Even at the beginning, with the worst intentions,

However,

the truth always reveals its true fangs after the warm embrace.

How long can the veneer of self-protection hold up?

I smile at life.

Life is wielding a knife at me.

There are places where the sunlight of the corona does not shine.

"Life" is not only a noun, but also a verb.

"......"

- too naive.

Ziongzong was crouched behind a bush with a can of hot cocoa in his hand, his eyes fixed on the big tree, his heart probably reaching its limit of patience.

The first thing he did was to read a magazine in the convenience store while waiting for the little sister with the twin ponytails, but after waiting for a long time without success, even the manager of the convenience store couldn't stand it and gave Ziongzong a can of hot cocoa to cheer him up.

Of course, the store manager mistakenly thought Ziongzong was waiting for a date.

Ziongzong, who could not bear to swindle the sympathy of the store manager, shifted his squatting position, but seeing that it was almost time to call the child home for dinner, the little sister with the double ponytail did not appear, Ziongzong also gradually had the idea of giving up.

Even assuming the kid is the criminal, there is no such thing as a dumb criminal who shows up at the scene of the crime the next day, let alone cheats in the same way.

--Go back.

Going back here refers not to Uesugi's house, but to the school.

This was not some impromptu decision, but a 'program' that Ziongzong had scheduled early on.

When Ziongzong returned to the school, there was no one left in the school.

The sunset accompanied the school building, half of the arc slowly descending, the afterglow spilled on the skin, spreading a stream of warmth from the heart.

Ziongzong walked unhurriedly to his class, 3(A), his footsteps calmly, without making a sound. As Ziongzong expected, the door of the third year (A) classroom was not yet locked, but merely hidden, and through the doorway, he saw a cat, standing on his desk.

-- Have you already helped me punish them?

Ziongzong pushed the door open and walked to his table, he could clearly see that the cat's claws were still exposed on the outside of the flesh pad, which was stained with blood, and then, looking closely at the classroom, he would notice that there were tiny traces of blood on the walls, on the table, and on the chairs.

Couldn't help but laugh out loud, Ziongzong sat on his own chair, while gently stroking the cat's fur with his hand.

This cat, he had saved the day he came to register.

'I'm not sure what you did, but thank you, you made me happy.'

Although not all happy things, Ziongzong is in a good mood today, even if the drawer is a pile of broken books he does not care, sharp put all the books into the book bag, he thinks it is time to go back.

This time, back refers to the Uesugi family.

Then, the sound of hurried footsteps, appearing at the far end of the corridor, gradually approaching, messy, rhythmless, came more than one person, the classroom door was pushed open with force, hitting the wall with a noisy clatter.

"......"

"......"

Ziongzong remained seated without reaction, his expression bland as he looked at the panting three, the three from the Kendo Club.

"...... what are you doing here. "

The one who spoke first was Nakagawa Shiro, the calmest and most scheming of them all.

"What, is it fun to race in the school, the three brothers who built the house. "

Without answering the other's question, Ziongzong just flirted leisurely.

"Don't be shameless, and don't try to change the subject.

Only, the other party's attitude is not as leisurely as Ziongzong, three people blocking the door, each holding a baseball bat in their hands, looks like a lot of weight, being hit will probably be very painful.

"Don't you know that in fairy tales there are three brothers who build houses? "

Ziongzong didn't put those bats in his eyes, stretched out his fingers to hold the black cat's paw, and shook hands with it happily.

At this point in the conversation, Shiro Nakagawa and Honda Takafuta also reacted, their hands tightened on the bat, and their knuckles creaked.

"Wait, wait, what does he mean, Shiro, what three brothers?

Only the burly Ueto Tsugudora remained confused by the riddle of "the three brothers who built the house".

"I don't want to tell you, prepare to do it"

Nakagawa Shiro swung his bat at the ceiling, the wind sound was low and heavy, the sound alone was full of intimidation.

Ziongzong, on the other hand, had nothing around him to use.

"Well, what's the hurry, I'll tell you, Tsugudora little brother. "

"The so-called three brothers who built the house, the story of the three little pigs, remember? "

"The only difference is that the three little pigs now are all bruised and battered, which is sad. "

As Ziongzong said, all three of them had marks on their bare skin from the cat's claws.

