Kakeru conceded. This was the result of careful consideration and weighing his options.
"Now you're ready to listen, aren't you?" Houtarou said, "From now on, you are not to target any of the girls around me. Especially Kei Karuizawa."
Kakeru: "..."
So it was just as he thought. Because he tried to use Kei to discover Houtarou's weakness, this guy immediately took action once he noticed.
This confirms that those two's relationship is indeed unusual.
"What about the boys?" Kakeru asked, his speech slightly slurred.
The sides of his face hurt as if they were torn open. His mouth was filled with blood. He looked quite miserable.
"Boys? What boys?" Houtarou looked at him with apparent confusion.
Alright… Kakeru understood that this guy only cared about protecting girls. Boys had nothing to do with him.
However, today's fight also made him realize he couldn't draw Houtarou into his class or defeat him in a direct confrontation.
Because his class configuration was poor and couldn't compare to Class A in many aspects, they could only use underhanded methods during special exams. Now that these methods had been stopped, what use was the class anymore?
It was useless. He was done playing!
"And then…" Only one obsession remained in Kakeru's heart, "How did you become so strong?"
Yes. How did he become so strong?
If he could also become that strong, then... he would seek revenge!
Houtarou had evaluated him as the tenacious type — someone who doesn't admit defeat. He might lose now, might lose later, but would always find an opportunity to counterattack.
In other words, he hadn't lost yet! If only he could become stronger…
Looking at Houtarou, despite his slender appearance, he possessed such tremendous strength. If he could obtain a training method…
"You mean me?" Houtarou said, "You can understand it as natural talent. An ordinary person's continuous efforts might catch up to a genius, but what if the genius is also working hard? An ordinary person will quickly reach their limit, but a genius can go further and longer.
Besides… Do you think my slender body could generate such powerful strength through training alone? It can only be natural talent."
Actually, it wasn't talent, it was a cheat ability. But whether it was bloodline talent or a cheat ability, these were things ordinary people couldn't obtain, so there wasn't much problem with saying it this way.
However…
Kakeru: "..."
The pressure was immense for Kakeru.
Because wasn't this saying that no matter how hard he tried, he could never defeat Houtarou? How could he possibly compete?
Kakeru stared blankly at the gloomy sky that had darkened due to the evening's forecast of rain.
"I understand. I'll withdraw from the class competition."
Houtarou no longer looked at him.
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Kakeru was stubborn but also single-minded. Without experiencing failure, he wouldn't behave. Similarly, without a period of withdrawal, he wouldn't comply.
At the beginning, Houtarou deliberately let Kakeru lower his guard by using the voice recorder he had applied for again. He allowed the guy to use his specialty — violence — and then defeated him at what he was best at.
Although the process was troublesome, it was now resolved.
However, this also meant that in the upcoming class confrontations, Kakeru would resign from his position as class representative.
This made Houtarou feel somewhat melancholic.
Because he actually quite liked that bully; he was very straightforward. He was like a tool person who loved collecting points — an industrious squirrel that could be left to gather pine nuts, which could then be taken all at once.
Now that Kakeru had indicated his withdrawal, it meant this useful bank was closing.
However, the second-year senior Miyabi had been collecting points from other classes. Perhaps he could target that senior in the next semester?
Oh no... He wasn't an excessive person, so why was he always thinking about acquiring points? But since he had already gathered fifty million, collecting another small target wouldn't be too much.
From his Precognitive Dreams, he knew that his and Suzune's future home would be quite large. And all of that required money.
But he didn't want to become a corporate slave. Yet points were easy to collect at school.
Thinking this way, Houtarou gathered the voice recorder and grip strengthener, then walked to the rooftop door.
However, just as he opened the door and stepped out, he unexpectedly found... three people had already arrived.
"Ah..."
"Ah!" x3
Both parties were surprised.
Houtarou hadn't expected them to come, and they hadn't expected him to appear before them like this.
So, Houtarou, Suzune, Kei, and Maya — the four of them exchanged glances.
Though surprised that the three girls had come together at this time, Houtarou reacted quickly, his body slightly adjusting to block their line of sight.
Since only Kei was standing closest to the door, she should be the only one who could see the scene on the rooftop, and she was a clever girl. She should be able to figure it out.
That was his original thought.
"Why do all the Class D students look like they've been beaten up?"
But this idiot Kei actually said it out loud.
"So Ryūen and the others didn't hurt you?"
