Meanwhile, elsewhere.
Three students arrived at the first floor of the special teaching building for the physics laboratory.
These were three girls: Suzune with her straight black hair, Kei, a cute girl with a golden ponytail, and Maya, a fashionable girl with wavy orange hair.
After intercepting Hiyori, they immediately interrogated her, successfully obtaining Kakeru's plans.
They also understood that Houtarou was heading to the trap, and moreover, he was going alone.
When they arrived at the scene, they found that the stairway was blocked by a railing.
The railing wasn't locked, though, but it would take significant effort to push it open.
"It would have been better if we had brought Shiina along just now to help." Kei said.
Now the three girls were pushing against the railing together.
"By the way, was it really okay for us to take her phone just now?"
Maya had a different opinion. Taking someone else's things and then asking them for help — could someone who did such things still be considered human?
"That was also to prevent her from reporting back." Kei said, "And if Houtarou gets bullied by Ryūen, we can use Shiina's phone to send a message, making Ryūen think his plan failed, and maybe he would back off immediately."
"Houtarou?" Hearing this intimate name from her, Maya immediately turned her head and stared intently at her.
"Um... I meant Oreki." Kei hurriedly corrected herself.
Her mood was somewhat torturous.
She was well aware that Maya had a crush on Houtarou and had "publicly" confessed but was rejected.
And then because Maya discovered that Houtarou was being kept by a rich senior student for 1 million points a month, she chose to give up.
But as a girl, Kei knew very well: when a girl says "I don't like him anymore" or "We can't be together", don't believe a single punctuation mark. Right now, even though it clearly had nothing to do with her, Maya was making a fuss about coming along.
So this girl couldn't be trusted at all.
But the current situation was really strange. Her phone had been borrowed by Houtarou, and now Kakeru wanted to meet with Houtarou.
What exactly had happened?
Yes. Even though Hiyori had surrendered, she didn't tell Suzune and Maya that the real target was Kei. So now the girls still thought that he was seeking revenge against Houtarou.
These two guys indeed had many grievances.
From the store expenses being taken by Houtarou, to being forced to passively accept the first outcome in all the VIP Exam. Then, during the Sports Festival, because Houtarou got recordings of Kakeru and his group improperly bullying Ken, Kakeru held a grudge, and so on.
And now it was said that Class C was deeply in debt. Indeed... there were many threads.
Although Hiyori had surrendered, she had confirmed that since Houtarou had seen through Kakeru's plan and still went to meet him alone, he must have... been prepared.
So Kakeru's side was basically doomed. But Kei seemed completely unaware of everything.
After considering, Hiyori protected the information that the real target was Kei. After all, Houtarou also seemed to intentionally conceal his close relationship with Kei. Outsiders couldn't tell at all that these two had a good relationship.
This way, if Kakeru lost in the future, then she could surrender to Houtarou, at least saving some face.
But Hiyori never expected that even after saying so much, her phone would still be directly taken by Kei and the others. So she was left alone in the library management, lost in thought.
"Really…" Holding Hiyori's phone, Kei looked visibly dissatisfied, "Shiina didn't save Ryūen's number at all. Actually, her contacts are completely empty. Doesn't she have any friends?"
So they couldn't contact Kakeru at all.
"Maybe Houtarou didn't respond to Ryūen's invitation? Or was Shiina lying to us from the beginning?" Maya said, "I've tracked his phone and it's at the dorm right now."
"This is getting too complicated." Kei said, "By the way, Satō, what's with your attitude? Haven't you... stopped hanging out with Oreki lately? And you also said you wanted to focus on your studies."
That's why the two of them had gone to the library together to borrow books.
"I just can't afford to keep him." Maya quickly replied, "But if something's really happening, we should probably contact some of the other boys in our class. Can you get in touch with Sudō? Isn't he the hot-headed one? I can only reach someone like Miyake."
Kei noticed Maya looking at her, seemingly expecting her to contact someone too.
"Don't look at me, my relationship with the other guys is tense. But Kōenji might be an option."
"Ah, Kōenji? I can contact him too. I'll do it." Maya said.
She was currently a student in Rokusuke's tutoring class, so he was like a teacher figure to her.
"Are you two coming or not!" Suzune snapped, feeling these two were really holding them back.
At this moment, the fence had been pushed open, and she was walking up.
"We're already here, so it's probably too late to find anyone else." Suzune said.
"Hmm... does that mean you're actually pretty strong, Horikita?"
Maya hadn't seen her in action yet. But Kei knew that Houtarou had asked Suzune to bully Shiho and her group.
"I've studied martial arts since I was very young, and I've kept it up." Suzune said.
Ohhh… That sounded reliable.
This made Maya put away her phone.
But if Manabu were here, he would definitely shake his head at the three of them. Because although his sister had studied martial arts, could an ordinary girl really fight against Kakeru and his people?
So they were basically going to get demolished.
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On the rooftop.
Houtarou maintained his position pinning down Kakeru. His left hand continued to grip the hand dynamometer.
Kakeru noticed these movements.
"How much is your grip strength?" Houtarou asked.
"Why are you asking that now? 70kg!" Seeing him raise his right hand while speaking, Kakeru quickly answered.
