Just outside the stairwells, a pink haired girl from D Class was being pressured against the wall by a boy from E Class. As I didn't recognise the E Class student, it was most likely they were an upperclassman.

On the ceiling, there was a security camera recording the hallway. Since it was still early in the morning, not many people were in school yet, so this event unfolded without interruption.

As much as I wanted to ignore what was happening and squeeze past them, it would be problematic as Matsushita was with me. After what he told me earlier, he would definitely want to save this girl from that guy.

In the first place, it was absurd that this E Class student could force a D Class student into a corner. In the hierarchy, D Class is superior to E Class, so it should've been her harassing him, not the other way around. Maybe he wanted to take advantage of the fact she appeared weak and submissive.

I didn't want to involve myself with anything troublesome, but while I was analysing the situation, me and the girl looked at each other in the eyes. In that brief moment, she pleaded for me to help.

I'm sure Matsushita noticed that desperate look too. Being the only other people here, she could only rely on us to save her.

"Finally, I can have a proper talk with you."

The E Class boy held the D Class girl by wrist, keeping her pressed up against the wall.

"W-who are you...? W-what do you even want with me..."

The girl shivered, closing her eyes and lowering her head.

"You're Shimizu Hoshimi, right? From 1st Year D Class?"

The boy leaned in, licking his lips.

"Yes... h-how do you know that?"

The girl, Shimizu, looked at him with wide eyes.

"I'm Hashimoto, from the photography club. I've seen you around the school, and noticed that you had a face perfect for my album project. Would you mind modelling for some photos?"

It seems the boy, Hashimoto, was the gross stalker type. I'm willing to bet that he isn't even part of the photography club, and was using it's existence as a sleazy way to get pictures of her.

At this point, Matsushita couldn't hold himself back anymore. He stepped forward, cut between them, and smiled.

"A photography project? That sounds interesting! Can I join too?"

He managed to perfectly insert himself into the situation. While I could've taken my exit, I followed Matsushita's lead. It was the ikemen's special power to compel others.

"Who do you think you are to eavesdrop in our conversation? Mind your own damn business!"

At the drop of a hat, Hashimoto snapped at Matsushita. Shimizu cowered and looked away.

"Um... I'm Matsushita Isogai, from-"

"I don't care who you are! Leave me and Hoshimi-chan to our business!"

I was starting to get annoyed by this guy's controlling and obsessive attitude. He seemed to believe that it was okay to treat Shimizu however he desires since he exerted power over her.

"No, but I'm genuinely interested. I used to take photographs in my spare time, but I wasn't very good at it and dropped the hobby."

Regardless if this was a lie or the truth, Matsushita tried to connect to Hashimoto on some level to try and calm him down.

"Then you can come by the photography club after school if you wanna chat about it. Read the air, it's a bad time to talk about it right now."

"I see... I'm sorry."

Matsushita pretended to falter.

"You better be!"

It seems Hashimoto didn't call Matsushita's bluff.

"We'll leave then... let's go, Takanori-san, Shimizu-san. I want to get breakfast from the canteen."

Perfect, it was going according to Matsushita's plans. He feigned an apology in order to get himself into a situation where he could take Shimizu out as well. It was an interesting tactic that only masters of conversation could utilise.

"O-okay, Matsushita-san..."

Shimizu had noticed what he was trying to do, and used it as a way to try and escape from Hashimoto.

"Hoshimi-chan, wait! Do you even know these guys?!"

Hashimoto wasn't going to let this happen. He grabbed Shimizu by the arm and pulled her back to him.

"O-of course I do..."

"It doesn't sound like you do."

"We're friends. We may be in different classes, but before the true nature of the school was revealed, we spent our mornings together."

Matsushita once again lied smoothly in order to give Shimizu a lifeline. As long as Shimizu went along with his narrative, Hashimoto would have no choice but to let go of her.

It was even more believable considering that Matsushita was an ikemen, so girls would flock around him naturally. In all honesty, I was the weak link here, since an unpopular guy like me would never hang out with Matsushita under normal circumstances... but Hashimoto probably didn't know that, so we were safe for now.

"Then she can join you two later, when we're finished talking."

Hashimoto turned away and kept Shimizu against the wall. She lowered her head in defeat, letting her pink bangs fall over her eyes. Matsushita grit his teeth, realising he had failed to save her.

