He really couldn't figure out what this unexpected visitor wanted.
But since she was already standing at his door...
Shimizu Akira hesitated briefly, then walked over and slowly opened it.
"Shimizu... Whoa! W-why aren't you wearing any clothes?" Karuizawa Kei had been grumbling to herself about how long he was taking to open the door, but what she saw instead was the boy's bare upper body.
His powerful muscles were still taut from his workout, their healthy sheen catching the light.
Karuizawa Kei's gaze seemed magnetically drawn to him, unable to look away.
That body... Is it even fair to look like that?!
Shimizu Akira was in astonishingly good shape, even surpassing the male models Karuizawa Kei had seen in a fashion magazine recently.
Come to think of it, I touched him once last time.
She suddenly remembered last week, when she had deliberately grabbed Shimizu Akira's stomach to improve their relationship.
She still remembered exactly how it had felt—hard and firm, with an inexplicably satisfying texture.
Before she knew it, the sensation now was blending with the memory.
The heartbeat in her chest suddenly sounded unusually clear.
Could this be... sexual tension?
That wordless attraction, arising purely from biological instinct.
Like wild animals being drawn to strong members of their own species.
Besides, she was a girl who desperately lacked a sense of security.
No way! I'm not some animal in heat!
She muttered to herself, then finally forced her gaze away from him.
Shimizu Akira, however, had seen it all.
He wasn't blind. Karuizawa Kei had stared at him for several seconds; how could he possibly miss that?
"Karuizawa... You're acting weird. Wasn't touching me once last time enough?" Shimizu Akira played along.
A couple of glances would have been one thing, but what was with staring at him for a full eight seconds?
She was that desperate for his body, huh?
"Uh... You! Put some clothes on already! Good grief!" Karuizawa Kei's earlobes turned red in an instant. She gave him a light shove, grabbed a T-shirt from his bed, and threw it at him.
But after throwing him the shirt, she didn't leave. She simply turned around and stood with her back to him.
"..." Shimizu Akira said nothing. Watching her back, he slowly put on the T-shirt.
"I'm dressed," he called.
"By the way, you didn't come all the way over here just to smell my sweat, did you?" Shimizu Akira picked up the towel draped over the back of a chair and wiped the sweat from his neck.
Only then did Karuizawa Kei turn around. The blush on her face hadn't completely faded, but she'd already put on her usual slightly haughty expression. "Who came all the way over here? I just happened to be passing by and remembered I had something to ask you."
"Oh? What is it?"
"You haven't shown up at the Boxing Club these past two days! I've been going all by myself."
"The club president told me to stay away as much as possible. He said I'd distract the other newcomers from training."
"Huh? Distract them how? That Black guy in Class C looks like he's in about as good shape as you."
Shimizu Akira raised an eyebrow. "As the manager, you'd better not say that to his face. You might get punched. I won't help you if that happens. You'll have brought it on yourself."
He had a vague idea who she meant. It was probably a first-year student from Class C, but he couldn't remember the name just then.
Karuizawa Kei stiffened at his words, realizing she'd put her foot in her mouth. She quickly cleared her throat to cover her embarrassment. "...I understand."
After hesitating for a moment, she added haltingly, "Um... That message I sent you last time didn't mean we didn't have enough points... Anyway, you'll definitely be paid what we owe you, so you don't need to worry about that..."
Watching her stiff movements, Shimizu Akira couldn't help shaking his head to himself again.
The class fee alone was as high as 25,000 points, not to mention the additional expenses they'd have to cover to keep the surveillance system running.
Shimizu Akira silently did the math. The number in her account was probably already close to zero, or might even have fallen into the negatives.
And she was still trying to act tough at a time like this?
Just then, Karuizawa Kei's phone suddenly rang.
She casually pulled it out of her pocket, glanced at the caller ID, and answered.
"Hello? Chiaki? What do you need at this hour?"
