"Hmmmm, hmmmm, hmmmm."
Sitting in the most conspicuous front row of the classroom, Miyazawa Yu bowed his head deeply, his eyes fixed on the desk, pretending not to feel the murderous intent all around him.
"Hey Yu, I don't know if it's just me, but I feel like the atmosphere is a little off. Do you have any idea why?"
"Huh? Is it? We're just like normal~ You must have drunk too much last night, just relax..."
A cold bead of sweat ran down his forehead as he scooted his chair a seat to the side, to avoid being considered part of the same group.
However, hearing him say this, Iori Kitahara's confusion only increased. So, he turned his head and looked around.
The grim atmosphere, the murderous glares, and the sound of knuckles cracking—these definitely didn't seem like his imagination!
"That's so weird... Why is this happening?"
His heart stopped. He quickly turned his head back and poked Kohei Imamura, trying to get an answer.
However, for Kohei, who had just sobered up, this expectation was too demanding. He was also in a state of complete bewilderment!
"Could it be... that they're jealous because you won the Male-Root contest?"
"Huh! Everyone can't be that stingy! And I'm a gag character! A gag character!"
"Then... maybe they like your cross-dressing and want to get to know you intimately?"
"..."
His butthole tightened. Iori Kitahara pinched his chin and actually started thinking about the possibility of this situation and his chances of survival if he had to "serve" so many people.
"In that case, why don't you go ask them yourself, Iori?"
Seeing that Iori was already unconsciously doing kegel exercises and that he had a history of this, Miyazawa Yu was afraid that he would really awaken some incredible talent.
So he quickly interrupted their fantasy. After all, he could accept backstabbing, but getting his "what's-it" stabbed would be too much!
There was a saying that "a thief can't steal for a thousand days," so he couldn't possibly be on guard for a thousand days!
"Huh? But it's embarrassing to be rejected! Kohei, why don't you go..."
"No, I'll die!"
"Ah... sorry, I forgot about your hikikomori tendencies!"
With neither of them being reliable, Iori Kitahara sighed and narrowed his eyes disdainfully. "Honestly, no one is going to be rude to a stranger. I'll show you!"
"Hey there! You, the guy over there..."
"Don't talk to me!"
"You wanna die, you bastard!"
"..."
He was yelled at before he could even finish his sentence. Iori Kitahara immediately covered his face and sat back down, whimpering to himself in a self-deprecating manner.
"Aah~ I knew this would happen! I told you not to talk to strangers."
"No! Something's definitely wrong! This is too weird! They called me a moron!"
"I actually think they got that part right..."
Weakly raising one hand, Miyazawa Yu suggested, "Even strangers would react like that to an otoko greeting them, wouldn't they?"
"No way! Before, when I wasn't wearing clothes, guys were still willing to talk to me!"
Waving his hand to firmly dismiss Yu's judgment, he thought, Just a few days ago, when I was drunk, someone even asked if I wanted them to call the police!
Iori Kitahara refused to believe that the world was so cruel, and that there was no tolerance among classmates!
"Then why don't you go and ask someone else?"
"Of course I'm going to ask! You two wait here, you bastards!"
Ten minutes later, Iori Kitahara's tears had soaked the desk as he lay there, his body trembling uncontrollably.
"Honestly, if I knew it would be this painful, I wouldn't have asked in the first place."
"This is too much! They said I was a maggot in the toilet. How can they say things like that to a person they just met!"
Angrily lifting his head, Iori's crying face was so ugly that Miyazawa Yu couldn't bear to look, and Kohei Imamura shook his head and tried to console him.
"Don't be discouraged! From what I know, that's just how strangers treat you when they first meet!"
"How in the world did you have such a terrible first meeting with people, you idiot!"
Slapping away the hand on his shoulder, Iori Kitahara propped up his chin seriously and concluded, "Based on the current situation, we must have been hated by someone. Does anyone know why?"
"Well..."
He turned his head and looked at the murderous, vein-bulging thugs, the studious young man flipping through a suspicious book titled How to Beat Someone Half to Death, and the future murderer constantly carving the desk with a small knife.
Kohei Imamura felt a terrible headache. How could he possibly get any information in this situation?!
And what was going on with the school? Had it been taken over by delinquents from the Showa era?
"Ah! That's it!"
Clapping his hands, he turned to Iori and suggested, "Why don't you just ask Chisa Kotegawa? She should know something!"
"That's impossible! In our current state, she'll only give us a disgusted look!"
"Hmm... That's true, that kind of 'looking at trash' look..."
At the same time, they turned their heads and noticed that the two bastards seemed to be setting their sights on him. Miyazawa Yu could only break out of his "low-presence" state.
"I'll say this in advance, I'm not sure if I can get anything out of her. I can only tell you if Chisa is willing to tell me, got it?"
