Ayanokōji's POV
On the final night of the first years' luxury cruise, which marked the end of the two-week summer vacation, a lone girl stood in the dark, her hair swept up by the wind as she leaned across the rail of the ship.
Since she was at the bow of the ship, there was naturally the primary ship interior behind her, and the two paths that ran on each side of this were the only escape routes.
The time was far past waking hours, which meant that even the ship's crew was absent - this girl was the only soul around.
From my vantage point, concealed around the wall on the right-hand side corridor, I had a clear view of the scene before me.
For a while, it seemed that things would remain like this for the rest of eternity.
But then, as expected, a small group appeared from the opposite side corridor, and destroyed the tranquil atmosphere in an instant.
"Oi!! Karuizawa."
Manabe's enraged voice split the silence immediately.
Under the dimly lit night-lighting of Speranza, it was difficult to make out the expression on Karuizawa's face as she slowly turned around.
There was, however, no mistaking the unease that made itself evident in her body language.
"Ma......na......be...?"
An uncertain voice called out to the three silhouettes that confronted Karuizawa.
"Someone go over there,"
At Manabe's command, another girl who was named Yamashita darted over to the corridor that I was hiding behind, cutting off Karuizawa's only other exit.
"W-what are you...... doing.......?" Karuizawa mumbled apprehensively.
"Don't you get it? Bitch?"
Cruelty lacing her tone, Manabe spat such words at Karuizawa, after ensuring she had no way out.
I'm sure that, despite everything, Karuizawa still felt a wave of fear wash over her just then. Most people would've.
Leaving her other friend to stay by the exit, Manabe stormed towards Karuizawa with visible anger welling up on her face.
"Wait, Manabe-san!"
Karuizawa exclaimed loudly, but her plea fell on deaf ears; a disorienting slap pierced my ears as Manabe's palm struck Karuizawa across the cheek.
Karuizawa stumbled backwards, and grabbed on to the rail for support.
"I bet you think you're so good, don't you?"
Stepping into her, Manabe punched Karuizawa, once again hitting her on the same cheek as before.
Karuizawa let go of the rail and fell to the ground. Contrary to what you'd expect, no cries came from her. There was just one definitive expression on her face right now.
She got up once more, and acting just like you'd anticipate, Manabe approached her again, and reached out to grasp a fistful of Karuizawa's hair.
However, her hand never got there.
And that was because Karuizawa had stopped it with a hand of her own.
Manabe hadn't been expecting any resistance, and so her attempt to grab Karuizawa's hair was slow. As a result, even someone like Shiro could've stopped it.
Letting out a yelp of surprise, Manabe stumbled forwards as her wrist was yanked by Karuizawa.
"Who does Karuizawa think she is? Beat her up, Shiho-chan!"
It looked as if Karuizawa was about to retaliate with a punch of her own, but a sense of hesitance seemed to betray her intentions.
Although anybody was capable of being cruel, unless a situation was specifically geared toward bringing cruelty out, it was hard for somebody to go against their core nature to do so.
Karuizawa Kei - you are not somebody who can easily hurt others, as seen just now.
However, I'm going to need you to let go of those reservations.
Taking advantage of the moment of hesitation, Manabe ripped her arm free and used it to deliver a harsh backhand to Karuizawa's opposite cheek.
"Yes!! Go on!"
"Slap the bitch!"
Manabe's friends cheered happily, making it obvious that they were deriving gratification from seeing Karuizawa suffer.
Right now, though, all you'll accomplish from that is fuelling a fire.
Karuizawa forcefully planted her hands against Manabe's shoulders, and using the full power of her body weight, shoved her away.
She didn't intend to merely gain space, though; Karuizawa pursued Manabe promptly, and before she could regain stability against the ground, Karuizawa grabbed a handful of her hair and, this time without second thought, pulled it hard.
"Ouch!!! You fucking bitch!"
Manabe screamed curses at Karuizawa as she was dragged roughly to the floor.
"Oi, who does Karuizawa think she is?!"
"Let's teach her a lesson!"
Manabe's two friends, who had been assigned the job of blocking Karuizawa's escape routes, immediately forgot their roles and rushed toward the fight in a surge of anger.
Everything so far has gone exactly as I planned.
Everything from the set-up to this confrontation to the precise direction of the conflict happened just as I'd orchestrated.
