“Tch, Ichinose, huh?
Although it looks like I’m bullying him, the truth is I didn’t even lay a finger on him.
This idiot just didn’t look where he was going, bumped into me, and fell over on his own,” Ryuen Kakeru said casually.
He knew this girl.
Actually, there were very few people in the school who didn’t know her.
Even though the school year had just started, her energetic, straightforward personality made her extremely popular.
She basically had friends in every single class.
“Ryuen-kun, you must have bumped into this classmate at the corner, right?” Ichinose Honami might have been a bit naive, but she wasn’t stupid.
Hearing him try to shift all the blame onto the guy lying on the floor instantly made her frown in disapproval.
“Regardless, mocking a classmate with such harsh words is wrong…”
“Tch!”
Ryuen made a highly disrespectful sound, turned his head, and completely ignored her.
He looked back at his group of goons.
“Let’s go.
We have our own business to handle first.”
He couldn’t be bothered to waste time on someone so naive.
It was honestly hilarious that an idiot like her thought she could play ‘happy friends’ in a school like this.
Hearing Ryuen’s bossy tone, several guys in Class C frowned in deep annoyance.
“Hey, Ryuen!” A guy with a broad face glared at him.
“Stop barking orders at us.
We aren’t your underlings.”
“Heh.
It won’t be long before I have all of you obediently following my orders.”
“You bastard!”
“Don’t push your luck, Ryuen!”
Ichinose Honami watched the noisy group walk away, her beautiful eyebrows furrowed slightly.
She sighed helplessly, then turned her attention to the boy still lying on the floor.
Meanwhile, Shiki had been trying to quietly crawl away without making a sound.
Just as he was about to slip away, a deeply concerned voice called out behind him.
“Excuse me, are you okay?”
To Shiki, that voice sounded exactly like a Grim Reaper coming to collect his soul.
His mind screamed: Stay away from me!
He felt a soft hand pat his shoulder.
Shiki rolled his eyes internally, then quickly slapped a look of deep gratitude onto his face.
“I-I’m fine.
Thank you so much.”
Looking at the beautiful, vibrant girl in front of him, he felt like he had seriously tripped on his own feet today.
Lately, he had been gathering intel on the other classes, planning to sell the information for a high price later.
Because of that, he had done some basic research on the other class leaders.
Take Ryuen Kakeru, for example.
He seemed to have an incredibly violent temper, acting like a complete tyrant in Class C.
For the past few days, he had constantly been fighting on the roof, clearly trying to rule his class through sheer violence and fear.
That was exactly why Shiki had immediately gone limp and faked a brutal fall when he realized he had bumped into Ryuen.
With a security camera right nearby, his plan was simple: bait Ryuen into hitting him, then extort a massive pile of points from him to keep quiet.
He hadn’t expected the guy to actually have some restraint and only throw out a few insults.
But that was fine.
He had been surrounded by a whole group of Class C guys, all of them openly mocking him.
If the situation had lasted just a few minutes longer, it would have looked exactly like group bullying on camera.
Chabashira had specifically emphasized on the first day that the school absolutely did not tolerate bullying.
If things had kept going, he would have earned even more points.
However, right when his plan was progressing perfectly, this girl burst onto the scene like a righteous hero and completely ruined everything.
Shiki covertly observed the pink haired girl, whose face was full of genuine concern.
His guard immediately went all the way up.
(Did she see through my plan and purposely step in to ruin it?
But what does she have to gain from doing that?)
First impressions truly dictate whether you see someone with prejudice or favoritism.
In Shiki’s eyes, Ichinose Honami’s acting skills were so god like that he couldn’t see through her at all.
Because of this, he viewed her as a terrifying opponent.
No matter what she did, his brain automatically assumed it was part of some deep, manipulative conspiracy.
“Eh?
Wait, Tsugikuni-kun…”
Getting a clear look at his face, Ichinose Honami gasped and covered her mouth in shock.
When she first walked over, she only saw someone getting surrounded and seemingly bullied.
She had rushed over without thinking, and only now realized who it actually was.
“Are you alright?!
Oh my gosh, your eyes are completely bruised!” Ichinose looked at his dark circles with deep worry, then her face flushed with anger.
“Ryuen-kun went too far!
No matter what happened, he shouldn’t have beaten you up like this!”
“…”
Shiki, who just naturally had dark circles, was totally speechless.
He couldn’t tell if Ichinose was purposely playing dumb or if she genuinely thought someone had punched him in both eyes.
“It’s not as scary as you think.
Nobody hit me.
These are just normal dark circles caused by a severe lack of sleep,” he explained.
“Ah…
haha,” Ichinose looked closer, realized her mistake, and let out a few awkward laughs to break the tension.
“I see.
I really thought Tsugikuni-kun had been beaten up.
I’m so sorry…”
She had only met Shiki once, outside the counseling room.
When she tried to talk to him, he looked at her like she was a monster and ran away before they could even exchange a full sentence.
