I usually spent my lunch time in the library reading books with Nora, but today would be an exception. This lunch time, me and Yukina would be fulfilling the promise we made together yesterday.

I was feeling both nervous and excited, since this would be the first time I've eaten lunch with her at GEN. Things never seem to go smoothly for me though. Just as I was about to talk to Yukina, Sakigamiya wandered over to her desk.

"Yukina-san, do you want to eat lunch together?"

As she asked that, Sakigamiya glanced at me from the corner of her eyes. It was obvious she was trying to separate me and Yukina in order to ostracise me from the rest of the class. However, Yukina shook her head no.

"No thanks, Alice-san. I'll be eating my lunch with Yuu today."

"Are you sure? It seems like a bad idea..."

"We promised to eat together yesterday. I don't want to break our promise."

Sakigamiya looked like she wanted to roll her eyes, but instead she smiled sweetly.

"Ah, is that so? You guys don't mind if I join you two then?"

I wanted to reply back sarcastically to Sakigamiya, but instead I kept my mouth shut and left the decision up to Yukina.

"Hmm... maybe another day. I think it'd be a bad idea for you to suddenly join us."

"Eh? How come?"

I'm sure Sakigamiya already knew, but decided to play dumb in order to keep her cutesy and slightly air-headed appearance.

"Well, since you and Yuu aren't on great terms at the moment... I'm scared another argument will break out between you two."

"I guess that's true."

Sakigamiya conceded and looked over her shoulder at me.

"Takanori, you better not lay a finger on Yukina-san. If I find out you did something bad to her, I'll bring hell to your doorstep."

With that direct (and scary) threat, Sakigamiya rejoined her usual friend group to eat lunch in class.

"Ignore what Alice-san said at the end. She's being... a little ridiculous, isn't she?"

I turned to Yukina, who surprisingly spoke out against Sakigamiya.

"Yeah... I wouldn't do anything weird to you anyways."

"I know. She just doesn't trust you because of that rumour, that's all."

I nodded.

"Do you want to go get lunch from the canteen then?"

"Ah, I brought a bento box. What about you?"

"Nope. I was going to buy something from there."

"Then, let's go, before the line gets too long."

With a bright smile, Yukina got up and grabbed her bag. I followed suit, and we went to the bustling canteen. While I waited in line, Yukina found somewhere for us to sit. She chose an area near the back, where not many people could interrupt us.

I checked the amount of points on my phone. 99,690, huh? Zyriot's donation had nearly pushed me back to 100,000 points. I could get away with buying a more extravagant meal if I wanted to, but I needed to conserve points where I could.

That's why I bought the free meal, the veggie rice combo. It was nothing more than a small bowl of rice with a tiny side dish of assorted vegetables. Looks like I got spinach and beans. At least it came with free water.

"Yuu, welcome back."

Yukina greeted me as I sat down across from her. I placed my disappointing looking lunch on the table.

"Is that all you got to eat?"

"Yeah. It was free, so..."

"Are you running that low on points already?"

"Not really. I just want to save where I can."

"Ah, I see. Maybe I should start saving too... I've used about half of my points so far."

As we talked, Yukina took out her bento from her bag. I was grateful that she waited for me to come before eating, as she could've started having lunch the moment she sat down at a table. It's small things like this that made me like her more.

"Itadakimasu."

For a free meal, the food wasn't bad. The vegetables had a good texture to them, and the rice was cooked nicely. It wasn't as good as Nora's home cooking, but it was better than whatever I could make.

Yukina started digging into her bento box with a satisfied smile. I noticed there were a lot of egg rolls and octopus wieners packed in her lunch, which gave it a fun, appealing look to it. It was a perfect match with her personality.

I wonder, did she make it herself?

Wait, that's a stupid question. Of course she did... I mean, it looks like a lot of love and care went into putting it together.

Would it be okay to ask if I could try some then?

No, that's a weird thing to ask... but that could be her own handmade cooking I'm missing out on...

Wait... why am I even having these thoughts?

It isn't like me to have these strange urges. Pull yourself together, Yuuto!

"Um... is there something wrong, Yuu? You look kind of lost in thought..."

I snapped out of my crazy delusions.

"Sorry. I was just wondering... whether or not you made that bento yourself. Weird, I know..."

My heart rate spiked in anticipation for Yukina's answer. I think I have some kind of sickness. Why did this matter to me so much? I'm disgusted with myself.

"Fu fu, I wish. I bought this from the konbini on my way to school."

Thankfully, her answer shattered my high expectations, bringing me back to reality. I felt a little disappointed, but it was better this way. Now I could die in peace, knowing that I didn't miss the chance to taste Yukina's cooking.

