"Ryuen, you wouldn't want a video of you hitting someone to end up with the homeroom teacher, would you?"
Ryuen had been about to act, but after hearing that, he turned toward the voice.
There stood a tall guy with delicate features, though his heavy dark circles made him look intimidating. Probably another delinquent from some middle school?
As the leader of the troublemakers, Ryuen had only spent about half an hour in class but had already figured out that most of his classmates were similar types.
Delinquent boys and girls.
Ryuen was sure he remembered correctly—this guy was in his class. If he recalled right, his name was Shirogane Miyuki.
The silver-haired girl with him was also from their class.
She was the prettiest girl in class, so even if he hadn't remembered her name, she had still left an impression.
And now…
Great.
One of them filmed him hitting someone, and the other even made threats.
Just great.
Ryuen's face turned cold.
"What do you two want?" Ryuen asked.
"Nothing much. I just think that if you don't control your violent ways, it'll hurt the class. So this is just a warning—if you don't stop, I'll send this video to the school," Shirogane said calmly.
"So you purposely recorded me hitting someone and also happened to overhear some school secrets, huh?" Ryuen narrowed his eyes, giving off a dangerous vibe.
Uh-oh.
Shiina's expression seemed to shift slightly.
"What are you talking about?" Shirogane, however, remained completely serious. "How could you assume the worst about people? We just happened to pass by and saw you beating someone up, that's all."
"I didn't step in because, first, I know I wouldn't win in a fight against you, and second, because of this—I recorded you committing a crime and, as a result, overheard what the seniors said about the school."
"And hearing that only confirmed my thoughts."
"If the school really evaluates us based on our behavior and discipline, then Ryuen, if you don't restrain yourself, you're going to cost the class a lot of points. You'll become the one dragging the class down."
"And now, if it's proven that you actually assaulted someone—especially on the very first day of school—do you really think there's no risk of getting expelled?" Shirogane said.
"..."
Ryuen stared at Shirogane with an unreadable expression.
But inside, he understood the situation perfectly.
Violence was just a tool. Look—without it, how else would he have gotten real information about the school from the upperclassmen? But if this method was exposed, it could be dangerous.
Of course, Ryuen didn't want to be expelled.
His grades weren't good enough to get into a school like this through normal means, and now that he knew how different this place was from the outside world, he was starting to get really interested. There was no way he was leaving now.
"At the end of the day, all you have is a video of me hitting someone. As long as I delete that video, you have nothing," Ryuen said. "You're just first-years, and you don't have many contacts yet, so there's no way you could've sent the video to someone else in such a short time."
Hmm.
Ryuen's thinking was solid.
Right now, Shirogane and Shiina were just two first-years sticking together. They had only just enrolled and probably only had each other's contact info.
And since both of them were here, their phones had to be with them. If Ryuen attacked and took their phones, he could erase the evidence.
But.
"It won't work," Shirogane said. "It's true that we don't have many friends yet, but don't forget—we both have our homeroom teacher, Sakagami-sensei's, contact info. So the moment you try anything, we'll send the video to sensei."
"Not only that—look, those guys already have bruises on them. Even if you delete the video, if they report you, you're still going to be punished," Shirogane continued.
"You two are planning to report me, huh?" Ryuen turned his menacing gaze toward the two upperclassmen.
"N-No, no! We won't report you!" The two seniors quickly raised their hands in defense.
They looked pitiful and weak.
But that wasn't really the case.
The two seniors were already thinking about reporting Ryuen as soon as they got to safety.
They hadn't known his name before, but now, after listening to these three first-years talk, they had learned that the guy who beat them up—the one with the middle-parted red hair—was called Ryuen.
But among the three first-years, the girl was really beautiful. She had a kind of bookish, literary charm.
They wondered what her name was. She probably didn't have a boyfriend yet.
But this guy named Ryuen has to be expelled!
Normally, fighting wouldn't be enough to get someone expelled. But Ryuen is a first-year student, and he attacked upperclassmen—on top of that, it happened during the first-month behavioral assessment for new students. That would definitely make the punishment more severe.
Even if he doesn't get expelled, his class would probably lose a hundred or two hundred points.
That's a serious penalty.
The two upperclassmen may have been beaten into submission, but deep down, they weren't convinced at all.
"Are you sure? If you don't get me expelled in one go, I'll just keep coming after you."
"Anyway, I'm from Class 1-C. Even if our class finds out how this school really works, we'll probably be left with just a couple hundred points in the end."
"Losing a few points now doesn't mean anything to me." Ryuen's sharp gaze swept over them.
Uh-oh.
The two upperclassmen immediately shrank back from their earlier thoughts.
"Shirogane." Shiina had already noticed the problem.
Shirogane nodded.
He saw it too—Ryuen wasn't just smart and violent, he also knew how to intimidate people. On top of that, he had a grasp of psychology.
For example, by threatening the upperclassmen, saying that if they didn't get him expelled now, he would take revenge, he made them afraid to act. But in reality, all they had to do was report him, and if he retaliated, report him again. Even if he wasn't expelled the first time, by the second or third report, he'd be kicked out for sure.
Ryuen was using psychology to scare them.
And clearly, it was working. The upperclassmen were already under his control.
"Then get lost," Ryuen said. "But remember one thing."
"Normally, information isn't supposed to be leaked so easily, right? So what you did just now was actually a violation too."
"You saw those two over there, didn't you? Since they recorded me hitting someone, they must've also recorded you spilling the truth about the school."
"So if my fight video gets leaked, and your conversation does too, just think about what'll happen to you."
"We're all in the same boat now. If you report me, you'll be going down with me." Ryuen warned them.
Damn.
The two upperclassmen looked miserable as they prepared to leave, not even bothering to take the free stuff they grabbed from the convenience store.
Ryuen then turned his gaze to Shirogane and Shiina. "Alright, your turn. What do you two want?"