"The story of the three little pigs is actually an extra story. "

"One day, the three little pigs, who were very jealous, tore up someone else's book in private and were so concerned about it afterwards that they returned to confirm it on the same day, only this time they were injured by the little black cat that happened to appear. "

"What a pity, three little pigs, don't you think so, Tsugudora, little brother? "

What should be made clear is made clear, even the most stupid are not unable to understand, only that many things once clear, the type of brain capacity can not handle the data, will short-circuit the mind to the most direct way to try to solve the problem.

Ueto Tsugudora, who was wielding a baseball bat and yelling loudly, fainted without doing anything more before his bat touched Ziongzong, who had already been dried over on the floor by the chair Ziongzong grabbed at his leisure.

"This is probably the little piggy who built a house with straw, right, piggies? "

Ziongzong stepped on the chair and sat playfully on the back of the chair as if he was playing, while Ueto Tsugudora, who was lying on the ground, his forehead had begun to seep blood.

Blood, since ancient times, has always been the best tool for intimidation.

Honda Takafuta, already scared to the point that his legs were weak, fell to the ground and did not even dare to move.

And, still standing, Nakagawa Shiro, frowning, apparently thinking about how to reverse the situation, but the question probably can not be answered for a while, its difficulty is probably much higher than Goldbach's Conjecture.

"The piggy who knows how to build a house with wood is no longer able to do so, and the smartest piggy who knows how to build a house with bricks, what are you still hesitating for? "

Ziongzong grinned happily, and his innocent smile looked a bit scary against the blood-colored sunset behind him.

"There's no big wolf here, piggy, so it's better to go home before the sun goes down, isn't it? "

"Take your two little pig brothers with you."

Nakagawa Shiro, who had been silent for a long time, took a difficult step forward.

"...... bah."

He raised the baseball bat in his hand and aimed it at Ziongzong's head.

"Don't look down on people too much, I didn't do it last time just because I didn't want to dirty the Kendo Club's dojo."

"That's really commendable, that mountain red-haired gorilla will probably reward you with a banana, right? "

The difference in atmosphere between the two sides was so great that Shiro Nakagawa's heart strings were so tense that they were ready to break, while Ziongzong's side didn't even feel any tension.

Such a contrast finally ignited Nakagawa Shiro's anger. He was not absolutely confident in force, but it was the first time he was taunted to the core by someone along with his intelligence.

The baseball bat rubbed against the tiles on the floor with a crunching sound, which crossed with the sound of Nakagawa Shiro's heavy footsteps, Ziongzong rocked his wooden chair swaying to the last moment, then raised his hand to catch Nakagawa Shiro's head-on swing of the baseball bat, pivoting it away in the moment, reversing the chair backwards, his body vacated and did a backflip, still holding the bat's hand without mercy, pulling Nakagawa Shiro closer to his side After letting go, Nakagawa Shiro gradually moved away from Ziongzong, lost consciousness and fell to the ground, while Ziongzong, after completing the backflip, just sat on the chair and landed firmly, right back in his own position.

Only, a new bloodstain was added to the edge of the chair.

From the beginning, three boys would be knocked back by a small black cat and then come back with a baseball bat for revenge, boys of this level are not even considered opponents in Ziongzong's eyes. He clapped his hands and signaled to Honda Takafuta, who was hiding by the wall, to carry the two away.

Wood rubbed against metal with a sharp creaking sound as the front door of the classroom was pushed open.

Katagiri Mai stood at the front door of the classroom, looking at Ziongzong without expression.

---Timed it really well.

--just arrived.

It was just now that Ziongzong felt her presence.

Then, what Katagiri saw was Ziongzong unilaterally beating up the defenseless Nakagawa Shiro, and ordering Honda Takafuta to do something with a superior posture.

--This situation is bound to be misunderstood, right?

And that's exactly what happened.

Katagiri Mai turned her head and walked away.

"What should I do, kitty? "

Ziongzong and the little black cat looked at each other, but unfortunately this did not allow them to connect, Ziongzong decided to pick up the little black cat with one hand, while picking up the school bag with the other hand, and rushed out of the classroom to chase after Katagiri.

