Every student at Tokyo Metropolitan Advanced Nurturing High School enjoys a private, single-room dormitory. It wasn't large—about thirteen square meters, including the bathroom—but it was a personal space. After lunch, Ren Ishikawa spent the afternoon and evening scouting the sprawling campus.
Huh, a surveillance blind spot here. Good to know. He made a note on his phone. Not a place to cause trouble—a place to avoid causing trouble. There was no point in committing a rule violation worthy of expulsion if there was no camera to capture the evidence.
Ooh, this place is perfect! he thought, marking a key junction. Causing a disruption here would impact the campus's normal operations. That's a serious infraction.
He walked for hours, mapping out key locations, committing them to memory. It was around nine at night when he finally returned to his dorm, exhausted but satisfied. After a quick bath, he reflected on the day's hard work toward his goal of dropping out. He had successfully attracted the ire of his entire class, antagonized the other first-years, and publicly provoked the class beauty.
Yes, a very fulfilling day, he thought. At this rate, I'll be expelled for fighting in no time.
With beautiful expectations for the future, Ren Ishikawa fell peacefully asleep.
The next morning, the first official day of classes began not with a lecture, but with the distribution of textbooks by their homeroom teacher, Sae Chabashira. After the books were handed out, with some time still left in the period, Hirata stood up.
"Chabashira-sensei," he said, his voice ringing with purpose. "May I say a few words to everyone?"
Chabashira nodded, assuming he was simply initiating class introductions.
Hirata walked to the front of the room. "I'd like to take this opportunity to talk about something very important..."
As the de facto leader of the class, he commanded immediate respect. The room fell silent, all eyes on him. He took a deep, emotional breath before speaking.
"We have all misunderstood Ishikawa-kun!" he declared. "You have no idea how much he has sacrificed and endured for this class..."
Hirata then launched into the grand, fabricated narrative that he and Ayanokouji had constructed the day before. At Ayanokouji's insistence, his own role in the analysis was completely omitted. Ayanokouji's reasoning had been sound: "I have no prestige. The more I'm involved, the less credible this will sound. To achieve your goal, it's best if you present it yourself."
Hirata's speech could be summarized in four points:
Ren's Japanese is imperfect, and cultural differences make his speech seem rude when he doesn't intend it to be.His harsh words were a necessary "bitter medicine" to warn Class D about the school's point system.He made himself a public enemy to serve as a "warning line" for disciplinary violations, protecting the class.His specific violations—two absences and one early departure—were a calculated message, hinting that accumulating infractions beyond this point would lead to severe consequences for the class.
Chabashira, the only person besides Ren who knew the absolute truth, listened with a blank face. When Hirata mentioned the "severe punishment," she quickly hid her face behind a textbook, lest a smirk betray the truth and ruin his magnificent performance.
As expected, once Hirata finished, questions erupted. But he was prepared. With Ayanokouji's help, he had run simulations, anticipating every possible doubt.
"Why use absences and leaving early as the unit of measurement?" a student asked.
"Because those are violations that only harm himself!" Hirata answered passionately. "He could have done something disruptive, but he chose a method that wouldn't affect anyone else. This is proof of his gentle nature!"
"What did he mean by calling us fools and mutes?" another challenged.
"A 'fool' is someone who acts impulsively without thinking. A 'mute' is someone who has ideas but is too afraid to participate in class affairs," Hirata explained smoothly.
He answered every question with a perfectly crafted response, slowly dispelling the class's hostility. The whole time, however, Hirata kept a wary eye on a blond boy in the back—Koenji Rokusuke—whose amused, knowing smirk made him nervous. He feared Koenji would see through the charade and tear it all down. Hirata didn't know if what he was saying was the truth, but for the sake of class harmony, he needed it to be.
But the one who threatened to derail everything wasn't Koenji.
"That's all just your opinion," a boy with side-swept bangs sneered. "You say he wants to help people? I don't believe it. I need another example. Can you give me one more instance of him helping someone?"
The speaker was Kanji Ike, a student infamous for his lecherous comments and for starting arguments with the girls. He and his friends had been the class villains before Ren appeared, and he had no desire to see Ren's reputation improve, which would put the negative spotlight right back on him.
Hirata froze. The question was a good one. They had been at school for less than a day. How many good deeds could one person possibly perform in that time?
"Well, Ike-kun, your question..." Hirata stammered, at a loss.
Suddenly, a gruff voice cut through the silence.
"He helped me."
All heads turned to the tall, crew-cut boy.
"Sudo? Whose side are you on?" Ike demanded.
It was Ken Sudo. He couldn't resist the urge to show off that he knew something no one else did.