...this is getting ridiculous. Can someone get me a restraining order for my wild and unreasonable imagination please? That would be great.

"Oh, really? I didn't know they sold bentos like that."

"Well, it's a bit embarrassing, but the ones I usually buy are in the kid's section... so you probably haven't seen them before."

"The kid's section...?"

Yukina's ahoge drooped as I muttered that. Her face went red as she held the bento closer to her.

"D-don't judge me... it's cheaper than the regular bentos and has more foods I like in it..."

That would explain the overabundance of octopus wieners and egg rolls.

"I'm not judging you... I'm just surprised. It looks better than what I'm eating, that's for sure."

"Your meal doesn't look that bad either."

Even though she said it to try and cheer me up, I still felt bitter over eating just rice and vegetables.

"I guess."

Yukina frowned at my half-hearted response. I scratched the back of my head, trying to think of a more justifiable reason for my current mood. If I told her I wanted to eat a nicer lunch, it'd be unreasonable.

After all, I was the one who chose the veggie rice combo for myself. I could've bought something more luxurious, like the pork cutlet or the tsukemen.

"Uh... to be honest, the rumour about me has got me feeling kind of down."

It was technically a lie, but there was some truth to it. I've been ignoring it for awhile, but it's been on my nerves ever since this morning.

Lunch time was the perfect opportunity to try and make sense of this entire situation. While wrapping my head around everything was a bit of a headache, I got the general gist.

From what I could gather, a rumour about me hitting Shimizu was created from the video of D Class lynching me that was posted on the school forum for all years to see. I'm guessing that, to explain the "context" behind D Class's brutal assault, someone lied about the reason why everyone ganged up on me.

Simply put, they decided that me hitting Shimizu was a good enough reason.

I suspect this is somehow linked to the isolated incident from yesterday morning, where Hashimoto was trying to coerce Shimizu into talking with him, for various reasons. Regardless, because f that rumour's existence, nearly the entire school has turned on me and labelled me a "woman beater".

"If this is worrying you, then we should find the culprit. Doing something is better than doing nothing."

Yukina was right. If I ignore the situation, it'll probably get worse. All I had to do was work backwards in order to figure out the source of the rumour.

"Yeah, I've already got a couple of people in mind."

"Really? Who?"

"There are a couple of main suspects. Primarily, D Class itself and Hashimoto-senpai. The other suspects would be Yamamoto-san, Yogen-san, and Matsushita-san."

I had considered Sakigamiya, but I think she's genuinely ignorant of the truth.

I've seen her act belligerent before to people she doesn't like, and the way she treats others heavily depends on how she sees them and how they treat her in return. Since she thinks I'm woman beating trash, she's going to treat me as such. I've tried my best to not anger Sakigamiya, but I could always feel some bitterness towards me, probably because of my friendship with Yukina.

I never noticed it until recently, but Sakigamiya and Yukina are really close. When she argued with Yukina, there was genuine pain in her eyes. Since Sakigamiya is a popular riajuu, she sees all unpopular students the same way and would rather avoid talking to them to keep her ethereal image. However, Yukina doesn't share the same perspective, which makes her attempts at talking to me feel like an insult to Sakigamiya, in a roundabout way.

Basically, Sakigamiya cares a lot about Yukina, to the point where she gets irate seeing Yukina trying to hang out with me. She's fully aware that if Yukina is associated with me, it would be bad for her reputation, which is what Sakigamiya wants to avoid the most. That argument earlier must've hurt Sakigamiya on a personal level too, as Yukina chose to believe me over her.

"Yamamoto-san... Yami-kun or Yumi-san?"

I nearly forgot that Yamamoto had a twin sister. Both were in A Class though. I heard his sister's fairly popular amongst the boys.

"Yamamoto Yami-san."

"Ah... um, I'm a little confused on the last three. They don't seem like the type of people to start rumours."

"Well, yesterday morning, me and Matsushita-san ran into some trouble with Hashimoto-senpai. Basically, Hashimoto-senpai was forcing Shimizu-san to talk to him, and Matsushita-san jumped in to try and save her. I simply followed, and the situation escalated to involve Yamamoto-san and Yogen-san. Thanks to Yamamoto-san, Hashimoto-senpai left Shimizu-san alone."

I summarised the incident for Yukina, to catch her up to speed.

"Wait... didn't Isogai-san mention something similar in class?"

"Yeah, but he changed the story to make it seem like I jumped in first, and omitted the fact that the A Class students had helped us out."

"No way..."