"What? Kushida Kikyou went to your dorm to see you? Is it about the class fee again?"
"Anyway, I absolutely won't pay it! You're not allowed to agree to it either! Didn't the four of us agree to stick together?"
"Huh? You said you wanted to see me too? But I'm not in my dorm right now!"
"...Actually, I'm... I'm in Shimizu's room! Don't get the wrong idea! We're just talking about club activities!"
After hanging up, Karuizawa Kei quickly began typing on her phone again.
Shimizu Akira had heard every word of the conversation.
It looked like Karuizawa Kei was the reason the group of gyarus in Class D had been dragging their feet on paying the class fee.
But based on Shimizu Akira's judgment, she probably hadn't thought it through that far. She simply didn't have enough points to pay the class fee.
There was a deeper reason behind Karuizawa Kei's refusal to pay the class fee. On the surface, it was because she was short on money—she truly didn't have any points to spare.
But there was more to it than that.
She needed to play a role that fit her "gyaru" persona: someone who didn't care about class matters and looked down on the class representatives' demands.
Just like the girls who had bullied her in middle school. They, too, had treated the class representative's reminders with the same disdain, ignoring them with mocking smiles.
Ironically, she now seemed to be turning into the very kind of person she'd once despised, wearing the smiles she'd hated and striking the poses she'd once loathed.
Still, Karuizawa Kei's "gyaru" image was only a facade.
Although she deliberately acted tough and willful, she'd never truly crossed that line. She hadn't deliberately ostracized girls in her class like her former bullies, formed cliques, or created countless group chats to isolate others. And she'd never laid a hand on a girl in the bathroom.
At the start of the school year, she had considered doing such things.
Perhaps it was self-protection, or perhaps she simply didn't want to become a target for bullying again. She had even considered whether she should treat others the way her former tormentors had treated her.
But in the end, she stopped before crossing that line.
Wasn't this a tragic cycle? A former victim imitated the mannerisms of her abusers, yet ultimately couldn't become a true abuser herself.
On the very first day of school, she quickly bonded with Sato Maya, Matsushita Chiaki, and Mori Nene.
It wasn't simply a matter of making friends.
In her shrewd calculations, becoming friends with these three meant she could build a little circle of her own in the class—a first line of defense for herself in an unfamiliar environment.
Of the three, Sato Maya mattered most to her.
With her every gesture radiating the typical gyaru vibe, this girl was, in a sense, the genuine article: an outgoing gyaru.
Her well-timed gestures and energetic way of speaking were all things Karuizawa Kei needed to study and learn from.
After all, in this school where the strong preyed on the weak, she was willing to do anything to avoid repeating the past.
At that moment, she was typing intently in the four-person group chat.
Karuizawa Kei: Absolutely not! I'm completely against it! Now that we already know the information, why should we still pay 25,000 points for it?
After sending the message, she quietly apologized to the mysterious person in her heart.
I'm sorry... This information really is worth the price... But I have to maintain my image... Though! The main reason is that I really don't have any points!
Sato Maya: ? Kei, why have you been so hung up on the class fee these past few days? That's so weird!
Sato Maya: What's gotten into you?
Mori Nene: Mm-hm, exactly! You seem especially stubborn about this, Kei!
Karuizawa Kei's fingers froze instantly.
Oh no... Am I not acting "gyaru" enough? Aren't gyaru supposed to be careless and willful?
But if even a real gyaru said so... then she really must have been acting too deliberately. Had she overdone it?
But... this is my first time being a gyaru...
I don't have any experience being one at all! I can only copy what I see! But I really can't bring myself to bully people!
Would they see through her act just because of this one comment? Would they kick her out of their group? And then, just like before, they'd corner her in the bathroom...
She had never had much of a sense of security. Those painful memories seemed to surface before her eyes again, and even her phone screen began to tremble slightly.
But she quickly steadied herself.
