Noticing the situation, Mitsuha approached them, and the expressions on Manaka and Kusaka's faces turned to sheer terror.
However, Hojou Kyousuke simply extended his hand and pushed them aside, grabbing the drawing boards of the two girls and Yamaaka Shunya from nearby.
Without hesitation, he tossed them onto the ground and stacked them up.
"Wait, what are you doing?!" Manaka and the others shouted in alarm.
With a sly grin, Hojou Kyousuke leapt into the air and stomped heavily on the stack of boards.
With just one jump, the thin wooden boards were punctured with two large holes.
The same fate befell the three drawings.
"I spent an hour on that!" Yamaaka Shunya wailed in despair.
He genuinely loved art and dreamed of becoming a painter, often sketching even during idle moments in class.
Kneeling on the ground, he desperately tried to salvage his masterpiece.
But Kyousuke showed no mercy.
He stomped again and again until the boards' frames snapped and the drawings turned to shreds.
The entire class, who had already been watching due to Manaka's earlier comments, stood in stunned silence.
Even Natori Sayaka and Teshigawara Katsuhiko were left speechless as they watched the usually gentle Mitsuha turn into a demon, mercilessly crushing Shunya's work.
Only after the boards were completely destroyed did Kyousuke stop, wiping sweat from his brow.
Miyamizu Mitsuha's body was indeed weak; even such simple movements left Kyousuke feeling a bit fatigued.
"What's wrong?" he asked casually after catching his breath.
He adjusted Mitsuha's skirt, thankful that he wore leggings underneath.
Otherwise, those acrobatic moves would've been quite embarrassing.
"Mitsuha, you..." Katsuhiko stammered in disbelief.
"That was... amazing!" Sayaka interrupted, rushing forward to grab Kyousuke's hand with sparkling eyes.
"Waaah!" Minami Manaka couldn't handle the overwhelming pressure and bolted out of the classroom, with her friend quickly following behind.
Yamaaka Shunya, on the other hand, was still on the ground, hopelessly trying to piece his broken art together.
"Why bother worrying about trash like that?" Kyousuke remarked, ignoring the stares from Mitsuha classmates as he returned to his seat to continue drawing.
He found the intense expressions from Attack on Titan quite fitting for his current mood.
"What did you just say?!" Shunya shot up from the ground, momentarily overcoming his fear.
"Come here and watch closely," Kyousuke said, remembering Mitsuha's request to mentally crush her enemies.
Whether Shunya was on the list or not didn't matter.
Collateral damage was part of the game.
Using a blank sheet of paper, Kyousuke picked up a pencil and began sketching.
Shunya reluctantly stood beside him, telling himself he was only watching to find a way to defeat Kyousuke with his own art.
However, as Kyousuke's pencil glided across the page, perfectly replicating the subject with stunning accuracy, Shunya's jaw dropped.
Even without shading, the sketch was already indistinguishable from reality.
"Got it now?" Kyousuke asked.
Shunya numbly nodded.
"Then cry already!" Kyousuke's sharp words struck like a dagger, and Shunya actually whimpered and burst into tears.
His pride as an artist was utterly shattered.
His masterpiece was destroyed, and now his talent was effortlessly overshadowed.
At that moment, the long-absent art teacher entered the classroom, almost colliding with the sobbing Shunya as he ran out the door.
The teacher stared in confusion as Katsuhiko awkwardly swept up the wreckage on the floor.
"Heh heh..." Katsuhiko forced a smile before resuming his cleanup.
The art teacher decided not to ask and began inspecting the students' work, eventually reaching Kyousuke's sketch.
"Miyamizu-san, I'm truly impressed. Your progress in just one week is remarkable. As expected from the daughter of Futaba-san."
The elderly art teacher, known for her gentle demeanor, praised Kyousuke while resting a hand on his shoulder.
"Futaba? Mitsuha? Yotsuba?"
Wait... wasn't Mitsuha's grandmother named Hitoha? Then Futaba must be her mother.
"Thank you, but I still have a long way to go compared to my mother," Kyousuke replied humbly.
Mitsuha's naturally low voice, when spoken softly, carried a magnetic charm that made people's hearts flutter.
"You've done wonderfully, dear. Your mother was..." The teacher sighed before patting Kyousuke's shoulder and moving on.
"Phew..." Sayaka exhaled in relief. "I thought we were going to get scolded."
"Haha, it's just a little problem," Kyousuke chuckled.
"True. Plus, Manaka and her crew wouldn't dare tell the teachers or their parents about this," Sayaka said with a grin.
As expected, the 'fashion trio' returned to class before the next lesson, pretending as if nothing had happened.
When the final bell rang, most students hurried home to help with family chores, as was common in this rural town.
Kyousuke left the classroom, chatting with his friends.
"Mitsuha."
Hearing the now-familiar name, Kyousuke turned to see Yukino Yukari, the beautiful and gentle teacher, standing by the door.
"Can I speak with you for a moment?" she asked with a warm smile.
Sayaka and Katsuhiko exchanged worried glances.
"You guys go ahead. We'll grab coffee tomorrow night," Kyousuke reassured them.
"Don't worry, I'm not here to scold her," Yukari-sensei added with a chuckle.
With that, Sayaka and Katsuhiko relaxed and left the room.