Kiritani sighed and said, "Well, at least among the first years he should be safe. Although you can't guarantee the rest."
Matsuda asked, "By the way, what about that matter?"
Kiritani looked at him questioningly, and then answered, "With that — there probably won't be a harvest. I'm sorry it turned out this way."
"I see," Matsuda replied. "It's not that easy, right?"
"No," Kiritani replied. "But it's too early for the harvest."
Twenty minutes earlier, on the roof of the main building of Shaon High School, he had said that he had finally found it. He said hello and asked, "You're the upperclassmen Inui and Onodera, right? I'm so glad to meet such celebrities. I was looking for the two of you today because I want to discuss something. I'm certainly not very strong, but I'm very confident in my brains."
The two of them walked straight past him, and he said that he had heard a lot about their work. He fell silent, and then said, "You didn't invite me. I see. I see. Then I'd like to invite you to my place. Well, how about that?"
Currently, the guys were walking down the street, and Tada turned to Kiritani. He had heard from Matsuda that he — "Anyway. Why are you so fixated on Inui? Is it true that you deliberately made Naritu drag out the fight?"
Kiritani pointed his finger at Matsuda and said, "Matsuda. He's such a chatterbox."
Matsuda apologised, but he thought he ought to tell him. He hesitated a little and said, "You're friends."
"Friends?" Kiritani asked again.
"Yes. I really think so." Then, "And what do you think?"
Naritu said, "It depends on the definition of the word friend."
Tada ordered Kiritani to stick to the topic and tell them everything already.
Kiritani said, "Inui attacked you, and the girl from Naritu's cram school, right? It's clearly related. It's better to gather information, right?"
Tada said, "No. I'm asking you to explain why you're so proactive in this matter. Doesn't it concern you in any way? Or does it?"
Naritu said, "Not interested. Personally, I don't care."
Tada cried out, "What? Naritu! Weren't you forced to fight in vain back then?"
Naritu replied, "It wasn't all in vain. The fight with Ikada was meaningful from start to finish."
Tada stopped, then swung his crutch forward and screamed, "Oh my god, I couldn't get the conversation started properly. Anyway. I have a childhood friend from Teikoku, Yuji Musarashi, and I want to help him."
Naritu asked again, "Teikoku?"
Matsuda replied, "Teikoku Academy. It's a school for problem students in the neighbouring town that rivals Shaon."
Kiritani asked, "So why did you suddenly want to help your childhood friend? Is he related to Inui?"
Tada held out his phone and told him to look. "This Inui dude makes videos of guys he's dumped beating up students from other schools. Then he blackmails them with the videos. If you go to Shaon, you should understand the situation, right? If this leaks online, a war will start between Shaon and Teikoku. Naturally, Yuji will become a target for Shaon, and he'll also be persecuted at Teikoku as the culprit of the war. My goal is to force Inui to completely delete this video. Only Inui and Yuji have it. I got my copy from Yuji."
Kiritani said, "So you want to crush Inui. Understandable."
"Yes," Tada replied. "Kiritani isn't my enemy. Our goals are the same."
"I see," Kiritani said. He asked for forgiveness. "I'm the type to keep a clear separation between work and my personal life. But if a trump card named Naritu joins us, that's a different matter."
Naritu's eyes widened in surprise. "Get involved in another fight?"
Honestly, he thought, I don't want to do that. But if Inui was involved in the last kidnapping —
He frowned and said, "Kiritani. If we just deal with this Inui, then things like involving Ranzuki won't happen again, right?"
Kiritani replied, "Well, yeah. But I don't give any guarantees."
Naritu said, "Fine. If you assured me a hundred per cent, I'd start to suspect you. I'll cooperate. But this isn't a fight. This is self-defence." Never to involve his friends from the cram school in any of it again.
Matsuda asked, "What's he like, this childhood friend of yours you want to help?"
I'm sure, nine out of ten, he's a typical bully, Naritu thought.
Tada said, "That guy—"
Some time ago, there had been a scream. "Katsu!"
Five years earlier. Yodo Elementary School, Hinamichi Ward. Tada covered the boy with his own body and ordered them to stop. This was Yuji Musarashi's childhood. He cried and said, "Katsu."
Tada turned around and said, "It's okay. He's strong, after all. Guys like him can make others obey." He swung his hand and said, "But being a victim — that's a nightmare. You don't have to do that."
Tada hit the guy, and Yuji screamed, "Cool!"
Currently, Tada said he had been defending the guy who was being bullied. But later they went to different schools.
In the past, Yuji snatched a guy's wallet and asked, "Do you have any more money?"
The guy said, "Please stop. I have nothing else."
Yuji said, "Well, okay. At least I'm at the top now and you're at the bottom. Did you get that?"
Tada saw this and ordered him to stop.
Yuji smiled and said, "Katsu."
Tada asked, "What are you doing?"
Yuji asked again, "This?"
Tada screamed, "I told you to stop doing things like that." He ordered him to give the money back.
Yuji replied, "Okay, okay. No need to be so angry."
Tada said, "You stop doing such terrible nonsense." He asked him not to make him repeat it several times.
Yuji said, "I got it. I got it. Besides, I'd already finished, and Katsu was clearly superior to me, right?"
Tada looked at him, puzzled, and Yuji asked, "Guys with strength — that's cool, right? I always wanted to be like you. Katsu."
Where did I go wrong with him? Tada thought. Yuji didn't have any malicious intent. Or was it an oversight on my part? He's stupid, so he doesn't quite understand. But if this is the result of what I told him, then it's my job to bring him to his senses.
After a while, Tada walked into the school and called out.
Matsuda said, "Good morning." He looked towards the students on the stairs and said, "What an assertive look."
Tada said, "Well, it's been two days already. It's natural for the champion to be paid attention to."
Naritu looked away, and then asked, "Are we currently gathering information about Inui and his entourage? Maybe you found out about them."
Tada said he was the best freshman now. "It's natural for them to pay attention to you."
They started climbing the stairs, and Naritu said that he did not like any of this.
Tada said he could use his current position to his advantage. He did not know why he was not using it, "although of course it's your business. But still — your own goal, or pride. Maybe you need to prioritise and decide what's more important to you."
Naritu said, "That's right."
Tada waved and said, "See you later."
Matsuda said, "Yeah."
The guys entered the classroom, where the students were looking at them with displeasure.