Chapter 176: Shimizu Akira: I've Always Been Afraid to Use My Full Strength
After school, the number of people in the classroom gradually thinned out.
Shimizu Akira was tidying up the textbooks on his desk when a weak voice suddenly came from beside him: "Um... Shimizu-kun, I've already sent the photos to you. Also, the points you gave were too many; you really didn't need to give that much—I don't usually spend many points."
He turned his head and saw Sakura Airi with her head slightly bowed.
"Take them; consider it a processing fee for the photos." Shimizu Akira nodded.
Actually, during the second period in the afternoon, he had already seen the photos.
Sakura had sent him two versions: one specifically processed with a white background, and another normal shot with the clouds as the background.
Regarding her Photoshop skills alone, her methods were indeed impressive; even the subtle transitions of light and shadow were handled perfectly. Incidentally, that cowlick on the top of his head had been completely cleaned up by her as well.
"Um... then, I-I understand. I'll do as you say, Shimizu-kun." Sakura Airi froze for a moment, then stopped declining and obediently accepted.
Looking at her docile appearance, Shimizu Akira suddenly felt that her personality was truly a bit too "weak"—it felt as if if he insisted even slightly, she would immediately abandon her own thoughts and accept everything.
The feeling Sakura gave off was that of an exceptionally obedient and well-behaved girl.
If she truly fell in love with someone, she would probably obediently do whatever ridiculous request the other person made.
Forget the entirety of Class D; one might not even find such a submissive girl across all four grade levels.
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.
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Since he had promised Captain Sato, he was supposed to report to the boxing club after dinner.
Before that, however, he planned to visit a sports equipment specialty store.
Regarding the choice of boxing gloves, he didn't know much, so he simply called Captain Sato.
Following the Captain's suggestion, he chose a pair of gloves from a certain famous brand.
While trying them on in the store, the leather his fingertips touched had a somewhat stiff texture.
After all, he had been used to the old, soft gloves in the boxing club that had been worn down over time; suddenly switching to a new model felt undeniably awkward.
But the Captain had said he'd get used to them once he broke them in.
He moved his wrists in front of the mirror, looking at the distinct brand logo on the gloves, and silently suppressed that bit of discomfort.
He then walked to the front counter to settle the bill.
This pair of gloves cost about 8,000 points. To him, it wasn't particularly expensive, so he paid straightforwardly, took the packaged gloves in his hand, and turned to leave the store.
Just as he reached the entrance, his phone rang.
He looked down and saw the caller ID was his manager, Karuizawa Kei.
"Shimizu-kun, where are you right now?"
"I just came out of the sports equipment store. I bought a pair of boxing gloves."
"You went to buy gloves?! Honestly, you should at least report this to me, your manager, in advance! I thought you were late."
"Mhm, then I'll have to trouble Manager Karuizawa."
"...Don't call me manager, how many times have I told you?"
Shimizu Akira hung up the phone, feeling an inexplicable sense of sentiment.
Ever since the time she almost quit the boxing club, Karuizawa Kei had never been late again; she arrived at the club every day on time to perform her duties.
It's just that her inherent personality hadn't changed much—most of the time she was still somewhat arrogant, yet she would occasionally observe his reactions cautiously, as if testing his bottom line.
However, over the course of this month, Karuizawa Kei's reputation in the class was actually quite good.
Currently, her voice carried significant weight when she spoke within the circle of girls—she was always surrounded by a group of girls willing to follow her lead.
He recalled scenes often seen during breaks: several flashy girls would huddle around her desk chattering, she would occasionally look up and say something, and the others would immediately quiet down and listen intently.
In his view, however, this wasn't just because of Karuizawa Kei's strong negotiation skills—Sato Maya, Matsushita Chiaki, and Mori Nene had certainly helped her a lot behind the scenes.