I calmly took out my mobile phone, and opened up the camera app, pointing the lens towards the scene before me. It was somewhat reminiscent of my first confrontation with Kushida.
In just a moment, Manabe's two allies will be upon Karuizawa, and in their rage, will deliver a severe retribution to her for hurting their friend.
After being saved by her friends, it is inevitable that Manabe will look to seek revenge on Karuizawa for hurting and humiliating her. She will join in the assault.
If I start recording at the right time, the video will depict one clear story; that Karuizawa Kei was viciously and one-sidedly attacked by three Class C girls.
On top of this recorded evidence, there are also witness accounts from her group in the Zodiac exam which can support the fact that Karuizawa had been harassed by these girls already.
With all of that stacked against him, if I were to use this for blackmail purposes, Ryūen would be facing a severe loss of class points, and the potential expulsion of three classmates if he did not bend to my will.
Yamashita grasped the back of Karuizawa's clothes, and roughly yanked her away from Manabe.
Manabe's other friend, Yabu Nanami, moved behind her, and used both of her hands to restrict one of Karuizawa's.
Yamashita, likewise, did the same on the other side.
"Come on, Shiho-san. She deserves it."
Encouraged by her friends and enraged by Karuizawa's retaliation, Manabe picked herself back up and gave Karuizawa a terrifying glare.
It is clear that, in this moment, faced with such a situation, Karuizawa may come to regret her choice, and want out.
However, this plan will not succeed unless I obtain clear footage of a one-sided beatdown.
Karuizawa, who has already been locked down by two people, can offer no resistance and has nothing to do now but endure it, so that it looks as convincing as possible.
As Manabe fiercely approached Karuizawa, I gave her my silent apologies in my head, and shifted to get a well-lit and stable recording of what was about to unfold.
△▼△▼△▼△
Kushida's POV
"I think I'd rather the bastard have just exposed me to everyone than make me do this shit..."
Shivering in the cold wind, I muttered inaudible curses under my breath, directed to a particular student that didn't have to be named.
Here in the middle of the night, I was stood out on the deck of the ship.
Behind me, there were two corridors, which led to the very bow of the ship, that I was tasked with guarding.
In one of them, Ayanokōji-kun was secretly recording Karuizawa-san's fight with those three annoying, ugly Class C girls.
Along with assisting in the setup to this, I was also instructed to stand out here and make sure that nobody else was able to see or hear what was going on.
If I hadn't had it explained to me, I wouldn't have understood exactly why my role was necessary - it's not like anyone will coincidentally be out here this late out night.
However, Ayanokōji-kun had already foreseen things that I would never have considered, and had decided that this was a necessary precaution. I found myself exceedingly unnerved by his mind.
One thing was made clear; even among the amazing Class D students, Ayanokōji-kun in particular was a student you didn't want as your enemy.
After an indeterminate amount of time, which I spent doing nothing but shivering and staring into space, multiple pairs of footsteps began to ring in my ear, and I was snapped back to reality.
Four silhouettes approached this area. Before they'd even stepped into the light, it was obvious who it would be to anyone who'd heard Ayanokōji-kun's plan.
Ryūen.
What wasn't certain was who would be with him. It had been approximated by Ayanokōji-kun that there would be 'two to four Class C students in total' arriving here, Ryūen included, which seems to have been accurate.
Accompanying Ryūen were Albert, Ishizaki-kun and Ibuki-san.
Ryūen, and the rest of his gang, stopped as his snake-like eyes met mine. Nobody did anything for a few moments, until he finally decided to speak.
"Kikyō? Well, this is certainly surprising. Of all people, I never expected you to be here."
He made it sound like he had expected to meet somebody at this location. Just not me.
"Are you, by any chance, here on X's orders? Or could it be someone else?"
What the hell was he talking about now?
"Hm? X? What do you mean, Ryūen-kun?"
Making myself ignore the fact that he'd called me by my first name, I adopted my facade and replied in query.
"Oh, X is just my name for the person hiding in anonymity, who has been secretly leading Class E from the shadows."
"A puppeteer? I don't think there's anybody like that in our class, though."
I pretended that I knew nothing about it.
Ayanokōji-kun had told me about his suspicions regarding a secret leader within Class E, and had even speculated their identity to be Kōenji-kun.
