[I don't know these people!]
'Don't panic. That girl is called Ibuki Mio, the guy in the middle is Albert, and the last boy is Ishizaki Daichi.'
Saiki immediately spoke.
[Okay.]
Ai responded in her mind, then opened her mouth, "Really sorry, Ibuki."
"???"
Suddenly hearing Ryuen speak in such polite words, the other people present were all stunned.
[Wait, Ryuen… what's going on? Did I hear wrong, or did he really just use the word 'classmate'?]
[Is he being sarcastic?]
[Is Ryuen angry or what…]
'Hey, hey, don't forget your identity. You're the leader of Class D now, a ruthless guy who acts like a gangster boss!' Saiki quickly reminded her.
[Oh, oh, oh, oh, I'm just new to acting as someone else, no experience yet!]
Ai said, while her brain frantically replayed all the gangster movies she'd watched before. Saiki was dragged into reliving them along with her.
[I know what to do now!]
A confident smile appeared on Ai's face. She straightened her back, puffed out her chest, and her eyes gained a trace of arrogance.
'Good job, keep it like that.' Saiki praised her inwardly.
But at that moment, Ai turned her head toward Ishizaki Daichi, and in an icy voice said,
"Kneel."
'????'
Saiki jumped in shock. 'What are you doing?'
[Isn't this how mafia bosses scold their underlings in the movies?] Ai hurriedly explained in her heart.
'Who even talks like that? Not even Ryuen would…'
Just as Saiki was getting a headache, Ishizaki Daichi suddenly dropped to his knees right beside Ai.
'?'
Countless question marks appeared in Saiki's mind.
"I'm really sorry, Ryuen! I just spent hours tailing Yamauchi… but I honestly didn't find anything suspicious. I'm truly sorry…"
Ishizaki knelt on the ground, his forehead pressed tight to the floor.
'No seriously, what has Ryuen been doing to them normally?'
[Next I should say, 'You won't even call me Godfather'…]
'Stop copying movies! And why The Godfather of all things?!'
Saiki shouted inside Ai's head.
Luckily, under Saiki's intervention, Ai disguised as Ryuen didn't end up doing anything too abnormal.
"Ryuen, that's enough. Ishizaki probably already did his best. After all, the other side isn't some ordinary person."
Ibuki frowned as she tried to mediate.
She knew Ryuen's abilities were essential for Class D, and that's why she obeyed his orders. But there were many of his actions she did not really approve of.
"Oh? And who do you think you are? Are you trying to order me around?"
Ai continued to imitate the image of a gangster boss in her head, speaking sharply to Ibuki.
Ibuki, though displeased, only bit her lip awkwardly before replying, "You really do seem weird today. Did you get anything out of that guy, Saiki?"
'Yare yare… If I can use this chance to stop Class D from bothering me, that'd be ideal. But once Ryuen recovers, if he notices the change, that'll be bad.'
Thinking that, Saiki immediately instructed Ai how to respond, "No useful intel. Just keep going with today's plans."
"Mm."
Ibuki and the others nodded.
"I'm tired. I'll head back first."
Ai, still acting as Ryuen, mimicked the kind of gestures he might use, swaggering arrogantly as she walked into the dormitory.
"Don't you guys feel Ryuen was acting a bit strange today?"
Ishizaki rubbed his head as he watched "Ryuen's" back disappear, his eyes full of doubt.
"Not that surprising, I guess. Our class got totally crushed at the sports festival today… Ryuen was so confident before it, and in the end we were the biggest losers."
Ibuki analyzed calmly, seeming to understand the reason for Ryuen's change in mood.
"And this is probably the first time Ryuen himself got completely played for a fool. Let's just give him some space to cool off."
"You're right…"
———
Inside the dorm, Ai followed Saiki's mental directions, entered the elevator, and arrived on Class D's floor.
'…Keep going forward. The third room on the right is Ryuen's.'
Hearing Saiki's voice in her mind, Ai stopped at Ryuen's door.
[I don't have his key card.]
'Not a problem.'
With Saiki's words, the door instantly unlocked.
[Wow, this ability is really convenient.]
'I don't think so.'
Back in his own room, Saiki sighed and turned to look at the stone statue of Ryuen.
His frozen pose of defiance now looked rather comical.
If not for that damned psychic ability, things would never have turned out like this.
Ryuen's student card was in his pocket, but of course it had turned into stone along with him…
'You'll sleep here tonight. Try not to mess with the room's setup. I'll handle some other things.'
With that, Saiki teleported away, carrying the petrified Ryuen, back to his home, hundreds of kilometers away.
Leaving the statue in the dorm was far too risky.
———
[At the Saiki Household]
"Darling…"
"Honey…"
Saiki Kuniharu and Saiki Kurumi were gazing lovingly into each other's eyes.
The next moment, Saiki appeared with the statue.
"Ah! Kusuo! Why'd you suddenly come back?"
Kuniharu turned toward him with wide eyes, utterly shocked.
'I come home around this time every day anyway.'
Saiki didn't bother speaking, just answered telepathically.
"Kusuo, what's that thing you brought back?"
Kurumi stared at the statue curiously.
"Is it a present for us!?"
Kuniharu's face lit up with a smile. He stepped closer to inspect the statue, reaching out and touching it lightly.
'This is my classmate. Because of an accident, he got turned into stone. To prevent further problems, I had no choice but to bring him home…'
"This is the first time Kusuo has ever brought a classmate home… Just didn't expect him to be made of stone."
'Couldn't be helped. After all…'
But before Saiki could finish, he suddenly heard a sharp sound behind him.
Ryuen, shattered into pieces.
His head rolled across the floor like a soccer ball, finally bumping against the wall, his frozen arrogant smile now looking utterly ridiculous.
Beside him stood Kuniharu, frozen in shock, who had accidentally knocked the statue over with his careless hands.
Ryuen could never have imagined he'd end up like this one day.
'￥%＃＃...'
"Kusuo… from now on, your mother… will have to rely on you to take care of her…"
Kuniharu put on a look of noble resolve as tears streamed down his face. He pulled out his phone.
"Hello… police? I want to turn myself in…"
Before he could finish, Saiki rushed to stop him.
'Calm down. You don't need to confess.'
"Really!?"
"In this situation, I can just use my restoration ability. That will fix it."
Saiki picked up Ryuen's head from the floor and activated his power, reattaching and repairing the statue.
Although restoration couldn't undo petrification, if the statue itself was damaged, he could still fix it.
"That's wonderful, Kusuo!"
'Don't celebrate yet. Nothing else can go wrong now. I can only use restoration once per object in a single day. If something happens again…'
A bead of sweat formed on Saiki's forehead. If another accident occurred, the results would be unimaginable.
'If he actually died… I'd probably bear at least 2% of the responsibility.'
"Don't worry, Kusuo." Kurumi smiled gently.
"We'll just put your classmate in that spare cabinet. That way nothing strange will happen."
'Yeah. For now, that'll do.'
"I'll help move him!"
Kuniharu volunteered enthusiastically.
'No, I'll do it myself!'
Saiki would never allow any more accidents to happen.
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