"Oh? Yu, you seem to know something!"
"Hold him down! I'll pry it out of him!"
Seeing that he was about to be tortured, Miyazawa Yu dodged out of Iori's attack range and helplessly gestured with his hand behind him for them to look over there.
Kohei Imamura and Iori Kitahara, stacked together and lying on the table, looked in the direction he pointed and instantly broke out in a cold sweat.
Because Chisa, who had been in a bad mood since the beauty contests, was smiling at them! This was more terrifying than the end of the world!
"W-what happened, Yu? Please! I want to at least die knowing why!"
"...I understand."
Unable to resist him, Miyazawa Yu endured the intense glares and walked over to Chisa to talk. "Iori wants to say a few words to you. He has something to ask you!"
"Oh? Is that so? Then why doesn't he come over himself? Is he already tired of me?"
She spoke with a smile, but Chisa's outward cheerfulness hid a stomach full of bad intentions.
Sure enough, after she finished her ambiguous statement, the sound of ballpoint pens being crushed against the table rang out one after another, and murderous intent suddenly surged!
What the hell! This is genuinely terrifying!
His heart stopped. Seeing that the surrounding classmates were already starting to stir, looking as if they were about to skin him alive, Iori Kitahara couldn't care less. He slid on his knees and prostrated himself at Chisa's feet, begging loudly.
"Chisa! Please tell me! What in the world is going on?!"
"Oh? I don't know anything~"
"Don't lie to me!!!"
Whoosh—Clang!
Seeing that Chisa wasn't willing to tell the truth, Iori Kitahara was about to reach out and hug her leg to show his resolve to not leave until he figured it out.
The next second, a sharp knife with a letter attached to it whistled through the air and embedded itself right next to his hand, piercing a deep hole in the tiled floor.
If you don't break up with Chisa Kotegawa right now! You can wait to die!
Taking the threatening letter made of cut-out newspaper, Iori Kitahara asked calmly, "Are you still sticking to your story?"
"..."
Faced with the irrefutable evidence, Chisa Kotegawa just turned her head away, pretending that nothing had happened.
"Wait a minute, they told you to break up with Chisa? So you two are dating now?"
"Huh? How is that possible?"
"It started before the school festival~"
With his head full of question marks, Iori Kitahara turned to look at Chisa, but she had already turned her head away and wasn't giving him a chance.
"Ahem! Iori, since you're dating, you can break up, right? How about it?"
Clearing his throat, Miyazawa Yu quietly reminded Iori to avoid a fatal situation.
After all, it was just a matter of a simple clarification. Iori should know what was more important, his life or this "relationship"!
"Oh! Good idea! I'll just do what Yu said..."
"Thank you! Iori, for being willing to sacrifice yourself for me. Yu, can you please keep your mouth shut for a bit?"
Being stared at with a terrifying gaze, Miyazawa Yu shrank his neck. He felt that as a best friend, he had done his duty!
If he had to get himself killed to save Iori, it wouldn't be worth it!
"Um... your target is just Iori, right? Can I leave now? There's a beef bowl special for lunch..."
"Yeah! Go ahead, Yu. Have a safe trip!"
The men, radiating the aura of the FFF Inquisition, immediately made way. Although their faces were contorted in a grimace, their murderous intent was entirely directed at Iori, that piece of manure.
The wrongdoer had a clear name and a specific target! They were all upstanding young men of the new age, with a clear sense of who to hold a grudge against and who not to bother!
"Is that so! Is that so! Thank you!"
"Then I'm going with Yu~ Iori, you have to be strong on your own, you have to be happy, okay?"
"Wait! No! How can I live without you guys!"
Rushing forward, he caught the escaping Kohei in a rear-naked choke. Iori Kitahara asked with a twisted expression, "We're best friends! How can you just leave me all alone?!"
"Huh! I don't remember knowing an otoko like you. Go decompose yourself! People will get the wrong idea that we're close!"
"Dream on! By the way, did you guys know! Kohei has been dating Azusa Hamaoka from the Oumi Women's Academy for about two weeks now!"
"KITAHARA!"
Since he wasn't willing to be left behind, Iori Kitahara didn't mind using a little dirty trick!
Sure enough, after his shout, over a dozen more ballpoint pens were decapitated. At the same time, he felt the murderous intent decrease by half, but in exchange, the two of them were completely surrounded.
"Gulp~ What a bunch of animals!"
Having retreated early to the door, Miyazawa Yu took one last look at the increasingly heated situation in the classroom, then followed Chisa, who had also quietly slipped away, and went to the cafeteria.
As for whether Iori and the others would die... With great power comes great responsibility. Since his power was small, his responsibility was small!
He was just a poor, weak, and helpless muscular otoko. He didn't have the strength to fight the entire class!