Bang.
The door swung open.
Shinta Uchiha followed the sound, and his eyes landed on two girls, gasping for breath after running.
"Shiro-chan, huff, huff, it's not what you think! Uchiha-kun is different from the others."
"Cut it out, Emma. Didn't you hear the terrible… huh?"
Leading the way was a girl who looked every bit the picture of a traditional Japanese yamato nadeshiko. Her crimson eyes were like red spider lilies, and black stockings clung tightly to her calves, perfectly tracing the soft curves of her body.
Behind her was a short-haired girl with pink-and-white gradient hair, exuding the sweet, innocent vibe of a perfect, obedient child. She wore white ankle socks, revealing a sliver of pale, smooth calf.
These were Nikaidou Shiro and Sakuraba Emma.
In their line of sight right now, Yuki Tsukishiro sat at her desk, soaked to the bone.
Most of the other students in the classroom lay on the floor, groaning in pain, nothing more than background set dressing.
"…The bullies' friends? No, that can't be."
Shinta Uchiha instinctively began analyzing the two girls based on their appearances.
Red eyes. Wait, her irises are bright red!
From what the bullies had said earlier, this was a girl who constantly ranted about "right" and "evil".
So… was Nikaidou Shiro some kind of second Hokage, an evil old Senju patriarch type?
As for the short-haired girl with the pink gradient hair behind her…
…Was this a ninja dog?
Smack.
Shinta Uchiha secretly raised a hand and smacked his own cheek.
Shinta, Shinta! How dare you judge an unknown girl like this, writing her off as a silly puppy or an evil old Senju patriarch, making rude, biased assumptions about her?
This is wrong. You deserve this slap.
"Uchiha-kun, did you protect Yuki-chan? Th-thank you so much, seriously."
Sakuraba Emma, looking flustered, reacted to the scene immediately, hurrying over to Yuki's side and bowing in gratitude to Shinta Uchiha.
"…"
Nikaidou Shiro said nothing. She just stood there, watching silently, her shoulders trembling slightly.
This girl, who always had "right" and "evil" on her tongue, was caught in a mental tug-of-war.
Meeting violence with violence was wrong.
But snapping at the transfer student who'd just saved Yuki and stopped the bullying was also wrong.
"Emma, Shiro."
As the center of the storm, Yuki Tsukishiro kept her gentle smile, though inwardly she was utterly confused.
No, this wasn't how the script was supposed to go. This story wasn't supposed to turn out like this.
Pure Emma, kind Emma, good girl Emma—there was only supposed to be one good girl in her script.
She was supposed to, after Shiro left the country, drown in false kindness, turning a blind eye to Yuki's bullying just to fit in with her classmates.
But then a wild card had shown up.
The new transfer student wasn't supposed to be like this. He was supposed to quietly join the bullies, become a meaningless background character in her story.
But… this man simply couldn't be a bully.
Some kind of power seemed to be protecting him, keeping him from smelling the stench like everyone else, keeping him from feeling the urge to bully her like the other students.
Now that he thought about it, Shinta Uchiha had mentioned his eyes—his Sharingan—during the fight, saying they were different from everyone else's.
So… what did "Sharingan" mean?
She'd observe for now. That way, she could get everyone to stop focusing on the irrelevant parties, or this conversation would never get started.
"Are the three of them friends? What's that supposed to mean?"
Shinta Uchiha sized up the atmosphere between the three, making a quick judgment—then immediately shook his head, dismissing the idea of friendship.
An Otsutsuki would never be friends with the natives of another planet.
That went against every rule of the setting.
So the truth was… these two girls were innocent people, tricked by the evil Otsutsuki.
And they were probably tangled up in some terrible plot, too.
As a righteous Uchiha, then… what should he do in this situation?
Nikaidou, right?
After a moment's thought, Shinta Uchiha made his move. He stepped in front of Nikaidou Shiro, looking down at the girl who was clearly well-known at this school.
"I've heard your name from the fools who dared challenge the Uchiha name!"
"You think you're in the right, too, but make no mistake—you are wrong. And I am here to correct you."
"Judging solely from the perspective of school bullying, and the image of you the bullies have painted."
Shinta Uchiha was certain she was not truly "right".
She must have tried to protect bullied students in the past, but… her efforts had never made bullying itself disappear.
Still, in Shinta Uchiha's eyes, this was completely understandable.
Nikaidou Shiro's failure to stop bullying for good was almost certainly a plot by the evil Otsutsuki, Yuki Tsukishiro!
How terrible, Yuki Tsukishiro!
"P-please wait, Uchiha-kun! W-we're not enemies! Shiro-chan and I are both Yuki-chan's…"
Sakuraba Emma waved her small hands frantically, trying to explain to the suddenly ranting Shinta Uchiha.
They could have been friends! Why was he snapping at Shiro-chan out of nowhere?
"Nikaidou, you are wrong."
Shinta Uchiha ignored Emma entirely, repeating the line directly to Shiro.
"Kiang…!?"
The ignored Sakuraba Emma let out a tiny, distressed whimper.
"I'm wrong?"
"Wait… that's my line!"
Nikaidou Shiro, attacked out of nowhere, felt a strange sense of familiarity in Shinta Uchiha's words.
"That's right. Inherently ev—*ahem*—Nikaidou, I can say with absolute certainty that you are evil."
Shinta Uchiha repeated the line like a robot, silently praying the girl would see past his fake, harsh words and understand his dilemma: with the Otsutsuki right there, he couldn't tell her the real truth.
Yuki Tsukishiro only needed him.
That was it. Only an Uchiha could defeat an evil Otsutsuki.
So, as innocent bystanders caught up in this, please step back after hearing my words, Nikaidou… and you too, Emma.
"Once I save the world, I'll apologize and explain everything to you."
"Nikaidou… you can't see it, can you?"
Shinta Uchiha steeled himself, pointing to his own eyes, cutting Nikaidou Shiro off mid-sentence, giving her no chance to speak.
"Without these eyes, you see nothing, you can do nothing. That is why you have no right to define what is right. Only I have that right."