Practical Classroom: Kaoru Hanayama's Classroom of Merit

As the school bell rang and students prepared for club activities and returned to their dormitories, a female student stood in front of Kaoru Hanayama's seat.

It's Masumi Kamuro.

Her expression seemed annoyed, and she exuded an aura that suggested she wished she could escape from there immediately.

"...Um, could you come with me for a moment? To the activity room in the special building where the tea ceremony club is located. It's Sakayanagi's invitation."

Having just experienced the unreasonable behavior of having half of her stolen beer forcibly taken away by Hanayama a few days ago on a forest path at night, Kamuro felt considerable pressure when trying to talk to the man in front of her.

But she has a secret she cannot deny.

Huashan picked up his schoolbag with one hand and stood up without saying a word.

"Lead the way."

Faced with this brief sentence, Kamuro clicked his tongue slightly and took a step.

Deep within the special building, in a quiet area rarely frequented by students, lies the Japanese-style room of the tea ceremony club.

The shrine door was opened, and in the center of the quiet space covered with tatami mats, a petite girl sat upright.

One of the leaders of Class A, Sakayanagi Arisu.

Beside her lay quietly her signature silver cane.

"It's so good to have you here, Hanayama-kun. I've been waiting for you."

Sakayanagi smiled gently and gracefully. Then, she turned her gaze to Kamuro, who was standing to the side.

"Masumi-kun, thank you for your hard work. You can go outside now."

"……knew."

Kamuro, annoyed by the inconvenience, closed the sliding door and left with clear footsteps.

Only the unusually large man and the sickly, petite girl remained indoors.

"Please have a seat."

Hanayama said nothing and sat down on the tatami mat.

With his physique, even sitting cross-legged would take up a lot of space.

However, his movements were imbued with the discipline honed by the Yakuza, and he did not disrupt the atmosphere of the tea room.

In the space that had been transformed into a sealed room, Sakayanagi bowed his head to Hanayama.

"I was very rude to you the other day. As an apology, I have specially invited you here today."

Sakayanagi picked up the tea set that had been prepared beforehand and quietly began to prepare the tea himself.

The soothing sound of the tea whisk striking the hot water echoed in the tea room.

"Please use it."

When offered the matcha, Hanayama followed the etiquette of the tea ceremony, drank it all in one gulp, and put down the tea bowl.

"...A few days ago, I received some advice from my father."

Sakayanagi looked at Hanayama tentatively and slowly began to speak.

"He seemed quite flustered, as if he'd heard about the minor conflict between us. ... He said, 'Don't really provoke him. He's the head of the infamous Hanayama-gumi, a notorious yakuza group in Japan.'"

Sakayanagi smiled gently.

"Please rest assured. I have absolutely no intention of leaking the information obtained through this special channel to anyone else. This was not something I actively investigated; ultimately, it was only because my father, as the chairman, was worried about his dull-witted daughter that he leaked it."

By subtly demonstrating that the school's highest levels of leadership are behind them, while simultaneously indicating that they have absolutely no hostile intentions, this is a highly politicized message.

but.

"...It doesn't matter."

Huashan asserted, looking completely uninterested.

"Since you have the ability to know this information, that's your own skill. I don't care who you tell it to or how you want to use it."

Sakayanagi's eyes widened in surprise at the unexpected reaction, but she quickly smiled happily.

"Hehe. You're really more generous than I imagined. I'm getting more and more interested... However, this is the occasion for me to apologize to you. As an apology, I can't do without something that satisfies you."

Sakayanagi pulled a heavy paper bag from under the table.

What emerged from inside were two bottles of wine with a familiar label—'Wild Turkey'.

"Although personal points are nominally allowed to buy anything, this is still within the school system, and students cannot buy alcohol through legitimate channels. These two bottles were obtained by Masumi-kun, who was staying outside, after going to great lengths to get them."

With a mischievous smile, Sakayanagi placed the bottle on the table.

Huashan glanced at the bottle and then gave a short hum.

"...I see. So you caught her in the act of shady dealings."

"Yes. It seems that Masumi didn't heed your advice. In the end, I also discovered her dishonesty. As punishment, I just made her do a slightly dangerous errand."

Sakayanagi hadn't even finished speaking.

Hanayama smoothly raised his right hand and swung it down in a chop motion towards the neck of the Wild Turkey bottle.

boom! ! !

There wasn't even a shard of glass flying out; the bottle flew off as if its neck had been severed by a sharp sword.

「!?」

Sakayanagi forgot to blink, completely absorbed in watching this unusual scene.

Hanayama completely disregarded the sharp edges of the glass, tilting the bottle back and pouring the amber liquid deep into his throat.