Guess it's my turn.

Even though it was getting somewhere, Matsushita's calm and kind approach would fail to work against an aggressive guy like Hashimoto. The only way to defeat stubborn guys like him is through harsh words.

I stepped forward and pushed Matsushita to the sidelines, getting up in Hashimoto's face and mustering up all the riajuu that was inside of me for this very moment.

"You don't have any rights to call her by her first name, nor even touch her, you defective garbage!"

"T-Takanori-san?"

Matsushita, who was surprised, tried to get me to stand down. I had no plans to stop my methods.

"Hah, ironic that it's coming from the E Class loser's mouth."

"You're a bigger loser than me since you've been defective for three years straight."

I was shaking as I hurled insults at Hashimoto. Confrontation was not my forte.

"Actually, I managed to reach A Class in my 1st Year. Your major achievement at this school is already losing all of your Cl."

It seems that E Class losing all of our Cl in the first month was information that spread to the other year groups, which was annoying. Regardless, I didn't want to ignore the perfect hole Hashimoto managed to dig himself in.

"Wow, so you actually got worse overtime..."

It felt kind of good to hurl insults at someone else, even though I was fighting an uphill battle.

"Shut up. An idiot like you wouldn't understand why I'm in E Class!"

"You're in E Class because you started to stalk Shimizu-san, what's so hard not to grasp?"

"Where'd you jump to that conclusion? You guys really are as stupid as the rumours say."

Personally, I'd like to withdraw right now since I can't come up with a good counterpoint...

Calling him a stalker was my ace insult, but seeing how he brushed it off like it was nothing, it was better to get to the core issue, rather than drag out this long insult match.

Matsushita was trying to find a good moment to interject himself, but I cut him off before he could.

"Could you let go of the girl? She's in D Class, which means she's better than you."

"No way, not until you flies get off my back already. Shoo, go back to the dumpster where you belong."

"If you guys really were talking as friends, you wouldn't have to hold her wrist to keep her in place."

"Fine then, I'll let go."

Hashimoto released Shimizu from his grip. She squeaked and hid her hands behind her back.

"Now, leave and let us return to our conversation."

I wanted to escape from this situation, but Shimizu was still blocked off by Hashimoto. He needed to leave fully in order for her to escape cleanly.

"...no."

"I let go of Hoshimi-chan, so you don't have to worry anymore. When we're done, she'll return to you guys."

"That's true, but she doesn't seem to want to talk to you."

With her wrist now free, Shimizu tried to inconspicuously wriggle to Matsushita's side. She inched further, little by little, getting away from Hashimoto.

"No, she's intimidated by the two of you trying to poke your nose into places where they don't belong! Leave!"

I couldn't stand down to his dominating, loud voice. I had to hold my ground so Shimizu could be safe.

"Not until you leave Shimizu-san alone!"

"This is none of your business, so leave us alone! I'm trying to talk to her, can't you see that?! Let me have my peace with her! I've been trying so hard for the past week to try and talk to her, but I never got the chance!"

As Hashimoto vented his frustrations, I staggered back. I had no idea how to handle this situation now that he's properly angry.

"You two, let's calm down. Fighting amongst each other won't help anything." Matsushita said.

"Shut up! You had ulterior motives for joining this conversation... you wanted to steal Hoshimi-chan from me!"

Matsushita sighed. He was getting sick of Hashimoto's arrogant personality as well.

"It was the only way to help her. You're in the wrong for pressuring her like that."

His gentle approach had been traded in for an aggressive one.

"I didn't want to steal her away from you. I just wanted to assure her safety and comfortability, as her friend. If you take a look, Shimizu-san's terrified of you."

"No, she's terrified of you two! If you're her friend, you'd respect our privacy and leave us alone!"

Hashimoto was adamant on pinning blame on us. In the midst of our confrontation, two A Class students were approaching us. I suppose this was inevitable, considering how long this situation was being dragged out.

One of them was the teasing girl I couldn't get off my back, Yogen Emica. Whenever we run into each other, she makes sure to publicly embarrass me, for whatever reason.

The other was Yamamoto Yami, who emerged as one of A Class's prominent stars. In the midterms, he ranked in the top ten of our year, and was an important midfielder for the football club. Adding onto these achievements, he's also amazing at Vanguard, and uses a powerful Shadow Paladin deck.

