Looking at the utterly bewildered little girl, Sogo Doma felt certain she had misunderstood something, so he said, "That's right, the Elite Ten are just that powerful! As long as I'm a little ruthless, I can decide what someone achieves in their entire life. Under those circumstances, who wouldn't look at me with kindness and respect?"
"By the way, I'm ruthless enough too."
Rumi Tsurumi: "..."
"Shizuka Hiratsuka is the same..."
"???"
"Don't be surprised..." As though he had seen through the little girl's confusion, Sogo Doma continued, "Have you ever heard of the Iron Fist?"
"..." Rumi Tsurumi's eye twitched. What an embarrassing title. "Never!"
"How ignorant. That's Shizuka Hiratsuka. Someone even wrote a haiku for her once: 'Autumn days like iron hammers, tree blood dyes the maple leaves red, the Iron Fist has moved...' A haiku is five-seven-five!"
Rumi Tsurumi: !!!∑(ﾟДﾟノ)ノ
H-He had to be joking, right? That teacher looked so kind, aside from being a little meddlesome...
While the little girl remained utterly confused, Sogo Doma said, "With such a fearsome reputation, what kind of good person do you think Shizuka Hiratsuka could be?"
Rumi Tsurumi: "..."
Ah... this...
"That's why the old saying goes, 'Without ruthlessness, you can't stand firm.' Why do outstanding people have it harder than ordinary people? Because they aren't ruthless enough. The strong aren't like that—after all, if they weren't ruthless, they couldn't become strong. Think about it carefully: have you ever seen anyone ostracize a strong person? Or someone ruthless?"
Rumi Tsurumi: "..."
The little girl felt that if she kept listening, she really would be led astray! But what was she supposed to do when she still wanted to hear more? Still...
"Why are you telling me all this?"
"You can take it as me being bored..." Sogo Doma shrugged.