77 Act 14: Scene 1

Sakura Airi never considered herself as a person who loved reading books, even though her glasses could sometimes give the impression of it to other people. However, ever since she began to study with Kiyotaka and Kei weeks ago, reading books has become somewhat akin to a habit by now. Not that she liked to open a book and read its contents, but it was clear to her now that in order to keep up with everyone else, she had to study.

And despite her most recent success in passing her midterms (it still felt so surreal to her), Airi knew that she would have to work even harder for the upcoming finals. The old her would have been discouraged at the thought because studying was just tiring to do but now that she had a taste of how things would be like if she worked hard to prepare for an exam, there was no question that she needed to do this.

That's why, even on a Sunday where she could be doing anything else, the red-haired girl was heading to the library instead. She was actually going to return a couple of books that she borrowed the past week, which were all stuff that Kiyotaka recommended her to read so she could prepare ahead of their study sessions in the future. Afterwards, she would then read a few reference books in order to pass the time and to study in advance.

If Airi had to be honest with herself, she didn't think that she improved much; her academic ability was still below-average that it's almost a miracle that she even passed, and Mathematics was as hard as ever for her. She doubted that she would ever be good in that subject.

Feeling a short burst of confidence from within her, Airi donned a serious look that one would never see from her.

"Everyone is working hard to get good grades..." she thought to herself while hugging the books she borrowed close to her chest. "It only means that I have to do the same...! I don't want to drag my classmates down with my own shortcomings. I want to be better than before!"

While she was on her way to the library, the girl passed by the bathhouse that opened in the school a few weeks ago, which was apparently named, "Heaven on Earth".

Ever since the first time that she tried out the public bath, there have been two other instances where she went back to the place to experience the onsen again. Honestly, she couldn't focus much on the first time that was here because of Kiyotaka's presence and the fact that he... washed her back.

Airi blushed deeply upon remembering that memory. She honestly had no idea what compelled her to agree to such an embarrassing arrangement. Looking back on it now, she definitely should have refused politely!

Maybe she was just too overwhelmed by everyone else saying 'yes' that she couldn't say otherwise?

Anyway, what's done is done and there's no use in wondering what could have been. In the end, it wasn't even a bad thing. Ayanokouji-kun was really good in the whole thing and thankfully, his hands didn't wander anywhere inappropriate.

"No! I'm only making it worse...!"

Airi shook her head to get the memory out of her mind right now. The more she thinks about it, the more it'll bother her and at worse, she'll continue avoiding him out of embarrassment.

Speaking of which, she'll have to apologize to Kiyotaka soon! Every time he tried to talk to her ever since that day at the Heaven on Earth bathhouse, she ended up staying away from him as much as she could. Mostly out of embarrassment, though.

"Haaauughhhh, I have to apologize to Ayanokouji-kun tomorrow! We have to study together again soon, and I don't want to keep avoiding him..."

She'll apologize tomorrow, perhaps during class and hope that Kiyotaka forgives her for being cruel to him...

With that out of the way, Airi continued on her way to the library. Before she could fully walk past the bathhouse though, she saw a person being led away by three other individuals to what seems like the back of the establishment.

Just from a single glance, it's clear that there were no good intentions behind the act because the two of them were grabbing the other student by his arms, preventing any means of escape. Their other comrade, who was seemingly the leader of their little band of misfits, pulled on their victim's collar as they headed for the space behind the Heaven on Earth sentō.

The three students were facing away from her, so she couldn't identify who they were. However, the other one, who was their victim, wasn't. Because of that, she was able to see the face of the person who was getting dragged away without a fight. Yes, despite wearing glasses, they weren't actually real which also meant that Airi had no problems with her eyesight.

"That's... Miyake-kun?"

Being someone who gets nervous and stutters in the presence of other people, Airi didn't have the luxury of having many friends. In fact, the only people she would consider as 'friends' were Kei and Kiyotaka. Sure, she had been around Horikita, Kushida, and even Matsushita a few times, but she wouldn't say that they were her friends... she wasn't even sure if they liked having her around or simply tolerated her presence.

