One Punch

The noise would continue indefinitely. Once everyone realized the teacher was just an emotionless lecturing machine, and that doing whatever they wanted below would earn neither scolding nor punishment, their little antics would only grow more excessive.

Beihai didn't care either. After all, everyone had something to occupy themselves, and since he'd already found his own small group, no one was foolish enough to come bother him.

After all, in the underlying social logic of Sakura Country, once small groups formed, it was extremely difficult for a third party to wedge their way in.

If someone wanted to break in, they'd need to pay a sunk cost—facing the wariness of the unfamiliar group and the questions from their own. Unless they had the ability to befriend everyone single-handedly.

The most typical example was Kikyo Kushida from Class D. But she was easy to handle. As long as he added her as a friend and greeted her when they met, she wouldn't cling to Beihai.

So Beihai could devote most of his time to studying, and the rest to teasing that little cat Airisu Sakura, occasionally swiping points at the convenience store to buy snacks and feed her after class.

Another class ended. Beihai tore open a bag of chips.

"Hey, Sakura, I've got a new flavor of chips here. Wasabi flavor, just discovered it recently."

Like a friend who'd found a new dark cuisine and couldn't wait to force it on someone else. He was sorry, but it was just too fun!

After these days of contact, Airisu Sakura couldn't quite roll over and show her belly for him to pet, but she was completely fine with him stroking her head all the way down to the tip of her tail.

She reached out and took the chips, then pulled some gummy candy from her own desk drawer. This was her choice, because friendship itself was a mutual process.

"Mm, it's good. Thanks, Beihai."

She said that, but if her brow weren't furrowed, it would have been far more convincing.

Beihai accepted the food she offered without hesitation. Even though these candies were extremely sour. Probably because he often fed her weird stuff, making Airisu Sakura think he liked strong flavors.

But to be honest, Beihai didn't like them. However, when a person was up to no good, they didn't feel the hardship.

So faced with this kind of thing, though Beihai inwardly felt the sourness was hard to control, his outward expression was perfectly composed.

This behavior didn't draw much attention. Everyone had their own way of having fun. No one even thought it was a problem when someone pulled out a tablet to read manga during class.

At this moment, they were all just the same kind of people. Maybe someone sensed something was off, but they went along with the atmosphere anyway, probably thinking there was safety in numbers.

Eventually, Airisu Sakura walked out alone during the break. With no pet to feed, Beihai turned his focus back to the practice problems.

At this moment, Beihai was a bit out of place.

Beihai filtered out the noise, but soon some important information wormed its way into his ears—something he couldn't quite filter out. It was about his own small group.

"Hey hey, I'm betting on Hasebe for the chest size ranking. Hasebe's definitely number one. You guys haven't seen it."

"Who doesn't know that? With that scale, aren't you afraid her buttons might pop off?"

Beihai wondered for the first time if people could really talk about this kind of thing so openly.

Beihai himself was very knowledgeable about this area. After all, he was an old hand. It was just that he'd been forcibly suppressed into being a quiet pervert.

But even at his peak, Beihai wouldn't have dared to talk about it so openly. And now, all the girls in the class wore looks of disdain.

Only Kikyo Kushida, that angel, had an awkward smile on her face. It was just too perfect—perfect to the point of being unreal. The fact that Kikyo Kushida could control her expression even in a situation like this was kind of terrifying.

"Oh, I want in on this too. I'm betting too. I'm betting on Airisu Sakura. Let me tell you guys a secret, just between us. Actually, Sakura confessed to me."

This sentence hit Beihai like a thunderbolt, snapping all his attention to the speaker—that Haruki Yamauchi guy.

Not only did Haruki Yamauchi shock Beihai, but his words also exploded like a nuclear bomb among the gathered boys.

Some didn't believe it. Some joined in the jeering. Others thought he was a Champion. After all, in Sakura Country, a woman could often accuse a man just by saying so in a place without cameras. The version updates were just too fast.

Beihai couldn't sit still after hearing this. If Yamauchi had been talking about someone else, Beihai would have had no reason to interrupt, and with so many guys crowded around, it would have been completely thankless.

But when it came to his own friend, if he didn't stop it, they couldn't even be surface-level friends anymore. He'd lose the chance to do his fun feeding work. It would completely break his little circle.

Even if a conflict arose later, someone could just say, "You couldn't even stand up for your own friend." That would be the finishing blow. So no matter how he looked at it, Beihai absolutely couldn't ignore this!

Beihai shot up, his chair scraping loudly against the floor. The sharp sound echoed through the classroom, silencing everyone—including Haruki Yamauchi and the few guys he'd been chatting with.

"Yamauchi, jokes have limits. This time, you've gone too far!"

Haruki Yamauchi, however, was unimpressed. He even spread his hands. "Hey, why are you reacting so big? What's the matter? Is it because Sakura, the girl you like, confessed to me, and that hurts your feelings?

I saw that you and Sakura are desk mates, right? You're always pulling little stunts. But too bad, my charm is just too strong."

Beihai's fists clenched. Mere words only inflamed the conflict further. By normal logic, he should now fly into a rage and throw a punch.

That's exactly what Beihai did. He left his seat, took three steps in two, and punched the guy square in the face. One hit sent him sprawling to the floor.

"I hope Yamauchi understands that Sakura and I are just friends. And what I hate most in this life is spreading rumors. Because rumor-mongers never have to bear any responsibility, while the ones debunking them have to run their legs off."

Good. Now he had a reason for throwing the punch. This was also something a high schooler would do. Young people, after all, were mostly hot-blooded.

It also served to show off his strength a bit. There would only be fewer troubles in the future. Who would want to get acquainted with his iron fist?

Haruki Yamauchi felt stars spinning in his head. He tried to get up but failed several times, finally being helped up slowly by Yosuke Hirata.

But Haruki Yamauchi didn't appreciate it. He irritably shook off Yosuke Hirata's arm. Feeling he'd lost face but not daring to seek revenge, he could only bully the nice guy.

He didn't dare take further action. He just sat down in his seat with great bravado, clamped his mouth shut, and said nothing.