Even though I didn't understand the context of what they were talking about, I could feel how tense and uncomfortable the atmosphere between Kawaguchi and Shigeru was. Judging from how shocked and irritated Kawaguchi looks, it was safe to say he didn't want this encounter to ever happen. Meanwhile, Shigeru looked indifferent, a bit angry even, staring down at Kawaguchi with a taunting but welcoming smile.

Shimizu quietly made her exit to give the two boys space to talk it out. However, the cameras stayed focused on them, letting me see and hear every little detail of their conversation. Thinking back on it, earlier this week, when Mikitaka paid a visit to our class, Shigeru had mentioned something about looking for Kawaguchi. It seems like this confrontation was a long time coming.

"Good to see some things never change. Here I thought you'd call me Shigeru."

"If I have permission to call you by your first name, why wouldn't I?"

Moments earlier, the two of them referred to each other by their given names, rather than their family names. I found it suspicious, since they were acting hostile to each other right now.

"Suppose that's true. It's just, after what happened in middle school, you suddenly cut ties with everybody, so I thought you didn't think we were friends anymore. I mean, you ghosted me for two months, dude."

So that was why they were so close. They attended the same middle school.

"So what? I don't have any obligations to talk to a guy like you."

"True, but at the very least I thought you'd offer me the courtesy of sorting out our issues from Karaikai in private, but instead you blew me off at every given moment. That's why I had no other choice but to go public with it here. This war was the perfect chance to finally have a little chat with you, Masaru."

So their middle school's name was Karaikai, huh? I haven't heard of that one before. It was safe to assume that these two shared a long and rocky history with one another. Kawaguchi must've had his own reasons for trying to avoid talking to him.

"Zenkichi, you know the consequences of what you're doing by putting all of this out in the world, right...?"

"I have nothing to fear by telling everyone. But you do. Consider this karma... or comeuppance, for avoiding me and your mistake for so long. You might've gotten away with it back then, but this time, I'm forcing you to take responsibility for what you did."

Kawaguchi tightened his fists and shouted back.

"What I did was crummy, sure, but I didn't hurt anyone by doing it!"

"That's what you still naively think, huh? Well, we'll get there when we get there. Anyways, I seriously gotta thank my friends for setting this up for me."

As if to make this conversation even more excruciatingly painful for the anxious Kawaguchi, Shigeru started their forced conversation with a topic completely unrelated to the past.

"While it's true that, originally, I was going to sit out of this war due to my injury and instead be Commander, I couldn't let my only chance to get you to speak with me slip by. That's why everyone did what they could to help me achieve that, even when our plans changed slightly when my leg got busted. Basically, we knew you guys didn't know about the Ride Deck and guessed that someone would leave the war prep room to get some cards for it, so we planted Ishigami in the main school building so he could tell that person I wasn't going to participate."

Shigeru then looked at the camera with a sly smile. No... it was more accurate to say he was looking at me.

"Luckily, that plain guy in your class, Takanori-san, came rushing down the hallways like we predicted, so Ishigami was able to pass that lie onto him. Obviously, he told you guys about it and you believed it, so all I had to do was keep my presence in the war a secret and simply wait for the perfect opportunity to strike. So thanks a lot, Takanori-san! You played perfectly into my hands."

Frustration welled up inside of my chest as Shigeru had used me like a pawn in his plan.

"There's one little flaw with your plan. How were you going to find me?"

"Ain't it obvious? D Class has a Commander too. Tetsuya, you've heard of him, yeah?"

So the person organising D Class's attack was Shirogane Tetsuya, a boy who I saw hang out with Kai and Imaishi when I first visited the fight room to talk to Akari.

"I like to think I'm smart, but I don't hold a candle to that brainiac. So when you got in that fight with Kanon-chan, Tetsuya told me where you were, and I headed over from my hiding spot to pounce on you. Of course, with my injury, it took awhile since I was limping myself over, which is why I'm glad she was able to stall you for so long."

That would explain why Kawaguchi's fight had taken so much longer to complete than the others. He was purposefully being stalled to give Shigeru time to come over here. That also meant that Horie probably threw the fight on purpose to keep Kawaguchi alive for Shigeru. D Class's unity was seriously impressive. I couldn't imagine E Class doing this far for one of our classmates.

"Y-you..."

"Come now. Let's reminisce on our horrid pasts, shall we?"

Kawaguchi gritted his teeth and raised his head, looking at Shigeru deep in the eyes.

"Zenkichi, I don't want to talk about the—"

"Just because you don't want to talk about it doesn't mean I don't. This has been a long time coming, Masaru. You can't run away forever."

