He exerted a pressure that was felt by everyone present, to show that he had no intention of losing to them.
After finishing off his business, Kanzaki once again spoke with conviction.
"Remember what I said, Ryuuen."
He left the toilet after saying that, a step ahead of the other two. "Hehehe. How scary!"
"So are you going to completely destroy Class B now?" "Who knows."
Ryuuen laughed as he avoided the question, and then remembered something completely unrelated.
And that was the conversation involving Hashimoto and Kanzaki, which happened about an hour ago.
Part 4
After leaving Ichinose and Horikita, I was torn about whether I should go back or not.
However, I bumped into Ryuuen, who led me to a deserted corner in Keyaki Mall.
We kept our distance, so if someone saw us, we could just pretend to just be passing by each other as well.
"Did you hear this from Ishizaki? Me being at Keyaki Mall, that is." "Yeah, I was looking for you."
So he talked with Ishizaki and Ibuki for about an hour? Or did it end earlier?
In any case, Ryuuen's eyes had more spirit in them than before.
"You know my contact details. Wouldn't talking on the phone be easier?" "I wanted to talk to you and look at your senseless, severe face at the
same time."
Well, I'll listen to what he had to say for a bit. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"That"- would be referring to the message I told Hiyori to pass on to him.
I would have gotten more than 5 wins using a better strategy. I told her to tell this to Ryuuen. It seems like she had done her task well.
After hearing my message from Hiyori, it led him to try to find me, was probably how this went.
"I meant what I meant. I would have done a better job if it were up to me."
"I'm free to use whatever means necessary."
"I don't want it to end like this. If you continue with your reckless strategies and get expelled as a result, I might even feel a bit lonely."
I said those words naturally, but it didn't seem to affect Ryuuen's frame of mind.
"Ahaha, what a joke. Losing to Sakayagani and you're still this calm!" "Our class did indeed lose to Sakayanagi. And since I served as the
commander tower, I can't be excused from the responsibility of failure. But is
Sakayanagi stronger than me? Fight her, and you'll find out." "Ha- are you underestimating me?"
Ryuuen's smile disappeared as he approached me.
"You, who have defeated even me, can't be weaker than Sakayanagi."
It seemed like he was trying to provoke me, deliberately saying such demeaning words towards her.
"Although I'm grateful for you trying to cheer me up after losing, but even if it's me, I can't possibly be lazy and not go all out during an exam, right?"
"Sorry, I don't believe it at all. Rather than believe that you were serious during the exam, it's more believable that you didn't care about winning or losing from the start… it may also be because of the school arranging it to
make Class A win to save face. That's more believable to me." Although it wasn't the correct answer, it was close to the mark.
Only Ryuuen had such a ridiculous comprehension ability in the whole school.
Because he had previously battled against me, he had absolute conviction on this.
"So…? What do you plan to do after your return, Ryuuen?"
"Don't say I've returned without my permission. I intend to enjoy the holidays for just a bit longer."
Ryuuen meant that he wouldn't officially participate in the battles between the classes for a while.
"But… If I get tired of this, I'll destroy Ichinose and Sakayanagi as a warm-up."
"What an extreme change of heart!"
"Kukuku, indeed. I'm shocked myself. I didn't expect to be able to get revenge on you so soon. I'm getting pumped up."
"So that's how it is."
The snake was about to wake up from hibernation.
If that happens, neither Class B or Class A could ignore Ryuuen.
Although it might be exactly what Sakayanagi wanted, it wouldn't be strange to see either class come out on top.
"I'd be grateful if you did that. If you're able to destroy Ichinose and
Sakayangi, it'd be a great help. As it would allow us to accomplish our goal of reaching the upper classes without a hitch."
Having the upper classes fight each other was essential for us in order to rise in the rankings.
"I thought you weren't interested in the battles between classes."
"It's a little different now. My class will be ranked near the top next year, even if I'm not here next year."
"Ah?"
"Even if I'm not here". Ryuuen seemed to be surprised by that.
"Maybe I'm being targeted right now from a distance. If that's the case, it wouldn't be strange if I suddenly dropped out, right?"
If Tsukishiro really intended to do this, some unavoidable situations will occur on my part.
This would be the case even if I took unyielding measures to try to defend against them.
Of course, I'm not going to make it any easier for my opponent. "Relax. The only person who can get you expelled is me." Ryuuen said in his characteristic confident style.
