"What do any of you understand?! You're not the ones being expelled! How dare you blame me?!" Yamauchi's voice broke into a shriek.
Ike reached back and tugged at the hem of his shirt. "That's enough. Stop making a scene."
Ike had no desire to leave like this. Neither did Shimamura. Both of them chose silence.
Yamauchi's face was burning red. He clearly had no intention of letting it go. He swept his gaze across everyone around him, already drawing breath to unleash something worse, when Ryunosuke stepped back into the classroom. Taking in the scene, he muttered with tired disinterest.
"My timing is unusually good. Should've come in a little later."
The person responsible for getting all three of them expelled was Ryunosuke himself. Anyone with half a brain could figure that out. By casting three votes for Nagumo, Yamauchi, Ike, and Shimamura had betrayed the entire class and the person leading it. They had pushed Ryunosuke past the point of tolerance, and this was the result.
Several people in the room had already put it together. Chiaki, Ayanokoji, and Kouenji all understood what had happened. But none of them said a word. It wasn't their business, so why get involved?
Ryunosuke had no interest in prolonging this and was considering slipping back out until things settled down, when Kushida, who had been sitting on the floor, spotted him. She got to her feet and caught the hem of his shirt, pulling him close enough to whisper so only he could hear.
"Was this your doing?"
Her large, lovely eyes blinked up at him. He felt a deep tiredness wash over him. "Out of forty-five people in this class, you found me in under a second. Someone else might think you had feelings for me."
What he meant was: you zeroed in on me that fast. Are you interested?
Kushida rolled her eyes gracefully, declined to engage with that, and pulled him out of the room because she had something to say.
The rest of the class watched Kushida lead Ryunosuke away again. It felt familiar by now.
They came out onto the balcony. The same spot, the same railing. This was the fourth time Ryunosuke had ended up here, after Himeno and Nazuna before her.
"Why do you all love balconies so much?" he muttered.
Kushida stood facing the sea breeze and ran her fingers lightly through her hair.
"Was this your doing?" she asked again.
Ryunosuke shrugged and admitted it plainly. "Yes. I did it. What are you going to do about it? Use it as leverage against me?"
Kushida turned to face him and smiled warmly. She clasped her hands behind her back, bounced a little closer until their faces were near, and held out her hand with a cheerful air. "Congratulations on being elected Student Council President."
Ryunosuke shook her hand without hesitation and took the opportunity to note how her fingers felt. Smooth and soft.
Strangely, Kushida didn't pull away. She withdrew her hand slowly and immediately produced an alcohol-soaked wet wipe to sanitize it. Her smile never wavered, as though the gesture carried no insult at all.
Once she was done, she discarded the wipe and moved to the real topic. "I want to become Vice President of the Student Council. Can you help me with that, Akasaka-kun?"
She pressed both hands together in front of her chest like a prayer, and looked up at him with wide, glistening eyes that seemed engineered to pull sympathy from anyone.
Ryunosuke's expression didn't shift. "No."
He turned to leave, and Kushida grabbed the back of his collar immediately.
The performance was over. Her real face surfaced as she made her position clear. "If you don't help me become Vice President, I'll expose what you did to Yamauchi and the others."
She wasn't being subtle about it. She wanted recognition, attention, and the devotion of everyone around her, without exception. The Student Council Vice Presidency was her shortcut to that. She hadn't even paused to consider the difference in what the two of them were capable of.
But Ryunosuke had no intention of indulging her this time. He had tolerated Kushida before when class exam results were on the line. That reason no longer applied.
"Heh."
He dismissed her without a word, having already settled on the best solution in his mind, and walked back into the classroom without looking back.
Kushida stood frozen, her expression darkening. *(Does he actually think I won't do it?)*
◆━⊰✿✧✿⊱━◆
Back in the classroom, Ryunosuke moved quickly. Yamauchi had just handed him the perfect reason to.
Yamauchi had picked up a chair and was raising it toward Wang Mei-Yu, who had tried to say something reasonable to him moments ago.
Kouenji was already shifting to step in for the "lovely lady," but when he saw Ryunosuke moving, he settled back and said nothing.
Ryunosuke caught the chair in one hand as it swung toward Wang Mei-Yu, stepped in front of her, and said flatly, "Have you lost your mind?"
Yamauchi's face was scarlet. "Don't think I don't know this was all you! You got us expelled, didn't you?!"
"Well, you're smarter than I gave you credit for." Ryunosuke replied, confirming it openly.
The entire class went still. None of them had expected him to just admit it.
Ike and Shimamura rose to their feet, fury plain on their faces. If Ryunosuke had truly done this, they were going to give him something to remember before they left.
Reading the situation, Ryunosuke lifted the laminated Stardust Dragon card hanging from his neck and sent it spinning like a throwing card at the room's only security camera.
*CRACK.*
The camera shattered. The intention was obvious: destroy the evidence before anything else happened, so the class wouldn't lose points for what came next. Without footage, the school would have no way of knowing.
Before Yamauchi could react, Ryunosuke had him by the throat and was holding him in the air, entirely reminiscent of Uchiha Madara at his most theatrical. "Do you want to dance?"
Yamauchi's face went blue. When Ryunosuke decided the point had been made, he threw him sideways into Ike and Shimamura.
A breeze drifted in through the window, lifting Ryunosuke's black hair. On reflex, his fingers began forming the Uma hand seal, the Horse, reaching for Gokakyu no Jutsu, then he caught himself and slapped his own face.
"Damn. That habit is hard to suppress." He muttered, referring to the Chuunibyou instincts that surfaced without warning.
He crossed his arms and looked down at the three of them with complete indifference. "If you want to go another round, I'm available any time."
He pointed at the door, an open invitation to fight. All three of them looked at the floor. They knew they were nowhere near his level.
Kushida returned and saw everything. She understood at once what he had done. By confessing openly in front of the whole class, he had made her threat worthless. There was nothing left for her to expose.
Some time later, Yamauchi, Ike, and Shimamura were formally expelled. Ryunosuke received a verbal warning for destroying the camera and nothing more. His connections made a heavy penalty unlikely. His future father-in-law was the chairman of the board.
Or so he thought, right up until his future father-in-law stabbed him in the back.
The school announcement system crackled to life without warning. Narumori's voice addressed the entire student body, informing them that Akasaka Ryunosuke and Sakayanagi Arisu were now officially in a relationship.
The color drained from Ryunosuke's face. Kushida watched from across the room and smiled with quiet satisfaction, as though to say: *(There. How does that feel?)*
In his office, Narumori exhaled slowly. He had his reasons.
In recent days, the children of several very important people had suddenly submitted enrollment applications to his school, with a waitlist stretching two years out. He could see exactly what they were after. They were coming for Ryunosuke.
The final straw was a phone call from the Commissioner General of the National Police Agency, who referred to Ryunosuke as his future son-in-law. Narumori had hung up immediately, sealed the school's access points, and blocked Haruno from entering.
"I don't care if you're the Commissioner General or the Prime Minister himself. You think you can take my future son-in-law? Not a chance."
"Lock everything down. Let's see any of you get through."
"You'll all be receiving wedding invitations for my daughter soon enough!"
Even as he said it, the anxiety was there underneath. His opponents included a man who could mobilize the entire police force. If they pushed hard, Narumori wouldn't be able to hold the line for long.
"Arisu, Arisu, you need to move faster. Your father doesn't know how much longer he can hold out."