Although the impression that Katagiri gave Ziongzong in the past two days was indeed a girl who was not friendly to people and was very vicious.

However, what happened at noon that day, he may not just leave it at that, this is the world in his eyes, is his world, as a god, he has no such thing as compromise.

--Does it make you happy to act as you please?

--Does it make you feel good to freely use your power to help the weak?

--Do you know what hypocrisy is?

--Do you think this "casual" attitude can really help?

It's only natural to see a chick fall from a tree and help it return to the nest.

What do you mean by "at will"? It's not like saving this chick and not saving other chicks, it's only fair to do so.

Usually Katagiri Mai, although it is vicious, but only indifferent vicious, more essential analysis, she is just without malice to distance from others. But yesterday's words at noon, even though every word sounded cold and heartless, the anger in them could be felt. In other words, although it always looks like she is angry, in reality, yesterday at noon, was only the first time she was angry since Ziongzong met her.

Although she was a bit confused at first by being scolded inexplicably, the two words that Katagiri Mai said that she missed were not missed by Ziongzong because she was confused.

In Ziongzong's memory, there were two sentences that were not coherent in Katagiri Asahi's rebuke.

--"Do you think that the weak need sympathy and the strong need containment?"

--"Do you think it will be grateful if you casually throw it in the corner?"

--"Why did you save it in the first place if you didn't have the sense to take care of it? "

--- "Self-righteous."

Yes, here it is.

--You think he'll be grateful if you just leave him in the corner?

--If you didn't have the sense to take care of it, why did you save it in the first place?

These two sentences did not sound wrong at the time, but after calming down, the incongruity of these two sentences was very obvious.

What is a 'corner' and what is a 'consciousness to take care of it'?

These two sentences are not at all related to what happened at noon. In other words, what happened at noon that day was just the trigger, and the explosive itself lies in these two sentences.

Ziongzong knew exactly what these two words referred to.

Ziongzong had already seen the breakthrough.

"Don't go so fast."

"It sucks."

When one is in a certain mood, one is often unable to understand the objective nature of things, for example, Katagiri Mai, who was walking very hard to get away from Ziongzong, did not notice that Ziongzong behind her was chasing very easily.

"It's not bad at all, it's just a weakness. "

"Sophistry."

"Or should I have let them succeed in bullying the few with the many, so that the ending would be more pleasing to you? "

"Nonsense."

"What you see with your eyes is often not true, you just arrived at an awkward time, I'm not what you think I am."

"It's not true."

"It's true. Feel my chest if you don't believe me. I'm not lying."

"Pervert."

"I don't know what you mean by "good", but there's no room for "evil" in my eyes, Katagiri Mai, little sister. "

"......"

The words made Katamu Ma-i stop at once, but Ziongzong did not know which point angered her, in general, dissatisfied with the name "little sister" must be included, because if someone called Ziongzong "little brother" he would also be upset, which would make Ziongzong confused This will make Ziongzong confused about which part of his body is being called.

Just kidding.

"You know this cat, right?"

Ziongzong reached forward, and the black cat, perched on his shoulder, walked meekly down Ziongzong's arm and let Ziongzong hold it in his arms.

"I don't know."

"You've been taking care of it for the past few days, too, right?"

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Can't you be more honest?"

"Nosense."

"Do you like me?"

"No way!"

Ziongzong smiled slyly.

"You are telling the truth."

Seizing the opportunity, Ziongzong took a big step forward and overtook Katagiri Mai, blocking her way with his body.

"......"

"......"

Silence did not allow for conversation, and Katagiri Mai tried to walk around Ziongzong several times, only to be blocked by Ziongzong's body, and even nearly braked and crashed into Ziongzong's arms.

"Isn't it time to calm down, Katagiri Mai, classmate? I'm still your senior, after all."

"Don't put that on me."

"I didn't mean it like that. I just thought you liked someone older than you."

Wow.

A slap without hesitation, this time not unlike the last time, was decisively aimed at slapping Ziongzong and would not stop at the halfway point, except that Ziongzong's reaction was a beat faster than Katagiri's, holding her wrist before being hit.

--Can't afford to joke about.

