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"Good guts!"
Shuya laughed.
No, seriously—how dare he?
But since Takashi had thrown the first punch, Shuya wasn't about to hold back.
Cun Jin—Open Heaven!
Shuya threw a single punch.
It landed first.
Before Takashi's fist could even graze him, Shuya's strike had already slammed into his chest.
A violent wave of air exploded outward, whipping everyone's hair into the air.
Takashi's chest and abdomen caved in instantly. An invisible shockwave spread from the point of impact, and the guy was sent flying like a ragdoll.
He didn't even have time to react before he hit the ground, completely unconscious.
Just another roadside corpse.
Shuya didn't even spare the fallen Takashi a single glance. He casually took Saeko's hand and said, "Let's go."
Rei glanced worriedly at Takashi lying on the ground. After all, they had known each other for years.
But the moment she remembered the twisted, vicious look on his face when he tried to slap her, any thought of checking on him vanished. She quickly caught up to Shuya. "Hey, wait for me!"
"Don't worry. I didn't kill him," Shuya said, turning his head slightly when he heard her running up.
He really hadn't gone all out. Strictly speaking, he had even held back, and he hadn't used any Nen at all.
So Takashi would probably just have a few broken ribs and need a couple months in the hospital to recover. Shuya wasn't some bloodthirsty maniac with a Human Emperor Banner to refine—he wasn't about to go around killing people over something this small.
Whether Takashi survived those few months, though… that was another story. The zombie outbreak wasn't going to wait.
But that had nothing to do with Shuya. He had simply taught the guy who tried to hit him a lesson.
Even if Takashi later demanded compensation, Shuya didn't care—he'd pay. After the zombie apocalypse, money would be worthless paper anyway.
Main philosophy: compensation yes, apology no.
Rei caught up and asked, "What about you? Is your hand okay?"
Hearing Shuya say that, she breathed a sigh of relief. Part of it was for Takashi.
But a much bigger part was worry that if something serious happened to Takashi, Shuya might get in trouble.
After all, this whole mess had started because of her. She didn't want Shuya to suffer because of her.
"Miyamoto, do you have some kind of misunderstanding about my strength? Swatting a fly isn't going to hurt me," Shuya said lightly.
"Really…?"
Rei stopped worrying about it. She walked over to Saeko's other side, and the three of them left school together.
Her eyes, however, kept secretly glancing at Shuya walking on Saeko's other side.
Honestly, she really wanted to walk right next to him instead.
Not long after they left…
The unconscious Takashi was finally discovered by a passing club advisor.
The advisor bent down, gently patted Takashi's face a couple times, and said, "Hey, student, wake up. You can't sleep here. Time to go home."
Ugh~
Blood suddenly trickled from the corner of Takashi's mouth.
"H-How did this happen… It wasn't me!"
The advisor's face went deathly pale. He shook his head and stumbled backward. After a long moment, he finally came back to his senses, pressed a finger under Takashi's nose, and checked carefully.
Thank god—he was still breathing.
The advisor let out a huge sigh of relief and hurriedly pulled out his phone to call an ambulance.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the street…
"Um… Busujima-senpai, are you and Shuya… dating?"
As the three of them walked along the road and approached a fork, Rei quietly asked Saeko the question that had been burning in her mind.
Saeko gave Rei a meaningful look. How could she not see exactly what the girl was thinking?
If before, Rei had truly been nothing more than the girl who sat behind Shuya like he claimed…
Then after Shuya had blocked that slap for her, Saeko was 100% certain—Rei had fallen for him.
Because when Rei looked at Shuya at that moment, her eyes had been sparkling. Shuya might not have noticed, but Saeko definitely had.
(Though, to be fair, Shuya's move really had been super cool.)
Without the slightest hesitation, Saeko decided to give the girl a little push from behind. She shook her head and smiled gently. "Nope~"
"Eh?! For real? You're not lying, right?"
Rei looked shocked.
But she didn't doubt it for long. Saeko didn't seem like the type to lie.
Besides, if Saeko really were dating Shuya, there would be no reason for her to lie about it.
And if she liked him, she probably wouldn't have answered so decisively. At the very least, she would have glanced at Shuya first to check his reaction.
But Rei was sure—she hadn't seen Saeko interact with Shuya at all before answering.
Rei fell silent.
When they finally reached the fork in the road, she suddenly took a deep breath, took a few quick steps, and stopped right in front of Shuya.
"Shuya-kun, thank you for what you did for me today. I'm really happy."
Then, before he could react, she stood on her tiptoes and planted a quick peck on his cheek.
Immediately after, she turned and sprinted down one of the paths.
She hadn't run far when she suddenly stopped, turned around, and waved at him with a bright smile.
"Shuya-kun! Even though your mouth is super poisonous when you talk… there's no doubt about it—you're a good guy!"
The evening glow of the sunset bathed her in warm light. Her youthful face was covered in a blush that could have come from the sunset, from her own shyness, or maybe both.
It was obvious her joy was completely genuine.
Where Shuya couldn't see, Rei pressed a hand to her chest. Her heart was pounding like crazy.
She didn't even know why she had suddenly been so bold—kissing a guy she had only known for less than a day.
She had known Takashi, her childhood friend, for so much longer, yet she had never once felt this way about him.
But she didn't regret it.
If she could go back, she would still do the exact same thing.
Maybe… this was what falling in love felt like?
Humming a cheerful little tune, Rei happily headed home.
Rei had run off.
But Shuya, left standing there, was completely stunned.
Wait… where the hell did my friends-with-benefits go?!
My big, juicy friends-with-benefits just turned pure love and ran away?!
What? You're telling me she went full heroine route?
How could she do this to me?!
The world really is going downhill. People's hearts are getting cold.
Can't a guy catch a break anymore?!
Shuya: Rage.jpg
Saeko had no idea what Shuya was thinking. She assumed he had frozen because he was worried she would get jealous.
So she stepped forward, wrapped her arms around him, and said softly, "Don't worry, Shuya-kun. No matter how many girls you end up with in the future… I really won't mind at all."
"Huh?"
Shuya blinked.
I never said I wasn't going to build a harem though…
Saeko really… I'm crying to death.
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