Everyone Was Stunned

"You can ask any other questions now."

"..." At that, everyone fell silent.

When no one spoke up, Chabashira said flatly, "If there are no more questions, get into the classroom and take your seats. I'll explain what happened, and why you're here."

"Click, click~" The sound of high heels rang out again. Chabashira headed into the classroom, and the others followed one by one.

"Um, Ms. Chabashira Sae, right? Would you let me say hello to that girl in your class?" Just then, Ryuen Kakeru's icy voice made everyone stop in astonishment once more.

It turned out Ryuen Kakeru hadn't gone far when he heard that someone behind him had dared to report him. Hmph. If he didn't teach her a lesson, it'd be hard to establish himself in first year.

"Oh, you want to keep this up?" Chabashira turned around and eyed Ryuen and his two companions in surprise. She gave a scornful smile, then said coldly, without a trace of emotion, "I'd rather not get involved, but if you act up in front of me, heh, I won't mind sending you out myself on behalf of your homeroom teacher."

"No, no, no, dear teacher. I just want to say hello to that cute girl in your class before I leave. That doesn't break any school rules, does it?"

"What if I refuse?" Chabashira replied coolly.

"In that case, what a shame. Looks like I'll have to make up for it outside school hours." Ryuen waved a hand and turned to leave.

"Stop."

"Mm? Is there something else, teacher?" Ryuen halted as if he'd expected her to say that.

"One minute. That's as far as I'm willing to go," Chabashira said, letting out a quiet sigh. In the end, she chose to compromise.

"Teacher, how can we—" The students of Class D were clearly unhappy, but one firm look from Chabashira silenced them at once.

After all, no one dared to openly defy their homeroom teacher unless they wanted to get expelled early.

"Oh, is that so? Well, thank you for the trouble."

Ryuen left his two lackeys where they were and strolled toward the girl who'd reported him, hands in his pockets.

But as he passed Chabashira, he heard her murmur in a barely audible, icy voice, "When you're done, if I find out you're deliberately giving her trouble afterward, I'll make sure to target one of your Class C subjects."

"Heh. Sure thing."

From within the crowd, Sato Maya saw Ryuen's cold, insincere smile lock onto her, and her body instinctively shuddered. After letting off steam, she'd clearly regained some composure.

She seemed to realize she might have made a terrible mistake. Hiding behind Karuizawa Kei, she could only hang her head and whisper an apology for acting impulsively. "Kei, I'm sorry. I did it again..."

"It's okay, Maya. Everyone makes mistakes when they act on impulse. The teacher and everyone else are here. It's all right."

With a gentle smile, Karuizawa turned around and spread her arms, firmly shielding Sato behind her.

Though she was scared too, she still gritted her teeth and refused to back down.

After all, she'd always admired and envied her best friend's bold, passionate nature. Besides, if Sato hadn't bravely stepped in and helped her escape that dormitory road back then, she might not even be alive today.

"Hey, I just want to say hello to her. Your homeroom teacher already agreed, so can you stop wasting my time?" Ryuen Kakeru said irritably, looking at Karuizawa as she stood alone in front of Sato.

"N-no... Can't you just say hello like this?"

"Tch. Do I have to force you to move? What a pain." Ryuen reached out roughly, about to hoist the girl up by force.

But just then, to everyone's surprise, Kushida Kikyo—the class's social butterfly, who'd been silent and still the whole time—suddenly darted out of the crowd and slapped Ryuen's arm away.

Then she spoke softly and gently. "Ryuen, if you're going to say hello, you should be polite. Otherwise, people won't take it well."

"You...!" Ryuen staggered back several steps, staring at the girl before him in disbelief. The force in her palm as she pushed his arm aside had driven him back with no chance to resist. How was that possible?!

"If you understand, could you please leave now, Ryuen?" Kushida said. Before Ryuen could think further, she bowed politely and gestured as if seeing him off.

Seeing this, Ryuen—who hadn't had time to think through what had just happened—was so flustered that he didn't know whether to advance or retreat.

After a brief moment's thought, Ryuen decided it was safer to back down. Gritting his teeth, he snarled, "Hmph. Let's go." He shot Kushida a look, then quickly left.

"Wait, huh? Did he... did he just run away?"

"No way. Ryuen, Class C's strongest fighter, got scared off by Kushida in one move?"

"She's amazing! So amazing!" An excited shriek rang out among the crowd.

Seeing the girl's calm, confident bearing and commanding presence, everyone—who'd been oppressed for so long—burst into cheers, praising the goddess Kushida.

In an instant, shouts and screams for Kushida Kikyo echoed through the entire school building.

Even Ayanokoji, Koenji, Matsushita, Sakura, and the others, who'd stayed still in the classroom, looked at Kushida with curiosity and disbelief.

"Goddess, when did you get so strong? You have to tell us!"

"Kikyo-chan, you looked so cool just now! I hereby declare myself your number one fan. Give me a kiss, hehe!"

"Ah, wait, everyone, calm down a little." Kushida was delighted by all the praise and adulation, but she hadn't expected such a huge reaction and didn't know what to do.

"Everyone, quiet down!" Chabashira quickly clapped her hands to stop them.

Once everyone had returned to their seats, Chabashira asked Kushida Kikyo to stand and said curiously, "Now, explain what happened when you drove Ryuen Kakeru back."

"Teacher, well, actually..." Kushida stammered, her face visibly reddening.

Of course, she couldn't reveal that her master had deliberately left a burst of energy inside her the night before, so she could use it at a moment like this and get the result she'd been hoping for.

After fidgeting for a long while, the girl finally gave a reply that left everyone speechless.

"Um... I'm not really sure either. Maybe working out more in the evenings helped improve my physical strength."

"Heh. If that's the case, you can sit down." Seeing that Kushida's neck had turned bright red, Chabashira shook her head, baffled.

She was curious how this delicate girl, who clearly had no martial arts skills, had managed to drive Ryuen Kakeru back. But everyone had a right to privacy, and since Kushida didn't want to explain, Chabashira didn't press her.