Because at this moment, he realized a blind spot.
Mio had initially watched Houtarou consecutively lift up Daichi and Albert, then thought he was tired. After all, maintaining that kind of strength would consume a lot of energy.
But Houtarou indicated that the fatigue she saw was fake.
But now... While exerting such force to restrain him, this guy's breathing wasn't even irregular?
Not only that.
"70kg, huh." Houtarou noted it down, "That's a bit low."
Kakeru: "..."
"Let's start with my strength." Houtarou said, "Ryūen, you've been studying psychology recently, right? What a coincidence. I've been studying it too. And in the chapter I've been reading, to destroy an enemy, you must crush all their hope. After careful consideration… Ryūen, you're a nuisance, so I'm going to destroy you!"
In other words, he wanted to psychologically break and crush him?
Indeed. Today, Houtarou was displaying violence!
Kakeru believed in the supremacy of violence. But... he wouldn't submit!
As this thought crossed his mind, he saw Houtarou put down the hand dynamometer in his left hand. In the next instant, Houtarou's fist had already smashed into his face.
Bang!
One punch, 100kg!
Kakeru instantly felt the impact area collide with the ground. It was like being forcefully blasted backward.
Was this what Daichi felt when he was crushed by the grip strength earlier?
An unbearable pain surged through Kakeru's body.
"One punch every 10 seconds. Each punch will increase by 5kg in force. If you can endure 100 punches, then I might consider joining your class. That's what you want, isn't it?" Houtarou stared at him expressionlessly.
Yes. That's what he wanted. If Houtarou could join his class, as long as he wasn't an enemy...
Before he could finish this thought—
Bang!
Kakeru felt his head sink into the ground again. Intense pain and dizziness washed over him.
"That was 105kg of force. Now, 10 seconds, the next punch will be 110kg." Houtarou announced coldly.
At the same time, Kakeru noticed that during those brief 10 seconds, Houtarou's left hand had continued to grip the hand dynamometer. The indicator needle pointed to 99, 100kg, 104, 105, and finally 110kg!
The dynamometer stopped at 110kg. Then, his left cheek began to throb with pain as if it weren't his own.
In other words... The real reason Houtarou brought the hand dynamometer wasn't for self-protection or intimidation, but to calibrate the force of his punches.
Was such a thing even possible?
"10 seconds have passed." Houtarou said, "The next punch will be 115kg."
Then Kakeru could see him grip the hand dynamometer again with his left hand. The indicator needle moved, then stopped at 115kg.
Then...
From the corner of his eye, he noticed Houtarou putting down the dynamometer and, like an executioner robot, bringing his fist down!
Bang!
The intense pain made Kakeru especially clear-headed from this punch. It almost felt like his brain had been split open — or was about to split open.
"Ugh—" He tried to struggle up.
But he found that Houtarou had changed from pressing his neck to pinning his chest.
The force. It wasn't just 100kg, or 110kg, or even 115kg. This was... even greater strength.
Houtarou definitely didn't just have 100kg of grip strength! And definitely not just 120kg either!
Click—
"10 seconds have passed... 120kg!"
Then Kakeru heard the announcement.
And now. Facing him was only Houtarou's left fist after putting down the dynamometer.
Bang!
Holy fuck!
In other words, he was really continuously increasing the force and punching him — a very straightforward process, a very direct procedure.
While Kakeru wasn't good at math, he knew that adding 5kg per punch, for 100 punches, would be 500kg... But humans have limits, don't they?
The current world record is 136kg, and that's for the rarest of powerful individuals. Although Houtarou was strong, how could his slender arms generate such force?
Yet all he saw was—
Click—
"10 seconds have passed. 125kg..." Houtarou executed without any mercy, without any expression. Then he put down the dynamometer and raised a 125kg fist against him.
Bang!
Excruciating pain, as if his soul was being torn apart.
But Kakeru had been fighting since he was young; before entering this school, there wasn't a single day his body wasn't injured in some way. In other words, he was tough.
"You must be... reaching your limit!" He said, "Nearly at 136kg. And I can still endure a few more punches!"
"136kg? What are you worried about?" Houtarou looked over, "The hand dynamometer I borrowed can measure up to 300kg."
Did that mean 100kg was just for show? And 120kg was just casually gripped out? Was his limit not just 136kg?
Kakeru stared at him with his other eye that had already turned black. His vision seemed to be half gone. But he could see that Houtarou remained steady, expressionless, acting like an executioner.
The dynamometer tested the force. Then he used the newly obtained force to strike down.
And maintaining such actions, yet still without any rapid breathing. This was unlike any opponent Kakeru had ever encountered before.
It was also... the most terrifying type.
"Hehe…" Kakeru laughed bitterly.
Click—
"10 seconds have passed. 130kg…" Houtarou put down the dynamometer, then used the force he had just measured to strike down.
Bang!
Ahhh!! This guy was abnormal — he had no human limits!
"I surrender…" Kakeru said.
This was just high school after all, no need to risk his life. Even taking a few 100kg punches could cost half your life, let alone 500kg.
Based on his past experience, Kakeru now felt he'd be bedridden for half a month.
⍟⍟⍟
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