Perhaps it was that old habit of hers acting up again—reading too much into other people's casual remarks.
Her classmates were only making a few offhand complaints. She shouldn't take them so seriously.
When she caught sight of Shimizu Akira out of the corner of her eye, it was like grabbing a lifeline. Her taut nerves immediately relaxed.
At least Shimizu Akira was still here.
She'd made a deal with him.
He would protect her.
With him around, there was no way she'd repeat what had happened in middle school.
This time, things would definitely end differently.
On the other side, Shimizu Akira hadn't noticed what she was thinking at all.
He keenly sensed that her expression had suddenly turned troubled. But the instant their eyes met, it was as if something had filled her eyes with strength, and her wavering gaze instantly steadied.
I can give people buffs now? How come I didn't know that?
Her sudden change was far too abrupt.
Before he could think it over, a soft knock at the door broke the silence in the room.
"Shimizu, it's Matsushita Chiaki..." A stranger's voice came from outside, tinged with some hesitation. "I just heard from Kei that she came to visit you. Is she there?"
Shimizu Akira raised an eyebrow.
Matsushita Chiaki's introduction was concise and clear: who she was, why she'd come, and what she wanted. She'd explained everything in a single sentence, leaving nothing out.
She seemed like a typical logical type, which fit his impression of her.
"She's here for you." Shimizu Akira nodded toward Karuizawa Kei. "Want to go out and talk?"
"..." Karuizawa Kei cleared her throat. "Maybe... we should let her in?"
Shimizu Akira gave her a meaningful glance. "I don't know what you're worried about, but it's probably unnecessary."
He turned and walked to the door. "I'll get it."
A quick explanation of the surveillance issue.
I thought I'd already explained things clearly on the president's end, but it seems some readers still haven't fully understood. So I'll go into more detail here:
First: Renting the surveillance system can keep your class from losing points in the future.
This shouldn't be hard to understand. All the classes now know the rules of daily conduct. Using phones or talking in class can result in point deductions. Once you rent the surveillance system, you can delete the relevant footage at the end of the month and completely avoid losing points.
Second: Deleting the previous surveillance footage can recover class points.
The footage of rule-breaking from the previous two weeks can be deleted completely. (The other classes don't know about it; the school administration already took the first week's footage. This was told to Shimizu Akira separately.) In theory, this would allow all four classes to recover more than 900 Class Points.
Third: The concern that Shimizu Akira might sell access to the surveillance system to other people is actually what Classes A and B care about most.
Although the school administration clearly told Shimizu Akira that he couldn't sell access to the surveillance system to other classes, that doesn't mean the other classes know about this rule.
This creates an information gap. Even if Classes A and B haven't lost many points due to rule-breaking, the surveillance footage from the past two weeks still exists. Every word spoken by the leaders of Classes A and B and every move made by their students during that time has been recorded in full. If that information were leaked to their rivals in other classes, it would be like giving them "wallhacks"—they could study their every move in advance.
That's what Classes A and B care about most.
Fourth: psychological pressure. Being watched is never a pleasant feeling.
Matsushita Chiaki's Sudden Visit
On the surface, Karuizawa Kei refused to pay the class fee because she was short on money—she really didn't have any spare points.
But there was a deeper reason.
She needed to play the role of a "gyaru": someone who didn't care about class matters and looked down on the class representatives' demands.
Just like the girls who had bullied her in middle school. They, too, had treated the class representative's reminders with the same disdain, ignoring them with mocking smiles.
Ironically, she now seemed to be turning into the very kind of person she'd once despised, wearing the smiles she'd hated and striking the poses she'd once loathed.
Still, Karuizawa Kei's "gyaru" image was only a facade.
Although she deliberately acted tough and willful, she'd never truly crossed that line. She hadn't deliberately ostracized girls in her class like her former bullies, formed cliques, or created countless group chats to isolate others. And she'd never laid a hand on a girl in the bathroom.
