Ryuen

Emotional Outburst Syndrome was an extremely rare condition worldwide. It was almost more of an ability than a disease.

It could be triggered by a certain mental switch, causing an adrenaline surge and a tremendous, temporary boost in physical and mental abilities.

It was a gift of talent, but also an uncontrollable congenital illness. For Sawahara, it was a painful treasure.

The next day, classes officially began. Since Sawahara had practically given the class the answers during his question-and-answer session, nobody had done anything stupid like showing up late. They seemed fairly attentive in class. How long that would last, however, was anyone's guess.

So far, everything was proceeding normally. According to Sawahara's plan, in about another week, he would be able to quietly bring the class together and gain complete control over all these pawns.

But things changed sooner than expected. Just before afternoon class, Ryuen came to the front of the room and made his "king's proclamation."

"Listen up, you lot. From now on, you'll do as I say and hand over half your points. In return, I'll give you a chance to move up to Class A."

"Huh? Who do you think you are?"

"Why should we listen to you?"

Nobody was going to agree to Ryuen's brazen demand that they hand over half their points right off the bat. Besides, his arrogant attitude the day before had already rubbed plenty of people in the class the wrong way. Hearing him say this only made them dislike him more. And as for his so-called chance to move up to Class A, that was such an empty promise that it was hard to believe.

"Why? Because of this." Ryuen looked at the guy who'd stood up to challenge him, then threw a punch without hesitation, a vicious grin on his face.

The completely unprepared boy in the front row went down, crashing into the desk behind him.

"Bastard, what the hell are you doing?"

"Don't you want your points next month?"

"Stop it!"

Nobody in the class had expected Ryuen to get physical so openly, especially when he knew this would lead to a reduction in next month's points.

"Huh? Points? If you want them so badly, why not just submit?" Ryuen sneered, utterly unfazed by the class's accusations.

"Like hell I'll submit to you!" The buzz-cut boy, who'd already clashed with Ryuen the day before, got up from his seat and charged at him, throwing a punch.

"Not bad. It'd be boring if you all just submitted... But you? You think you can take me?" Ryuen dodged the punch without the slightest panic, then started fighting the buzz-cut boy.

It didn't take long for the winner to emerge. Ryuen clearly had more experience in a fight, and his moves were dirtier.

He went for the other boy's groin, leaving the buzz-cut boy unable to fight back.

"Anyone else? You?" Ryuen taunted the dark-skinned boy in front of Sawahara.

"That's enough." Sawahara spoke up, stopping Ryuen from continuing.

"What, you want to give it a try too?" Ryuen narrowed his eyes at Sawahara, undeterred.

"Class starts in three minutes. Clean up, then get back to your seats." Sawahara ignored Ryuen's challenge and simply told everyone to get ready for class.

"If you want to fight, there are plenty of places on campus without cameras. If you still want to fight, go there after school."

Sawahara had already noticed that the school had deliberately left several blind spots: the area between the woods and the campus lake, for example, as well as the third floor of the special teaching building, where there were no cameras either.

And why did he say they were deliberate? Because there were cameras on both the fourth and second floors. That said it all.

"Oh?" Ryuen raised an eyebrow, gaining a new impression of Sawahara. So the guy wasn't some stiff, by-the-book type after all...

"In that case... we'll continue after class. Anyone who's got a problem with me can take me on then." Ryuen stepped down from the platform and made a point of passing by Sawahara. Then...

Bam—the fist Ryuen had thrown in a sneak attack was caught in Sawahara's grip, unable to move.

"I don't like violence," Sawahara said calmly to Ryuen, who looked excited. "But that doesn't mean you have the ability or the right to use it against me."

"Heh. Is that so? You don't get to decide whether I have the right." Ryuen didn't care in the slightest. So what if he couldn't win? He'd faced people he couldn't beat before, and he'd still been the one to come out on top in the end.

