There was no need to mention the second and third-year students for the time being.
There was absolutely no connection there. It was highly unlikely for a situation like this to occur, where they would ignore the empty tables around them to specifically come over and sit at his table, staring at him with smiles of unclear meaning.
As for the first years, Class A and Class B had relatively higher standards of conduct.
Although that fellow Arisu Sakayanagi wasn't very likeable, she was generally quite disciplined and wouldn't resort to such methods that felt crude at first glance.
Then, the only one remaining was Year 1, Class C.
Subaru had a slight impression of the few people before him; they had fought quite fiercely with Kakeru Ryuen back then.
Looking at them now, they must have been beaten into submission by Ryuen.
"You guessed pretty accurately."
"You're that Natsuki Subaru from Year 1, Class D who's been very much in the limelight recently, right?"
The somewhat burly boy, who appeared to be the leader of the three, spoke with a slightly provocative tone, "It's really sumptuous. Do you eat this well every day, you guy?"
"A mere defective product from Year 1, Class D."
The burly boy subconsciously swallowed a mouthful of saliva as he looked at the excessively lavish set meal in front of Subaru.
Although he was following Kakeru Ryuen's orders to come specifically to provoke Subaru and cause trouble for him, when he actually saw Subaru's food standard, he couldn't help but click his tongue in his heart.
Rumor had it that Subaru spent close to five thousand personal points just on meals every day. Originally, the burly boy thought this was somewhat exaggerated, as the food in the school cafeteria was sold at true cost prices.
Let alone five thousand personal points, even a meal costing seven or eight hundred personal points would be very sumptuous.
Now it seemed that five thousand might even be an understatement.
The most important thing was that although Year 1, Class C still had an income of forty to fifty thousand personal points each month, after the class was forcefully dominated by Kakeru Ryuen, the economic situation of Class C wasn't much better.
Every month, half of the personal points received had to be handed over to Ryuen for management and operation.
Although the remaining half didn't leave them as destitute as Year 1, Class D, it certainly wasn't much better.
The burly boy hadn't eaten a good meal in a long time. The personal points he could truly control each month were only a little over twenty thousand, and food and drink could only occupy a part of that.
In fact, only a small part.
Entertainment expenses, buying games for the console he had already purchased, the latest manga, and so on, were the bulk of it.
In order to save personal points, the burly boy had reached the point of eating the Mountain Vegetable Set Meal once every three days.
"It wasn't really a guess."
"I have also roughly observed the usual styles of the four first-year classes."
Looking at the way the burly boy before him subconsciously swallowed his saliva, the smile on Subaru's face didn't change. He said, "After Haruki Yamauchi was expelled, there shouldn't be anyone from Year 1, Class D who is tactless enough to come find trouble with me."
"Although there is a fellow in Year 1, Class A who likes to create a little trouble for me, her methods are passable."
"As for Class B, their quality is a bit better; they are very harmonious and friendly."
"Ruling out all other results, naturally, only Year 1, Class C remains."
"Moreover, although I don't know this classmate's name, I still have a slight impression of this classmate's appearance."
"What is this classmate's name?"
As he spoke, Subaru did not delay his speed of eating in the slightest.
"You have an impression of me?"
The burly boy was momentarily distracted by Subaru shifting his attention. He paused for a moment and subconsciously said, "I'm Daichi Ishizaki."
After speaking, he felt something was wrong. He felt as if he was being completely led by the nose by Subaru.
Clearly, he was following Kakeru Ryuen's instructions to come over, provoke, and anger Subaru. How did it turn into Subaru asking him questions, and him answering honestly like a well-behaved baby?
Why did I answer like that?!
"Hey!"
"You guy, don't be too arrogant."
"I don't recall ever seeing you before; this is our first meeting, right?"
Daichi Ishizaki expressed that he was now feeling a bit angry from embarrassment.
"That's right, just a mere defective product from Year 1, Class D. Don't play mysterious here."
"You just expelled another defective product, that's all."
"That kind of trash who gets expelled wouldn't possibly dare to act up in class; he would have been tamed into total submission long ago."
A somewhat thin boy next to Daichi Ishizaki also chimed in, saying:
"It's completely not worth hanging on your lips to show off here."
As the thin boy spoke, his gaze was somewhat drifting.
