Class 1-S was only a week old when the tension boiled over.
It started small. Kanzaki Toma — lightning arrogant — mocked Mizuki Aoi for being the Council's favorite flame. Aoi, sharp as ever, returned fire with words. Others fanned the sparks.
By the next day, desks had been slammed, threats had been thrown, and the classroom's air felt thick with hostility.
Sayuri was absent.
And without her steel gaze, discipline frayed. The students start their taking side who was the leader or who want to be leader.
---
The spark came at noon.
"Prove it," Kanzaki snapped, lightning crackling along his arm. "If you're so perfect, then fight me!"
Aoi's flames flared instantly, crimson heat filling the room. Her eyes narrowed. "If that's what it takes to shut your mouth, fine."
Desks scraped back. Students shouted. Some cheered, some tried to stop it. But then Takashiro Jin — the beast-clawed bruiser — roared in excitement. "Enough talk! Fight already!" His claws tore through the air, gouging sparks into the wooden floor.
The duel began before anyone could stop it.
Lightning clashed with fire, a storm of sparks and flame exploding through the classroom. Glass rattled, wood scorched. Students scrambled back, terrified and thrilled at once.
---
Renka stood in the back, hands still sticky with chocolate, laughing weakly. "Guys… maybe not in the classroom, huh?"
No one listened.
The duel escalated. Flames roared higher. Lightning screamed louder. Jin, caught in the frenzy, dove in with his claws, hungry for blood.
It wasn't a spar anymore. It was war.
Renka's smile slipped.
And then he moved.
He darted forward — faster than his clumsy mask should have allowed. He planted himself between Aoi and Jin's slashing claws, arms wide.
"STOP!" he shouted, voice cracking through the chaos. "It's supposed to be a friend fight — not a fight to kill!"
The words froze the room.
But the claws did not. There no way to take it back after being unlished
Jin's strike carved across Renka's back. Flesh split. Blood burst. The sound was sharp and wet.
For a heartbeat, no one breathed.
Renka staggered, pain lancing through him, then turned his head with that same stupid, cheerful smile.
"…See? We're friends. Not enemies. No need to be fierce."
And he collapsed, fainting before the shocked eyes of Class 1-S.
---
Silence devoured the room.
Aoi's flames guttered out, her face pale. Even Kanzaki's lightning died on his skin. Jin's claws shook, dripping blood, his mouth open in horror.
For the first time, Class 1-S realized just how fragile the line was between power and destruction.
And for the first time, they all looked at Hikari Renka — clumsy, cheerful, chocolate-loving Renka — and saw someone who had chosen to bleed so they wouldn't.