Although he couldn't take a joke, Ziongzong's uncle heart was having a lot of fun.

"Give me five minutes to tell you something, and then go your separate ways, understand? "

"......"

Ziongzong let go of Katagiri's hand and took two steps back, a courtesy that helped him get a chance to talk to Katagiri.

'That day at noon, in the courtyard, while you were harshly criticizing me, you let slip your words.'

Ziongzong touched his hand to his throat and coughed lightly a few times, as if adjusting his voice, and after a few moments, he opened his mouth, but what came out was not his own voice, not even a boy's voice.

It was the voice of Katagiri Mai.

"Hello, I'm Katagiri Mai. "

Katagiri Mai took a big breath backwards, opened his eyes wide, and covered his mouth in disbelief.

"Do you think it will be grateful if you just throw it in the corner? "

"If you didn't have the sense to take care of it, why did you save it in the first place? "

Not only the voice, but also the tone of voice was exactly the same.

"These two words were not about yesterday's noon, but about the black cat that Uesugi Ziongzong had saved on the day of registration. "

"Isn't that right, Katagiri Ma-chan?"

Ziongzong switched back to his own voice at this point.

"So what if it's ......."

"If so, I want to ask you something."

"Don't even think about it."

"No, I think you'll say yes, because unlike the hypocritical me, you're kind, so you won't refuse."

"......"

"I wish, I want you to take care of this black cat, can you."

"...... No."

Although she said so, Katagomu Maori did not hesitate to take the black cat away from Ziongzong.

"Anna is already mine, I do not care to help you take care of the black cat. "

"I don't want to take care of a black cat for you." --And you've already named it.

"Really? That's a shame."

"I'm off."

"Well, goodbye, and goodbye little black cat, too~"

The little black cat, carried away by Katagiri Mai, ignored Ziongzong's goodbye, and just lay comfortably.

The black cat that forgot the warmth of his own hands when it had the softness of a girl's chest, Ziongzong pursed its lips and spat its tongue mischievously.

--You little cat need to do is to go about your little life, forgetting your friends.

At the exit of the school building, far away, a figure can be seen, bouncing around, and she can be heard humming a song, in a happy mood.

"Get off~ class~Oh~Oh~Get off~Oh~"

Mayumi Araki hums a magical song with a self-composed tune with childish lyrics, humming it with self-pleasure.

--you teacher sure can play cute.

Ziongzong, who was still 30 meters away from her, hesitated whether to approach her or not.

If you replace the words "after work" with "after school" in the lyrics, then this is at best a kindergarten class of children.

The only thing is that ...... this kindergarten child is walking too slowly, so slowly that Ziongzong doubts whether he will be able to return home before midnight, out of helplessness, Ziongzong closed his eyes and walked straight ahead.

"Yo, kid."

"Yo, big sister."

It was a miracle that she didn't find out.

"You're so quick to hit on your little sister, Tanimura Kojiro."

"Yeah, what's wrong with that, Big Sister?"

Ziongzong replied calmly, but in his heart he was already in a storm, wondering how this woman was so well-informed, and who she was referring to as the "little sister".

--Uh, why do I feel guilty about having relationship when I had nothing to do with it

"...... You want to play with me, you little brat. "

"I just wanted to ask you where you were busy the day before yesterday. "

Ziongzong's change of subject was quite successful, and the effect was simply outstanding. The day after the drink, Mayumi Araki only showed up at school and disappeared without a trace.

"...... Why? Do you need to see me? "

"No, just asking."

"Since you are sincere in asking, then I will tell you with mercy. "

Mayumi Araki's emotions inexplicably became high.

"Yesterday, the Pluto mob suddenly started a gang war against the Mercury mob, and in order to maintain the peace of the solar system, I had to go out to settle the fight, that's all. "

"That's what happened.That's right, that's good to hear. "

If these two people could talk normally, the world would probably be at peace.

"If you know that, then go home and don't make trouble for me. "

Ziongzong wanted to go back.

"I'll see you tomorrow, Big Sister."

Mayumi Araki and Ziongzong parted at the intersection of the corridor, and the moment they parted, they both cursed in their minds.

--Damn woman.

--Damn kid.