Chapter 1 - 1

 Prologue

There is a position in life that is appropriate for each person.

While there are those who are given important roles, there are also those whose roles are more modest. If one tries to overstep their bounds, they will often face harsh consequences. There are rare exceptions who manage to succeed, but it is clear that they are a very small minority.

This disparity in roles is especially evident in school life.

For instance, in middle and high school classes, groups naturally form after a certain amount of time. And these groups are separated by invisible walls. These walls symbolize what is appropriate for each person. A simple example of this would be the differences in appearance.

For example, boys who are good-looking tend to group together, and girls who are cute tend to do the same. Meanwhile, those who aren’t as eye-catching often find themselves surrounded by others who are similarly plain. This is a scene that can be found in any school.

Of course, even if someone isn’t particularly attractive, there are people who can integrate into these groups. Those who are good at casual conversation, those who excel in studies or sports, or those who stand out for some other kind of talent—people like this can fit in. Those who are cheerful and good at making others laugh are a prime example.

Groups of such people tend to stand out, both within the class and in the school at large. And following them, there are less noticeable groups, and even more inconspicuous ones. To categorize them into three tiers: the group of noticeable people would be the A group, the plain group would be C, and the intermediate group would be B (normal).

People are sensitive to what doesn’t fit. Because of the "wall" mentioned earlier, it is difficult for someone in the C group to mix with the B group. It’s hard to truly fit in for a long period of time, although they might manage for a short time.

Of course, there are exceptions. There are people who mingle with A, B, or C groups without much care, people who can be described as "people-pleasers" in a good sense, or those who don’t belong to any group and either form close bonds with specific friends or act alone. But these are very few. Normally, when a new class begins and time passes, people naturally end up in groups that are appropriate for them.

However, there is a boy who, after considering all of this, deliberately chooses to belong to the B group.

His name is Sakuragi Ryo, a 16-year-old second-year high school student. He wears uncool black-framed glasses, with hair slightly shorter than average, styled in a way that avoids bedhead.

He is of average height, with a well-toned body that’s not apparent from his clothes. His face is well-proportioned with a high nose, but because of his glasses and possibly his hairstyle, his features are not striking. In other words, he looks like an entirely ordinary boy.

He—Ryo—has no major complaints about his high school life and is generally satisfied with the peaceful routine.

Though he’s now in the B group, he was originally part of the A group in middle school. Moreover, he was surrounded by friends who stood out for the wrong reasons. Life with these troublemakers was far from peaceful—it was quite hectic. So, he decided he wanted a slower-paced high school life and studied hard for entrance exams, choosing a high school that his old friends didn’t attend or couldn’t get into.

Thus, he entered his current school. To maintain his peaceful life and avoid repeating past mistakes, he made a conscious decision to stay away from A group members. Ryo didn’t care what group he belonged to, as long as it wasn’t the A group.

Ideally, he would have preferred to join the C group, but he found that his interests and hobbies didn’t mesh well with theirs, so he ended up hanging out with B group classmates.

In short, while he had analyzed and classified the groups into A, B, and C, his priority was simply to avoid the A group and the chaos that came with it.

There is a term known as "high school debut," which refers to the act of joining the A group upon entering high school, but Ryo’s case was the complete opposite.

In other words, it was a "reverse high school debut."

Having successfully completed his reverse high school debut, Ryo took care to stay inconspicuous within the B group, making sure he was in a position where his presence was so minimal that it was hard to tell if he was there at all. He spent a peaceful first year of high school, and by the end of it, he was certain he had made the right choice, swearing that he would never let go of this way of life.

However, one day, an unexpected turning point arrived in Ryo’s otherwise quiet life. Whether this event would turn out to be positive or negative for his high school life, Ryo spent a long time pondering it, and to this day, he still hasn’t reached a conclusion.

Chapter 1: The Fateful Encounter

One day in May, on the way home from school.

The strong sunlight shining from above felt more like the approach of summer than spring.

Wanting to enjoy a peaceful day, Ryo, who sometimes preferred to walk home alone, took a detour down a back alley where few students passed, even though it was a bit longer, and headed toward the station.

