Utter defeat

"What's going on? Why are you here?"

"Kushida won't be here-"

Ren listened to the conversation between his classmates involved in the brawl and Ayanokoji. Soon after, Ichinose revealed herself and started convincing his classmates to withdraw the complaint.

In the end, Ishizaki agreed to withdraw the complaint without contacting Ryuen, all thanks to a convincing speech from Ichinose. All of them decided to go to the student council together however once they walked around the corner, they noticed Ren standing there, leaning against the wall with folded arms and closed eyes.

"Chiba?! What the hell are you doing here?"

"...Chiba-kun?" Ichinose sounded the most surprised aside from his own classmates.

Ren is a variable she didn't count on, she didn't expect to find him here, she even began wondering if he was listening to their conversation.

Ren opened his eyes and looked at Ichinose with a knowing smile which made her feel slightly restless.

"Please don't mind me, I am just resting here"

"Isn't it an odd place to rest?"

"Maybe...but in return, I heard something interesting. Looks like you decided what to do" Ren replied before turning to his classmates who were seemingly disturbed by the previous conversation.

"This isn't some sort of joke!" Ishizaki grabbed Ren's collar.

"Violence again?" Ichinose quickly tried to intervene however Ishizaki ignored her.

"Ichinose, this is C class conflict so butt out of this!"

Ren's smile disappeared and lowered his voice when he spoke to Ishizaki.

"*Let go, you better preserve your strength to recover from the aftermath.*"

"Eh?!" When Ishizaki saw Ren's expression from so up close, he subconsciously let go of his collar.

"Well? Aren't you supposed to go somewhere?" Ren once again smiled brightly but to Ishizaki who has just realized why he let go of Ren's collar, Ren seemed like a devil to him.

The group decided to continue on their way to the student council room while Ren remained standing in the same place with his hands in his pockets.

When there was no longer anyone around, he pulled his left hand out of his pocket, looking at the phone in his left hand.

[Pickpocket - Lv. 5]

'There is something I wanted to try for some time' A small green ring appeared between Ren's irises and pupils.

[Hacking - Lv. 6]

'Sure enough, it feels like cyberpunk shit'

The phone in front of him suddenly looked enveloped by the green net with several dots showing descriptions of its components' models. These green dots even showed him the PIN, giving him easy access.

'Well, I won't do anything for now but seeing how I can even make it malfunction, it seems I will be able to tamper with the cameras and such, heh. Thanks, Ishizaki, I will return the phone right away' Ren looked toward the direction group left with a faint smile before he pushed himself off the wall with his back, returning to his classroom to return Ishizaki's phone.

.

.

.

As Ishizaki and others were walking towards the student council room, he couldn't help but think of Ren's words. Those words slightly calmed down his mind making him rethink this entire situation. He started questioning whether there truly were cameras that caught the whole incident.

'Fuck it!' Ishizaki reached for his pocket just to be shocked.

'What?! Where is my phone?!' Instead of feeling his phone, he just found the phone cover that was of similar weight as his phone.

He took it out of his pocket without caring for Ichinose's reaction just to see a hello kitty phone cover with some metal plates strapped to its inner part.

"Pfff!" His two partners in crime began suppressing their laughter and Ichinose who at first wanted to intervene was looking at Ishizaki with a surprised expression.

"That little shithead!!!" Ishizaki threw the cover on the ground before stomping on it with full force, cracking the cover.

"Why would you destroy your phone cover like that?" Ichinose despite not laughing most likely couldn't help but tease Ishizaki.

"It's not my phone cover! Damn it!" Instead of asking for one of his classmates' phones, Ishizaki increased his pace walking angrily toward the student council room.

The group quickly matched his pace.

"I am delighted you are so eager to get this done, however..." Ichinose said with a content smile but wore a thoughtful expression once she stop mid-sentence.

"What?!" Ishizaki's response was full of annoyance.

"You don't seem to be great friends with Chiba-kun, I hope your class isn't bullying him, he seems like a nice and polite boy" Ichinose said with a serious expression with her index finger pointing up as if she was lecturing them.

Hearing her words, Ishizaki almost snapped at her but quickly regained his reason.

"That little shit...nice try Ichinose but I am not sharing any information about my classmates with you even if it's about someone I hate."

"Can't blame me for trying" 'He doesn't seem like the type who would mind sharing a little bit about himself' Ichinose shrugged her shoulders before thinking about her interactions with Ren.

.

.

.

After the case was dropped and Class C was forced to pay some points for the trial they suddenly abandoned, Ishizaki and two who were involved in it were called out by Ryuen.

Ren was obviously also there when all three of them were kneeling in front of Ryuen with Albert standing behind him.

"You withdraw the complaint without consulting with me first...you know what happens when you disappoint me, right?"

"W-Wait, Ryuen-san! I wanted to contact you but Chiba stole my phone!" Ishizaki plead while trying to shift the blame on Ren who was observing the entire situation with a neutral expression from behind.

Ryuen turned around and glared at Ren.

"Is that so?"

"Is there even any evidence it was me?! He is just trying to get away without punishment by shifting the blame on me! How would I even steal it from him? I presume everyone here carries their phones in their pockets, shouldn't he notice the shift in weight within his pocket if I stole it?!" Ren defended himself without changing his expression.

"..." Ryuen didn't say anything but he turned back to Ishizaki, wearing an even more irritated expression this time.

"Albert" Ryuen called out and Albert went forward and started beating them one by one.

Ryuen occasionally glanced at Ren's reaction but he did not see a single shift in his expression so he decided to ignore him for now.

When all three of them were beaten up enough, lying on the ground in pain, Ishizaki raised his head with great difficulty to glare past Ryuen at Ren who was now holding his right hand in front of his hand, failing to hide his sadistic smile with crescent eyes.

"Y-You! ugh!" Ishizaki's eyes grew wide before his head dropped to the ground, completely exhausted from the beating.

Ryuen found Ishizaki's reaction strange so he quickly looked behind but he saw nothing strange, Ren was still wearing a nonchalant expression despite witnessing what happens when somebody fails their task.