Inside the Advanced Nurturing High School area.
Nagumo pushed his suitcase toward the school gate. He walked while occasionally looking back, appearing reluctant to leave this school. He smiled bitterly, trying to accept his fate. It's just that his eyes dimmed slightly from not seeing Nazuna come to see him off.
(Even my only childhood friend has abandoned me?)
"Hehe, I'm truly terrible." Nagumo shook his head, then took large steps out of the school gate. Whatever he would face ahead, he would accept it.
Koenji leaned in front of the gate, as if he had been waiting there for a long time. When Nagumo passed beside him, the young man just glanced briefly without saying anything. Right at that moment, Koenji spoke up.
"My promise to you still stands."
Nagumo stopped his steps. "What do you mean?"
Koenji, as if having completed his task, combed his hair with his hand and walked away with his characteristic narcissistic style.
Nagumo fell silent thinking, which promise?
Suddenly he remembered, when Koenji asked him to use points to save him before, that man had indeed promised to protect him with his status as heir to the Koenji Conglomerate. Nagumo smiled in relief.
"Hahaha!"
Koenji, who had already walked toward the building's shadow, approached Ryunosuke who was leaning against the corner wall while eavesdropping.
"Now are you satisfied, boy?"
Ryunosuke didn't speak; he just nodded slowly. "Thanks for your hard work..."
"Heh." Koenji smiled resignedly. "Even if you didn't tell me to, I would still keep my promise." He patted Ryunosuke's shoulder.
"You still have two more chances to use me. This time doesn't count, because this was indeed my own promise." After saying that, Koenji left leisurely.
Ryunosuke also breathed a sigh of relief. He bet that man would keep his promise and wouldn't waste that usage opportunity. It turned out his bet was correct. He lowered his folded arms and looked toward Nazuna in the distance.
Nazuna had apparently been waiting in front of the gate. Nagumo pulled his suitcase and stopped, looking at his childhood friend with mixed feelings. He wanted to say something, but his tongue felt stiff.
Nazuna approached him and greeted naturally, exactly like when they were little.
"Hi! After leaving school, don't make trouble again. I won't be able to protect you anymore." Nazuna said while smiling.
Nagumo smiled bitterly. He now understood very well; the reason Koenji waited for him must be because of orders from "that person." The person meant was Ryunosuke.
Nagumo took a deep breath and looked at Nazuna with a firm gaze. "I will definitely take you back from that person's side. Wait for me."
"Eh?" Nazuna tilted her head in confusion, clearly not catching the meaning of those words.
Nagumo assumed Nazuna must have given "something" as payment for Ryunosuke to be willing to help him. After all, Koenji was his person. How could someone as arrogant as Koenji bother to explain to him if not because of Ryunosuke's orders?
Surely Nazuna had sacrificed something—perhaps even her body had...—to save him. Thinking about that, Nagumo clenched his fist fiercely, then released it again with a very firm gaze.
"Nazuna, wait for me to return. I will definitely get you back." Nagumo walked past Nazuna with straight steps.
He had decided to re-register at this school next year as a third-year student. Even though Nazuna might already be "unclean," wasn't he himself also dirty?
For someone who thought of him so much like Nazuna, what reason was there to look down on that girl?
Nagumo had steeled his resolve. He would return to Advanced Nurturing High School and fight against Ryunosuke.
Meanwhile, Nazuna stood frozen in place. Her mind was full of question marks.
"What was Nagumo talking about? I don't understand at all. Never mind, no need to think about it."
Nazuna gave up thinking. Coincidentally, Ryunosuke also approached her.
"Now are you satisfied? Next time, don't do something like putting someone else's hand on your chest again." Ryunosuke flicked Nazuna's forehead as a warning. "A girl must have shame. Something like that should only be done with a man you like."
Hearing that reprimand, Nazuna puffed out her cheeks in protest. "You talk as if you're a parent. I'm a senpai, you know! Can you be a little more polite?"
Ryunosuke didn't care and instead stroked the girl's head. After feeling satisfied, he deliberately messed up her hair until it was disheveled. Nazuna swung her hand trying to resist.
This scene happened to be seen by Nagumo who had already walked quite far. He almost vomited blood. He knelt on the ground, feeling his heart shattered to pieces.
His Nazuna was being toyed with arbitrarily by someone else.
Yes, in Nagumo's eyes, Nazuna had agreed to become Ryunosuke's woman to save him. Otherwise, how could Ryunosuke be willing to protect him? Nazuna had sacrificed herself for him. If he was still a man, he had to take responsibility for her—even if that girl had already been "consumed" by his opponent...
Thinking about that, Nagumo hit the ground hard while sobbing.
"My Nazuna!!!"
Usually he was the one taking others' belongings; now it was his turn to experience it, he truly couldn't accept it.
Meanwhile, Nazuna and Ryunosuke looked at Nagumo who appeared hysterical in the distance with puzzled gazes.
Ryunosuke asked Nazuna, "What's wrong with him?"
Nazuna shook her head. "Who knows, just leave him. Let's go."
"True."
Ryunosuke and Nazuna walked away together, not caring about Nagumo who was lamenting his fate there.