Reincarnated Into a Delinquent Manga… Where the Genders Are Reversed and Everyone’s a Girl - Chapter 36: An Unexpected Bit of Growth

Chapter 36: An Unexpected Bit of Growth

If I had to sum up the classroom in one word—hell.

Minato, sitting beside me, had curled herself into the tiniest ball imaginable.

Her face was pale as a sheet, trembling like she was about to collapse foaming at the mouth any second.

Not that I was calm either.

Behind Tanigawa, her crew glared daggers at us with murderous intensity, each stare enough to make my cold sweat flow nonstop.

Either Tanigawa didn’t notice the suffocating atmosphere, or she noticed and just didn’t care.

Her face gave nothing away as she slowly opened her mouth.

“So the top of the Myougi Faction came all the way here to see me, huh?”

“N-No, it’s not like we wanted to visit…”

“You were obviously talking about me, though.”

“Y-yeahhh… guess we were…”

At this rate, Minato was about to collapse completely.

Her expression had lost all trace of sanity—panic, fear, and desperation all twisted together on her face.

If she could’ve bolted right then, she absolutely would have.

“So that’s it, huh? Since I beat down your Hinata Takaiwa, the leader herself shows up for revenge?”

“N-No way! t-that’s… totally not what we came for…”

For the first time, even Tanigawa looked genuinely puzzled.

Both sides wearing the same baffled expression—

The whole scene had spiraled into pure chaos!

I was technically part of the situation, but not really involved—so I just sat there as a spectator.

Tanigawa seemed to be deliberately ignoring me.

Probably so I wouldn’t bring up certain… trash-dump-related stories.

I thought she’d already figured out from the Hinata incident that I wouldn’t spill, but hey, risk management’s important.

Her attitude actually made perfect sense.

“I hate dragging things out with pointless chatter. If you came here for a fight, then just say so already.”

“F-Fight? no way, no no no…”

Minato was desperately trying to steer things away from a brawl.

Which was only natural—she had zero chance of winning if it came down to fists.

From past experience, I had a pretty good idea how this usually went, so I watched with bated breath, nerves crawling.

“Fine then. I’ll start.”

“Wait, hold on, that’s not—”

“You probably don’t want to be the one throwing the first punch at a senpai, right? Relax. To protect your precious delinquent pride, I’ll move first.”

“I really don’t want this—!!”

With a violent scrape of her chair, Minato shot to her feet, sweat rolling down her cheek.

She barely slipped past the fist that came crashing toward her—something the old Minato never would’ve pulled off.

She exhaled sharply.

Even Minato… was showing growth.

“Heh… not a bad reaction at all.”

“Yeah, I kinda figured it would turn out like this.”

Fools learn from experience, wise men learn from history.

Which category Minato fell into was debatable, but at the very least, she’d grown enough to predict trouble from past run-ins.

Of course, that just meant she’d been dragged into enough of these disasters to recognize the pattern—whether that counted as a good thing was anyone’s guess.

If it were me, I’d have refused with everything I had.

But even with that growth, her opponent was still Uta Tanigawa.

After a few minutes of exchanging blows, Minato collapsed back into her chair, legs shaking.

She was determined not to look pathetic, at the very least.

Tanigawa blinked, mildly surprised… then flashed a wide, toothy grin.

“Not as strong as I imagined, but… you’ve got guts.”

“…Guts?”

“Damn right. Hardly anyone’s ever stood in front of me without flinching. But you—you never backed down.”

Of course, I was pretty sure Minato had been scared out of her mind.

But thanks to all that “training,” her facial muscles betrayed nothing.

Even with fear crawling down her spine, she still managed to face Tanigawa head-on—with surprising dignity.

“Well then… here’s the problem. I beat you, Minato Myougi. Which means the Myougi Faction belongs to me now, yeah?”

“Uhh… actually, there’s someone in the faction stronger than me.”

“Oh?”

Tanigawa’s grin widened, like she’d just stumbled across something interesting.

“So maybe you should fight that person first, and then let them decide the faction’s future…”

“You sure talk big for someone who just lost.”

“S-Sorry, I didn’t mean—”

“I like it. Fine, I’ll fight this so-called stronger one of yours.”

“…Wait, really?”

“Kakaka!!”

Even in Fist, Uta Tanigawa had been portrayed as someone with a big heart.

She forgave subordinates who betrayed her, and if one of her own was attacked, she’d go for revenge even with her body in shreds.

And now, just like in the manga, she was rolling with Minato’s words.

Ironically, the one who looked the most shocked was Minato herself—probably because even she hadn’t expected her excuse to fly.

“Tomorrow. I’ll be here again. Bring this ‘stronger one’ with you.”

“D-Damn… that’s so cool…”

“Quit buttering me up. Makes me itchy.”

It really was a badass move.

If I hadn’t once found Tanigawa-san in a trash heap, I probably would’ve been impressed too.

As Minato gazed at her with sparkling admiration, I just sat there with a sour expression, feeling oddly cheated somehow.