A Monster's Influence: Route B

Volume 2 - Chapter 17

Ayanokouji's POV

Whatever Class D did, it was impressive. From what I gathered from Ichinose, they borrowed some private points from our class that ended up being used to get Class C to withdraw their complaint. In addition, while the alliance seemed to be on equal grounds on the surface, Ichinose and Kanzaki had secretly made Class D the junior partner in the alliance in the meantime. Horikita and Hirata would act on our wishes in the next exam, acting as an unofficial extension of our class to attack our rival classes. Hopefully. I really hope that Ichinose doesn't sincerely believe this is meant to be an alliance of equals.

Though...

Since when was Ichinose Class B's bank? Why was I not the class bank? This revelation was news to me. When and why did such a significant event happen without my knowledge? Perhaps I missed it when I was busy hanging out with Ikari-senpai in the Tea Ceremony club? I had many questions. I asked Yuki about this and she said something along the lines of Ichinose and Kanzaki not trusting me with our classmates' private points because I would misuse them for something ridiculous like buying an ice cream parlor. I wonder why they even thought of that idea — I obviously wouldn't buy an ice cream parlor with everyone's points; I'd just buy three years' worth of ice cream instead. That's something much more practical. 

I suddenly felt a vibration in my pocket, so I pulled out my phone. I rose an eyebrow in confusion when I saw Yuki send me a textless message and tapped my phone to open the conversation. A location? Something wasn't right. It's near the mall...

...

...

I bolted away from where I stood, a single destination in mind. From the information I gathered from my frequent walks on campus, I visualized a mental map and formulated the quickest route to reach the terminus. The conventional path would take a considerable amount of time, so I decided to shave minutes off the time by taking a direct and unorthodox route.

Estimated time of arrival, three minutes.

I took in my surroundings as I dashed into the alley, reaching top speed while I saw an elevated brick wall up ahead. I couldn't simply jump over the obstacle in front of me, so I readied my legs and timed my approach for my next action. I couldn't mess this up. Using the momentum of my run, I jumped up and planted my right foot on the wall, pushing into it, and bounced myself upward. My hands gripped the rusted railing and pulled the rest of my body up, allowing me to successfully vault over the hurdle. I landed into a safety roll to prevent injury and without pause, continued to sprint for my intended destination like my life depended on it. After bypassing several more obstacles, I had finally reached an alley and was met with a strange sight.

A store clerk was crouching over a figure lying supine, back against the ground, making muffled screams.

"Now that the nuisance won't bother us, I'll show you just how much I love you, Shizuku-chan. If I do that, you'll understand my feelings."

I strode forward and noticed another figure slumped against the wall, their head hanging low, knocked unconscious.

It was Yuki, a fresh, livid bruise marring her beautiful, alabaster-colored cheek.

The colors of the world faded away into a dull gray as if I was possessed by a great evil.

I saw white.

I closed the distance and punted the clerk in the face, forcing him off the bespectacled girl, who scrambled to get up. I darkly muttered, "Leave," which she followed after a moment.

In my last moments of lucidity, I forwarded my location and a message to Kanzaki.

Bring Beppu, stop me.