Looking back at our class' history in this school so far, it was clear that there was somebody acting behind the scenes.
First, the idea to have the entire class score zero points on our first midterm exam, making use of the fact that we knew the passing grade was determined by the class average from the pop quiz test early in the year.
It was proposed by Hirata-kun, which didn't garner much suspicion from anybody at first. However, when you really think about it, a certain question inevitably pops up:
The ability to recall information about the grading subtly supplied to us in the disguised form of a mock exam, and then notice that it can be used to formulate a strategy as unorthodox as the one in question.
Was that ability really something that Hirata-kun possessed?
Sure, Hirata-kun was popular, and good at his studies. However, it seemed out of character for him to come up with something like this.
And then in the island exam we'd recently undergone - it was once again Hirata-kun who had submitted Class E's answers for the identities of the other class' leaders, and who had explained the leader-changing strategy that was employed to the rest of the class.
From these facts, even an outsider like Ryūen could come to the correct assessment; somebody, X, was using Hirata-kun as cover to operate from behind the scenes.
However, you were wrong, Ryūen. The man who ordered me to be here tonight was not X.
"Playing dumb, are we? That's fine. I'll uncover everything soon on my own anyway," Ryūen smirked arrogantly.
This guy gave me a strong urge to just punch him in the face, but knowing that it'd end badly for me, I stopped myself.
"So, what are you doing out here, Ryūen-kun?"
Ryūen didn't immediately respond, merely giving me a look that seemed to ask, 'Do you really think you can feign ignorance?'
Ryūen-kun, without hesitating, then started moving, intending to walk straight past me without paying me any further mind.
But I stopped him by extending an arm straight out, in front of his path. Although he could've easily overpowered me, him and his goons paused their advance, and looked at me with intent in their eyes.
"Something private is happening over there, so I can't let you go."
"Sorry, Kikyō, but I think you've misunderstood. I'm not asking if I can go past."
Ryūen-kun stared at me with aggressive eyes, and although I felt goosebumps rise on my skin, my arm did not move out of his way.
Upon noticing this, Ryūen let out a genuine laugh.
"Kukuku, now this is interesting. Where might you have gotten all this confidence from, I wonder? Even in the face of all of us?"
"I am simply acting for the sake of my friends," I answered.
Ryūen sneered at me, as if discarding such an idea.
"Your presence here has proved it. That Sora has set up something after witnessing that little squabble, even though I'd told him to stay away. Class C's future at this school could hinge on what's happening back there right now. I won't let anyone stop me from ensuring my safety personally - Sora might think he's being clever by enlisting the help of such a cute and helpless girl like yourself, but he clearly doesn't know me."
Ryūen shot me a menacing glance before speaking his next words.
"I'll only warn you once, Kikyō. I have no qualms with using force, even on someone like you. So, I'll give you one chance to step aside."
My body trembled a little, and my mind was full of doubts, but in the end, I still did not move.
Ryūen appeared to be surprised, but quickly went back to his cocky expression and shrugged his shoulders.
"You brought this on yourself."
He reached his arm out to grab my collar.
However, as soon as he did, an almost instantaneous movement joined the scene.
A blur shot out from the corridor behind me, which Ayanokōji-kun occupied, and arrived beside me before I could even register it.
Upon realising that contact with Ryūen's hand never came, my brain kicked into gear and finally caught up with what had happened.
The hand which had reached for me had been stopped before it could touch by another hand; the hand of the figure which had emerged from the path behind me.
Ryūen's face was shocked for a moment, but it returned normalcy soon enough, and he looked up and down the person restraining him with amusement in his eyes.
"Kururugi, eh?"
"My help was requested by a friend. I couldn't have refused."
"Yeah, well, who else could you have expected that coward Sora to turn to?"
Ryūen seemed to have anticipated quite a bit of this situation ahead of time, as far as imagining that a setup would occur using the fight between Karuizawa-san and Manabe-san as the trigger for a move which encompassed the bigger picture.
However, he still mistakenly believed that Sora-kun was the one behind it, presumably due to whatever encounter he had referred to which involved him.
In all fairness, though, it would be impossible for anybody to deduce with the information that Ryūen had that Ayanokōji-kun was involved.
"Is Sora the coward here? Or is it the three girls from your class, who on top of ganging up on one person, also have you and your lackeys fighting for them as well?"
