In fact, after the information is refreshed, they always want to attack me!

"I didn't come here for the band in the first place!"

He wasn't watching MyGo! to see these teenage girls sing seriously. Rather, it was their complicated and messy relationships and those iconic "explosive" moments that truly captivated him.

After all, there are plenty of anime series with band themes. If he really wants to listen to music and watch performances, he might as well rewatch "K-On!" and "Lonely Rock" a few more times.

A fleeting image of girls arguing over musical instruments flashed across the screen, and Akira Shimizu nodded unconsciously. He suddenly felt that the tension in the plot was much more interesting than the simple performance.

At that moment, there was a sudden knock on the door.

A questioning shout came from the computer: "Why are you playing 'Spring Shadow'?!"

Akira Shimizu was taken aback, his gaze shifting from the momentary breakdown of Su Shi's expression on the screen.

(Who is it? Coming to the door on the weekend? And of all times, just when we're watching a crucial plot point...)

He didn't close the MyGo! playback page; he'd already watched it once, so he wasn't worried about missing anything.

Thinking he could just give the person outside the door a quick answer, he slipped on his slippers and got up.

"Who?"

A clear, slightly hurried voice came from outside the door: "It's me, Karuizawa Megumi."

Chapter 153: 150 Karuizawa Megumi: I was bullied, Shimizu Akira

Karuizawa Megumi?

Akira Shimizu was lost in thought, remembering that the last time it was she who took the initiative to find him.

This time, however, she learned her lesson and obediently gave her name.

It seems she was able to heed what I said.

Without thinking twice, he opened the door.

"Shimizu-kun!" Karuizawa Megumi saw him, her eyes showing a hint of nervousness. "Um... can I come into your room to talk? I have something very important to tell you."

“…Yes.” Shimizu Akira nodded.

The other person took off their shoes and quickly walked into the room. After thinking for a moment, she decided not to sit on the bed, but simply stood in the room.

"...Shimizu-kun, you should still remember our promise from last month, right?"

"Yes, I remember. You pay 80,000 points, and I'll let you join the boxing club and be responsible for protecting you."

"...Really?!" Karuizawa Kei visibly breathed a sigh of relief, her shoulders slumping down.

"Um... actually, I ran into some trouble yesterday." Karuizawa Megumi's voice was lowered.

"What's wrong? Tell me." Shimizu Akira thought to himself, "Could it be that the other person is being bullied by students from other classes?"

“During the study session last night, Yukimura Teruhiko suddenly attacked Matsushita Chiaki, saying that she always seemed to be studying hard, but her exam results were mediocre. I found it really grating and couldn’t help but argue with him. Then Hasebe Haruka and Miyake Akito suddenly appeared and immediately took Yukimura’s side.”

"…… Then what?"

"What then?" Karuizawa Kei blinked, not understanding what he wanted to ask.

"Who was beaten or what?" Shimizu Akira asked directly.

"No!" She hurriedly waved her hand. "Those three wouldn't have made a move, but they were too impulsive! They said Qianqiu wasn't cut out for studying and was just wasting her time!"

“Uh…” Shimizu Akira squinted.

This sounds like something out of a primary school squabble.

Has he inexplicably become a teacher who mediates disputes?

However, is Karuizawa Kei's action a way of standing up for Matsushita Chiaki?

"You can't argue with them? Aren't you a hot girl?" Shimizu Akira raised an eyebrow, looking puzzled.

Logically speaking, a hot girl should be eloquent and persuasive in class, so how come she can't win an argument with others?

"Hasebe and Miyake have such sharp tongues! Even if Maya and I combined, we couldn't out-argue either of them!" Karuizawa Kei said, then couldn't help but snort, her tone full of resentment. "They always hit the nail on the head, every sentence they said was about our grades, and they even forced us to memorize the test papers, saying things like not to drag the class down."

Akira Shimizu nodded upon hearing this. He recognized the three as Haruka Hasebe, Teruhiko Yukimura, and Akito Miyake; he had indeed often seen them reading together, so they were likely friends.

If Hasebe and Miyake are being rude, he can probably guess why.

The two had similar personalities; they were usually quiet, but once they started talking about topics they were interested in, they became very talkative and always got straight to the point—it was probably this straightforward, almost sarcastic tone that angered Karuizawa Kei.

As for Yukimura Teruhiko, he is a typical top student and can't stand students with poor grades. It's not surprising that he would question Matsushita Chiaki for not working hard enough.

However, Shimizu Akira knows Matsushita Chiaki too well.

It's not that the other side isn't trying; they're clearly just like Kiyotaka Ayanokoji, deliberately lowering their scores.

So, this whole argument was just a huge misunderstanding from beginning to end.

Looking at Karuizawa Megumi's sullen face, he suddenly found it a little funny—this classmate probably still doesn't know that the person he's protecting is actually hiding something.