Sato Maya was responsible for "holding the fort"; with her there, she could quietly keep the scene under control. Meanwhile, Matsushita Chiaki and Mori Nene had steady personalities and would quietly offer advice when Karuizawa Kei occasionally became impulsive, or silently handle the logistical chores while she was busy coordinating interpersonal relationships.
This one-leader-three-supporters structure seemed to form a clever balance, allowing her prestige in the class to rise steadily.
Unlike Kushida Kikyo and Hirata Yosuke, Karuizawa Kei almost never interacted with boys other than him, focusing all her energy on managing relationships among the girls.
He remembered during a group selection in a previous PE class, several girls were arguing over the choices. Hirata Yosuke had mediated gently for a long time without results, and Kushida Kikyo's attempt to smooth things over with a smile failed to calm them down. Finally, Karuizawa Kei frowned and said, "Just go with what was agreed upon earlier, don't waste time," and the arguing girls immediately fell silent.
That kind of influence hidden beneath her arrogance indeed possessed a bit of a special quality.
Amidst these thoughts, he had already walked to the entrance of the boxing club.
Sure enough, Karuizawa Kei was standing there with a sign-in sheet. Seeing him approach, she glanced at him, and her gaze was immediately drawn to the item in his hand—the new blue gloves clearly piqued her curiosity.
"Are these your new gloves?"
"Mhm."
"Put them on and let me see, and try a few shadow-boxing punches?"
"...Fine." Shimizu Akira thought about it; the other person was the manager, after all, and as a club member, he had no strong reason to refuse.
He put on the gloves as requested and threw a few unhurried punches into the air, his movements looking somewhat perfunctory.
"Wait! Are you even using any strength?" Karuizawa Kei immediately frowned, her tone dissatisfied. "No matter how I look at it, it looks like you're just fooling me."
"I have a lot of strength; I've always been afraid to use my full strength."
"...For real?" She raised an eyebrow, clearly skeptical.
"For real," he answered simply.
"..." Karuizawa Kei stared at him for a long time. It didn't feel like he was joking, but those words clearly sounded like a lie.
Who could be "afraid" to use their full strength? Is he some kind of One Punch Man?
Karuizawa Kei muttered to herself internally, obviously not believing this line.
However, she didn't dwell on it and instead asked as if it had just crossed her mind: "By the way, what do you think of Sudo-kun? How is your relationship with him?"
"Average, we haven't really spoken much," Shimizu Akira replied.
He truly had no interaction with Sudo Ken; they weren't even considered friends.
"Is that so?" Hearing this, the tension at the corners of Karuizawa Kei's mouth relaxed slightly, and the trace of concern in her eyes faded.
Actually, at noon, Kushida Kikyo and Hirata Yosuke had specifically sought her out, asking her to help look for witness leads for the Sudo Ken incident.
She hadn't agreed immediately, not because she was unwilling to help, but mainly because she wanted to ask how Shimizu Akira's relationship with Sudo Ken actually was.
Now hearing him say this, she finally felt some confidence in her heart; at least she didn't have to worry about upsetting him by doing something.
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.
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When Karuizawa Kei and Shimizu Akira walked into the boxing club, Captain Sato happened to be walking toward them. He caught sight of the new gloves in Shimizu Akira's hand, his face showing a satisfied expression as he nodded repeatedly: "Not bad, not bad. It looks like the new gloves are in place."
As he spoke, he suddenly remembered something and followed up: "By the way, what about the photo? Did you bring it?"
"I have it; I'll send it to you now." Shimizu Akira took out his phone and searched for the photo to send.
Karuizawa Kei, being curious, leaned over to look. The moment her gaze landed on the screen, she couldn't help but let out a "Huh?": "...In this photo, how did your cowlick disappear?"
"Mhm, it was Photoshopped out," Shimizu Akira answered frankly.
"Hahaha... what is this?" Karuizawa Kei was amused. "Sakura-san actually fixed your hair for you? Isn't she just taking your photo?!"