When he heard shouting, he turned his gaze and saw a girl from his school, wearing the same school uniform, surrounded by three boys from another school. They seemed to be arguing.

At the moment Ryo spotted the scene, he considered quickly leaving to avoid trouble. However, he realized that if he later heard that the girl had been hurt, he would feel bad about it. After a brief moment of hesitation, he decided to keep an eye on things from a distance and step in only if the girl was in danger.

It seemed that one of the boys had confessed to the girl and, even though she had rejected him, he was still persistently pressuring her. Ryo could hear their words clearly despite the distance.

"Come on, it’s fine. I went through all this trouble to come here, and you’re just going to say 'sorry' and walk away? All we’re asking is for you to have a quick drink with us."

"Yeah, yeah. If you just hang out for a bit, we’ll be satisfied. Besides, you don’t want to feel bad for rejecting someone, right? It’ll be better for both of us, just a little bit."

Their casual, selfish words made Ryo furrow his brow as he silently hoped that the girl could somehow get out of this situation—mostly for the sake of his own peace of mind.

But his wish was in vain. The girl sighed in exasperation, speaking in a dismissive tone.

"That’s none of your business. You came here on your own, didn’t you? I don’t see any reason why I have to hang out with you."

Her response was valid, but in this situation, it would likely backfire.

As expected, the boys seemed to grow frustrated, and one of them roughly grabbed the girl’s arm.

"Just come with us already. We won’t keep you long."

"Hey, let go of me!"

As the girl struggled, swinging her bag, it hit the boy in the face. The impact caused him to recoil and release her arm. He grimaced in pain and shook his head to clear the sting.

"Ouch!"

"What the hell, you grabbed me first... Let go of me!"

Now another boy grabbed the girl’s arm and, shaking his head as though disappointed, said:

"Man, we really need to get you to hang out with us. What’s the plan? Are we taking you to your place?"

"Sounds good. Let’s go to my place!"

"Hey, stop it!"

"Let go! Let go!"

"Quit this… behave already!"

"Ah!"

The girl struggled fiercely, swinging her bag to resist, but was suddenly shoved back and fell to the ground with a shocked cry.

"Ouch! What are you doing!? I’ll call the police!"

She said this boldly, though her voice trembled, revealing a hint of fear.

"Go ahead, call them," one of the boys taunted.

Ryo let out an exasperated sigh.

Normally, if someone stepped in to help here, they would definitely become a hero in the girl’s eyes. In fact, had anyone intervened earlier, they would have been unquestionably seen as a hero.

But Ryo didn’t do that.

Of course, he could have helped the girl at any time. However, if he did, she would likely talk about it with her friends later, and he’d be the subject of gossip. That was something Ryo wanted to avoid.

For him, it was more important to maintain his position in class, one where it felt like he was barely there. So, if possible, he wanted the girl to fight back and escape on her own by swinging her bag.

But as is often the case, overly idealistic thinking doesn’t always work out.

Finally deciding to help, Ryo couldn’t help but feel guilty for having stood by while the girl was scared. With a sigh, he decided to intervene.

Taking off his glasses and tucking them into his chest pocket, he picked up a stone from the ground and tossed it high into the air.

The stone drew a large arc and landed behind the men with a rather loud thud.

As the men turned in response to the sound, Ryo started running. Although his footsteps were quiet, they were as fast as a gust of wind, and by the time the men turned their heads in confusion, he had already reached the girl – that is, between the men and the girl.

Perhaps because he made no sound, the man who made eye contact with Ryo right after turning around was startled and leaned back. And just as he was about to open his mouth, he received a kick to the abdomen from Ryo, who had been running, and was blown backward.

"Huh?"

The two men immediately to his right let out a foolish sound as they witnessed their friend being kicked.

Ryo heard the girl gasp behind him and, though he felt her bewildered gaze on the nape of his neck, he didn't turn around. Instead, he swung his right hand, which was behind his back, from right to left, signaling "Run that way."

The girl seemed to understand his intention and, nodding, quickly stood up and ran off, ignoring the men who were focused on Ryo.

"Hey, wait a minute!"

Having overlooked the girl running away, the men, enraged by their friend being attacked, swung their fists at Ryo.

