Chapter Four: The Imperial Army Asked Me to Pass Along a Message (Just Kidding)

At Domino High School, every academic year features a grand entertainment event designed to help students relax and unwind from their studies: the "Domino High School Culture Festival."

During this celebration, students confidently organize activities in the form of classes, clubs, or impromptu groups. They construct stalls to sell goods in designated zones or perform on the stage set up in the school plaza. Whether it is a fortune-telling booth, a target-shooting game, a barbecue stand, a maid café, or performances ranging from singing and dancing, senryu poetry, martial arts, to rakugo and manzai, everyone can showcase their strengths and release their stress to the fullest at the festival.

Although Hayato did not believe that those students who were accustomed to being lazy had any stress to begin with. Yes, he was referring to Shoji Manjome, who intended to perform on the festival stage and then confess his feelings to Miho "Ribbon" Nosaka.

"That wretched Manjome!" Honda sat at his desk, scribbling forcefully onto a piece of corrugated cardboard. If one were to lean in, it would be easy to see a plethora of words like "shameless," "bastard," and "spineless" scrawled across the surface.

Jonouchi, however, wore an indifferent expression and patted his shoulder. "When it comes down to it, isn't it your own fault for not having given her the puzzle yet? If you don't give it to her today, you might run out of time, you know?"

"Who knows? Maybe 'Ribbon' will see that Manjome confessing to her, get carried away, and just agree on the spot. 'Oh, Manjome-kun is so cool! He actually confessed to me in front of everyone. I'm so embarrassed, but it's so romantic~'—something like that."

"Ugh, Hayato, don't do that. It feels so weird," Jonouchi said with a constipated expression. "Logically, I should find it disgusting, but why do I feel like you were actually kind of cute just now?"

Shocked—was there a closeted boy right beside me? Hayato was somewhat startled by Jonouchi's alarming statement and quickly returned to normal. He had only meant to make a joke; good grief, he had almost lost his virtue! No wonder Mai Kujaku kept such a distance from him in the future, and thinking about how the sycophant Valon only had eyes for him during their duel, it all felt even stranger.

"Instead of worrying about those things, let's finish the work at hand," Anzu said, holding a pair of scissors and cutting into the corrugated cardboard. "Our group was assigned the air-gun game. Even though Honda is providing the air guns, the number of cardboard targets we need to play the game is no small matter."

The activity Hayato's class planned for the festival was a "Game Carnival." They had selected three games as the main attractions, with each group responsible for one project. Hayato's group was assigned the "Air-Gun Game." As the name suggests, it involved using air guns to aim at and knock down "target figures" made of corrugated cardboard placed at varying distances, with prizes awarded based on the score.

Although the air guns lacked significant power, the targets would inevitably deform as the game was played repeatedly. Therefore, after creating the initial batch, Hayato and his team had to prepare a substantial number of spares. A large stack of corrugated cardboard—their raw material—sat on the desks where they were working.

Just as the group sat around the desks cutting the cardboard, Honda suddenly felt something and turned his head toward the classroom door. Miho "Ribbon" Nosaka ran into the room, looking flustered, and rushed to Anzu's side. Panting heavily, she said, "Anzu-san, it—it—it’s a disaster! Our class’s spot has been taken!"

"What!?" As the culture festival committee member elected by Class B, Anzu stood up from her seat immediately upon hearing the news. "Nosaka-chan, tell us exactly what happened."

"Anzu, don't be so impatient. Nosaka-san is exhausted from running over," Honda said. Seeing the woman he admired panting from fatigue, he felt a mix of heartache and fascination at the sight of the soft, vulnerable expression on her face, with loose strands of hair stuck to her cheeks by sweat.

"I'm fine, Honda-kun," Miho Nosaka said after taking a few deep breaths to regain some composure. After reassuring Honda, she explained the situation at the festival site to Anzu.

According to the festival regulations, after each class arranged their activities and submitted them to the school, those needing space could draw lots to be assigned a spot for their stall. Since the festival was starting tomorrow, while the groups responsible for game preparation were busy making props, the rest of the students had gone to the site to start setting up early.

Logically, every class had participated in the drawing, and the school had plenty of space for students to hold the festival, so it was nearly impossible for conflicts to arise over space. Yet, there was always a small group of people who loved to challenge the rules.

Just as Miho Nosaka and other students from Class B were setting up their "Game Carnival" site, a group from Class D arrived under the leadership of their committee member. They claimed that this spot had belonged to Class D for the past three years. With extreme arrogance, they barged in, destroyed the setup, and left a massive, thick iron plate behind as "proof" of their occupation of the site.

After their unreasonable bullying, the guy from Class D known as "Pig-Head Goro" did not stop there. He demanded that the students of Class B provide manual labor to set up their own festival site as "compensation for occupying their spot." Several boys who refused to comply with Pig-Head Goro's absurd demands were severely beaten.

Hayato couldn't help but feel a bit of nostalgia for Ushio Tetsu, the "Demon Disciplinarian" who had been driven to a nervous breakdown and dropped out due to Yugi. When that guy was at school, the discipline was actually quite decent. How would a character like Pig-Head Goro from Class D have dared to act so brazenly back then?

However, Hayato also knew that the reason Ushio could maintain such strict discipline was that he was the biggest villain in the school at the time. While he maintained order, he was no saint—he would extort massive "protection fees" from those he was supposedly protecting.

Still, he was better than those scumbags who took protection money but did absolutely nothing.

"Those wretched guys! Hey, Honda, stop cursing Manjome and come with me to teach those guys a lesson!" Jonouchi, who had a short temper, couldn't sit still after hearing that members of his class had been bullied. He stood up immediately, began searching for a suitable weapon, and called out to Honda.

Honda’s expression was even more furious than Jonouchi’s. "My fists are already starving for action." Seeing the tear-streaked face of Miho Nosaka as she described how their hard-worked setup had been destroyed, Honda's rage was at 1000%.

"Don't be so impulsive, Honda-kun, Jonouchi-kun." Seeing that the two had already set their sights on the large metal triangular ruler used by the teachers, "Ribbon" hurriedly tried to stop them. "Pig-Head Goro from Class D told me to deliver a message to the rest of the class."