"Listen, I'll be your new host. I'm way better than Gaisen or Nishimiya. But in return, I expect help from you in certain things." I said. I could feel her tremble as I was holding her hand against the wall. It felt like she had no strength to fight me back anymore. I was successfully able to break the shell of the facade she carries around.

She looked at me, her azure eyes covered with a layer of tears above them and a few tears rolling down her cheeks. "H… how can I… I be sure that you w… won't betray me?" Mustering up the courage to speak, she asked.

​​

I raised my mobile and showed her the same picture again. She looked at me in confusion.

"If I show this picture to the school authorities, you know what is going to happen to Uyeno-san and her group?" Not giving her much time to think about it, I answered my own question. "They will be expelled. Bullying, on top of that physical assault, is punishable."

"Umm… wh…" She was about to say something, so I looked at her. But she stopped midway and averted her eyes.

"What is it?" I asked. Trying to dismiss her right now will lead to complications later, so I have to be as transparent as I can be with her right now. I relaxed my grip on her arm a little.

"I… uh what if they say this is an edited picture?" She asked. It was indeed a good question. I chuckled slightly. I shifted my gaze from her towards my phone and searched for a certain thing through my gallery. I could tell that she was curious, but was scared at the same time to say anything.

"Ah here." I tapped on a video and pressed the sound button on the side of my phone to increase the volume. I turned the mobile towards her, and she was surprised at the sight of it. It was a video of her getting assaulted by three of them which I recorded that day.

She looked at me with disbelief in her eyes. The sound of them laughing and Koi whimpering could be heard, but not clearly because of the distance between me and them at that moment. I turned the video off and put the mobile down.

"This is more than enough to make sure that they will be expelled." I said, while looking at her. I made myself clear. Now I only needed her answer. I told her that I'll leak the picture if she doesn't agree with me and ruin her social life, but I was bluffing. I won't really do that. Right now, I was just measuring the extent of her fear. But from the fear of facing what she faced once in middle school, I know she will agree with me.

People like her and are always dependent on others to maintain a healthy life, but in my opinion it wasn't something I was in favour of. Though I'm not really concerned about that since it doesn't bother me whatsoever. Instead, Kizhashi's nature made everything easier for me.

There was again silence between us, only the sound of the clock ticking in the classroom and frequent sound of birds outside. I could hear the slight sobbing noise of Kizhashi. Her arms were again trembling and her body was becoming relaxed. She was looking towards her shoes, as tears were falling down her eyes. Her blonde hair was blocking her eyes and it was a mess.

"What is it? Yes or No?" I pressed on her.

"I… don't know. Please leave me. I don't…" She started crying again.

"So you would rather latch onto Gaisen-kun who failed to stop his own girlfriend from getting assaulted?"

"I'm not his girlfriend!" She screamed. Her frustration was clear on her face.

"If you just say yes right now, I'll make sure that no one will bully you again. I may not be as good a person as Gaisen, but I'm a person who keeps his words. I've different methods to do things." I said as I slightly lifted her chin with the arm I was holding my mobile in. Her chin resting on my index finger, I started into her eyes.

"I need your help, and you need my protection. Call it a truce and it goes well for both of us." I wiped the tears from her eyes with my finger and let go off her other arm.

After a bit of silence between us, her stealing glances at me she finally said, "I… I agree, but with one condition."

"And what is that?" I raised an eyebrow.

"You'll avoid talking to me in front of everyone." She said,

"Oh, don't worry, I was thinking the same thing." She looked at me with a plain reaction. I know she will be suspicious about this truce we made right now. If I was in her place, I would also, so it's understandable.

"What is that help you want?" She looked at me, while sniffing her nose as she was crying a few moments ago.

"I'll tell you when the time comes." Of course I couldn't risk telling her right now because she will be curious about it and will keep questioning about it. I can't take a risk like that.

"It's… It's not going to be something… in… indecent, right?" I looked at her and she averted her eyes from me.

"Sorry?" I couldn't understand at first what she was talking about.

"You know like… something like… you know… ugh nevermind!"

"What is it? If you want to ask something you can go ahead."

"No, it's nothing. My question has been answered anyway." I think she thought that I would ask her to satisfy me using her body or something along those lines. But it was weird. Why would her first thought stray in that direction?

"Huh?" I didn't know much about her past, neither did I care about it but I think it might be more messed up than what I imagined.

"Let's leave." I said and walked towards the door, but Kizhashi didn't move an inch. I turned around and said, "You don't want to walk back with me?"

"Yes, you can go ahead." She nodded.

"It's not a good idea to be alone in the school building, it's getting dark." I suggested looking at the time on my mobile.

"You thinking about my safety? Pretty ironic after everything you did to me a few moments earlier." She said with a smirk, but there was a lot of pain behind that. I know she could cry to her fullest in front of me and needed some time alone. I was a man of my words.

"I'll give you the protection you need." I said the same thing in the same tone so that she will remember our conversation regarding the truce we formed. I slowly walked towards her and grabbed her hand.

"Let go of me." She shook her hand.

"Sorry, I'm a man of my words, as I said. So I can't leave you alone." As I said, she looked at me with surprise in her eyes. I left her arm, and she followed me behind as I walked a few steps in front of her.

The asset has been acquired. Now things will get easier for me relatively. Now for her, she got a new host to latch onto.