He glanced from time to time at the sumptuous lunch in front of Subaru. Just like the performance of Daichi Ishizaki earlier, in order to spend his not-so-abundant personal points on critical matters, the thin boy had also been eating the Mountain Vegetable Set Meal for a long time.
Compared to the desire for food, spiritual enjoyment was a bit more important.
"I do have an impression."
"It was during the first month of enrollment, right? To be more specific, it was probably the fourth day of school."
If Haruki Yamauchi's behavior was the type that used various reasons to find excuses for his actions, solely to satisfy his own personal selfish desires, which made Subaru feel annoyed...
Then the behavior of the group before him, led by Daichi Ishizaki—who from the very beginning openly declared their stance of 'I don't like you' and 'I'm coming over to provoke you'—was slightly better than that.
Before Subaru finished eating, he temporarily had no desire to toss the coin.
Of course, if Daichi Ishizaki and the other two dared to directly and practically obstruct him or stop him when Subaru finished eating and prepared to do his own things, then that would be a different situation.
"Although I was just passing by temporarily, if I recall correctly, Ishizaki-kun, you should have been fighting with Ryuen-kun at that time, right?"
Subaru looked at Daichi Ishizaki, who was performing a fit of anger—which only lasted for a moment—in front of him, and said, "I still have some impression of Ishizaki-kun's expression at that time. Looking at Ryuen-kun with a very unhappy expression... just like... Ishizaki-kun right now."
"Looking at it now, Ishizaki-kun must have been thoroughly subdued by Ryuen-kun?"
As he spoke, Subaru revealed a trace of curiosity in his expression.
Subaru discovered that his mood was becoming increasingly positive.
For the first time, someone slammed the table in front of him, and he didn't even have the thought of tossing the coin yet. It was truly gratifying and celebratory; the possibility of seeing colors in the future was even greater.
"You..."
Subaru's words caused Daichi Ishizaki's expression to instantly turn somewhat flushed.
As a delinquent who was somewhat famous locally during middle school, Daichi Ishizaki still cared about his face. For Subaru to ask him directly at this moment whether he had been beaten into submission by Ryuen was truly leaving Daichi Ishizaki somewhat at a loss for words.
He couldn't possibly say directly: 'Yes, I, Daichi Ishizaki, was indeed beaten into submission by Kakeru Ryuen, right?'
He had his dignity.
It was just that Kakeru Ryuen wasn't nearby at this moment.
If he were nearby, Daichi Ishizaki would even have the impulse to fight Kakeru Ryuen one more time just to prove he hadn't been beaten into submission.
Of course, Daichi Ishizaki only thought about this in his heart.
Although he didn't want to admit it, Daichi Ishizaki had been beaten into submission by Ryuen, and he even feared Ryuen considerably.
It wasn't that Daichi Ishizaki was afraid of fighting; when it came to fighting, Daichi Ishizaki wasn't afraid at all. It was simply that Kakeru Ryuen had no martial ethics.
He would use any disgusting trick available and would go to any lengths. An average person really couldn't stand it.
"And you?"
Subaru looked at the flushed-faced Daichi Ishizaki and smiled, then placed his gaze on the thin boy and said, "What is your name?"
"Komiya Kyogo..."
The thin boy, Komiya Kyogo, subconsciously and honestly answered Subaru's question.
For some reason, facing Subaru's inquiry, Komiya Kyogo felt as if he were being questioned by a superior from a completely different level. He subconsciously assumed a posture of 'standing at attention'.
If he had to describe it, it was a bit like when Komiya Kyogo was in elementary school and was stopped by an obviously much older uncle to ask some ordinary questions, and he would subconsciously answer honestly.
"Subaru, don't change the subject by acting all pretentious here."
Daichi Ishizaki felt that the rhythm was completely within Subaru's control. Clearly, his side had come over to openly find fault, yet Subaru was still able to chat idly with them, directly interrupting whatever Komiya Kyogo hadn't finished saying.
"I have no interest in reminiscing with you about whatever happened on whichever day of enrollment."
As he spoke, seemingly to further build up his momentum, Daichi Ishizaki stood up directly and took two steps toward Subaru. Leaning his body forward, it looked as if he was preparing to offer his face for Subaru to hit.
However, Daichi Ishizaki soon discovered that his set of silky-smooth fault-finding combos, which had never failed before, had absolutely no effect.