Kururugi returned Ryūen's look with a hardened glare, his emerald green eyes coldly piercing like spears.
They looked nothing like the warm, friendly eyes that I'd met back on the bus right at the start of the school year.
"Well, would you look at this. On top of some frankly monstrous fighting ability, Kururugi also has a rather scary side to him. Quite a bit different to his usual, friendly, and caring demeanour, wouldn't you agree, Ibuki?"
"Huh? Why are you asking me? Who cares?"
"I just find it interesting, is all. Only somebody who's often been in the middle of shit can be so good-hearted, and yet flip to being so ferocious when they need to."
If that were true, it would be admirable that Kururugi-kun is still able to maintain a kind interior, right?
"Like Kushida said, you can't pass this point, Ryūen," Kururugi-kun spoke, ignoring Ryūen's ramblings.
"And, like I said, I wasn't asking to pass through."
Kururugi-kun and Ryūen stared at one another silently for a few moments.
Noticing the tension in the air, I took a few step backs to give Kururugi-kun some space.
"I won't repeat myself. Move."
Kururugi did not budge before such a command.
Just as it seemed like Ryūen was about to move, a scream rang through the night air, coming from the bow of the ship.
Everybody here froze, and we all looked at each other silently. Then, Ryūen cracked a manic grin.
"Kuku, looks like there's already another fight going on, eh?"
Nobody responded, and Kururugi simply adjusted the grip he had on Ryūen's wrist.
Ryūen let out a sigh.
"Albert. Ishizaki. Ibuki. Can you get this idiot off me already? It's starting to annoy me."
It had appeared that the situation was going to develop like this, but this all but confirmed it.
Ryūen ordered his lackeys to act.
The three of them moved forward past Ryūen, and made a swift grab for Kururugi's arms. Reacting in an instant, Kururugi-kun let go of his grip on Ryūen's wrist and jumped back, out of reach.
The five of them stood still again once more.
"You really aren't going to move out of the way, huh, Kururugi?"
"I have been given a job to do."
"Aren't you scared?"
"I've already fought you and Albert before."
"There's four of us now, you know? And, unfortunately for you, this situation is heavily leaned in my favour."
Ryūen lunged forward as Kururugi-kun opened his mouth to reply. I assumed he was trying to catch him off guard and end this quickly.
Kururugi, however, refused to go down that easily. He twisted his body to the side and took a step backwards, calmly evading Ryūen's attack.
I took some more space from the five of them, fearing that I'd get caught up in the middle of the action.
Ishizaki-kun, the disgusting dog looking eager to please his master, darted forward in pursuit of Kururugi-kun, and threw a wide punch out with his right arm.
While I didn't know much about fighting, I inferred from Kururugi's reaction that the strike was, to put it bluntly, crap.
Kururugi-kun merely raised a one-armed guard to catch the strike on his arm.
He then rotated his body in the direction of the momentum, and used his other arm to help give a little push to Ishizaki's shoulder, causing him to stumble far past where he'd intended to go and almost crash into the wall.
As that was done, Ryūen, Albert and Ibuki-san appeared upon him immediately.
Despite not having any room to breathe, Kururugi-kun's face was eerily calm and concentrated, almost as if this level of conflict meant nothing to him.
Ryūen and Ibuki moved around to either side of Kururugi, presumably intending to cut off any room for evasion, while Albert simply barrelled straight towards him with his massive weight.
It's safe to say that most people when faced with this situation would freeze up and get destroyed within an instant. But Kururugi-kun was not most people, apparently.
He dashed straight at Ibuki, who's face quickly turned to shock and panic. He had a look in his eye that said one thing: Ibuki-san was about to get crushed.
They didn't collide, however, because instead of attacking, Kururugi-kun jumped and flipped impossibly high up in the air, completely clearing Ibuki's head and landing into a roll on the other side of her.
A perfect fake of his real intention.
Ayanokōji-kun had explained that Kururugi-kun was incredibly strong, and that I would be totally safe with him acting as a guard, but what I was witnessing now was still hard to believe.
No, no high school student should be capable of pulling off stunts like that. It wasn't normal.
Fighting four other students at the same time, including a monster like Albert-
And winning.
The very idea of such a thing sounded ridiculous, and yet the boy in front of me was doing just that without so much as breaking a sweat.
