Yukinoshita's Correction Method

Dong Yunshan ran both hands through his hair, let out a refreshed breath, and waved to the two women. "That takes care of the request, then. Bye."

After a simple farewell, Dong Yunshan walked straight over to Yukino Yukinoshita's table.

Sitting alone on the other side, Yukino Yukinoshita shot Dong Yunshan a sidelong look and shifted inward.

Dong Yunshan sat down beside Yukino Yukinoshita and glanced at the books the others had spread out on the table. "How far did you get?"

Yui Yuigahama and Komachi Hikigaya looked at each other.

That was going to be a long story...

Volume Three: Final Exams and Spring Break: Intimate and Inseparable

Yui Yuigahama and Komachi Hikigaya filled in each other's gaps and briefly explained the guesses they had just made. "...Is that how it was?"

"More or less." Dong Yunshan raised a hand to tap his temple, then noticed the food crumbs that had just gotten on his sleeve. "Give me a second. I'm going to the restroom."

After washing his hands and coming back, Dong Yunshan got himself a cup of cola and sat down again. "After I accepted Yuka's request—that's the one who was sitting next to me just now—I asked a friend to help me look into it and confirmed that the marriage scammer, Nakamura, really was homo, so I adjusted the plan."

"Oh..." Komachi Hikigaya remembered the way Yuka had held a spoon while talking to Dong Yunshan and stuck out her tongue in embarrassment.

So Yuka hadn't been pretending to be cute back then. She really had been listening intently.

"She also communicated with her friend Saeko. I was originally worried that Nakamura would discover we'd changed the plan." Dong Yunshan took a sip of cola. "Yuka showed me their chat history. I didn't expect them to have their own whole set of coded slang. Other people couldn't understand it at all."

"Bestie code, huh..." Yui Yuigahama remembered the way Yuka had shown Dong Yunshan her phone and felt too awkward to look at Yukino Yukinoshita.

So it hadn't been the move where she showed him photos of scenery she'd taken, then pretended to accidentally swipe to a private photo of herself.

"Oh, right." Yui Yuigahama partly wanted to change the subject, but she was also genuinely curious. "You said you confirmed it just now... How did you confirm it?"

"Was it based on little clues?" Komachi Hikigaya guessed enthusiastically. "Like some information Saeko provided, his habits in daily life, the way he dressed, that sort of thing?"

"I don't know much about those things. Even if I noticed something, it couldn't count as definite proof." Dong Yunshan shook his head. "I found an older homo and had him take a look. He confirmed it right away. Then I had the old homo ask around in the circle, and it was cleared up pretty quickly."

"Ah..." Komachi Hikigaya was momentarily at a loss for words.

It was a complicated feeling, like... asking a detective how he uncovered the truth, only for the detective to answer that he watched the surveillance footage.

"But if you confirmed it, couldn't you have just told Saeko directly?" Yui Yuigahama asked, puzzled. "Why did you still have to act for so long... to challenge yourself?"

Dong Yunshan had already acted like he had chuunibyou. It was possible he wanted to challenge himself with a homo role too.

"Don't treat me like some theater fanatic," Dong Yunshan corrected her. "It was just what the situation required."

Yukino Yukinoshita finished writing a column of English words and revealed the answer in an almost toneless voice. "It was so he could gloat."

"If I'd told Saeko directly, she would have gone and settled things with Nakamura herself." Dong Yunshan wagged his raised finger. "Then I would have missed three good shows."

"Three?" Yui Yuigahama murmured. "What just happened counts as one?"

"The lie getting beaten up—I beat him up in front of everyone, and he didn't dare fight back or retaliate, because he was afraid his secret would come out if things got physical." Dong Yunshan looked delighted. "That waiter was an unexpected bonus. One sentence from him did more damage than the two kicks I landed."

"As for the second..." Komachi Hikigaya guessed along. "Was it Saeko looking heartbroken?"

"Helpless tears." Dong Yunshan pressed his finger against the rim of his cup and gave it a light turn, making the cup spin and stirring a whirlpool in the cola inside. "I helped her avoid even more tears in the future, and I helped her punish the person who deceived her. In return, she let me see an interesting scene—we're even."

"And then the third..." Yukino Yukinoshita put down her pen. "Shattered expectations."

"Whether it was Saeko, Nakamura, or Yuka, all of them had expectations for their lives afterward." Dong Yunshan held the glass still, and the cola inside gradually calmed as fine bubbles burst one after another. "And just now, I got to watch those expectations fall apart up close."

