Since the creation of exams was put on hold due to Matsushita and Sakigamiya needing to discuss A Class's offer, I decided to use my spare time to continue digging for answers about Minanohara.

My main priority was to find someone who could give me the full details of what happened at Minanohara. In order to do that, I needed to widen my search and ask lots of different people which middle school they attended.

In order to make the process more efficient, I decided it was best to ask as many people as possible all at once. That's why I went to pay the safe room a visit, since lots of students congregated there in order to chill out.

However, upon entering the safe room, I was greeted by a violent scene.

"It's all your fault... it's all your class's fault!"

"K-Kawaguchi-san... let go of me!"

It was Kawaguchi rattling Imaishi by the neck like a toy chicken, with Shimizu trying to stop him.

It was my first time seeing Kawaguchi in the safe room before. I've seen Imaishi and Shimizu, but not him.

Did he get an invite recently? If so, this was a bad first impression.

"H-help! P-please help! Kawaguchi-san is hurting Reo-san!"

Shimizu's cries were left unanswered as everyone in the room didn't want to get involved.

As the safe room was a collection of weaker students, no one wanted to get involved since they were afraid Kawaguchi would lash out at them next.

I looked around to see if any figures of authority were present, like Hina or Tokihara, but it seemed neither of them were here. If I had to guess, both of them were busy with Royalty and library work respectively, and thus couldn't come.

However, even if someone tried to intervene, I doubt Kawaguchi would notice. Right now, Kawaguchi's bloodshot eyes were completely focused on Imaishi, or more specifically... Imaishi's Zoa Green tie.

It was completely different to how he acted in class. During class, Kawaguchi looked like a lifeless zombie, but right now, he looked like an insane lunatic. He shook Imaishi roughly again, spitting in his face as he roared at him.

"D Class is the worst! Your stupid class has taken everything away from me!"

"I-I don't even know what I've done to you man! I-I didn't do anything wrong, I swear!"

Imaishi begged for Kawaguchi to stop, but with every word he spoke, the angrier Kawaguchi became.

"You're friends with that bastard Shigeru! Don't lie to me, I've seen you hanging out with him! I won't forgive him or his buddies! That guy ruined my life! He couldn't keep his dirty rat mouth shut, and now my secret's exposed for the world to know!"

Kawaguchi screamed, venting out his pent up frustration. It was clear that his misguided anger was directed at Shigeru, and not at Imaishi.

"Do you know how ashamed my parents are of me...? They told me they don't want me coming home! They said they never want to see me again! They want me to die on the street because I was a delinquent!"

Clamping down harder on Imaishi, the veins on Kawaguchi's hands bulged out.

"And if that's not bad enough... they won't even let me see my sister anymore either! My sister, who's dying! She's dying, damn it!"

Unfortunately, due to official wars being publicly broadcasted, people outside the school was able to watch the E Class vs D Class war. That included the lengthy section where Shigeru exposed Kawaguchi.

That also meant Kawaguchi's parents probably saw it and had to learn of the truth that way. It was ugly and messy, with Kawaguchi having no say in the matter of whether or not he was ready to tell them his secret.

However, probably due to how shocking it was to hear that their son was an arsonist, his parents practically disowned him, either out of fear or disgust, and banned him from ever seeing his sister again.

That must have been the most painful thing Kawaguchi's ever experienced.

He set fire to the school to get money for his sister's sake.

And now he'll never be able to see her again.

"I'm sorry... I'm sorry you had to go through that... but please... I can't breathe..."

Imaishi begged and begged for Kawaguchi to let go, but he wasn't giving up.

"You can feel the same suffocation I've felt for the past week then, damn it!"

He was pushed to his limits and wanted to go to the safe room to forget about everything. However, he likely snapped seeing Imaishi in the same room.

Due to D Class's tight-knit unity, Kawaguchi must've assumed that Imaishi was friends with Shigeru, who he hated more than anyone else. Viewing Imaishi guilty by association, he acted upon his animalistic instincts, and this is where it led him.

It probably didn't help that this morning, he got in a fight with Ayano and hurt Tadokoro in front of the whole class. This anger must have been building up for quite some time, and unfortunately, chose to explode in the worst way possible.

"And if that wasn't enough, your class even took away my best friends...! Give me back Aki! Give me back Akari-san! Give them back to me! Give me back my friends! I just want to play Vanguard with them again, damn it...!"

Kawaguchi had also been isolated because of the war. His two closest friends in E Class, Akihiro and Akari, both moved up to D Class due to their performance in the war. However, he was the only one to get left behind, because of his past.

I hadn't realised how many different inner turmoils he was struggling with right now. Not only did he have to deal with his hatred for Shigeru and the bullies mocking him for being an arsonist, but he also had to deal with the loss of his friends and family.

"K-Kawaguchi-san, stop!"

Shimizu's weak cries were no use. Kawaguchi ignored her completely, not even batting an eye at her.

"H-help..."

Imaishi's breathing became wheezy as Kawaguchi dug his palms even deeper into his neck.

"No one's going to help you... because it's all your class's fault!"

After getting over the initial shock of seeing Kawaguchi act so brutally towards another student, I decided to intervene before he would do something he would really regret.

As he was on the cusp of suffocating Imaishi, I stepped forward, reaching out towards Kawaguchi's arm. However, once I was within his presence, his head snapped robotically at me.

