I'm in Teresin, dedicated to playing badly

Although she is quite capable in combat, she has focused her skills primarily on the naginata. Without her weapon, her combat effectiveness would be greatly reduced.

Not to mention recently, whether it's due to the shift towards orthodoxy or some other reason, Special Week's strength has increased at an unusually fast pace, far exceeding the average strength increase of a typical horse girl, and even attracting the attention of the school doctor.

On the other hand, Grasshopper, who was unarmed and a skilled and agile fighter, was severely injured by the first punch and is still in excruciating pain, possibly due to a broken rib. From any perspective, he has no chance of winning.

But the most crucial issue is not here.

Although Zhou is currently out of her mind due to anger and therefore doesn't realize it, Grasshopper is sure that once she comes to her senses, she will definitely regret what she's doing.

After all, regardless of the outcome, fighting is a terrible thing in itself, a method that can lead to mutual destruction.

Especially since this was done right in front of Shinji Kitahara, even if there were no consequences, it would still significantly reduce his image points.

If something really goes wrong, not only will they both be out of the dating scene, but their school life may also come to an end, and they will never have the chance to see Shinji Kitahara again.

This is troublesome...

As Special Zhou walked towards him step by step, Grasshopper forced himself to stand up and looked at her without saying a word.

Then--

boom!

A few steps away from the grass, Zhou Meng stomped the ground and leaped towards it like a beast, his fist raised high before slamming down—

boom!

With the fall of the fist, the light gray stone railing snapped in two.

Having narrowly dodged the blow, Kusakabe looked at the stone railing that had been smashed by Special Zhou and had no doubt about the damage that punch would have caused if it had landed on her.

But before she could think any further, Te Te Zhou, realizing that her punch had missed, raised her head again, broke off two stone pillars from the stone railing she had just smashed, and threw them directly onto the grass.

call out--

The light gray stone pillar whistled past Grasshopper's face, the wind blades it generated severing a few strands of her hair. Before the stone pillar even hit the ground, Special Zhou leaped onto Grasshopper again and raised her fist.

Even as Special Week leaps toward him once again, Grasshopper's expression remains calm.

Although Special Zhou's physical condition is what it is, it would be difficult for her to defeat Special Zhou under these circumstances. However, Special Zhou has not formally practiced martial arts, so with her reaction and ability, it would not be difficult for her to stall for time.

If she could stall for time, allowing Tetsu-Zhou to vent her anger and calm down a bit, she could stabilize the situation and then figure out a way to fool Kitahara Shinji.

Therefore, facing the oncoming Special Week, Grasshopper remained calm and dodged her flying punch again, then prepared to retreat.

Just then, perhaps having learned from his previous experience, Zhou did not use his full strength in this punch. After realizing that he had missed, he immediately steadied himself and took advantage of the gap in Cao Shangfei's dodge to hit him with his arm.

It must be said that Zhou's elbow strike was a quick reaction and quite fast. If it were an ordinary girl, even if she could react in time, she would probably have a hard time dodging it.

But Grasshopper not only reacted the instant she swung her weapon, but also immediately dodged the attack by sidestepping, and then...

bang.

Just as Grasshopper dodged the attack and was preparing to retreat to continue delaying, a crisp sound came from the spot where she had been hit as she turned around.

Immediately following, accompanied by a sharp pain, she lost consciousness for a moment, and when she came to her senses, she was already lying on the ground, while Special Zhou had already regained his stance and raised his fist at her again.

Grasshopper tried to dodge, but the problem was that due to the worsening of her injuries, her body could no longer keep up with the speed of her reaction. Although she had already realized what to do, in the end she could only watch helplessly as the fist fell.

Dying?

As he watched the fist fall, Kusakabe felt as if time had stood still, and everything around him seemed to slow down.

To be honest, she wasn't sure if she would die from this punch, but judging from the force with which Te Zhou smashed the stone pillar, even if she didn't die from this punch, she wouldn't be in a good situation.

