First Meeting with Ryuen

"Is it good?"

"The taste isn't bad, though I'm feeling a bit nauseous now."

Katsuya Shinjo picked up a napkin from the side to wipe his mouth, only then clearly seeing the face of the person in front of him, which caused him to make a strange expression.

"You... you wouldn't happen to be Rika, would you?"

"How dare you! How dare you speak to our boss Ryuen like that?!"

The leading boy appeared to be named Ryuen, and since he was the boss, it was only natural for him to have a loyal lackey.

"Ah, sorry, I mistook you for someone else. So, you're the real Rika?"

"I'm your—"

Ishizaki was clearly getting heated. This arrogant kid not only didn't tremble in fear upon seeing Ryuen, but he had also provoked them time and time again.

Did this guy not know that Rika was a girl's name?

Ryuen turned his head and glared fiercely at his subordinate: "That's enough, Ishizaki."

"I... I'm sorry boss, I was wrong."

The scolded lackey acted as obediently as a father caught playing video games by his child, not even daring to let out a breath.

Ryuen himself felt a bit weary. There weren't many useful people in Class C, and they were severely polarized. Aside from him, those with brains lacked physical strength, and those with physical strength lacked brains.

From the very first encounter, his subordinate had fallen completely into the other party's rhythm.

He then fixed his snake-like eyes on Karuizawa, who was standing next to Shinjo; he could tell that this girl was the weak point.

"I heard from Manabe that you knocked our classmate Rika flying, is that right?"

The girl walking at the very back hurriedly stepped forward and nodded desperately.

"Yes, it was Karuizawa who bumped into me."

As expected of someone who could become a boss among delinquents, the intimidation Ryuen brought to Karuizawa far exceeded any of the bullies she had faced before.

Already psychologically fragile, she shivered in fear, stammering and unable to get a word out.

Fortunately, Shinjo patted her hand in time and answered for her:

"Her mouth is on her own face, so whatever she says goes? If that's the case, then I also say she bit me yesterday."

"Heh, I don't know if you're truly stupid or just playing dumb. But your woman clearly bumped into my classmate, and I'm afraid this matter won't be so easy to settle."

Although he didn't know how Ryuen had reached that conclusion, since the other party had such a misunderstanding, there was no harm in taking advantage of it.

"You mean to say that my girlfriend intentionally bullied someone in your class who looked like an easy target, and this scene just happened to be witnessed by your classmates, and it just so happened that Karuizawa was alone at the time."

After summarizing the other party's logic, Shinjo let out a mocking laugh:

"Hehehe, what a great story, what a great design. The whole process could be called perfect, except for the evidence. Where is the evidence?"

"Do you think there are no security cameras here?"

"Cameras? Oh... then can I interpret it this way: you, the boss, have been targeting our classmates for a long time, and in order to frame us, you deliberately chose a moment to have a weak girl from your class—who looks like an easy target—act as a stumbling block to stage a 'collision'?"

Ryuen's face turned livid as he narrowed his eyes; he knew there couldn't be any evidence for this. Furthermore, there were no serious injuries on Rika's body.

In fact, he had realized from the very beginning that Katsuya Shinjo was not an easy guy to deal with.

This time, he had underestimated his opponent.

However, to maintain his position as the leader of his class, he chose to stare silently at the other party for a few minutes until his eyes began to ache, at which point he burst into laughter:

"Hehehehehe, hahahahaha! This is truly interesting. I originally thought Class D was just a bunch of grasshoppers in a nest, but I didn't expect to find such a tough nut like you."

"Well, there might be many things you didn't expect. If you could have prepared reasonable evidence beforehand, perhaps your scheme might have actually succeeded~"

However, what Shinjo didn't expect was that Ryuen would actually learn his lesson later, but...

"I don't understand what you're talking about. Consider yourselves lucky this time. What's your name?"

Give his name?

"Trying to threaten me? Class D, first year, Kiyotaka Ayanokoji."

"Ayanokoji... I'll remember you!"

With that, Ryuen turned to leave, but Manabe, who hadn't seen the outcome she wanted, naturally refused:

"Wait, are we just going to..."

But before she could finish, she saw the terrifying look in Ryuen's eyes and swallowed the rest of her words.

It wasn't until the members of Class C had been gone for a long time that Karuizawa slowly let go of Shinjo's arm; everything that had just happened was simply too terrifying.

Especially for her... if things had gone wrong, wouldn't she have had to relive the nightmare of the past?

Just as she was lost in her thoughts, she felt a strange sensation on the top of her head again:

"There, there, Karuizawa. The bad guys have been chased away, don't be afraid."

(I remember that's how they comforted people in some children's cartoon!)

The childish tactic made Karuizawa laugh instantly, and she shyly swatted the hand away from the top of her head.

"Is that how you comfort someone? I'm not a little kid, you know."

"Alright, alright. But do you feel a bit better now? Besides, at the very least, Ryuen and his group won't be able to use this matter to threaten you anymore."

Mentioning this, Karuizawa suddenly remembered—was there some important detail she had missed just now?

Right!

Hadn't Shintaro-kun just called her something like 'my girlfriend'...?

Why would he say that?

Could it be that...

"Hey... Shintaro-kun..."

"Hm?"

Karuizawa turned slightly away so her expression couldn't be seen, and asked in a low voice:

"Why did you... just now... call me your... your... girl..."

"Ah, that? I just said it off the top of my head. Besides, Ryuen he..."

He explained it instinctively, but halfway through, Shintaro realized something didn't feel quite right. Even though he couldn't see the girl's face, he had a vague feeling that her mood had suddenly dipped.

Hey...

"You seem a bit disappointed?"

Having her thoughts exposed, Karuizawa naturally refused to admit it, quickly turning around and waving her hands.

"No, no, no, I... I don't feel disappointed."

"Huh?"

Now it was Karuizawa's turn to be stunned, because after she said that, she clearly felt that his mood seemed a bit down?

"Shintaro-kun, you... you... seem a bit disappointed?"

Well, this is great. How is he supposed to answer that?!

To be honest, Shintaro didn't even know why he had deliberately made that expression. Perhaps joking around had become a habit?

Or was it that he actually felt a little disappointed?

For a moment, even Shintaro himself couldn't quite tell.