Chapter 65: Chapter 65: Hiding The Evidence
'Hikari looks so handsome right now, even more than before!'
Yoshida Saki stared blankly at Hikari's attractive side profile, her breathing slightly quickened, and her pretty face blushed faintly.
Gripping the hem of her skirt tightly with both hands, she sincerely thanked Hikari:
"Hikari-kun, thank you so much for today. If you hadn't appeared to save me, I-I don't know what would have happened to me."
Thinking about what might have happened if Hikari hadn't shown up, surrounded by Hayato and his gang, Yoshida Saki's face turned pale, and a hint of lingering fear flashed in her eyes.
Bowing deeply to Hikari, Yoshida Saki expressed her heartfelt gratitude.
"Thank you so much, Hikari-kun!"
Hikari, seeing the girl bowing and refusing to stand up, patted her shoulder and gently helped her straighten up.
His face showed no excitement, nor was it cold; it was calm and indifferent as he said, "No need to thank me. After all, we're classmates. I just couldn't stand by and watch injustice."
"Yoshida-san, you should go downstairs and return to class. Don't tell the teacher or anyone else about this. I'll handle these people myself."
Hearing Hikari's words, Yoshida Saki nodded,"Okay! Understood!"
What had just happened left her filled with trust in Hikari, so she didn't question his instructions and obediently headed toward the rooftop door to leave.
Before leaving, however, she couldn't help but glance back at Hikari several times. Her heart couldn't help but sigh in amazement.
"Hikari-kun… he's so incredible…"
As she descended the stairs absentmindedly, aside from a trace of lingering fear, her mind was entirely occupied with Hikari's image.
The moment Hikari appeared on the rooftop, his clothes billowing in the strong wind, his black hair fluttering.
The moment he softly declared that transformation was forbidden.
The moment he singlehandedly defeated all the delinquent blond thugs with ease.
The moment he saved her just as she was about to be force-fed drugs, throwing an iron rod with pinpoint accuracy to knock out Daisuke.
Thinking of all this, Yoshida Saki suddenly found her steps weak as she continued descending the stairs.
She couldn't help but recall the 18+ otome games she loved to play. Hikari was exactly like the protagonists in those games—handsome, suave, composed, brave, and strong, as if all the best qualities of a man were rolled into one.
Being socially awkward and timid, Yoshida Saki had never dated anyone or even interacted closely with a boy.
Recalling Hikari's actions, her heart couldn't help but flutter wildly.
"Oh no, I even misunderstood Hikari-kun before. I'm so dumb…" Yoshida Saki suddenly thought.
Not long ago, her impression of Hikari had been that of a frivolous delinquent.
She had even believed Hayato and Yui were good people who could be her friends.
But in the end, Hayato and Yui had tried to force her to consume a highly addictive drug and had intended to assault her.
In contrast, Hikari, whom she had thought poorly of, had decisively intervened to save her, pulling her out of despair.
Thinking of this, Yoshida Saki clutched her chest, feeling deeply guilty.
"Hikari-kun, I'm sorry… I misjudged you…"
She felt so bad she wanted to rush back to the rooftop and kneel to apologize to Hikari.
But, of course, with her timid personality, she would never actually do that.
"I'll find a way to repay Hikari-kun's kindness in the future. After all, we're classmates now." [T/N: Pay with your bo...]
Suppressing her guilt, Yoshida Saki's mind again filled with images of Hikari's heroic figure.
She curiously wondered,"Why is Hikari-kun so strong? He's incredible."
"What kind of person is he, really? Is he really just a normal high school student?"
"Does he secretly have some hidden occupation, like an assassin or a secret agent?"
Her imagination ran wild as she returned to her classroom and sat at her desk.
Feeling like a lifetime had passed, Yoshida Saki subtly turned down several male classmates who approached her, drawn by her beauty.
At this moment, her mind was entirely filled with Hikari's face.
She now harbored a strong curiosity and growing admiration for Hikari.
Initially, Yoshida Saki had transferred schools with the dream of making new friends and becoming more sociable.
But now, her dream had changed.
She only wanted to get closer to Hikari, become friends, and learn more about this handsome yet enigmatic man.
Maybe even… start a romantic relationship with him?
———
Elsewhere.
On the rooftop, Hikari was unaware of the flood of thoughts running through Yoshida Saki's mind after he had casually sent her downstairs, nor did he know she was fantasizing about him like the protagonist of an 18+ otome game.
After Yoshida Saki left, Hikari quickly surveyed the surrounding area.