Subaru continued to eat slowly and methodically; he didn't even lift his eyelids an extra bit.
Instantly, the nameless fire in Daichi Ishizaki's heart, which had already been ignited by Subaru's sentence 'Were you beaten into submission by Ryuen', burned ragingly. Daichi Ishizaki prepared to increase the intensity.
Although Kakeru Ryuen had instructed at the beginning to 'test the bottom line, try to anger him, but do not initiate physical action', Subaru was simply too composed.
If he didn't give Subaru something real, he estimated that this encounter today wouldn't have any substantial effect.
Thinking of this, Daichi Ishizaki secretly gave a wink to Komiya Kyogo and the other boy.
Long before coming over to provoke him, they had set a few plans themselves.
Just now was the 'non-contact provocation plan'; now, they were preparing to proceed with the 'contact provocation plan'.
Komiya Kyogo and the other boy also stood up following his lead, vaguely blocking the camera angles from several directions. In this way, the surveillance cameras wouldn't be able to capture the entire content.
Even if it caused a disturbance reaching the school's side afterwards, there wouldn't be any major problems.
In the first month of enrollment, Year 1, Class C had basically recorded the positions of the vast majority of surveillance cameras in the school to facilitate dirty tricks. It was precisely because of this that Year 1, Class B was caught somewhat off guard and had some points deducted.
"We came over simply because we don't like you, that's all."
"A mere defective product from Class D, eating so well here every day... do you think you deserve to eat this well?!"
Seeing that everything was ready, Daichi Ishizaki extended his finger toward Subaru's food tray.
This was a gesture of extreme intrusiveness and insult.
During middle school, Daichi Ishizaki often used this to bully those students with relatively timid tempers. This move was the method Daichi Ishizaki used to screen students for bullying.
If Subaru directly slapped his hand away or showed anger, then that meant the operation this time was successful.
It would also be easy to report back to Kakeru Ryuen then.
If Subaru remained completely indifferent, or didn't even show a single reaction... that would be even better.
Such a person was simply a perfect target for bullying.
He heard Subaru still had several million personal points on him. When the time came, they would find a few blind spots in the school without surveillance and extort it all out of him.
Just like that, Daichi Ishizaki's finger moved toward the edge of Subaru's tray with a deliberately slowed, insulting speed. Daichi Ishizaki had already started thinking about the next move.
If there was no reaction at all, then he would directly 'accidentally' knock over all of Subaru's food tray and claim it was an accident.
There was no anticipated angry rebuke, nor was there any so-called slapping away.
Subaru's hand, accurately and like an iron clamp, buckled onto that wrist Daichi Ishizaki had extended.
"Hiss..."
Daichi Ishizaki's expression stiffened instantly, and he sucked in a breath of cold air.
Attempting to pull his hand back, Daichi Ishizaki discovered that the arm and wrist seemed welded into the other party's palm, not moving a fraction.
Vaguely, Daichi Ishizaki could even hear his own bones emitting a groaning sound of being unable to bear the load.
"Subaru, what are you doing?!"
"Why do you have such great strength... Kondo, come help quickly."
Komiya Kyogo hadn't expected that Subaru would actually dare to get physical under the surveillance cameras.
Furthermore, Daichi Ishizaki, whose physical fitness had always been very passable, was actually starting to break out in cold sweat.
He hurriedly stood up and called the classmate beside him to prepare to step forward and help pull Subaru's hand away. However, at this moment, Subaru actively released his palm slightly.
Daichi Ishizaki subconsciously half-knelt on the ground, cold sweat pouring out.
In just that short moment, Daichi Ishizaki really felt that his wrist was going to be forcibly crushed by Subaru.
"Ishizaki-kun."
"Too close."
Subaru still sat there; he was even holding chopsticks in his other hand.
Turning his head slightly, Subaru finally moved his gaze away from the food tray and landed it on Daichi Ishizaki's face, which was twisted from pain and shock.
And it was just this one glance that directly made the originally somewhat angry Daichi Ishizaki's heart turn cold halfway through.
Clearly, it was still that methodical Subaru, who seemed unable to work up enthusiasm for anything, with only weariness in his eyes...
But the feeling was completely different.
That was an extreme calm, calm like the deathly silent sea surface before a storm, deep and bottomless.
Clearly there was no movement at all, but just looking at it there... one felt fear.
___
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