After chasing Rina, I finally caught up to her. I quickly grabbed onto her arm to stop her. As I took hold of her arm, I felt her shaking. It was almost as if she was freezing cold. What should I do? Ah, maybe this will work! I wrapped my arms around Rina to hug her. Please don't think of me as a creep!

"Calm down, Rina. I'm here."

As I said those words, tears began to roll down Rina's eyes. Then suddenly, Hayashi-san interrupted.

"Hey! What are you doing to Rina?!"

"Oh, just shut up! You being here is not helping anyone, so just leave, will you?!"

"What are you talking about? I have the right to speak to Rina!"

"Are you blind or something? Or are you just stupid? You're the reason why she ran away in the first place!"

"Our relationship before was perfect until you showed up!"

"I see we're playing the blaming game now, are we? Well, say whatever you want. It still doesn't change the fact that Rina's in despair because of you!"

From that moment, I ignored everything that Hayashi-san was rattling about and just focused on Rina. She was still shaking, and most of all, tears continued to roll down her face like a river.

"Please, I don't want to see Ren..."

"Rina..."

"Please...!"

"I'll leave you here for a moment then. It would be best if you would look in the other direction. You might not want to see this."

I momentarily left Rina and began approaching Hayashi-san.

"This is your last warning. Are you leaving or not?"

"Who are you to comma--"

*punch*

"You must not have heard me. Are you leaving or not?"

"You'll regret this on tomor--"

*punch*

"Don't worry. I'll make you regret that you existed first."

"Heh, you're school life will be over."

What is this guy going on about? Wait, don't tell me he's not alone? I looked around to confirm it. Then in the corner of my eye, I saw a silhouette of a person in the dimly lit area of the street. So, his plan was to record me, huh?

"You finally realized? Do you think I'm that weak that I couldn't fight back? Of course not! I was just luring you into my trap! Country people sure are dumb. Now, because of your stupidity, I got a recording of you beating me up. What would the school think about this? Want me to show it to them? If I'm correct, the punishment for this kind of act is expulsion. But I might reconsider showing it to the school office if you agree to leave both me and Rina alone."

"Now, you're resorting to blackmail? You dirty playing bastard."

"Thank you for the compliment. Now, what will your answer be, Inoue-san?"

My main goal was never to study at Waseda anyway. I merely chose this school randomly, but I spent a lot of effort just to get into this university. So, I can't afford to get kicked out. No matter how you look at it, this is a very troublesome situation. But I'm not leaving Rina alone.

"How kind of you to offer me choices."

"What can you say? I'm a merciful person."

"But I'm afraid I must decline your offer."

"I see, that's your choice. Don't worry. I won't miss you when you leave."

"I hate every ounce of your being..."

"Same to you. Then I'll be leaving now. Enjoy this night while you can, Mr. Hero." he said as he left along with the man who I suppose recorded us.

Tch, how'd he even get someone to record for him? Wasn't he alone when he was waiting for Rina? In fact, he was even surprised to see me, or was it just an act? I'll deal with that later. For now, my main concern is Rina.

I rushed over to her, and it seems like she calmed down. That's good to know.

"Thank you, Kota..." she said as she clung to me.

"Mhmm... For now, let's just go back to your place. The shopping bags are still there too."

"Y-yeah..."

We walked back towards her place while I looked around us to see if someone else was there. But luckily, there was no one I could see. I guess we're safe for now.

When Rina arrived at her house, I said goodbye and went back home myself. She looked like she wanted her time alone, so I just left her immediately when we arrived. I don't know what kind of thoughts are running through her head, but for now, I think it's best to leave her alone. I'll just check on her tomorrow.

While I was walking home, the anxiety of getting expelled filled my mind. I really didn't want to get kicked out. There must be some way to counter his blackmail.

As I arrived back at the apartment, Daichi and Chiaki were at the door smirking.

"So, how was your date with Rina? Fufu~" Daichi said.

"So, it was you two who set this up. But well, the date itself went smoothly. There was just one problem."

"Problem? What problem?"

I explained everything that happened a while ago to them. I told Chiaki and Daichi everything, including the part where Hayashi-san plans to blackmail me.

"Seriously?! This is bad. Are you sure he wasn't just lying?" Chiaki uttered.

"That I don't know. I wasn't really sure if Hayashi-san was lying or not, but I did see a person with him. So, I think it was probably true."

"Did you see the face of the person he was with?"

"I couldn't make out his face. He was in a dark area, but I'm pretty sure it was a boy."

It sounds like I'm shoving this problem to Chiaki and Daichi. I'm sorry, but I really don't know what to do. I'm not that great at dealing with these kinds of social problems. And one more thing, it's weird that they didn't question my decision to choose Rina over my expulsion. Especially Chiaki, she's usually the first person to argue about that kind of thing, but she doesn't seem to go against what I did. But I don't have time to worry about that since my university life is on the line.

[AT: I'm not really sure about what I wrote in the chapter. I was confused when I was writing, but anyway, if you have any critique on this tell me about it on my discord channel https://discord.gg/7E75M6CfkJ.]