This comment also made Maya stand on her tiptoes to see Kakeru sitting on the ground with blood on his head and face, Mio lying unconscious, the fighting specialist Daichi crying alone, and the hulking Albert staring blankly.
No matter who looked, it was a bizarre situation.
Regardless of what she was thinking, Houtarou understood from their words why they were here. They had likely intercepted information that he had come to the rooftop but thought Kakeru was going to bully him. So they came up as a group.
But just three girls coming up together? Against Kakeru, the fighting tyrant!
"If it's a fight, I can help." Suzune said with a stern face. She looked cold but reliable.
But, Miss Lone Wolf, he had just experienced it — your strength might be decent, but this is fighting. You don't have much experience.
You might be able to defeat Shiho and her group, but that's only because they haven't systematically learned martial arts, and fighting is never a solo endeavor.
Even someone like Mio would give you trouble. Not to mention the experienced fighters Daichi and Kakeru. You'd essentially be offering yourselves up.
Houtarou felt he needed to educate her that when facing danger, one shouldn't rush forward so hastily. One must consider their own safety first.
But this made everything clear.
The girls appeared here because: first, they'd acquired information that he came to the rooftop and was being bullied by Kakeru; and second, Suzune had martial arts training and was physically the strongest among the girls in the class, so Kei and Maya had mistakenly followed her here.
After understanding this, he felt somewhat touched.
Since this wasn't a suitable place to talk, Houtarou immediately closed the door. He had them go down to the stairs on the lower floor.
"How did you suddenly come here?"
"Ah. Well…"
For a moment, Kei and Maya didn't know how to explain.
Because they learned about this from finding Hiyori acting strangely in the library, and after questioning (interrogating) her, they discovered that he had gone to meet Kakeru.
Then, to keep it secret, they even took the girl's phone.
This matter... was indeed not very honorable. So it was difficult to say out loud.
And at times like this...
"We obtained information about your solo meeting from other channels." Suzune said, "By the way, are you in danger now? Are they putting on an act to try some underhanded scheme?"
She continued speaking, but at least she conveyed the information.
Because hearing that Houtarou went to meet them alone, they were concerned for him. So everyone came together.
But what they saw was... Kakeru and his group looking dejected and injured.
Suzune thought back to the Sports Festival when she was attacked by Minori and then falsely accused. Her immediate understanding was that Kakeru was up to his old tricks again.
Was he planning to frame Houtarou?
After all, Houtarou looked harmless, even making her feel he needed rescue. Him defeating those people? That seemed rather far-fetched.
So she instinctively assumed Kakeru's group had injured themselves, planning to turn around and frame him.
"It's already been resolved." Houtarou said, "I brought four voice recorders. So even if they wanted to frame me, they couldn't. Besides... Ryūen already has a record with the Student Council, so reporting this would be disadvantageous for him."
'I see.' Suzune nodded.
If that's the case... then she couldn't understand what Kakeru's group was trying to do.
So this incident would be treated as these bullies attempting to frame him but getting outmaneuvered instead. That's how it would pass.
But…
"Houtarou, if you beat up all these people and don't deal with it properly..." Maya suddenly spoke up, "Isn't that really bad?"
Ah...!!
What Houtarou just said was intended to brush past this established fact. And Kakeru's side was the same; with his record with the Student Council, he wouldn't report it and walk into a trap himself.
Even if Suzune believed him, and Kei, being loyal, would believe him after some reassurance. But... there was a third person here now. And she was a witness.
If she reported it...
"Why would you think I beat up Ryūen and the others?" Houtarou said.
After all, it was 1 against 4, making him the disadvantaged one.
"Aren't you a fast runner?" Maya countered, "So you must be good at fighting too. Isn't it perfectly normal that you defeated that group?"
Houtarou: "..."
Previously, Maya had confessed to him because she liked athletic boys, thinking it was impressive how fast he could run.
But being good at sports doesn't equate to being good at fighting. Now she was directly assuming he had beaten up Kakeru.
Though that was indeed the truth. Admitting it would cause trouble. Fighting, if reported to the Student Council, would result in consequences or punishment for him too.
He could still use his superpower to restore Kakeru and his group's injuries with his restoration ability. But then he'd have to silence them.
Because supernatural abilities aren't something that only Suzune would be oblivious to; others wouldn't be so dense.
And since Kakeru wanted to bypass him and threaten the girls around him, Houtarou actually didn't want to heal him.
So... looking at it this way, the only option left was to silence Maya.
How should he do it?
⍟⍟⍟
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