Practical Classroom: Kaoru Hanayama's Classroom of Merit

It was already past 10 PM.

Only a handful of customers remained in the convenience store inside the Beech Tree Shopping Center.

(...no one saw it today either.)

Masumi Kamuro's fingertips caught the touch of the cold aluminum can.

It's not that I don't have money, nor that I'm thirsty.

It's just that they crave that blood-pumping, treacherous thrill that only comes at the moment of crossing the boundaries of rules.

As Kaoru Hanayama walked towards the cashier with the beef jerky she had bought for a late-night snack, her gaze inadvertently drifted to the beverage section, a blind spot of the security camera.

There stood a female student with her long purple hair tied up and wearing a sports jacket.

Taking advantage of the brief moment when the people around her looked away, she grabbed two cans of beer from the shelf and slipped them into her tracksuit pocket with a fluid motion.

For a high school student, that technique was far too skillful, with absolutely no hesitation or slack.

(...Oh. There's a mouse doing a meager living.)

Huashan watched this scene unfold without uttering a sound or changing his expression.

For Huashan, reporting other people's petty bad habits to teachers or shop assistants was something he had absolutely no interest in.

In the philosophy of Yakuza, that is just one of many unorthodox ways of making a living.

However, pretending not to see it and walking past it directly deviates slightly from the path taken by the knight-errant.

Thank you for your patronage.

Accompanied by the voice of the shop assistant, Huashan walked through the automatic door and into the cool night breeze.

In the minutes that followed.

Kamuro, keeping a watchful eye on her surroundings, hurried away from the convenience store. Hanayama called out to her in a low voice as she walked away.

"Hey, you over there."

"...!"

Kamuro's shoulders jerked violently.

She slowly turned her head, the look of enjoyment and excitement that had been on her face vanished, replaced by wariness and cold hostility.

(They saw us!? When...?)

"...What? Is there something you need?"

With a barbed tone, regardless of what the other party has seen, always stand back firmly and look for a way to get through the situation or launch a counterattack.

This is a manifestation of Masumi Kamuro's survival instinct.

"I don't recall ever knowing someone as big as you."

She kept her distance while even managing a faint, cold laugh.

That was just a bluff.

In her coat pocket, the canned beer she had just stolen was sinking with a definite weight.

(...This is terrible. Of all things, this guy, who looks like a total nuisance, saw us. How much money is he planning to extort? Fifty thousand? One hundred thousand? Or...does he have some kind of lewd intention?)

In Kamuro's mind, one cheesy script after another was unfolding.

Although his tone was sharp, his body was slightly stiff.

However, Huashan did not show any threatening attitude at all, and simply extended his right hand at will.

"Since we've seen it, let's share it in half."

"……ha?"

Kamuro made a slightly comical, stunned sound.

"Are you planning to intimidate me and then extort hush money?"

"I just said I should have half."

There was no denunciation of the other party; they were simply demanding what was rightfully theirs.

This demand is both overly reasonable and completely unexpected.

Kamuroku was thrown into chaos. There was neither righteous anger nor the despicable joy of having found a weakness in the other party's eyes.

They simply made a strange request: "Let's divide up the things there."

There was no room for resistance from the very beginning.

The oppressive aura emanating from the other party was not something that could be fooled by mere clever tricks.

"...I don't understand at all. Here, take it."

Kamuro clicked his tongue in amazement as he pulled the stolen beer can from his pocket and roughly threw it at Hanayama.

With a snap.

Huashan caught it with one hand without even looking at it.

puff!

With just a tiny bit of force from the fingertip, the pull tab was flicked away, and the white foam burst open.

Huashan tilted the can towards the sky, his Adam's apple bobbing dramatically.

Glug, glug, glug.

Huashan swallowed the entire 600ml can of beer in just two seconds, literally in one gulp.

"Hoo..."

After removing the empty can from his lips, with not a drop left, Huashan let out a short, satisfied breath.

Although it was beer with a very low alcohol content, it was still a refreshing remedy for him, who hadn't drunk alcohol in a long time, enough to slightly relieve his craving.

Kamuro stared wide-eyed, frozen in place.

While it's true that stealing is wrong, where would you find a high school student who would drink it all in one go in a place like this?

Huashan glanced around and didn't see any trash cans nearby.

"..."

He silently grasped the empty aluminum can with his right hand.

Right before Kamuro's eyes, the beer can was being rapidly compressed in Hanayama's palm, like maltose or scraps of paper.

In just a moment, when Huashan’s huge palm opened, there was no longer any outline of the beer can. Only a high-density metal block, completely flattened to the size of a coin, lay in his palm.

All evidence was completely destroyed in that instant.

Hanayama casually stuffed the small metal piece into his pocket and looked down at the frozen Kamuro.

"Thank you for the treat. But even shady dealings should be done in moderation."

Hanayama left behind only this sentence, then turned his back to Kamuro, who was still in a daze, and walked towards the dormitory as if nothing had happened.

Kamuro Masumi silently watched as Hanayama Kaoru's figure gradually disappeared into the darkness.

Her right hand was clutching another can of beer, now ice-cold, tightly in her pocket.

Whether it was the chilling sense of transgression when successfully stealing or the thrill of crossing the line, none of that remained at this moment.

(...Who exactly is that guy?)

They did not use this matter to blackmail anyone.

There was no preaching or moralizing based on a sense of justice.

He simply demonstrated his grip strength, which seemed to defy the laws of physics, drank a can of beer, and left.

"...What an idiot. Absolutely stupid."

Kamuro muttered with a hint of self-deprecation.

That night, for the first time, Masumi Kamuro didn't know what to do with the stolen loot and could only return to her room with a deep sense of futility.