The Kansai Villain’s Rebirth: I Accidentally Ended Up With a Harem. - Chapter 75: A Kansai Guy Heads to the Guidance Office.

A Kansai Guy Heads to the Guidance Office.

Two female students from Class E were trembling so violently they looked on the verge of wetting themselves. It really looked as though I had threatened them.

Well… I had, in fact, threatened them.

Still, if they were going to collapse to their knees and chant “I’m sorry, I’m sorry” over and over, they shouldn’t have pulled such a pathetic, frankly, pathetic prank in the first place.

That said, the fact they’d lost the strength to even run away could be considered fortunate—for me, at least.

“Tennouji! What on earth was that music just now!?”

Ashiharabashi-sensei came bursting into the room.

Ah, that ridiculous, tension-melting BGM… I’d already turned it off. It had been annoyingly loud, sure, but the effect was instantaneous. The only problem was that it kept looping endlessly while I was trying to intimidate them. I nearly ruined the entire mood and started laughing.

“You two are from Class E…! What is the meaning of this!? A dead rat!? What exactly were you planning to do with that in my classroom!?”

Even when Ashiharabashi-sensei shouted, the girls could only sob and hyperventilate; conversation was impossible.

Had I gone too far?

No, no—impossible. I truly hadn’t expected things to escalate this much. I still don’t accept that I was the one who overdid it—even after she scolded me for it later.

***

In the end, the two perpetrators were dragged—half-carried—to the guidance office by Ashiharabashi-sensei and a female teacher careful not to make it look like sexual harassment. The girls finally resigned themselves to the fact they couldn’t escape and went quietly.

For some reason, I was taken along as well.

They asked me to explain the situation, so I did: how I had lain in wait in the classroom, how I’d used my secret weapon the moment they opened the locker to toss in the rat carcass—everything.

The two of them offered no rebuttal whatsoever. When Ashiharabashi-sensei declared there was no mistake, they tearfully admitted their guilt.

“…Your homeroom teacher warned you just the other day. Bullying would be met with severe punishment. What you did was malicious in the extreme. You will receive the appropriate disciplinary measures. Until then, you are suspended and confined to your homes.”

“N-no, wait! We were only doing what we were told! If you’re going to punish us, then punish the one who ordered us too!!!”

“Being the kind of people who obediently carry out orders without question is exactly what makes you guilty,” I snapped. “You prepared a dead rat without a second thought, rode your little power trip, and now you think that excuse will fly? Don’t insult our intelligence.”

“Hiiih!?”

“Tennouji, that’s enough!”

“I-I haven’t done anything, Sensei.”

Did Ashiharabashi-sensei really think I was about to hit a student right in front of her?

True, I was furious because Rinko-san was involved, but I’m not so childish as to resort to violence. Beating up girls is simply not done—no matter how viciously they tormented Rinko-san.

“…Right. My apologies. For a moment I thought you were about to snap and go on a rampage.”

“Sensei, I’m already a high schooler, you know?”

“Y-yes, of course. Sorry.”

Even the grade-level director, Noda-sensei, let out a sigh of relief. How rude.

Though I suppose the old Tennouji—before I took over this body—might have used this as leverage to turn them into sex slaves or something… No, wait—he only did those things because Rinko-san and the others were stunningly beautiful… which feels rather insulting to the girls in front of me right now.

“Now then,” Noda-sensei continued coldly, “who exactly ordered you to do this?”

Yes—that’s the key. These two were merely pawns. The real mastermind who instructed them to corner Rinko-san—if we don’t catch that person and finish them off, the bullying will never end.

“That… um…”

“Is there some reason you can’t say? Are you being threatened? If so, you will be treated as primary offenders yourselves. You will receive the harshest punishment. No—in our eyes, you are already primary offenders. Resign yourselves. Hiding it changes nothing.”

As expected, the faculty would never abandon a prim, proper, top-ranking genius like Rinko-san.

I recall she was the only student from our academy to place in the top ten nationwide on the unified mock exam given during the first semester—apparently a historic achievement for Sumizome Academy. There was no way they’d let anyone destroy her.

(For the record, the previous tenant of this body left the answer sheet nearly blank. What an idiot.)

“…Uuu…”

“Are you perhaps afraid of retaliation? There will be no retaliation—the perpetrator will be punished. If you stay silent, however, you may find yourselves facing a civil lawsuit and claims for damages—”

“It was Ayumi!! Tsuruhashi Ayumi!!! She told us to do it! She said if we didn’t, she’d spread awful rumors until we couldn’t show our faces at school again! That she’d make up lies and report us to the teachers!”

