CH 189.2

Chapter 189.2: Class Meeting 5

On the other hand, Mei-chan wasn’t a machine, she should be able to hold herself back even if I didn’t stop her.

「Well, excuses aside, don’t you’ve something to say to me, Kenzaki-san?」

「I-I… I always feel that you’re suspicious, I can’t trust you!」

「Mei-chan, Kenzaki-san won’t feel like apologizing unless I win the duel against her.」

「Leave it to me, I shall make her beg for your forgiveness immediately.」

「ASUNA! IT DOESN’T REALLY MATTER EVEN IF IT’S JUST A PRETENSE, YOU’VE TO APOLOGIZE IMMEDIATELY!」

「M… M-My apologies…」

Humph, it seems Kenzaki had yet to overcome her trauma toward Mei-chan. Sure enough, justice by violence was the best.

「That should be enough right, Momokawa? Since you won’t pursue this matter anymore, Asuna doesn’t have to apologize anymore.」

「Let me ask you, Souma-kun, who do you prefer between a woman who apologizes insincerely after playing dumb about her own crime and a woman who apologizes wholeheartedly after she has admitted that she was wrong?」

「Don’t toy with me! You’re not even apologizing at all.」

「Naturally, in my case, it was legitimate self-defence.」

But what about Kenzaki Asuna? She might be suspicious of me, but we were still on the same team back then. Even though we still had no idea about the reason behind her doing such a thing, someone who harmed their own ally for self-centred reasons was a criminal.

「Momokawa, you――」

「That’s enough… Yuuto, this is my own doing after all…」

「Asuna…」

Ho-how gallant of you, Kenzaki Asuna. I mean, she stopped Souma-kun of her own volition after all. Is your girlish side tickled after seeing him speaking up for you? Honestly speaking, I wanted to ask more about that, but unfortunately, I couldn’t do that right now.

「My bad, Momokawa… I mean, I’m really sorry.」

Making use of the situation to show off her good side before the man she loved, Kenzaki bowed toward me.

「Yup, I can’t forgive you, after all. Let’s settle this properly after we leave this dungeon, prepare yourself for that moment, Kenzaki.」

「MOMOKAWAAA!」

「You seem to forget a simple fact, Souma-kun. Apologizing alone won’t make her innocent, we decided to postpone the judgment until we leave this dungeon after all.」

「That’s enough, Yuuto-kun. The same goes for you, Momokawa-kun.」

Class Rep skillfully intervened to separate us. I wonder how many times she had done this since the start of this class meeting. It felt like she had become more and more experienced as time passed by.

Anyway, let’s use this murder attempt of Kenzaki Asuna for negotiation materials later. When we truly escaped from this dungeon safely, I’ll drag Kenzaki down with me if they tried to judge me.

「By the way, you are also charged with attempt to murder when you tried to kill me in a fit of rage, Souma-kun.」

「Oi, in such situation――」

「Give it up, Yuuto-kun, I’ve to say that Momokawa has the right to say that in this case.」

「Let’s take it as a debt of gratitude this time.」

「… I understand, that’s enough.」

It might look like a small incident, but Souma-kun still tried to kill me when he saw me murder Reina. I’ve to gather more negotiation materials since it would give me advantages over the others.

By the way, that was the attempt to murder that revolved around me. The next one was…

「Well then, anyone else wants to file a complaint――」

When I cast a glance, looking for the next person, the one who averted their gaze was Shimokawa. Ueda, who sat beside him, hung his head down, and Nakai was lying down.

I see, they had already prepared themselves for this.