"I'm not running away... I'm moving on! And like everyone else, you should too!"

"Don't talk to me like you know what's best for me. Do you honestly think I can just "move on" from what destroyed our gang and it's rep?"

Did Shigeru just say gang? What the hell kind of dangerous stuff was Kawaguchi up to in middle school?

"Well..."

"Unlike you, who ran away with your tail tucked between your legs, the rest of us toughed it out and stayed even after Asukai-senpai took the fall for the crap you did!"

"I know Asukai-senpai did! I know he took responsibility for it so I wouldn't get in trouble! I'm forever indebted to him! But I'm not indebted to a cunning bastard like you, Zenkichi! My life was just as much as a hell as yours after that!"

Suddenly, Shimizu's older step-brother, Asukai, was being dragged into the conversation. Even he was involved in this?

"You're seriously pissing me off now... your life was hell? Give me a break!"

Shigeru limped over and grabbed Kawaguchi by the collar, forcing him up from the floor.

"You have no idea what the rest of us suffered once Asukai-senpai got expelled from Karaikai! Our school's gang became a laughing stock and the neighbouring no-name school's gang rocked up and beat the living daylights outta all of us!"

Kawaguchi's face twisted with guilt as he looked away.

"After they humiliated us on our own turf, those no-name bunch of losers forced us into being their bottom feeder gofers and made us run dumbass errands for 'em every day, all while they got to enjoy beating up us if we even got one tiny little thing wrong! Do you think I enjoyed enduring that hell for three years, Masaru?! You got out of the delinquent life, but the rest of us didn't! We got treated like dirt by the neighbouring gang cuz of what you did!"

I had never expected this much bottled anger and resentment inside of Shigeru, a usually calm and quiet person.

"We couldn't do anything without Asukai-senpai to coordinate us, damn it! Did ya seriously think those idiots Masaoka and Miura had the braincells needed to keep our crap together? Of course they didn't! When they graduated and left that hellhole, do you know who stepped up to the plate as leader of the most sad gang of Tokyo? Me! No one else wanted to be the leader of that deadbeat good for nothing gang, so they shoved it all on me!"

Shigeru tossed Kawaguchi on the floor.

"For a whole year, I tried my damn hardest to rebuild the kingdom we had under Asukai-senpai! I did everything, from fighting other gangs to even stepping up to the no-name boss of the gang that was controlling ours! And do you know what I have to show for it?!"

Kawaguchi's eyes widened as Shigeru pulled up his shirt, revealing numerous scars on his sides and abdomen.

"I nearly died! That pussy actually brought a knife to a fistfight and stabbed me! I had nothing left to lose anyways, so I powered through the pain and beat his sorry ass, even when I was half-dead and bleeding all over! It was painful, but so god damn worth it! Seeing the faces his guys pulled looking at me in pure shock and terror as I finally beat their coward of a boss was so satisfying!"

Shigeru pulled his shirt back down and returned to his calm and indifferent state after getting riled up.

"But y'know... my suffering was for nothing in the end. Sure, those guys stopped bothering us, but I didn't come back to school suddenly as a cool gang boss or anything like that... in fact, no one gave a crap about me afterwards. Everyone was scared of me and left me alone cuz all they knew me for was beating up another school's gang boss. Didn't help there was now a massive target on my back either, since the dude I beat up was kinda a big deal in the area. Don't get me started on the amount of times my house got broken in by those assholes..."

Shigeru sighed, rubbing his temples. Even though he got some sort of justice for his gang, it was at the cost of making him the sole target of abuse. He saved everyone else, but no one could save him. That was the torturous hell Shigeru Zenkichi faced in middle school.

Kawaguchi could only sit there, mouth agape as he took in everything being told to him. He looked dizzy from hearing Shigeru's side of the story. Reluctantly, he swallowed the lump in the back of his throat and got up, lost for words. Quietly, he spoke up in a submissive whisper.

"Sorry... sorry that you had to go through that... I'm guessing you chose GEN because they couldn't get you here... right?"

Even though he was also riled up deep down from Shigeru's provocations, Kawaguchi pushed that aside to be empathetic to what Shigeru had been through as a delinquent.

"Eh, partially. I came here with one goal. To turn my life around. Screw being a delinquent, it's all brawn and no brains. It's arrogant for me to say, but I know I'm smart. If not book smart, then street smart. Being a delinquent does that to ya, you know?"

"Is that why you tried applying to the student council way back then?"

