Helping Karuizawa (Complete)

Rika lightly slapped Karuizawa across the face.

Zhen Guo and the others looked at her with displeasure.

Rika hit her a second time, using a little more force.

Looking at Karuizawa, who was completely unable to fight back, Rika struck her hard for the third time.

Seeing this, Zhen Guo and the others burst out laughing.

"Hahahahaha!"

Rika looked at Karuizawa viciously, slapping her harder with each blow.

Behind them, a phone recording the scene slowly crept closer.

"Hahahaha! Ah! So this is what it feels like not to be bullied!"

Rika shouted fiercely.

Zhen Guo looked at Rika with a wicked grin.

"That's more like it, Rika. When someone bullies us, we have to bully them back."

"Feels good to hit back, doesn't it?"

Slapping Karuizawa, Rika laughed wickedly.

"It really does feel good! I can treat other people like this too, right?"

Karuizawa stared blankly at them.

"I'm sorry. Please, I'm begging you, stop hitting me, okay?"

Yamashita Saki:

"Ahahaha!"

Yabu Nanami:

"How could that happen, you little—"

Zhen Guo walked up to Karuizawa and lifted her bangs.

Smiling at Rika, she said:

"Rika, do you know? Slapping someone is the least effective thing you can do."

"With people like her, slapping them won't teach them a lesson."

With that, Zhen Guo threw a powerful punch into Karuizawa's stomach.

The blow knocked Karuizawa down. Her eyes widened as she clutched her stomach and coughed.

"Ahahahahahaha! That's it, that's exactly the expression!"

Rika wasn't afraid anymore and joined in with a wicked laugh.

Yabu Nanami looked at Karuizawa lying on the floor.

"Oh, how disgusting. What is that expression?"

"Eww!"

Yabu Nanami kicked Karuizawa where she lay.

Yamashita chimed in.

"Oh, honestly, she's so ugly."

She kicked Karuizawa.

Seeing everyone else kick her, Rika viciously kicked her too.

"Ah, it hurts!"

Karuizawa broke down in tears.

"Can somebody come save me?"

"Please, anyone..."

Just as Karuizawa desperately called for help, Yi Chen, who had arrived long ago, was still at the doorway.

To get a clearer recording, Yi Chen had quietly moved behind the shelves.

He had recorded the entire scene of them beating Karuizawa.

Yi Chen walked out impassively.

Zhen Guo and the others heard his footsteps and turned around.

"! Angela. Yi Chen!"

"What's going on? Why is he here?"

Yi Chen continued recording them with his phone.

He said coldly:

"You lot are something else. I wonder what the school will do when I send them this video."

Karuizawa, lying on the floor, looked at Yi Chen in despair.

Zhen Guo and the others' hearts raced wildly. They were terrified.

Zhen Guo forced herself to stay calm and shouted:

"It's fine. He's just bluffing. He must have only just arrived and didn't record anything."

"Otherwise, why didn't he come out right away?"

Yi Chen took a deep breath.

Zhen Guo smiled smugly.

"See? Just like I said, hahahaha!"

Yi Chen slowly tapped his phone to stop recording.

Then he turned the volume all the way up.

"Karuizawa, you really have been bullied, haven't you?"

The phone's audio echoed through the spacious Storage Room.

Zhen Guo and the others stared at Yi Chen, their composure completely shattered.

Karuizawa's eyes regained some of their light. She looked at Yi Chen fearfully.

Zhen Guo gritted her teeth, her mind racing.

Then she roared at the others:

"Everyone, get him! Take his phone!"

Yamashita Saki and Yabu Lailai-mei were still processing what had happened. Hearing that, their expressions turned vicious.

"Get him!"

Rika returned to her usual self and dropped heavily to her knees.

Rika looked at Yi Chen and the others, distraught, then glanced at Karuizawa as she got up from the floor.

"What have I done?"

Tears streamed down Rika's face.

Zhen Guo charged forward first, trying to grab Yi Chen's phone.