He was a model student through and through. Even students in the upper years had heard of his name.

"Boya-san, good morning!"

Emica waved at me as she and Yamamoto passed by.

"M-morning, Yogen-san..."

It was an awkward reply. Hashimoto turned his anger to me.

"Weren't you the one saying that I couldn't hang out with students above my class? Yet you're buddy-buddy with A Class students!"

"I never said that."

Yogen noticed how she sparked Hashimoto's wrath and smiled at it, enjoying the mockery he was making out of himself. She added onto this with a passive aggressive question meant to tease Hashimoto.

"Oh, we've walked into an argument, Yamamoto-kun. I wonder, should we help Boya-san against that meanie E Class student?"

Yamamoto looked at the situation, and his indifferent face didn't change. Despite this, he stopped walking and turned around.

"The two of you can stay out of this too!"

Hashimoto warned Yogen and Yamamoto to back off. However, Yamamoto took a firm step forward and glared at Hashimoto.

"You E Class have nerve to talk down to me."

It seems like Yamamoto failed to understand Yogen's question was teasing rhetoric. He was serious in getting engaged with Hashimoto.

"I'm your senpai, so I have every right to talk down to someone like you."

"Senpai or not, I'm in A Class, and you're a cockroach. Get out of my sight this instant."

"Make me, you stuck-up A Class brat!"

Hashimoto bawled his fists and got ready to fight. Yamamoto didn't heed to violent temptations and just continued to glare at him.

"Touching something from that garbage heap would make me throw up. Go back to where you belong."

Not even Matsushita had the courage to diffuse this situation.

While Yamamoto was a reserved and cool man, were Hashimoto's insults really enough to make him angry? It didn't make sense to me.

I'm starting to think Yamamoto was also faking it, but he had no reasons to save Shimizu or to engage Hashimoto. Why did he get himself involved?

"This is why I dropped from A Class! Because of elitist scum like him!"

Hashimoto turned to me and Matsushita, pointing at Yamamoto.

"C'mon Hoshimi-chan, we're out of here!"

Hashimoto grabbed Shimizu by the hand and dragged her away.

Yamamoto shoved Hashimoto to the ground and caught the toppling Shimizu in his arms.

"If you contact, touch, or go anywhere near Shimizu-san again, I'll ruin your life at this school. I'll involve the student council and make sure you're expelled."

Hashimoto, embarrassed, terrified, and humiliated by a bunch of 1st years, made his panicked escape upstairs. Yamamoto sighed and let go of Shimizu.

"Wow... I've never seen you so scary, Yamamoto-kun..."

Yogen shivered, rubbing her arms. I had to agree. In that moment Hashimoto tried to escape, Yamamoto reacted quicker than I could think.

"Thanks for helping us, Yamamoto-san..."

Even though Matsushita complimented him, Yamamoto was focused on Shimizu.

"Are you okay?"

"Y-yes... thank you, Yami-kun... for saving me from that weird person..."

Hey, me and Matsushita also tried too... do we get any appreciation?

"You two know each other on a first name basis?" Yogen asked.

"Oh... we know each other from middle school."

So that'd explain the reason why he got involved. Seeing Shimizu get pressured by Hashimoto must've unlocked something deep inside of him.

"Yami-kun was the one who taught me Vanguard."

Childhood friends, just like me and Yukina... except I'm probably not cool enough to save Yukina if she was in trouble.

"If he comes near you again, just tell me. I'll get Masamoto-san to put him in his place."

"I can give you some some details about him." Matsushita said.

"That would be great. Thank you."

Yamamoto then turned to me and Matsushita, and bowed.

"I deeply apologise for calling your class "cockroaches". This was the one time I had to use my superiority for good, but I might've offended you two."

My assumption was right. He was just acting like an A Class elitist. I guess that's one way utilise your status at this school.

"It's alright. Being called cockroaches is the least of our concerns. We're just glad Shimizu-san's alright."

I let Matsushita handle the communicating. Within the other classes, he's much more accepted due to his popularity and charms.

"T-thank you for helping me..."

Shimizu quietly appreciated our efforts. No wonder Hashimoto wanted to take advantage of her, this poor girl was timid and weak as Nora. That's probably why she ended up in D Class.

