anything!" Kondo turned pale the mont he saw him.
Akira had no intention of entertaining Kondo's pleas. Saving Kei was the priority. He bypassed him in a stride and kicked open the rooftop door.
The scene before him made him pause. Ryuen and Ishizaki were standing nearby, while the two other girls watched from the side. And Karuizawa Kei was actually in a one-on-one standoff with Manabe Shiho.
Most importantly, she didn't look injured.
Akira's heart finally settled. Just then, Manabe scread and lunged at Kei. Using her opponent's montum, Kei nimbly ducked and tightened her fist, landing a precise body blow to Manabe's abdon.
"Urgh...!" Manabe let out a muffled groan and slowly sank to the floor, clutching her stomach.
"What... Manabe was hit by her?"
"Isn't Karuizawa Kei just a club manager? When did she learn to fight?"
Akira watched Kei's solid, steady footwork and finally breathed a long sigh of relief.
She was okay. It turned out his manager had been secretly learning boxing. No wonder he often saw her with that female senior from the club lately.
This was likely the surprise she wanted to give him.
"Hey! All of you, go at her together! This woman knows a bit of martial arts!" Ryuen hadn't noticed the movent behind him, his attention entirely on Kei.
Yamashita Saki and Yabu Nanami hesitantly closed in.
"Karuizawa Kei, how long have you been in the Boxing Club? You think you can take on three people with just the basics?" Yamashita sneered.
"Once we pin you down, let's see if you can still act tough."
Faced with the three of them, Kei showed no cowardice. Instead, she said very calmly, "I never thought I could win against the three of you. I've been learning for less than two months; landing one punch on you is already my biggest gain. If I could win easily, it would be an insult to the senpais who have trained for a long ti. Akira-kun told that logic."
She took another deep breath, her eyes looking at the three of them with newfound seriousness.
"That one punch has shown that you aren't actually that scary. It doesn't matter how much you bully today; I will continue to train twice as hard in the Boxing Club. One day, I will pay back today's treatnt twofold! You three, just wait!"
"This woman... she's like a different person."
"She was literally just shaking..."
"She actually found her confidence? Daring to talk tough?"
The three looked at each other.
"Well said, Kei." Akira's voice ca from behind, filled with pride.
"It seems you've truly grown."
The old Karuizawa Kei would have instinctively shown weakness or begged for rcy. But now, the Kei who could speak those words with such conviction had truly stepped out from the shadow of bullying.
Ryuen spun around. Seeing Akira, a flash of panic crossed his face, quickly replaced by a snarl.
"Shimizu Akira, you again..."
"It's . It seems the lesson this morning wasn't deep enough." Akira stepped forward slowly. "You really don't know what's good for you, Ryuen Kakeru."
Yabu and Manabe instinctively retreated, and Yamashita tensed up. Only Ishizaki remained standing, though hesitation was clear in his eyes.
However, only Ryuen grinned.
"Shimizu Akira! I've hated you for a long ti! Since the rooftop is empty today, I'm going to settle things with you!"
Akira looked at him calmly.
"Are you sure?"
"Of course I'm sure!" Ryuen replied fearlessly.
"The school surveillance just happened to malfunction; this is a golden opportunity. What, are you scared?"
"Fine." Akira cracked his wrists and walked toward him.
"Since you've done such thorough preparation and want a beating so badly, I'll oblige."
It was truly like "soone handing you a pillow when you're sleepy." Since he didn't have to worry about the caras, couldn't he go all out and "respond" properly?
Ryuen took a street-fighting stance, lowering his center of gravity and clenching his fists. Akira maintained a boxing stance, feet staggered, fists protecting his chin.
"Acting tough!" Ryuen spat. He lunged forward, his right fist aiming for Akira's face. Akira stepped aside, parried with his left hand, and landed a precise right jab to Ryuen's ribs.
Ryuen groaned and stumbled back two steps.
"Too slow, movents are too large," Akira evaluated flatly.
"Full of openings."
A fierce look flashed in Ryuen's eyes as he lunged again.
This ti he was smarter; after a feint, he dove low, trying to tackle Akira's waist. But Akira was faster—he brought his knee up, hitting Ryuen in the chest, while simultaneously landing a hook to the side of his face.
