In the end, Ayanokoji still didn't add Sakura as a friend. Ying thought it over carefully and realized he seemed to have stolen all of Ayanokoji's scenes. So did that mean Sakura would call him later? What about the Student Council host? Or could Sakura solve the whole thing perfectly on her own this time? No way.
Ying, who was in his dorm room, fell into thought. It looked like he had no choice but to turn down the Student Council hosting gig.
"Knock, knock."
Someone knocked on the door of Ying's dorm room, bringing back some unpleasant memories.
"Who is it? What do you want?" Ying opened the door a crack and stuck his head out to see what was going on.
"Ying, what are you hiding? Don't tell me you've got something unspeakable in your room." Ike stood in the hallway and stuck one foot into Ying's room, trying to get inside. Ying hurriedly stopped him, and the two of them began a tug-of-war over the door.
"Okay, okay. We're friends, I get it. If you don't want me to see, I won't push it. But I've got something good that's related to what you're hiding. Want to come check it out in Ayanokoji's room?" Ike said mysteriously.
Ying was startled. What!? Ike collected this kind of high-end stuff too? You couldn't judge a book by its cover.
"Is that so? Then I'd be delighted to take a look." Ying and Ike went to Ayanokoji's room together.
There were already three burly guys in Ayanokoji's room, gathered around the computer and chatting.
"Haruki, Ken, I brought Ying along. Let's check it out together." As he spoke, Ike took out a memory card.
"Ooh, I know her! It's Shizuku!" Yamauchi exclaimed as soon as he saw the first photo.
"Right, right! That's her. You know your stuff, Yamauchi! The photos she posts are all really good. Since we're all buddies, I'll share them with everyone today!" Ike said.
"Kanji, you found so much material! Impressive!" Yamauchi praised him.
"Hmph. What's so great about this?" Sudo said, though he didn't take his eyes off the computer.
"And I noticed something really important. Look at the backgrounds in Shizuku's recent photos. Don't they look a lot like Kouiku's campus?" Ike pointed at the background of one photo.
"They sure do," Yamauchi said.
"So I think Shizuku's a Kouiku student, and there's a good chance she's a first-year," Ike declared.
"Impossible! If such a cute idol were in our year, how could I not have noticed? If she's in our year, I'll eat my hat!" Yamauchi shook his head, rejecting the idea.
"Uh... isn't this Sakura Airi from your class?" Ying said.
"Yeah, that's Sakura Airi from our class. So could you all please go back now?" Ayanokoji added.
"What!? No way!" Ike stared carefully at the picture, then his face changed. "Holy crap! She really does look like her! Could it actually be her?"
Ike and Yamauchi exchanged glances, both seeing boundless shock in the other's eyes.
"Well, I'll head back." Ying glanced at the stunned group and left Ayanokoji's room.
The next day was the day of the review hearing. Ying arrived at the Student Council early to ask for leave.
"Boss, I won't be hosting the review hearing this time," Ying said to Horikita Manabu.
"Oh? Why not?" Horikita Manabu asked.
"According to the information I have, the three students from Class C are coming here today to withdraw their appeal, so there's no need for a host. If the three students from Class C don't come to withdraw it, then I'll have to trouble Tachibana."
Horikita Manabu and Tachibana both looked shocked.
"Withdraw their appeal? Is that how Class D plans to win outright? Interesting." Horikita Manabu pushed up his glasses and smiled.
Then Ying left the Student Council, opened his Student Terminal, and started checking Sakura's location. Just then, he suddenly remembered something and hurried back to his dorm.
Ying was racing toward Sakura's location, cursing as he ran. "Huff... Are the people at the market supervision department all just slacking off?! Huff... Why is the processing so slow! If I don't get there in time, you're all finished! Huff..."
Ying had planned to keep patrolling Keyaki Mall, but then he remembered the camera in his dorm that could shoot lasers, which he still hadn't reported. Wanting to make things even worse for that clerk, he decided to report him to Kouiku's regulatory department first. But as soon as he started filing the report, he saw that Sakura's location hadn't changed, so he had to rush to the scene.
When he arrived, he saw Sakura keeping her distance from the clerk and breathed a sigh of relief.