"Huh, you heard? Guess having the first 1st Year to apply get rejected is good gossip. Well, yeah, changing my image meant changing what I did in my spare time. I like politics, so I thought it would be a good place to start. Though, with my sorta past and dealings, it's no wonder Kishou-sama didn't want me on his suite. It really didn't help that I was put into the class full of delinquents. It was like life was trying to force me back into that despicable life full of tiring and useless crap."

"If you wanted to reject it so bad, then why did you give up and return back to that life, Zenkichi?! If you put in the effort and tried hard, then surely you could've broke out of it—"

"Don't give me that sickly sweet shounen protagonist sappy bullcrap you love so much, Masaru. Reality ain't like that. I'm not like you and your "never give up" attitude. I stick to my guns and choose what's best for me in the moment so I can survive. They call it fatalism, yeah? You were always better at civics than I was. Besides, you'd be surprised how many Karaikai peeps ended up here."

"I've seen them around... Satou-san, Koizumi-san, and some others, right?"

"It's cute you remember those guys."

"I didn't abandon my past completely like you think. I keep a small part of it with me to remind me of the mistake I made and how I can prevent doing something like that again."

"Sure, whatever makes you feel better. Now that I've explained my side, care to explain yours? If not, I'll blab about how I saw things. This is your one chance to set the record straight with us. With everyone in Karaikai."

"I'm sorry about what I did... really, I am... but... I don't want to tell them... I don't want everyone, my friends, my classmates, my senpais, my teachers, to know about the most shameful thing I've done as a human being...! Is that so much to ask for, Zenkichi?"

"Well, the cat's gonna slip outta the bag sooner or later. We're in a school full of Karaikai graduates. One of these days, someone's bound to expose you for what you did outta spite. All I'm doing is just speeding the process and getting the difficult part of the conversation outta the way."

"Zenkichi, please, don't!"

"Kawaguchi Masaru is an arsonist. The neighbouring gang that took control of us paid him off to burn down our school while everyone was inside."

"ZENKICHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII—!"

Kawaguchi screamed out in despair as Shigeru exposed him for his crime in Karaikai Middle School.

"So, now everyone knows you tried to burn down the school. Explain, or else I will."

Kawaguchi, who was broken from Shigeru telling everyone his darkest secret, collapsed to the floor with his head in his hands.

"Ya can't, huh? Five minutes. That's the grace period I'm giving ya before I tell everyone how much of a horrible person you really are."

Five minutes passed. Kawaguchi was still hyperventilating, sweat dripping down from his face.

"Welp. It's unfortunate that it's come to this, but let me give everyone the context of what happened."

"Zen... kichi..."

Kawaguchi hoarsely cried out, unable to cope with his past catching up to him.

"So much for not giving up now, huh? Basically, our gang, led by Asukai-senpai, was one of the most powerful in the area. Naturally, this lead to feuds with other gangs, in particular one with a neighbouring school. Obviously, we crushed their asses day in and day out and made 'em our bitches cuz we were stronger than them in fights. Again, props to Asukai-senpai for coordinating us so well. Without him, we couldn't brawl for crap."

I was shocked. The goofy and nonsensical brocon Asukai was in reality a kickass delinquent boss gang leader from his middle school days? That guy was Shimizu's brother? No wonder Masaoka and Miura called him "banchou". It was probably a habit left over from middle school.

"Anyways, come the spring semester. Our 1st Year's nearly done and all, but that also means we've been whopping the neighbouring gang's ass for a year now. Sick and tired of getting humiliated by us, their boss, some no-name schmuck, decides to play dirty. You can guess where this is going, yea?"

Kawaguchi gulped.

"Even though we beat their asses daily, the neighbouring gang was still respected for the one thing they had control over in the area: gambling in fighting rings. As such, their no-name boss got filthy rich from the dumbass bets these hordes of delinquents would make. After accumulating hella bucks from the gambling, he decided to cash it all in to Masaru."

"I..."

"Masaru was a dutiful member, I will admit. He fought for the cause, but was sometimes a coward. His heart was in it sometimes, his heart wasn't in it other times. It was this weakness the no-name boss took advantage of and used to turn him traitor with cash. God, you are shallow. And that no name boss's request? To have Masaru start a fire to burn down the school with everyone inside. I dunno what dumbass or crazy countermeasures he had in place to stop you from getting in trouble, but whatever sweet talk that asshole did, it worked."

"That's... that's not how it..."