Yukina looked disappointed in Matsushita for lying about what happened. She must've truly thought he was a good and honest person. I felt my fists tighten under the table.

"My reasoning for accusing them is that it seems too specific that my "victim" is Shimizu-san, since we only became acquainted yesterday. The only people there who would've known that were those three, plus Hashimoto-senpai. I also found it suspicious that the "reason" Matsushita-san and Hashimoto-senpai proposed in class for why I attacked her was "jealousy", which would make more sense for Hashimoto-senpai, since he was humiliated by Shimizu-san's childhood friend, Yamamoto-san."

"It's such a lame reasoning. Anybody would realise that you're not the type to get jealous if they spent any amount of time with you..."

Unfortunately, no one wanted to be friends with me due to my boring personality. It's a blessing that Yukina even finds me interesting, because I don't even find myself interesting.

"Speaking of Yamamoto-san, I think we can rule him out straight away. He was the one that saved Shimizu-san, so it's unlikely he'd start a rumour that would drag her into drama. Plus, even though he's in A Class, he treated me and Matsushita-san as equals."

"I agree. Yamamoto-kun has a stoic personality, so I don't think he'd stir up trouble. That, and a lack of a motive to target you."

"Correct. Similarly, I'll rule out Yogen-san..."

Before I could explain why, a hot and ticklish breath blew into my ear.

"Fuu~"

I whipped my head around, coming face to face with... Yogen.

"Ara, Boya-san's talking about me? Did I make you fall for me that hard?"

With her mischievous smile, she sat down next to me with her pork cutlet lunch.

This teasing personality of hers was the main reason I ruled her out. She uses playful jabs to torture me; not serious accusations. Spreading rumours to ruin me wasn't consistent with her character. Sure, she's annoying, but she's not malicious.

"I have no interest in you..." I muttered.

"You're so cold... but I can't say I hate that part of you."

Besides that, both Yogen and Yamamoto were A Class students, which meant they at least had common sense. They know that starting a baseless rumour would get extremely out of hand, especially if they were exposed to be the culprit. That would be a surefire way to end up in E Class. It was simply too risky.

"Y-Yogen-san? W-what are you doing here?"

Yukina, who was caught off-guard, stammered in Yogen's presence. Yogen smiled, waving at Yukina cutely.

"All the other tables were full, and I didn't want to miss out the chance to eat lunch with my favourite Boya-san."

It was embarrassing that she wandered over here because of me. I didn't want Yukina to get any wrong ideas, so I looked over my shoulder to check the validity of her statement. From a precursory glance, it seems Yogen was telling the truth.

"I-I see, but... um... you're in A Class, and we're in E Class... so isn't that...?"

Yukina wanted to point out the huge difference in status. If an A Class student was seen sitting with an E Class student, their reputation would plummet.

"So? Who cares? It's the canteen, I need somewhere to sit and eat. Ara, Yami-kun, over here!"

Yogen cheerfully waved at Yamamoto, who was looking around for a vacant seat. He sighed, wandering over to our table.

"There you are, Yogen-san... you ran off suddenly and I couldn't find you."

He sat down across from her, next to Yukina. It seems he bought the tsukemen.

"Sorry, once I saw Boya-san in the canteen, I knew I had to rush over. It's so rare to see him here, I couldn't help myself."

Yamamoto looked at me, then at Yogen. He simply nodded and broke his chopsticks apart.

"Itadakimasu."

Both Yamamoto and Yogen started to eat their meals. Yukina looked uncomfortable as our private conversation had been invaded by two students we barely knew anything about. They seemed to have no ill-intentions, but I didn't want to leak anything to the enemy.

"Boya-san, you've been getting into a lot of trouble recently. You should've fought back against those delinquents."

As an awkward silence enveloped the air, Yogen decided to initiate a conversation to ease the tension.

"If I did that, I would've been beaten up even more."

"You could've knocked them out in one punch. Isn't that right, Yami-kun?"

Yamamoto slurped his noodles.

"Don't get me involved..."

"What are you talking about?" I asked.

"It's so cute when you try to play dumb."

Yogen leaned in, smiling sweetly at me. I wafted her face away.

"I'm talking about when you knocked Ritaka-san to the floor with one punch. Who knew someone as plain as you was hiding all that strength?"

I choked up.

"How did you find out about that?"

"Word spreads quickly from class to class. It was all the rage in A Class - I was so proud that my Boya-san was the centre of attention."

Yamamoto choked on his noodles. Hey, that should've been my reaction to her words...

"Yami-kun, are you jealous?"

"No... I'm surprised you already found yourself a boyfriend, that's all."

