"Know when to stop, you maniac!!"
Watching the pin edge closer and closer to his mysterious protrusion, Sebastian felt every drop of adrenaline in his body discharge at once.
He wrenched his hand free from Imamura's grip and drove his fist squarely into the right side of his face.
"Mgph—"
Kōhei Imamura, struck by a punch carrying the full weight of Sebastian's life's grievances, was launched clean off his feet. His head embedded itself into the classroom ceiling. His legs dangled lifelessly in the air. He lost consciousness.
"Outrageous... outrageous...."
Sebastian stood there ashen-faced, repeating the words without thinking, slowly unclenching his fist and sweeping a dazed look around the classroom.
The students were staring back at him with equally vacant expressions.
"Ha... haha. First time meeting you all — hello, everyone. My name is Sebastian, we're classmates from here on out, I hope we all eat well and have fun — no, I mean — anyway, I have somewhere to be, see you all later!"
Sebastian delivered this speech with all the color drained from his face, then dragged his exhausted body out the door, following in Iori's footsteps.
Even five minutes later, not a single person in the classroom had spoken. Only Imamura remained, legs protruding from the ceiling, one shoe on and one shoe gone, feet dangling in slow rotation.
"Hey — he still has that sticker on his chest, doesn't he."
Someone in the corner said this, apparently to no one in particular.
"That is absolutely not the point right now! Call the police! The lunatic stuck in the ceiling is not doing well!"
After some frantic scrambling, a few classmates formed a human ladder and extracted Imamura from the ceiling.
...
Meanwhile, Sebastian walked out of the classroom wearing an expression that suggested he had stepped in something.
He hadn't gone far when he spotted two familiar figures in the corridor ahead.
One was the treacherous individual who had abandoned him in his moment of crisis not ten minutes ago — Iori Kitahara.
The other appeared to be the young woman from yesterday — the cousin Iori had consistently refused to introduce him to — Chisa Kotegawa.
The two of them seemed to be arguing about something. Sebastian, still stewing in his foul mood, felt his eyes light up at the prospect of watching someone else's drama for a change. He ducked behind a nearby fire safety cabinet and stuck half his head out to observe.
"Hey, Chisa — why won't you take me home?"
Iori, dressed in nothing but a pair of beach shorts, had blocked Chisa's path with one outstretched arm.
"You — dressed like that — do not talk to me at school!"
Chisa didn't answer the question directly. She crossed her arms, face flushing red, and shrank back slightly.
"What? Why? Aren't we close cousins?"
Iori pressed forward, still not reading the room.
...
From Sebastian's vantage point, he couldn't make out what the two of them were saying in low voices. He had only his eyes to go on, and his imagination filled in the rest.
He watched Iori suddenly thrust his arm out against the wall in a kabedon.
Sebastian's pupils contracted.
So that's why he wouldn't introduce her. The little schemer had been planning to make his own move all along. Calculating to the very end.
Then Chisa lowered her head, face red, arms folded against her chest.
"Outrageous!!"
Sebastian's fist hit the wall as he watched from the shadows. From the look of things, Chisa wasn't exactly pushing Iori away either — that whole I want to resist but I can't quite bring myself to energy was something Sebastian had seen on far too many couples in his past life.
"Keeping it all for himself, the animal," Sebastian muttered darkly — then let out an inward sigh of resignation.
Nothing to be done about it. They were cousins, after all. When it came down to it, the girl would naturally be more comfortable with someone she already had a connection to.
He was no Tokita — no effortlessly built upperclassman. And while Chisa was the first girl close to his own age he'd encountered since crossing over, the world was wide. Other opportunities would come.
With my current physical condition, finding a girlfriend before graduation should be simple enough.
Cheering himself up with this thought, Sebastian huffed quietly and slid his sandal back on — he'd been halfway to throwing it at something.
At that precise moment, he felt a hand come down on his shoulder from behind.
"Who's there?"
Sebastian turned, puzzled — and his expression immediately went stiff.
"Well, well. Don't I know this young man from somewhere?"
