This was ridiculous!
"Don't believe this guy. This bastard's nothing but a thug."
Kaneda forced himself to his feet through the pain, his face flushed with fury.
Things had been going so well.
He'd finally managed to make a good impression on everyone else.
They'd shown such a strong front that no one would dare look down on Class C. At least, that was what he'd thought.
Then Ryuen kicked him,
and humiliated him in front of everyone.
Right now, Kaneda wished he could dig a hole and crawl into it.
From the first day of school, Ryuen had been shouting that he'd become the class leader and that everyone had to obey him without question. He wanted them all to be his lackeys.
What a joke.
Kaneda and the others naturally refused,
and, with Albert and the others helping, they'd easily subdued Ryuen.
But Ryuen was like a dog that wouldn't let go. He had no shame at all, and even after losing, he kept launching sneak attacks every day.
Just like today.
Kaneda and the others hadn't planned to bring Ryuen along in the first place. They knew the guy wouldn't behave, but Ryuen kept making a scene.
Worried that they'd lose face if they were late, Kaneda had reluctantly agreed to let Ryuen come along. They'd already agreed that he'd just follow them.
But who would've thought—
the bastard Ryuen would change his mind at the last minute again.
His words were worth less than shit. He had no credibility at all!
No matter how things were inside the class, they should at least present a united front in public. Did this guy not even understand that much?
And he'd even made Kaneda look like a fool?
That was why you couldn't trust petty thugs like him!
Kaneda glared at Ryuen with bloodshot eyes, ready to attack.
Chapter 29: Throwing Hands, the Tyrant's Provocation
"Albert, kill him!"
Kaneda barked,
clearly so humiliated at being embarrassed in front of so many people that he'd lost his temper. But just as he started charging toward Ryuen, Hirata grabbed him and held him back.
"Kaneda, Kaneda, calm down. I don't know what happened between you, but you're classmates, aren't you?"
That only made things worse.
Kaneda grew even angrier and struggled harder.
What kind of teammate sneak-attacked someone from his own class in front of everybody?
"Kaneda."
Ichinose tried to calm him down too. "You're Class C's representative, right? Right now, we need to focus on the bigger picture."
Those words
seemed to calm Kaneda down. He panted heavily, but gradually regained his composure.
That was right. He was Class C's representative. He could afford to let petty slights go. With so many outsiders here, he wasn't going to stoop to Ryuen's level.
He'd beat Ryuen up again once they got back to class.
On the other side, Albert from Class C still hadn't made a move. He seemed at a loss, and clearly wasn't completely on Kaneda's side.
"Idiot."
Ryuen shot him a glance,
then looked at Kijima Tsukur, pointed at the ground, and sneered:
"Kaneda, you're all a bunch of idiots. You think you can earn people's respect by getting the better of them verbally? You morons. That distance is his test of how obedient you are."
"Hm?"
Kaneda frowned. "What are you talking about?"
"You thought it'd be rude to walk over, but standing there made you uncomfortable, so you tried to throw your weight around verbally, right? Like a monkey bluffing to look tough. Stop making a fool of yourself."
"Ryuen..."
"..."
Before Kaneda and the others could say anything, Ryuen walked up to Kijima Tsukur, his eyes bruised and swollen. With his hands in his pockets, he looked down at him and sneered.
"You're Kijima Tsukur, right? Nice setup. Does it make you happy, playing house while surrounded by all these people? Bet it feels good enough to make you come."
At that, Kamuro Masumi and the others behind him raised their eyebrows.
Ryuen had completely ignored manners, rules, and the numbers on both sides. He'd walked right up to Kijima Tsukur alone and mocked them for playing house.
They couldn't ignore that.
But whether Kijima Tsukur stood up or retaliated, it would make him look petty.
Fortunately,
in front of outsiders,
Class A would at least maintain a united front on the surface.
Kito Hayato stepped forward and held out a hand to stop Ryuen. His gaze fixed on him like a demon's, signaling for him to back off.
Kamuro Masumi clicked her tongue in distaste. She and Hashimoto Masayoshi also took up positions behind Kijima Tsukur, ready for trouble.
The situation was on the verge of exploding.
Yet Ryuen still didn't take a step back. He glanced at Kito, then looked down at Kijima Tsukur and continued to taunt him.
