The day after Kenji's dark secret was revealed to Daiki went rather smoothly. Although there were some abnormalities, like Daiki being overly obedient and doing random confusing things, or Saki angrily glancing between him and Daiki.
There was even a rather important question Kenji wanted to ask Daiki, but he didn't get the chance to do so.
The following days, however, were very different.
On the first day, there were more onlookers and more rule breakers. They weren't much of an issue, just small rule breaks, but it seemed more calculated. Due to this, Kenji was even busier.
On the second day, it intensified even more. Now there were clearly audible insults thrown at Kenji by bystanders as he stopped rule breakers. However, most didn't curse, so there wasn't much that Kenji could do. He also noticed Saki slyly smiling as he was stopping one student, as if she knew what was going on.
That day, Kenji realized this was probably a coordinated strategy.
The next day was the final attack.
The day started similarly to the previous ones, but then more and more people started to gather around Kenji and began talking, hissing audibly about him.
"That is him, right?"
"Yes, look at him, clearly enjoying his powers."
"Why isn't the Disciplinary Committee President doing anything?"
"Maybe they are collecting proof?"
"Nah, they are probably like him for sure."
As Kenji worked, his keen ears heard everything. It took him a few moments to realize what was going on.
There were rumours that he was abusing his Disciplinary Committee privileges for fun.
'What the hell? This is clearly an idiotic rumour! Why would I, Nakamura Kenji, First Rank in Second Grade, Third Disciplinary Committee Member, Bully Killer Kenji—okay, never mind that one—stoop so low to do this?!' thought Kenji while maintaining his cold face.
Despite the clear misunderstanding, Kenji didn't do anything. He knew that reacting would only escalate the situation. Also, except for being annoyed at being seen as a power-hungry person, he didn't feel anger.
Soon, the lunch break came. Kenji quickly finished his lunch and went on to look for troublemakers, though he was hoping for a specific one, whom he found in the cafeteria.
For a while, Saki had started to follow the rules. She wore her dress properly (except for the skirt ('Okay but when would she fix it???')), followed rules, and didn't even curse in front of him; she was rather silent.
Today, however, she was back to her original, disheveled, rude—ugl—sorry—less beautiful state. She was talking, or rather, cursing about bread while Daiki and Yume sat on her either side and other students looked at her.
'It is a clear provocation attempt. I mean, no one says—'
"This fucking bread is so fucking good as if bitch fuck shit aldijlisjdai."
'...Did she crash?' thought Kenji, with a slight hint of worry in his thoughts, though not on his cold face or in his eyes.
'Provoking who though? Me? Also, clearly she is trying to be so loud that the only curse words she can think of are bitch, fuck, and shit...' Kenji continued thinking as he approached Saki.
As Kenji approached Saki, he called out, "Tanaka-san, what—"
Before Kenji could continue, he was cut off by Saki.
"Oh!! Look who's here!!! Our one and only Tanaka Kenji! The so-called bully destroyer!" Saki said, her whole face wearing a sinister—'cute'—laugh. Even her eyes had so much emotion in them, clearly looking at Kenji as a target, with fake pity, as if someone were looking at a kitten, petting it only to kick it.
"...What—" Before Kenji could continue, Saki cut him off again.
"Oh you bastard— you little bastard. Wasn't I enough for you? Kenji-kun—" she continued.
'...Kenji-kun?'
"—I never thought you would get bored of me," Saki finished with a fake amused face.
'Can't you phrase it better? Wait...'
Kenji paused for a second, trying to calculate what was going on. Soon, he got a rough idea—
"Did a snake get your tongue, bitch?"
Saki was just taking advantage of Kenji's rumour. While the best thing to do here was to retreat, Kenji didn't do so.
"Tanaka-san, please calm down and underst—"
"Understand?" Saki cut him off. Her fake amusement washed from her face as her genuine expression appeared, clearly showing she was enjoying this.
"There's nothing left that I don't understand, Kenji-kun. I already know what's going on in that smart brain of yours. You love to play with people, don't you?"
Kenji wanted to say something but couldn't, not because of Saki's words, but because of the enjoyment clearly visible on her face.
"You came to this school without any power, unlike your previous school where you were probably some big shot. So you got an idea. You, using your smart-ass brain, got into SDC to play around without any consequences. You do want your record clean, after all."
"..." Kenji just stared at her.
"Your ultimate goal was me, right? Just the idea of having authority over me aroused you, didn't it? And in the end, you got that. But you never thought of people realizing what happened, did you?"
By this point, the whole cafeteria was silent and everyone was looking at them. Only a few nodded at what Saki was saying, and they all belonged to a particular group that did not follow school rules. Although the rumour about Kenji was pretty widespread, only a few people believed it. Some had no proof either way, and some people just didn't care.
"Now everyone knows what you do. You and your overwhelming sense of superiority. You, for fun, started to interfere in our matters, mocked us, and stalked us to the point where we couldn't even breathe without YOU knowing! You probably learned fighting just for that, didn't you? Just to play with others and beat them. You think I've forgotten how you beat me? Oh wait—you didn't! After all, it would be more satisfying to you if I saw that I lost without you even trying?"
"Forget all that. Now you've tamed Daiki of all people! God knows what you did with that idiot just for him to 'respect' you of all people. You're a fucking psychopath, idiot, bastard, moth******er, dickhead, cunt, goddamned siste—"
"SAKI!" Suddenly, Daiki's voice cut her off. As Saki turned to look at him, he stood up and looked toward her with a complicated expression.
"...What?"
"It's enough..." Daiki said as he glanced at Kenji.
"WHAT? WHY WOULD I STOP?! YOU'RE TAKING HIS SIDE OF ALL PEOPLE??" Saki said angrily. She couldn't believe that Daiki was genuinely stopping her and taking Kenji's side. "DAIKI YOU FUCKIN—" She continued before being abruptly cut off by Daiki.
"LOOK AT HIM!"
"WHAT THE HE—" Saki said in anger as she turned to look at Kenji before stopping in bewilderment.
Kenji was always secluded from others. Furthermore, he was unable to express his emotions clearly on his face. Before meeting Saki, he was just a background person whom people knew as the guy who somehow always came first. While people wanted to talk to him, his reserved nature didn't allow anyone close, even if he himself wanted to talk to someone.
Even right now, while Kenji's thought process had stopped, his face was as cold as ever. However, there was a clear glint of regret in his eyes.
Kenji knew that what was happening right now was his fault. Furthermore, what Saki was saying could even be true from her point of view, for all that he knew.
No tears came out of his eyes; they hadn't for a long time. But they did gather in his eyes.
"Um..." Daiki tried to say something to him, but he had no words, especially since he didn't want to reveal Kenji's secret to anyone. Before he could think of anything else, Kenji suddenly said:
"...I am sorry, Tanaka Saki."
Then Kenji just turned around and left the cafeteria as others stared at him. Daiki then turned to look at Saki once more, who was also silently staring, before turning around and leaving to follow Kenji.
"...Whatever..." Saki said as she turned and sat at her table.
Yume was silent as well. So Saki just looked at her food for a few minutes before leaving the cafeteria as well, and Yume followed her.