“—H-hey, look at that…!”

“What on earth is going on…!?”

“Furei-sama is being carried like a princess by a boy…!?”

“What is that—was she knocked unconscious…!?”

“Even Emera-sama, who usually walks at the front, is following behind Aima-kun as if she were following him obediently…!?”

“What in the world is happening…!?”

As I carried the peacefully sleeping Furei in a princess carry and headed toward her classroom, the students passing by in the hallway all gasped in shock.

Of course they would. Up until yesterday, these two… well, technically it was mostly just one of them… acted like they owned the school. But now they are behaving like completely different people.

Naturally, neither Emera nor Furei had ever let a man touch their body.

Still… saying she is “knocked out” is an exaggeration.

No matter how you looked at her, she was sleeping comfortably with the cutest expression on her face.

And since it was already obvious to everyone that I was the one who’d made Emera change so much, I just gave up commenting on her behavior.

Given how influential they are, the moment even a few students heard about it, the news would spread through the whole school instantly.

At this point, hiding it would be pointless.

Even if it’s meaningless, stop fidgeting and blushing while sneaking glances up at me!

People will get the wrong idea!

…That was all I could think, and honestly, all I wanted to say.

Not that saying it here, in front of all these people, would help in the slightest.

“—Alright, this should do, right?”

After arriving at their classroom and placing Furei in her seat, I asked Emera for confirmation.

“Y-yes, that’s fine.”

She was doing her best to act like her typical demeanor, but it was far too late for that now…

Still, since she was at least trying, I decided to respect that effort.

“―Emera-sama……”

“What in the world did Aima-kun do to you…?”

Yeah… looks like this really isn’t helping at all.

“Hina, if anything happens, just come tell me right away—”

Even if things had been resolved, it was still the day after Hina had gone through something awful.

Sharing a classroom with the people responsible must have been tough for her, so I tried saying something to put her at ease.

And then—

““““W-we are deeply sorry…!!””””

—four of the girls who had followed us into the classroom suddenly dropped to their knees in a dogeza before me.

For a moment I couldn’t tell what was happening, but seeing their pale, terrified faces looking up at me made everything click.

They were the ones who hadn’t been in this classroom after school yesterday—the actual perpetrators of Hina’s harassment.

I had deliberately prevented Emera and Fuurei from mentioning what happened between us yesterday and only made them delete Hina’s photos. But with Emera acting like a completely different person now, they must have put everything together.

You could see the fear in their eyes—the terror that they, too, might be subjected to something so awful it would change their personality.

It’s a huge misunderstanding, but… they wouldn’t believe me even if I said so.

And besides, the fact that I really did end up turning Emera into this makes it impossible to outright deny…

That aside, since these girls were the ones who carried out the bullying, they probably rank low on Furei’s priority list. But because the one who gave the order was Emera, they’re likely considered her trusted attendants—people she personally approved of.

And sure enough, they’re all good-looking.

…Their personalities, however, are absolute garbage.

The fact that they apologized to me instead of Hina showed how little they understood the situation. And hurting someone for their own desires made them irredeemable.

Honestly, the fact that they all look like neat, well-mannered girls just makes it worse.

If they looked like flashy gyaru types, I’d think that they seem like the type to do that. But every one of them looks serious and demure—some even give off the vibe of refined young ladies.

Well, aside from Emera and Furei being absurdly rich, it seems this school has plenty of wealthy families. Maybe these girls come from houses connected to the Tenjoin Zaibatsu or something.

If that’s the case, dealing with them would be annoying, but in the worst case, Maria-san could take care of it however she wants.

If I just said, “They are the ones who hurt Hina,” she’d probably crush them without a second thought.

“Um, they are reflecting on what they did, so…”

It seemed like Emera didn’t want anything too harsh to happen to them, because she tried to calm me down.

Well, if their families are connected, they’re probably childhood friends.

She never used to show interest in anyone except Furei, so the fact that she’s worrying about them might really mean her personality has changed.

…Not that I can honestly feel happy about it, considering why she changed…

“Do you really think what they did to Hina can be forgiven just because they apologize?”

“—!”

I wasn’t trying to intimidate her. I merely looked at her and asked the question, but Emera instantly went silent and lowered her head.

This caused the students in the classroom, as well as those peeking from the hallway, to look at me with fear.

Emera had been a symbol of terror before, but now I appeared to be the new source of fear by silencing her instantly.

My peaceful school life up until yesterday felt like a lie…

Well, unlike Emera, I don’t normally go around intimidating the people around me, and given how I’ve acted up until now, I’m sure they’ll realize it’s a misunderstanding soon…

While I was thinking such optimistic thoughts—

“Y-you were the one who suggested we strip her and take pictures to make Emera-sama happy, so please admit it quickly…!”

“W-what?! D-don’t put all the blame on just me…! You all went along with it too, didn’t you!!”

“But Emera-sama only ordered us to scare her a little…! She never told us to go that far, yet you were the one who wanted to push it…!”

“That’s right…! And Furei-sama specifically told us not to injure her, yet you clearly went overboard…!”

—They suddenly started throwing the blame at each other.

They must really be terrified that I’ll retaliate against them.

Surprisingly, it seems that splashing Hina with water and taking those photos were all done on their own.

I had assumed Emera ordered it, so honestly, they would’ve been better off not admitting that here.

Their intention was probably to make sure I heard everything, so that the blame would fall on a single ringleader, and I’d direct all my anger at just one of them. But even if one of them came up with the idea, all four carried it out, and it’s not as though they were forced into it by Emera’s absolute authority.

By their own admission, they tried to use Hina as a sacrificial pawn just to curry more favor with Emera.

Especially since they sold out their own friends, I didn’t feel the need to show them any mercy.

Maybe they grew up pampered by power and money, but they were taking the world far too lightly.

“I wasn’t planning on using violence just because you’re girls… and to be honest, I wasn’t even sure about scaring you too badly, but…”

The moment I muttered that, all four of the beautiful girls flinched, their shoulders trembling.

“E-Eito-kun…?”

Emera also looked at me, looking slightly frightened, trying to figure out what I was planning.

Seeing her expression gave me an idea—

“Well, yeah… solving things with violence would be pointless, and I’ve also thought of a suitable punishment. The day after tomorrow is Saturday, so… Emera, could we use your mansion after school tomorrow? My home’s bathroom is too small for it.”

After giving the girls a look as if they were nothing but trash, I turned to Emera with a pleasant smile and made my request.

The moment she heard that, Emera seemed to understand everything—

“Eito-kun… you’re a devil too…”

—she said that while blushing and shivering.