The heating in the mall is on full blast.
It was the golden hour of Christmas Eve. There were a lot of people in the corridor of Keyaki Mall. You could see a couple holding arms almost every three meters.
Ibuki Mio obviously felt physiological discomfort in this overly sweet atmosphere.
She pulled up the gray Scarf, almost covering half of her face, and put her hands in the pockets of her windproof jacket.
After the somewhat embarrassing and shameful "Cinema Death Battle", the two maintained a subtle tacit understanding.
Neither parted ways immediately, nor did anyone take the initiative to mention where to go next.
They walked aimlessly along the flow of people.
This silence lasted for about ten minutes, until they reached the relatively quiet area connected to the outside of the mall.
"Hello."
Ibuki Mio finally stopped.
She didn't turn around, she just looked at the two people's shadows reflected on the side glass wall, her voice a little muffled in Scarf.
"You recently... had a fight with That guy Ryuen, right?"
This is not a question, but a statement.
Kazehara Tetsu also stopped, turned around and leaned against the cold glass fence, looking at the girl behind her who finally couldn't hold back her words.
"Oh?"
He raised his eyebrows, with a hint of casual probing in his tone.
"Why do you think so? Do I have a label saying 'I just beat you Boss' on my face?"
"Don't take me for a fool."
Ibuki Mio turned around and looked directly at Kazehara Tetsu with his eyes.
"That guy Ryuen didn't say anything. But... the bruises on his face that won't go away and the occasional stiff movements when walking can be seen by anyone who is not blind."
As the most skilled girl in Class C, and one who often hangs out with the gang of bad boys, Ibuki Mio has an almost intuitive sensitivity in judging "injury".
"And..."
She paused, and her eyes became more complicated.
"In the recent period of time, I can make the arrogant Ryuen suffer, and let him still maintain a kind of... how to put it, besides you, I can't think of anyone else."
"Didn't I already say that when I stopped you before?"
Ibuki Mio kicked the non-existent stone beside his feet with some annoyance.
"The only prey he is interested in recently is you. The only one who can make him behave like that is you. There is no need to pretend to be stupid."
"Heh..."
Seeing that the other party has already said this, it would seem hypocritical to continue to deny it.
Kazehara Tetsu chuckled and did not admit it directly, but the tacit attitude said everything.
"How sharp, Ibuki."
He changed his stance and looked at the falling snow outside the window.
"Now that you have seen it, I have nothing to hide. I did have a little bit of 'physical communication'. If I don't teach him a lesson, I'm afraid he will bite me all the time. That would be too annoying."
Having said this, Kazehara Tetsu changed the topic and his eyes fell on Ibuki Mio again.
"However, now that you know about this matter, you should also know about Ryuen's recent status, right? What is the current plan of that arrogant Class C tyrant?"
This is a critical intelligence point.
According to his understanding of the "original", after Ryuen Kakeru suffered a complete failure... especially a failure that relied on violence and was crushed in reverse, he would choose to give up leadership and retreat behind the scenes. He even had the idea of Expulsion and entered a long period of self-exile.
"Plan?"
Ibuki Mio frowned, as if recalling some unpleasant scene.
"Who knows what he is thinking. That guy is like a ghost lately."
"But..."
She curled her lips in displeasure.
"It seems that this blow was quite serious to him. Although he has not spoken much in the past few days and has not directed much about the class, he has not said that he wants to give up."
"Don't want to take care of things for the time being?"
Kazehara Tetsu caught this keyword and narrowed his eyes slightly.
"You mean... he is still in that position? He has no intention of abdicating his position, or simply giving up his job?"
"No."
Ibuki Mio shook his head, his tone affirmative.
"Although he looked half-dead, he made it clear that he just wanted to 'rest for a while.' That feeling... how should I put it, rather than 'giving up', it felt more like he was holding back some bad water, or simply recuperating from his injuries."
"Although those idiots thought the sky was going to fall, I could see that the fire in That guy Ryuen's eyes hadn't gone out yet, it just became... more gloomy."
"... That's it."
The light in Kazehara Tetsu's eyes flickered slightly, and his fingers unconsciously tapped the railing behind him.
If Ryuen did not choose to abdicate and self-exile like Original Work, but chose to hibernate and "rest", this means that the development trajectory of things has deviated from the "script" he knew.
Or was it a series of his previous actions that led to the butterfly effect?
"It seems... it's a little different from the original plot."
Kazehara Tetsu murmured to himself in a low voice, his voice was so soft that it was almost drowned out by the chatter and laughter of the pedestrians passing by.
But Ibuki Mio's ears are very pointed.
"Huh?"
She tilted her head in confusion and looked at Kazehara Tetsu with a frown.
"What are you talking about? What plot? What discrepancies?"
"Nothing."
Kazehara Tetsu quickly gathered his thoughts and shrugged as usual.
"I'm just talking to myself. I didn't expect that a guy as extreme as Ryuen would choose the option of 'rest' one day. It's a bit surprising."
"... cut."
Ibuki Mio looked at him suspiciously. Although her intuition told her that there was something in what the man just said, she was too lazy to delve into the twists and turns.
"It makes you seem like you know Ryuen very well." She snorted disdainfully.
The conversation between the two came to a brief stagnation again.
Ibuki Mio lowered her head, as if there was some kind of fierce struggle going on in her heart, and her breathing rhythm became a little disordered.
Ever since she witnessed the "horror" of this man on Uninhabited Island, a certain shadow has been lingering in her heart.
But just now in Cinema, the feeling of shame without the ability to fight back was even more like a thorn.
"Hello. Kagihara."
Finally, she raised her head suddenly.
"Compete with me again."
This sentence was said categorically and with an unquestionable toughness.
"Huh?"
Kazehara Tetsu was stunned for a moment, seemingly unable to keep up with the sudden jump in his brain circuit.
"Competition... haven't you been tortured enough?"
Kazehara Tetsu stretched out his fingers and counted slowly.
"You obviously lost to me twice... No, to be precise, it was three times, right?"
"The first time was under that... well, various force majeure circumstances. The second time was when you came to the door. As for the third time... it was when Uninhabited Island happened."
"This has already happened, do you want to do it again? Ibuki, do you have any masochistic tendencies?"
"Shut up!"
Ibuki Mio's fur exploded like a cat whose tail was stepped on, and his cheeks instantly turned red, both from shame and anger.
"Obviously twice!"
She retorted loudly, her voice attracting the side glances of several passers-by.
"Uninhabited Island That time doesn't count!"
"I didn't fight you at all that time! I just... just watched from the side! Don't include that in my failure!"