The three male students, aiming to impress Catherina with their bravado, marched directly over to Kaito.
He was still sitting on the training hall floor, blissfully unaware of their approach, a wide, almost manic grin plastered on his face as he look at his personal System notifications.
"Hey, you commoner!" one of them sneered, stopping just a few feet away from the still-giggling Kaito.
"What's so funny, huh?"
Another guy, standing to the first's left, chimed in with a sneer.
"Yeah, why are you laughing by yourself for a while now? Is something wrong with your head?"
The third, a taller student with a rigid posture, crossed his arms and added, "You're making people uncomfortable. Would you stop doing that?"
His voice was laced with an aristocratic disdain that suggested Kaito's very presence was an offense.
Kaito, cut from his daze, looked up.
He saw the three men looking down on him, their faces a mixture of annoyance and superiority, while a small crowd slowly started to gather around them.
"Oh, sorry about that," Kaito said, a faint chuckle still escaping him, genuinely happy from his recent rewards.
"Was I too loud? Don't worry, I'll try not to do that again."
Instead of listening to Kaito's attempt to de-escalate the situation, the man in the middle of the three, the one who had first spoken, narrowed his eyes.
"Ahh, now I remembered," he said, a condescending smirk spreading across his face.
"You were the one who chose two katanas earlier, right? What a stupid thing to do."
"Did you think you were cool or something?Choosing a forgotten weapon that no one uses now, and even took two."
The guy beside him scoffed, "Did you really think two swords are twice cooler than one?"
The third student, his arms still crossed, added with a sneer, "Aren't you just double the idiot now?"
While the three students kept talking, Kaito was deep in his thoughts.
"Hmm, isn't this... that generic trope of third-rate villains bullying the main character?" he mused.
"But I'm not the main character, though."
Kaito looked past them and saw the actual main characters.
Eric, Gwen, Darius, and even Catherina, all watching from farther back.
"Ahh, then maybe, this is where the main character saves the bullied student from the third-rate villain scene instead!" he thought, a flicker of anticipation.
He looked at Eric and the others, his internal monologue urging them on.
"Well then, what are you waiting for? Go and stop them and save me already, you red-haired idiot!"
But then, to Kaito's growing frustration, he saw the main character not moving an inch.
It even looked like Eric was stopping Gwen and Catherina from stepping up to stop these three idiots.
Kaito's triumphant mood began to sour.
"Hey, what the hell are you doing, you idiot?!" he fumed inwardly.
"Why aren't you helping me already?! Ugh, I really hate you, Eric."
---
Meanwhile, on the side of Eric and the group, Gwen and Catherina stared at Eric, utterly confused as to why he was blocking them from helping the student.
"Hey, what do you think you're doing right now, Eric?"
Gwen demanded, her arms crossed, a hint of accusation in her voice.
"Aren't you the saving type?"
Catherina added, her tone surprisingly formal despite her confusion.
"What is your reason for stopping us, Sir Lionheart?"
Eric, taken aback by the formal address, quickly composed himself.
"Well," he began, a thoughtful look on his face, "I just thought I'd like to see that guy fight. Aren't you curious how a two-katana user fights?"
He paused, then added, "It's also a good way of seeing if he can actually be of any help to Catherina in the simulation exam later on."
Darius cut in, his gaze sweeping over the girls.
"Eric has a point," he said, before turning his attention to Kaito.
"But he's a commoner. He looks weak too. I doubt he can even use one sword properly."
---
Kaito, still irritated by Eric's inaction, let out a silent sigh. Haah... I don't really like to waste my time with stuff like this that doesn't help me in any way possible.
Just then, the System popped out, presenting him with a sudden notification:
Main Quest:
Defeat a Third-Rate Bully!
Rewards:
Exp +20
Stat Points +2
Coins +100
Kaito's eyes widened.
He immediately started to chuckle, a wide grin spreading across his face.
This sudden shift in his demeanor, from dazed to silently fuming to openly amused, made the three male students and the growing crowd around them stare at him with a mix of confusion, annoyance, and outright disbelief.
Meanwhile, Gwen, observing Kaito's sudden, strange laughter, leaned towards Catherina.
"Even if he can fight," she whispered, "I think you should still ask for a partner change, Catherina."
Catherina looked at Gwen for a second, then back at Kaito, but she decided not to answer and sighed in defeat.
Then after a second Kaito finally stopped laughing.
His grin remained, softening into something more mischievous as he looked at the three male students standing over him.
"Can you please repeat what you just said about my choice of weapons?" he asked, his voice surprisingly calm.
"Did you just say I'm double the idiot for choosing two swords?" He paused, then tilted his head.
"Why, what do you guys use as a weapon?"
His gaze flicked to their hands.
He pointed a finger at the guy on the left, who had a generic sword sheathed at his waist.
"Boring," Kaito stated flatly, a slight dismissive curl to his lip.
Next, his finger aimed at the bow held by the guy on the right.
"Coward," he declared, his tone laced with unimpressed judgment.
Finally, his eyes settled on the guy in the middle, resting on the simple leather gloves he wore.
Kaito's grin widened into a smirk.
"Ooh, oven mittens," he quipped, a playful mockery in his voice.
"You sure you're in the right class, sir?"
"I think the cooking class is located on the next floor."
The three students stood speechless for a second, completely stunned by the commoner's audacious taunts.
The silence, thick with their shock, was shattered by the crowd.
Specifically, Gwen bursting into a loud laughter, clutching her stomach and pointing at the scene.
"Hahahaha! H-He said oven mittens! Hahahahaha!" she roared, tears forming in her eyes.
The rest of the crowd, now fully invested, started chuckling, then openly laughing, at Kaito's sharp remarks.
Catherina slowly shook her head, holding it in disbelief as she sighed deeply, murmuring something about "this idiot."
Eric looked genuinely shocked, his eyes wide.
Darius, however, had a slight, unexpected smile playing on his lips.
"He might be weak," he mused, his gaze fixed on Kaito, "but he certainly has a sharp tongue and confidence."
In the middle of the growing, chuckling crowd, the three male students felt a wave of shame and embarrassment wash over them, quickly followed by a surge of pure rage at the nobody who had just publicly humiliated them.
Their faces flushed crimson.
They all snapped, pointing their weapons, the sword, the bow, and the gloved fist, directly at Kaito.
"I want to challenge you in a duel!" the guy with the sword snarled, his voice trembling with fury.
"No, I want to challenge him!" the archer yelled, cutting him off.
"He insulted my weapon!" the third one roared, pushing forward.
"I'll fight him alone!"
They glared at each other, their initial united rage momentarily diverting into a petty argument about who got to face Kaito first.
The three students continued to argue amongst themselves, their voices rising in a petty squabble over who got to face Kaito first.
While they bickered, Kaito glanced past them again at the gathering crowd.
His eyes found Gwen, who was still laughing out loud, clutching her stomach.
"I knew you'd like that, Gwen, he thought, a flicker of genuine amusement crossing his face.
"I really like this side of you in the game."
He then looked at Catherina, who was holding her head, shaking it slightly in disbelief while still watching Gwen's boisterous display.
"This girl is way too serious," Kaito mused.
"The exact opposite of Gwen too."
He didn't spare a glance for the red or cyan hair idiots, Eric or Darius, as he turned his attention back to the three arguing students.
Kaito cut into their squabble, his voice calm but clear.
"Come on, the break is almost over," he said, pushing himself up into a standing position.
"Why don't you three just fight me all at the same time? It won't matter anyway."