Mayumi held out a slender jade finger and lightly touched her lips, closing one eye in a mischievous smile.
Then she took a small terminal resembling a cellphone from her pocket and placed it on his desk.
It still carried Mayumi's faint, distinctive fragrance.
But Mahiro was somewhat surprised when he saw it.
"What is this—?"
Going a Little Too Far
Mahiro had never expected Mayumi to give him a CAD!
She really was beautiful and generous...
And rich, too!
Though it was an old "general-purpose" model, apparently one that his upperclassman had retired and no longer used.
It was still surprising enough.
After all, a CAD used by the young lady of the Saegusa Family—no matter how outdated the model, how bad could it possibly be?
Mayumi even said that.
Until he acquired a CAD of his own, he could keep using this one.
Yet as she said that, there was an obvious blush on Mayumi's face.
Mahiro understood. After all, transferring a CAD to someone else was equivalent to exposing all one's secrets to that person.
Still, he declined the invitation to become a member of the Public Morals Committee.
Being a sandwich maid or whatever sounded great, but it was actually exhausting, and they had to patrol every day.
Most importantly, club recruitment week was about to begin, and that was the busiest time of all.
He might as well join a club and have some fun instead.
But Mayumi told him there was no need to answer right away. He could take his time and think about it.
She also told him to go to the Student Council after school so they could calibrate the CAD.
"This feels like such a hassle..."
It really was a hassle.
Especially by the time school ended, when the situation had turned into a complete mess.
After a day of getting acquainted, the small groups that acted together had more or less taken shape.
The good news was that his little group had gained three more members.
Besides Mitsui Honoka and Kitayama Shizuku from his class, there was also Saijo Leonhart from Shiba Tatsuya's class.
He was a heavily built guy who specialized in hardening magic.
But the bad news was that their little group had clashed with someone else's.
Mahiro, who had originally gone to the school gate intending to let Miyuki and the others leave first, witnessed—and personally experienced—the scene.
"Isn't it about time you gave up? Miyuki said she's going home with Yotsuba, so what right do you have to butt in?"
"Who Miyuki spends time with is her own freedom! What right do you have to decide for her?"
Mizuki puffed out her cute cheeks and shouted at the group blocking their way.
"Spending time together... M-Mizuki, did you misunderstand something?"
Hearing Mizuki's words, Miyuki, who was standing behind Tatsuya's protection, visibly panicked.
The cause of the matter was simple.
The two groups had already had several clashes in the morning and at noon. By the time school ended, those male students, consumed by envy and jealousy, had come looking for trouble.
At heart, they were not only obsessed with Miyuki's excellence and beauty, but also looked down on Course 2 Students.
They felt that someone as outstanding as Miyuki should not be associating with Course 2 Students.
"Miyuki, we need to discuss something with you!"
"That's right, we're only borrowing a little of their time!"
Their unreasonable words made Leo let out an overbearing laugh.
"Ha, you people really like talking to yourselves! If you had something to say, wasn't break time enough?"
Erika also replied with a mocking smile and tone.
"If you want to discuss something, shouldn't you first get the person involved to agree? Ignoring Miyuki's wishes, how is that a discussion? You're already high school students, yet you don't even understand such a simple principle. I'm honestly worried about your parents and your futures."
"Shut up! Someone from another class—and a Weed, at that—has no right to tell us Blooms what to do!"
Because it carried discriminatory implications, school rules prohibited students from calling Course 2 Students Weeds.
Although the rule had become more symbolic than anything in most situations, it still should not have been used so openly in front of everyone.
Hearing his outrageous words, all the Course 2 Students glared angrily at that student.
The atmosphere abruptly grew tense, yet the group opposite them seemed to retain their sense of superiority.
And the first person to react to that term was unexpectedly Mizuki, the seemingly frail, busty girl with glasses.
"You..."
Before she could speak, however, someone suddenly pulled her back.
"Yotsuba?!"
Mizuki was extremely surprised by Yotsuba Mahiro's sudden appearance.
As he stopped Mizuki, he stepped forward and said, "Let me handle this."
"You? So what if you happened to catch Saegusa's favor? You're nothing but a discarded child of the Yotsuba Family! I don't know what despicable method you used to worm your way into Course 1, but a discarded failure like you should have been assigned to the Weeds! You don't deserve to stand beside Miyuki!"
Morisaki Shun, the leader, glared furiously at Yotsuba Mahiro as he stepped forward, showing no trace of politeness in his words.
His surname came from the insignificant Morisaki Family among the Hundred Families, a family famous for rapid-strike magic.
His blunt words had already enraged quite a few people present. At the very least, Miyuki reacted to them. Anger showed on her face as she took out her CAD.
