I turned towards the voice and saw two of my classmates looking at me with grins on their faces.
Next to him, Araki looked a little awkward and annoyed, with a complicated expression on his face.
"Araki-kun? Something's been weird this morning."
"Maybe you're still scared after what happened with the police last time?"
"...Hey, who's scared?"
When Araki glared at the two of them, the delinquents looked away, looking a little awkward.Apparently, among the three, Araki is the most powerful.
"Though, with what happened the other day, it's only going to get more complicated."
"Ah, well, I guess that's true."
"The police were super annoying."
They don't seem to have any idea that they've done anything wrong.
"Well, I have a replacement now, so it's fine."
"Right."
--A replacement?
While Takeru was wondering about this, two delinquents approached him.
He grinned, mocking me.
"So, Sawamura. Let's hang out again today."
"Ah, well, well... today..."
--Well, Kusanagi is here today too, so if you really want to, then this guy would be fine.
One of the delinquents whispered to Sawamura, and he stood up quickly.
"Oh, well! I'll come with you."
"Oh? That's nice. Let's go."
I grabbed her shoulders and tried to lead her out the classroom door to stop her from running away.
--Stupid.
Takeru stands up to stop him, but Sawamura quickly turns away as if refusing his help, and starts to head out of the classroom in a panic.
"Well then, Kusanagi-kun. See you tomorrow!"
"...Ah, hey."
Suddenly, I look at my classmates around me.
Someone who is afraid of trouble.
Someone who is relieved that they are not being targeted.
Someone who is enjoying this situation a little.
Those who simply aren't interested.
--Ahh, what a sight...
The exact same situation occurred before Takeru went to the other world.
At the time, I was just laughing, but in my heart I was wishing the whole world would just end.
"Hii――?!"
"Wh-what? I suddenly feel cold..."
My classmates were shaking in fear.
--Damn it.
Looking over, Araki and the others were also pale-faced.
Realizing that his murderous intent had leaked out, Takeru quickly pulled it back.
What on earth were the delinquents and my classmates all about? I looked around.
But in the end, the atmosphere returns to normal as if nothing had happened, and the delinquents take Sawamura and leave the classroom.
"Hey, where did they go?"
It is said that Takeru's bullying took place on the roof, but there is no way that the school would allow students onto a roof that had been used for either suicide or bullying.
However, as they were habitual bullies, the rooftop was just a place where they could carry out their bullying activities away from the prying eyes of others.
"Huh...? Um, I think it's probably the abandoned factory behind the school."
"I see... I get it."
Takeru grabs his bag and takes the initiative to leave, leaving his classmates dumbfounded.
"Has something changed about him?"
"You just don't remember anything because you've lost your memory, right?"
Takeru's classmates looked on in shock as he confidently left the room.
The abandoned factory is a very dirty place, with ironwork and other objects placed haphazardly and the ceiling in ruins.
Forty years had passed since the time Takeru knew, and even now, with advances in science and magic, places like this, abandoned as they were in the past, remained unchanged.
"Heh heh, be quiet."
"Ah, ah, ah..."
When Takeru looked inside the abandoned factory, he saw one of the delinquents holding Sawamura down while Araki was running at him with a lariat.
"Here we go, here we go!"
"--Agh!?"
"Shhh!"
"Strike!"
Sawamura's glasses fly off with such force that they roll to the ground.
The delinquent and Araki are shaking hands in high excitement and look like they're having a lot of fun.
The remaining delinquents looked at the fallen Sawamura with grins and jeered.
He was also holding a smartphone in his hand, taking a video of Sawamura lying in pain.
--Well, what should I do...?
I'd gotten this far without any plan, but I still hadn't come up with a good solution.
It would be easy to beat up these three here and there, but I can't help but wonder if that's something Kusanagi Takeru should be doing.
If we cause trouble here, then in the future the owner of this body――
"You're really stupid. You should have asked Kusanagi for help back then."
"Yeah. Then maybe our attention would have turned towards them."
The delinquents grab Sawamura by his collar, lift him to his feet, and laugh out loud.
"The reason you're being bullied like this is because Kusanagi tried to commit suicide."
"If he'd had a bit more spirit, this wouldn't have happened."
While the delinquents say whatever they want, Araki hits them repeatedly like they're a punching bag.
Because of that, Sawamura can no longer stand on his own and is now staggering around.
"But..."
"bean paste?"
Sawamura, who was forced to stand by one of the delinquents, spoke.
"I abandoned Kusanagi-kun...even though we were friends..."
With tears in her eyes, she grits her teeth and glares at Araki and the others.
"Who is this?"
"Your face is dirty."
"We just lived quietly without causing any trouble to anyone..."
The words coming out of the cut mouth one by one were small, but they reached Takeru's ears.
"Even at school, I've been quiet so as not to get in your way..."
"Huh?"
"that's why?"
"That's how we've always lived! And yet!"
Sawamura raised his head and glared at the delinquents.
His face was wet with tears, his mouth was cut, and he was in tatters.
"What's wrong with just wanting to live a normal life?"
Those words reminded Takeru, who was standing at the entrance to the abandoned factory, of something from the past.
--I just want to create a world where everyone can live normally and laugh.
"You want me to ask Kusanagi-kun for help? There's no way I could do that! He suffered so much that he almost committed suicide, and yet he fought alone to the end! If he'd tried to involve me, he could have done it!"
Takeru's heart warmed just a little.
It was as if Kusanagi Takeru was asking for help.
"I have no right to say this, having abandoned you once, but... I don't want to abandon my friends again!"
"Oh, I see... Then, be our playmate for the rest of your life."
"High――!?"
Sawamura's shout was answered with a powerful straight right kick from Araki.
"Ugh, Araki-kun, you're so merciless."
"Wow, that was flying!"
The two delinquents again mock Sawamura, who is now completely unconscious.
"What a lame thing to say. Hey, I'm gonna strip him naked and when he wakes up I'm gonna take a video of him kneeling and begging for forgiveness for standing up to us."
"And yet another blow. How horrible!"
"I never thought Sawamura would be such a funny guy. Hehehe."
Malice, joy, ridicule.
That was all we got from them.
In the end, it seems that the only reason they bully Kusanagi Takeru and Sawamura is because it's fun.
"Then it'll be no problem if I crush you guys."
Takeru's heart is telling him to help Sawamura.
If this body desires it, then so be it.
Without thinking about what would happen next, Takeru stepped into the abandoned factory.