"What's the matter? Playing godfather make you think you're in the yakuza? Want me to teach you how the yakuza do things? All you have to do is kiss my toes. Heh."
Clearly,
Ryuen kept provoking them, without a trace of fear or any intention of backing down.
Just as it looked like a fight was about to break out, Katsuragi, Ichinose, Hirata, Kaneda, and the others on the opposite side hurried over.
Kaneda's face was red with anger as he shouted,
"Ryuen, quit causing trouble for Class C, damn it! If you keep this up, we're not helping you."
"..."
Just then,
Kijima Tsukur raised his right hand and gestured behind him with his fingers.
Everyone stopped in an instant. Ryuen frowned. The gesture had clearly taken them all by surprise.
Did it mean... he wanted Kito and the others to move aside?
Was he backing down?
In fact,
both Ryuen and Kito's group had misunderstood something.
They thought the whole setup was just for show.
But whether Kijima Tsukur was sitting or solving a Rubik's Cube, those were simply his personal hobbies. He wasn't trying to draw attention.
From beginning to end,
Kijima Tsukur had only made one demand: that no more than three people be allowed.
Still, when Kito saw Kijima Tsukur's gesture, he stepped back to join Hashimoto and the others. He was only there to lend an imposing presence, so he did as he was told.
"Looks like Class C has figured out a few things too."
Kijima Tsukur didn't even glance at Ryuen. He kept his eyes on the space ahead, as though the people before him were just air, and turned the Rubik's Cube in his right hand as he mused:
"Otherwise, with Kaneda's personality, he would've reported you a long time ago."
"..."
Ryuen narrowed his eyes. It was a perfectly reasonable deduction.
Any normal person
should have been able to figure something out, right?
He suspected that violence within the class might affect next month's points.
That was why Kaneda and the others hadn't reported him to the school, choosing instead to fight back with violence.
As long as he used violence,
Ryuen didn't think he could lose.
Even if he lost today, even if he lost countless times, as long as he didn't give up, he'd be the one to win in the end!
What mattered more to him was
that Kijima Tsukur's mood hadn't changed at all. It didn't seem like an act, either. He genuinely didn't care.
"After you attacked Kaneda, you didn't say anything right away. You wanted to observe how everyone here reacted, didn't you?"
Kijima Tsukur rested his chin on his hand and leaned back in his chair. He looked up at Ryuen and said coolly:
"Given how you've all acted, you're still only speculating. Otherwise, you wouldn't have behaved this way. Are you just a bunch of thugs trying to take over the school, or are you pleasure-seekers like Sakayanagi?"
"Well? Did they pass?"
"Heh..."
Ryuen's already-narrow eyes narrowed even further.
From the moment the three of them had been invited to the rooftop, he'd guessed that the arrangement was meant to observe their reactions.
If it were up to him,
he'd have brought the entire class. Who gave a damn about the three-person limit? The problem was that Kaneda and the others still hadn't given in.
Ryuen couldn't operate freely,
and Kaneda wasn't the only one in the class who refused to obey him. Just getting them to follow him had taken a lot of effort.
The moment he arrived, Ryuen had already decided to seize control of the situation and use his attack on Kaneda to observe everyone.
Katsuragi, Hirata, and Ichinose had been the first to step in and stop him.
There was nothing to fear from such serious-minded types.
Karuizawa Kei and Yamamura Miki had clearly been frightened. That was only natural, since they were girls.
Kikyo Kushida, Kamuro Masumi, Shibata Sou, and Kanzaki Ryuji had visibly furrowed their brows. They clearly weren't afraid of violence at that level, but they didn't like it either.
The remaining three were more interesting.
That guy named Hashimoto Masayoshi had actually raised his eyebrows. He seemed to admire that kind of behavior.
Kito Hayato, on the other hand, glared at him, radiating murderous intent.
He was so ugly, yet his sense of justice might have been even stronger than Ichinose and the others'. That genuinely surprised Ryuen.
And then there was Kijima Tsukur—the one who surprised Ryuen the most!
As the host, Class A's representative, and the only one sitting in a chair, Kijima Tsukur had naturally been Ryuen's main focus.
And yet,
the guy hadn't moved a muscle or changed his expression. He hadn't even paused his hands as he turned the Rubik's Cube.
Before you continue