Knowing your classmates were committing a crime raised a question: should you report them or join them? If you let it go, you were effectively condoning it. If you stopped them by force, you'd make an enemy of the group. Getting rid of cancer cells also affected the healthy ones.
After spending ages developing the Ultimate Boob Ranking, Yamauchi planned to secretly plant a camera in the changing room today and place bets on the rankings, settling who really came out on top.
"I'm betting on Ichinose."
"I think Hasebe's got her beat."
The monkeys' hoots came one after another.
At the swimming pool...
What? The angel Ichinose was coming too?
Nagami had learned the news after being contacted directly on Line.
Damn monkeys. Looks like I'll have to hit The Three Idiots hard. They're no longer just ordinary classmates.
How did I know about the secret filming plan? I'd deciphered Ike's hand signals, which were in Morse code.
The message was: [Changing room plan goes into effect at 11.]
Why was I at the pool? Hirata had invited me. He was such a good guy.
Operation Commander: Sotomura
"This is HQ. Alpha One, everything's normal. Please respond."
"Alpha One here. Understood. Proceeding with the original plan."
Take this knuckle punch!
"Ah!"
After making a sound like he'd been hit, Sotomura fell into a baby-like sleep.
It was easy to guess. Whoever was directing everyone at the pool had to be somewhere high up.
"HQ, what happened? Please respond, please respond."
"Sotomura's been KO'd. I suggest you come back and get him, or you can look forward to being expelled."
Nagami used Sotomura's unconscious finger to unlock his phone, saved the Line chat history, and sent it to his own phone.
"That voice... It's Nagami. What's he going to do?"
"Let's go. We'll beat the hell out of him."
Before long, The Three Idiots arrived on the rooftop.
"You bastard! What did you do to Sotomura?"
"Three unevolved monkeys."
"What did you say?"
Sudo heard him and immediately walked over. He really was a brainless gorilla.
"Hey, Sudo, wait."
Ike and Yamauchi said.
"Oh? You're coming closer instead of running away?"
"How else am I supposed to beat you to a pulp?"
"Then come a little closer."
"Too slow!"
A punch with the force of a 700-kilogram blow shot toward Sudo's face. Sudo immediately blocked it with both hands, staggering back a few steps.
"Nothing broken? Looks like all that basketball practice was good for something."
Pain coursed through Sudo's body. His anger took over, and instinct was all that remained in his mind. He charged forward with a roar.
"You want to get serious? Then I won't hold back."
Here came the finishing move!
Nagami curled up and dropped low. His whole body compressed like a spring, then his calf muscles fired, driving his thighs, abdomen, back, and neck forward like a cannonball.
The tiles beneath his feet warped slightly from the force of the push-off.
The powerful impact threw Sudo off balance, and he fell to the ground.
"Muda!" (Got you!)
Nagami took the opportunity to straddle Sudo.
"Hey!" A punch from above. "Hey!" A punch from below. "Hey!" A punch from above.
"This is my full-power strike!"
The muscles in Nagami's arm tightened until they were red. With a sharp whoosh, his fist slammed down toward Sudo's head.
Sudo's face went pale. In his eyes, it was as if the final moments of his life were flashing before him.
The world around him seemed to slow down, and the important memories of his life flashed through his mind.
Was this really how my life was going to end?
His body instinctively raised both hands to protect his head.
Bang! The sound of a balloon popping rang through the whole building.
The tiled floor, which Nagami's fist had narrowly missed beside Sudo, cracked from the force of the blow.
The whites of Sudo's eyes showed as he passed out, breathing in short, uneven bursts and making a "woo... woo..." sound.
(He probably passed out from the noise.)
(If I'd hit his body, he wouldn't have just been lying around for a few days.)
"Hey, aren't you afraid the school will expel you for beating up Sudo like this?"
"Is Sudo all right?"
"Hmph. Go ahead and try. Did you forget why we came to the pool?"
"!"
Yamauchi and Ike froze, then immediately rushed for the door.
It was the fear of their survival instincts kicking in.
"Oi, don't run. You wouldn't want Kushida finding out about this, would you?"
The two idiots stopped in their tracks.
"If the girls find out you're perverts who take secret photos, your next three years are over."
"Just thinking about it is terrifying."
Nagami slowly approached the two of them.
His footsteps sounded like the muttering of the Grim Reaper.
"Especially you, Yamauchi. How dare you secretly follow me? You must be tired of living!"
Yamauchi broke out in a cold sweat. In the middle of summer, his hands and feet felt icy.
"Too slow!"
Yamauchi went flying into the air, blood spurting from the corner of his mouth.
Nagami grabbed his collar with his left hand and punched with his right.
"Too slow!" "Too slow!" "Too slow!"
Yamauchi's face was unrecognizable.
"That's all it took? How boring."
"Ike, since they've had such a rough time, you don't get to escape either. You wouldn't want to be ostracized for not fitting in, would you?"
"Eek!!!"
"Take this!"
It had been ages since I'd stretched my muscles. That felt great. Nagami couldn't help sighing with satisfaction.
He sent a Line message to The Two Loners, telling them to clean up the mess.
"Wow! What a brutal scene."
Horikita said.
"They got what they deserved."
"I only told Horikita because I wanted to resolve this. Looks like the problem's been solved perfectly," Ayanokoji said.
"Yeah. Tell the Infirmary teacher they were playing a game where they caught basketballs with their faces."
"Not sure the teacher will believe that."
"Don't worry. If nobody files a complaint, the school probably won't do anything," Horikita explained.
By the pool, Nagami sat on a chair beside the water, enjoying the sun.
Just then, Ichinose suddenly called out.
"Nagami, over here! The ball went that way."
Ichinose was calling out from the court, hoping Nagami would go get the ball.
Nagami stood up and walked over to the edge of the court to pick it up. When he looked up, he saw the members of a small Class B group playing ball by the beach staring at him.
"Wow, Nagami, your muscles are huge. They're kind of scary."
Shiranami, one of Ichinose's friends, was so startled that she hid behind her.
Had I forgotten to rein in that intimidating presence from earlier?
"Huh, are they? Sorry, sorry. I like working out."
As Nagami spoke, he walked over, ready to hand them the ball.
"Are your abs real? Can I... um."
"Every bit of them."
Nagami smiled.
"Wow, they're so hard."
Ichinose ran her palm over them. The sound of a mirror shattering rang through the air, though it was hard to tell whether it came from a girl or a boy.
"Ichinose, let's get back to playing. The others are waiting," Kanzaki interrupted. Note: Ichinose's little sidekick.
"Want to play beach volleyball, Nagami?"
"Sorry, I don't do cardio."
"Huh, Nagami has that kind of preference too? Okay."
(Watching the beautiful girls play by the pool was a real treat. School life sure was interesting.)
Nagami nodded at their backs, then turned around and went back to enjoying his leisurely school day.
"Look, that's Nagami over there, right? I heard he's amazing at fighting."
While out for a walk, Nagami could hear people nearby whispering. "Yeah, yeah. But he seems pretty gentle."
(Every now and then, people said things about me.)
Nagami smiled to himself.
Before you continue