It made me wonder why Nora ended up in E Class then. He had superior grades, but a weak personality like Shimizu. Surely, he'd be in D Class, but he was considered defective and placed in E Class.

I just couldn't understand.

"I'll escort you to class, Hoshimi-san." Yamamoto said.

Shimizu nodded. The two of them went to D Class, which was down the hallway.

"I didn't expect you to also be so fierce, Boya-san. It seems like the quieter the person, the greater their wrath."

"In all honesty, I was terrified..."

That shaking feeling still hadn't left me.

"I'm just as surprised as Yogen-san. The way how you combatted Hashimoto-senpai without any fear was amazing!"

No, I was definitely scared. Even though he allegedly was a "photographer", Hashimoto had a body that more resembled an athlete. I don't think Yamamoto's shove even hurt him that much. He was just caught off-guard, and gravity worked in Yamamoto's favour.

The posture he used to get ready to fight reminded me of the ones mixed martial artists used, so it was likely he had trained in some kind of fighting style. If things got violent, I'd probably get beaten up badly.

If we went to a trial, all I would have to help me was the surveillance camera recording, but even then, he could use it against me and say I was the one who started the argument that led us to this point.

Though, in all honesty, I was doubtful that the school would sort matters out between two E Class students.

There was no reason to lament on it though. We were lucky to have Yogen and Yamamoto come by. Anyone else would've ignored us.

"So, Boya-san does have a backbone after all."

Yogen chopped me on the spine, straightening my slouched posture. Standing in front of me, she gazed into my eyes and smiled.

"Nee, if I'm ever in trouble, you'll save me, right?"

"...huh?"

That was my honest reaction to her mysterious words. Was she in danger too, somehow?

"See you soon, Matsushita-kun, Boya-san!"

Yogen waved goodbye and walked inside the A Class classroom, which wasn't too far from the staircase.

When it was just me and him left, Matsushita slumped his shoulders. He openly sighed, then straightened himself up in a panic.

I think, in that moment, I could see past the perfectly constructed image Matsushita built for himself. Even the popular people have their internal struggles.

"M-my bad. I must've zoned out."

"Don't worry. It was stressful."

With the way Matsushita acted, he must've been disappointed that he wasn't the one who saved her. It seemed he was serious about wanting to help other people when they were in trouble. Being unable to do that in this situation must've been frustrating for him.

"I wonder if I could've handled that better."

Despite his earnest attempts, Matsushita always fell short. In the first war we had, he had failed to defend his crown. In the midterms, he only got above C's, despite being one of the smartest students in the class. In the football club, he wasn't considered a key player compared to students like Yukimura and Yamamoto.

Me and him were similar in that regard. We both fell short on whatever we had to do. For me, it was when I lost that cardfight against Mikazuchi-sensei and Mikazuchi-senpai. I wouldn't be struggling here if I had simply overcome their decks.

"I think that being benevolent isn't the correct course of action all the time. Sometimes pain is necessary."

Matsushita laughed and shook his head.

"I don't believe that. We can do things without hurting other people unnecessarily."

He had a completely pacifistic approach to problems. While I respected it, I couldn't get behind such a way of dealing with issues.

I don't think I could sway Matsushita's mind on the matter. Well, I suppose it's fine, because Sakigamiya balances it out. Her approach to things is to tackle the core issue without dancing around it.

"We should get to class."

"Yeah... I don't want to be late. I've got a special request for everyone after all."

A special request? It was strange to see Matsushita rely on his classmates, since it was usually the other way around.

We entered E Class, which was still relatively empty. The only people in class was Nora, who was at his desk reading a book, and Ayano, who was scribbling what seemed to be a manga name in his notebook.

Ayano Kanzaki was a silent warrior among E Class. He was only ever seen hanging out with Kita Hana, and was regarded by others as a gothic genius.

He was amazing at science and more attractive than most boys in our class. However, only a few people knew what he was actually like, as in class, he poured all his efforts into focusing and paying attention.

To see him draw a name was surprising. I didn't expect him to be the type who liked manga.

He looked up to see who had entered, and our eyes met for a second. His soulless eyes pierced through me, and I scrambled to my seat at the back of my class.

Ayano Kanzaki... is this the kind of person Hiden-sensei was alluding to? Someone with the strength of A Class, but was placed in E Class? However, that brings up the question I've been trying to answer this entire time.

What makes us more defective than other students?