Practical Classroom: Kaoru Hanayama's Classroom of Merit

"...Keep up."

A short, heavy, dull sound vibrated through the twilight air.

Huashan didn't look back and started walking straight ahead.

Because of that one sentence, Sakura Airi's body jerked, and several thoughts flashed through her mind.

(What if Hanayama uses violence and gets expelled?)

(But that gaze... that disgusting stalker, I can't stand it anymore...!)

Fear and turmoil swirled in my mind like a vortex.

However, her feet were unconsciously chasing after Huashan's huge back.

The walkway leading to the Beech Tree Shopping Center was crowded with students who had finished their club activities and were looking for pre-dinner entertainment.

However, when Huashan stepped onto that road, something strange happened.

With each step Huashan took with a serious expression, the students in front of him, like herbivores sensing the presence of a ferocious beast, silently made way for him to the left and right.

"Hey, that guy..."

"Don't look, don't make eye contact..."

Even whispers were stifled by fear.

Everyone looked away from Huashan's figure, instinctively avoiding any connection with him.

Sakura usually feels a suffocating fear whenever she is exposed to the sight of those around her.

But it is different now.

The man walking in front shut out all gazes, all hostility, and even the concern of those around him.

No one was looking at Sakura. No, there was simply no opportunity to look at her.

(Nobody was looking at me.)

Even though you are right behind the object of your fear.

But in Sakura's heart, a strange yet absolute sense of security spread, a feeling she had never experienced before.

Soon, the bright lights of the home appliance store came into view.

Huashan stopped in his tracks.

"...Is it that guy?"

In front of Huashan's line of sight, deep inside the cashier area, there was a young male shop assistant tidying up the merchandise display.

"babble……!"

While tightly covering the sound that was about to escape her throat with both hands, she nodded slightly with trembling fingertips, pointing at the man.

That's enough.

The shop assistant noticed Sakura's figure.

A thick, sticky smile, as if it were pasted on, appeared on his face.

"Welcome. Is your camera acting up again, Sakura-san? I'm always here to help you check it."

A voice that feigns friendliness but carries a base possessiveness.

Just as Sakura took a step back.

thump.

A heavy figure stepped in front of Sakura.

"Let's talk in private. There's something I'd like to discuss with you."

Huashan placed his hand on the counter and spoke to the clerk with a forward-leaning, looking-down posture.

Although the tone of voice was flat, it was accompanied by a heavy pressure that seemed to crush the air.

The shop assistant was startled by Huashan's enormous size, but immediately put on an air of composure and sneered.

"Huh? What do you mean by 'chat'? I'm just working. I'm simply doing my job, okay?"

"Responsibilities?"

Huashan's eyes narrowed.

Deep within his pupils, a dark rage was silently rising toward the breaking point.

"You stalk and harass the girls in our class every day, stuffing those disgusting letters into their mailboxes. Is this your job, you bastard?"

Faced with that overly direct questioning, the shop assistant revealed an obvious wavering.

Cold sweat beaded on his forehead. But he tried to raise his voice to try and fool the other person.

"What kind of slander is this! Do you have any evidence?! Stop joking around, and stop right there!"

That attitude that presents a false image of excitement.

This is the most typical reaction exhibited by those with ulterior motives, driven by their defensive instincts.

"It's confirmed."

Hanayama muttered this briefly.

Continuing the Q&A session is just a waste of time.

For the Yakuza, words after certainty are unnecessary.

Huashan slowly raised his right arm.

The shop assistant, realizing that Huashan was about to make a move, hurriedly retreated.

"Stop, stop! This is Advanced Nurturing High School! If you use violence against staff, you'll be expelled immediately!! Don't you know the rules!?"

That should be a rule that no student can defy.

however.

"Heh, heh, heh."

Huashan chuckled softly, as if he had heard an extremely funny joke.

"The school rules... expulsion?"

The air emanating from him suddenly changed.

The student's superficial appearance has been stripped away, revealing their true form beneath the surface, after traversing countless battlefields and reaching the pinnacle of power.

Do you really think that the school's superficial rules are more important than my sense of justice?

The shop assistant screamed and turned to run away.

But it was too late.

boom!!

Huashan's enormous hand grabbed the shop assistant's face from above.

He used his weight to slam it hard onto the hard floor.

"Gahhhhh!?"

The dull thud of the skull hitting the floor echoed all around, and blood spurted from the clerk's nose.

The shop assistant was pinned to the floor by one of Huashan's hands, flailing his arms and legs like an insect, but unable to get up at all.

"Let go! Let go of me now!!"

The shop assistant, gripped by extreme panic, pulled a utility knife from the pocket of her apron.

With a series of sharp clicks, he pushed the blade to its longest length and frantically stabbed it towards Huashan's arm.

Gaga!

The sharp blade of the paper cutter should have pierced deeply into Huashan's bare arm.

but.

It wasn't cut open, and not a single drop of blood came out.

The blade tip bounced off the skin, and the blade itself, rather unfortunately, broke off with a "thud" and flew away.

"Wh...strange, monster..."

Huashan's hand, like a pair of pliers, slowly but firmly grasped the clerk's right hand that was holding the knife.

Creak...creak creak...!

Huashan's fingers sank deep, merely holding the gesture.

"Gah, ahh ...

The screams of the shop assistants echoed throughout the discount store.

Huashan's astonishing grip caused the shop assistant's arm bones to creak and completely cut off the blood flow.

The venous return pathway was blocked, and the blood that was forced in from the arteries had nowhere to go, accumulating in the clerk's arm at an abnormal rate.

From his wrist downwards, it turned a dark reddish-purple, swollen like a balloon.

"Stop... My arm, my arm is going to break!!"

This plea had no effect on Huashan's actions.

He simply took the strength in his fingers to the next level.

*Pfft!* *Pfft!* *Aaaaaaah!*

The shop assistant's arm skin, unable to withstand the pressure any longer, burst from the inside due to the abnormal blood pressure.

Several capillaries and muscle fibers reached their limits and, literally, exploded.

The blood, which had turned into a mist, suddenly scattered in all directions.

"Gahh ...

The excruciating pain, exceeding the limits of pain perception, caused the shop assistant's eyes to roll back, and he fainted, foaming at the mouth.