Even as Endo's shouts resonated in the quiet dorm room, Nao stood defiant and continued to glare at him.

"Are you fucking deaf?!" He shouted again.

This was quite new to him. The kid showed no intentions of following his command and he was running out of patience.

"Well, I guess I'll just have do it myself then, huh?"

"Hiroshi, d-don't. That's dangerous! " 

Mizutani tried to reason with his friend despite knowing very well that he would be ignored.

"I don't remember asking for your opinion so shut the fuck up." 

And he did exactly that.

"You, get ready." Endo's eyes were on his prey for the day. 

Akihiro did not dare to look at him, even as he felt his eyes piercing into him like a vulture's claws. 

He guessed that the water in the kettle must still be pretty hot, since he had only turned it off a few minutes ago . Frustrated and unsure of what he can possibly do to escape, Akihiro silently waited for Endo to make his move.

"I said it's fucking hot!"

And it all happened in a flash.

 Before Endo could reach the kettle, in a swift motion, Nao grabbed it  and rushed to the sink.

 And by the time Endo snatched it away from his hands, Nao had emptied its contents. Groaning, Endo smashed the now useless thing on the floor.

"Trying to play the hero, huh? Who do you think you are?"  

Grabbing Nao by the collar, Endo threw him against the wall. Nao felt a searing pain as Endo's fist made contact with his nose. 

 

Pushing him away, Nao aimed a punch at Endo's stomach and as intended, it landed with the desired impact. 

Seeing the matter spiral out of control, Akihiro and Shiiba, two members from the opposing factions rushed to separate the two while Mizutani scurried out of the room.

The clusterfuck went on as Nao and Endo hit, punched and clawed at each other, tooth  for tooth and eye for an eye. Sadly a few strikes landed on the remaining two as well, as they tried to pull their friends away from the fight in vain. 

The door opened with a bang and Mizutani entered the room, bringing in an uninvited guest. Nao looked his way for a second, scanning the new addition. It was an upperclassman he'd seen a few times before but never quite bothered to learn the name of. The guy was tall and had a slender frame. His looks weren't too shabby either.

"What's going on here?" Asahi asked.

"Ah Asahi, good thing you came." Endo greeted him while his hands still grabbed onto Nao's shirt. 

"I was giving this guy a few lessons on the right way to treat his Senpais." 

"I heard you were about to throw hot water on him. Is that true, Endo?" 

"Tsk." Endo sounded as annoyed as he looked. "Why do you all have to be such softies, huh? I was just having some fun."

"Dude, I think you should leave now. I saw the caretaker lurking in the first floor and you know you're not allowed to be here at this time of the night. You remember what happened last time, right?" 

Asahi's tone had slightly shifted. While in the beginning it felt as he was trying to reason with the bully, now in his response, was a hint of threat.

And to Nao's surprise, it seemed to work. Endo's expression changed instantly as he was reminded of what happened the last time he got caught for doing something very similar. The suspension wasn't much of a bother, but he took significant damage in more ways than one.

Letting go of Nao, he got up from the floor and stretched his hands and legs.

"You'll take care of them for me, won't you? Or do you want me to handle this tomorrow?"

"Oh don't worry about that. I'll set them straight." 

Asahi's eyes were now on the two troublemakers, one of whom was lying on the floor.

"Shiiba, you stay here and help him out." Endo told his friend as he walked up to the door.

Asahi wanted to ask him if he didn't trust him but decided to remain silent for the moment. Endo left the room, closing the door behind him with a loud thud. The two underclassmen now shifted their focus onto him, unsure of what he was planning on doing.

"You both - one hundred push ups. Now ." Asahi shouted his orders.

"There's no way in hell I'm doing that. " 

Nao protested immediately, feeling slightly empowered now that the villian had left the room. To him, the Asahi guy didn't seem as dangerous.

"Don't you have the brains to understand we're letting you off easy? You better do it or we'll fucking beat your asses black and blue tomorrow." 

Shiiba snarled, his attention now focused entirely on Nao. He then looked at Asahi, as if to tell him that he wanted to take the lead on this. But those eyes were fixed elsewhere.

"Guess we'll just have to settle it tomorrow, huh?" 

Ignoring Asahi's intense gaze, Nao  leered Shiiba on.

 On the other hand, Akihiro didn't look so sure. In fact, he wasn't sure at all.

In response, Asahi's lips slowly curled into a smile. He walked forward, upto Nao.

As he came closer and closer, Nao noticed for the first time that this man had as strong a presence as Endo, or maybe stronger. He walked leisurely, taking his own sweet time to reach him.

His pace wasn't hurried nor were the words that came out of this mouth. Now sitting on one knee beside him, Asahi wiped the blood off Nao's nose. Rubbing it between his thumbs, he spoke to him a low voice,

"I'm sorry, but did I give you the impression that you have a choice?" 

A chill ran down Nao's spine.

"Guess what, you don't. So I suggest you start doing it right now, because all I want to do - is to go back to my room as fast as I can."

"Who the hell do you think you are?!"  

The words came out of his mouth before Nao could think.

"Asahi, you wait. Let me handle-" 

Shiiba was growing more impatient by the minute. 

"Make it 150." 

"Huh?" Akihiro asked Asahi, puzzled.

"150 - up and down. The next time he opens his mouth, I'll make it 200." 

Asahi was still smiling when he said this, but the smile didn't reach his eyes.

"He won't, Senpai." 

Akihiro looked sideways at Nao, who looked like he was about to protest again.

"Nao, please. Let's just get this over with." He begged.