Yi Chen sidestepped and landed a Calf Kick.

"Ah!"

Zhen Guo fell to the floor in pain.

Yabu Nanami and Yamashita Saki immediately rushed forward too.

Yi Chen spun into a double kick, striking them in the stomach.

The two cried out in pain and went flying.

They crashed hard beneath the shelves.

The shelves were large and sturdy enough not to topple.

A few scattered small items fell onto them.

"Ah!"

"Ugh!"

Zhen Guo rubbed her aching calf, staring at Yi Chen in despair.

Karuizawa braced herself against the wall, looking at Yi Chen in astonishment.

Yi Chen slowly approached.

Zhen Guo immediately crawled over and bit Yi Chen's ankle.

"Ugh!"

Yi Chen expressionlessly took out his phone and recorded the scene.

Then he forcefully flung Zhen Guo's head away with his foot.

He kicked Zhen Guo in the back, sending her sprawling.

Then, still expressionless, he held out his hand to Karuizawa.

The dim light of the Storage Room fell across Yi Chen's face.

Karuizawa stared at him blankly.

When she didn't respond, Yi Chen walked toward her.

He glanced at Yamashita and Yabu, who were lying on the floor.

The two shrank back in fear, watching Yi Chen nervously.

Yi Chen then looked at Rika, who was kneeling and crying.

He gently took Karuizawa by the arm.

Karuizawa's eyes were already red from crying, and she hadn't taken her gaze off Yi Chen since the beginning.

Yi Chen led Karuizawa slowly away.

After they left the Storage Room,

Yi Chen said calmly:

"Are you all right, Karuizawa?"

Karuizawa came back to her senses, still shaken as she looked at Yi Chen holding her hand.

She answered softly:

"I'm fine."

Yi Chen said calmly:

"Um, I'm sorry I didn't step in right away."

Karuizawa replied dejectedly:

"It's fine. Someone like me probably deserved to be beaten anyway."

Yi Chen looked awkward.

"...I wanted to help you from the start."

"But if I'd stepped in right away, the school might have judged it to be nothing more than a fight."

"That's why I had to do it this way."

Karuizawa stared at the ground, her eyes dull.

Yi Chen opened his phone and held it out to her.

"Here. Now we have evidence, and they don't."

"You can retaliate against them however you want."

Karuizawa looked at Yi Chen, then slowly moved his hand away from hers.

She glanced at the phone in his hand but didn't take it.

Karuizawa said weakly:

"Thank you..."

Yi Chen said calmly:

"Um... you... sigh, never mind."

"Looks like you really have suffered terribly from bullying."

Karuizawa lowered her head even further.

Yi Chen said calmly:

"From now on, I'll protect you."

Karuizawa's eyes brightened, and she looked toward the ground with longing.

Her lips trembled slightly, as if she wanted to say something.

Yi Chen gazed calmly at Karuizawa.

After a while,

Karuizawa said softly:

"Why are you helping me? Someone like me?"

"I wasn't exactly nice to you before, either."

Yi Chen looked at her impassively and lifted her chin with his hand.

He held up his phone and waved it in front of her.

"How should I put it?"

"You need someone who can protect you, don't you?"

"I can guarantee your safety completely—more than anyone else could."

"And I need someone I can trust completely."

"Can you do that, Karuizawa?"

Karuizawa's eyes grew a little red.

At that moment, they were full of hope.

"Thank you, Yi Chen."

When she finished, Karuizawa started crying again, unable to stop herself.

Yi Chen said awkwardly,

"Don't you believe me?"

Karuizawa choked back tears as she replied,

"I can. I... I can."

"Can someone... like me... really do that?"

Yi Chen didn't know what to do either. He took a packet of tissues from his pocket and handed it to Karuizawa.

"Of course you can."

Yi Chen held out his little finger.

"Pinky promise."

With tears streaming down her face, Karuizawa smiled from the bottom of her heart.

She held out her little finger.

"Pinky promise."