"So what do you want me to say? You don't mean you want me to teach them a lesson, do you?" Shimizu Akira didn't know what Karuizawa Megumi was thinking, so he deliberately tested her.

If the other party asks him to teach them a lesson, then he won't need to sign any protection agreement with them afterwards.

Because such a small matter is not at all worthy of physical action.

"..." Karuizawa Kei was stunned for a moment. In fact, she hadn't thought that much about it at all.

This morning at breakfast, Hasebe Haruka gave her a cold glance, and she cowardly avoided his gaze, feeling humiliated. The thought of never being able to hold her head up in class again suddenly gave her the idea of ​​asking Shimizu Akira to help her get back at him.

She didn't think it was a particularly big lesson.

"You curse those three people a couple of times for me first!" Karuizawa Kei suddenly muttered, her head down, her voice carrying a hint of awkward stubbornness.

"Huh?" Shimizu Akira hadn't expected her to make this request.

"Just a few curses!" She looked up, her eyes pleading yet also a little defiant. "I'll feel better after I've cursed you out! We can think of other ways later!"

"No." Shimizu Akira refused without even thinking.

"Why?!" Karuizawa Kei's eyes widened instantly, her previous aggrieved expression now mixed with a hint of annoyance.

“I don’t like talking behind people’s backs, and those three people didn’t provoke me,” Shimizu Akira replied matter-of-factly.

Karuizawa Kei immediately glared at him angrily, her lips moved as if she wanted to say something, but the grievances stuck in her throat and she couldn't say them out loud.

I did pay some money!

But fearing that they might really anger the other party and cause them to completely ignore them, they could only swallow their words.

Looking at her angry but unable to speak out—she was clearly holding her breath, yet pretending to be obedient—Qingshui Akira couldn't help but want to laugh.

"Then let me rant about those three people, okay?" Karuizawa Kei blurted out suddenly, as if she had finally found an outlet after holding it in for so long.

“That’s fine.” Shimizu Akira waved his hand, indicating that she could do as she pleased. “Karuizawa-san, go ahead and yell.”

"What on earth is that woman, Haruka Hasebe, doing?! Does she really think she's something special just because she has a good figure? She talks like that, all sarcastic and sarcastic, like nobody's as good as her!" Karuizawa Kei's voice was already laced with anger, her brows furrowed into a small knot. "And Miyake Akito, always pretending to be serious about the archery club, his words are colder than ice! And Yukimura, don't even mention him, all he cares about is grades, does he see anything else but scores?"

She became more and more enthusiastic as she spoke, her words coming out like a machine gun. All the pent-up grievances she had been holding back seemed to be released through her words, and her cheeks flushed with excitement.

Akira Shimizu leaned against the table and listened quietly without saying a word.

A few minutes passed before Karuizawa Kei finally finished her rant, but after talking for so long, her throat was already dry and tight.

"Qingshui, can you get me a bottle of water?" she said, her voice still carrying a hint of arrogance from her recent outburst.

"Go to the supermarket and buy it yourself." Shimizu Akira glanced at her and gave her a bright eye roll.

Chapter 154: 151 I'm not going to protect you anymore, Karuizawa Megumi

Karuizawa Kei glanced at Shimizu Akira, her gaze casually sweeping around his dormitory.

The room was almost exactly the same as when I last came, with hardly any decent furniture. The only thing that stood out was the laptop on the table. An anime was playing on the screen, showing a brown-haired girl lying under the covers, her fingers tapping on the phone screen. The recipient's name was "Xiangzi".

Kei Karuizawa wasn't exactly an expert on anime and manga, but she had been exposed to it to some extent in an environment where anime posters were everywhere on the streets of Japan.

(I never expected Akira Shimizu to like watching anime?)

She was somewhat surprised. In her mind, the other person should be the kind of muscle fanatic who was obsessed with training and had recently become obsessed with boxing, spending all his free time in the gym. This was really not the kind of person who fit the label of "homebody".

Wait a minute... where did he get the points to buy the laptop?

She suddenly remembered that the annoying "professor" in her class had said that the other person had spent 80,000 points to buy the laptop.

Moreover, because of the surveillance camera rental issue last month, everyone in Class D had to pay back points this month, leaving them with only 8,000 yuan.

(Eighty thousand... Could it have been bought with the money I gave you last month?)

Karuizawa Kei thought about it more and more and it seemed very possible. The corners of her mouth twitched involuntarily, and she looked like she had an invisible burden on her shoulders, which made her look a little awkward.

Of course, she ultimately dared not offer any opinions—mainly because she was afraid that Shimizu Akira would abandon her.

Thinking of this, her gaze fell on the basket of mineral water bottles behind the door, and she walked over and casually picked up a bottle.