Me, her boyfriend? No way, I needed to stop this misconception right now.

"We're not a couple. We're more like... barely acquaintances."

"Unfortunately, me and Boya-san are only friends. Though, I wouldn't mind dating someone as strong as you."

"We're not fri... oh, never mind."

I sighed, knowing I couldn't win against her. For some reason, Yukina's ahoge had drooped over.

"You know, people are starting to get the wrong idea about you. Today was a bad day to punch someone else. Did you forget about that rumour when you hit Ritaka-san?"

"I had no other choice. Yukina was in danger, so I... tried to save her."

Yogen raised her eyebrows lightly, then smugly smiled.

"Ara... I see, I see. Kazuraba-san, you should feel lucky."

Yukina, who had been quietly eating her bento this entire time, looked at Yogen with reluctant eyes.

"About what...?"

"To have a friend like Boya-san. He's not a bad choice at all. You should treat him better."

I narrowed my eyes at Yogen.

"Stop jumping to conclusions."

"That was a speedy response! Perhaps, are you angry at me?"

"I'm not angry at you. Just stop putting your nose in places where it doesn't belong."

"I was simply observing. Sorry. By the way, that lunch your eating looks really sad."

It was surprising just how fast Yogen could shift between topics. I could tell she was a social butterfly.

"I'm aware..."

"Would you like some of my lunch to jazz it up? It's really good."

Yogen put a strip of her juicy and crispy pork cutlet close to my mouth. It looked really appetising. Though, because this is Yogen we're talking about, I felt a bit reluctant to accept it.

"What's the catch to this?"

"Catch?"

"If I accept it, what do I have to do for you?"

"Nothing. Didn't I already tell you Boya-san? Stop thinking everyone has an ulterior motive."

"But—"

The moment I opened my lips, Yogen pushed the piece of pork into my mouth, forcing me to eat it.

"There. Want another?"

It was really good... ah, she's making me regret not buying that lunch set. A Class is really lucky that they can spend points on food like this. It didn't help that she was tempting me to have more.

"...is it okay?"

"Of course it is! You need to eat meat Boya-san! Eat meat!"

Once again, Yogen put the pork near my mouth.

"Now, say—"

"Wait, wait, wait."

I put my hand up, putting a wall between my mouth and her chopsticks.

"Don't try feeding me again... just put it on my plate."

"But isn't it more fun when I feed you? It's like we're a couple."

"That's exactly the problem here... feed your boyfriend, not me."

"I don't have a boyfriend, so I'll feed anyone I like. If you don't want my pork, I can give it to Yami-kun instead."

Yamamoto slurped the last of his noodles and stood up. Saying "good luck" to me through his eyes, he scurried off to get as far away as possible from Yogen and her antics.

"Yami-kun, wait! I was only joking! Come back!"

Yogen stood up, reaching her hand out. She watched as Yamamoto disappeared into the distance.

"Ah... he's gone... he left without even saying goodbye..."

I wonder why...

"What was that reaction about?"

"I don't know... I thought he liked pork cutlets too..."

Yogen sounded legitimately depressed that her friend left her. However, she regained her teasing bounce as she lifted the pork near my mouth again.

"Say "ahhh"."

I shook my head no. Suddenly, Yogen placed the piece of food between her lips, closed her eyes and leaned in.

"What are you...?"

In that moment, she slipped the pork into my mouth by using her own lips as chopsticks. This girl was scary...

"Gotcha!"

"Oi, that's dirty of you..."

I wiped my lips with the back of my hand. That way too close for comfort. We nearly kissed in that moment...

"I always get my way, Boya-san. Haven't you learnt that by now?"

Luckily, it didn't happen. That would've been a nightmare to think about. My first kiss being with her...

Yet, my heart was beating fast. It's almost as if my body wanted it to happen. I'm such a loser...

"Whatever you say... so, Yukina, we-"

Yukina looked away from me. Her cheeks were bright red, and her lips formed a small pout. Her ahoge was nowhere to be seen. I couldn't tell whether she was annoyed or upset with me.

"Aww... did I make you jealous, Kazuraba-san?"

Noticing her shift in attitude, Yogen decided to change targets from me to Yukina.

"No... that's not it."

Yukina quietly replied, averting her gaze from Yogen. She seemed scared.

"That cute pout says otherwise, darling."

"That's... I'm not..."

Under Yogen's pressure, Yukina couldn't think of a response.

"Yogen-san, cut it out."

I firmly told her to stop attacking Yukina.

"Fine, only because Boya-san told me too."

