Yesterday’s homeroom was a whirlwind.

I once again realized that the spite and jealousy between girls can be incredibly intense, enough to hurt and demean others.

I’d heard somewhere that bullying led by girls is way more insidious than when boys are the ringleaders, and this time I was forced to realize just how true that is.

When it comes to boys, bullying tends to start with physical violence, but with girls, instead of violence, it’s usually something that inflicts psychological suffering.

Perhaps because of their lack of physical strength, or maybe because girls are said to mature mentally faster than boys, the quality of their bullying tends to be more subtle and sinister…

Well, I’m not sure about that.

And what was most scary for me personally this time was Fuyunagi-san.

She had been secretly filming evidence against them all along as a countermeasure in case something like this happened.

It’s terrifying to think that girls maintain superficial friendships on the surface but deceive each other and constantly look for faults behind closed doors.

Well, maybe it doesn’t happen often… But I wish my girlfriend wasn’t one of those exceptions.

And in this incident, our homeroom teacher was exposed not only for having physical relationships with three female students, but also for trying to ruin the future of one student out of self-interest.

The teacher lost his teaching license and faced criminal charges. As expected, he was forced to leave school.

Of course, a new teacher replaced him, an elderly veteran who looked like he was about to collapse at any moment.

Some boys in our class speculated that the new homeroom teacher might be the beautiful female teacher, Ohara-sensei, but it turned out not to be true. What a disappointment!

Anyway, that’s beside the point.

The real issue is this guy here…

Kato Susumu… one of my few friends.

He acts like a typical friend character trope and always says, “I want a girlfriend” as his catchphrase. 

He also formed the “Unpopular Men’s Club” with other unpopular guys and even added me to it without asking, and even after it became public knowledge that Fuyunagi-san is my girlfriend, he stubbornly insists on protecting that club all by himself.

Despite that, he’s surprisingly a genuinely good person with a deep, passionate loyalty to his friends, and he’s come to my aid on several occasions. 

Even if he only got dragged into it, he still played a major role in what happened this time, and right now, he had his chin resting on my desk, bawling and asking what he should do.

“This is bad, this is really bad… what do I do…?”

“What do you mean, ‘what do I do’? There’s nothing to do.”

“Aren’t you being heartless? My best friend!”

Yes, he acted as Fuyunagi-san’s spokesperson and it was during homeroom that he revealed the evidence she had collected.

The victim of bullying, Natsume Kano, was apparently very grateful to him and even impressed by his skills.

Most of what Kato accomplished was actually due to Fuyunagi-san. But she doesn’t know that… And Kato feels a sense of crisis about telling her now.

“Just admit it already, say that what you revealed was actually the evidence Fuyunagi-san collected.”

“That’s impossible! No way!”

“Why not?”

I don’t think anything would change if he admitted it…

“Are you stupid?! Natsume-san’s opinion of me finally went up, and if I say that, it won’t just go back to zero, it’ll drop into the negatives!!”

“You’re just trying to save face…”

Natsume-san is also an incredible beauty, though in a different aspect from Fuyunagi-san or Sakurada-san.

If I had to describe her, she’s like a literary-type beauty, someone whose calm demeanor carries a clear sense of intelligence. She definitely has a quiet, devoted fanbase.

But she’s blunt and doesn’t consider others’ feelings much. She has a side where she can’t read the atmosphere, but even more problematic is how confident she is in herself and how obsessed with efficiency she is.

She has a strong desire to finish things as quickly as possible, so when group activities are required, she constantly urges everyone impatiently, making other students avoid her.

That’s why she’s seen by our classmates as an eccentric person who eagerly takes on the troublesome role of class representative.

So basically, she doesn’t have many friends… Or rather, no friends at all. She usually reads books alone.

But lately, she’s been fussing over Kato an awful lot.

She often goes out of her way to talk to him.

And even now, maybe because she noticed he was here, she walked over to us with a smile.

“What do you think, Kato-kun? I just had an idea a moment ago — there are many well-known methods to read books efficiently, of course. But I still think the most important approach is to predict the content from the table of contents beforehand and deepen your understanding of the story that way.”

“Huh?… I think reading the simple summary on the back cover gives you a good idea without even opening it.”

“Wha—!? T-that’s really efficient…! As expected of you, Kato-kun… you’re no ordinary person…! I had no idea there was such a shortcut!!”

“I mean, with light novels, the title itself often summarizes the plot. ‘The Demon Lord Reincarnates as the Female Hero and Ends Up Fighting His Past Self’, that kind of thing.”

“True… that novel you showed me earlier really was innovative…”

“Also, just reading the characters’ lines can give you an idea of what’s happening without having to read everything.”

“I see… a revolutionary idea.”

At first glance, you’d wonder, “Are they idiots?”

The two of them suddenly started a very serious discussion, even though it wouldn’t be strange to think the whole topic was kind of stupid.

Natsume-san may look smart, but maybe she’s actually more playful than she seems?

Then Fuyunagi-san walked over, sat down in the empty seat next to me, and while staring (glaring) straight into my eyes, she spoke.

“Are you cheating on me again?”

“What part of this situation makes you think it’s about cheating?”

“I take my eyes off you for one moment, and this is what I find. Are you trying to provoke me by flirting with Kato-kun and Natsume-san?”

“I’m normal! I have no interest in men! And Natsume is completely focused on Kato, she probably doesn’t even notice me!”

“Poor Taku-chan. Don’t worry, I’m right here with you, okay?”

“The fact that I can’t tell whether you’re joking or being serious is exactly what makes you so tricky, Fuyunagi-san.”

“Oh my, I’m being completely serious, you know? Taku-chan.”

“Ah… excuse me!”

While Fuyunagi-san and I were teasing each other, Natsume-san approached us.

“What is it? I’m having an important conversation with Taku-kun right now. Did you have something urgent to say?”

“I have no intention of getting in the way of you two. And personally, I actually think you two make a good pair.”

Huh?

Fuyunagi-san and me?

No matter how you look at it, it’s clearly a case of Beauty and the Herbivore, not Beauty and the Beast, right?

“Me and Taku-chan? What do you mean by that?”

“What do I mean…? That’s a difficult question… Well, to put it simply, you two seem like a puzzle piece that fits together perfectly.”

“A puzzle?”

“Yes, the way you complement each other makes you a good pair.”

Fuyunagi-san and me?

If we ignore her personality issues, she’s practically perfect. But what could I possibly fill in for her?

Even if Fuyunagi-san really were lacking something, I can’t imagine someone like me being able to make up for it… not in the slightest.

“Huh… You’re saying nice things. So what do you want?”

“I wanted to thank you.”

“Thank us?”

“Yes. Back then, when Kashiwagi-san and the teacher were causing that commotion, you two helped me and stepped in to stop them, right? I just wanted to thank you for that.”

“Oh, that.”

“You don’t have to worry about it. We only did it because we wanted to, and we barely even helped.”

“Still, I’m grateful.”

“I’m also grateful to you, Majima.”

“Kato?”

“No, seriously, when the teacher cornered me, I was terrified. If you and the others hadn’t stepped in, things would’ve gotten bad.”

“Besides… I owe you one anyway.”

“Huh? Owe me? Since when?”

“Haha, don’t worry about it.”

Even when I confessed to him that I’d been secretly dating Fuyunagi-san behind the scenes, he didn’t treat me any differently. He stayed exactly the same as always.

In that moment, he really did save me.

Anyway… another day begins.

A long, yet strangely short day.