Chapter 9

After parting ways with Yuki in the back garden, I headed straight for Class 3-3.

I grabbed a nearby girl and asked, “Is Inoue-senpai here?” She pointed me to a seat, and sure enough, Inoue-senpai was hunched over by the window, fiddling with his phone.

“Good morning.”

I made sure to properly bow in front of his seat, but as soon as he saw my face, he dropped his phone and nearly tumbled out of his chair.

“Y-you’re…”

“Thanks for yesterday.”

“T-thank you…?”

Yuki had asked me to sort things out with the people from yesterday. Normally, I would’ve passed on such a hassle, but given the situation, I knew things could get ugly if I didn’t step in. I didn’t want things to escalate any further.

The leader of that shady meeting yesterday was Inoue Takeshi from Class 3-3.

Now, standing before me, was a chubby, bespectacled guy wearing an awkward smile. I had just seen him in the bathroom yesterday.

Yuki had even given me a photo of him, so I knew exactly who he was.

I couldn’t believe he was actually the leader of these upperclassmen.

“So, you’re the leader, huh?”

“N-no! I had nothing to do with it! Yesterday, Tanaka went off on his own…!”

“Calm down, I get it.”

Inoue-senpai was visibly panicking now, sweat dripping from his face.

Apparently, Tanaka, whoever he was, had acted impulsively yesterday, and the other two guys had just stood there, not knowing what to do.

“You should’ve stopped him.”

“I was too scared to move! I was thinking my life was over! I didn’t know what to do!”

“Didn’t you try to, I don’t know, do something weird like secretly filming?”

“No, no! I asked straight up, ‘Would you be interested in cosplaying? If so, could I take some pictures?’ And then they treated me like a stalker!”

“Well, that’s not much better.”

Inoue-senpai seemed to calm down a little when he realized I wasn’t hostile. If Yuki had been the one doing this, it might’ve gone a lot worse.

It seemed I’d made the right call by stepping in.

Inoue was clearly a talker—he started explaining things unprompted.

“So, about that Tanaka guy, he’s not at school today. He’s gone to the hospital.”

“He’s gone to the hospital?” I asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Yeah, he was fine when he went home yesterday, but the pain started later. He thinks something might be wrong with his bones.”

Is this going to end with me having to pay for his treatment? I didn’t think I’d hit him that hard.

“I’m not trying to defend him, but he’s not a bad guy, really. It just… happened, y’know? He’s feeling really sorry about it.”

“I get it. But, about his injuries—how about we just keep quiet about that, too?”

“Eh? What do you mean?”

“I mean, let’s just both keep this quiet. No one needs to know about the whole thing. That was the princess’s order. Got it?”

“Uh… yeah, of course!”

“The rest was,  I’ll never talk to you guys again, so stay away, you pigs.” 

“Ye-Yes!”

I knew Inoue-senpai was completely terrified now. His face was drenched in sweat, and I could tell he was scared out of his mind.

“And one more thing.” I pulled out the envelope Yuki had entrusted to me and shoved it toward Inoue-senpai.

I hadn’t counted, but it was pretty thick. I assumed there were a good number of thousand-yen bills and coins inside.

This was the money Yuki had gotten from these guys, and she hadn’t spent a single yen of it. Apparently, she had told me this was all about showing loyalty or something weird like that. She just wanted to return it and sever ties cleanly. After all, she wasn’t exactly in need of money.

Yesterday, she had been all fired up about posting their photos online, but after sleeping on it, she had decided against it.

Inoue-senpai looked at the envelope with a furrowed brow, seemingly unsure about whether to take it. I had no choice but to force it against his chest.

“Well, that’s it… I guess… Princess Yuki-sama…”

He finally took the envelope, and his head drooped in defeat.

There was no sign of protest or dissatisfaction. It seemed that he was completely taken with Yuki.

Though she wasn’t really the “princess” of the school, it was clear that, to these guys, she was their absolute queen.

I couldn’t help but think—maybe Yuki had some sort of strange charisma… or maybe she’d be perfect as some kind of guru or cult leader.