"Masaru turned traitor and set fire to the building in the school toilets while everyone else was stuck in class. Fortunately, he came to his senses real quick, and set off the fire alarm to evacuate everyone. Thankfully, firefighters hosed down the mess he started, but lord, the damage it did our school was insane. Imagine half the school being off-limits cuz it needed refurbishing."

"That's not how it went! I didn't take the money without good reason, damn it!"

Finally, Kawaguchi got up and started to argue Shigeru's perspective.

"That so? C'mon then, tell me. I've been dying to know why you accepted that dirty gambling money from that dirty no-name boss for years now."

"If you really wanna know, it's for my little sister who's dying of cancer, you asshole!"

Shigeru shut up immediately.

"I wanted to save my sister... I wanted her to live... I wanted to help out any way I could! But the medical bills... they're god damn ridiculous! So of course I'd take the fat wad of cash presented to me! I wanted to use that money to pay for her treatment! But in the end... I didn't even get it...! Cuz I didn't do the job properly, that guy didn't pay me... I risked my life and everyone else's for nothing, damn it...!"

Shigeru had to take a deep breath after hearing that heavy handed reasoning.

"About your sister, I'm sorry to hear that. I had no clue."

"I didn't tell anyone about her, so it's fine. At least you know now... and everyone else too."

Kawaguchi stared at the camera with hollow eyes.

"You know what... I accept your reasoning. It was probably a dumb way to go about getting money, but it's noble that you would go so far for your family. I respect that. However, I won't accept what you did. Especially because of what happened afterwards. God, I still remember it like it was yesterday... when you confessed to us that you started the fire. Even blabbed about getting paid off."

Shigeru continued to reminisce the story of what happened after Kawaguchi tried to set fire to the school building.

"Obviously, we were all pissed and ready to beat you up, but Asukai-senpai showed mercy. Basically, in order to protect Masaru from getting into trouble over this, Asukai-senpai took the blame for him. He handed himself in as the perpetrator of the fire and got expelled as a result."

So that was how Asukai fit into the story. As the leader, he took responsibility for his member's action and took the punishment for it.

"I mean, Asukai the Arsonist has a better ring to it than Kawaguchi the Arsonist, dunnit? As leader of our gang, the school was waiting for a chance to kick him out anyways since he was such a "troublemaker", so when he handed himself in it was the perfect opportunity for them to get rid of him. By the way, Masaru, do you know why Asukai-senpai was ready to sacrifice himself for you?"

"No... I still don't understand, even to this day."

"It's cuz he was gonna leave the school either way. Makes your mistake sting a little less, doesn't it?"

Kawaguchi's eyes widened.

"What the hell do you mean he was going to leave anyways...?"

"Asukai-senpai's dad was getting remarried at the time. They were gonna move to where his new wife lived since it was a safer area than we were in. In other words, our gang was screwed from the start."

So it was during that time when Asukai and Shimizu became step-siblings.

"Hang on... why are you telling me this then? Are you trying to make me feel better about what I did?"

"Course not, don't be stupid. I'm just saying the result would've been the same, is all. You just sped up the process a little bit. In fact, by starting the fire, you got to avoid being a gofer, unlike the rest of us. Must've been real sweet having your parents withdraw you from the school and send you elsewhere, right?"

"Well... they were concerned about the safety of the school because of the fire..."

"Yeah, the one you started! God, it pisses me off. You basically abandoned us and left us to clean up your mess! And we couldn't even do anything to you cuz Asukai-senpai was protecting you! There was no way we could against his orders, he was our boss!"

"It's not like I wanted to protected! I just... I was scared of facing the consequences cuz it'd negatively affect my family... Asukai-senpai didn't do all that stuff for me cuz he was selfless... he did all that stuff for me cuz I asked him to in private..."

This time, it was Shigeru's eyes that widened.

"Huh?"

"Before I told everyone... I told Asukai-senpai first, since he was the boss... he gave me a good right hook the face, but formulated a plan to save me from being expelled. That included telling everyone in our gang and having him take the blame..."

"So you knew he was going to do that before all of us?!"

"Y-yes..."

Shigeru slammed the wall with the side of his fist and gritted his teeth.

"Damn it... I can't tell whether I'm pissed or not..."

"Asukai-senpai was a really good boss... looking back now, I wish I appreciated him more."

"He was... he really friggin was! You know, it all makes sense now... no wonder you think no one got hurt from what you did. That guy even went so far as to lie about that to protect you..."

"Huh? What do you mean "I think"? Asukai-senpai never told me any lies. Even the school said no one was injured from the fire."

