31 - Reputation

'Something else needs to happen for Saki Yoshida's Anti-NTRing to succeed fully,' Yuuto thought as he texted Saki back.

[You can just stop sending anything,]

he wrote after waking up.

The next day, he was on his way to school.

'Her schoolmates need to stop treating her like a communal fleshlight. The easy path would be to kill them,' Yuuto's eyes momentarily narrowed as he shook his head.

'But there are too many of them, and even girls at her school hate and bully her. I could inspire her mother to transfer her, but then I wouldn't be able to watch over her or ensure she changes,' he thought, approaching the building.

'The only solution is to change how people treat her. But once someone's reputation is as low as Saki's, changing people's perspective and earning respect is nearly impossible,' he thought as he crossed the schoolyard. Heads turned en masse to see Yuuto in his school uniform with darkened hair.

"Hey... It's Hiroki-kun...!"

"He's back to school...!!"

"Hey, you sure the rumor's right? He got us out of the hypnotist's control all by himself...?"

"Yeah... My dad works in the police force; he confirmed it."

"Holy shit..." Students whispered as Yuuto entered the building, ignoring them.

'Well, that's where I come in,' Yuuto thought as a row of students bowed and greeted him as he entered.

"GOOD MORNING, ANIKI!!! WELCOME BACK TO SCHOOL!! THANK YOU VERY MUCH!!!" They chimed in unison, bowing. Some were second, and even third-years.

"Woah, look at these guys go..."

"Well, he did save us all... I think that guy earned some respect."

"I know he's a woman beater and all... But I'm totally head-over-heels for him!" a group of girls whispered as Yuuto passed by the row of bowing students.

'There was no way they wouldn't know what happened. With that footage spreading, and Hiroki's sister and the delinquent group involved.' he thought, entering his classroom.

The other students continued to whisper among themselves as he casually took his seat by the window.

His desk had never been cleaner.

"Yo... He actually faced an entire school all by himself..."

"I heard he killed the one who hypnotized everyone too."

"Don't be stupid! It's probably a cop who did it!"

"Are you sure? A friend of mine said his dad's a cop, and he told him that—"

The whispers continued endlessly, even as the teacher entered and started the class, his face slightly swollen with a bandage covering his nose.

'Oh... That's the teacher whose face I slammed on the floor,' Yuuto recognized as the teacher looked at him.

"Oh, Morii-kun. Come up here," the teacher warmly invited.

With a sigh, Yuuto got up and walked to the front of the classroom, where the teacher thanked him in front of all the students, who responded with thunderous applause.

He returned to his seat, and a few hours later, lunchtime arrived. Yuuto pulled out two boxes of bento and walked outside.

"Oh...? He's not eating here?" a student called out, slightly frustrated as Yuuto exited the classroom.

"Of course not. You jerks bullied him, why would he want to stay here?" a girl exclaimed.

"Yeah, it's YOUR fault Morii-sama doesn't want to hang out with us!" her friend chimed in.

"SHUT UP! You were the one who spread rumors about him!" a male student interrupted.

"Yeah. At least when we bullied him, we did it directly to his FACE," another added.

"Oh, like when you trashed his table before he came in? Wow, you're so manly. You wouldn't DARE do that if he was inside," a girl argued.

"JUST SHUT UP!" they all bickered as Yuuto walked away from the classroom.

'Either way, this new reputation works in my favor. Saki Yoshida's reputation had sunk so low, almost nothing could salvage it...' he thought as he walked into Saki's classroom, seeing her seated quietly at her messy desk.

"Hey look, it's Hiroki-kun..."

"What's he doing here...?"

"The hero of the school came to visit us... Damn..!"

"You think he's here to see me?" a girl said, hopeful.

"Yuu-... Hiroki-..kun?" Saki mumbled as she looked at him.

Yuuto stood tall and confident as he approached her.

'My ridiculously overwhelmingly positive reputation is that 'almost nothing',' Yuuto thought as he extended his arm to her, holding a plastic bag in the other.

"Wanna have some lunch with me?" he asked.

"Oh... To HER of all people?"

"He's also after that whore?" The students' eyes narrowed, while Saki's eyes glistened at his proposal.

'After seeing his text, I thought he was mad at me...' Saki thought, relieved as she looked at his hand. '...I... I'll actually get to hold his hand again...' Her heart fluttered with anticipation as she recalled the warmth she had felt that night he went to visit her.

"But he said lunch," a student argued.

"Dumbass. He wouldn't say he wants to fuck her in public!"

"Oh, good point."

Yuuto ignored their whispers.

"H-Hiroki-sama! Ignore that girl, she's just an attention whore! Come eat with us!" a girl called out.