Ryuen pulled back his fist and returned to his seat. All the students he passed watched him nervously. After all, not everyone could catch his sneak attacks. Ryuen hadn't been interested in doing that to anyone else, though. He'd only been testing Sawahara.

"Sawahara, are you sure this is okay?" Shiina looked anxiously toward Ryuen at the back of the classroom.

"Bringing a class together isn't easy. There's always going to be some growing pains." Sawahara himself didn't oppose Ryuen's methods. Violence was certainly the fastest way to unify the class, and every step taken ahead of the others would be a huge advantage in the competition between classes. But this approach came with serious risks, so it wasn't his first choice.

"But there must be other ways... And weren't you planning to unite the class yesterday, Sawahara?" Shiina looked at him, puzzled. He'd stepped forward yesterday because he was aiming for a leadership position too, wasn't he?

"People's ways of thinking are always influenced by habit." Ryuen's background had determined his way of doing things. As for unifying the class, the seed had already been planted. After this unexpected turn of events, it wouldn't take long to sprout.

Because of what had happened earlier, this lesson hadn't gone very well. If the teacher had given a pop quiz, probably only two or three people would have passed.

It wasn't hard for the few sharp minds in the class to see, just like Shiina, that both Ryuen and Sawahara intended to bring the class together. They just had different methods.

"Do you have any plans for what comes next, Sawahara?" After class, a bespectacled student approached him.

"There's no need to do anything right now. We just need to convince Ryuen later." Sawahara shook his head. It wasn't time to act yet, though he knew the other boy had mainly come to make his own position clear.

"Kaneda, when you get the chance, help organize a study group for the class."

After yesterday's awkwardness, Sawahara had made a point of checking the seating chart when he arrived in class that morning and memorizing everyone's names.

"Will there be another academic assessment soon? That makes sense." Kaneda quickly understood what Sawahara meant. It was a school, after all. At the same time, he was surprised. Had Sawahara not only seen through the first exam, but already started preparing for the next one?

"But there's no need to rush," Sawahara said with a smile. "The school probably won't hide one exam inside another. The earliest an academic assessment will start is next month."

"I see. Understood." Kaneda fell silent for a moment, then nodded. If he'd felt any unwillingness to accept it before, now he felt utterly helpless.

While the rest of the class was still anxiously worrying about the first exam, someone else was already looking much farther ahead. He'd thought there wasn't much of a gap between them, but reality showed just how ridiculous that idea had been.

After school, Ryuen went straight for the muscular dark-skinned boy in the class. He was a major obstacle to Ryuen's plan to rule the class. The difference in their natural physical abilities was so great that even his advantage in experience would be hard to overcome.

On the first day, Ryuen lost. But that wasn't the end of it. Ryuen's greatest strength had never been violence.

"It doesn't matter how many times you beat me. I'll get back up, and in the end, I'll be the one who wins."

That was what Ryuen left him with.

The next day, Ryuen showed up to class with plenty of bruises. Many of the students who disliked him couldn't help laughing, but Ryuen hardly seemed to care. At noon, he challenged Yamada again and lost. In the afternoon, he launched a sneak attack on Yamada, only to fail once more.

On the third day, Ryuen challenged Yamada again. Fearing Ryuen's terrifying resolve, Yamada finally chose to submit.

When Yamada and the buzz-cut Ishizaki appeared in class, standing on either side behind Ryuen, everyone was shocked. Those who'd laughed at him before were especially frightened, worrying that Ryuen would come after them next.

"Anyone else want to resist me?" Ryuen sneered at the students below the platform. Most of them immediately lowered their heads.

Of course, not everyone lacked courage.

"Who's afraid of you?" A blue-haired girl stood up and looked at Ryuen fearlessly, her eyes full of disgust. If he remembered right, her name was Ibuki Mio.

"Heh, not bad. But I'll deal with you later." Ryuen raised an eyebrow. She was just a girl. More importantly, "What are you planning to do, Sawahara?"

"After school." Sawahara's expression was calm as he replied flatly.

"Fine."