"I'm sorry, this guy's brain and personality are both extremely inflexible. I'll take him away right now!"
Eriri's expression was ugly as she saw the surrounding people looking at Tomoya with extreme disgust. Some even looked ready to step in and beat him up. The girl sincerely bowed and apologized to everyone.
Seeing Eriri standing in front of Tomoya while he trembled behind her without daring to move, Yumiko and Hayama both flashed looks of contempt and disdain.
As expected, he's nothing good.
"What's going on? Why does it feel like things are about to explode?"
Suddenly, Raize appeared at the classroom door after briefly stepping out, looking at the scene with a strange expression.
Raize's sudden voice drew everyone's attention. Most of them immediately put on malicious, teasing smiles as they looked at Tomoya, their expressions clearly saying, you're dead.
Everyone knew that Mashiro had a very good relationship with the class's calamity. Tomoya's outcome clearly wasn't going to be pleasant.
If they could even see someone get beaten up, that would be even better.
Raize didn't disappoint most of them. He narrowed his eyes slightly, first looking at Mashiro standing behind Yumiko, then at
Tomoya being dragged by Eriri, and more or less understood what was going on.
"Aize."
Mashiro softly called out, like a small pet seeing its owner, and immediately walked over to stand beside him.
"Can you tell me what happened?"
Raize glanced sideways at the blank-faced Mashiro beside him and stood at the doorway with a calm expression, asking in a flat tone. But his eyes were like knives, staring straight at Tomoya as an invisible pressure slowly spread.
"I..."
Tomoya opened his mouth in fear, his legs uncontrollably trembling. Cold sweat broke out on Eriri's forehead as well, and she nervously swallowed.
Yumiko and Hayama, who were also affected by the pressure, exchanged a glance and silently retreated. In his heart, Hayama offered a moment of silence for Tomoya's misfortune.
Yumiko, however, had no intention of letting him off. She directly explained the situation to Raize:
"This guy suddenly barged into our classroom and, for no clear reason, started talking to Shiina about inviting her to make a game..."
"Is that so?"
Raize turned his head to look at Mashiro beside him. After hearing Yumiko's words, Mashiro silently nodded.
After learning the cause of the incident and having a fairly good idea of what kind of person Tomoya was, Raize slowly stepped forward.
It was clear enough now. Tomoya had taken a liking to Mashiro's talent and wanted to drag her into his game group, apparently planning to pester her relentlessly.
Knowing exactly what kind of trash Tomoya was, Raize felt genuine disgust. In his previous life, whether in novels or anime, this guy flirted ambiguously with every heroine, clearly understood their feelings for him, yet used those feelings to fuel his game projects without ever giving anything back. A truly revolting person.
You want to get close to Mashiro and pull her into your group?
As long as he was here, forget it.
"Move aside."
The emotionless words and sharp gaze made Eriri shiver. Even though her mind resisted, her body instinctively made the optimal choice and stepped aside.
Raize faced Tomoya at close range, calmly examining his sweat-soaked, nervous face, then silently reached out and removed his glasses.
Overwhelmed by fear and despair, Tomoya realized he could only tremble, unable to move at all. The suffocating pressure made his entire body stiff.
In his terrified gaze, Raize expressionlessly held the glasses in one hand and crushed them tightly.
Crack crack...
The grating sound of shattering objects rang out from Raize's hand. He looked at Tomoya and said softly:
"Aki Tomoya, I've heard of your reputation at school. Shiina has no interest in joining your game. If you dare to appear again in this classroom or in front of Shiina like some obsessive pest..."
Clatter—
Raize slowly opened his hand. The fragments of the glasses, ground as fine as dust, trickled down like sand through an hourglass.
Hiss!
The entire class stared at the powder-like fragments in Raize's hand as if they'd seen a ghost. Just how strong did someone have to be to crush a pair of glasses into this state!?