"Wait... how do you know about that?" Shimizu Akira looked up, his eyes carrying a hint of suspicion.
"Cough... how could I not know?" Karuizawa Kei gave a light cough to hide her fluster, then immediately tilted her chin up and argued righteously, "The two of you were so conspicuous when you went out, and Sakura had a camera in her hand. It was obvious you were going to take photos. Is that hard to figure out?"
She certainly wouldn't tell Shimizu Akira that she was actually constantly, unintentionally paying attention to his movements in the class.
At noon, she had long noticed him going out with Sakura to take photos.
Furthermore, the fact that Shimizu Akira often spoke with his desk-mate Horikita Suzune was something she also saw.
Sometimes she couldn't help but let her imagination run wild: could those two be dating? If they really were together, would he stop protecting her in the future? This possibility wasn't non-existent.
Although she had joined the boxing club now and had the senpais looking out for her, there was ultimately no clear agreement, which always made her feel like she lacked a solid foundation.
It was the protection Shimizu Akira personally promised that made her feel more at ease.
"The photo is well-taken, and the gloves are ready." Captain Sato nodded, then changed the subject. "Speaking of which, just now, the winner of the Newcomer Group was decided. Let's do this: for the exhibition match next Tuesday, the two of you will compete."
With that, he turned his head and shouted toward the side of the ring: "Hey, come over here for a second!"
A dark-skinned foreign boy, standing at least 1.9 meters tall (over 6'2"), walked over. He was wearing a pair of sunglasses and had an exceptionally robust build.
"This is Yamada Albert from Class 1-C. You two should know each other," Captain Sato introduced with a wave of his hand. "Shimizu, he will be your opponent next Tuesday."
Shimizu Akira naturally knew Yamada Albert.
He was a classmate from Class 1-C.
As fellow first-year newcomers in the boxing club, even if he didn't come to the club often, they had at least crossed paths.
Because Shimizu Akira spent most of his time doing independent training in the dorms and rarely showed up at the boxing club, Yamada Albert had become the most brilliant performer among the newcomers—one could tell just by looking at his physique. With a height over 1.9
meters, he was among the top in the entire club; Shimizu Akira had never seen anyone taller than him.
This guy could speak Japanese, but his accent was a bit stumbling. Occasionally, when he got excited while boxing, a few sentences of English would suddenly pop out of his mouth.
Sometimes, he would also communicate in brief English.
According to the Captain, he was the person with the strongest overall strength among the newcomers besides Shimizu.
His personality was on the silent side; he didn't usually talk much, and the gaze behind his sunglasses always seemed a bit distant.
As for his specific heritage, Shimizu Akira wasn't quite sure; he had only vaguely heard the senpais mention it during idle chat—it seemed he was mixed-race.
He suddenly felt a bit curious. When he watched the surveillance in the first month, Ryuen Kakeru had already completely taken control of Class C—did that mean Yamada Albert also had to follow his orders?
He really didn't know how Ryuen Kakeru made such a big guy submit.
Judging by size alone, he really didn't think Ryuen Kakeru was a match for Yamada Albert; the difference in their physical mass was too obvious.
"Well, speaking of which, your physical masses aren't even on the same level." Captain Sato saw the disparity and smiled to smooth things over.
"In theory, it's a bit unfair to Shimizu, but since it's just an exhibition match, don't take it too seriously."
He specifically emphasized his tone as he instructed: "Both of you remember, don't use heavy hands. Just water it down appropriately. The point is to make it an exciting fight, you get what I mean?"
As he said this, his gaze involuntarily lingered on Shimizu Akira for a few extra seconds.
"OK..." Yamada Albert was silent for a moment, then slowly nodded, his voice deep.
"Alright," Shimizu Akira also calmly accepted. His gaze swept over the other's solid shoulders, and he had a rough idea of what to expect.
It looked like it was just an exhibition match.
However, since the other party was from Class C, he still needed to be careful.
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