By the time Takeuchi-sensei returned to the music room with a stack of papers, the song had already played on loop four or five times. Some of the Miko girls had even begun softly humming along.

"Here, Kawai Miki—pass these out to everyone," Takeuchi-sensei said, peeling off three sheets from the top to hand to the two students nearest him. He then gave the rest to Kawai Miki, who sat to Shouko's left.

After everyone had received a copy of the lyrics, he gave them a reminder:

"This is one sheet per person. If you lose it, you'll have to print or copy it yourself."

"Okay!" came the collective response.

Then, Takeuchi-sensei had Ishida Shouya sing the first line as practice while assigning Shimada Ikki to rehearse the piano accompaniment on the side.

Maybe it was the excitement of a new song, or the looming singing competition, but the class period seemed to fly by.

Of course, one class wasn't enough to change much. The students who sang off-key were still off-key, those who came in too early still rushed their lines, and those who dragged their endings were still dragging. There were plenty of issues.

Still, they all believed that after a month of practice, everything would improve—and they were determined to win first prize.

"Just thinking about performing in front of parents, teachers, and other students makes me nervous already," Sahara Miyoko said as soon as they returned to Class B, rushing over to Shouko's seat.

Shouko was reminded of how Akira used to comfort her. She immediately stood up, gently pushed Miyoko down into her own seat, placed her hands on the girl's shoulders, and started rubbing her head softly.

"It's okay, Miyoko. We've performed in front of parents and teachers before, like at our kindergarten graduation."

And the reason she pressed Miyoko down into her seat wasn't because she couldn't reach her head—just that it was more convenient this way.

"That was six years ago! It's totally different now. Back then, I only wanted to impress my parents and get their praise. Now I just feel… embarrassed," Miyoko said with a helpless expression.

But looking at Shouko's cute, gentle face, she quickly forgot her worries about the competition. That was a problem for next month. Right now mattered more.

She suddenly stretched out her arms, wrapped them around Shouko's waist, and pressed her face against her soft, warm little belly, nuzzling back and forth without restraint.

"Miyoko! W-What are you doing?! That tickles!" Shouko yelped, hurriedly grabbing Miyoko's head with both hands to stop her from doing anything more.

Akira, who sat beside Shouko, merely gave her a helpless look in response to her pleading eyes. What could he do? They were both girls—he couldn't exactly step in.

Still… he'd never pressed his face to Shouko's belly before. He had to find an opportunity to try that someday. A lap pillow too. Definitely.

(Not that he was a lolicon or anything!)

Suddenly—

"Ito! That was you just now, wasn't it?!"

A furious voice cut through the noise of the classroom like a knife.

Everyone froze. Conversations died mid-sentence. Heads turned simultaneously toward the source of the outburst.

Even Shouko and Sahara, who had been goofing around, stopped and looked.

At the back of the room, Ishida Shouya had grabbed Crew Cut Guy by the collar and shoved him against the wall, clearly ready to throw down.

Instead of denying anything, the Crew Cut Guy's eyes darted toward Shouko. Seeing that she was watching, he changed his demeanor completely—puffing out his chest, smirking arrogantly as he gripped Shouya's collar in return and gave a lazy nod.

He didn't even know exactly what Shouya was accusing him of—but with the whole class watching, he had to save face.

And that was all the confirmation Shouya needed. He raised his fist and punched Crew Cut Guy right in the face.

A few of the Miko girls gasped. Some immediately shut their eyes, not wanting to see what would happen next.

Crew Cut Guy fought back just as fiercely, but before he could land more punches, Hirose Keisuke stepped in and grabbed his arm to stop him.

"Ishida! Hirose! What do you two think you're doing?!" Takeuchi-sensei's voice thundered through the classroom just as he stepped in.

The two boys instantly dropped their fists, Hirose letting go, and Shouya lowering his arm. But Crew Cut Guy wasn't done—he lunged in while their guard was down and punched Shouya in the cheek.

"Ito!!" Takeuchi-sensei shouted, eyes wide. He hadn't expected this quiet kid to dare punch someone right in front of him.

Shouya ignored everything else—he leapt forward, tackled Crew Cut Guy, and the two started trading blows in earnest.

Meanwhile, Hirose stepped aside. The other guy hadn't hit him, so he saw no reason to get more involved. He might as well enjoy the show.

Eventually, Takeuchi-sensei wrestled them apart. It was clear to everyone that Shouya had won—Crew Cut Guy burst into tears after being pulled back, while Shouya stood tall, looking at him with nothing but contempt.

Shimada Ikki silently watched the three of them being taken away, covering the lower half of his face with his sleeve. No one could read his expression.

Akira just saw the whole thing as a bit of extra entertainment. At this point, it probably meant the next class would turn into a self-study period again.

"Akira, you better not be like that," Shouko said seriously, glancing back at the doorway where the trio had been led away.

Akira grinned and waved it off. "Me? I'm a model student! Top of the class! I solve all my problems with reason and virtue."

Shouko rolled her eyes and went back to playing around with Sahara. The classroom noise slowly built back up again.

Little dramas like that were just a part of daily life now. Everyone hated Crew Cut Guy, but they also feared what he might do. He wasn't just a lone wolf—he had two cronies always backing him up.

"Alright, this class is self-study. Everyone quiet down! I'll be popping in to check now and then." Takeuchi-sensei stormed back into the classroom, shouted at the students, and then quickly left again.

He'd asked a few other teachers to keep an eye on the three troublemakers. If they slipped away during class, who knew what kind of mess they'd cause next?

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POWER STONE!!!

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