But at this moment, for some reason, even though he was facing a life-or-death crisis, the first person Kusakabe thought of was not himself, but Kitahara Shinji standing next to him.

He would be heartbroken if she died, wouldn't he?

Although she knew she was somewhat to blame, the incident had happened right before his eyes; the children he loved had killed each other right in front of him.

Especially after she died, if he understood the whole story, given his personality, he probably wouldn't blame her for bringing it upon herself, but would likely blame himself for not discovering and stopping it sooner.

As for the special week...

Looking at the ferocious Zhou in front of him, who was like a wild beast, for some reason, even though he was about to be killed by her, Cao Shangfei still couldn't feel any anger towards her. Instead, he felt guilty instead.

After all, upon closer reflection, Zhou hadn't actually done anything to wrong her, and he had genuinely considered her a friend.

It was her own arrogance that led her to make wrong choices, gradually escalating the conflict between the two and resulting in the current situation.

Even though it was all caused by her selfishness, and Te Bie Zhou had been passively accepting it all along, she was now the one who had to bear the consequences of this blow, which could even ruin her life.

She will die, Zhou will bear the consequences, and Kitahara Shinji will also bear the guilt that he shouldn't have to bear.

This was a lose-lose-lose situation, and the cause was simply her arrogance.

"......sorry."

Faced with the threat of death, Kusakabe felt no fear whatsoever. He simply looked at the person in front of him, uttered those words subconsciously, and then slowly closed his eyes.

But unfortunately, it was too late.

If she had understood sooner and said those words sooner, perhaps things could have turned around.

But now, Special Zhou, who had gone mad, couldn't hear what she was saying at all. He simply followed his instincts, clenched his fist, and smashed it down on the hateful face in front of him.

boom--

A dull thud echoed in the corner.

But the expected pain did not come.

When Grasshopper opened her eyes and saw the scene before her, she was stunned.

"...Trainer Kitahara?"

"Well, it's me."

Shinji Kitahara stood calmly in front of Hibiki.

"Luckily we made it in time; any later and something really bad might have happened."

At the same moment, after discovering that Shinji Kitahara had blocked his fist, Special Zhou finally calmed down. After realizing what had happened, his eyes gradually became panicked.

Wait, what did she just do?

Not only did it completely expose its crazed and tyrannical nature to Mr. Shinji, but it also almost killed Kusanagi, and now it's attacking Mr. Shinji...

Just as the two horse girls fell silent for their own reasons, seeing that Special Week had stopped, Kitahara Shinji pondered for a moment, then took out a bottle of concentrated stamina potion from the system right in front of the two of them, opened the cap, and handed it to Kusakabe Hibiki's mouth.

"You're injured, don't move, drink some of this."

Because of what just happened, Cao Shangfei's mind is in complete chaos, and his body is somewhat out of his control.

But for some reason, upon hearing Shinji Kitahara's instructions, her body responded immediately, obediently stopping in place, and then bringing her mouth close to take a few sips of the medicine Shinji Kitahara offered.

"Yes, very good, that's it..."

Seeing that Hibiki obediently followed his instructions, Shinji Kitahara patted her head as a reward. After observing her and confirming that her body was beginning to recover and there were no other problems, he turned his attention to Special Week.

"Um, Mr. Shinji, I..."

Just moments ago, Zhou was acting like a ferocious beast, but now he looked as pitiful as an abandoned little animal. His expression was extremely panicked, and there were even faint tears welling up in his eyes.

She was really panicked, and was even on the verge of crying.

Although Grasshopper provoked her first, in reality, this behavior was just a routine operation during a sneak attack, and the fact that Grasshopper was able to call her over shows that Grasshopper definitely had no intention of going any further.

However, this provocation triggered a surge of pent-up emotions within her, revealing a hidden side of herself and even physically assaulting Kogusa in front of Kitahara Shinji. Had Kitahara Shinji not intervened, she might have killed Kogusa...

Let alone what Shinji Kitahara thinks of her, even Zhou herself is now doubting herself and doesn't know how she will get along with Shinji Kitahara and Hibiki Kusakami in the future.