Even though Yogen eased up, Yukina got up, rubbing her arm.

"I... I'm going to go to the toilet."

She hurriedly closed the lid of her half-eaten bento box and put it into her bag, before leaving our table. Yogen gave a cheerful goodbye, but I also got up.

"Ara, Boya-san, where are you going?"

"I'm going after Yukina."

"Going to the girl's bathroom? I didn't know you had that sort of fetish."

Even though she had created a tense atmosphere, Yogen ignored it, and continued to tease me inappropriately. I ignored her and followed Yukina, who was feeling weak and vulnerable right now. I need to make this up for her. I've ruined our promise.

"It's a shame you're going already, Boya-san. I wanted to talk more about our sweet shop date this weekend."

However, just before Yukina was out of earshot, Yogen further pierced into her insecurities by bringing attention to the plans we made for after the midterms. When Yukina heard, she sped up and didn't look back.

"Wait, Yukina..."

I tried to reach out, but she ran away faster as I did.

"Give her some time to calm down. Sit down and finish your lunch with me."

Yogen saw this and used it as a chance to make me continue eating with her. Honestly though, I found it insulting that she would make Yukina feel like that just to get rid of her.

"Forget it..."

"You really do care about her... it's a shame."

"Of course I care about Yukina, she's my friend. There was no reason to treat her like that!"

Even though I shouted at her, Yogen smiled.

"Do you care about Kazuraba-san more than anyone else in the world?"

"What are you playing at...?"

"I'll take that as a yes."

I sat down across from Yogen.

"You do have an ulterior motive, don't you?"

"Don't look so hostile, Boya-san. I won't tell anyone else how much you like Kazuraba-san."

"Answer my question."

"You didn't answer mine, so why should I answer yours? I thought you were good at reading between the lines. This should be easy for you to figure out."

"I already have. I just want to confirm it."

"Maybe I have an ulterior motive, maybe I don't. To tell you the truth, I think you're just cute. Is that so hard to believe? Probably. After all, you hate the idea of romance."

Yogen flashed one of her signature smiles at me again. That final line confirmed to me that she's got me figured out completely. Even though I tried my best not to expose myself to her, she's managed to figure me out from a few, limited interactions. It was terrifying.

I was way out of my league, trying to deal with someone like her. I should've just continued playing dumb so she couldn't manipulate the conversation in her favour. She's played me like a fool. All our interactions up until this point was to prime me into revealing my weakness to her.

That was what she wanted this entire time. A way to crush me.

"What do you gain from defeating me?"

"Ara ara... you seemed to have figured it out. Very impressive, Boya-san."

"Drop the cutesy act and answer me. Why target me? I'm nothing special."

"Now why would I reveal that so easily? We're in opposing classes. If I told you why, that'd be the same as giving information away to you for free."

Unfortunately, Yogen was right. She wouldn't carelessly say anything, as she knew I would hyper-analyse them to find their true meaning. That's why every word she said was tightly controlled and kept extremely vague.

"I'll say this much though. Stop pretending to be someone you aren't. I'm getting tired of referring to you as Boya-san. I'd love to call you by your real name."

Or maybe... from the very beginning, she knew.

"Don't look so down, Boya-san. Even if we're enemies, it's better this way, right? You know I won't carelessly tell anyone else about this."

Except A Class, maybe. The only way she can make use of this information is if I go through with overtaking Matsushita and Sakigamiya as leaders. If I become the leader, A Class will know how to stop me dead in my tracks. All they'd have to do is target Yukina repeatedly. I couldn't let them put her through that kind of stress.

Essentially, Yogen was forcing me into two positions.

I can either become the leader of E Class, but I need to stop caring about Yukina in order to get rid of this weakness. Or, I can give up on being the leader of E Class, so they can't use this weakness against me. Both of these would make me lose something.

Damn it... I need to somehow get rid of Yogen before she can tell anybody about this. If I can get rid of her, I can continue moving forward without losing anything. Should I try to make her my ally? Should I try to get her expelled? What should I do...?

"You're thinking so hard about this... shouldn't there be something more important on your mind?"

"Like what?"

"The current rumour. You need to solve that before anything else."

As much as I hate to admit it, Yogen was right. I needed to deal with the rumour first and foremost. In fact, I might be able to make use of her here.

"Can you help me?"

"I'd love to help sweet little Boya-san clear his name! What can I do?"

I couldn't help but feel a tinge of malevolence in her words.

"Do you remember yesterday morning?"

"When that weird upperclassman got completely humiliated by Yami-kun? Of course. I texted all my friends about it."

"Well, I came to some sort of conclusion on who started this rumour."