For someone like Ichinose, who easily made friends wherever she went, that had been a slightly frustrating setback.
“Oh, right!
Do you remember me?
We met outside the counseling room last time, but we never got to properly introduce ourselves.”
Ichinose Honami’s beautiful face radiated a dazzling brightness, and her ocean blue eyes were incredibly warm and welcoming.
She placed a hand on her chest and gave a cheerful self introduction.
“I am Ichinose Honami, a student from Class B.
Please take care of me from now on.”
To Shiki, she looked obnoxiously bright.
His sense of unease only grew stronger.
All he wanted to do was run as far away as possible.
“…Tsugikuni Shiki.
Hello.
Thank you.
Goodbye,” he fired off in one breath, turned around, and bolted.
“Eh?!
Wait a minute!”
Caught completely off guard by his rapid fire combo, Ichinose froze for a second.
Seeing Shiki speed walking away, she quickly chased after him and grabbed him.
She grabbed the back of his shirt so hard that the collar choked him, forcing him to a complete stop.
He turned his head, a look of utter helplessness on his face.
“Is there something else you need?”
Is this girl trying to strangle me to death?
Or is this just part of her grand scheme?
Does she enjoy toying with people just like that little devil, Sakayanagi?!
“Aren’t you hurt?
I’ll take you to the nurse’s office to get checked out.”
Without giving him any room to argue, she grabbed his arm and started dragging him toward the nurse’s office.
“Wait, didn’t I literally just tell you these are dark circles?
Nobody hit me!” Shiki dug his heels into the floor, trying to resist.
“But you looked like you were in so much pain when you were on the floor!
You even had tears in your eyes!” Ichinose looked at him with absolute seriousness.
“You can’t ignore things like this.
It’s much better to have a teacher look at it.
If a minor injury turns into something serious, it’ll be terrible.”
Staring at her incredibly stubborn expression, Shiki, who had just been faking his injuries a minute ago, actually couldn’t find a single valid excuse to refuse.
For a moment, he honestly couldn’t tell if Ichinose was just dragging him along to watch him make a fool of himself.
“Come on, let’s go.”
Seeing that he had no comeback, Ichinose smiled brightly and practically hauled him to the nurse’s office.
To make sure he couldn’t run away again, she kept a firm, inescapable grip on his arm.
Shiki looked up at the ceiling, utterly speechless.
All the joy from getting his points completely vanished.
What the hell is going on today?!
I was about to pull off a perfect scam and make a fortune, but then some ‘good Samaritan’ had to jump in and ruin it.
And of course, that person just had to be Ichinose…
Shiki felt like this girl was his ultimate kryptonite.
Not only did she completely blind his ability to read people, but she also effortlessly destroyed his evil schemes.
Ichinose Honami…
what a terrifying enemy!
________________
The Nurse’s Office.
Hoshinomiya Chie, the school nurse and homeroom teacher for Class B, blinked in total confusion as the door opened and the two of them walked in.
“Ichinose-san..and…
Tsugikuni-kun?”
She was clearly baffled by this completely random duo.
However, since she wasn’t exactly a strict or proper person, she quickly accepted reality and instead put on a highly amused, gossipy expression.
“As expected of Ichinose-san!
You’re so amazing.
Did you really manage to capture Tsugikuni-kun’s heart this fast?”
Shiki felt deeply mentally exhausted.
He hadn’t even resolved the problem standing next to him, and now another massive headache had appeared…
Ichinose didn’t notice the aura of pure defeat radiating from her captive.
Her face turned bright red, and she frantically waved her hands in denial.
“No, no, it’s not like that!
I just brought Tsugikuni-kun here to get checked out.
It’s not what you think, Sensei!”
Hearing Ichinose’s desperate denial, Hoshinomiya let out a very un-teacher-like giggle.
“Yes, yes, I know, I know.
Honami-chan really doesn’t know how to take a joke, huh.”
Seeing her teacher’s teasing smile, Ichinose realized she was just being messed with.
She puffed out her cheeks like an angry little hamster.
“Honestly, Sensei, please stop making jokes like that.
You’re going to make Tsugikuni-kun feel really uncomfortable.”
“Will I?
Honami-chan is so cute.
Any boy would be thrilled to be teased like that with you.”
Saying this, Hoshinomiya looked over at Shiki, as if seeking confirmation.
Ichinose instinctively followed her teacher’s gaze.
Seeing both of them staring at him, Shiki forced an awkward but polite smile onto his face.
It was a smile that screamed: ‘I am forcing this, I am trying to be polite, and I have no idea what is going on’…
It was the universal look of: ‘I have no idea what you’re talking about, but sure, you’re absolutely right.’
Hoshinomiya completely lost all energy after seeing that perfectly fake smile.
“You really love playing dumb, don’t you?” Hoshinomiya said, her tone sounding like a bitter ex girlfriend.
“If you keep acting like this, no girl is ever going to like you.”
At the very least, my smile is filled with genuine emotion.
No matter how you look at it, that’s definitely better than wearing a fake mask of kindness, right?” Shiki said modestly.
