**Chapter 5: I'm Going to Mop the Floor**
Tristan saw Hayato shaking the camera and, a little concerned, reminded him, "Hey, Kobayashi, I went out of my way to borrow this from Miho. Handle it carefully, hold it steady, don't break it."
"Calling her 'Miho,' huh? Looks like someone's pretty interested in Nosaka, eh?" Hayato's casual remark made Tristan, who usually gave off a fierce impression, blush scarlet, clearly having his secret feelings exposed. "Oh, you're blushing! You don't understand a thing, do you~"
Ignoring Tristan, who was about to go ballistic, Joey shook his slightly tired hand, grabbing Fujita by the collar, and demanded, "You bastard, I've never seen you at school! Tell me! What are you doing to Yugi!"
"(_(`」∠)_ I didn't want to do this, really!)" Fujita's head spun from Joey's abuse, his speech growing even more muddled. "(ω)ノ The director told me to do it!)"
"Director?" Joey listened to Fujita's mumbled words, and it took him a moment to barely distinguish a single word, which he then repeated aloud to himself.
Before he could fully understand what "director" Fujita was talking about, a person suddenly rose from the nearby bushes, interrupting Joey's train of thought: "That's enough, let go of him!"
Joey turned his head towards the source of the voice, and his hand, still gripping Fujita's collar, unconsciously loosened. Fujita, caught off guard, crashed heavily to the ground with an "Ouch!"
The director, wearing a baseball cap backward, stood up from the bushes with a grim expression and said to Fujita, who was lying on the ground, "Alright, alright, you've worked hard, Fujita. You're dismissed now."
"Director..." Fujita rubbed his backside. He first glanced at the director's expression, then confirmed that Joey had no intention of hitting him, before quickly scrambling to his feet and running back to the bushes where the director stood.
"So, you're the director who's trying to mess with Yugi?" Joey's brows furrowed, and his fists cracked as he clenched them, clearly ready to throw a punch if the director's answer wasn't to his liking.
"Heh, don't get so agitated, kid. I was originally planning to put your friend on TV, you know." The director said with a sinister look.
"By beating them up? That's really *not* good. Want me to give you a taste of that too?" Hayato, finished with Tristan, who was being utterly useless, stepped forward, camera in hand, standing alongside Joey.
"What a shame. I could have gotten some excellent footage. 'A short boy being bullied at school' – that would surely attract the attention of many overly sympathetic people, wouldn't it? Too bad you guys ruined it." The director spread his hands, then chuckled menacingly.
"However, the footage I've collected now isn't bad either. 'Staff member undercover at school being bullied by delinquents.' Although it won't yield as much profit as the previous project, as a bonus, you guys are going to suffer. That makes me happy, even if I get a little less money."
"What do you mean?" Joey didn't understand the director's intention. Hayato explained, "It means he plans to film a 'school bullying' program. He originally chose Yugi, and now he's chosen you. But if this program airs, you, as the 'bully,' could very likely be expelled, Joey."
"How could that be?!" Téa, having just clarified the situation for Yugi, was quite surprised. "Didn't the camera record what happened before? Yugi was the victim; Joey was just protecting Yugi."
"Such an innocent little girl, aren't you? There's a technique called editing, you know?" The director sneered. "With just a few simple operations, I can even twist black into white. Honestly, you kids are so naive; bullying you is practically no fun at all."
"You bas—" Joey furiously wanted to rush forward and punch the obnoxious director, but he had only taken one step when the director suddenly called out, "Hey, wait a second!"
"You mean you actually know fear?"
"No, no, no, just a friendly reminder, kid." The director walked leisurely towards Joey, an obnoxious smile on his face, and pointed a hand at the cameraman behind him. "The camera is still rolling, you know. If you want to display more of your violent acts to a national audience, go ahead and hit me?"
Joey looked in the direction of the cameraman. Just as the director had said, the camera was still on. If he were to lay a hand on the director, he would only give this obnoxious guy more evidence.
Walking up to Joey, the director used the crumpled paper tube in his hand to tap Joey's face. "Aren't you angry? Frustrated, kid? This is exactly the expression I was hoping for—that look of wanting to kill me but not being able to, heh heh ha ha ha—"
"Um, haven't you considered that there might be surveillance here?" Hayato, standing beside Joey, watched the director's actions and put on a nerdy facade. "Surveillance cameras record everything. Your crimes won't escape the grasp of the law."
"I told you, you kids really are adorably naive." The director cast a disdainful glance at Hayato. "Do you think we adults act impulsively like you kids without considering the consequences? Naive! I specifically chose this spot after investigating your entire school. There are no surveillance cameras here."
"Oh, no surveillance, huh?"
The weak-willed expression on Hayato's face vanished instantly. He exchanged a glance with Joey beside him, and both simultaneously broke into eerie smiles.
In a swift motion, Joey delivered a sudden knee strike, his hard knee colliding with the director's soft abdomen. In one blow, the previously smug director was subdued.
"No surveillance, and you still dared to be so arrogant?!"
The moment Joey made his move, someone shot out from behind him. His bullet-like hairstyle announced his identity: it was Tristan. Having fought alongside Joey since middle school, he could guess Joey's intentions just by seeing him stick out his rear.
Without even needing a hint, Tristan rushed over to Fujita, who had just escaped Joey's grasp, and slapped the other, unswollen side of Fujita's face, helping it become symmetrical.
The cameraman was a little flustered.
"Wait a minute, these students aren't playing by the rules. Others try to avoid being caught on camera, but these guys are practically shoving the evidence right in front of the lens. What's going on here?"
Watching the director being subjected to Joey's "Bastard! Damn it! Bastard! Hit him!" and Fujita being shaken by the collar by Tristan, who was shouting "Muda Muda," the cameraman started thinking about turning around and running.
And just then, a hand landed on the cameraman's shoulder.
Turning his head with a fearful heart, the cameraman saw Hayato's rather "kind" smile: "Don't be in such a hurry to leave, big brother cameraman. You rarely visit our high school, so don't you think you should at least solve a problem before you go?"
"Question: 1000 - 7 = ?"
(end of chapter)