At the start of the school year, she had considered doing such things.
Perhaps it was self-protection, or perhaps she simply didn't want to become a target for bullying again. She had even considered whether she should treat others the way her former tormentors had treated her.
But in the end, she stopped before crossing that line.
Wasn't this a tragic cycle? A former victim imitated the mannerisms of her abusers, yet ultimately couldn't become a true abuser herself.
On the very first day of school, she quickly bonded with Sato Maya, Matsushita Chiaki, and Mori Nene.
It wasn't simply a matter of making friends.
In her shrewd calculations, becoming friends with these three meant she could build a little circle of her own in the class—a first line of defense for herself in an unfamiliar environment.
Of the three, Sato Maya mattered most to her.
With her every gesture radiating the typical gyaru vibe, this girl was, in a sense, the genuine article: an outgoing gyaru.
Her well-timed gestures and energetic way of speaking were all things Karuizawa Kei needed to study and learn from.
After all, in this school where the strong preyed on the weak, she was willing to do anything to avoid repeating the past.
At that moment, she was typing intently in the four-person group chat.
Karuizawa Kei: Absolutely not! I'm completely against it! Now that we already know the information, why should we still pay 25,000 points for it?
After sending the message, she quietly apologized to the mysterious person in her heart.
I'm sorry... This information really is worth the price... But I have to maintain my image... Though! The main reason is that I really don't have any points!
Sato Maya: ? Kei, why have you been so hung up on the class fee these past few days? That's so weird!
Sato Maya: What's gotten into you?
Mori Nene: Mm-hm, exactly! You seem especially stubborn about this, Kei!
Karuizawa Kei's fingers froze instantly.
Oh no... Am I not acting "gyaru" enough? Aren't gyaru supposed to be careless and willful?
But if even a real gyaru said so... then she really must have been acting too deliberately. Had she overdone it?
But... this is my first time being a gyaru...
I don't have any experience being one at all! I can only copy what I see! But I really can't bring myself to bully people!
Would they see through her act just because of this one comment? Would they kick her out of their group? And then, just like before, they'd corner her in the bathroom...
She had never had much of a sense of security. Those painful memories seemed to surface before her eyes again, and even her phone screen began to tremble slightly.
But she quickly steadied herself.
Perhaps it was that old habit of hers acting up again—reading too much into other people's casual remarks.
Her classmates were only making a few offhand complaints. She shouldn't take them so seriously.
When she caught sight of Shimizu Akira out of the corner of her eye, it was like grabbing a lifeline. Her taut nerves immediately relaxed.
At least Shimizu Akira was still here.
She'd made a deal with him.
He would protect her.
With him around, there was no way she'd repeat what had happened in middle school.
This time, things would definitely end differently.
On the other side, Shimizu Akira hadn't noticed what she was thinking at all.
He keenly sensed that her expression had suddenly turned troubled. But the instant their eyes met, it was as if something had filled her eyes with strength, and her wavering gaze instantly steadied.
I can give people buffs now? How come I didn't know that?
Her sudden change was far too abrupt.
Before he could think it over, a soft knock at the door broke the silence in the room.
"Shimizu, it's Matsushita Chiaki..." A stranger's voice came from outside, tinged with some hesitation. "I just heard from Kei that she came to visit you. Is she there?"
Shimizu Akira raised an eyebrow.
Matsushita Chiaki's introduction was concise and clear: who she was, why she'd come, and what she wanted. She'd explained everything in a single sentence, leaving nothing out.
She seemed like a typical logical type, which fit his impression of her.
"She's here for you." Shimizu Akira nodded toward Karuizawa Kei. "Want to go out and talk?"
"..." Karuizawa Kei cleared her throat. "Maybe... we should let her in?"
Shimizu Akira gave her a meaningful glance. "I don't know what you're worried about, but it's probably unnecessary."
He turned and walked to the door. "I'll get it."
Before you continue