"But-"
Ryuuen, who was about to speak, suddenly disappeared from my field of vision.
He attacked suddenly, going for my face without the slightest hesitation,
his sharp fingertips poised at my eyeballs. I had no choice but to dodge. "Aha!!"
Ryuuen used the momentum to spin around and attempt to kick me with his right foot, but it was just a feint, and passed right over me.
The real attack was from his left leg, using the force of the spin to make it even more powerful.
I dodged it again, and distanced myself from Ryuuen.
"Ha, you can even dodge like that after a surprise attack. How much of a monster are you!"
"And you still dared to attack me first."
Although it was just me and him, there were still a lot of surveillance cameras around.
However, if the students in question didn't cause any problems, they'll turn a blind eye to these small things. This was what allowed Ryuuen to go ahead with his characteristic brazen behaviour.
"My instincts are telling me that I should eat you alive." Even in hibernation, snakes eat their prey by instinct. "Why aren't you attacking?"
"I wanted to avoid the risk of fighting with you here. Besides, it's not the right time yet."
"Haha. So this is the so-called calmness of the strong? You seem to be genuine about this, and it's making my skin crawl."
His eyes were shining like it had been before. No, this was even brighter.
This wasn't the Ryuuen who had been lurking under the water for the past few months.
"You've got a chance. Because of it, you'd better grow even stronger, Ryuuen."
Maybe he didn't like the fact that I said it in a very patronising way, so he punched the wall.
"Grow even stronger? Who are you, my teacher?"
"I'm telling the truth. You're willing to use any means necessary, even relying on despicable, criminal means in order to achieve victory. I don't have any problem with that, but try not to be so obvious about it."
"Ah?"
"I've heard from Ishizaki that you used laxatives. Drugging them in the Karaoke room was a good idea, but if the food and drinks were kept as evidence, it would have been over for you. That's an act that will get you expelled without question. Even if what you did was ignored, peculiar behaviour during the exam will deepen the school's distrust of you. Your only salvation was that Ichinose didn't seem to want to complain about it."
"Ichinose being a pushover was taken into consideration in my plans." "If that's the case, it's nothing more than a naive consideration. You'll
never surpass me like that."
"…You really said it now." Ryuuen approached me once again.
But it wasn't like before, as he didn't seem to want to attack me.
Even if he was just suppressing his attacking intent, he wouldn't be too hard to deal with anyway…
"You don't have to listen to my advice. But-fighting me now is impossible."
Would Ryuuen accept advice from his enemy? This could determine whether he had a certain ability or not. Ryuuen seemed to calm down and took his fist off the wall.
"I'll accept your garbage advice now. But one day I'll defeat you." "That's not a bad motivation, Ryuuen. If I get expelled because of you,
that wouldn't be so bad."
Although he was angry, Ryuuen listened to what I said.
And as a result, Ryuuen's future strategies would become even more ingenious.
The competition we faced in the second year was now getting harder to imagine.
Would Ryuuen sweep Sakayanagi out of the way and ascend directly to Class A, or would Sakayanagi stop him?
Or would Ichinose come back even stronger in the future?
Faced with the three-pronged attack, how deep would Horikita plunge into the battlefield?
The battlefield would be a lot different than what it looked like during our first year, and it wouldn't be long until we were able to witness it first hand.
Part 5
That was what happened before the situation in the toilet. Glancing sideways at the leaving Kanzaki, Ryuuen said this.
"Return to battle. Although I flashily defeated Class B as an opponent, there are still places to reflect on."
Ryuuen admitted this. In order to defeat Ayanojouji, he needed to admit what needed to be admitted.
"How admirable. And I was thinking about what kind of dirty method you'll use next. Are you going to fight fairly like Kanzaki told you to?"
"Ha! Who said I would do that?" "Huh?"
"Although exploiting Ichinose's naivety was a good move, it left them too many opportunities to take advantage of it. That's why that small fry dare confront me."
"…So that's what you mean."
It wasn't the use of his despicable methods that needed reflection on.
Instead, it was how he gave the game away by being not as careful as he should have been.
"Next time, I'll destroy them even more perfectly and beautifully."
No matter what kind of statement Kanzaki put out, Ryuuen would not act blindly during this period.
If he really had hidden his fangs, Ryuuen would immediately know.
