Offbeat [Break / Hallway Outside the Broadcasting Room]

A burst of piercing feedback erupted from the speakers.

Screeeeech—

Hara froze.

Then alarms overlapped from other speakers.

Students screamed.

Footsteps thundered.

Hara lost all sense of direction.

(Koharu) : “Hara!”

Koharu only knew that loud sounds affected him badly.

She still didn’t know why or where it had started.

She stepped in front of him and clapped the familiar rhythm.

Clap. Clap. Clap.

But the noise was too overwhelming.

In that moment, one of Kuroda’s underclassmen reached for Koharu’s phone.

The recording she had started moments ago was still running.

Disoriented by the noise, Hara saw the hand as an attack aimed at Koharu.

Bang!

The boy slammed into a locker and fell.

The hallway went silent.

Hara looked down at his hand.

(Hara) : “I... pushed him?”

The boy groaned, holding his wrist.

Koharu was shocked too.

But she checked him first.

(Koharu) : “Get a teacher!”

Hara didn’t run.

(Hara) : “I’ll tell them I pushed him.”

Then phones all around them began buzzing.

‘Hara attacks student for no reason.’

The video showed neither the deafening noise nor the attempt to grab Koharu’s phone.

Only Hara shoving him.

A separate message arrived on Koharu’s phone.

‘He got hurt because you stayed beside him.’

Students took a step away from Hara.

Watching them retreat, Hara became truly afraid of his power for the first time.