Chapter 4: Itsuka Kendo
"I got scolded by Shiozaki... because of this outsider..." Monoma seemed to turn to gray ash, leaning against the wall as he began to mutter to himself.
"So you're the Class 1-A president, huh? Don't get too cocky! We're going to crush your entire class at the Sports Festival!" A man of shining steel stepped forward, baring his teeth at Yoshikage Kira. "The only one who's going to be in the spotlight at the festival is me!"
"You're Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu, right? I think we met during the entrance exam..."
Tetsutetsu's fierce expression instantly vanished. He placed a hand on his chin and began to think hard. Because his head was as hard as steel, his thought process was always a few beats slower than everyone else's.
"Ah! I remember now! You're the guy who tricked all of us into attacking that zero-point robot while you got first place!" Tetsutetsu shouted. "I thought about it a lot after the exam. You were using us as a distraction so you could go rescue people, weren't you!?"
Yoshikage Kira shook his head and replied calmly, "You can't really put it that way. While it's true I received a lot of rescue points, did you not receive any yourselves? All regrets are born from one's own powerlessness. If you had taken a moment to think before rushing in, you probably would have achieved a better score."
Tetsutetsu froze. The guy has a point. He had charged in on a hot-headed impulse, not under anyone's orders. And because he had drawn most of the robot's attention, he had actually earned a decent number of rescue points... Wait, should I be thanking this guy?
"Tetsutetsu, don't be so easily fooled. He's just twisting the facts," Neito Monoma reappeared, his voice dripping with sinister insinuation. "While I don't know what happened between you two during the exam, the end result was that he got the highest score, wasn't it? And if your body wasn't so tough, you probably would have been eliminated on the spot, right?"
"This guy is right... but what Monoma says makes sense too..." Tetsutetsu was trapped in a state of confusion.
His confidence restored, Neito Monoma let out a classic, three-part villainous cackle at Yoshikage Kira. "Ha, haha! This Class 1-A student is quite clever! Even though Tetsutetsu is an idiot, you managed to absolve yourself of all responsibility just by arguing with the outcome. You're quite the formidable rival!"
Tetsutetsu suddenly wrapped his arm around Monoma's neck, growling, "Who are you calling an idiot, Monoma!?"
Monoma grabbed Tetsutetsu's arm, the skin on his neck slowly turning a grayish iron color as the veins bulged. Despite being choked, he was still shouting with surprising vigor. "Let go, you lunkhead! Can't you tell I was speaking up for you!? What an idiot!"
"You're the idiot!"
"Only an idiot calls other people idiots!"
Are all the people in Class 1-B idiots like this? Yoshikage Kira watched them, speechless. They had come to pick a fight with him, but somehow it had devolved into infighting...
Just as their argument reached a fever pitch, a pair of giant fists descended from the sky, slamming down on both of their heads. Even though both of their heads were metallic, they both felt a sharp pain and involuntarily let go of each other.
"Big Sis, that hurts!" Tetsutetsu cried out, clutching his head.
"Kendo-san, could you maybe give a little warning next time you're going to strike...?" Neito Monoma lay on the ground, his eyes vacant, as a transparent, soul-like wisp seemed to drift from the corner of his mouth.
"Could you two stop embarrassing us in front of another class?" a girl with hands completely out of proportion to her body said with a sigh. Her palms were as wide as she was tall. "Our reputation is just going to sink lower and lower..."
"Kendo-san, you hit them too hard," Ibara Shiozaki said, turning to condemn her with a calm gaze.
"Sorry, sorry," the girl named Kendo said, her hands shrinking back to their normal size at a visible rate. She rubbed the back of her head and gave Yoshikage Kira an embarrassed smile. "Sorry you had to see that. You're the Class 1-A president, right? I'm the president for Class 1-B, Itsuka Kendo."
She had brownish-yellow hair tied in a side ponytail, and with her gentle smile, she looked like a friendly girl-next-door. But just a moment ago, Kira had personally witnessed her walk up behind the two boys with a somber face, enlarge her fists, and bring them down directly on their heads... Although her hands looked quite beautiful now, Kira had already lost any interest. A warning bell was ringing in his mind, telling him never to anger her.
"H-Hello. I'm Yoshikage Kira." He stuttered for a rare moment before regaining his composure. "I was just here to see Shiozaki-san. I had no intention of provoking anyone."
"I know. Monoma was the one who started it. But why were you looking for Shiozaki?" Although Itsuka Kendo had a smile on her face, she was subtly pulling Ibara Shiozaki behind her, watching Kira as warily as a mother hen protecting her chick. She had seen him stuff a large amount of cash into Ibara's hands. Even if she knew there had to be a reason she wasn't aware of, after hearing her classmates' speculation, she couldn't help but let her thoughts drift in that direction.
Kira guessed that he had been misunderstood and was just about to open his mouth to explain—
"It's a secret," Ibara's calm voice cut in. "It's a secret between the two of us."
Yoshikage Kira closed his mouth. He had asked Ibara to keep the fact that he was renting a room from her a secret from everyone. And she was strictly guarding that information, all for the sake of a meager rental fee. Yet he had been about to thoughtlessly break their vow for the sake of a pointless explanation...
Though his expression remained calm, the heart of this former corporate drone, Yoshikage Kira, was deeply moved. He silently turned and walked away, not revealing a single thing to Itsuka Kendo.
"What a weird guy," Itsuka Kendo shrugged. She turned to Ibara and advised, "Remember not to get too involved with oddballs like him, okay?"
Seeing him about once a month... that doesn't count as too much, does it? Ibara thought, clutching the bills in her hand.
Itsuka Kendo then turned her gaze to her other classmates who were still loitering around. With her hands on her hips, she said, "And you all... aren't you hungry? Hurry up and get to lunch!"
"The show's over, let's go, let's go." Seeing that there was no more drama to watch, the circle of Class 1-B students who had been lingering in the classroom scattered in an instant.
Yoshikage Kira had wasted about ten minutes outside the Class 1-B classroom. While he could still go to the school cafeteria, he inexplicably wasn't in the mood. He simply wandered over to the general store near the Department of Management, bought a pineapple bun, and selected a can of oolong tea from a vending machine.
Clank, clank—
With a shudder from the machine, a cylindrical can tumbled down into the retrieval slot. Kira bent down to pick it up, popped the tab, and took a long drink. The cold sensation helped clear his head.
And then—Yoshikage Kira leisurely turned around and came face to face with a single eyeball.