Ryuen fell to the ground, blood seeping from the corner of his mouth. He struggled to get up, but Akira stepped on his chest.
"You like solving problems with violence, right?" Akira looked down at him.
"How does it feel to be suppressed by violence yourself?"
"What?! Boss Ryuen was taken down in two punches?"
"I feel like Shimizu isn't even trying..."
Manabe and the others watched in terror. Ryuen, who usually lorded over the class, had been easily neutralized by Akira. It was unsightly.
"Akira-kun! Well done!" Kei cheered.
Ryuen didn't care about the others' gazes; he only saw Akira.
He grabbed the other's leg with all his might, trying to pull him down, but Akira didn't budge—his other foot was like it was rooted to the ground.
"You useless trash! What are you waiting for!" Ryuen roared.
"Attack together!"
"Shimizu! I didn't want to fight you!"
Ishizaki hesitated for a mont, but his long-standing habit of following Ryuen made him charge forward. Manabe bit her lip and followed.
Facing the dual attack, Akira remained calm. He stepped back half a pace with his left foot, evaded Ishizaki's charge, and drove his right elbow into the boy's ribs. Ishizaki cried out in pain and collapsed to his knees, clutching his side.
Manabe took the chance to lunge from the side, her nails aiming for Akira's face. Akira raised his left hand, striking her wrist joint. Manabe shrieked as her arm went limp.
"What are you two waiting for! Do you want to die?"
Yabu and Yamashita looked at each other, struggle flashing in their eyes, but they finally gritted their teeth and joined the fray.
"Catch him!"
Yabu scread as she lunged from the left.
Almost simultaneously, Yamashita rushed in from the right. Just as Yabu was about to touch Akira's sleeve, he dropped his center of gravity and nimbly spun away. Yabu couldn't stop her montum and collided head-on with Yamashita; both staggered and nearly fell.
"Your movents are too obvious," Akira said calmly.
"A common brawler has more technique than you two."
Fuming with sha and anger, Yamashita picked up half a broken mop handle from the ground and swung it at Akira. Yabu reset her stance and tried to ambush him from behind.
Akira didn't even turn around. He precisely parried the wooden stick with his left hand and used his right to pull Yamashita forward. She was dragged into the path of Yabu, who was attacking from behind.
"Ah!" The two cried out as they tumbled together. The entire process was fluid, as if he had predicted all their moves. Akira let go of the stick, allowing it to hit the ground with a dull thud.
"Want to continue?" he asked the two as they struggled to get up.
Yabu clutched her bruised shoulder while Yamashita rubbed her sprained wrist; their eyes were filled with terror as they shook their heads frantically.
On the ground, Ryuen tried to push himself up, but Akira extended his right foot—again, in that familiar spot—stepping firmly on his chest.
Ryuen looked at his four groaning companions, then down at the foot that hadn't moved since the start.
He finally recognized the massive gap in their strength.
Yet he still glared at Akira, spitting out each word: "I'll take the loss this ti, you won! ...But what about tomorrow? The day after? When you're in the bathroom, eating, or sleeping, I'll be watching from the shadows. The mont you relax—I won't hesitate to strike! At that ti, the winner will be Ryuen Kakeru!"
"Aren't you tired? Haven't you lost badly enough?"
This guy was like an unkillable cockroach.
"I, Ryuen Kakeru, can keep losing! But as long as I persist, one day I will win!"
Ryuen t his gaze without fear.
"I don't even know what fear feels like! Even if you step on now, you can never break ! Shimizu Akira, you can never win against !"
'This guy... he really says it! Doesn't know what fear is?'
Everyone feels fear; the only difference is whether they can control it.
"Co on! Shimizu Akira! Haven't you always hated ?! Do it!" Ryuen roared provocatively.
"As you wish." Akira lifted his foot, reached down to grab Ryuen's collar, slamd him against the wall, and delivered a precise left jab to his left eye.
"Hahaha! That's all?! I'm not afraid! Again!" Ryuen shouted toughly, though his voice was starting to tremble.
"Fine." Without hesitation, Akira followed up with a right punch, landing it squarely on Ryuen's right eye.
