The three female students entered the alley, and there, a female student was sitting on the steps, idly playing on her phone.
One of the girls then pushed the female student with glasses forward and said "Hurry up already."
The push made the female student with glasses stumble slightly, and she ended up standing near the one who had been waiting for them, and seemed to be the leader of the group.
The female student with a lollipop in her mouth lifted her head to look at the girl with glasses and said, "Sorry, Asada. Can I borrow some money again? We spent too much time at the karaoke bar, so we don't have enough left for the train."
"Lend us 10,000 yen. We'll pay you back tomorrow."
Although her words sounded casual, her tone was that of someone giving an order rather than making a request.
Hearing her words, the girl with glasses called Asada, frowned in disbelief. She couldn't believe they were asking her to lend them 10,000 yen.
She was just a high school student like them, living alone and barely getting by on the minimum allowance her grandparents sent her. Where was she supposed to find that much money to lend?
And by "lend," the girl clearly didn't mean it. She had no intention of paying it back, it was nothing more than extortion. Asada had been bullied by the three ever since she transferred to her current school, with them using her past trauma to keep her under their control.
However, she gathered her courage and said, "10,000 yen? Why would I even have that much on me? And even if I did, I have no intention of lending you any money, Endou-san."
After saying that, she turned around to leave, but the other two girls stepped in front of her, blocking her path.
Asada met their eyes and said firmly, "I'm leaving, so move aside."
Even though Asada had mustered the courage to face them, there was still a tremor in her voice, enough to show she was nervous despite trying to hold her ground.
"Huh?" Hearing Asada's defiant words, the female student called Endou furrowed her brows and clicked her tongue. "You little... Don't think you're getting off that easy."
Endou stood up and walked behind Asada. Noticing her movement, Asada slowly turned around, only to see Endou raising her hand, shaping it like a gun while a wicked grin formed on her lips.
Seeing that gesture, Asada's eyes widened in horror. Her pupils shrank, and her breathing quickened.
Staring at Endou's hand that she formed in a shape of a gun, Asada felt her heartbeat race. Her body tensed, and a wave of nausea hit her, even though it wasn't real. She clutched her mouth, feeling as if she might vomit.
The source of this reaction of Asada came from a childhood incident that had left her deeply traumatized. And Endou and her friends was using it to bully her.
At the sight of Asada looking like she was about to vomit, Endou and her friends laughed and snickered.
"Oh, come on, keep you nerve down, Asada."
"It was a real mess that one time you vomited and collapse in class, you know." the long haired girl laughed.
Meanwhile, Asada was barely managing to stay on her feet, struggling to hold back the tears welling in her eyes as her emotions spiraled out of control. Yet Endou and her group only laughed harder at her miserable state.
Seeing Asada's distressed state, Endou smiled smugly and lowered her hand."You don't really need to be like this Asada. We'll let you go this time if you hand over everything you've got on you."
As she said that, Endou slowly walked toward Asada and reached for the bag strapped to her shoulder. However, before she could grab it, someone suddenly stepped between them and caught her hand which made her angry.
"You—! Ah—" Endou was about to lash out but her words was caught in her throat as she froze, stunned by the person who had grabbed her.
Standing in front of her was a fairly tall young man wearing a cap. Even though the upper part of his face was hidden, Endou could tell he was handsome. He was smiling at her which caused her face to get flushed red and felt a little shy.
However, his next words hit her like a bucket of cold water.
"Be careful of what you do, since you girls might be a celebrity tomorrow." As he said that, the young man wave his phone and showed them the video of Endou's group surrounding Asada and even extorting her.
Seeing this, the two girls with Endou turned pale and hurried to her side. "Endou, let's just go… our reputation will be over if that video gets out." one of them whispered urgently.
"Yeah, she's right, Endou." the other added, her voice trembling.
Endou stayed silent, though she clearly understood how bad the situation was. Before she could say anything, however, the young man stepped closer, leaning in slightly. His sudden movement made all three of them tense up, yet at the same time, their faces was oddly flushed with nervous excitement.
After all, even though the young man was threatening them, he was undeniably charming.
Even though Shido was like some kind of bandit trying to bully girls, they didn't seem that frightened, instead they felt thrilled at the thought of him bullying them, and didn't mind if the young man wanted to punish them.
Yet, seeing their reaction, the young man became speechless and wondered whether high school girls this days were this horny to be in heat in such a time of the day.He let out a quiet sigh and shook his head and thought that these girls might be masochists so he decided to simply warn them instead.
As he leaned closer to them, the oppressive pressure coming from the young man become much intense. It wasn't as if something heavy was physically pressing down on them, but the air around him felt suffocating, causing the wild thoughts in Endou's group to vanish instantly.
When he got close enough, the young man then said in a low voice that Asada couldn't hear and said "You shouldn't do that bullying others, okay? Since one day what you do might come back to you."
The three petrified girls was, listened to the young man in daze, however, his words was ringing repeatedly in their minds.
"Now, go."
As the young man said that, Endou and her group snapped out of their daze and started running away, but their run was quite funny since their knees became quite weak after being so near with the young man. However, they still manage to run away and left the alley.
Watching them scurry away, the young man could only shake his head. No matter what world it was, there would always be people who found pleasure in bullying others.
Naturally, the young man was Shido.