Glug, glug, the 50-degree high-concentration alcohol disappeared like water.

"Pfft..."

He drank it all in one gulp and placed the empty bottle on the tatami mat with a thud.

"...That was absolutely fantastic."

Sakayanagi let out a sigh of regret.

"I've heard from rumors that you've never engaged in any kind of training. Is that true? You possess such amazing arm strength and physique."

It's absolutely impossible to think about it using common sense.

To possess such output power must have been achieved only after painstaking and painstaking efforts; this is the understanding of ordinary people.

"Training is the right of the weak."

"...What do you mean?"

"If you're already strong enough from birth, isn't it cheating to want more? Only despicable people would train further if they were strong."

That was the aesthetics of an absolute powerhouse that he had carried since birth.

Because he possesses overwhelming violence bestowed upon him by God, he forbids himself from making any further efforts; this is Huashan's life motto.

"—Aha, ahahahahaha!"

Sakayanagi finally couldn't hold back and let out a laugh as clear as the rolling of silver bells.

"That was truly exhilarating. You are a true genius. Unlike the manufactured geniuses I've seen before, you are a 100% pure natural product. ...Heh, that's exactly why."

Sakayanagi put away her smile and stared at Hanayama with cold, clear eyes.

"Please allow me to declare war on you. Of course, I don't mean the kind of barbaric fighting. I mean a competition on a chessboard, within the rules established by this school. Class A versus Class D... who will be the last one standing? Let's settle this with a battle."

Intelligence, leadership, and the strategic calculations behind the rules in board games.

That was Sakayanagi's battlefield, her area of ​​expertise.

Huashan tilted his head slightly.

"I'm not the leader of Class D, and I have no intention of becoming that kind of person."

"That's alright. As long as you're in that class, and I've made you my target, that's all it takes to start this war."

Sakayanagi smiled with ease.

Huashan slowly stood up.

Then he looked around the four corners of the room.

Perhaps because it was in a tea room, I didn't see any surveillance cameras or similar devices.

After completing the confirmation, he silently picked up the silver cane that was placed next to Sakayanagi.

"Hanayama-kun? That's mine—"

Crunch, crunch, crunch!

As if to interrupt Sakayanagi's words, a metallic sound that seemed to tear at the eardrums rang out.

In Huashan's hands, the hard metal cane was squeezed, twisted, and compressed as if it were clay.

It's simply unbelievable that this phenomenon is caused by human grip strength.

A few seconds later, what rolled from Hanayama's hand onto the tatami mat was a rough metal sphere, no longer recognizable in its original shape, about the size of a handball.

Rolling.

"You said it yourself, the war has already begun."

For the Yakuza, having accepted the declaration of war, they must give a response commensurate with it. This is the way of Hanazono.

After uttering those words with a condescending gaze, Huashan grabbed the remaining unopened bottle of Wild Turkey with one hand, turned around leisurely, and walked out of the tea room.

“…………”

Sakayanagi Arisu, who was left behind, just stared intently at the metal sphere rolling on the tatami mat.

She launched a strategic challenge, but Hanayama never stepped onto the stage.

"...Heh. I never expected that they would choose to physically prevent me from walking."

Her originally perfect and elegant smile seemed to falter slightly.

"You can't judge a book by its cover... He's surprisingly quite childish."

Kamuro Masumi, who was waiting in the corridor outside, looked up when she heard the sliding door open.

Hua Shan emerged with a satisfied expression on his face, holding an unopened bottle of wine in his hand.

Hanayama glanced at Kamuro, nodded briefly, and then left.

"...What the hell is that guy doing?"

With a sigh, Kamuro opened the door to the tea ceremony department again.

There, as always, sat Sakayanagi on the tatami mat.

But the cane that should always be by her side was gone.

Instead, a mysterious lump of metal rolled onto the edge of the table.

"Thank you for your hard work, Masumi-kun."

Although there was a smile on Sakayanagi's face, one could vaguely see blue veins on his forehead.

"...What's wrong with you? Where's your cane?"

Faced with Kamuro's questioning, Sakayanagi pointed to the metal block.

"It turned out like this. It was crushed by Hanayama-kun as a signal for war."

"ha?"

Kamuro blinked. The fact that the metal cane could be squeezed into a sphere by a human's grip was something that even a joke couldn't comprehend.

Furthermore, the idea of ​​sabotaging the opponent's mobility to declare war is a prank that's down to elementary school level.

"Since things have come to this... I'm sorry, could you please lend me your shoulder and help me back to my dorm?"

"...Neither you nor that guy are quite right in the head, really."

Kamuro held his head in his hands and let out a deep, deep sigh.

This is accompanied by a conviction that "the biggest victim today is undoubtedly oneself."