"Zanphia?! Suzannia too?! Why are you here?"
"Hehe~ We're here to give you a surprise, right, Zanphia?"
"Huh? Yeah..."
As Zenover was about to come out of the gate of the school, two familiar figures caught his sight, then he realized that they were his siblings. He originally planned to hurried to Suzannia's elementary school to pick her up, but it looked like it was the other way around today.
He raised a flabbergasted voice at the two of them, and Suzannia sounded exhilarated. Meanwhile, Zanphia appeared to be extremely troubled, and the reason for that was clear. Zenover, noticing Zanphia's state, scanned the surroundings, and saw the reason as well.
Those who berated his big sister, and those who abetted the spread of the false rumors, were loitering around the school for some reason.
However, apparently, they were just waiting for their underclassman friends, as proven by them greeting the other students who came out from the school. While it was quite a relief that they weren't planning in collusion for something against Zanphia.
"Zanphia? Suzannia too? Why are you guys here?"
"Ah! It's Garty! Hi!!!"
"Hello, Suzannia."
Garty patted Suzannia on the head while the latter wrapped her arms around Garty's. Garty suddenly looked around uneasily. Then she breathed a sigh of relief.
"Whew. So he's not here. Definitely don't want to draw all the attention with him here."
It looked like her first meeting with Jogrin left a deep impression on her, a not so pleasant one, to say the least. Nonetheless, she didn't seem to be able to notice the stares from the surrounding. No, she didn't even notice the people around them were mostly Zanphia's classmates.
"Um... Can we get going already...?"
Zanphia, feeling extremely uncomfortable, craved to leave as soon as possible. Deep down, she regretted not insisting on having Jogrin come with her. Still, little did she know, having Jogrin here would only escalate things.
"Nn! Let's say bye to that big sister just now!"
"Who?" Garty tilted her head.
"I think she's a-already left... so let's g-go, OK?"
"Mm... OK!"
It was at that moment that Garty noticed something was amiss. Zanphia acting apprehensive, all the weird stares they were receiving.
"Hey-"
When she was about to raise her voice, Zenover grabbed her wrist. She turned to look at him, and saw him shaking his head in consternation. Because of that, she decided that it's be best to stay quiet and scurry away.
Even Suzannia managed to catch on the uncanny atmosphere, as she held onto Garty's hand more tightly while anxiously glancing around. Garty did the same while giving her a smile to reassure her, but it didn't seem to abate Suzannia's uneasiness at all, which was understandable, given the pressure they were being put in.
"Oh! So you really are here! Zanphia!"
"Told ya so!"
"It's the big sister from earlier... and...?"
"Look at her, she really is a cute little girl! So, who's the father?"
"Hey, Seros! Leave us alone."
"Come on, Zenover~ We won't get to hang out in the future because you know, your sister's gonna be busy with that stuff! Hahaha!!!"
"Enough!! Stop badmouthing Zanphia!!"
"Gonna hit me? Don't think you can get away just because there are no teacher around!"
"Garty! Don't do it, calm down..."
"Zenover's quite the good boy! Hahaha!!!"
"Seros!"
"Huh?"
In the midst of the back-and-forth between Zenover, Garty, Seros, and the girl they met just now, Zanphia addressed Seros, who replied with a tone of hostility.
"I'm really sorry for... w-what I said to you back t-then... Can you at least l-let them go?"
"What? Are you ordering me around, after all that you've said to me?!"
"EEK!!"
As soon as Seros raised his voice, Suzannia shrieked and hid behind Garty, shivering. Immediately, Garty furrowed her eyebrows and stepped forward.
"Hey, bastard! You're scaring her! Get lost!!"
"What the fuck did you say to my underling?!"
Another male with a few followers appeared behind Seros, and the latter instantly displayed a joyful look on his face. Zanphia, Zenover, and Garty recognized that voice and appearance.
"You're that guy from that day!" Zenover spoke up while shielding the girls.
He was referring to the delinquent that caused trouble for Jogrin, Kapel, and Fron when they went out for the first time.
"'That guy?!' Mind your manners!! He's Drakob the Great!!!"
"Hmph. Is that guy who was acting all cool not here? I thought you were hooking up with him?"
"Why do you care? Just let us through already."
Getting impatient, Zenover's tone became aggressive as he glared at Drakob. The latter closed the distance between them. Since he was taller than Zenover and had a lager body build, he felt extra threatening to Zenover. Despite that, Zenover still stood his ground, striving to protect the three girls behind him.
"Aren't you quite the man, huh?? Protecting these ladies??" Drakob leaned in close to Zenover's ear and whispered. "Looks like you haven't gotten enough beating."
Zenover froze up when he heard such a claim coming from Drakob. Witnessing that, both Drakob and Seros burst into laughter. And even though not knowing what Drakob said to Zenover, the followers followed suit and laughed as well.
Zanphia immediately pulled Zenover backwards and faced Drakob and Seros.
"I-I was the one who o-offended you!... So j-just take me...!!"
"You're offering your body??? But you're shaking like crazy! You're making it like we're forcing you or something!"
"Don't bully Zanphia!!!"
Abruptly, Suzannia released Garty and rushed at Drakob, as she furiously threw punches at him. In response to that, Drakob and his followers burst into laughter once again.
"What's this weak little thing doing? Giving me a massage? HAHAHA!!!"
"Drakob, we're drawing a lot of attention here. Maybe we should go somewhere for this...?" Seros muttered to Drakob as he looked up at Drakob with his hands together.
"Hmph. I guess you're right."
With that, he held Suzannia's wrist and dragged her along with him.
"HEY!! LET HER GO!!!"
Zenover, extremely infuriated, yelled at Drakob. As he was about to dash at Drakob with both of his fists, he was halted by Seros with a punch in the stomach. Zenover dropped on the ground, wanting to throw up.
"Zenover!!!" Zanphia and Garty screamed unanimously.
"HELP!!! ZANPHIA!!! ZENOVER!!! GARTY!!!"
"Zip it or else!!!"
Unfortunately for them, there was no time to let the pain subside, so Zenover, enduring the pain, stood up with the help of the girls, and followed behind the group as fast as possible.
The onlookers were mostly the students of the high school. Even though they knew what Drakob, who wasn't a student of that school, was doing to the little girl, Suzannia, they pretended that they didn't see nor hear anything, even though Suzannia's cries were loud and clear.
As for those who weren't students...
"Hey! What's going on over there?"
"Ah~ A kid was throwing a fit, and her parents are disciplining her..."
They received excuses from the students. Meanwhile, albeit not baing able to actually see for themselves what actually took place, they blindly believed in those words... Or rather, they also didn't want any trouble, so what the students told them gave them an excuse to ignore it.