"Please stop contacting me...!" Sakura threw a huge pile of letters onto the ground, an unbelievable number of them.
"Why would you say that? You're really important to me. I fell in love with you the first time I saw you in a magazine! I just can't stop longing for you!"
"W-why do you know where my room is? Why are you sending me all these things?" Sakura asked angrily.
"Because our hearts are connected."
Ying: Ugh...
"Please stop doing this. You're making me uncomfortable!" After saying that, Sakura tried to get away from the clerk and leave.
"Why? Why can't you understand? This is how I feel about you."
As he spoke, the clerk rushed forward and grabbed Sakura, stopping her from leaving.
Ying had already called the campus police, but they were impressively efficient too—not a single officer had shown up yet.
"N-no, don't come any closer..."
"I'll show you what true love is right now... Then you'll understand too, Sakura." The clerk pinned Sakura to the ground.
Feeling that things might get out of hand if he waited any longer, Ying decided to step in.
"Let go of that girl! Let me handle this!" Ying ran over, taking pictures as he went, and then... tripped right in front of the clerk.
Sakura and the clerk didn't react at first. They stared in surprise at Ying, sprawled on the ground.
"Uh... mister, I'm actually here to help you." As he spoke, Ying made sure to snap a photo from close up.
"Give me the camera!" The clerk came to his senses and lunged at Ying, trying to snatch it away.
Ying immediately stood up and aimed the camera at the clerk. "Don't come any closer! Remember this? It's a camera that can shoot lasers. Take one more step and I'll fire!"
The clerk hesitated for two seconds, then charged at Ying again. Ying kept his word and fired a "laser" at him.
The clerk hurriedly covered his eyes with his hands.
"Hey, I've gotta say, this camera's flash is really bright."
The clerk was furious now. He picked up an empty beer bottle from beside the road and charged at Ying. But Ying cranked the laser all the way up.
"Flash! You can't catch me!"
Maybe the clerk's eyes were gradually adjusting to the bright light, because he started moving faster.
"You're finished, kid!" The clerk reached Ying and raised the beer bottle high, bringing it down hard toward Ying's forehead.
Ying's body reacted before his brain. He shifted slightly to the right, dodging the bottle. Then he kicked the outside of the clerk's left knee, the leg he was bracing himself on. The kick knocked the clerk off balance, and he stumbled forward.
Ying seized the fleeting opportunity. He clamped his left hand around the clerk's bottle-holding wrist, braced his right hand against the man's elbow, and pulled sharply backward, using the force of his forward lurch.
"Crack."
The clerk let out a pained groan, and the empty beer bottle slipped from his limp hand. Ying didn't stop. He drove his knee into the clerk's midsection and pinned him against the cold wall. His left hand held the man firmly by the shoulder, leaving him unable to move.
"You're the one who attacked me first. The cameras nearby saw the whole thing. This is self-defense. I've wanted to beat up a scammer like you for ages. Heh heh heh." Ying was about to hit the clerk a few times, with just the right amount of force, when he heard hurried footsteps in the distance.
"Police! It's over here! Hurry!"
It turned out Sakura had gone to get the police and come back.
When the clerk heard that the police were coming, he began struggling desperately. Ying deliberately went along with the clerk's momentum and fell to the ground.
"Ahhhhh! Police, you're finally here! The evidence is all in this camera!" Ying shouted, handing the camera to the officers who had arrived.
The other officers subdued the clerk and escorted him away.
"Byakuya! Are you okay?" Sakura hurriedly knelt beside Ying and asked anxiously, tears glistening in her eyes.
"I think I'm dying. Quick, give me CPR!"
"Huh?" Sakura froze.
"Ying's my buddy. Let me do it!" Hamaguchi, who had been closest, had also rushed to the scene after receiving Sakura's message.
"Is this the bond between brothers? Feeling that bond has brought me back to full health. Now I just want to strengthen it a little." Ying sprang to his feet and put Hamaguchi in a chokehold.
Watching the two of them, Sakura couldn't help laughing. She quietly took off her plain glasses and made up her mind: she would become a great idol.
Before you continue