"Tch, this is getting annoying. Why won't you fight back?!"
Ryūen-kun demanded an explanation for Kururugi-kun's insistent pacifism. In response, Kururugi gave him a simple answer.
"You are not strong enough to force my hand."
A gust of wind accompanied the silence that swept over the deck.
"Kuku..."
A small laugh reverbed off the vast space.
"You're quite cocky when you want to be, aren't you, Kururugi? Not strong enough to force your hand? You're saying you can beat me without even fighting back? Don't be so naïve,"
Ryūen's snake-like eyes glared at Kururugi-kun menacingly. They held a merciless ferocity that was surprising even for Ryūen.
"I'm going to make you hit me," he spoke. "Surround him!"
On Ryūen's command, all four of them moved to encircle Kururugi.
Ryūen himself was the first to attack. Once Kururugi-kun was sufficiently encaged by assailants, his fist shot out with incredible speed, which would've immediately knocked out any normal student.
Kururugi twisted his body just enough so that Ryūen's hand passed in front of him, barely grazing his shirt. It was such a perfect movement that it was almost eerie.
Following that came a kick from Ibuki, who was directly behind Kururugi, and a grab from Albert and Ishizaki.
Despite the intensity and number of the attacks, Kururugi-kun dodged them all without a hitch.
His body twisted and moved around the small amount of space his enclosure granted him. The onslaught of assault continued, but even after several minutes, Kururugi-kun hadn't been hit once.
And then, the attacks stopped. Everybody was out of breath.
The least athletic of the bunch, the disgusting Ishizaki Daichi, dropped to his knees, panting for air.
Albert, who had been continuously and quickly moving that huge body of his around, place his palms on his knees to support himself. He was similarly exhausted.
Ryūen and Ibuki-san weren't on the verge of collapse, but they were clearly tired, and needed to rest before they could continue.
Kururugi stood straight in the centre of them. 'Tired' wouldn't be an applicable word, but his breathing was noticeably heavier, and one or two beads of sweat dripped down his face.
I suppose anyone would be tired after that.
"There is no purpose in further fighting," said Kururugi-kun, a stern expression on his face.
"Don't give me that, I'm not done yet," Ryūen shot back with determined eyes.
After doing so, Ryūen motioned for Ibuki to come over to him. Reluctantly, the girl followed, and it appeared as though he gave her an order quietly.
"What?! I'm not doing that!" Ibuki-san exclaimed in alarm. "Do what you want, but leave me out of it."
"The future of our class could be riding on this, you know. Or, don't tell me you're okay with taking the title of bottom shitters and becoming Class E?"
Ibuki fell silent as she contemplated whatever it was that Ryūen's suggestion was.
Knowing him, it was probably some dirty, underhanded, despicable scheme.
"Are you sure it'll work?"
"Kuku, when will you learn to stop doubting me, Ibuki?"
"..."
"... Well?"
"Ugh, fine! It'd better work!"
After saying such, Ibuki did something completely unexpected. She looked over and made eye contact with me, who was standing some distance away.
"I'm sorry about this, Kushida. It's nothing personal."
I felt my muscles lock up, and a feeling of dread flooded my mind.
"W-w-what do you mean...?" I stammered, barely coherent.
I said such a thing, but I felt like I already knew exactly what was about to happen.
I willed my legs to up and run away, but they wouldn't move. A cold, numb feeling plastered itself to my skin, and as Ibuki walked over to me briskly, I was able to only watch with widened eyes.
"Hey! Ryūen! What do you think you're doing?!"
Kururugi angrily called out from some distance away, but I could no longer focus on his strong figure.
Ibuki was upon me, and my arms were restrained by her from behind.
My mind desperately wanted to resist, but my body didn't move.
I barely made out the voice of a man speaking through my terror.
"Do you want to know what the problem is with your type, Kururugi? Your biggest strength is your drive to protect people. However, that same drive is also your biggest downfall."
"Wanting to help others could never be a weakness!"
"It makes you predictable, and provides a vulnerability which can be exploited. The person you should truly fear is someone who's ruthlessly cold, and cares for no one and nothing."
Ryūen smirked as he turned and began approaching me.
"Well, a person like that doesn't exist, anyway."
Before I knew it, Ryūen was in front of me. He placed his fist softly against my abdomen, and looked down into my eyes.