Ryo was relieved that their attention had shifted from the girl to himself.

Apparently, they were gullible than he had thought.

Smiling slightly, Ryo calmly dodged the men's wild punches. As soon as he saw that one of them was within range of his kick, he moved without any preparatory motion and thrust his foot into the man's solar plexus.

The man who received Ryo's kick in a counterattack let out a short, agonized moan and immediately collapsed to his knees.

"What!?"

The other man, seeing the momentary exchange, let out a dumbfounded voice and hurriedly put on the brakes, as if he couldn't believe what he had seen.

By chance, he was just outside Ryo's range. Ryo clicked his tongue inwardly but, making eye contact with the man, immediately shifted his gaze behind the man and shouted.

"Over here! Come quickly!"

Startled, the man hurriedly looked behind him, but there was no one there.

Before the man realized he had been tricked, the battle was over. Ryo, who had quickly closed the distance, landed a spinning kick on the man's solar plexus just as he had done before.

"Thanks for being so stupid", Ryo muttered in a truly happy tone. 

The man had no time to hear him, and he collapsed, his face contorted in agony.

From the time Ryo threw the stone to this point, less than two minutes had passed. It was a technique that could be described as too brilliant.

Looking down at the unconscious man, Ryo let out a small sigh, put his glasses back on, and began searching the man's uniform pocket.

He took out the student ID from his breast pocket, the wallet and cell phone from his trouser pocket, and was about to search them when he felt a presence behind him and muttered to himself, "Oh, I forgot."

He smiled wryly.

If the girl had just run away, he, being such an insignificant person in the class, might have been able to end the situation without being noticed or rumored about. But that was probably too convenient.

Since it would be difficult for anyone to leave the person who had helped them behind and run away alone, this was probably unavoidable. However, when he turned around, he was speechless and froze at the unexpected sight.

Standing in front of him was a super-beautiful girl from the special A group, the most famous idol in the school, whom even Ryo had seen several times.

The girl had a small but perfectly proportioned face that made people involuntarily turn their heads. Her hair was a light brown and waved down to her shoulders. Her arms and legs were slender and long.

Before he could speak, Ryo turned around, causing the beautiful girl to look slightly surprised, but she quickly composed herself and bowed.

"Thank you for saving me," she said.

Snapping back to reality at her words, Ryo thought rapidly about how to handle this situation skillfully and replied in the polite tone he always used with girls at school.

"No, not at all... Are you hurt?"

"Oh, I'm fine. I don't think I've scraped anything,"

The girl replied, waving her hands, and naturally, Ryo looked down.

Indeed, she didn't seem to have any dirt or blood on her. He was almost mesmerized by her slender and long beautiful legs, but he shook his head to dispel the stray thought and faced the girl.

"That's good. Well, you should go home before these guys wake up, shouldn't you?"

Thinking that it would be best to part ways with this girl as soon as possible, he said so, but she looked a little puzzled and asked back.

"No, but... I mean, aren't you in the same grade? Aren't you a second-year student?"

She seemed to have noticed, or pretended not to notice, Ryo's words that implied, "Go away quickly."

And perhaps she was puzzled because it was unusual for a guy to want to end a conversation with her so quickly. With such a beautiful girl, there were probably many guys who would try to talk to her.

However, in the case of an ordinary-looking guy like Ryo, he would probably be too intimidated to talk to such a beautiful girl. Ryo himself had come to that conclusion and had naturally tried to say goodbye, but she ignored Ryo's roundabout expression and confirmed that they were in the same grade.

It was more of a confirmation than a question, probably because she had seen the embroidered line on his breast pocket.

At Ryo's school, the color of the line on the breast pocket distinguished the grades: red for first-year students, blue for second-year students, and green for third-year students. Since she had asked, he had no choice but to nod.

"Yes, that's right, but..."

"Um, I want to thank you... Can I have your name?"

She closed the distance with a sharp upward glance. As Ryo thought to himself that her face had an incredibly destructive charm, he gently turned her down.

“No, it’s fine. You already thanked me earlier, right?”

Ryo wasn’t wrong in what he said. The first words he heard from her were definitely "thank you." However, he also knew that the gratitude she was referring to meant something beyond just words.