"That's just basic public PR talk to save face. Unfortunately for you, I'm ripping off that bandaid Asukai-senpai put on. Remember earlier, when I said "we'll get there when we get there", in response to you saying "I didn't hurt anyone"? We've crossed that point now."

"Don't joke around, Zenkichi."

"I'm being serious. Someone nearly died in your fire."

"...h-huh?"

Kawaguchi's face paled as his reality began to fall apart around him.

"Yeah. They lived, fortunately, but got hurt real badly. He has burn scars all over his body cuz of what you did."

Shigeru looked up to the camera.

"Yo, Ishigami. Forgive me for what I'm about to do, but Masaru needs to know the full situation to understand the weight of his actions. Feel free to beat me up later."

"W-wait, why are you mentioning Satou-san...?!"

Kawaguchi began to panic as Shigeru now dragged Satou into the story.

"Oh, I forgot to mention. The person you hurt in that fire attends this school. In fact, he's in my class. His name is Satou Ishigami."

"H-how come... h-how did he...?! Why does he have burn scars?! He wasn't anywhere near where I started the fire!"

"That's what you think. We didn't share a class with Ishigami, so when you visited the toilet during break, Ishigami had coincidentally left his class at the same time to take a leak. He was in the stall next to yours when you started the fire. Do you remember? A stall being occupied when you entered the toilet? I know it's been three years, but doing something that extreme must've stuck in your head at least."

"I-I... I don't remember... I just remember walking into a stall and lighting a match..."

"Next time, pay attention to your surroundings, idiot. Cuz when you set fire to the toilets and ran away, poor Ishigami was taking a piss and was swallowed by the flames! He had to be rescued by firefighters and taken to hospital to treat his burns!"

Kawaguchi keeled over, paralysed by this brand new information.

"You're the reason why he covers one eye with his hair, Masaru. There's a huge, ugly scar from where the fire got him there. Not just his face, but his body too. It's so bad, he doesn't even get changed for P.E because he doesn't want anyone to see them! I know Asukai-senpai didn't tell you this to protect you, but you need to know the consequences of your mistake! Sure, he's only one person, but he's a still victim of your fire Masaru, so go do me a favour and profusely apologise to Ishigami after this war for what you've done to him! He deserves that much, doesn't he?!"

Tears fell from Kawaguchi's eyes.

"Y-yeah... y-yeah, h-he does..."

"Quit your crying. It's not like you're not gonna get any sympathy points from snivelling like a bitch."

"I-it's not like I want to... I'm not crying for sympathy... I-I just..."

Kawaguchi was crying because Shigeru had finally broken him.

By forcing Kawaguchi to confront the truth of his past, Shigeru had completely destroyed his mind and spirit.

"And that's the truth of what happened. You started a fire, Ishigami got burnt, Asukai-senpai took the fall, we became gofers, and I finally ended it by beating up that no-name boss. Now that we're at GEN Academy, we can start anew, eh?"

Shigeru continued talking, grinding down the already beaten Kawaguchi some more.

"Honestly, meeting you here was complete coincidence. I thought I'd never see you again and that you'd get away with the crap you did in Karaikai, so imagine my surprise when I saw you fight in that war against 3-A. You were put into E Class yeah, the class for defectives? That must mean your defect is being an arsonist who never faced consequences for what you did."

Cruelly, Shigeru hit the nail on the head. He clearly stated out loud the dark reason why Kawaguchi was considered defective in the eyes of the school.

"Man, I'm glad I actually hauled ass and faced the past. I'd hate to be in E Class. It sounds no different from being in the chaos classroom back then. Heh, the teachers really hated us. I guess that's the school's way of showing the difference between you and me though, huh? Then again, bragging like this doesn't feel all that good either. I'm only in D Class, after all. But ya know what, I'm glad I got put in that class. At first I hated it, but now I've come around, thanks to Zyriot and everyone else. It's what makes this war worth fighting for. I like the people in it, I like my friends in it, and I like my hilariously perverted homeroom teacher as well. I couldn't have asked for a better turnaround from those horrible days."

Their visors had been locked onto each other for awhile. The board and decks were ready to go, but both boys were so encapsulated in their discussion of the past, they had completely ignored it. It was only now that Shigeru had noticed and picked up his starting hand, fanning it out confidentially.

"That's why, as The Swindler of D Class, I won't let you go off easy for what you did. Until you face the consequences, I won't forgive you. Now that I've made you properly face the past, all that's left is to win this fight for D Class. Ishigami especially. This is my... no. This is the Karaikai gang's revenge against the traitor who ruined our lives! I'm gonna kill you, Masaru!"