Sports Warehouse Debate on Heroes

Bai Yu promptly reined in his urge to act and turned to Hirata with a frank smile. "Class rep, I knew you wanted something else!"

"Huh? Was I that obvious?"

Hirata Yosuke scratched his head sheepishly and smiled honestly. "Actually, I'm not the class rep. I'm just temporarily trying to bring the class together because everyone expects me to."

"I remember the freshman handbook saying the school doesn't have positions like class officers. Did you even read it carefully, club president..." Ayanokoji Kiyotaka smoothly inserted himself into the conversation, then turned to Hirata Yosuke. "So what is it you want to ask us to do?"

A request. That sounded fairly reliable.

Hirata Yosuke felt a little relieved that he had found the two people before him.

After gathering his thoughts, he gave a bitter smile. "Actually, yesterday, I received a confession from a girl in our class."

Ayanokoji Kiyotaka: "?"

"Ayanokoji, let's go!" Bai Yu turned to leave without hesitation.

Ayanokoji Kiyotaka reacted half a beat too slowly and was grabbed.

Hirata Yosuke raised his eyes to gaze at Ayanokoji Kiyotaka's face, pleading emotionally, "Wait, listen to my explanation first!"

"Ahem."

Bai Yu turned back, leaning away in shock. "Class rep, you like Ayanokoji!"

"You listen to my explanation too!"

"How could this be?!"

"Club president, rein it in!"

For a moment, the three of them spoke louder and louder, each more eager than the last to make themselves understood.

After a flurry of incoherent talking over one another, they finally chose to sit down where they were and calmly sort things out.

Bai Yu spoke first. "What you mean is, you don't mean that way toward him; she means that way toward you; and what she means isn't what we thought she meant, but what you wanted to convey to us?"

Hirata Yosuke nodded with tears in his eyes. He had finally fucking explained it.

Bai Yu's expression suddenly turned listless again. "Then that's really not interesting."

"What exactly are you disappointed about...?"

Ayanokoji Kiyotaka felt rather conflicted. He summed it up. "So, that girl wants you to pretend to be her boyfriend, with the goal of avoiding being bullied at school again like she was in middle school."

Hirata nodded again.

This wasn't easy.

He sighed in frustration. "Although I can understand why she wants to do this, it still feels bad for both sides. And I've always felt it was a kind of distrust toward the class we're currently in..."

"It's hard to trust it."

Ayanokoji Kiyotaka could not help recalling everything he had seen and heard this past week. It had truly opened his eyes. He did not know about the other classes, but Class D could be called a gray zone in the truest sense of the word.

I wouldn't be surprised if anything happened here.

"Even so..."

Hirata replied with some stubbornness, "I think we should support one another and build a class where everyone can coexist."

"..." Ayanokoji Kiyotaka fell silent for a moment.

Bai Yu said rather mercilessly, "That's impossible."

"How can you say that..." Hirata Yosuke frowned, somewhat displeased that the other party had reached a conclusion so casually. "As long as I coordinate the class well and look after every single person in it, then it's possible."

"Then what do you think of Sudo and Koenji? Leaving aside Horikita, who ignores everything—at least she probably won't get in your way."

"Are you already confident you can persuade the two people mentioned earlier?"

Bai Yu's words were as cold and sharp as blades, every sentence striking Hirata's sore spot.

Hey, hey. Are you really going to destroy a nice guy's convictions like this?

Ayanokoji felt subtly conflicted. Honestly, he rationally agreed with what Bai Yu had said, but because of Hirata's expectations, he had not pointed it out at an inappropriate time.

As expected of the club president.

"But..." Hirata Yosuke still wanted to say something, yet he seemed to have considered what the other party had said. His tone gradually became less confident.

After hesitating and struggling for a while, he raised his head and declared resolutely, "No matter what, I'll do everything I can to make it happen. Since I came to this school, I won't make the same mistakes I made before."

Before?

Ayanokoji Kiyotaka made a slightly curious guess.

Bai Yu stared solemnly at Hirata's grave expression for a while. Then, suddenly breaking the silent atmosphere, he raised his tone. "Good. A true warrior never considers how difficult the road ahead may be! Uh... let's discuss the confession first."

"So, Ayanokoji, have you decided to accept Hirata's feelings?"

He turned his head toward Ayanokoji Kiyotaka with a cheerful smile.

"Club president, no one will think you're mute if you don't speak."

Ayanokoji Kiyotaka simply chose a personal attack, then turned to Hirata seriously. "So have you already given her an answer?"

"Not yet." Hirata said calmly, "But the deadline she gave me is this weekend. If I don't give her a definite answer..."

"She'll look for someone else. But perhaps there isn't anyone more suitable than you, Hirata. She might turn her attention to other classes."

Ayanokoji Kiyotaka analyzed wisely, glancing at Bai Yu as if by accident.

"Hehehe..."

The other party let out an ominous laugh.

"You dare set your sights on the Demon King!" Bai Yu wore an utterly sinister smile, his tone frightening. "Pretend to be a couple with me? Absurd!"

