An Unwanted Disaster (1)

The next morning, Class 1-D.

Most of the students, who had been sitting in the classroom as usual, were now gathered angrily by the door, waiting for someone.

Just then, Rinya arrived about ten minutes late, held up by some unusual circumstances the night before.

What was unusual was that someone else was with him: the class's social butterfly, Kushida Kikyo. Though she was late too, everyone could hardly believe it. She was an excellent student who was never late, yet today she had not only shown up late, but also had a blush across her face. The more they looked, the stranger it seemed.

Even so, they had other matters to deal with today, so the boys who secretly admired Kushida had no choice but to keep their questions to themselves.

When Rinya saw the group by the door, their hostile gazes fixed on him, he understood what was going on after just a few steps. He stopped, amused, finding their behavior both childish and ridiculous, yet strangely entertaining.

Heh. Just as I thought. I'll watch this little monkey show for now, then make that girl happy later.

Kushida, following behind him, was at a loss. Why is everyone looking at Rinya so menacingly? He didn't go anywhere last night.

Of course, people wouldn't have acted this way before. Even if someone was late, no one would have questioned them.

But today was different. During a phone call the night before, Rinya had turned down a proposal from the class representative, Hirata Yosuke, to create a "Study Fund Support Plan" for students in financial need.

In short, students with surplus points would act as co-founders and regularly contribute a certain number of points to the fund. Anyone who contributed to the class could then receive a share of the fund as a reward, based on the size of their contribution.

In return, those who contributed to the fund would receive one percent of the points earned by the students they helped whenever the class held an activity that generated individual point rewards.

The goal was simple: since the students of Class D had no way to earn points in their daily lives, the plan would keep them from losing all motivation and ambition while living on zero points.

Rinya had the highest point balance in the entire class. He was also the only one who received a regular gift of points every month, which naturally made him Hirata Yosuke's first choice.

Hirata had hoped to get him to lead the way in launching the Study Fund Support Plan.

What was more, after making inquiries, Hirata found that the other students with surplus points had all said they would join in if Rinya agreed to lead.

Naturally, the idea of getting everyone to give the same response had come from Ayanokoji Kiyotaka. It had certainly drawn Rinya into the eye of the storm.

Hirata Yosuke had found it strange that everyone's responses were identical, but he hadn't thought much of it. At least they hadn't refused.

The plan seemed like an obvious win-win: Rinya could earn points in the future and gain everyone's gratitude and support. Hirata had never imagined that Rinya would reject it without even a moment's thought.

Thinking back to how he had spent the previous night calling Rinya to explain the benefits of the plan, only for all his effort to come to nothing, even the usually gentle and friendly Hirata was fed up. He wanted to demand a reasonable explanation in front of everyone.

"Rinya, we're all part of the same group. We should move forward together and fall back together. I want to know why you turned down my plan. It could help everyone improve and strengthen the class, and you'd even earn a lot of points from it in the future."

"Exactly, Rinya. Yosuke's proposal was for the good of our class. Can't you see that?" Karuizawa Kei, standing behind Hirata, naturally backed up her boyfriend.

"Heh." Rinya gave a noncommittal smile.

He glanced around. Matsushita Chiaki was still inside the classroom, while Ken Sudō and his two friends were leading a small group in arguing with their classmates.

As expected, people like Ayanokoji Kiyotaka, Horikita Suzune, Koenji, Miyake Akito, Yukimura, and Sakura Airi, who had enough points, were wisely keeping quiet and staying neutral.

The rest of them were giving him such pitiful looks that they might as well have been begging for alms.

No wonder most of the rest were useless. They thought their worthless futures were precious. They had no self-awareness at all.

Just as Rinya was about to humiliate these losers in the cruelest way possible, he suddenly glanced toward a certain spot, as if sensing something. A thought seemed to cross his mind, and his eyes flickered. Then he chose to remain silent.

Just then, a crisp round of applause rang out from the stairwell, drawing everyone's attention.

"Well, I was just passing by, but after hearing your conversation, I stumbled across something unexpected."

"This sounds so interesting that we in Class C would like to join in too."

A red-haired young man strolled into view, clapping as he spoke with a smile that didn't reach his eyes. Two exceptionally tall, heavily built men with expressionless faces followed behind him. Their oppressive presence made it clear they were not to be trifled with.

Several classmates who had been bullied by Class C instinctively backed away. Some even retreated into the classroom.

Hirata Yosuke, who had been about to question Rinya in front of everyone, was left looking exasperated.

But with the class still in a fragile state, he gritted his teeth, stepped forward, and forced a smile. "Ryuen, we're dealing with a private matter in Class D. Could you please leave for now?"

"Oh?"

"You've got some nerve, telling me what to do."

"No... I only meant that it's an internal class matter, and we don't want outsiders involved." Hirata quickly tried to explain, but a wave of anger still washed over him.

"Bang!"

"But that's exactly what I'm going to do!"

With that, Ryuen Kakeru suddenly darted forward. His hand, which had been in his pocket, shot out and slammed the unprepared Hirata Yosuke against the wall.

The terrifying pressure sent the Class D students retreating. They wanted to stop him, but with Ishizaki and Albert blocking their way, they were helpless.

"R-Ryuen, let go of me!"

"There are cameras here! Do you want to get punished?" Hirata Yosuke yelled, struggling to twist free.

He was the class representative, yet someone from another class was publicly humiliating him like this. Who could stand for that?

But Ryuen's palm was like a mountain. No matter how hard Hirata struggled, he couldn't move it even an inch.

At that, Ryuen seemed to hear the funniest joke in the world. He covered his mouth and chuckled darkly, then leaned toward Hirata Yosuke's ear. His cold voice seemed to pierce straight into his soul.

"Is that so?"

"I can settle a punishment with points. But how do you think I'll settle what you just said?"

As the pressure against him grew, Hirata Yosuke should have kept struggling. Instead, it was as if some painful memory had suddenly come back to him. His whole body went limp, and he stopped resisting.

"Hirata!"

"Class rep!"

Several boys tried to rush forward, but Albert and Ishizaki, standing on either side of Ryuen Kakeru, easily stopped them. Faced with their overwhelming strength, the boys' attempts to break through did not even seem to make a dent.

"Cough... How are those two so strong? Damn it." A Class D boy at the front clenched his teeth.