Unfazed by the strange looks from those around him, Kōenji Rokusuke stroked his chin, scanning the field with amusement.

  Finally, he locked onto his target—the most difficult css for D-Css to hit.

  Css C.

  "Dragon boy, prepare to witness my breathtaking elegance. I shall now send this ball straight to your css!"

  Kōenji made a grand decration, completely ignoring the wary gazes from his opponents.

  He even made sure to loudly warn Ryūen in advance.

  But… Dragon boy?

  "Pfft!"

  Uesugi Gen couldn’t hold back. A loud snort of ughter escaped him.

  With Uesugi leading the charge, the entire field quickly erupted into ughter.

  "Hahahaha!"

  Uesugi took it a step further, pointing at Ryūen, whose face had turned an ominous shade of dark red.

  "Dragon boy? Dragon boy?! Ryūen, you know… this nickname actually suits you surprisingly well! I mean, your chuuni phase isn’t exactly over yet."

  "Oi, Uesugi, you bastard, shut the hell up!"

  Ryūen clenched his fists, shouting at Uesugi in frustration.

  "Hahahaha…"

  Uesugi took a deep breath, waving a hand dismissively. "Alright, alright, I’m done ughing."

  Once the ughter died down, Ryūen pulled himself together, resorting to his cssic move—dropping a threat.

  "Fine, then. Bring it on. I’ve been wondering for a while now… There was something off about the way your css scored points on the deserted isnd. Maybe you guys aren’t as simple as I thought."

  "Muda da, Dragon boy~"

  Kōenji responded in a deliberately dramatic tone.

  "Do not waste your futile resistance. You cannot defy me, because—my beauty surpasses yours!"

  And with that, Kōenji moved.

  His long, muscur arm rose and fell—

  And in that instant, the ball vanished from his grasp.

  Fast!

  The entire field watched, stunned by the sheer speed of his throw.

  In just the blink of an eye, the ball had already arrived at Css C’s territory.

  "Komiya, dodge!"

  Ryūen had immediately read the ball’s trajectory and shouted a warning.

  Komiya, a member of the basketball club, reacted instantly, rolling to the side—

  The ball missed!

  For a brief moment, C-Css students almost celebrated.

  But before they could…

  The ball swerved in midair.

  Smack!

  Direct hit—right on Komiya’s back.

  Komiya Yugo: -150,000 (Eliminated).

  "Did I… fail?"

  Ryūen’s expression darkened as he stared at Kōenji.

  "That level of physical ability… what the hell?"

  But Kōenji wasn’t even remotely excited about his perfect shot.

  As if it was expected. As if this result was simply inevitable.

  "Next up—Bald Boy!"

  Humming an unknown tune, Kōenji turned toward A-Css.

  "And this time, my throw will be even faster!"

  Even faster?!

  A-Css collectively shuddered.

  "Don’t panic!"

  Katsuragi quickly attempted to rally his cssmates.

  "His st throw could’ve been avoided by predicting its trajectory and not dodging sideways!"

  "Muda da, Bald Boy. When it comes to beauty, you are utterly beneath me!"

  Kōenji decred confidently.

  His arm rose—

  And fell.

  In a fsh, the ball appeared in A-Css’s zone.

  Before they could even react, one of them had already been struck.

  Machida Kōji: -150,000 (Eliminated).

  A cold sweat trickled down the backs of every remaining student.

  The second throw… had been twice as fast as the first.

  "And now…"

  This time, Kōenji didn’t bother with theatrics.

  No words, no warnings—just a simple throwing motion.

  But everyone knew his target.

  B-Css.

  Uesugi Gen’s css had the fewest members.

  And they were the only ones who hadn’t lost a single person yet.

  Without needing to discuss, B-Css students instinctively spread out, eyes locked onto Kōenji.

  "Watch the ball carefully! No matter how much it moves, as long as we dodge it, we’re fine!"

  Kanzaki Ryūji calmly reminded them.

  That’s right.

  At the end of the day, this was still a game of dodgeball.

  As long as they avoided the ball, they would be safe.

  "Hohoho~ My dear B-Css gentlemen~"

  With a smug flick of his golden hair, Kōenji unched the ball with an oddly contorted throwing motion.

  "Take this!"

  The ball soared toward B-Css.

  Same speed as his first throw—

  It’s doable!

  Kanzaki had already calcuted the timing.

  Wait—

  No.

  Kanzaki’s pupils contracted.

  Something was wrong.

  The ball’s movement—

  It couldn’t be predicted.

  Mid-air, the ball twitched violently, jerking up, down, left, right—

  Even creating afterimages in Kanzaki’s vision.

  Damn it—

  It wasn’t just a random throw.

  Kōenji had intentionally made it so no one could tell where the real ball was.

  No—that’s not it!

  Kanzaki suddenly realized the true purpose of this throw.

  Kōenji wasn’t just trying to make the ball unpredictable.

  He was making sure—

  Uesugi Gen couldn’t counter it like before!

  The ball closed in on Shibata.

  With the erratic motion, Kanzaki could already tell—

  He can’t dodge it!

  "Kōenji… do you really think this is enough to stop me?"

  Smirking, Uesugi Gen confidently called out—

  "Shibata, listen to me. Jump backward."

  Shibata immediately obeyed, springing into a backflip.

  As he moved, he ughed.

  "Alright! Show me, Uesugi—how are you going to deal with this—"

  SMACK!

  A ball smmed into the back of Shibata’s head, his brain turning completely bnk.

  Shibata Sō: -150,000 (Eliminated).

  Kōenji’s throw had bsted Shibata off his feet.

  "Oh my~"

  Uesugi casually picked up a nearby ball, wiping the sweat off his forehead.

  "Good thing Shibata only had 150,000 left. That means… we just got ourselves a free ball."

  "…"

  A tense silence settled over the field.

  Horikita was the first to break it.

  "You… are unbelievably shameless."

  From the sidelines, Ichinose chimed in awkwardly.

  "Uesugi-kun, you can’t treat your cssmates like that…"

  Meanwhile, Uesugi cheerfully addressed the remaining B-Css students.

  "Well, if any of you have extra points, why not let me hit you now? That way, you won’t be an easy target for the other csses ter."

  Silence.

  And then—

  All of B-Css collectively took two steps back.

  Suddenly, from the darkness—

  A hand shot out and grabbed Uesugi by the throat.

  "YOU SNAKE!"

  "Wait, wait—! Rather than letting someone else take it, shouldn’t the 150,000 go to me? I mean, technically, it was just temporarily in your possession—"

  Uesugi’s expression shifted into a capitalist smirk.

  "Uesugi, you absolute bastard—"

  Shibata, now completely done with him, lunged forward—

  Only for the other B-Css members to restrain him.

  "I’VE PUT UP WITH YOU FOR LONG ENOUGH!"

  "Shibata, Shibata, calm down! We’re still in a match!" Kanzaki tried reasoning.

  "Yeah, and it’s all Ryūen’s fault for suggesting such a bad rule! If he hadn’t—"

  Uesugi immediately tried shifting bme.

  "I’M GOING TO KILL HIM!"

  Seeing Shibata struggling to break free, Uesugi finally panicked.

  He turned desperately to Majima, the referee.

  "Hey, he’s out! Hurry up and drag him away! Did you hear me?! DRAG HIM AWAY!"

  ---

  T/N: i mean thats shibata's fault... why would u trust him?