He'd been a little confused about what those guys were trying to do, so he'd stopped to think.
If they'd actually been trying to start a fight, he would've fought back and given them a good beating.
But just now, they'd come up to him acting all friendly, then, uh, it seemed more like they were trying to strip him.
Not his pants, just his shirt.
Like they'd planned it in advance.
Were they that desperate?
Had I run into a bunch of perverts?
Were they gay?
So he'd looked at them strangely, trying to guess what they were after.
He really couldn't figure out what went on in these guys' heads.
"See? That's what he said."
Kanji Ike seized the chance to speak.
"Honestly."
"What was that all about? Tell us, Kageya. If they were bullying you, we'll..."
But Kushida Kikyo clearly wasn't about to let them off the hook.
"Don't say anything yet."
She even stopped Kanji Ike and the others from explaining.
"Ah..."
They let out pained groans.
"I'm not sure, either. Maybe they haven't been able to get girlfriends and they're lonely."
"They came over and tried to strip me. I don't know if that's how they mess around with each other, but maybe they've given up on getting girls and won't even spare a good-looking guy."
"Oh, and my swimsuit cost 4,000 points. Remember to pay me back."
Kageya Shinjitsu scratched his itchy neck, then paused.
He didn't seem at all troubled by his scars being exposed.
Instead, he demanded money and made a sarcastic remark.
The girls gave him some very strange looks.
Playing at stripping each other?
If they were fujoshi, they'd probably be staring at those guys with excitement right now.
Kanji Ike and Yamauchi Haruki tried to explain several times.
But in the end, they gave up.
They'd accomplished what they'd set out to do, anyway.
"We'll pay you back, we will."
"But next month, when we..."
Kanji Ike wanted to wait until they got their 100,000 points next month.
A mere 4,000 points was nothing.
"It can't wait until next month. I need to buy something. Pay me now."
Kageya Shinjitsu rejected the idea outright.
They weren't going to get a single point next month.
And even if they had any now, he'd make sure they didn't.
"You..."
Kanji Ike was annoyed.
But after seeing Kushida Kikyo's expression, he looked to the others.
In the end, he borrowed some points from Ayanokouji Kiyotaka.
He'd started this, so naturally, he had to pay.
"Remember to transfer it."
"I'll return your towel once I've washed it."
"If that's all, I'll get going."
"Even if the law doesn't support guys being together, I hope you have fun."
Kageya Shinjitsu took stock of his condition and figured out, more or less, what they'd been after.
He left them with that remark, then said goodbye to the guys and the girls.
"No need to rush."
Kushida Kikyo replied that there was no hurry.
It was just a towel, after all.
"Well, we'll be going too."
Kanji Ike turned around to find an unfriendly stare waiting for him. He felt awful under it.
Kushida-chan, you've been fooled!
Why couldn't she believe them?
That guy was a delinquent.
Kanji Ike was getting further and further along his path to becoming a knight.
Unfortunately, princesses usually ended up with princes, not knights.
All a knight could do was stand outside her door.
[New author, new book. Fifth update. This is a niche genre, so the numbers are up to you. If the stats are halfway decent, I'll finish the story. If you think it's pretty good, please show your support with comments, subscriptions, flowers, tips, favorites, and monthly tickets.]
Chapter 38: Ayanokouji Kiyotaka's Tactics, Karuizawa Kei
"Goodbye. If you can, you should apologize to Kageya. Whether you meant it as a joke or not."
Kushida Kikyo said, her face serious.
"Yeah, yeah."
Kanji Ike brushed her off and hurried away.
There was no way they were apologizing.
Their plan had worked, but not quite as well as they'd imagined.
"Hey, Kikyo, what's the deal with Kageya?"
"Has he told you anything?"
"Is that why you've been friends with him this whole time?"
"He did look really fit when we were swimming earlier."
"Yeah, yeah. He'd be really handsome if he didn't keep giving people those weird looks."
"Maybe he's been bullied so much that he's afraid to talk to people."
"I don't think so. He seemed pretty..."
After the boys left, the girls gathered around and asked what was going on.
Karuizawa Kei, in particular, was curious.
Ever since she'd come over and seen Kageya Shinjitsu, she seemed to have thought of something.
She kept asking questions.
"I don't know, either."
"I just think he's a good person. He even gave up his seat for an old person on the bus before."
"And he doesn't do anything unusual. He attends class, and he's pretty good at learning."
"He just isn't good at talking to people."
Kushida Kikyo left out the fact that he'd skipped class on his first day.
"So he really is a good person."
"Kanji Ike and those guys went way too far. They really are a bunch of idiots."
"I bet they're jealous of Kageya. They've been picking on him because you keep going over to talk to him, Kikyo."
"Exactly. You should stay away from Kanji Ike and the others. You can't be friends with just anyone."
"I heard they even made some kind of ranking of the girls' breasts. That's disgusting."
"It's awful being in the same class as them."
The girls all chimed in.
Karuizawa Kei listened, deep in thought.
She wasn't the only one; the other girls also seemed quite curious about Kageya Shinjitsu.
They kept asking questions as they walked together toward the changing room.
Unless something unexpected happened, this gossip would probably spread through the girls' chat group before long.
As for Kanji Ike and the others...
"That guy really is suspicious."
"He's a delinquent bastard, but since he didn't have any friends when he got to school, he's been pretending to be someone else."
"But it feels like Kikyo and the others just feel even sorrier for him now."
"That bastard's always taking advantage of people's kindness."
The group gathered together, not having gone back to the changing room yet.
They knew Kageya Shinjitsu was still there.
"I didn't realize Ayanokouji was so sharp. He figured out right away that something was off about him."
"Are we really giving him those 4,000 points?"
"Maybe we shouldn't?"
"We have to. If we don't, he'll probably go to a teacher. He doesn't care about saving face."
"We've got to expose his true colors. It's up to us to save Kikyo."
They talked it over. They really didn't want to hand over the 4,000 points, but after considering the consequences, they paid up.
This operation had been Ayanokouji Kiyotaka's idea. He'd suggested it after watching Kageya Shinjitsu easily beat Ken Sudō and even take first place. He'd felt there was something seriously off about him; he definitely wasn't the person he pretended to be.
Besides, he was wearing a swimsuit. None of the boys in their class wore one. Even Koenji Rokusuke, that flamboyant guy, had shown up in a pair of briefs.
Taken together, the situation was highly suspicious.
He must have had some secret he didn't want anyone to find out about.
If they could rip his swimsuit, ideally they'd expose him in front of Kushida Kikyo—maybe reveal a tattoo, proof that he'd been a delinquent, or some other secret he couldn't let people know.
That would make the girls wary of him right away.
They might get a chance in the changing room, too, but what if he left wearing his swimsuit and changed back in his room? Then they'd never find anything out.
And if the girls weren't there to see it, the effect would be much weaker.
Before you continue