Scheming in the real world? I can also do a little.

Opening her shoe locker, Karuizawa saw a letter.

She didn't think it was a love letter because the exterior looked incredibly tacky. Perhaps that was intentional, to let her know it wasn't a love letter at all.

Tearing open the yellowish envelope, she unfolded the paper inside.

'Karuizawa-san, as promised, I have punished those three students. To avoid anything too gruesome, I have left only the smallest portion of the punishment for you to see. This was an oversight on our part, and I offer you my sincerest apologies once again.'

Inside the envelope, along with the letter, was a small plastic bag containing three fingernails. Girls often like to keep their pinky nails long, and seeing three nails that looked as if they had been ripped off left her stunned. She quickly understood exactly what had happened to those three students.

Tearing off a fingernail might seem like a small matter, but if one were to simply ask around, one could probably learn much more.

"Did they take a leave of absence?"

She hadn't expected to hear that those three girls had taken leave, and Karuizawa's mind went blank.

"Yeah, it seems like Hoya Chukai did it this time. The students in Class C don't really want to talk about Hoya Chukai anymore."

Kushida answered Karuizawa using the script provided by Hoya Chukai, while Karuizawa stared blankly out the window.

She suddenly felt that Hirata might not be the best choice.

She had endured three years of bullying in middle school, so she desperately needed a strong person to help her.

Her original choice had been Hirata from her class; he was kind and had a cohesive influence on the class. If she became his girlfriend, perhaps such situations wouldn't occur.

But... she now felt that Hirata seemed a bit too kind.

In the original story, she didn't choose Ryuen Shoko, likely because Ryuen's overbearing nature easily frightened her. Walking with a king is like walking with a tiger; she only wanted to avoid being bullied, and if she stayed by Ryuen's side, she might end up suffering the worst bullying of all.

And now, she seemed to have a seemingly better option—Hoya Chukai.

He held great prestige in Class C. Although he couldn't control Class D, he had plenty of 'underlings.' The fact that he could make those three girls leave with their tails between their legs with just a word showed he had real power. It wasn't necessarily true that Ryuen Shoko controlled everything in Class C.

During this time, the students of Class D had also noticed that Class C was a bit different from the other classes. They didn't seem to have much freedom; sometimes, whenever Ryuen Shoko held a class meeting, she would occupy everyone's time. When school ended, students from other classes would leave, but Class C always had to listen to Ryuen Shoko.

One could find out about such things just by asking around, so Karuizawa was very glad she wasn't in Class C.

"Hey, Karuizawa-san? Karuizawa-san?"

"Ah, Kushida-san, what is it?"

Seeing that Karuizawa was spacing out again, Kushida called her name several times. Watching her snap back to reality, Kushida sighed inwardly.

"I was saying, how about we go hang out after school?"

"Ah, sure. Where to? Karaoke?"

"Hmm... that works. I'll call a few other classmates, how about that?"

"Sounds good."

Watching Karuizawa's distracted state, Kushida couldn't understand what she was thinking.

Was she really taken in that easily?

An outsider could clearly see through the entire situation, but outsiders are also the least capable of understanding the feelings of those involved.

Just as she herself felt something for Hoya Chukai after he pinned her against the wall, being saved in a simple way was enough to give Karuizawa an initial sense of favor toward him.

Just as Kamuro felt a moral debt after one heart-to-heart talk with Hoya Chukai about shoplifting, and just as Ayanokoji reached out a helping hand when she was still naive and confused.

Only the parties involved could understand what had truly happened, and only they could know what was truly in their hearts.

How should one put it... Hoya Chukai, you've done all sorts of wicked things.

Compared to the morning, the afternoon in Class C felt exceptionally distinct.

For no other reason than physical education.

In other schools, what do you do in PE? Running? Ball games? Sit-ups?

But at this academy, this PE class began at the swimming pool.

Which meant this was a swimming lesson.

A swimming lesson, huh~

Sighing, Hoya Chukai watched his classmates, who were looking rather eager in the locker room.

Because Ryuen Shoko was absent, they were gradually loosening up.

What? You say Hoya Chukai, Ryuen Shoko's lackey, is here? He wouldn't possibly snitch. Compared to that madwoman, Hoya Chukai, who always played the good cop, was more trustworthy in everyone's eyes.

