Subduing Ken Sudo, Shiina's Fantasy

"Xia Mu!" Seeing this, Sakura wanted to stop Xia Mu.

But after a moment of thought, she realized that given Xia Mu's combat prowess, these people likely couldn't do much to him, so she felt relieved.

Gritting her teeth, she followed after him.

Upon seeing the sudden arrival of Xia Mu, the few members of Class C who had been extremely arrogant just moments ago were now lying on the ground wailing.

Seeing Xia Mu and Sakura, they began to cry and wail even louder, "Classmates, you saw it all! This guy used violent means against us!"

"That's right, he lured us out here to beat us up, this is just too much!!"

Coupled with the injuries on their faces, it actually looked somewhat convincing.

"You bastards, what are you spouting?"

Sudo grabbed one of them by the collar, raising his fist to strike again.

But meeting Xia Mu's gaze, he instantly lost his nerve.

Anxiety flickered in his heart; given his relationship with Xia Mu, he was certain Xia Mu wouldn't testify in his favor.

After snapping out of his rage, he remembered that the lightest punishment for using violence against classmates was a one-month suspension.

"Stop the act."

To Sudo's surprise, Xia Mu actually chose to help him, "I recorded the entire process."

"It's true that Sudo threw the first punch, but you were the ones who started it."

"Regardless, the worst-case scenario is that Sudo and all of you get expelled, but three students from Class C versus one from Class D—Long Yuan should be able to weigh the consequences himself."

As Xia Mu spoke, he played the video on his phone.

The entire sequence of events had been clearly captured by him.

Seeing this, the Class C students stopped pretending. Realizing things had taken a turn for the worse, they scrambled up from the ground.

Exchanging glances, they attempted to forcibly snatch the phone from Xia Mu's hand.

Because if they failed their mission, their fate would be miserable!

"Damn it, what do you think you're doing!??"

Sudo let out a curse and blocked the path in front of Xia Mu. Although he didn't know why, Xia Mu had indeed helped him.

Despite the many misunderstandings between them, he wouldn't let those people hurt Xia Mu right now.

"It's useless to grab my phone; I've already backed it up to the cloud."

Xia Mu put his phone away and looked calmly at the other three.

He wasn't afraid of their retaliation in the slightest.

"Damn it, let's go!!"

Seeing that their scheme had been exposed and that continuing to cause a scene here was pointless, the Class C students had no choice but to leave in frustration.

Xia Mu's gaze shifted toward Sakura, "With this, Sakura shouldn't have to deal with those things anymore."

Consider it a reward for bringing him so many Skill Points.

"Um..." Sakura felt a bit embarrassed under Xia Mu's stare, lowering her head and gripping the hem of her skirt tightly.

"Why did you help me?"

Sudo clenched his fists, his voice no longer carrying the hostility he had toward Xia Mu earlier.

"Because I'm your big brother, after all." Xia Mu reached out and patted Sudo on the head, "Also, when I need you, I hope you can come and help me with a few things."

He couldn't be expected to handle everything himself, after all.

Xia Mu's words were filled with a magical, compelling quality that left Sudo unable to find a reason to argue.

"I understand."

Sudo wiped the blood from his nose, slung his bag over his shoulder, and walked past Xia Mu toward the stairwell, "As long as it doesn't cost me my life, I will definitely do whatever I can to help you."

Those who receive kindness should return it with courtesy.

Although Sudo had a fiery temper, he was incredibly loyal.

"Sakura!?" When he saw the familiar figure behind Xia Mu, his eyes widened, "So, so beautiful..."

That aura—it was surely on par with Horikita or Kushida, right?

"Um, um..." Sakura responded softly, her skirt already crumpled by her delicate hands.

Now she felt that she wasn't as unpresentable as she had once thought.

Sudo looked at the two of them with a strange expression, realization dawning on him, before he slowly headed downstairs.

After Sudo left, Xia Mu and Sakura followed suit.

The afterglow of the sunset reflected off the sea, rippling with layers of golden light.

Xia Mu and Sakura walked side by side. She had taken off her glasses; although she was still shy and timid, she had gradually begun to step out of her isolated world and face the world at large.

"By, by the way, Xia Mu."

Sakura gazed at Xia Mu's cheeks, pulled an album from her rabbit-shaped crossbody bag, and handed it to him. "Th-this, these are the photos I had developed. G-g-gift, a gift for you..."

Her tone was somewhat incoherent.

This was the first time she had ever proactively given her own photos to someone else, and the recipient was a boy, no less.

Xia Mu took it and looked through it; the album contained photos taken from the moment they first met up until yesterday, including quite a few shots of Sakura and Xia Mu together.

Of course, most of them were candid shots.

Looking at it this way, did he seem to smile too little?

Indeed, Xia Mu tended to hide most of his emotions deep within his heart, rarely revealing them on the surface.

"Whoa, there are even sexy photos from the bathroom." When he flipped to the middle, Xia Mu was startled.

If this album were given to Fatty, he would probably start a fight right then and there.

Closing the album and tucking it under his arm, Xia Mu said softly to Sakura, "Thank you, I really like it."

"Eh, eh..."

"You like it?"

Sakura was pleasantly surprised, waves of joy rising in her heart. "Th-that's good, then..."

She didn't dare to meet Xia Mu's gaze, gently tucking a strand of hair behind her ear to hide her affection.

The young girl was easily made happy.

After parting ways with Sakura, Xia Mu took the album back to his dorm, opened a drawer to store it away, and then changed into sportswear to go to the track and train Fatty.

Fatty was becoming more and more energetic, and his weight was dropping rapidly; the fat on his face was disappearing visibly to the naked eye.

He had been bloated to begin with, so losing weight was quite easy for him.

In fact, his days of persistence had even led many of the schoolgirls who frequented the track to smile at him and call him cute.

Seeing this, Xia Mu rested his index finger against his chin and pondered.

Am I not cute?

In the evening, after showering, he studied with Shiina as usual.

The distance between the two was growing smaller and smaller; they could even feel each other's body heat while sitting together.

Tonight, Xia Mu cooked dinner himself.

His cooking skills were quite good, causing Shiina to praise him repeatedly, and she found herself sinking deeper and deeper.

Without realizing it, she had grown accustomed to Xia Mu's presence.

Bickering, studying together, reading together, and making progress together every day.

This kind of life was wonderful, wasn't it?

Shiina pursed her thin, vermilion lips after taking a bite of an onion ring and looked at Xia Mu.

A scene couldn't help but surface in her mind.

Xia Mu, usually calm and collected to the extreme, dressed in a maid outfit and calling her "Master."

The contrast was so strong that Shiina couldn't help but curl her lips, her dimples appearing as she did so.

"Mm, good boy."

She could already imagine the legendary scene of herself becoming Xia Mu's master.

"?" Xia Mu.

Watching Shiina, who suddenly had a look of intoxicated, blissful joy on her face, Xia Mu was full of question marks.

What just happened?

He had a nagging feeling that Shiina was harboring some bad ideas about him.