“No, that's not it… I want to thank you in a different way. Ah, sorry, my name is Fujimoto Erika. I’m in Class 2-B.”

Ryo barely managed to hold back a click of his tongue. The most important thing for maintaining his current school life was not to have his name or face recognized by people in the A-group.

So, he had been avoiding introducing himself by using the excuse that one should introduce themselves before asking others for their names. But now, she had introduced herself and even mentioned her class.

At this point, there was no way to avoid introducing himself. Ryo briefly considered giving a fake name and class, but he quickly realized that it would be easy to check. If someone found out later and asked why he lied, it would just make things more troublesome. Sighing in resignation, he answered.

“…Sakuragi Ryo, Class 8.”

“Sakuragi… Ryo? Is this the right kanji for ‘Ryo’?”

She—Fujimoto Erika—asked as she traced the kanji for "Ryo" in the air with her finger.

“Yeah, that’s right… You got it right on the first try. And, uh, really, there’s no need for any more thanks. It’s getting dark, so shouldn’t you head home soon?”

As his name had now been revealed, his tone lost the polite edge and gradually returned to its more natural state. Perhaps interpreting this as a sign of intimacy, Erika responded more strongly, like someone who had been given permission to speak freely.

“No, that’s not enough! I want to thank you more... Ah, um, could you give me your contact details?”

As he thought about how it might not be necessary to insist on such a specific way of showing gratitude, Ryo also considered the problem that would arise if others found out that he exchanged phone numbers with such a cute girl. In an instant, he quickly said:

“Ah—no, wait, then as my thank-you, could you promise not to tell anyone about what I did to these guys?”

Ryo thought this was a pretty good idea. He wouldn’t be gossiped about, and she could still show her gratitude. It was a win-win situation. But Erika, unaware of his true intentions, looked puzzled.

“Huh? Why would I do that…?”

“Oh, it’s just more convenient that way…”

“Convenient…? But, is that really okay?”

“It’s fine for me. Will you promise?”

“Eh… Yeah, okay…”

Ryo was relieved that she nodded, seeming to agree. As she seemed to be drawn into the situation, her tone grew more casual as well. Feeling at ease, Ryo resumed the task he had started before she arrived. He took the phone from one of the men’s pockets and transferred its number and address data to his own phone, taking a photo of the page in the student ID with the man's face and name.

He then rummaged through the wallet, checked for a driver’s license, and took a photo of that too. Finally, he carelessly tossed all the items on top of the unconscious man.

Watching the surprisingly skilled movements, Erika furrowed her brow in confusion.

“Um… What are you doing, Sakuragi-kun?”

“Cutting off any future worries and preventing recidivism.”

“R-Really…?”

Seeing the confusion spread across Erika’s face, Ryo tilted his head and, without thinking, said something a bit off.

“…Ah, if you’re still angry, you can go ahead and hit, kick, or stomp on them as much as you want right now.”

“W-What! No way!!”

Erika quickly shook her head and waved her hands, but Ryo tilted his head again.

“You don’t have to hold back, you know?”

“...Eh? Sakuragi-kun, you’re saying that?”

“Did I say something wrong?”

“Um... N-No. It’s really fine…”

“I see.”

Ryo nodded, but then added one last thing.

“Really, you don’t have to hold back.”

“...U-Understood.”

With that response, Erika forced a tense smile. Meanwhile, Ryo continued searching through the clothes of the remaining two men. During this time, it seemed like Erika was lost in thought, because when Ryo finished his work and turned around, she was tilting her head with a complicated expression.

“Maybe you should just go home? There’s nothing good to see here from now on.”

Ryo, realizing that his rumors wouldn’t spread through Erika, returned to his usual tone. He figured that if he kept speaking too formally, the conversation would be hard to control.

Erika hesitated for a moment, unsure whether to leave or not. Perhaps curious about him, or maybe just wanting to see more, she shook her head.

“Sigh... Please keep quiet about what I did to these guys, okay?”

“I got it. I promised.”

Erika nodded seriously. Ryo shrugged his shoulders and kicked one of the fallen men, trying to wake him up.

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