"Ara? Please, do explain."

I didn't mind revealing this information to Yogen, as it wouldn't hurt me in any way.

"Before you butted in, me and Yukina were talking about who was the culprit behind the rumour."

"You suspected me? I'm kind of disappointed."

"You were the second name cleared... anyways, the remaining suspects are Matsushita-san, Hashimoto-senpai, and D Class."

"Hashimoto? Who the heck is he?"

"He was the guy that was harassing Shimizu-san yesterday."

"Oh, him. I completely forgot his name."

It seems Yogen nonchalantly dismissed Hashimoto from the moment she met him.

"From these three, I don't think Matsushita-san started it, since his conviction towards the rumour isn't very strong. Today in class, he went quiet after declaring I was a woman beater rather passionately."

Interestingly, he let Sakigamiya argue with Yukina one-on-one, even though it would be more effective if he also countered Yukina with his more rational responses. That was the dynamic he and Sakigamiya shared after all. Matsushita was more composed in his responses, while Sakigamiya was more emotional, never afraid to slide insults in her rebuttals, like she did with Rinbayashi.

These two coming together would make for a terrifying duo to face against and would easily destroy Yukina's argument. His absence until the very last minute came off to me as strange, especially since he only did it to protect their friendship from falling apart.

"If anything, Matsushita-san's going along with it and allowing it to happen to save his own self-image. Though, it's ironic, considering he told me he wanted to save anyone in trouble just yesterday, and proved it to me by jumping in to help Shimizu out."

Even though I was treated unfairly by him, I understood his thought process. Compared to Shimizu, I was unpopular and a loner, which puts "saving" me in a different light than it does "saving" her. Saving Shimizu would make him look like a hero, because she's a helpless and frail girl. Saving me would make him look insensitive.

This is because I was already hated within the class, so if he sided with me, he'd be betraying everyone else's feelings. Basically, he chose to stick with the majority to keep them happy so he wouldn't lose his standing in the class. In his position, he must've decided it was better to pin the blame on me since only one person falls, compared to sacrificing himself and possibly the rest of the class.

"Matsushita-san could've could've handled this situation much better though. Don't you think he could've put on a neutral stance and use his influence to slow down harassment towards you, making him look more rational and patient to find more about the situation?"

Yogen raised an excellent point. Considering he had to make a stance quickly, to choose jumping on the bandwagon implies he prioritises his own survival, as well as saving others. Ideally, it would work, but realistically, they fundamentally conflict each other.

Alternatively, he could've supported me by running with the narrative of scepticism, which is what Rinbayashi was trying to convey to the class. That way, it would make him look like an empathetic hero that cares for everyone, no matter what evil acts they've done.

It made me wonder which was the true Matsushita. The one that selfishly saved himself, or the one that selflessly tried to save Shimizu?

"That leaves D Class and Hashimoto-senpai. Considering Zyriot-san and Horie-san, the D Class reps, are in support of me, I don't think D Class as a whole was the root cause of this rumour."

Perhaps it was another class, but I don't see the benefit on doubling down on me, a nobody. If it were an E Class rep, that would be more understandable, but a loner like me was worthless to target, especially since I was already publicly embarrassed on video.

"It's more likely that D Class did play a role in this, but by complete accident. Rather than the class as a whole, it could've been one troublemaking group."

"The delinquents?"

"Bingo."

When Yoshimatsu posted that video, he opened up Pandora's box and gave someone the power to start this rumour unintentionally.

"Considering Yoshimatsu-san's from the delinquent group, it's easy to narrow down the suspects to them."

"Exactly. However, since most them aren't smart enough to pull off something as elaborate as this, we can eliminate all of them except one. Shigeru Zenkichi, the brains behind the delinquents."

Shigeru's story is a strange one, as it's been circulated all over school. Basically, he was a loner that applied to the student council, got rejected, and then suddenly became part of the delinquent group despite his intelligence.

"It wouldn't be a stretch to say that Shigeru took inspiration from his own experience to spin a story and make it spread like wildfire. Being smarter than his peers, he's more than capable of pulling off such a stunt if he actually tried. But there was one glaring issue - his motivation for doing something like this. Me and Shigeru have never met before. The only thing we have in common was being a loner."

"How can call yourself a loner when you're talking a bijin like me?" Yogen winked at me.

"We're not friends..."

"Do you want to be friends?"

I really think I'm going down with a fever or something. Even though it was an embarrassing line like that, my heart started beating fast again. It didn't make sense why I was acting this way towards someone as polarising as Yogen.

"Why would we be friends after all you've done..."