"Ooh, look at this. Kushida has a rather terrifying look on her face, doesn't she? Who knew she could make this kind of face?" Ryūen remarked with glee.
Unknowingly, I must've let it slip in my moment of fear.
Fuck you, Ryūen.
At least, just from this, he shouldn't be able to do much damage. It isn't out of character for even the nicest of characters to look angry when placed in a situation like this.
"What are you doing?!"
"I'm hitting her. Obviously,"
Ryūen's fist drew backwards.
"N-no!" I braced myself for the pain that would come, and closed my eyes.
But it didn't come.
"Ack!"
I hesitantly opened my eyes, and then they widened when I saw what was in front of me.
Ryūen's fist, stopped in mid-air, and Kururugi-kun kneeling over between me and him, coughing and with a hand on his side.
Did he... jump in the way...?
"Would you look at that, Ibuki? We landed a hit!"
Ryūen's twisted smile grew even more. He was enjoying himself. I was suffering for this bastard's enjoyment.
Kururugi-kun picked himself up, and stood firmly between me and Ryūen, his arms outstretched to the sides.
"I won't let an innocent bystander get hurt because of this," Kururugi stated resolutely.
"You can't defend her forever." Ryūen argued.
"I just need to block your attacks. It's a battle of attrition, and my determination will come out on top,"
"You forget that I can still get Ishizaki and Albert involved. By yourself, all you had to do was dodge out of the way, but now you're defending Kikyō so bravely, if you dodge, she'll take the hit. You can't block them all; you'll need to use your own body to take the hits. Eventually, you'll take too much damage, and you'll collapse. That's how this will end."
Ryūen stared into Kururugi's eyes with a great intensity.
"And one more thing. My determination to win far surpasses your measly determination to protect. Remember that, Kururugi."
Ryūen stepped to the side quickly, and threw a roundhouse kick around Kururugi, obviously aiming for my side.
My eyes widened and I tensed up, but once again, the blow was intercepted. Kururugi moved and raised his own knee to meet the strike head on.
"Albert! Ishizaki! Get over here and help, now!"
Ryūen shouted orders as he took back his leg, a grin on his face, and tried once more to hit me.
Kururugi-kun eyes the approaching duo worriedly as he intercepted attack after attack from Ryūen.
However, even when the two arrived before him, Kururugi still hadn't raised a hand of his own.
Ryūen stopped attacking for a moment as Albert and Ishizaki stopped beside him.
"I win, Kururugi!" Ryūen sneered.
As before, Ryūen threw out a blow which was calmly blocked by the boy in front of me. However, this time, it was not so simple.
Ishizaki threw a fist towards my side, following up on Ryūen's punch, but it was extremely slow and sloppy, and so Kururugi easily blocked it as well.
Ryūen raised his hand and looked sharply at his two subordinates.
"Oi. What do you think you're doing?"
"It's just... Ryūen-san, it's not good to hit a girl, is it? I can't bring myself to do it seriously."
"It's not good to hit anyone, you idiot. If you're going to do so anyway, at least do it fairly."
In other words, if you're going to use violence, there's no point in making exceptions.
Honestly, this guy makes me sick.
"Fair? How is it fair for you, Ryūen, to strike a woman?" Kururugi argued.
"Kuku, have you been living under a rock or something, Kururugi? In recent years it's been all about women and men having equal rights. To be equal, means just that; equality. You don't get to pick and choose only the good bits of being a man and leave out the bad."
"Rights and duties are different things. It is not a 'right' to get hit, and having the same rights does not mean having the same duties. Men and women are different in a multitude of ways, and so their roles will naturally differ as well. When it comes to the duty of 'violence', it's clear that men should not initiate violence toward women."
A brief silence fell over everybody. Somehow, these two had devolved into an argument about sexism.
"Just shut up, Kururugi. Arguing about the morality of violence? Who cares? If you're going to preach, can't you go back to being like, 'Nobody should hit anyone!' If anything, all you're doing now is teaching people that violence is okay, as long as it's against a man. Is that what you meant?"
"Of course no-"
Kururugi tried to reply, but his voice was cut off by a sudden fist flying towards his face.
"Ishizaki! If you don't hit Kushida, I swear I'll hit you!" Ryūen shouted as his attack was deflected.