Hearing this, Hoshinomiya’s expression instantly froze, looking as if a thick layer of wax had just been poured over her face.
“Huh?
What are you two talking about?
I don’t understand at all.”
Ichinose tilted her head in confusion.
“It’s nothing, nothing at all!
I was just having a nice little chat with Shiki-kun.” Hoshinomiya instantly recovered, slapping her cheerful smile back on.
“You guys didn’t come here on a date, right?
Do you want me to step out and give you two some privacy?
I promise I’ll knock if anyone comes!”
Shiki felt a massive headache forming.
Are the teachers and students at this school all just completely incapable of understanding personal boundaries?!
“I already told you, it’s not like that!
I brought Tsugikuni-kun here because I wanted you to check if he’s hurt!
It is absolutely not what you think!”
Ichinose was so flustered her face and ears were bright red, turning her beautiful complexion an incredibly tempting shade of peach.
“I know, I know.
Honami-chan is just too cute.” Hoshinomiya giggled, standing up and walking over to Shiki.
“So, where does it hurt?”
“I think my body is perfectly fine.” Shiki stepped sideways, dodging the index finger Hoshinomiya tried to poke him with.
“Oh, don’t move.” Hoshinomiya reached out and grabbed his arm, her fingers poking at his muscles.
“You’re actually really solid.
You definitely feel like the type of guy who could easily sweep a girl off her feet and carry her.”
As she said this, her tone turned incredibly suggestive, and a pink tongue lightly licked her cherry colored lips.
What the hell is this woman saying?!
Why does she sound like she’s aggressively hitting on me?!
Dark lines formed on Shiki’s forehead.
“Sensei, I’m pretty sure sexually harassing male students is strictly forbidden by the school rules.”
Ichinose’s mind must have wandered to something completely inappropriate, because her face turned even redder.
She frantically tried to change the subject.
“Actually, this is what happened…”
She explained the entire situation in extreme detail—how a poor, helpless boy was almost brutally bullied by violent students from Class C…
Of course, that was just what she thought she saw.
The actual reality was: A malicious, scheming devil had tried to pull a massive insurance scam to extort a huge payout, but an overly righteous hero had tragically dropped out of the sky to stop the “crime,” accidentally saving the clueless thugs in the process.
After hearing the whole story, Hoshinomiya fell silent.
Her gaze shifted subtly back and forth between Shiki and Ichinose.
You’re telling me this guy got bullied so hard he started crying and trembling like a helpless child?
She would sooner believe that Shiki had orchestrated the entire thing as a massive trap than believe he was actually a coward.
This was the guy who had completely seen through her true nature after just two brief meetings!
Even though she felt Ichinose was severely overreacting, under the girl’s earnest pleading, Hoshinomiya eventually agreed to do a quick check up.
After a brief examination, Hoshinomiya delivered her verdict.
“There are no physical injuries at all.
In fact, I’d say he’s much healthier than the vast majority of students at this school.
However, Tsugikuni-kun really needs to get more sleep.
Those dark circles are starting to look like heavy gothic makeup,” she teased at the end, unable to hide her amusement.
“Thank you so much for the reminder.” Shiki seriously wondered if Class B had some sort of deep seated grudge against him.
Why was every person he met from that class so incredibly difficult to deal with?
Ichinose let out a massive sigh of relief.
“Thank goodness he’s okay.
Thank goodness…”
Hoshinomiya couldn’t bear to watch anymore.
Her student was incredibly smart, but sometimes she was so naive that if someone sold her into slavery, she would probably help them count the money.
Being this innocent in a school like this was a surefire way to get crushed.
She smiled sweetly at Shiki.
“Tsugikuni-kun’s body is so strong and sturdy.
How did you get knocked to the floor so easily?
And to even pretend to cry…
That is completely different from the Tsugikuni-kun I know.”
(What kind of terrifying monster do you think I am in your head?!)
Shiki kept his face completely neutral.
“I can’t help it.
My body is just for show.
I look tough, but I’m actually useless.
My personality is just incredibly cowardly and sensitive.
I would never dare to fight back.”
“Lying makes you a bad boy.
Tsugikuni-kun must have been faking it, right?
Purposely acting weak so they would bully you…”
“No way?!”
Before Hoshinomiya could even finish, Ichinose covered her mouth and gasped in shock.
“Why wouldn’t it be true, Honami-chan?” Hoshinomiya said confidently.
“Even though we’ve only met twice, I know Tsugikuni-kun isn’t the type of kid to just sit there and take a beating without fighting back.
By acting so incredibly pathetic, he definitely had some kind of secret ulterior motive.”
Shiki rolled his eyes.
“Can you please not assume everyone is as dirty minded as you?
You make it sound like I was committing a major crime.”
What did he do wrong?
He just wanted to take advantage of the situation and extort them a little.
Besides, if the Class C guys had just ignored him instead of mocking him, his plan never would have worked anyway.
When it came down to it, this was practically entrapment at worst.