"Because I like you."

I looked away. Yogen really knew how to play with someone else's feelings. Aside from this, there were some merits in becoming friends with her. I might be able to convince her to not tell A Class about my weakness if I get closer to her. Alright, that settles it.

"Fine... we're friends. Happy now?"

"Super happy! Boya-san, I can't wait to message and call you every night!"

I'll block your number if you do...

"Anyways... before we got side tracked, I was about to say, unlike the other delinquents, Shigeru wasn't bad for the sake of being bad. He was relatively more tame than the others from what I observed."

When the delinquents were kicking me while I was defenceless, Shigeru was the only one who didn't join in. Worst thing he did was play devil's advocate to Zyriot, but being countered by him made Shigeru back-off.

"That's why, I don't think he's the cause of this. However, I do believe he might have suggested joining in to make D Class look less bad. After all, D Class is the most united class from our year group. They have each other's backs no matter what. It's very possible that Zyriot-san's on serious damage control mode and the delinquents were trying to do whatever they could to give him an easier time."

"I agree with you. D Class's quite a scary class, but they'll always support Zyriot-san first and foremost."

I was starting to have my doubts about D Class's unity though. Terasaka's actions earlier today made me think he might have been an exception to the rule.

"That leaves Hashimoto-senpai. My prime suspect and the person who I think started this rumour."

"I wouldn't be surprised if that creep did try to end your career. The way you talked to him was nasty. I had no idea you had such a foul mouth." Yogen giggled.

"It was just an act to get him to back off."

"Sure, sure~"

I really didn't like her dismissive tone. Regardless, I continued on explaining.

"There's a lot of suspicious circumstances that point to his involvement. Unlike everyone else, Hashimoto-senpai has a solid reason to try and ruin me. I was the one who aggressively insulted him to try and save Shimizu-san. Not to mention, if I wasn't there, you and Yamamoto-san wouldn't have gotten involved."

In that confrontation, Matsushita lied about the closeness about me, him and Shimizu to give her a chance to escape. It's likely that Hashimoto took it as truth and chose Shimizu as my "victim" in order to make me look even worse.

It'd be lashing out against a friend, but luckily (or unluckily), my year is well aware of my loner status, which meant the woman beater narrative took the forefront.

"The video of me getting beat up in D Class wasn't exclusively shared within the 1st Years too. Despite Hashimoto-senpai being a 3rd Year, he must have also seen it and found it as the perfect chance to ruin me as revenge."

Furthermore, Hashimoto also entered our class with Terasaka, who was waiting outside for Yamaguchi's signal. It was weird that he was present, as Yamaguchi only called for Terasaka. At the very least, he must've been involved with those two.

It's clear to me that Yamaguchi's attack was pre-meditated, which meant someone had to be behind it. Since Yamaguchi and Terasaka were both meatheads that relied on their brute strength to scare others, it was likely that Hashimoto was the one who orchestrated this.

"One thing about Hashimoto-senpai stuck out to me in particular. He told us he was a former A Class student. In his words, he implied that he climbed his way to the top, rather than start out in A Class. Considering how difficult that is, he must have some impressive talents at least."

Then that begged the question of why he ended up being sent to E Class.

It's an off-tangential thought, but after finding out about the sheer amount of E Class students in the 3rd Year from Kaido, it made me wonder how 72 students ended up there. It seemed absurd that one year could have such a disproportionately amount of failures compared to successes, considering three students of the Royalty were 3rd Years themselves.

"That guy used to be in A Class? This school really does have a messed up system."

As if challenging me to overanalyse her words, Yogen kept her statement vague so there would be multiple interpretations or meanings. However, she also provided an interesting observation that I'd already noticed long ago.

The method the school used to distribute it's students in each class wasn't exact or truthful.

"Do you have any idea on how this school works?"

"My guess is as good as yours. I might be in A Class, but we're not given any special treatment regarding the rules of the school or anything."

I was hoping Yogen would know more, but she was only a student. I guess that's wishful thinking on my part. If you wanted answers at this school, you'd need to ascend even higher than A Class it seems.

"Yeah, I guess so. However, since you're in A Class, you can do something I can't."

"And what's that?"

"You can buy the surveillance footage of that day."

The corners of Yogen's lips curled up, and she broke out into a laugh.

"Boya-san... you're a genius."

Catching onto my plan, Yogen wiped the tears out of the corner of her eyes.

"It's almost like the solution was hanging in front of us this entire time. When did you come up with this?"

"Since this morning. I want you to buy the footage and post it on the school app."

