After sleeping for a whole day, Kai was back to full health. Maybe he got off with a light cold because Jun shouldered half the burden. After a quick message on LINE, he found that she was planning to be back at school today, Wednesday. With their agreement to meet in the classroom made, Kai left for school after his one-day gap.
I need to get someone to show me their notes from yesterday. Kishimoto probably didn’t take any worth reading, so maybe I should ask for Satou’s...
He thought long and hard about such classroom concerns as he arrived at school without incident. Once he made it to the shoe lockers, he found Reina, who appeared to be waiting for someone...
Erk.
Kai’s awareness of her loathing made him recoil by reflex, but he quickly gave it a second thought. She seemed to be the one who saved him by calling for Royalteach, so he had to give his thanks.
“G-Good morning, Fujisawa!”
Kai timidly approached her as he performed the requisite mental gymnastics to assure himself it wasn’t “unnecessary contact” or that she wouldn’t get mad at him.
“Good morning. I’ve been waiting!”
Reina greeted him with a radiant and flawlessly faked smile.
Wh-Wh-Wh-What’s gotten into her?!
He was startled but too afraid to pry, so he opted to get his business over with first. As they walked side by side toward their classroom, he cut to the chase.
“You were the one who called for Royalteach when Matsuda’s gang was beating me up, right? Thanks for that.”
“Oh, you needn’t thank me. It was Kishimoto and Satou who summoned their courage to tell me that you were called out behind the gym.”
“Ah, I see. Guess there’s a lot of people I gotta thank.”
Kai may have sounded bashful, but his expression was beaming. He had just learned that there were a bunch of people on his side. What could have made him happier?
The queen also filled him in on what had happened while he was out.
“Matsuda’s gang was suspended for two weeks and received a yellow card on top of it. They were told in no uncertain terms that any further acts of violence would result in immediate expulsion.”
“...Isn’t that kinda harsh?”
“Perhaps. If you had a one-track mind like those trash, you’d be serving a share of their sentence.” Even Reina was impressed that Kai didn’t throw any punches back.
“On the flip side, that means I gotta see their faces again in just two weeks. Not lookin’ forward to that...”
Kai made another sheepish complaint as he hid his reddened cheeks. But now that he’d spoken it out loud, he realized it could actually be a serious problem. Those guys weren’t the type to learn their lessons, so they’d come back to make his life miserable. Or worse—come out for revenge. They didn’t want to get expelled either, so they’d probably shift to shadier methods of torment, methods that wouldn’t leave much evidence. In that case, there might be a limit to how much even Royalteach could help... Just the thought made Kai anxious.
“You’ll be fine.” Reina paid no mind to Kai’s fears as she made her casual statement. “Don’t worry, Matsuda’s gang is going to do a lot of thinking about what they did. They won’t bother you again.”
“Uhhhhh, really?” Kai found this hard to believe. He’d never seen delinquents like them turn over a new leaf.
“Rest assured, I’ll make them think.”
“Um?”
“Oh, don’t mind me, just talking to myself.”
Reina shot Kai another radiant, flawlessly faked smile. Kai decided not to press for details out of fear for his life, instead choosing to return to the main topic at hand.
“Anyway, Fujisawa, I’d like to thank you.”
“As I told you, you needn’t thank me.”
“Hm?”
Kai felt a bit suspicious of how guarded Reina was despite maintaining her precisely pretty smile. But Reina readily admitted the truth.
“Does it not strike you as odd? I knew from the beginning that you were called out. And yet, they still beat you down. Your help didn’t arrive in time.”
“...Is it that strange?”
“I was watching them beat you to a pulp from the beginning.”
“Geh!” Kai’s face contorted after hearing a confession that he could have gone his whole life without knowing. “...Why?”
“I thought you had it coming. Besides, I wanted you to break up with Jun, too.”
Okay, yeah, this girl is terrifying. The shiver that was sent down Kai’s spine reminded him full well. “...But wait a second. That still doesn’t add up.”
“Oh? How so?”
“Then what was the point of calling Royalteach? You could’ve just waited for me to beg Matsuda for mercy.”
“Indeed, that was the original plan...” Reina suddenly halted in her tracks. She turned to face Kai, who had also paused. “But you said that you’d never break up with Jun no matter what they put you through. It made me think better of you. So, I changed my mind and decided to help. Nothing more.”
Curiously enough, they found themselves in the same hallway where Reina told Kai she had overestimated him one week ago. This was right where she told him that he wasn’t a suitable man, and that she wouldn’t accept their relationship, among plenty of other things.
And in that exact same place...
“So, would you consider becoming friends with me?” Reina asked with a radiant smile. One that was harder to discern if it was faked or honest.
“Are... you... serious?” Kai was incredulous that she’d ask after all this time, but the queen was still undaunted.
“Why not? The friend of my friend is my friend, are they not?”
“You’re not wrong... I think?”
And that was the moment that Kai could call one more girl his friend.
“Now, let us be off... Ash.” Reina invited Kai to the classroom. He looked none too pleased, but followed regardless.
“I told you, it’s Nakamura!”
“Is it? Come now, we’re friends. You can call me Reina, and that’s a privilege.”
“At least call me Kai! Jun does too!”
“Then let me call you Ash. Changing one’s nickname is an important technique for emphasizing one’s character, according to Jun.”
“Do you even know what that means?”
Shortly afterward, Jun’s face lit up, and the entire class’s eyes went wide at the sight of those two joking as they entered the classroom.