For the girls, gathering a bit of intel could earn them 5,000 points. All it took was skipping a mandatory PE class and pulling out a pinky nail to earn 1,000 points (1,000 for each of the three). In the eyes of the boys, he was an incredibly efficient quest-giver.

Some boys had privately asked why Hoya Chukai favored the girls, and Hoya Chukai's explanation was that these tasks were only suitable for girls for the time being, and there would be tasks suitable for boys later.

And right now, everyone was busy with other things, such as—comparing sizes.

Boys always have some strange hobbies, like comparing sizes to see who has the long spear and who has the short stick.

The girls had their own form of entertainment, though they were just looking at whose was rounder and perkier.

"Oh~ Albert, you really live up to the name."

Everyone looked at Albert and couldn't help but praise him, and the taciturn boy blushed for once.

He couldn't understand why everyone was so interested in his, or if there were just a lot of gays in this class.

Eww~ I don't even want to think about it.

"Speaking of which, what about you, Hoya Chukai? Let's see yours... holy crap, not bad, you're well-endowed."

As one of the boys shouted out, the others crowded around to take a look.

No, I'm not Zhang Chulan, why are you all coming to look at me for no reason?

Chapter 42: You've really been getting cocky lately, haven't you?

Facts proved that no matter how cold and strict the management was, it couldn't extinguish the restless hearts of teenage boys.

Perhaps they had been suppressed for too long; the moment Ryuen Shoko was out of sight, everyone started acting like a pack of huskies let off their leashes.

Quite a few people went over to squeeze Albert's muscles. It turns out that excessive fitness really does attract the same sex.

Hoya Chukai breathed a rare sigh of relief as their attention shifted back to Albert.

Albert, a muscular giant, looked like the perfect bodyguard as long as he didn't speak. But his personality... was somewhat introverted.

Yes, it sounds ridiculous but it's true; he is a very introverted kid.

Because of his skin color, he had been a child who received 'too much attention' since he was young, and school bullying started early. Coupled with his poor eloquence and timid nature, he had no choice but to start working out, which made him look incredibly burly at just sixteen, even capable of winning fights against adults.

But he still lost to Ryuen Shoko, which is just absurd.

Though, when you think about the level of Ayanokoji in the original work, it doesn't seem that absurd anymore, does it?

All in all, just because of this simple horseplay in the locker room, Albert's popularity in the class inexplicably skyrocketed, which made Hoya Chukai consider distancing himself from this group of boys.

What is going on? Are you all gay or something? You just saw his toned muscles and his "long spear" and fell for him?

Of course, that's just a joke; naturally, it couldn't be that simple.

Not far away, Kaneda Satoru wore a look of inferiority, hmm...

Well, looking at that bean-sprout physique, you don't even have to guess; he's probably a "short stick" level competitor.

To experience such cold reality at such a young age, it's miserable, truly miserable.

Happy times are always short-lived. After the "let's see yours" mini-game, everyone walked out of the locker room.

And then... their eyes couldn't look away.

The girls had also changed into their swimsuits, and standing at the very front, giving a speech to the other girls, was none other than Ryuen Shoko.

I mean, that figure of yours... hiss~

To ensure everyone could attend class properly, they were naturally wearing school-style swimsuits rather than bikinis. But these swimsuits have their own advantages, perfectly highlighting one's figure.

Ryuen Shoko's curvy physique at the front almost made everyone's "little brother" react. If it weren't for her usual intimidating presence, everyone might have had to run back to the locker room to enter a "sage mode" right now.

"Hey, what are you guys dawdling for? Chukai, get over here."

Of course, besides Ryuen Shoko, the other girls were also very attractive, such as Ibuki Mio, who had great athletic ability; her physique was also excellent.

Then there was Shiina Hiyori, the kind-hearted little angel of Class C, who was also incredibly pretty, naturally making a group of boys want to convert to Wudang.

Their dawdling naturally sparked the dissatisfaction of the Class C leader, Ryuen Shoko. Her choice was simple: she directly dragged the leader of the boys' side over to her side.

And who was that leader? No need to guess, it was definitely Hoya Chukai.

"Hey, Big Sis, Big Sis, don't pull my ear, it hurts, this thing really hurts."

