B Class Boys Group

"We're the B Class Boys Group! Now, please enjoy our debut song, Let's Make Our Summer Melancholy. Music!"

Then Beppu started the background music, and a burst of powerful music filled the air.

"..."

"Hey! You guys from Class B! Stop singing already! Keep it up, and I'll beat the crap out of you!" Ishizaki's veins bulged with rage, but his threats were no use.

"Hmph!" Ishizaki snorted and turned to leave. But he hadn't gone far before Ying and the others caught up with him again.

"That day, Ishizaki, Ishizaki got up!

That day, Komiya, Komiya got up!"

"What the hell are you even singing!?" Ishizaki covered his ears and quickened his pace.

But Ying simply put the speaker right next to Ishizaki's ear.

"Ishizaki Daichi, don't—don't go!

Could you please come back, come back soon!"

"Ah!!! Shut up! You're so annoying!" Ishizaki angrily grabbed Ying by the collar again.

Ying: "This is true music."

Seeing how nonchalant Ying looked, Ishizaki could only grit his teeth and swallow his anger again.

But the moment Ishizaki turned around, Ying darted in front of him once more.

"I'm a trainee who's been practicing for two and a half years. I'm Byakuya Kun. I like singing, dancing, rap, and basketball. Now, please enjoy the song I just wrote: Because Ishizaki Is So Beautiful."

Ishizaki turned around again and saw Hamaguchi looking melancholy.

"Chicken, you're so beautiful!..."

"Melancholy, get melancholy!"

"Chicken, you're so beautiful!"

"Lonely, get lonely!"

"Chicken, you're melancholy..."

Ishizaki lifted his head. Ah, he really wanted to just punch them both...

Ishizaki picked up his Student Terminal. "Hello, is this Big Brother Ryuen? I've got four students from Class B here, and I wanted to ask if I can beat them up. Yes... Sorry... I promise I won't hit them!"

Then Ishizaki put the terminal back in his pocket, face dark.

That night, Ishizaki dreamed of summer, chickens, and melancholy...

In the student cafeteria, Ishizaki was eating an ordinary student set meal in an ordinary way. Then the Class B Boys Group came over, and things stopped being ordinary.

"Master Ishizaki, I see you're eating your heart-fluttering, pure-and-magical student set meal! Would you let Hamaguchi here cast a deliciousness spell on it for you?" Ying said, dressed in a butler's uniform.

"N-no need. Just get lost!"

"Heart-fluttering, pure-and-magical student set meal, become delicious. Biu~." Hamaguchi danced like a magical girl transforming, then fired a heart at Ishizaki's ordinary set meal.

"Ugh..." Ishizaki covered his mouth and started dry-heaving. Komiya and Kondo watched him, struggling to hold in their laughter...

Then Ying and Beppu stepped in front of the two of them. "Heart-fluttering, pure-and-magical student set meal, become delicious."

"Ugh..."

"D-don't you guys eat!?" Ishizaki couldn't help asking.

"As butlers, we could never eat in front of our master." With that, the four performed a perfect butler's bow.

Ishizaki's eyelid twitched, but he could only force down his disgust and start eating. It somehow tasted even worse...

In Dorm Room 402, Ying, Shibata, Hamaguchi, and Beppu sat around a round table.

"What comes next will be a fierce battle. People may look at you differently after this. Even so, will you still follow me?" Ying said solemnly, arms folded.

"Ying, you're wrong. We're not following you. This is a decision we've all made together. As long as it's for everyone in Class B, as long as it shows those people in Class C that we're not to be messed with, we'll do anything!" Hamaguchi declared, patting his chest.

Ying looked around at the other two, and they nodded in agreement as well.

"Good! Then let's start rehearsing, Class B Boys Group!"

"Princess! I will! I will save you! Demon King, I'll fight you to the death!!! Hyaaa!" Ying brandished a longsword and slashed at the Demon King Shibata.

"Ahahaha! Foolish hero, do you think your meager mortal strength can shake my demonic might?" The Demon King Shibata merely raised a sleeve, and Ying went flying.

"Hero-sama!" cried Princess Hamaguchi, whom the Demon King had kidnapped.

"Hero! Die!" The Demon King unleashed dark magic, pressing his advantage and aiming to finish the hero off.

"Ying! Look out!" Beppu rushed over and shoved Ying aside, but he was struck by the dark magic and collapsed.

"Ryota! What are you doing... Why would you be so foolish!" Ying fell to his knees and cradled the dying Beppu.

Beppu licked the ketchup at the corner of his mouth and said, "Cough, cough... Ying... Thank goodness you're alive. It seems... watashi is about to leave this world."

"No! Ryota! Don't die! Please!" Ying sobbed, pleading with Ryota.

"Cough, cough... At the end of my life, watashi have something to say to you. I have to... tell you. For a long... long time, I've been in love with you... I always knew... Ying loved the princess... But I wanted to know... Even if only for a moment, Ying, did you ever love me...?"

Ying couldn't stop himself from covering his mouth and dry-heaving, then quickly got back into character. "Ryota! Don't—don't say another word!"

"Is that so... I knew all along... that it was just wishful thinking... I hope you and the princess can live on. You must... be... hap..." Beppu's voice trailed off, and he stopped breathing.

"Ryota! Ryota! Answer me! Ryota!!! Why! Why! Why is my summer so melancholy!!!"

The dead Ryota turned on the MP3 player tucked in his pants pocket.

"That day, melancholy, get melancholy..." (Sad version)

"Hey, Ishizaki, you've gotta admit, it's pretty good," Komiya said, munching on popcorn.

"I really don't want to admit it, but they are doing a good job," Ishizaki said with a frown.

A large crowd of Class C students had gathered in the school park. They were all watching the Class B Boys Group perform their play, Brave Hero Fights the Demon King.

"Our Drama Club could really use talent like this," said an upperclassman from the Drama Club, wiping away his tears.

"Hahahaha! What an interesting group of boys! I'll have them join the Koenji Group and make their gorgeous debut." For some reason, Koenji Rokusuke was watching the four of them perform, too.

For the past few days, the four members of Ying's group had been showing off their talents in front of Class C students, annoying them so much that they'd asked Ryuen for help more than once. At first, Ryuen had dismissed it as harmless mischief, nothing to worry about. But the Class B Boys Group kept at it relentlessly, until the word "melancholy" was enough to scare Class C.

That day, Ryuen finally sought out the four of them.

"Class B. Who came up with this plan?" Ryuen asked, fixing the four with a piercing stare.

The three besides Ying couldn't help being intimidated by Ryuen's presence.

"Kanzaki Ryuji," Ying said expressionlessly.

"I see. So it wasn't that bleeding-heart Ichinose after all. Go back and tell Ichinose that Class B wins this time, but it won't be so easy next time." With that, Ryuen led the Class C students away.

"Ying, why did you tell Ryuen that Kanzaki came up with the plan?" Hamaguchi asked curiously.

"Because that's what best friends are for: throwing under the bus." Ying meant that if Ryuen came looking for trouble later, he'd have to get past Ying's buddy Kanzaki first.