Sure enough, there were no cameras or people paying attention to this place.
That made sense; if there had been cameras, Hayato and his delinquent gang wouldn't have used this spot as their hideout.
It was also here that they had attempted to force Yoshida Saki to take the drug and even assault her.
However, the lack of cameras worked to Hikari's advantage.
Closing the rooftop door, Hikari returned to Hayato and the others, picking up a random iron rod from the ground and proceeding to administer "egg-breaking" punishment on each of them.
He then systematically broke their limbs.
For a moment, the rooftop was filled with agonized screams.
Hayato, writhing in pain as if his body were falling apart, suddenly felt a surge of survival instinct as Hikari approached with the iron rod.
Suppressing the pain, Hayato pleaded with Hikari:"Brother, I was wrong! Sob... Sob... I know I was wrong! Please don't do this—just hear me out!"
Hikari, walking closer while watching the gang leader, smiled and said,"What do you want to say? Go ahead. You have thirty seconds."
Hayato hurriedly blurted out,"I was wrong! From now on, my brothers and I will acknowledge you as our boss. And… sob… sob… please don't kill me… sob…"
As Hikari closed the distance with the iron rod in hand, Hayato's emotions broke down entirely, and he began sobbing uncontrollably.
Watching Hayato cry incoherently, Hikari smirked,"Crying? That counts toward your time, you know."
Hearing this, Hayato immediately tried to stop crying and opened his mouth to speak again.
But just as he began, the iron rod swung down heavily.
With a loud smash, Hayato's head burst like a watermelon.
Hikari glanced disdainfully at the blood splatter on the ground, making sure none of it got on him before nodding in satisfaction.
He found these delinquents so disgusting that he didn't want to waste too much time on them.
After dishing out the punishments, particularly enjoying how some were so scared they lost control of their bladders, Hikari put an end to it all.
With practiced ease, he snapped his fingers,"Incineration Technique."
A small flame flickered into existence.
In mere seconds, the entire rooftop was ablaze with roaring flames.
In just a few moments, the once-messy rooftop was spotless once again.
The only thing left was a figure walking toward the door, his clothes fluttering in the powerful wind, black hair streaming behind him.
Soon, the rooftop returned to complete silence, as though nothing had ever happened.
[Ding! The system has detected that the host has upheld justice by eliminating Hayato and his delinquent gang, greatly promoting the spirit of pure love! +250 Pure Love Points]
[Ding! The system has detected that the host saved the timid, socially anxious Yoshida Saki, averting her first metamorphosis crisis, greatly promoting the spirit of pure love! +250 Pure Love Points]
Hikari descended the stairs, listening to the system's prompts in his mind.
"Not bad. A total of 500 points isn't too little."
"But, taking out so many blond thugs for just this much?"
Although slightly disappointed, Hikari felt it was fair. After all, Hayato's gang, though numerous, was utterly weak—he could crush them all with one hand.
"Also, saving her metamorphosis crisis? That means there's going to be a second, third…?"
"Yoshida Saki, you really are a star of misfortune… no, maybe a blessing in disguise."
Rather than being annoyed by the situation surrounding Yoshida Saki, Hikari was actually quite delighted.
As long as he kept an eye on Yoshida Saki and the circumstances around her, it seemed the flow of Pure Love Points wouldn't stop.
Returning to the classroom, Hikari casually sat back in his seat.
He didn't look at all like someone who had just "sparked" an entire group of delinquents. Instead, he appeared as though he had merely gone to the restroom—or at most, taken care of a brief private matter—with an air of calm indifference.
The moment Hikari returned to the classroom, Yoshida Saki's gaze locked onto him and wouldn't let go.
It wasn't until Hikari sat down behind her that Yoshida Saki, fearing her staring might scare him, reluctantly averted her eyes.
Even so, the moment she saw Hikari, her heart had started pounding wildly.
It felt as though a little deer were bounding around inside her chest.
At that moment, Yoshida Saki's heart was full of gratitude toward Hikari, along with a deep sense of guilt for misunderstanding him earlier.
'I really want to express my thanks to Hikari-kun.'
'And apologize, tell him I'm sorry for misunderstanding him before.'
'But... I've never initiated a conversation with anyone before!'
'I really want to talk to Hikari-kun, but I'm so scared. What should I do...?'
After struggling internally for a while, Yoshida Saki finally mustered the courage to turn her head.
Her delicate face was flushed bright red from nervousness, but she still stammered as she initiated the conversation: "Th-thank you so much, Hikari-kun, for what you did today."
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