Youkoso Jitsuryoku Shijou Shugi no Kyoushitsu e

Volume 13, Chapter 3: Summer’s almost here, a premonition of a fierce battle Part 4

I was on my way from the corridor to the exit.

“Yo!”

The person who greeted me as I was looking at the black screen before the phone turned on, was a student of Class 2-B, Ishizaki Daichi, who had a smile plastered on his face. Had he encountered some good news?

“I tried to contact you through your cell phone, but there was no response, so I came straight to you.

“Sorry about that, my phone happened to run out of battery.”

“That’s nothing! Need some of your time right now, alright?”

“Am I going to be threatened?”

“What, that’s an interesting joke. Does a guy who can intimidate you really exist in this school?”

Ishizaki responded to my joke with his own.

“Don’t tell me you’re busy after this?”

“No, I’m just about to go back.”

“Really? Then there’s no problem. Come with me!”

With a smile that didn’t give me any chance to speak, Ishizaki beckoned with his hand and strode forward.

If I watched him go like this, I’d lose track of him in the blink of an eye.

Causing a commotion here would only attract everyone’s attention.

Since I was free, I decided to follow Ishizaki.

But as I turned around the corner, an impossibly large wall appeared suddenly before my eyes.

No, it wasn’t a wall. It was Ishizaki’s classmate, Yamada Albert.

He was wearing sunglasses, and he put his right hand, which had an air of intimidation about it, on my shoulder.

“Hey.”

“… Hey.”

I wasn’t quite sure what was going on, so I just tentatively replied to him with the same word. What on earth was this all about?

The threat which I thought was a joke, actually had a touch of reality to it.

“Hi, Ayanokouji-kun.”

Next to the wall-sized Albert, Hiyori’s figure appeared.

“What a rare combination.”

“Maybe so.”

I thought Ryuuen would be here too, but that didn’t seem to be the case.

“It’s not a good idea to talk here, let’s go somewhere else.”

“Go? Go where?”

“Well…yeah, I haven’t thought about that yet.”

Ishizaki rubbed his left index finger under his nose, laughing sheepishly.

“I have a bad feeling about this, so could you let me go?”

No matter how I looked at it, I had a feeling of unease, so I asked for their leave.

“What’s the matter, you’re free, right? I won’t let you go back.”

“Won’t let me go back… what are you doing?”

Albert, who was standing behind me, grabbed me with his immense strength, and wrung me firmly. Then, Hiyori also pulled my arm into her chest. Together the two of them had captured me.

“Sorry, Ayanokouji-kun, but we’re not letting you escape.”

“Huh…?”

At the end of the day, this was intimidation, plain and simple.

…This joke has already gone too far.

Anyway, it looked like these three were going to take me away from here.

“We stand out here a lot. We should move, Ishizaki-kun.”

“Yeah. So, where to?”

“Hmm, then… how about Ishizaki-kun’s room?”

Hiyori suggested casually.

“Huh? My….my room? No, no, that’s a bit…! Never, never!”

When Ishizaki heard that his room had been suggested, he refused, flustered.

“What’s wrong? Are there any inconveniences?”

“That, that’s… because, there are various reasons. Even if you asked me, you said that completely out of the blue…”

“We wouldn’t mind if your room’s a bit messy, right?”

Albert, who was asked for his opinion, slowly nodded.

…I can assume that he understood Japanese, right?

He surely needed to use it in exams and lessons, but I wanted to hear him speak Japanese.

“Yeah, yeah. Not just a little bit, it’s extremely messy! There’s nowhere to put your foot! Aiya, what a huge shame!”

“Don’t worry. If you need it, I’ll help you clean up.”

“Nononono! Tissues and stuff, I can’t let a girl clean them up!”

He couldn’t help but blurt out what he had scattered all over his floor.

“Tissues…? What does that mean?”

Hiyori tilted her head in confusion. What was that all about?

“Anyway my room is a bit…! Yes, that’s right, let’s go to Albert’s room!”

Ishizaki changed the topic in a panic.

“Right, isn’t Albert’s room great? Right? Right?”

Ishizaki suggested, as if running away from something.

“OK.”

So he understood Japanese after all. Albert gave his approval with a brief response.

After that, he started moving while carrying me.

“But…Am I going to just be carried away like this?”

“It’s okay. Yamada-kun is very strong.”

No, that wasn’t the problem.

It just felt like we’d become unusually conspicuous.

“No problem. In a way, it’s a kind of dissemination for those watching.”

After saying that, Hiyori, gently smiling as usual, walked ahead, leading the way.

“I see, as expected of Shiina! Great idea, great idea!”

What did you want to do by taking me away?

With that question in mind, I was taken to the dormitory.