A confused look morphed on his deranged face.

"Takanori-san...?"

"Kawaguchi-san, let go of Imaishi-san. You're hurting him."

"...I, I..."

"You don't have to say anything. Just let go."

"...I refuse to listen to a hypocrite like you!"

The confusion vanished as Kawaguchi steeled himself. He clamped onto Imaishi's throat harder than before and shook him violently. Screams of horror began to emerge from the other students in the safe room, and some even ran out altogether.

Shimizu dropped to her knees, covering her eyes as she screamed for Kawaguchi to stop hurting her friend. At this point, I couldn't tell if Imaishi was still conscious or not, as he was being thrown around like a rag doll by Kawaguchi.

However, just then, the door of the safe room rattled open.

The sound of a gacha roll echoed in the room unceremoniously.

"Ah... I got a 6 star. Nice."

Kamo, with his eyes glued on his phone, wandered into the safe room without even taking a look at his surroundings.

"K-Kamo-senpai! S-stop Kawaguchi-san!"

Just as he was about to pull up a seat and continue grinding, Shimizu quickly called for his name, making him look up from his phone for the first time.

And when Kamo's eyes met with Kawaguchi's, shivers ran down my spine.

Kamo calmly put down his phone and approached Kawaguchi without saying a word. His large and imposing presence forced Kawaguchi to look at him.

"What... what the hell do you want?!"

Kawaguchi, feeling threatened by Kamo, staggered backwards.

"Let go of Imaishi-san."

"No... no, I won't!"

"Okay."

Without giving Kawaguchi a second to take it back or regret his decision, Kamo snuck around him like a ghost, and ripped Kawaguchi away from Imaishi with one heaving pull.

"H-huh?!"

Kawaguchi, surprised by Kamo's almost superhuman strength, cried out as he was restrained by the 2nd Year.

"K-Kamo-senpai... t-thank you..."

Imaishi dropped to the floor, coughing and spluttering. Shimizu rushed to get him some water.

"You have two choices. Calm down or leave. Which one would you like?"

Kawaguchi squeezed his eyes shut and gritted his teeth in pain. Growling, he spat out his answer with a snarl.

"Leave! I want to leave this hellhole!"

Upon hearing Kawaguchi insult the safe room, one of the students, Suna Yuki from C Class, bravely called him out.

"Don't... don't call this place a hellhole...! Hina-sama worked hard on it... she worked really hard to make sure everyone could feel safe at this school!"

Soon, more students began to rally together behind Suna, banding together to kick out Kawaguchi.

"D-don't take her hard work for granted!"

"T-this isn't a hellhole! This is our paradise!"

"You... you don't deserve an invite!"

"They should ban you from coming here ever again!"

"Hina-sama showed you kindness... and this is how you act?!"

"You should be ashamed of yourself...!"

"Kick him out! Kick him out!"

It was clear everyone felt uncomfortable and threatened by Kawaguchi. Kamo carried Kawaguchi to the entrance and put him down.

"Please leave."

"So much for a safe room... I didn't feel safe in there... not one bit..."

Kawaguchi shook his head, returning back to his depressed self. He silently left the safe room without a commotion, making everyone else breathe a sigh of relief.

"Thank you Kamo-senpai... seriously!"

"Please, I don't deserve your kind words. I wasn't late in coming here, then I could've stopped him sooner."

Imaishi, Shimizu, Suna, and the others, all began to praise and thank Kamo for helping out when no one else could. Meanwhile, I quietly left the safe room to go after Kawaguchi.

Against my better judgment, I wanted to see if he was okay. He couldn't have gone far, so I followed the path I think he was most likely take. If my hunch is correct, then I think he's going to D Class.

As I walked downstairs to reach the 1st floor, I saw Kawaguchi heading in the same direction. I followed him, making my presence known, but I didn't say anything.

Kawaguchi must've seen me, since he paused to glance over his shoulder. However, he decided to ignore me and continued to walk.

After awhile, we reached the 1st floor.

Kawaguchi hesitated for a moment, but marched towards D Class, like I had guessed.

Before he could reach their class, I called out to him.

"Kawaguchi-san."

"...don't bother stopping me."

"Do you want to play Vanguard?"

Kawaguchi stopped. He turned around and looked at me with a dumbfounded expression.

"...huh?"

I took out my deck.

"Do you want to play Vanguard?"

If Kawaguchi refused this, then I'd know that he was too far gone. However, I hoped that this part of Kawaguchi, the part that loved Vanguard more than anything else, still remained intact deep inside.

"...why? Why me? Go play with Kazuraba-san... or Katsumi-san... or anyone other than me..."

"I want to have a serious Vanguard fight. Those guys aren't good enough."

"And you think I am...?"

"I know you are. I've seen you transform into one of the most formidable Vanguard fighters I know with my own eyes."

Kawaguchi was someone who'd put everything on the line if his life depended on it. He was the type to unload everything at once, using speed to overwhelm his opponents, rather than brute strength. His glass cannon approach even resembled his personality.

In the end, Kawaguchi's reckless play-style was a reflection of his reckless nature as a delinquent. His way of fighting perfectly encapsulated who he was as a person. I realise that now.

"...okay."

Kawaguchi took out his deck.

"Let's fight... Takanori-san."