Standing in front of Sebastian was the kind-hearted police officer he had ducked into the station to escape from when he'd been fleeing two very large upperclassmen, several days ago.
The officer, in full uniform, was fixing Sebastian with a gaze of deep suspicion.
"Oh — oh! Good morning, officer! I think you may have the wrong person. Anyway, I have registration to get to, so if there's nothing else—"
Sebastian's mouth twitched into a strained smile as he turned to leave. His shoulder was seized again.
"Don't try to wriggle out of this. You're a foreign exchange student — that's all the more reason to present yourself decently. Why are you still walking around shirtless on school grounds? Don't go embarrassing the Kingdom of Angel while you're abroad!"
Sebastian endured the scolding without a word, but after a few rounds of it he threw caution to the wind and pushed back.
"Officer, I'll have you note that these beach shorts are considerably larger than the underwear from last time. That's a measurable improvement. You can't just ignore that kind of progress."
"I don't care about any of that! Frankly, I wasn't even planning to deal with you today. I'm here because a student reported an incident — a shirtless freshman allegedly assaulted another student and drove his head directly into the wall."
The officer paused, then allowed himself a small smile.
"Though I have to say, your school really does produce remarkable individuals. Having your head driven into a wall and walking away without a scratch — now that's a solid skull...."
The officer trailed off. He had just noticed that Sebastian, standing in front of him, was also shirtless.
"That freshman — it wasn't you, was it?"
The officer's eyes narrowed on Sebastian.
"Ha, how could something like that ever happen — do I look like the kind of person who could drive someone's head into a wall?"
Sebastian smiled with his mouth and nowhere else.
"The thing is, you're the only shirtless person I've seen, which makes the evidence rather hard to overlook."
The officer's gaze sharpened. His hand moved behind his back, reaching toward what was presumably handcuffs.
Think. Think fast. I am not getting taken to the station on the first day of university.
Sebastian's face went pale, his mind racing, his eyes darting.
What do I do, what do I do—
At that moment, from the corridor behind him, Iori and Chisa's voices drifted over again.
"I'm begging you — if you won't come with me, at least take your shirt off!"
I've got it!!
Sebastian's eyes lit up. He grabbed the officer by the collar and hauled him sideways — just far enough to peek around the corner toward Iori.
"Officer, look! I'm not the only shirtless person here!"
"Hm?"
The officer, yanked mid-stride, blinked — then looked properly down the corridor, where he could clearly see Iori executing a kabedon on Chisa.
"Well, you're right — that one looks quite suspicious too, and he's doing something rather odd. What on earth is going on at this school.... That said, he appears to be dressed the same as you, which means you're both equally suspect, doesn't it?"
The officer rubbed his chin in genuine puzzlement.
"Wrong!!" Sebastian's eyes flashed and he snapped out sharply.
"What?" The officer turned back, startled.
"Officer — look carefully. Right here. What is this?" Sebastian extended a finger and pointed to the pink sticker on his chest, printed with an anime girl's face.
"That's...." The officer looked at Sebastian, seemingly lost for words.
"Note it well, officer. I have one more sticker than that person over there." Sebastian declared this with perfect gravity and conviction.
"If anything, that makes you look more like a deviant," the officer said, losing the will to argue.
"That's beside the point. The relevant fact is that you're looking for the individual wearing the fewest clothes. The most suspicious party is over there, which means you have no grounds to keep detaining me. Correct?"
"You—"
Sebastian's logic had left the officer genuinely turned around. He looked back and forth between the two of them several times, expression wavering — and finally made a decision.
"Fine. I'll go check on that one first. But your name is not cleared. Stay right here and don't move!"
"Understood. I swear on the name of the goddess Angel herself — I won't budge an inch."
"Stop invoking my name in your schemes!!" Angel's furious voice rang out in Sebastian's ear, entirely ignored.
"Don't try anything!" The officer gave Sebastian one final helpless glare, hitched up his trousers, and strode off toward Iori.
"Safe travels!" Sebastian waved him off with a beaming smile.
The moment the officer had taken two or three steps away, Sebastian wheeled around without a flicker of hesitation and bolted in the opposite direction.
---
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