“Y-yes! Tsuruhashi made us do it!”

The moment they heard “damages,” they sold out the mastermind without hesitation.

“…I see.”

They confessed so easily.

Well, hierarchies among students are inherently fragile. The phrase “monetary damages” is terrifying even to a high schooler—and of course the ones who’d actually pay would be their parents.

Either way, everything would be reported to their families.

More importantly—the ringleader’s name was Tsuruhashi.

Tsuruhashi… why does that sound familiar?

“Tsuruhashi…? I feel like I’ve heard that name before…”

“Have you already forgotten, Tennouji?” Ashiharabashi-sensei said with a wry smile. “She’s the younger sister of the Tsuruhashi who turned our class’s cultural festival into a complete disaster.”

“Ah…”

Right—the girl who dumped powder on me and wrecked our class café sign.

That Tsuruhashi’s little sister!

Like brother, like sister… both nothing but trouble.

“Ashiharabashi-sensei. I’ll call Fukushima-sensei from Class E and have Tsuruhashi herself brought here. The three of us will handle the rest. Tennouji—you did well catching them. Leave the rest to me. Could I ask you to look after Fuyuki-san instead?”

“…Honestly, I’d love to hear everything, but I’ll respect your judgment. Noda-sensei, Ashiharabashi-sensei—please take care of it.”

And so I was dismissed.

It felt a little unsatisfying to leave halfway through… but the true victim here is Rinko-san, not me. Catching these two is already a major victory. If I hadn’t, they might have continued tomorrow, and the day after—until Rinko-san’s spirit broke completely, perhaps even driving her to suicide.

This outcome is more than satisfactory.

I heard Tsuruhashi’s name called over the school intercom as I walked away.

Later, Ashiharabashi-sensei quietly told me that Tsuruhashi and her cronies had been expelled.

There have been an awful lot of expulsions in the past two or three months—starting with that incident at the cultural festival. I hope it doesn’t affect next year’s entrance exams too badly…

Apparently Tsuruhashi insisted to the very end that she’d done nothing wrong, that everything was Rinko-san’s fault.

To summarize her utterly magnificent deflection of responsibility:

She had always been the top student from elementary through middle school and was proud of it.

But Rinko-san took the top spot by a mile on the entrance exam and became the freshman representative.

Then she kept taking first place on every regular exam, and soared far above her on the national mock exam.

That wounded Tsuruhashi’s pride beyond repair.

What a trash-tier pride.

If you hate losing that much, then work hard enough to surpass Rinko-san.

From what I heard, Tsuruhashi usually ranked around fifth. Pathetic.

The final straw was apparently losing the ace of the soccer team—the ridiculously handsome (or so they say) Noe-kun.

She’d liked him since first year, confessed right after the cultural festival, and was shot down because he already had someone he loved.

That someone was, of course, her hated rival Rinko-san.

And because Rinko-san turned Noe-kun’s confession down, Tsuruhashi concluded: “I mustered all my courage and got rejected. She rejected him too, leaving me with nothing but misery. Therefore it’s fine to attack Fuyuki.”

Her logic had gone so far beyond cat memes into pure cosmic void that it was almost comical in its stupidity.

At long last, the root of the bullying had been ripped out, and peace finally returned to Rinko-san’s days.

Ashiharabashi-sensei unnecessarily told her, “Thanks to Tennouji-kun running around everywhere, the bullying has completely stopped,” so Rinko-san thanked me with heartbreaking politeness…

Sensei, please don’t do unnecessary things.

The week turned, and Monday arrived.

Peace had returned to us.

Though for several days I couldn’t help noticing that Rinko-san’s distance from me had become… extremely close.

When break ended and we were heading back from the special classroom,

“Somehow… I feel safe when Tennouji-kun is nearby…”

“That much is nothing at all.”

Perhaps a sliver of fear still lingered inside her; she stayed by my side the entire time.

That made it easier for me to protect her, so I didn’t mind.

I descended the stairs first. Rinko-san followed three steps behind—something I wasn’t particularly fond of, yet it continued.

And because of that, I let my guard down, assuming all malice toward her had been eradicated.

I ignored the rapid footsteps rushing up from behind.

The next instant I heard a heavy thud—something slamming into someone—and then…

“Ah…”

Rinko-san’s small voice.

I whipped my head around.

She was no longer touching the ground—floating in midair, about to plummet head-first onto the concrete below.

In that frozen moment, I flung away whatever I’d been holding, reached out—and caught her in my arms as we both left the floor.