But just as she panicked and even wanted to run away, Shinji Kitahara stood up, reached out, and pulled her into his arms, patting her gently.

"Alright, alright, our lovely Special Zhou is a good boy, don't worry or be afraid, I'm right here with you..."

Hugs, pats, and comforting words.

As Kitahara Shinji acted, Tetsuichi's panic gradually subsided, and he buried his head little by little in Kitahara Shinji's chest.

"Shinji-san, I didn't mean to, I really didn't, I never intended to hurt you or Kusanagi..."

"Well, I believe you."

As Shinji Kitahara spoke, he glanced at Hibiki Kusakami, who had recovered considerably, and then reached out his hand to help her up.

"Feeling better?"

he asks.

Kusakami nodded, and was about to say something when he saw Kitahara Shinji wave his hand.

"Come over here first."

With that, Shinji Kitahara took a step forward, picked up Special Week, found a place to sit down, and after a moment's hesitation, Hibiki Kusakami sat down next to him.

Then, after sitting down, Shinji Kitahara spoke again.

"Xiao Te, Xiao Cao, I know there's been some conflict between you two, and I can roughly guess why things turned out this way..."

Upon hearing Kitahara Shinji's words, even the special Zhou in his arms couldn't help but raise his head, his eyes filled with even more panic. Even Kusakami Tobi's expression tensed up the moment he heard these words.

Has he finally realized it?

That's true, given their behavior, and the fact that he's not mentally unstable, it would be strange if he didn't realize it...

But just as they were thinking this, Shinji Kitahara slowly added the next sentence.

"But I have to say, it's a misunderstanding."

......Misunderstand?

Grasshopper and Special Zhou were stunned, starting to not understand what he was saying.

Fortunately, Shinji Kitahara didn't keep everyone in suspense and quickly provided an explanation after saying that.

"First up is Little Te."

Shinji Kitahara looked down at Special Zhou in his arms, stroking her head as he spoke softly.

"Little Grass wasn't attacking me just now, it's just... well, anyway, we weren't fighting, so you don't need to worry at all."

"......ah?"

Zhou blinked, his mind going blank for a moment.

Immediately afterwards, Shinji Kitahara turned to look at Hibiki Kusakami, a hint of helplessness in his eyes.

"As for you, Xiaocao... I think your behavior is a bit inappropriate. Even if it's a meal replacement or revenge, it's not quite right..."

"......ah?"

Grasshopper's body stiffened slightly, and then he fell silent.

What is he saying?

After a while, observing Kitahara Shinji's behavior, Kusakami Tobi gradually pieced together Kitahara Shinji's logic, and his expression became increasingly subtle.

Could this person have mistakenly believed that she did that simply to get revenge on Special Week, or because she wanted him as a substitute for a meal, and that she thought Special Week was some naive child who was attacking Kitahara Shinji, which is why she acted that way...?

And soon, the theory that grass flies was confirmed.

Because in the following time, perhaps taking Kitahara Shinji’s dazedness as not understanding, he repeatedly emphasized to her that Kusakami hadn’t ridden on him to hit him, but for some other reason.

After talking for a while, Zhou gradually calmed down and looked at the man in front of him with a subtle look in his eyes.

However, unlike Grasshopper, despite her subtle expression, her appearance was exposed to Kitahara Shinji after all. So even though the misunderstanding was over, Special Zhou was still a little unsure.

"Um, Mr. Shinji, aren't you afraid of me?"

She spoke cautiously.

Why be afraid?

Shinji Kitahara countered with a question.

"Because I hit Kozue, almost killed her, and attacked you, Mr. Shinji..."

Special Week's voice grew fainter and fainter.

Upon hearing her words, Shinji Kitahara simply smiled and placed his hand on Special Week's head, gently rubbing it.

"But you were protecting me, weren't you? And from beginning to end, you never tried to attack me. When I stepped in to block you, you instantly regained your senses... If I'm afraid of even someone like you, then I really don't know what else I can trust."

"But......"

"No buts, little T."