"I… I didn't fail… It's not my fault…"
Weiss muttered to himself as he shuffled back toward the grounds of Class 1-20 with the unsteady gait of a zombie.
There, his classmates were busy clearing away the rubble.
The moment they noticed Weiss, everyone stopped working and turned sharp, needle-like glares toward him.
No one said a word, but their attitudes clearly blamed him.
Weiss felt a stinging pain all over his body and could not hold back a shout.
"St… stop it! Don't look at me with those eyes! The wall collapsing wasn't my fault!"
"Are you trying to blame us again?" Monsoon said, driving the point home.
Weiss, who had indeed been about to do exactly that, was beaten to the punch and ground his teeth with a "ggh."
"It… it's not my fault…"
"Then whose fault is it?"
"Th-that's…"
Cornered, Weiss felt an unusual tightness in his chest.
Desperate to escape that pain, he blurted out the name of a certain person.
"Y-yes, it was Leopin. Leopin was jealous of my success and secretly destroyed the wall…!"
It was a complete lie, but the moment he said it, the tightness in his chest vanished as if it had never existed.
For him, shifting blame onto someone else had already become as natural as breathing.
"What!?" the entire class reacted at once.
Weiss thought "Got them" and pressed his advantage further.
"Is that true, Weiss!?" Monsoon asked.
"Yes, I saw it clearly. The moment the wall collapsed by his hand."
"Damn it, that bastard! I'll beat him to a pulp!"
By turning Leopin into the enemy, Weiss erased his own failure and reunited the hearts of the class once more.
Seizing the moment, he spoke with rising enthusiasm.
"Wait, Monsoon. A simple fist punishment is too lenient for him.
Why don't we make him taste the same suffering we have?"
"What? You got a plan?"
"Yeah," Weiss said, looking toward a girl with flashy features who wore a sullen expression.
The girl had curly hair and a disheveled uniform. Even though they barely had a place to live right now, her makeup was perfect.
"Caluru, now is the time for your magic.
Hit Leopin's house with your prized Fireball."
"Ooh!" Monsoon growled.
"If we burn his house down, he'll understand how we feel!
Caluru! Burn Leopin's house in a big, flashy way!
Then when he comes running out, I'll beat him so badly he won't be able to stand!"
"That's a great idea!" the classmates cheered.
But Caluru alone kept a sulky look on her face.
"I'm not doing it."
Weiss frowned. "What?"
"Are you saying you won't obey the orders of the sage and class leader?
Then I suppose you have a good reason?"
Caluru turned her gaze away, pouted her lips, and said,
"…Leopin doesn't destroy other people's things."
"What?"
"I know him. Leopin is just a stupid guy whose only good point is dexterity, a hopeless loser…
But his passion for 'making things' was real.
He never made fun of things that other people worked hard to create.
So Leopin would never destroy the wall."
"Hmph. Caluru, you've always been teasing Leopin, haven't you?
What could someone like you possibly understand about him?"
Until then Caluru had been acting aloof, but now she sharply opened her eyes, which were colored with eyeshadow.
"I know way more than you do! I… I gave Leopin handmade chocolate…!"
Realizing what she had said, Caluru quickly clapped a hand over her mouth with an expression that said "Oops."
Her already rouged cheeks turned even redder as she hastily tried to cover it up.
"A-anyway! I believe in Leopin…!
Ah, no, that's not it! I'm definitely not setting fire to anyone's house!
If you want to do it so badly, Weiss, you can do it yourself!"
Weiss's brow twitched.
"You believe in Leopin…? More than me…?"
That single phrase was the greatest humiliation imaginable for him.
The thin veneer of composure he had been maintaining peeled away with an audible crack.
"You cannot believe in Leopin more than me!
Leopin has to stay alone and isolated for the rest of his life!
Do it, Caluru! Burn his house down!"
"Absolutely not! Who would listen to your orders!"
"Ggh…! Then how about this…!"
Weiss swung his fist up with a sharp motion.
It was the first time he had ever brandished "violence by force" against a classmate.
Caluru flinched as the fist came down.
She fearfully opened her eyes and saw…
Weiss's arm had been grabbed, and he was trembling violently.
"L-let go, Monsoon! I'm about to deliver fist punishment to this girl…!"
Monsoon kept holding Weiss's arm and spoke calmly.
"I've believed in you, Weiss. That's why I've followed what you say until now.
But I won't stand for hitting a girl.
A man's fist is for smashing guys he doesn't like.
If you hit Caluru, I'll throw you into the garbage dump."
"Ggh…!"
Weiss's eyes were bloodshot.
—This trash! He dares say he'll throw me away…!?
Trash can be thrown away by humans, but humans can't throw away other humans!
The one who always chooses is me, the human…!
Trash like you has no right to choose!!
Weiss shouted "Let go!" and shook off Monsoon's hand, putting distance between them.
He pointed his finger at the entire class as if confronting them all.
"I am a sage! And I am the class representative!
Have you forgotten that the class representative has the authority to hand out punishments!"
…Weiss spread both hands toward the horizon.
"…O heaven, o earth!
Make this foolish sage remember his place!"
…The air around them trembled with a low roar.
The classmates stepped back in shock.
"C-could it be, a great magic…!?"
"St-stop it, Weiss!"
"I-I have nothing to do with this! Please spare me at least!"
"Then prostrate yourselves!
If not, be blown awayyyyyyyyyy—!"
Weiss raised both hands toward the sky.
He was finally about to unleash "the tyranny of the sage" upon the entire class.
Not only Caluru but every classmate flinched.
They fearfully opened their eyes and saw…
…Dogwaa… Shaaaaaaa———————————!!
Weiss was sent flying sideways as if hit by a full-swing horizontal strike.
He plunged headfirst into the pile of garbage that had become a makeshift dump.
Buried under collapsing food waste with only his butt sticking out, he twitched and convulsed.
It was a pitiful sight, but none of the classmates were looking at Weiss anymore.
Who on earth did that…!?
They all turned their attention to the spot where Weiss had been standing.
And there stood…
"Le… Leopiiiiiiiiiiiiin!?!?"
At that moment, Leopin was carrying a log on his shoulder with his back to the classmates.
But he reacted to the shout, turned around with a casual "Eh?"
The boy looked around at the stunned classmates and the pitiful class representative with a bewildered expression, then said,
"Ah, sorry about that. I thought something hit me, but it was Weiss."
The boy walked away.
The members of Class 1-20 stood there dumbfounded, but one girl stepped forward as if moved by something.
"Ah…! Leo…! Thank… pin…!"
It was the stubborn girl's latest attempt at words of gratitude.
Those five characters should have been simple, yet for her they were far harder to say than casting a great magic spell.
The boy turned back.
"…'Thank pin'? What's that?"
The girl could no longer look at the boy's face and quickly turned away.
"N-nothing!
You're not part of our class anymore, so don't talk to me so casually!"
"Yeah, yeah, got it. See you."
The boy turned his back on the girl once more.
The girl no longer had the courage left to call out to him again.