40 Honesty (2/2)

After classes.

Seiji grabbed his backpack and looked in Mika’s direction.

The pigtailed beauty was also observing him, but she instantly averted her gaze when their eyes met.

Seiji smiled wryly before looking at Chiaki who laughed and mouthed a word at him.

”Idiot.” That was the word that she mouthed.

This ”idiot” contained such deep meaning… At the very least Seiji failed to figure it out.

Was Chiaki saying that he was an idiot? Or that Mika was an idiot?

Or both?

Well, forget it.

He waved at Chiaki, said goodbye to Mika, and prepared to leave school.

This long, fatiguing day was finally over...

Or so he thought…

As soon as he had taken a few steps out of the classroom, Seiji detected that someone was following him.

The two people following him weren’t attempting to conceal themselves, and they actually sped up and approached him.

”Harano-san...”

They were the delinquents of his class: the purple-haired Takashi Kobayashi and the tall one, Kahei Watari.

They flanked Seiji from his left and right.

Upon seeing their behavior, Seiji knew what was going on.

He must have been recognized by them!

He could only laugh at himself mentally, but on the surface he remained unaffected.

”Harano-san... please come with us,” Kobayashi whispered to him.

”What if I don’t?”

”Then they’ll come looking for you directly,” Watari said in a grave tone.

Seiji raised his eyebrow.

He didn’t ask who ”they” were, since he could guess.

Even though he could probably attempt to feign ignorance, it seemed meaningless.

”Fine.” Seiji made his decision. Even if trouble came looking for him, he wouldn’t retreat from it.

Watari and Kobayashi continued walking past him, and they intentionally walked in front of Seiji. To the other students, it seemed as if they coincidentally happened to walk past Seiji.

‘Are they trying to look out for my reputation?’ Seiji suddenly thought as he observed their backs.

Watari and Kobayashi were famous delinquents in school, so any student walking together with them would obviously attract a lot of unwanted attention. The way they were purposefully putting distance between themselves and Seiji could only be explained as acting to protect Seigo Harano’s reputation.

As he came to this realization, Seiji’s opinion of the duo greatly improved.

Watari and Kobayashi walked out the front gate of the school and turned down a street after walking for a bit.

Seiji followed them wordlessly.

After some more walking, they reached an empty construction lot.

There were three black passenger cars parked there, and a row of men in black suits were standing in an orderly formation in between the cars. In front of the men was a red-haired man wearing a dark red jacket and black leather pants. Beside him was a blonde girl with curly hair. She wore a brown windbreaker together with a dark blue one-piece dress and black stockings.

Watari and Kobayashi halted approximately 10 meters before reaching them and turned around to look at Seiji.

Seiji also stopped.

Everyone’s attention was focused on Seiji.

”Is that him?” The red-haired man tilted his head and asked.

”...There’s no mistaking it.” The blonde girl stared at the handsome boy as her pretty face tinged with a hint of red, ”I absolutely wouldn’t make a mistake.”

Upon hearing this, the red-haired man looked at Seiji and smiled so widely it seemed that his mouth was about to split open.

The next moment, he suddenly rushed towards Seiji!