"A Bully Victim Strikes Back"

The next day, there's no meeting for the student council, so it almost feels like Gentarō and I are getting to sleep in. Thankfully, we actually wake up on time for school and make it with time to spare, so the two of us head to the student council room. One of the perks of being a member of the student council is that we have our own lockers inside the council room. When we walk inside, Itsumi, Sana, Kochizuki, and Usana are all in the room, simply doing council work or relaxing until class is set to start.

"Good morning Genta and Gentarō. It's nice to see you're early rather than almost late today." Itsumi says with a light chuckle.

"Well thankfully there was no meeting today." Gentarō sighs with relief.

"Some people really take sleep for granted..." I mumble as I rub my tired eyes and put all my belongings in my locker; the number 3A locker. Everyone in the student council has a locker in here, even the support members, listed from 1-16, Gentarō's locker number being 3B right beside mine since we both technically hold the secretary position.

When I turn away from my locker, I notice Kochizuki sitting on the floor, with Nizomi's head in her lap. Kochizuki smiles and giggles to herself as she pets Nizomi's head, and I swear I can hear Nizomi purring like a cat. "I guess it'd make sense that the support members could be in here if us; their leaders, allow it." I think to myself.

"No surprise that Natsuri and Nakawara aren't here, but I'm a little surprised that Hiri is late. Though, he does seem the type to sleep in now that I think about it." Gentarō says as he finishes putting his stuff away.

"Hey, you may be right about that, but that doesn't mean you can say it." Hiri says with a chuckle as he walks into the room.

"I've never been late a day in my life, not gonna start now." Nakawara says next as he walks into the room right after.

"I mean, am I really wrong when I say you two are the type to sleep in though?" Gentarō laughs a bit.

"Definitely not." Nakawara states bluntly.

"Yeah, hit the nail on the head." Hiri chuckles nervously. Everyone laughs a little bit, except for Sana of course, and we all just start talking while waiting for class to start.

"How do you think all the support members compare to each other in strength?" Gentarō asks everyone.

"Well, that is a decent question. I'm not quite sure if I'm being honest." Kochizuki says as she seems to ponder the thought.

"I'm sure anyone else would simply say they are ranked in the same way that we are based off of who they lost to, but in reality, we don't really know if that's true." Itsumi says quietly as she types away on her computer, but loud enough so that we can all hear her.

"Indeed. I believe Raito might be the strongest out of all eight of them~" Usana states with confidence, yet uses her usual flattering tone, so it's hard to tell if she means that.

"What? No way. Raito might be pretty strong yeah, but I think Mobo would beat him if they were to fight." Gentarō states just as confidently.

"Have you no faith in your own sister Usana?" Nakawara laughs softly. "Sure she fell for my trick, but she seemed pretty formidable when we went up against each other."

"That is indeed true, but her skills aren't nearly as good as my own, even without all the fancy tricks I used. I'm positive she'd lose to Raito in a fight." Usana says with a slight sadness and disappointment in her voice.

"I believe Raito may have lost against precious Nizomi here. If not for my force ability, those animals would've been quite troublesome to deal with. She simply got an unlucky first fight." Kochizuki giggles softly as she runs her fingers through the sleeping Nizomi's hair.

"Honestly...the only way we'd find out is if they all fought... We don't even know how you lower four with actual student council seats compare to one another... We just base your rank off of who lost against who too..." I mumble as I think about all the possible battles.

"Then why don't we have a second tournament to decide everyone's proper positions?!" Gentarō suggests exuberantly.

"Well, that sounds like a fun idea, but we'd have to get them all to agree and set up the arena for it all..." Nakawara mumbles.

"If it's something everyone wishes to do, I wouldn't mind setting up all the work needed for it, along with the help of Sana, Genta, and Natsuri." Itsumi says with a smile as she closes her laptop.

"Really?! That'd be amazing!" Gentarō shouts with joy. "Oh man, now I wanna fight everyone!"

"Why don't we all just have a free for all to decide who's truly the best?~" Usana suggests.

"Very tempting...very very tempting..." Gentarō mumbles with excitement.

"I'm a bit curious, Genta, have you ever thought about learning how to fight?" Hiri asks suddenly.

"E-Eh? Me? Fight..?" I giggle nervously.

"Yeah, if Gentarō taught you his style of fighting, and you two were to fight together?" Nakawara pauses, thinking about the possibilities I imagine. "You two would be a force to be reckoned with."

"I-I don't know about that... Even if I did learn to fight, it's not like I have any abilities to amp myself up..." I scratch the back of my head.

"Aw come on! Why not Genta? That sounds like a pretty fun idea actually! If I taught you how to fight, we'd totally kick butt together!" Gentarō says with a grin.

"Yeah, and then you could even participate in the free for all with us." Nakawara says with a smile.

"I-I don't know guys..." I mumble.

"Come onnnnn, let me train you! Please?!" Gentarō gives me some not very cute puppy dog eyes.

I pause, averting my eyes slightly. "W-Well... I-I..." I don't say anything, remembering an event from my past once again.

"Vice president!" A young man shouts as he rushes inside the council room, and we all turn to see it's Rahiru, who's panting a bit. "S-Sorry if I'm interrupting anything." He looks over at Sana.

"You really make him call you vice president..?" Hiri asks with a somewhat dumbfounded expression.

"No, he just knows how to address his superior. I'd prefer if you have something to report to me that it be done in private." Sana states, resting his forehead on the back of his interlaced fingers.

"I-It's rather urgent... I think it's something the entire council should know about."

As Rahiru says this, Sana tilts his head up slightly to look at Rahiru with a serious gaze. "Well, go on then. Speak."

"R-Right... Remember what you asked me to look into..? Well-" Before Rahiru can finish speaking, a bright teal flash bursts into the room, and then bounces all over the room. The voice that emits from it makes it clear who this bright flash of light is instantly.

"Crap! I'm almost late!" Natsuri yells as she slams her stuff into her locker then stops in front of us all. "Also, guys! There's trouble!" She shouts as she finally stops and we can all make out her form.

"What kind of trouble..?" Nakawara asks nervously, still a bit stunned from the display of energy.

"There's a couple Boost Acolytes causing trouble!" She holds up her hands and waves them about worriedly.

"What..?!" Gentarō and I lightly shout in shock.

"Just come quick! You gotta see this!" She then dashes back out of the room, to which Gentarō shoots up out of his chair and dashes out as well, using his boost ability to make himself faster. I quickly stand up as well, but almost everyone else is already out of the room as I'm running to catch up. As I run out however, out of the corner of my eyes, I see Rahiru and Sana remain in the room, Rahiru telling Sana something, but all I can make out is the fact that their mouths are moving before I'm out of the room.