After a few classes, it's lunch break. Keita bought some bread and walked upstairs towards the art room. He got some looks from the second years as if he was in some kind of trouble.
"Oh, that guy was the one who scared off Ryoma yesterday? Scary!" Some people gossiped around.
"Seems like I got into some trouble, huh..." Keita thought as he approached the art room, it's locked.
"So Mio-senpai is not here." Keita thought. He checked in her class.
"Excuse me, is Shiroyuki-senpai here?" Keita asked.
"Oh, she's in the staffroom." A student in the class said.
"Thank you." Keita said before he leave the classroom.
"Hey-" A familiar voice called over.
"Hmm?" Keita looked back. He instinctively ducked, a fist that comes in his way missed.
"Why you-" The guy who attempted to hit Keita is then pushed down and his hands are restrained by Keita's swift movements.
"Let go of me!" The guy shouts.
"Sigh... The more you try to act out... You'll only get humiliated way more." Keita said.
"Ugh... You're right... I'm sorry." The guy gave up. As soon as Keita releases his restraints, the guy introduces himself.
"I'm Ryoma Oozuka, the captain of the soccer club." Ryoma introduces himself.
"Keita Futaba from 1-B." Keita introduces himself as well.
"Futaba-dono, please let me join your cause!" Ryoma suddenly said.
"D-Dono...? What the hell are you talking about?" Keita, surprised at Ryoma's sudden being overly formal, asked.
"I saw you protecting Kujou-san yesterday, and I hope to do the same too, to create a safe environment for Kujou-san to stay in school!" Ryoma continued to spout nonsense.
"Uh... Care to look around you?" Keita awkwardly asked.
"Huh? Sure..." Ryoma looked around, various gazes from the students nearby that looked either disappointed or disgusted.
"Well, cut it out. I'm leaving." Keita excuses himself as he said.
"Hey Keita-dono! Wait-" As Ryoma tries to catch up to Keita, Keita turns around and pins him against the wall.
"Do not get close to Kujou-san anymore." Keita said in an intimidating tone.
"Hiiiiiii!" Ryoma falls to his knees in terror.
"Kyaaa!" As Keita walks off, a group of girls at the back fawns over what Keita did moments ago.
"Having so many crazy people in school, how did Kana-nee even managed to stay like this?" Keita wondered. He was too focused in thinking, that he runs into another student.
"Oh, I'm sorry... I was thinking of something just now. Are you alright?" Keita apologized.
"I'm fine. Just pay attention when you're walking next time." The girl stood up by herself and walked away.
"That girl is Kamika Fujioka... The top student from my middle school huh? It's not that weird about everyone is here. I don't even care anyways." Keita thought to himself and continues walking until he got to the staffroom.
"Understood... I'll plan something for them." Mio said to Takahashi-sensei, the teacher in charge of the art club.
"Oh, it's Futaba-kun." Takahashi-sensei noticed Keita.
"Yes, I'm here to look for Mio-senpai." Keita responded.
"Well, we were planning about recruiting a few more students as well as running a few activities to keep the club you know... Function as a club just like the others." Takahashi-sensei said.
"Right..." Keita acknowledges.
"If there is nothing else, I'll be leaving now." Mio said.
"Oh, right. You may go back now." Takahashi-sensei said.
"Then I'll be leaving now." Mio said as she leaves.
"The only concern is that she might lose a quiet place to paint, yet I've never seen her smiling in that room. Hopefully she gets to talk to people and make some friends that share the same passion." Takahashi-sensei said.
"It seems so. I'll do what I can to help her." Keita said.
"It's nice to know that you're so reliable. Alright, it's time to process these new documents..." Takahashi-sensei said before he goes back to work. Keita excuses himself and returned to class. As he returned to class, his classmates looked at him as if he did something bad.
"What's up with this atmosphere?" Keita asked.
"You just picked a fight with a second year student?" A classmate asked.
"Oh, that. I didn't pick a fight. I was merely defending myself." Keita responded.
"And I heard that class rep-san is gay!" Another classmate asked.
"Huh? Where did that come from?" Keita asked.
"He even did a kabedon to the guy he fought!" Another classmate added.
"What the f-" Keita was dumbfounded at the statement.
"I think he was just giving the other guy a warning, nothing else in there." Itsuki interjected.
"Oh, okay... Then is class rep-san a delinquent?" Another classmate asked.
"No no no, I'm nothing like that." Keita denies.
"Misunderstandings solved, go back to what you were doing." Keita said aloud.
"Guess being noticed in school is so difficult..." Keita said.
"Well, what you did is really heroic in my opinion." Itsuki said.
"Ah, the guys are all crazy over Kana-nee, just how Kana-nee managed to study in this environment?" Keita asked.
"Well, all I could say is that everyone has a side they do not want people to see." Itsuki said.
"You're right... That one side that I cannot see is how she managed to get through being both the smartest as well as the most popular student in school." Keita said.
"By the way, don't you realize that Ayumi is a bit odd today?" Itsuki asked.
"How odd?" Keita asked.
"Look, she's obviously suffering over there." Itsuki points to Ayumi who is struggling with her game on phone.
"I don't know about that. How about you help her out?" Keita suggested.
"Well, it's fine by me." Itsuki stood up and approaches Ayumi.
"Well, that's so tiring..." Keita takes a small nap while waiting lunch break to end.