Why act reserved in front of Ryuen Shoko? Naturally, he would shout however he could. Hoya Chukai didn't want his ear ripped off, so he could only be dragged to the side by Ryuen Shoko in such a miserable state.

"What are you guys doing, dawdling so much?"

"Nothing much, just a bit shy."

"Shy? Shy about what?"

Hoya Chukai's expression was very subtle as he looked Ryuen Shoko up and down.

As expected, it was the school uniform's fault. The rather loose uniform usually didn't highlight Ryuen Shoko's assets, but her size was truly no joke.

She's at least a D-cup, right?

Looking further down, the mysterious garden area made him recall the red he had seen on the first day. Although it wasn't obvious, the faint outline still showed a certain beauty. Not to mention those child-bearing hips... ah, ouch, ouch, ouch!

"What the hell are you looking at?"

Seeing the increasingly disrespectful look in the guy's eyes in front of her, Ryuen Shoko directly pinned him to the ground and stepped on his chest with her foot: "You've really been getting cocky lately, haven't you, huh?"

Holy crap, do they usually play this rough?

The other students in Class C were shocked, their minds starting to run wild with scenarios as they watched this scene.

In the original story, it was Ryuen Kakeru; if it were just him, there would be nothing to say—it would be a miracle if the girls weren't ruined by him.

But now, Ryuen Kakeru had become Ryuen Shoko, and there was an extra "dog-headed strategist" named Hoya Chukai. This combination of a man and a woman not only effectively reduced the demonization of Ryuen Shoko but also gave the students who hadn't left puberty behind enough room for imagination.

Furthermore, Hoya Chukai's act—which looked like he was fawning over her but actually wasn't—made it even more fascinating. The two of them looked like Ryuen Shoko was punishing Hoya Chukai, but would you bet your life they weren't playing at SM?

In any case, they didn't believe it; in their eyes, they had already added plenty of pink bubbles to this scene.

"No way, Big Sis, let's not do this, there are a bunch of people watching."

Pinned under Ryuen Shoko's foot, Hoya Chukai's expression was incredibly subtle. Big Sis, do you have any idea how sexy you look right now?

The originally cruel personality had transformed into a queenly aura after becoming feminized, and now that the queen was stepping on you, feeling the smoothness of her small feet while catching a wonderful view from below, it was a massive reward for any masochist.

Unfortunately, Hoya Chukai was not a masochist, or at least not that much of one, so he felt this was not a reward, but a punishment.

"So what if a bunch of people are watching? What, you made a mistake and don't want to be punished? Hmm?"

After stomping hard on Hoya Chukai's chest, her foot gradually began to slide downward.

"Ngh!"

"Tch, as expected of you, you dog of a pervert."

Stepping onto a certain organ unique to men, Ryuen Shoko could feel the change occurring there. With her knowledge in this area being far from zero, how could she not know what state Hoya Chukai was in right now? She stomped down hard, ending this punishment amidst Hoya Chukai's pained cry.

Clearly, this punishment was a failure; she hated this kind of existence. If you hit him, it's a reward; if you don't hit him, it's just a lack of punishment—it was difficult to handle either way.

Should she bury him in water and let him drown?

She couldn't do it; he hadn't gone far enough to warrant that, so she would just leave it at that.

Glancing at the clock hanging on the wall, another reason for Ryuen Shoko to stop her actions was that class was about to start.

Chapter 43: It's Fine, Teacher, I Just Tripped and Bumped Myself (Mid-Autumn Festival Bonus 5/8)

"Alright students, prepare to assemble... what happened to you, student?"

The muscular yet sickly physical education teacher walked out from behind the door, and he immediately spotted Hoya Chukai rolling on the ground.

"It's fine, it's fine, I just tripped and bumped my balls..."

Hoya Chukai's answer earned him a few extra looks of sympathy from the PE teacher; it sounded like an absurd thing to happen, but in real life, such situations were actually quite easy to come by.

Who knew what kind of coincidences could lead to a scene like this?

"Then, student, would you like to take a rest first?"

"It's fine, Teacher, just let me catch my breath."

Helped up by two male classmates, Hoya Chukai's face was filled with not only shame but also a hint of irritation.