Sugiura wanted to dodge, but the pain from his wound halted his movement. He thought the knife was going to stab into him when his shoulder was grabbed.

He withstood the sudden weight which used his shoulder as its center. A leg launched forward and kicked the girl mercilessly right on her face.

The girl cried in pain and fell backward.

"Yo, Sugiura. You good?" the person landed on the ground with one foot.

Sugiura turned, "Shohei-san, Kurosaki-senpai's foot is still in recovery. Please be careful."

"I know, I know. It was an emergency," Shohei cracked his knuckles and neck, "Now, let's see who's the b*tch that's making trouble for my brother."

Sugiura took out his phone, "I'll call the detectives."

The girl stood up again in front of them, full of rage, "Unforgivable! How dare you seduce my Daichi!"

"Hm? Aren't you…ugh, can't remember her name," Shohei snapped his finger, "Right… you're Haruno, the player's best friend. How surprising."

Haruno didn't seem to hear his words, "You sl*t snake demon b*tch! It must be because of you! Daichi lost his match because of you! I knew you are a misfortune incarnate."

"A sl*t snake demon b*tch?" Shohei laughed and combed back his hair to provoke her more, "Thank you for the compliment, ugly delusional pig."

Haruno screeched and moved to attack again, "Why won't you just die?! Once you die, Daichi and I will be happy together forever!"

Sugiura wanted to move, but Shohei stopped him. He licked his lips, "She's mine. You focus on the call."

Shohei dodged the knife and grabbed Haruno's wrist. He twisted it and disarmed her with a hit to his knee, making sure to focus his weight on Sei's uninjured foot. He skillfully spun the girl and slammed her to the ground while twisting both of her arms. He pinned her head to the stone-paved ground with his knee.

"What did you say about killing me, sweety?" Shohei whispered dangerously.

Haruno struggled as she screamed, "You b*tch! Let me go!! I'm calling the police! Daichi is mine! Mine!!"

Shohei shifted his hold to lock the girl's arms with one hand and took the knife. He stabbed it to the ground right in front of the girl's eyes, "You scream like a dying rat and look like sh*t and still think your beloved Daichi likes you? That's the most ridiculous joke I've ever heard in my life."

"What did you say?!! You think a man like you looks prettier than me?! Daichi is just confused!!" Haruno laughed triumphantly, "AHAHAHA!! When Daichi sees you like this, the curse you put on him will break!! He will see your true nature!"

Shohei raised an eyebrow and looked up. Daichi, Touya, and Reita were looking at them with wide eyes. He smirked and lowered his head.

"I don't f*cking care," he moved the knife closer to her cheek, "Though I wonder if I deform your sh*tty face, do you think you have a chance with Daichi-kun?"

Haruno paled and screamed, "F*ck you! Don't you dare!!"

"Sei, what are you doing?!" Daichi ran towards them followed by Touya and Reita.

Haruno laughed mockingly, "AHAHAHA!! He's going to hate you, you two-faced b*tch!" she quickly changed her expression and looked hopefully at Daichi, "Daichi, I–"

"Your foot! Sei, do you forget about your injury?!" Touya and Reita pulled Shohei up while Daichi replaced him pinning the girl down. He turned to Sugiura, "What are you doing just standing there?"

Sugiura didn't answer him, focusing on talking to the detective on the phone.

Shohei shrugged off Touya and Reita, "Sugiura's innocent. He just called the police," he balanced himself using Sugiura's shoulder and looked at Daichi, "Hold her properly. She's not right in the head."

Hearing that, Haruno abruptly struggled with all her strength and threw Daichi off. Because her arms weren't twisted to the point of almost breaking, she freed herself with a burst of adrenaline.

She took out a bottle of liquid from her purse, "If you're gone, Daichi will love me! He will love me and me only!!"

Daichi was too stunned to move because of her words. Reita stumbled down from shock and only Touya was cool-headed enough to move.

"Back off!" Shohei kicked Touya away when he tried to stop the girl.

Sugiura realized something was off from Shohei's reaction. The girl opened the bottle and splashed the liquid in Shohei and Sugiura's direction.

Sugiura swiftly pulled Shohei into his arms and turned to block him from the liquid.

A few moments later, Shohei patted his back, "Alright, alright, you can let go of me now."

