My Story of Falling for the Class President

Chapter 25: First Battle Against Aoi

Summer break started, and although club activities were only in the morning every day, it was hot, the training was tough, and it was really hard.

My stamina has definitely improved. In another town, the third-years retired, and I might make it as a regular on the team.

As for me, while my stamina is fine, my skills are just not up to par.

Especially for a loner like me, there were no events, and summer just ended.

And so, the second semester began.

I wondered if the atmosphere had changed with the second semester, but it hadn't much.

Nothing happened on the day of the opening ceremony, but the next day, Aoi started messing with me again.

Aoi's gaze toward me is cold; they probably haven't forgotten being slammed against the blackboard last semester. I'm still upset about it too. Time has passed since then, and I'm not in the spotlight anymore.

Aoi started picking on me again.

After club activities, on my way home, as usual, I was alone.

I nearly ran into Aoi and the other kendo club members.

Aoi pointed at me and laughed.

'ww'

Since they laughed at me, I did the same.

'twww'

When I pointed and laughed back, Aoi instantly flared up like a boiling kettle and came at me.

'What's your deal! You mocking me?!'

'What? What's your problem, Aoi? Mocking? I just did the same thing as you, so why are you getting mad?'

'Huh?! You're just a poor nobody!'

'Yeah, yeah, poor, poor. That's all you've got, huh? w'

Aoi snapped and swung at me.

(Huh? Isn't that a bit of an overreaction?!)

It's super scary. What? Is fighting really this terrifying?

I barely dodged, but my legs froze, and I couldn't counterattack.

'You scared or what?!'

(Honestly, I'm terrified. What is this, a yankee manga?)

'Don't get so worked up, okay?'

I provoked them with the most expressionless face I could muster, and the boiling kettle (Aoi) came at me again, trying to grab me.

I dodged with a backstep.

'Byeee!'

I ran away. Seriously, that was terrifying.

What was that? Are they a wild beast or something?

Anyway, even though I was just unilaterally targeted, Aoi's mad at me, and it's confirmed we're going to clash again.

I've already consulted Kousuke, so I'm heading to his house to iron out the details.

The plan was like this.

Use traps or whatever it takes to win against Aoi just once. They'll definitely come after me again, so lure them to a place with no people and mentally break them no matter what. Go all out and finish it.

With that rough plan, Kousuke is joining in, so to avoid revealing our identities, we used New Year's money to buy black costumes and fluorescent masks, like Halloween disguises.

Isn't there some item that could give us an edge in a fight?

I don't have a smartphone, so I browsed a certain famous online shopping site on Kousuke's tablet.

'If I had a knife or something, I'd feel safer, but that's not right, is it?'

'That would mean Sho's loss.'

'Ah! There's chainmail! Too expensive to buy, though (lol)'

We didn't find anything particularly good, so we just bought disguise sets for three people. We need more numbers, so we have to involve someone else.

We gathered people quickly. Representing the three timid kids, Tanaka came to consult me again. Apparently, he heard about my clash with Aoi yesterday.

'Tachibana-kun, please, we can't take it anymore. We won't leave it all to you, so let's deal with Aoi-kun together.'

That day after school, I called the three timid kids to my house. Kousuke was there too.

Maybe because of my clash with Aoi yesterday, today Tanaka-kun apparently got hit.

I insisted I could take down Aoi, but come on, they're like a wild beast, aren't they?

Anyway, the only thing I'm scared of is being betrayed, and one of them is so cornered they've become a truant, so first, we need a sense of crisis and to boost morale, right?

First, I had Tanaka and the other two talk about what they felt. They're constantly targeted and picked on. If Aoi's in a bad mood, it escalates to violence. And it's not like they did anything to deserve it. As they spoke, they got emotional, and I could see their anger at the unfairness, their sense of crisis, and their fear. I listened without interrupting until the end.

I shared my thoughts. I think if we leave things as they are, it'll only escalate. Even if we escape for now, the same thing will happen again depending on Aoi's mood. Ultimately, unless we change the class's mindset, it'll keep recurring. There's still over half a year until the class change next year, and if we end up in the same class, it'll just continue.

To do that, we have to deal with Aoi somehow. Only then can we convince the neutral boys and create an atmosphere where one-sided bullying isn't tolerated, I explained.

Dealing with Aoi. Talking about it is easy, right? If it's just talk, even an amateur can plan to hunt a bear.

'Aoi is a hero, but one from the Stone Age.'

I straight-up copied a line from Reinhard from Legend of the Galactic Heroes. I've always wanted to say it. Kousuke gave me an "Oh!" look, but the other three didn't react, which is understandable.

Another page added to my black history.

The truant kid from the timid team, with dark eyes, suggested we ambush Aoi with four of us using weapons, thoroughly beat them down so they can never live normally again.

(That's less about weapons and more about madness, honestly.)

But I didn't want to do something so criminal.

Kashii-san's tearful face came to mind. If we caused an incident like that, she'd definitely be sad, right?

'Listen to my plan.'

I explained the aforementioned strategy to the three of them. We decided to go with it and bought more disguise tools (the three paid for their own share).

If worst comes to worst and we lose, we'll all just become truants, right?

First, we win once. My plan was to win and get away.

We dug pitfalls near my house in an empty lot and in a fallow field a little way from school.

We worked together to dig them shallow enough not to cause serious injury.

The next day, after club activities on Friday.

I was ambushed on my way home. It was just Aoi alone.

That was faster than I expected. They've got pointless amounts of initiative, huh.

They probably thought it'd be near my house. They're likely on guard in case I run away again.

There's an empty lot between school and my house, and we set up a reasonably wide, shallow pitfall in one corner. Somehow, I've got to get them to fall into it.

'Not here, come to that empty lot over there.'

'Tachibana! Don't you dare run!'

(This is straight out of a yankee manga, huh.)

Once in the empty lot, I suddenly sped up and ran toward the back!

'! Wait, you jerk!!'

Aoi started running too! I made a face like I'd backed myself against the wall at the far end.

As I pretended to try climbing over the wall to escape, Aoi came at me swinging!

A punch landed on my cheek. They say you see stars, and they weren't kidding.

The moment the punch landed, Aoi had a look of assured victory, but right then, their foot got caught in the hole, and they fell spectacularly.

It was with incredible force. Face-first into the ground with a loud smack!

Looking down at Aoi, who was groaning and struggling to breathe, I delivered the line I'd prepared.

'You were probably planning to do worse than this to me, weren't you? I'll let it slide just this once. Listen, next time... next time, it'll be a fight to the death, got it?'

With all my resentment, I threw one hard punch to their right cheek.

Taking advantage of them being down and out of breath, I landed the planned single hit.

They're a jerk, but it was my first time hitting someone. It left a bad taste in my mouth.

I took a hit too, but doesn't this count as a decision win?

I sighed and pretended to head home but actually went back to school.

Kousuke hadn't left yet, so I returned to school to wait for him, and Kashii-san came out from the entrance.

Ah, I should probably explain to Kashii-san too. Will she be mad?

I gestured from a distance to indicate I wanted to talk, and Kashii-san parted from her friends and came over to me.

Seeing my swollen cheek, Kashii-san gasped.

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Sho used Kousuke's tablet to buy various things on an online shopping site, arranging for them to be delivered to Kousuke's house and paying in cash.

While Kousuke was browsing the shopping site,

(Ever since Sho looked at it, the site keeps recommending chainmail...?)

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Next time, after an episode with Kashii-san, it's the second battle against Aoi-kun.