The Pushy Class C

After choosing a group leader, the Amikura Group headed to the cafeteria.

"Hey, there seems to be a crowd gathered in the cafeteria. Do you think something happened?" Hamaguchi said, looking at the people inside.

"That looks like... Sata! He's surrounded by people from Class C!" Beppu said in surprise when he spotted Shibata in the crowd.

"What!? Then let's hurry over!" Ying said, taking off at a run.

"Shibata, you knocked over my food. How are you going to pay me back?" Ishizaki glared at Shibata and pointed at the bowl of food spilled on the floor.

"Ishizaki, you deliberately came over and bumped into me. I already agreed to replace your meal, so why are you still picking on the students from Class B?" Shibata glared back, standing in front of the two girls from Class B.

"Come on, this is the deluxe student meal. How can you just pay me back with an ordinary student meal?" Ishizaki said with a grin. He'd clearly prepared that excuse in advance.

"Yeah, yeah! Pay us back with deluxe student meals," Komiya chimed in.

"Don't push your luck. That's obviously an ordinary student meal," said another boy in Shibata's group, angrily pointing at the spilled meal on the floor.

Just as Shibata was glaring at Ishizaki through gritted teeth, the Amikura Group arrived.

"Hey, Sata, what happened?" Ying asked anxiously.

"Ishizaki from Class C just deliberately bumped into me while carrying his food. Then he deliberately spilled it on the floor and demanded that we pay him back. And even though he only spilled an ordinary student meal, they're insisting we pay for a deluxe one," Shibata said angrily.

"Hmph! We're not paying them a thing. Let's go!" Hamaguchi said furiously, grabbing Shibata and starting to leave.

"Everyone from Class B, if you leave without paying us back, we'll appeal to the school," Ishizaki said smugly.

"You think we're afraid of you? You're the ones who bumped into them!" Beppu said angrily, preparing to leave, but Ying grabbed him and pulled him back.

"Why'd you pull me back? I'll take them on in court!" Beppu said, still a little indignant.

"Are you stupid? Most of the people here are from Class C. If you take them to court, they'll get you suspended in no time with their fake testimony," Ying said helplessly.

"Then what do you want to do?" Beppu asked.

"Maybe... we should really pay them back with deluxe student meals?" Amikura asked timidly.

"No. We absolutely can't pay them back." After saying that, Ying went to the counter for ordinary student meals and got one.

"Hey, hey, you from Class B didn't understand, did you? We want deluxe student meals. Deluxe! We don't want ordinary ones!" Ishizaki waved at Ying as he and the rest of Class C burst out laughing.

"Excuse me, could you move aside? Thanks." As he said this, Ying bumped into Ishizaki.

"Hey! Didn't I just ask you to move aside? Why'd you bump into me? Damn it! These are my three deluxe student meals! Pay me back!" Ying even put on a little show and cried twice.

"Hey, stop making things up! You're the one who came over and bumped into me!" Ishizaki shouted.

"Really? You all saw it, right?" Ying asked, turning to the others from Class B. Maybe the commotion had gotten so loud that several nearby groups from Class B had come over. Now Class B had numbers to match Class C.

"Yeah, we all saw it. Ishizaki knocked Ying over," Shibata said.

"Exactly," the students from Class B chimed in.

Furious, Ishizaki was about to go punch Ying a couple of times, but Komiya stopped him.

"Hmph! Let's go!" Ishizaki turned around and started to lead the people from Class C away.

"Heyyyy! Don't go yet. Sweep up the food on the floor first. Otherwise, the janitor's going to have a real mess on her hands." Ying handed Ishizaki a broom as he spoke.

"Hmph! I'll only sweep up my own mess!" Ishizaki said, then swept up his portion. Ying cleaned up his own as well. He thought to himself that Ishizaki at least played fair.

Janitor: Thanks a lot, you guys.

"Byakuya, what happened just now? Asako messaged me, so I rushed over." Just as things settled down, Ichinose arrived late.

"It's taken care of, but it looks like we'll have to be even more careful around Class C from now on," Ying replied.

After that, to deal with Class C's escalating harassment, Ichinose changed the groups from five students to ten. Ying's Amikura Group merged with Shibata's group, and Ying became the group leader.

But Class C's attacks didn't let up. They only got bolder.

Sometimes, when Class B held gatherings, they'd sneak laxatives into the drinks while the students weren't paying attention. Then the next day, they'd occupy every stall in the bathrooms near Class B.

In the mornings, they'd wait beside the dormitory elevators for Class B students to get in, then press the stop button on every floor. This had caused a sharp increase in the number of Class B students arriving late.

They'd also deliberately bump into Class B students, like they had in the cafeteria incident, then demand compensation for whatever had supposedly been damaged.

For the past few days, the Class B classroom had been gloomy. More and more students were getting distracted during lessons. If things continued like this, Class B would lose a lot of points.

Ichinose had noticed what was happening too, so she urged everyone to return to the dorms as soon as possible after class and spend less time around campus. That might help them avoid trouble for a while, but it wasn't a long-term solution. Being cooped up in their dorms all day would only dampen the students' enthusiasm for studying.

"Ying~~~ I haven't... played soccer in three days~~~ I'm dying..." In Ying's dorm room, Shibata lay sprawled across his bed. To avoid those people from Class C, he'd skipped club activities for the past few days. He was probably going through soccer withdrawal.

"Then go play soccer," Ying said, at a loss.

"I can't. Those guys from Class C make me so angry that whenever I go to club activities now, I can't enjoy playing soccer at all."

Ying: So what do you want to do?

"Knock, knock..."

Hearing the knock, Ying went to the door and opened it.

"Ying! Ryota and I came to visit!" Hamaguchi and Beppu stood outside. Ying had been about to turn them away. Dealing with Shibata was exhausting enough; he didn't want to deal with these two as well. But when he saw the care package Hamaguchi was carrying, he welcomed them in with a big smile.

"Wow, Ying, you've got so many weird things in your dorm," Hamaguchi said, looking at the oddities Ying had collected.

"Heh, you don't understand. I'm at the cutting edge of my time. These are all new inventions that could make a big splash in the future," Ying said proudly, hands on his hips.

"Huh? What's this?" Beppu asked, pointing at a long, dark-colored box.

"That's Future Gadget No. 4, 'Steam Snake.' Hey! Don't touch it!" Before Ying could stop him, a huge amount of steam instantly filled the tiny dorm room.

"Whoa, Ying, you've got the gummies I loved most as a kid!" After the steam cleared, Hamaguchi picked up a jar full of gummies.

"Those are pills that make your body shrink after you eat them. Hey! Don't eat those!"

"These are delicious! They taste just like childhood. What were you saying?"

"Why didn't you shrink!? Damn shopkeeper cheated me!"

Beppu: Ying, what's this?

Hamaguchi: Why is there a telephone stuck on top of this microwave?

Shibata: Soccer... soccer...

Ying: "You all stop right now!!!"

"Knock, knock..."

There was another knock. Ying dragged his heavy legs to the door and opened it reluctantly.

"Who... is it?"

"Byakuya! It's so lively in your dorm. Can I come in?"

"Oh, Ichinose! Come on in!" Seeing that it was Ichinose, Ying instantly perked up.

"Byakuya, you have so many weird things in your dorm."

Ying: No way!