"Trust me, dude. She's not worth it. We're having a joint lunch; you should join us," a male student suggested.

Saki hesitated, looking down shamefully as she averted her gaze from his hand.

'Right... I'll just complicate things for him. Everyone seems to really like him now. Being with me is just going to hurt him,' she thought, glancing at his palm still extended toward her.

'But... I really want to hold it...' She shivered, feeling tears well up in her throat.

"My mom made two bentos. She made the other one especially for you. Are you going to turn her feelings away?" Yuuto asked, standing tall.

"Yo... His mom made food for the two of them...?"

"Holy shit... Are they dating, then?"

They whispered, some filled with terror. Saki looked up, her eyes glowing with hope as Yuuto kept his hand extended.

"I'm gonna lower it if you don't take it," Yuuto said with a sigh, slowly beginning to retract his hand.

Just as he fully retracted it, Saki instinctively reached out but missed, unable to grab it in time.

Yuuto pretended not to notice.

"So, are you coming?" he inquired again as he turned around.

Feeling frustrated she had missed her opportunity, she got up and began to follow him.

"Damn... They're really eating together..."

"To pick her as your girlfriend... Was he desperate?"

'Of course, there was the possibility that even my reputation wouldn't help elevate hers all that much. Which is why I called in a favor beforehand,' Yuuto thought as the classroom door burst open, with Nazuna cheerfully entering.

"Heeeeeey, you guys took too long! You coming?" she asked, draping her arms over Yuuto's shoulders.

"HOLY SHIT... That's Nazuna-senpai!"

"The strongest 3rd year there is... Why is she here...?!"

"She and Hiroki... Are also acquainted?!"

The murmurs grew louder as Akito walked into the classroom, hobbling on his crutches, with casts on his legs and neck.

"That's KAMIYAMA-SENPAI... HIM TOO?!" The whispers intensified.

"I could no longer wait outside hearing y'all babble on. Yeah, we're all eating together. Got a problem, HUUUH?!" Akito's voice boomed throughout the classroom.

The room immediately went silent, students nervously looking away.

"Thought so. Now come on, we're wasting break time..." he said, turning around on his crutches.

"Oh, but Aki-chan, you know I don't care about making it to classes... Besides, we decided to ditch the rest of the school day~," Nazuna said playfully.

"I wasn't saying that for you or me... I was saying that for him—..." Akito said, cutting himself off as he glanced at Yuuto, blushing and looking away.

"Ohhhh!!!?!" Nazuna teased, pinching his cheeks from behind. "Aki-chan made a friend~~~!!"

In the background, Yuuto sighed while Saki placed her palm on her lips in surprise.

"JUST SHUT UP ALREADY... Let's just go!" Akito said, pushing her hand off his face, and the group soon left the classroom.

As they walked down the hallways, Saki was too overwhelmed by the situation to say anything. For the first time, no one ogled at her or threw looks of jealousy her way.

Akito walked ahead, slightly apart from the group.

"Aki-chan... You know I was just teasing you, right? Or... Do you actually have some feelings for Yuuto-chan?" Nazuna teased again.

"Hey," Akito's voice cut through, his head slightly turned toward Yuuto.

"Hmm?" Yuuto hummed in response, looking at him.

"Thanks... For saving this monkey," Akito said, his voice low and trailing off.

Nazuna smiled, a blush coloring her cheeks, then suddenly ran forward and stole one of Akito's crutches, causing him to fall as she ran away.

"Oh my...!!!" Saki called out in worry as she watched Nazuna bolt forward with a giggle.

"HEY, YOU BASTARD!!!" Akito yelled.

"That's for calling me a monkey, again, Aki-chan~!!!!" She yelled back as she ran away.

"We're wasting lunchtime," Yuuto exclaimed, his gaze melancholic as he looked at them all.

'Still... This is a nice change of pace,' he thought, haunted by the memory of those he'd killed.

-----------ELSEWHERE--------------------

Gyarune stepped over the bodies littering the laboratory floor, heading straight for the artifact on the counter. A lone scientist, trembling in the corner, watched in horror.

"Finally... Got this bitch," Gyarune muttered with a wicked grin, seizing the pocket watch from the podium.

He turned to the terrified scientist.

"Hey, old man. Aren't you glad? You'll get to witness the fruits of your experiment firsthand!" Gyarune taunted, clicking the stopwatch.

The scientist's eyes widened in disbelief as Gyarune vanished into thin air.

'He... Left me alive?' the scientist thought, shakily rising to his feet. He surveyed the trashed laboratory, strewn with the bodies of his colleagues and security guards.

'He actually took it...!'

He clutched his face in terror.

'The Time Stopping Clock...!'