Inside another club room.
Tearing off the notice posted on the door, Tomoya Aki looked at the content, veins bulging on his forehead.
Student Tomoya Aki, due to the fact that the ACG Club you founded has received monthly club funds from the school but has failed to produce any useful progress...
Therefore, the school has decided to disband the ACG Club. Please notify your members as soon as possible and arrange for their subsequent placement.
Tomoya Aki clutched the notice tightly in both hands, looking as if he would tear it to shreds in the next second.
During his first year, he had gone through untold hardships, begging everyone he could, and even performing dogeza to the teachers to obtain the qualification to build this club. It had been less than half a year.
And now you're telling me it must be disbanded?
"Ren! Katsu! Ragi!"
Burning with rage, Tomoya Aki gritted his teeth and growled the name word by word.
In Tomoya Aki's view, the disbandment of his ACG Club was definitely Ren Katsuragi's doing.
Yesterday, after Aki had mentioned Eriri's name and background, Ren had dared to unscrupulously tie Eriri up as well. This meant that Ren's background was likely no weaker than Eriri's family.
Last year, when Aki used the same method to preach his passion, the school approved the establishment of his club just the same. The only difference this year was that he had ruined Ren's speech on the podium.
Tomoya Aki was certain in his heart that the culprit behind all this was Ren Katsuragi.
"Tomoya, what does the notice say?"
Seeing Tomoya Aki looking like he wanted to eat someone, Eriri Spencer Sawamura was startled and took a small half-step back.
"Ethical-kun, aside from that preaching session yesterday, did you do something else to get on the director's bad side?"
With her arms crossed before her bountiful chest and her legs crossed, Utaha Kasumigaoka noticed Tomoya Aki's expression and couldn't help but sneer.
Yesterday after school, after Megumi Kato had dropped off Eriri and Tomoya Aki, the three of them came to the club room together.
Eriri accused Utaha of not helping her at the time. Utaha could treat the Golden Retriever as an idiot and laugh it off.
But Tomoya Aki followed Eriri in accusing Utaha, which made Utaha uncomfortable.
This whole mess was caused by Tomoya Aki in the first place. Eriri went to feed the enemy, and he insisted on feeding too. Did they expect her to be hung from the tree with them?
Therefore, Utaha's attitude toward Tomoya Aki today was particularly harsh.
"Eriri, the club the four of us built... is going to be disbanded."
"Do you... have any way... to make the school retract this notice?"
Handing the notice to Eriri, Tomoya Aki became despondent. He wanted to try and see if he could trick Eriri into pulling some strings in this regard. "Eriri, you can do it, right?"
Facing Tomoya Aki's pleading request, Eriri, who had already been guilt-tripped by him to the point of feeling remorseful, hardened her heart.
Thinking of what her mother said last night about adults not stepping into fights between children...
Eriri decided to take the field herself and utilize Ren's guilty conscience!
With her hands on her hips, head held high, and the twin tails tied behind her swaying, Eriri spoke with full confidence: "Tomoya, don't worry. I'll go find Ren Katsuragi right now and seek justice for you!"
With that, Eriri ran out of the club room, planning to intercept Ren ahead of time.
How can the Golden Retriever compete with others? Your rank is even lower than Tomoya Aki's.
Utaha facepalmed, looking speechlessly at Eriri running out, complaining in her heart.
Knowing she couldn't stop Eriri, Utaha looked at Tomoya Aki. "Ethical-kun, Eriri is going to reason with Katsuragi-kun personally."
Utaha emphasized the word "personally" heavily, as if reminding Tomoya Aki of something.
"It's fine. I believe in Eriri."
Tomoya Aki maintained that despondent expression, wanting to see if there was any other bird willing to stick its neck out for him.
As for Eriri suffering a loss against Ren? It didn't matter. Or rather, it might be better if she suffered a loss.
The bigger the loss Eriri suffered at Ren's hands, the more likely Sayuri Sawamura would step in. Then, Ren's end would be even more miserable.
Tomoya Aki was frantically squeezing every bit of value out of Eriri.
"You'd better believe it."
Utaha looked at Tomoya Aki with a faint, unreadable smile. Seeing that he had no intention of stopping Eriri, she didn't bother with him anymore and stood up to leave the club room as well.
She still couldn't stop worrying about that idiot Golden Retriever.
"Damn it, one or two of you just have to be like this... Are you really that afraid of that Ren Katsuragi?"
As soon as Utaha left, Tomoya Aki's gaze darkened.
But he seemed to have forgotten that their club had a total of four members.
Sitting in the corner playing with her phone in boredom, Megumi Kato glanced in surprise at Tomoya Aki, who had completed an instant face-change.
Kato: Katsuragi-kun, the school disbanded Aki-kun's club.
Ren: There's such good news?
Kato: Does it have nothing to do with you, Katsuragi-kun?
Ren: No.
Kato: Okay. Also, Eriri-san seems to have gone to find you, Katsuragi-kun.
Ren: Mn, thanks for the timely tip, Kato.
Looking at Megumi Kato's tip-off, Ren laughed despite himself.
The disbandment of Tomoya Aki's club really wasn't Ren's doing, but it indeed had something to do with him as a person.
The Principal had lowered his dignity to beg Ren to give a speech on stage, only for the plan to be disrupted by Tomoya Aki barging in. If the Principal didn't target him, who would he target?
Closing the chat interface with Kato, Ren found a contact and dialed the number. "Hello?"
The other side connected quickly and began chatting with Ren.
--
"Hey, you!"
Finally, Eriri had found Ren. She ran over, panting, pointing at the notice in her hand, ready to crusade against him.
Ren was on the phone and didn't want to deal with Eriri. He took a lollipop out of his pocket, unwrapped it, and stuffed it directly into Eriri's mouth, silencing the girl instantly.
With one hand, he pressed on Eriri's head, spinning her around, and lightly patted the back of her head, signaling the girl to go play somewhere else.
A fool who understood nothing and didn't even know she was being used—Ren really found it hard to get angry at Eriri.
Bullying a fool was wrong.
Eriri, who looked bewildered after being fed a lollipop by Ren, widened her eyes and prepared to continue her crusade against him.
Ren first put a finger to his lips, making a "shh" gesture, then pointed to the cherry blossom tree by the roadside.
Eriri understood immediately. Her twin tails, which had been spirited just a moment ago, drooped down.
"Okay, I'll wait for you."
Hanging up the phone, Ren finally looked at the extremely aggrieved Eriri who was still standing beside him. "Is something the matter, Sawamura?"
"Ren Katsuragi! Did you make the school disband Tomoya's club?"
Seeing Ren take the initiative to talk to her, Eriri's arrogance rose again. She held the notice in front of Ren's face.
"It wasn't me."
"If it wasn't you, could it be me?"
"Then why couldn't it be her?"
Noticing Utaha Kasumigaoka peeking from a distance, Ren pointed to her location.
Eriri looked in the direction Ren pointed and also saw Utaha. She laughed out of anger at Ren. "Katsuragi-kun, how could it possibly be that fat woman in black tights!"
"Right, it wouldn't be her. So why would it be me?"
Seeing that the person he was waiting for had arrived, Ren took advantage of Eriri turning around and pushed the girl toward Utaha's location.
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