This plan could only work because of two factors. Firstly, there was the surveillance camera. It was hanging over us when the incident occurred in the hallway, so it must have captured the incident. If everyone sees this irrefutable evidence of what really happened that day, it would clear my name and expose Hashimoto as the real abuser and Matsushita as a liar.

Secondly, there was Yogen herself. Even though she was a nuisance, she was extremely popular with other people. Her contact list was massive. Not to mention, she was a master manipulator that held large influence over others. So if she posted the footage, more people would watch it, and most importantly, believe her. If I posted the footage, issues would arise due to my unpopularity in school. It would either gain no traction, or no one would believe me because of my current reputation.

However, the biggest reason why I needed her over anyone else was her status as an A Class student. The biggest hurdle for me was the cost of the surveillance footage. I didn't have enough points to purchase it, but I know Yogen does. Being in A Class means she could easily purchase it with the points she received monthly.

Simply put, Yogen was perfect for the job. She had the perfect alibi and tools necessary to do this plan.

"I only have 149,853 points, so I'll have to ask Hiden-sensei about the price."

I'm surprised she hasn't spent that many points. A Class has received 195,000 private points so far in total, which means she's used about about 45,000 points, give or take.

"If it's not enough, I'll make up the difference with my own points. I wouldn't want you going broke over this."

Even though I was saving up for something else, I could afford to pitch in if it meant saving my reputation at this school.

"How many points do you have?"

"99,690. I can spare 20,000 or so."

Anymore than that and I'd be breaking-even or losing points from Zyriot's investment.

"Hmm, I see. I'll call you when I know what the price is. We can negotiate from there."

"Sure. Can you have it out by tomorrow?"

"Yep, that shouldn't be a problem at all. Plus, A Class has a war with the 3rd Year E Class tomorrow, so I'll get Yami-kun to confront Creepymoto about it."

"Good idea. If you get Yamamoto-san to threaten him again, maybe he'll finally stop being a prat."

"And if Yami-kun isn't enough, I'll get Ryouta-kun and Masamoto-kun involved."

The A Class leader and a student council member, huh? Yogen knew some really powerful people.

"You don't have to go so far, this much is fine."

"The more I go all out, the more you'll have to pay back later. Think of it as me investing now for later, okay?"

Yogen was both sweet as an angel and dangerous as a devil at the same time. There was no way I'd let her use this against me in the future though.

"Sure. Thanks for today, I guess."

"You're still feeling bitter about Kazuraba-san, huh? Didn't spending time with me cheer you up?"

"Not really."

"If it makes you feel better, I'll apologise to her."

"Knowing you, it wouldn't even be sincere."

"You'll never know until you find out."

I could tell from a glance that she had no remorse about what happened. If anything, it was her intention to upset her from the very beginning. It was pointless to lament on it, so I moved on with one last question that I've been wanting to ask her for awhile now.

"By the way. Is it alright if I give your phone number to somebody else?"

"Ara, I have a fan?"

"Sort of."

I was technically telling the truth. Yogen's face turned smug.

"Who is it then?"

"Just a classmate."

"Oh? Are you using me as a bargaining chip perhaps?"

I think she's already figured out who I was going to give her number to.

"Well..."

Before I could answer, Yogen leaned in, whispering into my ear again seductively.

"Wouldn't you prefer to feel special by being the only E Class student to have my number?"

In the first place, I didn't even know I was the only person in E Class to have her number.

"Not really."

"Ah, you can be so incredibly cold, Boya-san~"

Yogen smiled, sitting back down.

"Fine. Only because Boya-san asked me first. How gentlemanly of you."

"Thanks..."

At least I got her confirmation. That way, she can't complain later when that person starts to bombard her with unsolicited calls and creepy messages.

"Well, it's time we end it here. Thanks for the fun lunch time!"

"Yeah. Contact me once you put our plan into action."

"I was going to message and call you tonight regardless."

"Hey..."

With a giggle, Yogen left the table. She was such a troublesome person to deal with. I picked up my tray and left the canteen.

In the end, I had no choice but to leave everything in her hands. I don't have much faith I have in her, but it's better to be burned now, rather than later. Though, I don't know if my judgment of Hashimoto was completely right. If he really is behind this insufferable rumour, then I have to praise his effort. Spreading a rumour this fast and effectively is honestly impressive.

It requires actual skill to destroy someone this thoroughly, such as networking, understanding human psychology, and finding the perfect opportunity. Considering what he had at his disposal, it was even more remarkable that he could manipulate the entire school on such short notice. This was clearly the skills of an A Class student. Not an E Class student.

Or perhaps, I'm giving this idiot too much credit.