Ryuen groaned; both eyes began to swell, and his vision blurred. But he still curled his lips into a twisted smile: "Is... is that it? What a sha! I still don't feel a bit of fear! Keep hitting ! Unless you knock unconscious—until then, as long as I don't beg for rcy, I haven't lost. But if you knock out first... then I win!"
'This guy is so annoying! Truly persistent!'
Akira felt that he and Ayanokouji had been wrong; beating him up wasn't working.
It was satisfying, but given the situation... it almost felt like Ryuen was enjoying it more than he was.
'Is this guy a masochist? Does he get more excited the more he's suppressed?'
It seed brute force alone was useless; he needed a different way to handle him.
Akira let go, allowing Ryuen to slide down the wall and sit on the ground. He didn't speak. He just extended his right hand, his thumb and forefinger gently pinching Ryuen's throat.
"You say... you don't know what fear is?"
Akira's fingers tightened slightly. Ryuen could feel the pressure on his neck.
"Then let ask you—" Akira's thumb moved up slowly, stopping just below Ryuen's eye socket.
"If I poke down right now, your right eye will lose its vision within 0.3 seconds. What is the emotion you're feeling now?"
Ryuen's breathing began to falter.
"Or—" His finger moved to the throat.
"The cartilage here is very fragile. At this angle and pressure, I could suffocate you in three seconds. Do you want to try?"
Ryuen instinctively held his breath.
Akira slowly raised his hand, reaching toward Ryuen's swollen left eye. As his finger was about to touch the warm eye socket, Ryuen tensed up as if pricked by a needle. His body reacted by slamming his eyes shut, and his head jerked back a full thirty centiters against the wall. His previous arrogance was gone.
"..."
"You flinched, didn't you!" Akira withdrew his hand, his voice calm.
"See, even your body instinctively resists. Fear is a physiological reaction that humans cannot defy."
"That expression on Boss Ryuen... it's the first ti I've seen it."
"Even Ryuen can feel fear..."
Akira stood up and took a final look at the stiff Ryuen.
"Rember this feeling. Next ti you want to pick a fight, ask yourself—are you truly ready?
And I advise you not to do anything extra," Akira added, stopping and turning his head.
"I know that phone in your pocket is recording audio and video—but you were the one who moved first. The ti you spray-painted the caras proves I was still on my way here."
He turned toward the corner of the rooftop, eyeing the blackened caras.
"Even if the video is blocked, the audio system isn't affected. If we were to pursue this, the audio logs are enough to prove you started it."
He paused, continuing calmly: "As for you getting beaten and losing face, it will naturally spread through the school tomorrow. You can rest assured of that—do you really think that after attacking , you could continue to be the leader of Class D without paying any price?"
Akira didn't want the rooftop incident to blow up.
Karuizawa's end would likely be fine, but he was different. Even if it was to counter Ryuen, he had actively agreed to fight and had punched the guy's face multiple tis.
While Ryuen had practically asked for it, making moves like the eye-poke or throat-lock was... a bit over the line. The current student council president wasn't the fair Horikita Manabu, but the petty Nagumo Miyabi.
Who knew if Nagumo would use this as leverage?
To be honest, if Nagumo decided to penalize both Class C and Class D, Akira would find it hard to argue. As for whether Ryuen would choose to stay quiet—Akira wasn't too worried.
Ryuen should know the stakes: interfering with school caras, ganging up on soone, and initiating violence... if these ca out, class points would be deducted even more heavily.
So, for both parties, staying silent was the best choice.
With that, he turned to Karuizawa Kei.
"Let's go, I'll take you back."
Kei nodded, but her gaze lingered on Ryuen.
The once-arrogant Ryuen Kakeru of Class D was now slumped in the corner, eyes bruised and body trembling. It wasn't because of pain, but because sothing deeper had been completely shattered.
She followed Akira away from the rooftop.
The mont the door closed, she heard a suppressed, beast-like whimpering from inside. That sound was almost exactly the sa as the one she used to make while hiding in the bathroom after being bullied.
This ti, Ryuen was completely crushed by Akira in terms of violence. And from what Akira said, this news would soon spread.
Ryuen had always ruled Class D through fear and violence; after this, his authority in the class would likely be completely shaken.
The leader of Class D was about to change.
Would this person end up being bullied by his own classmates later?
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