CHAPTER 5 — The Smiling Monster (part 1)
The Hakuho Academy canteen during lunchtime was nothing short of a battlefield.
It was a suffocating, chaotic space filled with the overlapping voices of hundreds of students,
the clatter of metal trays, the stifling afternoon heat,
and the heavy smell of fried food.
For a first year student like Renjiro Hoshino,
navigating this space usually meant keeping his head down.
Weighing close to one hundred kilograms,
his sheer size made him a walking target.
Every day was an exercise in survival,
a desperate attempt to avoid the sharp elbows,
the cruel trips,
and the sharper insults of the school's social elite.
But today, everything was different.
Today, he was not hiding in the shadows near the trash bins.
He was sitting at a corner table directly under the bright fluorescent lights,
opposite the most beautiful girl in the academy.
Meiko Fujiwara delicately peeled the wrapper off her ice cream.
She picked up a small plastic spoon and looked at Renjiro with a warm,
innocent smile that reached her bright red eyes.
"Why didn't I meet a kind boy like you sooner, Renjiro-kun?"
Meiko asked, her voice flowing like sweet honey.
Renjiro's face flushed a deep,
burning crimson.
His thick, trembling hands gripped his water bottle tightly,
desperate to hide how violently.
he was shaking.
Is this really happening?
he thought, his heart hammering against his ribs.
Has someone finally looked past my weight?
Does she actually see me?
But Renjiro did not know that beneath the table, out of his line of sight,
Meiko had her thumb pressed against her phone screen.
She had just hit send on a message that would seal his fate:
"He's here.
Corner table.
Make it public."
Simultaneously, a storm was brewing just two tables away.
At that table sat four boys—Ryo, Reo, Shoji, and Kenta.
They were average bullies, bottom-feeders who survived the school's brutal hierarchy by mocking those weaker than them.
And right now, all four of them were staring directly at Renjiro and Meiko.
Ryo Takeda aggressively stabbed his chopsticks into his bowl of rice.
His eyes were burning with pure jealousy and disgust.
"How the hell did that fat, sweating pig get a gorgeous girlfriend like her?"
Ryo muttered, his voice dripping with venom.
"Look at him.
He can barely breathe from just walking to the counter!
And Meiko is sitting right across from him, smiling like he's a prince?"
Beside him, Reo Hayashi scowled, rubbing his temples in deep frustration.
"They are making absolute fools out of guys like us.
We hit the gym, we style our hair, we play sports,
and this walking garbage bag gets the most premium girl in the school?
The whole system is completely corrupt.
Yesterday he was eating alone near the toilets, and today he has her?"
Sitting across from them, Kenta Ishida looked entirely unfazed.
He was casually stuffing his face with spicy curry, a dark, knowing smirk plastered across his greasy face.
Kenta spoke quietly, chewing his food with a sickening lack of concern.
"It is all just drama."
Ryo immediately leaned forward, his eyes wide.
"What are you talking about?
Explain it to me.
How is this drama?
She is sitting right in front of him eating ice cream.
She held his sweaty hand in front of the entire class!"
Kenta swallowed his food slowly, deliberately dragging out the suspense.
He wiped his mouth with a napkin and let out a cold, breathless laugh.
"You idiots really have no idea what is actually happening here, do you?
Do you honestly think a girl like Meiko—a girl who has rich,
handsome seniors begging for her attention—would even look twice at that mountain of fat?"
Shoji Murakami, the hothead of the group, instantly lost his patience.
He reached across the table, violently grabbing Kenta by the collar and yanking him forward.
A glass of water tipped over, spilling onto the table.
"What the hell are you babbling about?!"
Shoji growled, his voice rising.
"Speak clearly before I smash your face in right here!"
Kenta did not flinch.
He simply pushed Shoji's hands away and lowered his voice to a terrifying whisper, leaning in close so only the three of them could hear.
"Listen carefully,"
Kenta said, his eyes darting toward Meiko for a fraction of a second.
"Meiko is playing him.
You three morons do not even realize that she is already engaged to someone else..."
Kenta paused, letting the heavy tension hang in the air.
"...Akuro Yoshibe."
The name dropped like a live grenade.
"What?!"
Shoji yelled out loud, completely losing control of his volume.
"What did you just say?!"
Kenta's face went dead white.
Pure panic erupted in his chest.
He lunged forward, slamming his hand over Shoji's mouth and aggressively pulling him down toward the table.
"Keep your damn voice down!"
Kenta hissed, sweat suddenly breaking out on his forehead.
You Mother fucker
"Do you really want everyone to hear you?!
Do you want that monster to put a target on our backs?
If Akuro even catches a rumor that we are whispering his and
Meiko's names from our filthy mouths, he will bury us alive!"
Ryo Takeda's hands began to shake.
"Is that true?
I cannot believe it.
But... if it is true... and Akuro comes here...
he is going to kill that fat guy.
No, he won't just kill him.
He will literally tear him apart in the middle of the canteen!"
Shoji, now trembling, let out a nervous, cruel laugh.
"Then he is definitely going to die by Akuro's hands.
He won't even have the time or the stamina to run away.
And nobody in this entire school will step in to save him."
The thought of Renjiro being brutally destroyed began to amuse them.
They started to laugh, a dark, muffled sound behind their hands.
But Kenta did not laugh.
A profound, hollow fear settled over his features.
His eyes lost their focus for a moment.
"You guys are laughing," Kenta said, his voice devoid of any humor.
"Because you think Akuro is just a normal delinquent who beats people up when he is angry.
You have no idea what Akuro actually is."
Shoji and Ryo stopped laughing.
The gravity in Kenta's tone sent a chill down their spines.
"What do you mean, Kenta?"
Reo asked quietly.
Kenta glanced at Renjiro and Meiko one more time before leaning back into his friends.
"A few days ago... right here in this canteen.
I was the only one who saw the entire scene from start to finish.
Too Continue in the Next Chapter