""

「Shimokawa-kun.」

「YES! I’M REALLY SORRY ABOUT THAT! I DID IT ON IMPULSE!」

「Ueda-kun.」

「IT REALLY WAS AN UNEXPECTED SITUATION BACK THEN! WE REALLY HAD NO INTENTION TO DO SOMETHING LIKE THAT!」

「Nakai-kun.」

「BUT THE ONE WHO CHOSE TAKANASHI-SAN AS THE TARGET WAS SHIMOKAWA!」

「What do you think, Souma-kun?」

「I overlooked your action back then, but… It seems that was a mistake.」

「You three shall be punished with death.」

「OIOIOI, WAIT A MINUTE, MOMOKAWA! AREN’T YOU THE ONE WHO SAID THAT WE WILL BE FORGIVEN AS LONG AS WE WERE APOLOGIZING ON THIS OCCASION!?」

「THIS IS DIFFERENT FROM WHAT YOU SAID BEFORE!」

「WE DIDN’T DO ANYTHING, RI~GHT!?」

Good grief, these guys are noisy! Well, it couldn’t be helped, rape was even worse than murder after all.

「My bad, Shimokawa-kun… I am really helpless in this case.」

「Ain’t ya giving up way too easily, Momokawa~! Even though we chose to trust you!」

Oops, they were really about to cry when they were exposed to Souma-kun’s killing intent.

On the other hand, the person most affected by this matter, Takanashi-san, didn’t even speak a single word from the very beginning. She just went to hug Souma-kun and was sobbing nonstop. It could be because she was really frightened upon recalling that experience.

Sure enough, it seemed this woman had realized that putting up that “damsel in distress” act was equal to pressing the switch of the electric chair for the death penalty.

The anger voltage of Souma-kun, who gently brushed the back of the crying Takanashi-san, slowly rose to a terrifying degree.

Dammit, things looked really bad right now, the trio might be killed for real if I didn’t defend them right away.

「Anyhow, the three have already reflected on their actions, just forgive them already, Takanashi-san.」

「Uuh, fueee…」

「Since you don’t say anything, I take that you forgive them.」

「Nooo!」

The heck, she faked her cry, huh.

「Well then, do you want to say something?」

「I, I can’t forgive them… They did such a cruel thing… I’m, really scared…」

Uhm, I see. Takanashi’s brave yet frail act of confession was the textbook example of a girl’s reaction when attacked by a ruffian. Seeing her current appearance, I got this feeling that everyone would want to be safe and comfort her. At the same time, it also made her knight in shining armor want to kill anyone who made such an adorable girl suffer like this.

But, such an act wouldn’t work on me. Honestly, I felt annoyed instead since this kind of act reminded me of that bitch Reina.

「Humph, but, you’re captured with 『Aqua Bind』, right? Seeing that you’re not injured, there’s no need to make a big deal of this matter.」

「Su-Such blasphemy! You’re the worst!」

「Momokawa-kun, I can’t help but think that there’s something wrong with the way you say it.」

His little sister was faster than Souma-kun to curse me. Even Class Rep was slightly taken aback by my reaction.

「Then, here’s a question, what made you want to catch Takanashi-san?」

「That’s already decided right!」

「Let him say it, what are you going to do to Takanashi-san?」

「Tha-That…」

No way, you want to rape her.

Sakura-chan stopped before she said the “F” word. I mean, it was unbecoming of a girl to shout 「RAPE!」 in the presence of many people. I guess she could still feel ashamed, huh.

「… Whether it’s in the past or present, there’s only one thing a man does when he catches a weak woman— make her his woman.」

Make her his woman, is it? That’s an ancient way to say rape.

But I guess I had to raise my opinion about Sakura-chan a bit since her sudden and unique outburst concluded the matter faster than Souma-kun sending the lifeboat.

Just as expected, Souma Sakura wasn’t just your average beautiful girl.

「Nope, you’re wrong, Souma Sakura. I’ve never thought of such a thing.」

「What are you trying to say at this point… Are you trying to say another sophism, Momokawa?」

I glared back at Sakura with my usual cheekiness who in turn glared angrily at me with her almond-shaped eyes.

「That time, the three of them just wanted to take Takanashi-san hostage. They wanted your core and equipment.」

Namely, robbery right in the middle of the day, definitely not rape!

The Totem Pole Trio were my precious allies, after all. That’s why I would do everything to defend them even if I had to use sophistry as Sakura had said―― Do forgive me if I failed though.