An Unmerited Disaster (Part 1)

The next morning, Class D, first year.

Most of the students, who usually spent their time in the classroom attending lessons, were now standing guard at the entrance, looking indignant as if waiting for someone.

Just then, Rinya, who had been delayed by some special matters the previous night, arrived about ten minutes late.

Unusually, Rinya was followed by someone: the class's social butterfly, Kushida Kikyo. Although she was also late, it left everyone in disbelief. She was always an excellent student who never arrived late, yet not only was she late this time, but the blush on her face made her look increasingly strange the more they stared.

However, because the matter at hand still needed to be resolved, many of the boys who secretly admired Kushida had to swallow their confusion.

Seeing a group of people guarding the door with hostile gazes locked onto him, Rinya understood what was happening after only a few steps. He couldn't help but stop with a smirk, finding their behavior both childishly ridiculous and genuinely amusing.

Heh, just as I thought. I'll treat this as a monkey show and watch from the sidelines, then let that girl have her fun later, Rinya thought.

Kushida, following behind him, was somewhat bewildered. Why does everyone look at Rinya-kun with such terrifying eyes? It's not like he went anywhere last night.

Of course, in the past, the group wouldn't have acted this way; even if he were late, no one would have questioned it.

But today was different. Because of a phone call last night, Rinya had rejected the Study Fund Support Plan proposed by the class representative, Hirata Yosuke, for the impoverished students in the class.

Simply put, it involved students with surplus points acting as joint sponsors to periodically contribute a portion of their points to this fund. Anyone who contributed to the class could receive a portion of the rewards based on their effort.

In return, the students who invested in this fund would be entitled to one percent of the points earned by the beneficiaries during future class activities.

The goal was simple: to ensure that the students of Class D, who had no other way to earn points in their daily lives, wouldn't lose their drive and ambition due to living with zero points.

As the student with the highest point balance in the entire class, and the only one with a fixed monthly income of gifts, Rinya was naturally the first ideal candidate in Hirata Yosuke's mind.

He had originally intended for Rinya to take the lead in launching the Study Fund Support Plan for the class.

Furthermore, after Hirata inquired with various people, other students with surplus points also indicated that as long as Rinya was willing to take the lead, they would follow suit.

Of course, this unified response was an idea proposed by Ayanokoji Kiyotaka. It must be said that this move effectively dragged Rinya into the center of the vortex.

Although Hirata Yosuke found it strange that everyone's responses were identical, he didn't think much of it, as at least they hadn't refused.

However, Hirata never expected that Rinya would reject such a seemingly win-win situation that would also earn him everyone's praise and support without a second thought.

Recalling how he had spent all last night on the phone explaining the benefits of the plan to him, only to end up with nothing, even the usually gentle and friendly Hirata couldn't sit still this time. He wanted to demand a reasonable explanation in front of everyone.

"Rinya-kun, we are a collective. We should advance and retreat together. I want to know, why did you refuse a plan that I proposed to promote progress, improve class cohesion, and even earn you a large amount of points in the future?"

"That's right, Rinya-kun. Yosuke-kun's proposal is for the sake of our class. Can't you see that?" Karuizawa Kei, standing behind Hirata, naturally followed up since her boyfriend had spoken.

"Heh~" Rinya gave a noncommittal smile.

A glance around showed that, aside from Matsushita Chiaki and the trio led by Sudo Ken who were still arguing with their classmates, the others were silent.

Sure enough, those with enough points—like Ayanokoji Kiyotaka, Horikita Suzune, Koenji, Miyake Akito, Yukimura, and Sakura Airi—had all wisely chosen to remain neutral and silent.

As for the rest of those guys, their gazes toward him were truly nothing short of pathetic, like beggars.

It was no wonder most of the remaining bunch were losers; they all thought their cheap futures were so precious. They truly lacked any self-awareness.

Just as Rinya was preparing to humiliate these losers in the most brutal way possible, his gaze flickered toward a certain spot as if he had sensed something. After a moment of thought, he chose to remain silent.

At that moment, a crisp round of applause echoed from the hallway, immediately drawing everyone's attention.

"Yo~ I was just passing by, but after hearing your conversation, I've made quite an unexpected discovery."

"This is such an interesting matter, our Class C would very much like to participate."

As he spoke, a man with flowing red hair walked into their view, clapping his hands with a mocking smile. Behind him were two exceptionally tall, muscular men with expressionless faces. One look at their suffocating aura was enough to know they were not to be trifled with.

Seeing many of their classmates who had been bullied by Class C instinctively step back—some even shrinking back into the classroom—Hirata Yosuke, who had wanted to publicly question Rinya, couldn't help but have his face darken.

But thinking of the current unstable state of the class, he gritted his teeth, stepped forward a few paces, and tried to persuade them with a forced smile: "Ryuen-kun, our Class D is handling private matters. Could you please leave for now?"

"Oh?"

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

"No... I mean, these are internal class matters, and I don't want outsiders involved." Although Hirata hurried to explain, a wave of incoming rage arrived right on cue.

"Bang~"

"But what if I say I want to?"

With that, Ryuen Kakeru suddenly lunged forward. With one hand still in his pocket, he slammed the unprepared Hirata Yosuke against the wall.

The terrifying pressure caused the students of Class D to retreat one after another. They looked like they wanted to intervene, but faced with the obstruction of Ishizaki and Albert, they felt powerless.

"Ryu... Ryuen-kun, let me go."

"There are surveillance cameras here! Do you want to be punished?" Hirata Yosuke roared, struggling to twist his body.

As a class representative, being publicly humiliated by someone from another class was something no one could endure.

However, the opponent's hand was like a mountain; even with all his strength, Hirata couldn't move it an inch.

Hearing this, Ryuen laughed as if he had heard a hilarious joke. He covered his mouth with a sinister grin, then leaned close to Hirata Yosuke's ear, his cold voice piercing deep into his soul.

"Is that so~"

"I think points can solve the punishment, but for your offense just now, guess how I'll handle it~"

Feeling the pressure in front of him increasing, Hirata Yosuke, who should have been struggling, suddenly seemed to recall some painful memory under this violent oppression. His entire body went limp, and he stopped resisting.

"Hirata-kun!"

"Class Representative!"

Several boys tried to rush forward, but they were easily blocked by Albert and Ishizaki, who stood on either side of Ryuen Kakeru. Faced with such a massive disparity in strength, their attempts to force a breakthrough showed no signs of shaking the pair at all.

"Cough, cough... how do these two have so much strength? Damn it." The leading Class D boy gritted his teeth and said.