With a calm smile, Raize placed his dust-covered hand on Tomoya's shoulder and casually wiped it there like a rag, speaking in a gentle, even tone:
"I hope your bones are sturdier than these glasses."
The voice was mild and soft, yet carried a threatening intent laced with killing intent. That trace of killing intent was something only Tomoya could feel.
He couldn't speak, couldn't scream. Fainting and never seeing the demon wearing human skin in front of him again was his greatest wish at that moment.
Having never experienced real hardship, Tomoya was pushed past his limit by that sliver of killing intent. A certain valve in his body failed completely, and a warm, fishy sensation spread from his underwear, instantly soaking his entire pair of school pants.
"Get lost!"
Raize glanced down in disgust, immediately covered his nose, and turned around while pulling Mashiro away. Finally freed, Tomoya gulped in air and, under Eriri's stunned gaze, crawled and stumbled away in utter humiliation, not caring that his pants were soaked.
Coming back to her senses, Eriri looked apologetically at Mashiro and bowed deeply.
"I'm sorry, Shiina-san..."
"Control your friend better. Our classroom isn't a restroom."
Mashiro looked curiously at Eriri, feeling like she'd seen her somewhere before. Raize didn't make things difficult for the blonde twin-tailed girl, simply pointing at the trail on the floor nearby and speaking with disgust.
Eriri and the rest of the class followed his gaze. There was indeed a very obvious wet trail, dripping all the way to the classroom door.
Thinking of Tomoya's frantic escape earlier, that trail was obviously...
"I'm very sorry!!"
Eriri's face flushed with shame. Feeling utterly humiliated, especially in front of her idol, she covered her burning cheeks with tears in her eyes and ran out.
Thanks to Tomoya, she had made a complete fool of herself in front of her idol.
The boys in the class covered their mouths tightly, wanting to burst out laughing but not daring to make a sound under Raize's authority. Even Hikigaya in the back corner was clamping his mouth shut.
No one expected the guy to be this spineless, running away in terror after being scared half to death.
Serves you right for getting close to Mashiro from our class.
The boys thought gleefully.
"Yuck! So disgusting!"
The girls all looked at the trail on the floor with expressions of disgust and revulsion. His miserable escape could be laughed at, but the fact that he was scared into wetting himself was nothing but gross.
It wouldn't take long for Tomoya to socially die at school. Rumors of him being scared into a humiliating escape would spread throughout the campus.
Judging by this, he'd probably developed a psychological shadow from Raize and wouldn't dare appear in front of Mashiro or him again.
"Miura, Hayama, thank you for helping Shiina earlier."
Raize thanked Hayama and Yumiko.
Hayama waved his hand, a bit flattered, saying it was only natural as classmates. Yumiko casually replied after sizing up the two standing close together:
"No problem. Shiina is our classmate after all, and Chihiro-sensei told us to look after her more."
Raize glanced at Mashiro, who had maintained a calm expression from start to finish. She was a bit shorter than him, so she had to tilt her head up slightly to look at him.
Pointing at Mashiro beside him, Raize said to Yumiko:
"Besides drawing, Shiina lacks common sense about many things. Please look after her more."
Lacking common sense?
Yumiko immediately turned to look at Mashiro. Aside from being struck by her appearance and aura, she also felt that Mashiro seemed like an underdeveloped child. It seemed her intuition wasn't wrong.
Thinking back to Mashiro's blank expression earlier, Yumiko nodded knowingly.
"Don't worry. I'll take care of her more from now on."
Among the girls in the class, everyone had to give Yumiko some face. She was the most socially dominant presence in the class and even beyond it. With her backing, no one would dare mess with Mashiro.
Not to mention Mashiro's strong background and the teachers backing her. Anyone with a bit of sense wouldn't casually provoke her.
But there were still rare pests like Tomoya who refused to give up. To be safe, it was better to have Yumiko keep an eye on her.
Raize felt deep resentment toward a certain irresponsible, unwanted, older single woman. As Mashiro's caretaker, couldn't she take better care of her!?