"In my life, I've performed opposite more than two hundred women. Before the curtain rose, I made it clear that it was only a theatrical performance. Worried that their professional standards might be lacking, I never forgot to remind them deliberately. Yet without exception, every one of them confessed to me after the final curtain, trying to monopolize my body..."

As Bai Yu spoke, his tone gradually became indignant, while also revealing a trace of regret and sorrow.

"So after that, the troupe never arranged female partners for me again. I was placed under special management, the scripts were screened, my performance was restricted, my dreams crashed into a high wall. How could my heart not feel helpless!"

"In short, if I'm chosen, the other person will inevitably fall for me in the end, ruining the play and making the audience tear up their tickets on the spot."

In other words, if the other party truly fell for the club president in the end, he would tear off all pretense and refuse to continue?

Ayanokoji Kiyotaka silently broke down his words in his mind and eventually arrived at that meaning.

It seemed the club president had it tough too.

For the first time, he actually felt a trace of sympathy for this man... Then he immediately started egging him on. "I think Bai Yu would be very suitable for this role!"

"Huh?" Hirata Yosuke said in surprise. "Could it be that Bai is willing to share my troubles?"

"No!" Bai Yu refused loudly, waving his hand to show that it was out of the question. "Among the boys in our class, my popularity is merely passable; among the entire first year, I am even less well-known; in the whole school, calling me unknown would be an understatement—this is blatant favoritism toward me."

"Oh... Then who does Bai think would be suitable?"

The two of them could not help directing questioning looks at Bai Yu. For a moment, the little sports warehouse possessed the grand air of Cao Mengde and Liu Shijun debating heroes over wine beneath the plum trees.

"I see it now! You clearly aren't asking me for help. You want to trap me in injustice and force me to yield my position. What malicious intentions... what a three-surname servant!"

Ignoring his furious rebuke, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka reached out and pushed aside the hand that was nearly pointing at his face. He spoke calmly. "Please don't change the subject, club president."

"Fine! Then let us discuss exactly who is suitable."

Bai Yu shouted, sat cross-legged on the floor again, and spoke with composure. "Class A's Sanada Kosei: refined and elegant, outstanding in appearance, always known for treating others gently. Is he a hero?"

Ayanokoji Kiyotaka replied, "Sanada Kosei, Sakayanagi's lapdog. He appears gentle, but that is merely an illusion created by foolish loyalty. He is not worthy of being called a hero."

Bai Yu pondered leisurely, then changed types and spoke again. "Class C's Ryuen Kakeru: a mighty ruler of his generation, skilled in thunderous methods. Only one week after school began, he has already made every member of his class obey his commands. Everyone in the first year knows his name. Is he a hero?"

Ayanokoji Kiyotaka countered each move calmly. "Ryuen Kakeru's methods are ruthless and cruel. He controls his class through violence. Choosing him might temporarily protect her, but she would still inevitably be gossiped about and ostracized."

"Moreover, this man is the most fickle of all. His vile reputation has already spread throughout the entire year, so he cannot be called a hero."

"How could that be..."

A bead of sweat slowly slid down Bai Yu's forehead. He regrouped and said, "Class B's Kanzaki Ryuji: he comes from a fairly wealthy family, his status in the class is second only to Ichinose's, and both his looks and talent are exceptional. A dragon among men, surely he is a hero?!"

The other side called for a mid-game substitution, and Hirata Yosuke easily blocked this round of attack. "I already said this school doesn't have class reps... Ahem."

"I know a little about Kanzaki. He is upright and incorruptible, honest and just, but his personality is too straightforward. He doesn't know how to maneuver or adapt. When faced with confessions from girls, he always rejects them without a second thought. People often criticize him for being a steel-straight man who doesn't know how to act properly. Therefore, naturally, he cannot be called a hero either."

"How can it be like this?!"

Faced with the two men's relentless pressure, Bai Yu repeatedly pulled back his defenses and began to feel like he was sitting on pins and needles.

"Class A's Katsuragi!"

Ayanokoji Kiyotaka thought back briefly and said, "Have you ever seen a bald hero?"

"..."

Bai Yu said, "Class B's Shibata!"

Hirata Yosuke caught the move. "He's thickheaded and flamboyant. Not worthy of being called a hero."

"Class C's Ishizaki Daichi!"

"That guy's just a delinquent." Ayanokoji Kiyotaka could not help complaining.

Bai Yu took longer and longer to think.

He hesitated over whether to say that line. Doing so would be no different from directly admitting defeat!

The two men opposite him clasped their hands beneath their chins, their gazes like eagles eyeing fledglings, revealing a ruthless coldness that sought to wipe him out completely.

"Then... who do you think is worthy?"

Pressed by their intimidating presence, Bai Yu was ultimately forced to say those words.

The two men opposite him exchanged smiles upon hearing them.

At that moment, the setting sun hanging outside the door happened to shift. The backlight stretched their shadows, enveloping Bai Yu while casting sinister shadows over their expressions.

They shouted in unison, "Among all the heroes under heaven, only Bai Yu and we are worthy!"

BOOM!

It was as if a dry thunderclap had exploded above his head, and Bai Yu's heart skipped an entire beat.

He hurriedly said in panic, "I... I request outside assistance!"