A Fist

The noise continued unabated. Once everyone realized that the teacher was just a heartless lecturing machine who wouldn't reprimand or punish them for whatever they did below, their little antics only grew more outrageous.

Beihai didn't mind. Everyone had something to do, and since he'd already found his own little group, nobody foolish enough to bother him came over.

After all, in the social hierarchy of Sakura Country, once these little groups formed, it was difficult for a third party to break in.

Joining one came with a sunk cost: you had to deal with the suspicion of an unfamiliar group and the questions of your own. Unless you could become friends with everyone on your own, it wasn't easy.

The most typical example was Kikyo Kushida from Class D. Fortunately, she was easy to deal with. Once you added her as a friend, all you had to do was say hello when you saw her, and she wouldn't cling to Beihai.

That left Beihai free to spend most of his time studying. The rest of it went to teasing his little kitten, Airisu Sakura. Every so often, he'd use points at the shop to buy snacks and feed her after class.

After another class, Beihai tore open a bag of chips.

"Hey, Sakura, I've got a new flavor of chips here. I just found this wasabi flavor recently."

Like a friend who'd discovered a new culinary abomination and couldn't wait to inflict it on someone else. He felt terrible about it, but it was just too much fun!

After spending these past few days with Beihai, Airisu Sakura wasn't quite ready to roll over and let him rub her belly, but she'd gotten comfortable enough to let him stroke her head all the way down to the tip of her tail.

She reached for the chips. Then Airisu Sakura took some gummy candy from her own desk drawer. That was her choice, because friendship was a mutual process.

"Mm, that's delicious. Thanks, Beihai."

That was what she said, but she would've been more convincing if she hadn't furrowed her brows.

Beihai readily accepted the food she offered him. The candy was incredibly sour. Maybe because he often fed her strange foods, Airisu Sakura had come to think he liked strong flavors.

The truth was, Beihai didn't like them. But doing something mean never felt like a hardship.

So although he could barely keep his composure as the sourness hit him, he managed to keep his expression perfectly steady.

Their antics didn't draw much attention. Everyone had their own way of passing the time. Nobody thought it strange when someone took out a tablet and read comics during class.

At that moment, they were all just cut from the same cloth. Even if someone noticed something was off, they went along with the mood. Maybe they figured that if everyone was doing it, nobody could be blamed.

Eventually, Airisu Sakura went out on her own during the break. With no pet to feed, Beihai turned his attention back to his exercises.

At that moment, Beihai felt a little out of place.

He tuned out the surrounding noise, but soon some important information slipped through. It was impossible to filter out: they were talking about his little group.

"Hey, hey, I'm betting on Hasebe for the bust-size ranking. Hasebe's definitely number one. You guys haven't seen her, have you?"

"Who doesn't know that? With a size like that, I'm afraid her buttons might pop off."

For the first time, Beihai wondered if people really could discuss things like this so openly.

He knew plenty about this sort of thing himself. After all, he was an old hand. Unfortunately, he'd been forced to keep it all bottled up and act like a closet pervert.

But even at the height of his glory days, he wouldn't have dared talk about it so openly. And now every girl in the class looked disgusted.

Only the angel-faced Kikyo Kushida wore an awkward smile. She was almost too perfect, so perfect she didn't seem real. The fact that she could even keep her expression under control in a situation like this was a little scary.

"Oh, I want in on this too! I'm betting on Airisu Sakura. And listen, I'm only telling you guys this: Airisu confessed to me."

The words struck like lightning, drawing all of Beihai's attention to the speaker: Haruki Yamauchi.

Haruki Yamauchi hadn't just shocked Beihai. His words were like a nuclear bomb going off among the boys gathered around him.

Some didn't believe him, while others joined in the teasing. Still others thought he was a brave man. After all, in Sakura Country, a woman could make a direct accusation against a man as long as there were no cameras around. The rules had changed far too quickly.

Beihai couldn't sit still after hearing that. If Yamauchi had been talking about someone else, Beihai had no reason to interrupt. There were too many boys gathered around, and he'd only be making things difficult for himself.

But he was talking about his friend. If Beihai didn't stop him, they might not even be able to keep up the pretense of friendship afterward. He'd lose the chance to keep feeding her fun treats, too, and his little circle would be torn apart.

If they ever got into a dispute later, someone could land the final blow by saying, "You didn't even stand up for your own friend." From every angle, Beihai couldn't ignore this!

Beihai shot to his feet, knocking into the chair behind him. The loud crash rang through the classroom, and everyone fell silent, including the boys who'd been chatting animatedly with Haruki Yamauchi.

"Yamauchi, there's a limit to how far you can take a joke. This time, you went too far!"

Haruki Yamauchi didn't seem to care. He even spread his hands. "Hey, why are you reacting so strongly? What, is it because Sakura, the girl you like, confessed to me, and now you're heartbroken?

"I've seen you sitting next to Sakura. You're always pulling little tricks, but too bad for you—my charm's just too much."

Beihai's words only fueled the conflict. By the usual logic, he should've lost his temper and punched Yamauchi.

That was exactly what Beihai did. He got up from his seat, crossed the distance in a few strides, and punched Yamauchi in the face, knocking him to the floor with a single blow.

"I hope you understand, Yamauchi: Sakura and I are just friends. And I hate nothing more in this life than spreading rumors. People who spread rumors don't have to take any responsibility, while the people trying to clear them up have to run themselves ragged."

Good. Now Beihai had a reason for hitting him. It was also the sort of thing a high schooler might do. Young people were usually hot-blooded.

It was a good chance to show off his strength, too. That would make trouble less likely down the line. Who wanted to get a taste of his iron fist?

Haruki Yamauchi saw stars. He tried several times to get up, but couldn't manage it. Yosuke Hirata had to help him to his feet.

But Haruki Yamauchi didn't appreciate it. Irritated, he shook Yosuke Hirata's arm off. He felt he'd lost face, but didn't dare go looking for a chance to get even, so he could only pick on easy targets instead.

He didn't dare take things any further. He just sat down with a show of bravado and pressed his lips together without saying another word.