"You kind of look like some big demon king right now," Yui Yuigahama couldn't help retorting. "No, wait, more like an evil stepmother queen."

Dong Yunshan said, "No male mom jokes."

"Even though you make it sound like you were just gloating..." Komachi Hikigaya blinked her big eyes. "In reality, you used one dinner performance to expose a marriage scam, prevent a post-marriage tragedy, and dispel an irrational idea that a single woman should just find someone to marry."

"Solving three problems at once." Yui Yuigahama tilted her head. "It feels like something Yukinon would do."

Dong Yunshan said, "Huh?"

"Now that you mention it..." Komachi Hikigaya recalled Yukino Yukinoshita's actions just now. "She also figured out what Dong Yun was doing after just a few looks."

Yukino Yukinoshita said, "Hm?"

"Yeah, yeah!" Yui Yuigahama nodded repeatedly. "And she even gave you an assist."

"If it hadn't been for that assist," Komachi Hikigaya said, looking at Dong Yunshan, "it would have taken a bit more effort, right?"

"When Yukinon said 'oh no' just now," Yui Yuigahama's train of thought grew clearer, "she must have guessed that Dong Yun was about to get physical in front of everyone."

"And then..." Komachi Hikigaya smiled. "Dong Yun really did get physical in front of everyone."

Should she call it knowing each other inside and out... or being perfectly in sync?

Either one fit pretty well, but somehow neither felt like enough.

"I thought you would use a more 'mature' and 'proper' method to resolve it." Yukino Yukinoshita's emphasis was very clear.

"Show appropriate leniency to students, and give adults the punishment they deserve." Dong Yunshan swirled his cup. "That sort of differential treatment is the more 'mature' and 'proper' method."

"Getting physical in front of everyone is mature and proper?" Yukino Yukinoshita's delicate brows furrowed slightly. "You did too much. You should have let her slap him."

"If that happened, they might have had new disputes and more contact." Dong Yunshan pointed out the key point. "Only me doing it was the most suitable option. It was satisfying too."

"That not only deprived her of the chance to solve the problem herself, it also dragged you into trouble." Yukino Yukinoshita refused to yield an inch. "I do not believe that falls within the scope of 'suitable.'"

"You were clearly working together so intimately just now..." Yui Yuigahama propped up her chin and looked helplessly at the familiar scene before her. "How did you start arguing again?"

"It's getting pretty heated..." Komachi Hikigaya propped her chin on her hand as well, watching with great interest. "Isn't that a kind of intimacy in its own way?"

"All in all, considering the relationship between the two of them, and the series of outcomes that might occur in the future, as the victim, it was perfectly reasonable for Saeko to resort to violence." Yukino Yukinoshita's gaze was stern. "But you are not a judge, nor are you the police. Resorting to violence in public lacks legitimacy and reason, and it may also bring about some unnecessary but dangerous trouble."

"Don't measure my situation by what you consider trouble. Guys of that level don't count as trouble to me at all." Dong Yunshan spread his fingers, then clenched them tightly into a fist. "I can deal with them easily, and guys like that don't even have the guts to face me."

"Just because you've done a few things out in society doesn't mean you can easily handle everything in society." Yukino Yukinoshita pressed a hand to her forehead. "A conflict between two people can very easily develop into a conflict involving multiple people. What are you going to do then?"

Dong Yunshan said, "Even five more of that kind of trash wouldn't be a problem."

Yukino Yukinoshita said, "You simply don't understand..."

"Ah!" Yui Yuigahama suddenly spoke up. "I get it."

Everyone's gazes instantly focused on Yui Yuigahama.

Yukino Yukinoshita & Dong Yunshan: "Hmm?"

"All in all," Yui Yuigahama's gaze drifted between the two of them, "Yukinon is worried that Dong Yun might act on impulse and get retaliated against, right?"

"I'm saying he could have resolved this matter without resorting to violence, or even showing up at all." Yukino Yukinoshita kept a straight face. "This is a sign of immaturity, and yet he's still feeling pleased with himself."

So she didn't deny she was worried... Komachi Hikigaya understood at once.

But as a friend, Komachi Hikigaya had the same worry. "Dong Yun, even if he can't beat you, still... what if he gets people to take revenge on you?"

"That possibility does exist." Dong Yunshan narrowed his eyes slightly. "I hope he finds the right people, then."

"I... I'll never let him get away with this!" Nakamura's face was dark. "Help me find someone to teach him a lesson. I want him stepped on in front of everyone!"

"In private, that'd be easy enough, but in front of a crowd..." The man with the mohawk in front of Nakamura clicked his tongue. "Come on. I'll take you to meet someone."

