Seeing the girl's brown eyes light up like that, Asai Yu genuinely worried she might just march straight into the agency and blow everything wide open.
He calmly added a reminder instead. "If you've got ideas, you can start preparing first. Opportunities tend to show up sooner than you think."
Was Yu-kun leaking insider information to her right now?
He totally was, right?!
Sumita Mana's eyes flickered with surprise, mixed with a faint, unmistakable hint of admiration. "Mm, I understand, Yu-kun. Thank you."
When Donut Lady blinked rapidly a couple of times, Asai Yu knew she had caught exactly what he meant.
Before leaving, Sumita Mana settled the payment.
Two days, four hours total—four hundred thousand yen.
[Payment settled: 1.6 million yen. Deposited into the system, available for withdrawal at any time]
[Part-time Bonus Lv.4 (3330/5000)]
With that, another two million yen effectively landed in his account.
Asai Yu felt, once again, that locking in this bonus had been an extremely correct decision.
In the end, he was only released after being handed a whole bag of donuts.
Downstairs in front of the apartment building, he checked the time—around nine in the evening—and called up the system.
Darkness swallowed his vision, and in the next instant, he arrived inside Chihaya Anon's body.
Two seconds passed. Suddenly, Anon's voice echoed in his head.
"Yu-Yu, you finally came! Waaaah… do you know how I survived my classes this morning?"
"How did you survive them?" Asai Yu played along.
Please don't tell me you couldn't answer anything again.
But Anon suddenly shifted gears. "Hehe, of course I got praised by the teacher!"
She then launched into a detailed explanation of how seriously she had listened, how she answered the questions correctly, and just how approving the teacher's expression had been…
Looks like she was finally adapting to life studying abroad in the UK.
Asai Yu gave appropriate encouragement. "Not bad. Keep it up."
Yu-Yu praised her!
Chihaya Anon's heart practically burst with joy—she was even happier than when the teacher praised her!
If only he'd praise her a bit more…
Having tasted sweetness, she immediately replied, "Of course! I'll work even harder!"
Turning his attention back to class, Asai Yu noticed that the first afternoon after the one-week break was—yet again—music class.
And just like before, that music teacher seemed weirdly fixated on him. Throughout the lesson, she basically only called on him, smiling warmly as if grinding affection points on purpose.
After class, she even pulled him aside for a private talk, the topic once again circling around school piano competitions or other talent contests.
Asai Yu had no interest and maintained a firm refusal.
Still, seeing how enthusiastic she was, he proposed instead to show his guitar skills.
With no other option, the music teacher nodded.
Asai Yu picked up the guitar and played a piece he was quite familiar with.
The teacher froze. Then her face filled with shock.
This guitar skill—this was already mastery-level!
But just one week ago, Anon hadn't even reached beginner level on guitar!
Oh my god. Could it be… Anon was a genius at guitar too?!
Hope reignited in the music teacher's heart. "Please, Anon, enter the school competition! I'll find you the best guitar instructor!"
"Mm, I'll think about it. As for a guitar teacher, I don't really need one—I learn faster on my own," Asai Yu replied ambiguously.
Soon enough, school ended.
Asai Yu walked out of the school gate, still thinking about how to complete the bullying task.
That was when he suddenly noticed several women blocking his path.
They were heavily muscled, fitness-type women. Just standing there, they radiated pressure.
Looking around, he realized they were in a narrow alley—almost no pedestrians around.
Seeing this scene, Chihaya Anon froze, then fear crept in. "Yu… they're—"
"Here for revenge," Asai Yu answered bluntly.
Then he added, "Don't worry. I can handle it."
Hearing that, Anon relaxed just a little, though she was still very worried.
But thinking about it, even in the worst case, it would be her body getting beaten, not Yu himself—so it wasn't that terrifying.
And with Yu's combat ability, plus her leg strength… retreating should be possible. Probably.
"Need something?" Asai Yu asked the five dark-skinned, muscular women in front of him.
"Heh, look who it is. Even wearing glasses—where'd this nerd crawl out from?"
One of them, with exaggerated black eyeliner painted around her eyes, stepped forward and mocked him.
She reached toward Asai Yu's shoulder bag. "Lemme see what you've got—"
Before she could finish, Asai Yu moved.
He gave her no time to react—grabbing her wrist instantly, twisting hard, and slamming her to the ground.
Then, like a lightning strike, he delivered two punches and two kicks to the remaining four. His movements flowed seamlessly.
Everything happened within five seconds.
The five women didn't even process what had happened before they were all down on the ground.
Because Asai Yu struck particularly sensitive spots, none of them could stand. They lay there groaning, nearly immobilized.
Seeing this, Chihaya Anon's mouth opened into a huge "O," her gray eyes practically turning into pink hearts.
"Suki! Yu-Yu, you're way too amazing! You took down all five of them!"
"Strong on the outside, hollow on the inside," Asai Yu replied casually.
He immediately frisked them, confirming there were no guns or knives, which eased him a bit.
Then he dragged the five of them deeper into an alley and used some non-standard interrogation methods.
At the end of the day, they were just young hotheads. Under pressure, they cracked quickly and spilled the mastermind.
Exactly as Asai Yu had guessed—it was that blonde girl.
The encouragement from classmates, the cafeteria bullying, even these street punks—everything had been orchestrated by her.
After smashing all five of their phones to prevent any warnings, Asai Yu turned back toward the school.
As luck—or misfortune—would have it, he ran straight into the blonde on the way.
Even more conveniently, it was another alley. No pedestrians. No cameras.
Their eyes met. Confusion flickered in the blonde's gaze, immediately followed by panic as she turned to flee.
Asai Yu didn't give her the chance. He dragged her straight into the alley.
"Relax. As long as you tell me why you targeted me, I'll let you go," he said calmly.
Her mental defenses collapsed instantly. She spilled everything.
It was mostly jealousy. Seeing a Japanese transfer student stealing the spotlight in English class annoyed her, so she got classmates to ice him out.
As for sending others to harass him later—that was because the music teacher's attention on him made her feel completely ignored.
She wasn't even asked about the piano competition anymore.
A simple reason. But painfully real.
"So that's how it is…"
Chihaya Anon felt oddly relieved.
At least she was targeted for being too good, not because she was looked down on.
After hearing the truth, Asai Yu had no intention of letting her off.
He immediately started a one-sided, fists-meet-flesh beating.