Chapter 45
"Hey, you! Come over he—Guh!"
"Let me talk to you for a sec! That raccoon is—Gah!?"
"Come at me, you bastard—Gohuah!?"
"......Could you please stop already? This upperclassman is scaring me?"
Since that day, Vincent started following Reina around.
When they met in the hallway, he would call out and try to drag her somewhere, and he would barge into her classroom to pull her outside.
He claimed he had something important to tell her and wanted to be alone with her, but from Reina's perspective, there was no way she could be alone with an upperclassman she wasn't even close to.
Every time Vincent showed up, it was time for the bodyguard hiding in Reina's pocket—not a raccoon, but the tanuki plushie—to step in.
The tanuki plushie would strike Vincent's jaw, punch his stomach, and kick his groin, knocking him out cold.
The tanuki plushie—Raccoon's movements were like lightning. Swift and fierce.
Vincent, the one being hit, seemed to be the only one who noticed. The other students and teachers had no idea what was happening and assumed Vincent was fainting on his own.
Because of that, rumors spread that Vincent might have some serious chronic illness.
He was advised to take a leave of absence, visit the hospital, and undergo a thorough medical examination.
"Like hell I'm getting examined! That bastard... I'll definitely kill him!"
"Kill him...? Wait, you don't mean the Saint, do you!?"
"Enough already, Vincent! Don't go near Reina again!"
Not only the teachers, but even Crown Prince Eric—who recently changed his image—criticized Vincent for trying to approach Reina.
However, ignoring everyone's attempts to stop him, Vincent charged toward Reina.
"Hey, Saint! Lend me your face for a minute!"
"......You again, Flame-senpai?"
After school, Reina was walking across the schoolyard when he called out to her, and she turned around with an annoyed look.
There had been persistent men who followed her around back in Eggbell too, but none had been beaten down by a plushie as many times as Vincent and still kept coming back.
Reina felt no attraction to Vincent as a man... but his unrelenting spirit and indomitable toughness left her both exasperated and impressed.
"Could you please stop already? What grudge do you even have against me?"
"I don't hold a grudge... I just won't forgive anyone who makes a fool out of me. That's all."
"......I don't recall ever insulting you?"
"You didn't insult me, but you don't even acknowledge me, do you? I've noticed... the way you look at me is like how you'd look at a pebble on the roadside!"
Vincent shouted with a face like he was about to bite.
Reina knew well the look she gave Vincent. It was the same look she used to receive when she was a child.
Vincent Flame was the son of the Knight Captain.
However, his mother was not the legal wife, but a mistress.
Born as the child of a mistress, Vincent was allowed to live in the Flame household, but was constantly met with scornful gazes from those around him.
His father, the legal wife, her son, her daughter, the butler, the maids, even the gardener.
Everyone looked down on Vincent as the mistress's child, casting eyes at him as if he were a mere pebble.
(That's why I turned it all around...! I got strong and made those who mocked me eat their words!)
He defeated his knight instructor, defeated his half-brother, and gained the strength to stand on equal footing with his father, the Knight Captain.
With every step he took toward strength, the way others looked at him changed.
They could no longer ignore him. Their eyes turned to fear and respect.
"I won't forgive anyone who mocks me...! I'll make them all pay, no matter what!"
"............"
Shouting, Vincent reached out his hand toward Reina. Just like that time.
As Vincent reached out, like a lost child grasping for their mother, Reina saw her younger self in him and felt a flicker of pity.
'Ponpokorin'
That didn't mean she would let him touch her.
The tanuki plushie immediately leapt from her pocket and aimed a kick at Vincent's nose.
"Tch...!"
The kick was launched at a speed too fast for the eye to follow... but Vincent blocked the attack with his quickly raised right arm.
"Guh...!"
However, he couldn't fully absorb the impact and fell flat on his butt.
This was the first time he hadn't been knocked out.
"Um... are you okay, Flame-senpai?"
"............I took it."
"Sorry?"
"I took it! I blocked it! I blocked your attack... you damn raccoon!"
Still on the ground, Vincent shouted with a look of pure joy.
"A strike like a gale, like a thunderclap... I caught a piece of it! I've gotten stronger again—serves you right!"
"............"
"I'll definitely become stronger than you... you damn raccoon! Just you wait!"
'Ponpokorin'
Accepting Vincent's challenge, the tanuki plushie smirked inside Reina's pocket as if to say, 'Bring it on.'
"............What even is this?"
Witnessing this incomprehensible male world, Reina looked up at the sky in annoyance.