Once again, I felt my muscles lock up. I tried to break away, but Ibuki-san's arms held firm, and I couldn't move.
Ishizaki stared at me for a couple of seconds with hesitance in his eyes, before opening his mouth silently.
"..."
"..."
"I-I'm really sorry about this, Kushida-chan..."
Don't you call me that you disgusting-
Although not nearly as fine and powerful as Ryūen's, Ishizaki's hand flew through the air toward me. I flinched as I prepared to feel pain, but instead, a slap sound pierced my eardrums as Kururugi-kun slapped the hand away just inches from my face.
"Kuku, you went for her face?"
Ryūen let out a genuine laugh as he attempted to take advantage of the opening and kicked at me.
Unable to move to block the attack, Kururugi instead threw himself in front of the kick's path, and took a heavy blow to the abdomen.
He exhaled hard in pain, but was allowed no time to breathe, as Ishizaki threw a punch at me from his opposite side.
Kururugi made it just in time to tank the hit once again.
Another few rotations of attacks were made, and taken straight-on by the emerald-eyed boy. It was clear that his body was starting to drain, and the strikes were doing a number on his speed and focus.
T-The fuck is he doing?! He's clearly strong enough to have beaten them all up nine fucking hours ago, but instead he's just getting beat up!!
Slap!
Ryūen's hand left a red mark on Kururugi's cheek.
Ishizaki's fist sunk into his muscular arms, definitely leaving a bruise.
Ryūen's knee jammed into his solar plexus, causing him to keel over in pain.
He's actually going to lose. They're going to hit me eventually, aren't they?
I felt my body tremble in anxiety and fear.
"Please... no..."
Involuntarily, I let out such a desperate cry.
Counterproductively, it caused Kururugi-kun to freeze up for a moment, which the two bastards were quick to act upon.
Ryūen and Ishizaki both threw out an attack at the same time.
Being on nearly opposite sides of me, it would be impossible for both of them to be blocked.
As I resigned myself to my fate and tensed up, Kururugi appeared to realise what was happening.
"You would really try to hit Kushida so much, just to get to me? That's..."
He was inexplicably empowered by a sudden surge of energy, and moved fast, enough to intercept Ishizaki by grabbing his arm.
"It's despicable!"
Kururugi grabbed Ishizaki's collar with his other hand, and using his entire body's power, threw Ishizaki horizontally across me.
He collided with Ryūen before his attack could connect, knocking them both off-balance, and causing the two to fall to the floor.
That was fast!
I found my mind briefly relieved of its anxiety, my thoughts replaced by those of amazement.
Albert, who had been standing nearby presumably as a guard, immediately moved in to confront Kururugi.
However, the look in Kururugi-kun's eyes was different this time around.
Albert swung his gigantic arms, but they were stopped dead in their tracks by Kururugi's palm. The loud slapping sound was carried across the ocean waters by the wind.
In one fluid motion, Kururugi twisted Albert's arm behind his back, and then flipped him over using his other hand and leg, before finally releasing the arm.
How much does Albert weigh, again...?
The intervention had given Ryūen and Ishizaki enough time to get back on their feet, but my gut told me that it didn't matter at all.
"Kukuku, looks like someone's gotten a little motivated now, eh?"
Within an instant, Kururugi accelerated to an astonishing speed, and stopped just as quickly just before Ryūen with his arm drawn back across his chest.
"Among those who commit evil, the most detestable ones of all are the ones who boast proudly while doing it,"
Ryūen opened his mouth. I was certain that he was about retort with something along the lines of, 'Good and evil don't exist in the real world, I just do what works,' but he didn't get the chance, because Kururugi acted first.
"So, Ryūen, be quiet now."
Snapping across and extending like a bullet, Kururugi's fist ruthlessly backhanded Ryūen in the side of the head, instantly shattering his consciousness.
The body of Class C's leader dropped to the floor with a thud. It appeared almost lifeless.
Ishizaki's entire figure locked up in fear, while I felt a strange comfort wash over me. And then, anger.
Why the hell didn't you just do that from the start?!
What's the point of being all 'I won't use violence,' if you're just going to knock him out with violence anyway, you fucking hypocrite?
Albert was momentarily stunned, but wasn't deterred like Ishizaki was, and charged forward nonetheless.