Nonetheless, it didn't mean that she had no idea who her classmates were. Airi had a decent knowledge of the people whom she spends time with as a student of Class D everyday. While she wouldn't say that she could name every single person off the top of her head, she can recognize them when she sees their face.

Because of that, she was able to recognize the individual as her classmate, which immediately caught her concern.

Of course, she couldn't just shout out her classmate's name to get their attention and there's no way she was going to run up to the three and stop them in their tracks. Instead, what she did was run quietly to the entrance of the bathhouse, hiding behind the wall so that she wouldn't be seen.

"What are they doing to him?" Airi thought with a look of worry on her face as she took a little peek at the group of young men who had unknown but surely bad intentions in mind for her classmate.

Meanwhile, the magenta-haired student of Class D bore a frustrated look on his face. He didn't think that his morning would end up like this. A few minutes ago, he was just enjoying a morning jog around the campus in peace with nothing bothering him. And then, out of nowhere, three guys who introduced themselves as students from Class C blocked his path and refused to move even after telling them to.

He was completely caught off guard when one of them kneed him in the gut, causing him to fall over on his knees in pain. He then felt two of them grab each of his arms while the other grabbed his collar from behind, before dragging him with them.

Akito had no idea why these guys were even doing this and what they wanted with him but one thing was for sure...

His day won't end without a trip to the clinic.

After recovering from the pain in his gut, Akito took a quick look at his surroundings in an effort to figure out where he's being taken to, and he was very fortunate that the nearby building was a place where he had been to before.

However, he wasn't being taken there for a trip to the onsen or anything. Instead, he was dragged to the back of the bathhouse where he was slammed to the wall and received another knee to his midsection, earning a loud groan from him.

"Get him up," the 'leader' barked at his classmates, as they grabbed the fallen Akito and forced him to stand back up. "That's better."

"Why don't you just tell me what you want instead of doing this?" Akito asked his captors as he struggled to regain his bearings.

"What we want? We want you to shut up and not say anything," the one holding his right arm said.

"I regret a lot of things, but I don't remember doing anything to you. The hell are you three even angry about?"

"You don't need to know anything. Just stay where you are and take your punishment like a man," the one on his left added.

"Smart. Doing this in a place where you can't be seen by anyone else," Akito remarked, noticing the lack of security cameras around him. "You can still stop this, you know? Just let me go and I'll let this slide. I'll even forget that it ever happened."

"You're right. You'll forget this ever happened... because we'll make you forget!"

The leader reared his fist back for a punch, only for him to get kicked away when Akito raised his leg.

"I warned you."

While his two other captors were caught off guard for a moment, Akito took advantage and broke free from their hold. He didn't waste time and pushed one of them to the ground, before engaging the other one in a fistfight.

Surprisingly, Akito looked like he was capable of defending himself by landing some good punches on his adversary's chest, before kicking him away. He did this in the nick of time, because their 'leader' had quickly recovered and tried surprising him from behind, but Akito dodged it.

Before he could take advantage of his opportunity, he was struck in the neck by a massive chop by the Class C student whom he had pushed to the ground a while ago. Left in a vulnerable state, he received a solid punch to the gut followed by two more body shots, causing him to fall to the ground.

In his current state, Akito couldn't do anything against the Class C students when they began to stomp on him and kick at his fallen body. All that he was capable of doing right now was staying where he was, and taking every hit that these guys were inflicting upon him.

Hiding behind the nearby wall was Airi, who couldn't believe that things had escalated into this. Seeing her classmate get dragged back here was one thing, seeing him get beaten up and left completely outnumbered was another.

She was wondering why those other students were even doing this in the first place. Did Miyake-kun do something bad to them? Did he do something unpleasant? Or were those people just trying to hurt him for the sake of hurting him?

The girl covered her mouth to stifle a gasp when she saw him get kicked in the face.

Oh, how badly she wanted to jump out from where she was and help, but she couldn't. One, she was too nervous and afraid about doing such a thing and the consequences that it would lead. Two, even if she wanted to come out of her hiding place and catch them in the act, Airi couldn't feel her legs at the moment... as if she was paralyzed.

"I... I can't stand here and watch...!"