A massive cluster of Psions faintly swirled around her.
But Mahiro stopped her.
"Ha ha, that's an interesting way to put it!" He took a step forward. Though Mahiro was smiling at words that sounded like a warning, the anger in his voice was unmistakable.
"Yotsuba, don't do anything rash! Using magic on someone else without authorization violates school rules. We should let the Public Morals Committee handle this!" Honoka hurriedly grabbed Mahiro and said.
"That's right. This isn't the school arena." Kitayama Shizuku added in agreement, her expression blank.
"Do I need magic to teach them a lesson? You're giving them too much credit."
Mahiro sneered disdainfully.
His simple sentence immediately made the surrounding air freeze.
It ignited the already thick smell of gunpowder.
"Oh dear, this is bad." Erika muttered quietly, holding her head.
She knew very well that many of those proud Course 1 Students bore "noble" bloodlines and had carried the title of genius since childhood. Being mocked by Yotsuba Mahiro like this would definitely enrage them.
Yet anyone could see the smile on her face.
Her hand had already slipped into the inner pocket of her jacket and pulled out a telescopic baton.
"Ha ha, you sure talk big. Then I must ask you for a lesson!"
Amid the screams of the watching students, Morisaki Shun, an honor student, aimed his handgun-shaped CAD at Yotsuba Mahiro.
Then he pulled the trigger.
Clearly visible Psion waves swirled around Morisaki Shun as his magic rapidly took shape through a simple activation sequence focused on speed.
"Idiot, don't you know that within five meters, fists are faster than magic?"
Just as everyone thought Mahiro would be blown away by Morisaki Shun's magic, Mahiro's figure suddenly vanished.
A fierce gust rose as he appeared in front of Morisaki Shun as though he had teleported.
They were so close that they could clearly see the panic on each other's faces.
"Did he cast an acceleration spell in advance?"
"No. That was simply the speed Mahiro achieved with his body."
As the expressionless little girl and Miyuki exchanged those words, Mahiro had already struck.
Before the other boy's frantic, terrified eyes, his slender hand shot out like lightning, grabbed Morisaki Shun by the face, and smashed him viciously into the ground in an instant!
Hearing the enormous dull thud that made their teeth ache, and seeing the sight of the ground breaking beneath his head.
Even Erika, who had been about to act, and Leo, who had been about to activate hardening magic, froze.
This Yotsuba was a tiny bit too ruthless.
So Yotsuba Was This Strong?
"Yotsuba won't beat him to death, will he?" Honoka could not help worrying as she looked at the horrific scene before her.
"He won't." Kitayama Shizuku shook her head with certainty. "Yotsuba should know his limits."
"Ha, I thought you were impressive. Turns out you're this weak."
The sinister laugh from Yotsuba Mahiro made Kitayama Shizuku and Honoka look at each other.
All right, now she was no longer sure.
Especially when they saw Mahiro grab Morisaki Shun by the head, pull him straight out, then smash him into the ground again as if cracking an egg.
The scene was simply too horrific to watch.
After just a few blows, Morisaki Shun's face was covered in blood, and he had already lost several teeth.
The commotion spread outward from where they stood.
Among the surrounding crowd, aside from Morisaki Shun's companions, who cast hostile yet frightened looks at Yotsuba Mahiro, the rest of the spectators remained silent.
"Y-You've got to be kidding! Y-You're just a discarded child of the family, a mere failure... So what if you know a little hand-to-hand combat?"
See? Even his threats had no conviction left in them.
The people who should have rushed forward to gang up on him now stood rooted to the ground, unable to move at all.
It would be more accurate to say that simply remaining where they were already proved their courage.
And after hearing their words, Mahiro merely glanced back at them, nearly frightening them into collapsing to the ground.
He was practically a demon!
"Stop!"
"Mahiro, stop it! If this continues, you're going to beat that student to death!"
Two sharp female cries suddenly rang out.
The one who called him an underclassman was none other than Mayumi Saegusa.
The one issuing the warning was the tall, short-haired upperclassman beside her, Mari Watanabe.
Perhaps because she had not expected to meet him under such circumstances, Mari's attitude toward him was extremely... cold.
"You're Yotsuba Mahiro, right? I'm Mari Watanabe. In the name of the Public Morals Committee Chair, I ask you to come with us!"
Since the Public Morals Committee had arrived, Mahiro naturally stopped beating up Morisaki Shun.
But go with her?
"Sorry, but which school rule did I violate?"
"Using magic to attack someone else when it wasn't self-defense. That isn't merely a violation of school rules—it's already a criminal act!"
Mari Watanabe reprimanded him and placed her hand on the CAD on her wrist.
Before you continue