Kururugi's body fired into the air, and in one motion, spun around almost an entire rotation.
His extended leg cracked against Albert's skull, who too dropped unconscious to the floor with just one blow.
Landing calmly, Kururugi met eyes with Ishizaki-kun.
"W-w-wait, Kururugi-san, please don't hurt me, really, I didn't want to hurt you, I really really didn't-!" Ishizaki cried, pleading to be spared.
However, appearing to ignore the pleads, Kururugi rushed to him and grabbed a fistful of his shirt in his hand.
Unexpectedly, though, he didn't strike him down.
"I don't want to hurt you either, Ishizaki. If you just turn and leave here right now, I promise I won't do anything," Kururugi said.
"O-okay. I'm going then!"
Ishizaki was clearly shaken by what had just transpired, and turned tail immediately.
"You'll get punished by Ryūen for this, you know, Ishizaki?!"
A shout laced with obvious frustration echoed out from the short-haired girl restraining me from behind.
Ishizaki didn't bother turning back, nor giving a response, and simply melted into the shadows of the night.
"Tch," Ibuki clicked her tongue in annoyance.
I let out a yelp as, all of a sudden, a force roughly shoved me, and I almost fell face-first onto the floor.
I stumbled forwards, and barely managed to stay on my feet.
Kururugi-kun appeared in front of me, between my assailant and me, and looked worriedly in my direction while keeping an eye on Ibuki.
"Are you alright, Kushida?"
"Y-yes, I'm fine, Kururugi-kun. I'm sorry I've caused you trouble."
I gave him a deep bow as I apologised.
In my experience, I've found that you can instil an urge to protect within people, as well as increasing likeability, by apologising for causing trouble when it wasn't actually your fault.
It's probably because concerning yourself with the fact that trouble was caused over your own wellbeing is a level of selflessness that most people would find admirable. It also makes one appear vulnerable, as if they can be made to take the blame for things and taken advantage of for their goodhearted nature, thus causing others to want to protect them.
"Y-you don't have to apologise, Kushida! Nothing that happened was your fault, okay?" Kururugi-kun reassured me.
"Mhmm, okay. Thank you, Kururugi-kun," I replied.
Despite his frankly terrifying fighting ability, I noted that Kururugi was definitely the least scary member of Class D. It was just impossible to come across as threatening when you wear your heart so obviously on your sleeve.
"So, what now, huh? I'm still standing. Are you going to knock me out, too? Even though you're all against hitting girls?"
In spite of the circumstances, Ibuki-san still sneered condescendingly at the monstrous boy standing before her.
"There's no need for any of that. It's over now," Kururugi responded assertively.
"Hah? Over? Hello, I'm still here, you know,"
Kururugi let out a disappointed sigh.
"Ibuki, even all four of you couldn't lay a finger on me without taking a hostage. Do you really think it's worth exhausting yourself more for nothing?"
Ibuki's bottom lip curled up, and while it almost looked as if she was about to pop a vein, she surprisingly didn't argue.
"...whatever," she said eventually, moving to walk past us and back towards the dorms.
She glared into Kururugi's eyes as she walked past him. "We aren't done. Don't forget it."
After she'd gone, Kururugi moved silently over to the two unconscious bodies on the floor, and pulled them over to rest them against the wall in a sitting position.
I quietly went up beside him, and acted out a half-genuine shiver.
"Hahah...... that was really scary..."
"It's okay. It's over now," Kururugi-kun smiled gently.
Yuck.
"I guess. You won, Kururugi-kun!"
I looked up into his eyes with my own, which I made sure were glimmering with admiration and appreciation.
However, Kururugi-kun didn't seem to acknowledge any of it.
"No..."
Huh?
"'No'?" I echoed in confusion.
Kururugi gave a simple nod as he let his gaze rest on the sleeping Ryūen.
"I lost this one."
A/N: 6496 words! This is just part 1 of this little story segment, we'll get back to Kiyotaka doing his thing in the next one, and then volume 4 of this fanfic is officially completed!
As a side note, I've recently begun planning out the first custom-made special exam I'll be adding into the story, and I think my readers will really enjoy it!
Since it's been a while since I last updated, and I haven't really interacted with the community much recently, I thought I'd also reply to some questions in the comments, so if you have any, feel free to drop them here
Other than that, thank you for your continued support <3