Remembering his earlier humiliation, Nakamura followed behind the mohawk and walked deeper into the bar.

The chaotic music gradually faded away, and Nakamura arrived at a place filled with exercise equipment.

"Boss!" The mohawk bowed respectfully.

Nakamura quickly copied him, secretly looking toward the bald man who was working out.

The bald man set the dumbbell aside. "What is it?"

"He got beaten up and wants us to help out." The mohawk got straight to the point. "He's paying generously."

"Yes, that's right!" Nakamura hurriedly added, "As long as you step on that Dong Yunshan in public, I'm willing to—"

The bald man said, "Hmm?"

"Dong Yunshan?" The mohawk abruptly turned his head. "You mean... the one with the especially beautiful biceps?"

"They were pretty beautiful..." Nakamura vaguely sensed the shift in the atmosphere. "Wh-what's wrong?"

"Boss," the mohawk seemed about to explain something, "I didn't know..."

The bald man raised a hand, and the mohawk shut his mouth.

"Dong Yunshan, huh..." The bald man repeated the name, the corners of his mouth pulling into a vicious grin. "You've come to the right people!"

"Y-yeah..." Nakamura relaxed a little. "You know him?"

The bald man nodded. "Do you know why I set up a gym here?"

"N-no..." Nakamura didn't even know the bald man personally; he had only heard of his reputation.

"I really like the atmosphere in gyms, so I used to train at gyms." The bald man stood and walked over to the barbell on the rack. "Do you know there's a certain kind of idiot you find in gyms?"

"By 'certain kind'... you mean?"

"Unloading plates from one side." The bald man raised his hand and removed several plates from one side of the barbell.

The barbell was forced upward by the weight on the other side, then smashed hard into the floor.

Nakamura even felt that terrifying gust of air, and delight appeared on his face. "Could it be..."

"That day, I ran into Dong Yunshan at the gym. After going through that, I never went to a gym again." With a wave of the bald man's hand, two underlings immediately came over, put the plates back on, and returned the barbell to its original position. "Instead, I set one up here in our place."

"A wise decision!" Nakamura's smile grew even brighter. "I really did come to the right person this time. Please, I ask you to— Wh-what are you doing?"

Halfway through speaking, Nakamura was suddenly held by the mohawk, dragged over to the rack, and pressed down onto the weight bench.

"In this part of Chiba, most people who've been wronged come to us. Because helping people get revenge is one of our services, and the prices are very reasonable." The bald man placed his hand on the barbell, while the underling on the other side began removing plates. "But the prerequisite is that we need to know the whole story."

As the plates were removed, cold sweat gathered more and more densely on Nakamura's forehead. "B-Boss..."

There was no way he couldn't panic. As soon as the bald man let go, the solid barbell would swing down in a full arc and smash hard.

But this time, it wouldn't hit the floor. It would hit him.

He wanted to run, but he didn't dare.

Looking back on it now... Dong Yunshan had still been very merciful.

Why had he insisted on getting revenge? Why had he ever gotten involved with these people in front of him?

"Talk. Why did he hit you?" The muscles in the bald man's arm bulged. "There had to be a reason."

"He... he had designs on my fiancée, s-so..."

"Oh?" The bald man's eyes, with too much white and too little pupil, seemed as if they were about to bore straight through Nakamura's skull. "Looks like you don't understand what happens when you lie to me."

"Tell the truth!" The rooster-haired man held Nakamura down, his eyes also filled with panic.

If this blow came down, he would be in danger too.

But the rooster-haired man knew he had messed up, and even though he knew Nakamura would not dare run, all he could do was keep holding him down.

"I, I was..." Nakamura did not dare hide anything and spilled everything. "...That's what happened. Everything I said is true!"

"Then he went too easy on you." The bald man suddenly let go, and the barbell bar, pulled down by the weight on the other side, swung in a huge arc and smashed straight toward Nakamura.

Whoosh!

Nakamura squeezed his eyes shut in terror, and only opened them again after quite a while.

He saw the bald man's hand gripping the barbell bar tightly.

"That was how dangerous it was that day. If Dong Yunshan hadn't been there, I'd already be dead." The bald man tossed the barbell bar aside, his smile savage. "Looks like you came to the right person!"

The sound of the barbell bar hitting the floor was as heavy as Nakamura's heart at that moment.

"It's already been taken care of. Do you want to meet him?"

"No need." Dong Yunshan lifted his head and looked at the sky. "I've been very busy lately."

"Need any help?"

"There are some points in Japanese language that I keep mixing up."