Sudou thought back to the way Ying Ye Zhenshi had said that he would have kicked him out of the basketball club with a smile on his face.
When he recalled that sight, he became a little scared, but he just could not be reconciled with his current predicament and knew had to do what he had to do.
"Asshole. Fucking asshole. Who else can I contact to help me though? Ayanokōji?"
Sudou recalled what his manager had told him about finding some friends to help him out.
He took out his mobile phone and looked at the short list of contacts.
At first, his gaze lingered on the name 'Ike Kanji', and then 'Yamauchi Haruki'.
These two guys he had thought were good friends at first, but after this incident, they had basically broken off their friendship, and Sudou realised too late that they were not reliable and trustworthy at all.
If it weren't for the situation he found himself in, Sudou would have wanted to beat those snakes up.
They would usually talk loads of smack, but when push came to shove, they were the first to run away.
Additionally, he was actually in conflict with Ying Ye Zhenshi to a large extent because of those two idiots.
Notably, it had been Haruki Yamauchi who had provoked Ying Ye Zhenshi first.
Getting revenge against Ying Ye Zhenshi had also first been proposed by Ike, and he had even taken action for his friend.
Clearly, the circumstances were as he described, but then at the end of the day, why had he found himself in this shitty situation?
Sudou was annoyed as his gaze moved past those two names before falling upon a hidden corner of his screen, where the number of an ordinary boy, who he didn't even know if he was a friend of his or not, was sitting.
It was the contact of his unimaginably ordinary classmate Ayanokōji Kiyotaka.
Thinking of the fact that this boy actually seemed to be quite smart, that he had given Ike and the others a few crafty suggestions in the past, that he was relatively sensible, and that he had tried to stop them many times before, preventing them from messing around, Sudou chose to contact Ayanokoji Kiyotaka. This was his last straw.
His whole being seemed to be a little apprehensive, as he was worried that Ayanokouji Kiyotaka would be drawn over by Ike and the others into their boat, and subsequently reject him.
But the phone call went through.
***
"Huh?"
On the other end of the line, in a group of class D students, a sudden phone call to Ayanokōji's phone suddenly startled him.
Since his usual marks were an unremarkable 50 points across the board, he was also dragged into the group study session.
It felt like there would be no place left for him in the class if he didn't join in.
Ike Kanji and Yamauchi Haruki were also there which was some solace.
Horikita Suzune had also been begged by Karuizawa to join.
Although she had decided not to be present at the sessions, she had promised to help write some key points from the taught content and have them copied up as her contribution to the class's efforts.
The others couldn't help but think of her as a really good classmate.
"Ayanokōji, is there something bothering you?"
Hirata, who was conducting the study session, watched as Ayanokouji stared at his phone.
"Oh, it's nothing, sorry. Sudou seems to have something to speak to me about. I'll go and answer the phone."
Hearing Hirata's words, Ayanokōji Kiyotaka got up to switch his environment, intending to answer the phone elsewhere.
But when Ike and Yamauchi heard Sudou's name, their eyes widened and they looked over.
"Then, everyone, let's take a break."
Hirata nodded in understanding.
"If you don't understand anything about what I just said, you can ask whoever is sitting around you, or you can come to me."
He appeased the students who were gathered here now.
Those who were here were basically all those who had been persuaded, so Hirata Yosuke was indeed the right person to be leading them.
No one had any objections to the plan, as they watched Ayanokōji walk out.
"I'll go out and have a look. If there's anything you need me for, I'll help out later."
Hirata Yosuke paused and walked out after him.
Watching Hirata Yosuke walk by, Ike Kanji felt a little resentful, before looking at Haruki Yamauchi sitting beside him.
"Why is that guy answering the phone call anyway?"
"I guess it was Sudou who desperately came looking for something again."
Haruki Yamauchi nodded and said.
"Hey~ Weren't you guys good friends before? I heard from Satou that you had a very good relationship and that you would hang out together nearly every day."
Karuizawa spoke frankly when she heard their complaints.
The full name of the girl she had mentioned— Sato— just now was Maya Satou, a popular girl in their class, and a member of Karuizawa's friendship circle.
She was quite easy to talk to and had a carefree personality, but her only shortcoming was that she had poor academic ability.
Recently, in addition to being a part of Karuizawa's study group, she would occasionally harass Ike Kanji and his ilk, and a small group had inevitably formed with the idiot trio and the girls in that way.
"Yeah, don't you guys have a good relationship? Are you not worried about him?"
Maya Sato also raised her head to look at them when she heard this.
The relationship between Ike Kanji and Sudou was naturally what she had told Karuizawa and the others while chatting the other day.
While Karuizawa had brought this up for some unknown reason, no matter the case, she had to be on Karuizawa's side when the girl confronted Ike.
"It just wasn't meant to be. That guy Sudou has such a bad temper. We can't stand him anymore."
Ike raised his hand to explain themselves.
He made it seem as though their popularity would go down if they so much as maintained contact with him.
"Just as Ike said. That guy is always showing off his basketball skills and his physical prowess all day long, plus he has a bad temper. Both of these combined made it so that we haven't talked to him for quite a while now."
Haruki Yamauchi also agreed.
They were pretty clearly distancing themselves from Sudou.
These guys who had had such a good relationship with Sudou before seemed to be treating him as some sort of enemy, acting disgusted with so much of a mention of his name.
"Oh, so that's the case."
Karuizawa smiled and didn't say any more.
It appeared that she believed what they were saying.
As for whether a certain someone else would believe them or not, it was another issue to think about altogether.
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