"You've grown this year, Ryuuen. Establishing a relationship with you early on really was a good decision. It seems like I even have to consider the possibility of Sakayanagi being defeated by you."
Hashimoto carefully observed Class B as he approached.
In order to succeed, he had to graduate from Class A no matter what.
Part 6
It became noon and it started to rain heavily as if someone had up-ended a bucket full of water. The precipitation exceeded 30mm.
I don't know why I didn't want to return to the dormitories, but I decided to stay in Keyaki mall by myself.
It was convenient for almost anything and everything to be located on campus. This meant that even if it started raining heavily, I would have no problem getting back to the dorms because students were allowed to borrow an umbrella temporarily.
As long as it was returned before the specified time, it was free. This led to many students using this service.
There were some students who went out in the morning and didn't bring an umbrella. This was done to reduce the amount of things they had to carry.
That being said, today was slightly different.
Since it was raining this hard, an umbrella wouldn't have made a difference. You would've still gotten wet.
"It shows no signs of stopping today."
As predicted by the weather forecast, it would rain from about noon till tomorrow morning.
My phone occasionally vibrated due to the Ayanokouji group.
They discussed various topics, ranging from the rain to other causal topics.
"What should I do?"
I didn't feel like joining the conversation, so I'll just leave it alone. This way, the messages won't be displayed as "read".
I blankly stared at the screen as I loosely paid attention to the conversation in the group chat.
And as if I suddenly remembered something, I repeatedly stared at the rain outside the window to pass the time.
I'm not productive at all, wasting time like this. But doing this occasionally wasn't so bad.
I did not return to the café.
Instead, I randomly sat on a bench to kill time.
That being said, I couldn't just continue doing this for hours.
After listening to the rain for 20, 30 minutes, I decided to head back. I picked up my student ID and rented an umbrella from the machine.
Even if I borrowed an umbrella, my lower body, especially below my knees, would still be soaked by the rain. However, it was better than nothing.
I initially decided to head straight to the dormitory from here, but after taking one step out of the exit, I spotted a familiar student. Ichinose, amid this torrential rain. She was not holding an umbrella.
It seemed like she had stayed in Keyaki mall ever since our conversation. There was no sign of her hanging out with her friends, and she was alone.
She must have stayed and thought about a lot of things after parting with
us.
"She's been sorting out her thoughts ever since, huh."
However, judging from her appearance, it didn't seem like she was very successful.
If she headed back without an umbrella, there was no doubt that her whole body would get wet.
I maybe thought she was waiting for a friend with an umbrella, but that did not seem to be the case.
It might be an act of kindness to leave her alone… but I was a little worried considering that Class B has just suffered a complete defeat during the last exam.
I hurried back to borrow another umbrella.
As I returned a while later, I saw Ichinose walking forward in the rain, embracing the fact that she would be soaked.
Ichinose wasn't walking towards the direction of the dormitory, but instead walked in the opposite direction, towards the school.
Moreover, the raindrops bombarded her as she didn't have an umbrella. Although I could just watch her walk away──
I still took the umbrellas, and chased after Ichinose.
Due to the rain being too heavy, she couldn't seem to hear my footsteps.
Even if I called out to her with my normal voice, she wouldn't be able to hear me.
Ichinose continued to walk along the path towards the school. The school was within our line of sight.
In the pouring rain like this, there would be no one around.
Ichinose stood still and started looking at the sky, minding her own business.
It seemed like instead of avoiding the rain, she wanted to be drenched by
it.
What were you feeling? What were you thinking about? It wouldn't be difficult to guess.
Although I didn't mind letting her stay in the rain for as long as she wanted, she would definitely catch a cold if she stayed any longer.
And if she caught a cold, she would become even more mentally fragile. That would be somewhat cruel to Ichinose in her current condition. "You'll catch a cold if you keep standing in a place like this-"
Raising my voice slightly, I greeted Ichinose as I approached her. "… Ayanokouji-kun."
As she didn't expect anyone to be nearby, Ichinose was a little surprised, but then she glanced at my direction.
"…Yeah."
She whispered softly, but didn't move an inch.
She looked up into the sky once again, without fear of getting soaked.
"You should go back first. I…would like to be soaked a little bit by the rain."
Ichinose said to me, when I was close enough to hear her soft voice. "I see."
It didn't seem right, using a "little bit" to describe the heavy rain.
If I left her alone, Ichinose might stay in this rain for an hour or two.