Out of the corner of her eye, she unconsciously glanced at Shimizu Akira and saw that he seemed lifeless.

(Hmm? Does this mean I can take his water?)

With that in mind, she became bolder this time and took the initiative to sit on the other person's bedside.

Akira Shimizu remained indifferent, or rather, his gaze had long since shifted away from her, as he was engrossed in watching anime on his laptop.

Karuizawa Kei unscrewed the bottle cap and took two large gulps. The icy water slid down her throat, finally easing her burning sensation from yelling. She sat on the edge of the bed, swinging her legs, her gaze involuntarily drifting to the screen—the brown-haired girl was still tossing and turning in bed, her phone screen lit up, the text message vaguely displaying words like "sorry" and "forgive me."

"What anime is this?" she couldn't help but ask, her tone still a little annoyed, but more relaxed than before.

Akira Shimizu, his eyes glued to the screen, mumbled, "MyGo!"

"Is it about bands?" Karuizawa Kei raised an eyebrow. She was no stranger to this kind of subject matter, as there were always some clubs putting on band performances at school festivals.

"I guess so." Shimizu Akira tapped his finger on the computer screen, switching to full-screen mode. "But the focus isn't on singing, it's on creating a sensation with the band."

The screen suddenly cut to a nighttime scene, where the brown-haired girl was repeatedly apologizing to a man named Xiangzi, her expression so agitated she looked like she was about to cry.

"They're arguing too," she muttered to herself.

"Well, it's because of a misunderstanding. Mainly, that blue-haired girl doesn't look very human." Shimizu Akira finally spared some attention for her. "She's similar to you guys."

“It’s different! Who are you saying isn’t human!” Karuizawa Kei immediately retorted, “We’re doing this for Chiaki…” She stopped mid-sentence, suddenly realizing that arguing with Yukimura and the others seemed pointless and only made Matsushita Chiaki more awkwardly caught in the middle.

“Since it happened yesterday, I’ll help you handle it. After all, we’re in a protective relationship, aren’t we?” Shimizu Akira turned to look at her earnestly.

"Really?!" Karuizawa Megumi looked at his serious expression and breathed a huge sigh of relief.

Sure enough, he kept his promise.

"Wait a minute..." She suddenly seemed to realize something, and had a very bad feeling. "Why do you say it started yesterday?"

"Because our contract officially ended yesterday." Shimizu Akira explained, looking at the ground, word by word. "You should remember that the contract started around 5 p.m. on the first Friday of last month, right? And today is the weekend of the first week of the second month."

“…Then I’ll pay you back!” Karuizawa Kei quickly replied, her tone strained with forced composure.

She had considered renewing her points this month, but most people in Class D didn't have much spare money. She had scraped together what she could, and so far she had only managed to save up 30,000.

Akira Shimizu shook his head: "Actually, I don't plan to continue protecting you."

"Why?!" Karuizawa Kei's heart sank, her voice trembling, but she still tried to remain calm and pleaded, "I have 30,000 yen right now... I'll make up the remaining 50,000 yen as soon as possible, can you give me a few more days?"

“It has nothing to do with points.” Shimizu Akira sighed, his eyes becoming more serious. “It seems you’ve violated the terms of our original contract.”

"What are the conditions? Isn't it just that I pay 80,000 points and you'll be responsible for protecting me?" Karuizawa Kei frowned, clearly unaware of the problem.

“My condition is that you join the boxing club first, so I can legitimately protect you as the ‘club member protection manager.’” Shimizu Akira looked at her like that. “But what about you? You’ve already taken several days off, haven’t you? You should remember the rules when you joined the club—if you take more than three days off, the club president has the right to fire you. Now tell me, how many days off have you taken?”

"..." Karuizawa Megumi opened her mouth, but couldn't say a word.

"I put you in the boxing club not only to give me a legitimate reason, but also so that the club president could look after you when I'm not around." Shimizu Akira looked at her with her head down, his tone tinged with confusion. "I don't understand you. Why did you skip so many days of vacation? Was it really that tiring? But your work wasn't wasted. Your seniors should give you some rewards, and they'll protect you. The seniors in the boxing club are very protective of their members!"

The case of Ichinose a few days ago is the best example.

Karuizawa Kei was slightly taken aback; she hadn't actually heard the first half of what she said.

Instead, they focused their attention on the second half of the sentence.

(Protection from a senior?)

By the way! Qianqiu once told her that her senior was a great support.

"Will the seniors from the boxing club really protect the manager?"

"Otherwise what? If a club manager is bullied, how can the members remain indifferent? They will definitely try to stand up for you. Recently, the senior members of the boxing club solved a problem for Class B of the first year."

Akira Shimizu had no reason to lie to her.

Moreover, she had recently heard vague rumors from other classes about what happened in Class B of the first year.

Unexpectedly, it was the boxing club that made the move.