"…?" Sugiura slowly opened his eyes and looked back.

Behind him, a blue umbrella was spread open. It was riddled with holes from the liquid acid that the girl threw at them, emitting a burning stench.

Shohei closed the umbrella and smirked, "Nice job bringing one."

Sugiura looked at the girl who was held down by both Touya and Daichi, "Damn, I want to hit her once."

"You'll get lectured by Sei-chan," Shohei turned to Touya, "You, no-privacy b*stard."

Touya's eyebrow twitched and smiled coldly, "Yes?"

…He admitted it. Sugiura and Shohei thought at the same time.

"Destroy the listening device you put in my brother's apartment. If not, he will continue to suffer things like this."

"How did you–?" Touya frowned.

"He has known a long time ago when he was hospitalized. He has indulged you enough."

"Listening device?" Daichi was shocked, "Touya, you're you stalking sei's brother? Wait, Sei has a brother??"

Touya halted from Daichi's response. He scrutinized his friend to see any farce hidden inside, but unfortunately, there wasn't. Reita was also looking at him in the same way.

Did Daichi forget he also put one in Sei's bag? Even asking it personally from him?

Touya remembered what Daichi told him a few hours ago. Was this what Sei meant when he said their feelings weren't genuine?

He could understand why Daichi was agitated by it.

"He's not joking," Shohei answered his doubt, "You will also forget about your feelings for my brother after you destroy your listening device. Along with all the memories involving it."

The police came shortly with the 2 detectives leading in front. They arrested Haruno and took their testimonies. Of course, they didn't know that Sei was currently Shohei and that he could fight, so the 5 of them changed the story and told them Sugiura was the one who took her down to make it more believable. There wasn't any CCTV around the courtyard anyway and there was no other witness.

Haruno kept spouting that Shohei tried to kill her, but nobody believed her with how crazy she was. Daichi and Reita actually forgot about Shohei's existence, so to simplify things, Shohei just told them Sei has a personality disorder or something like that.

After everything was settled, Daichi went back to take his medal and certificate with Reita accompanying him. Touya followed Sugiura and Shohei back to Sei's apartment.

Sugiura took the listening device from the hamster's cage and passed it to Touya.

Touya stared at it, "Why didn't he…"

"Because you are an important friend to him," Shohei answered, "You should realize this with how fast he forgave you for what you did. Even the fact he forgave you at all."

"…" Touya thought in silence, "Is my feelings for him a fake? It is, isn't it? And Sei knew it as well."

"I don't know if it's fake or not. If it's real, you'll have no problem falling in love with him all over again after this." Shohei stated his honest thought.

"Even if it's fake, you should know that Kurosaki-senpai took them seriously while knowing it is. He did what he could to not hurt your feelings," Sugiura added, "Yours, Tomioka-senpai's, and Kitamura-senpai's."

"I know," Touya smiled in defeat, "I won't make any more trouble for him. But can you at least tell me what exactly is going on?"

Sugiura glanced at Shohei. Shohei shrugged, "You guys won't believe it if I tell you."

"I already believe in spirits, souls, and ghosts. What can be harder than that?"

Shohei went to the television and pulled out a game CD from the rack below it, "Show don't tell."

By the end of the day, not only Touya, Sugiura was also stupefied by all the things Shohei told them. Shohei didn't only show them the game where Touya was in it, he also showed the other 2 which happened in Sei's elementary and middle school. Although they didn't actually play it all the way through, they got the idea.

"Then…am I actually a…game character?" Touya felt disoriented.

Sugiura felt Touya's doubt was reasonable. He honestly felt relieved that his name didn't come out in any of the 3 games.

Shohei rolled his eyes, "Please don't go all existential crisis on me right now. Just destroy that damn device. It's getting late."

"Oh…" Touya remembered what he was coming there for, "Do you have a hammer or something?"

"How troublesome. Just dump it into a glass of water or something." Shohei was too lazy to find one.

"It's water-resistant."

Sugiura, "…"

Wait, then yesterday…

Touya glanced at Sugiura and answered his suspicion, "For your information, the listening device in Sei's bag is Daichi's. He asked it from me though. And yes, Daichi heard all of it. That's why he was very pissed off today and got distracted in the finals. Not that he remembers."