"Sudo-kun, could you please tell us what happened?" Hirata prompted, seizing the lifeline.
Feeling like a superstar, Sudo puffed out his chest. "Yesterday at the convenience store, I forgot my student ID. Ishikawa paid for me. Then he shoved his phone in my face and told me to add him so I could transfer the points back! I almost punched him."
He recounted the entire story like it was a grand tale of his own suffering.
When he finished, Hirata smiled triumphantly. "You see? Ren-kun is enthusiastic, he's just bad at communicating! He helped Sudo-kun, even though it made him angry. And asking for the points back is perfectly normal!"
With a real-world example, the credibility of Hirata's theory skyrocketed.
"So he did help Sudo."
"Wow, and it was Sudo of all people."
"Yeah, Sudo's kind of scary. Ishikawa is brave."
Sudo's face turned red. "What's that supposed to mean?!"
A girl stood up. "You have a fierce face and a bad temper. Normal people would avoid you. Who would ever take the initiative to help you?"
"She's right!" another girl chimed in. "If you think about it, Ishikawa-kun is actually a good person! He's not afraid of anyone, and he's handsome!"
"Yeah, he is handsome... I thought he was scary, but maybe he's just a tsundere? Cold on the outside but warm on the inside? I kind of like that."
"I just like people with noble morals. I don't mind if he's a little mean."
The girls' opinion of Ren soared. The boys, meanwhile, were mostly jealous.
"Wait!" one boy shouted. "I saw Ishikawa yesterday with a girl! They were walking out of the convenience store together, looking close! I think it was Horikita!"
All eyes swiveled to the back of the class, where Suzune Horikita was coolly reading her textbook. She looked up, habitually tucking a strand of hair behind her ear, her beautiful face framed by an icy expression. "Your collective atmosphere is polluting my air. It's frankly disgusting."
The boys were no longer jealous, but awestruck.
"He can actually talk to Horikita without being verbally annihilated?"
"Maybe the rumor is true, and he's secretly a masochist?"
Ren's reputation had been salvaged, though perhaps slightly damaged in a new and unexpected way.
"Oh, one last thing!" Hirata announced. "Please, let's keep this a secret from Ishikawa-kun. His plan only works if he thinks we all still hate him. If he knows we've figured it out, his sacrifice will have been for nothing. Let's not be hostile, and let's work hard to give him a wonderful surprise by getting good class scores!"
Everyone agreed.
Ren Ishikawa arrived at the door of the classroom for third period, steeling himself for the usual wave of hostility. But as he walked in, he found something was terribly wrong.
The boys were glaring at him, but it wasn't hatred. It felt like... jealousy.
The girls were even weirder. Many looked at him, then quickly looked away, blushing. It wasn't hostility or fear... it was shyness.
Ren's mind reeled. What is going on? I cultivated so much hatred yesterday! Why has their favorability skyrocketed?
An outrageous guess formed in his mind. Could it be... they like me?! Maybe they're all love-brained girls who like the 'abusive CEO' trope? In their eyes, was my behavior yesterday like something from a novel? 'Man, you have successfully caught my attention.'
The thought gave him a headache. He wasn't used to kindness. Kindness led to feelings, and feelings led to the pain of parting, something he knew all too well from years of moving. He had turned himself into a hedgehog to keep people away. Now, he feared these love-struck girls would become an obstacle to his plan. What if one tried to "take the blame" for him to prevent his expulsion?
He scanned the room, desperately looking for a normal reaction. Finally, his eyes landed on one. It wasn't Horikita. It was a gyaru with a high, golden ponytail and a coat tied around her waist—Kei Karuizawa.
She met his gaze head-on, arms crossed, chin up, her expression fierce and defiant.
Yes! Ren thought with relief. That's the right attitude! Who would have thought the most normal person in this class of defectives would be the one who looks the most like a delinquent?
Intrigued by this "rare unit," he stared back. Karuizawa, however, was panicking internally.
What do I do? He's still staring! Can't look away, can't show weakness, or he'll know I'm an easy target! Hirata-kun said he was a good person, right? He wouldn't bully me, right?
Her effort to look tough only made her glare more intense.
So fierce, Ren thought. Is she an actual gangster? Is she going to challenge me to a fight after school?
After a few more seconds, Ren ended the staredown and walked to his seat. Karuizawa let out a silent sigh of relief, then snorted like a victorious general and buried her face in her textbook.
The brief exchange did not go unnoticed.
"Did you see that? He was having a staredown with Karuizawa."
"Don't forget Horikita."
"Oh yeah... maybe he's into fierce girls?"
____________________________________________________________________________
Check out my Patreon to access advanced chapters.
patreon.com/UrbanQuill