Sakamoto hates this already. Everyone around him tries to act like he's a friend after taking down a killer. As far as he's aware, they're the weak celebrating the power of the strong, as history has shown them to do since time immemorial. Students, strangers, everywhere he goes this morning people greet him with great admiration.

Save for the teacher at the school gate.

He was certainly used to the cold glares and dismissive whispers, but with everyone on his side today, this teacher stood out. Literally. An athletic man, roughly if not a few centimeters shorter than Yamazaki, stands in his way. A straight punchable chin with a broad nose.

"Sorry to stop you when you're getting to class but I thought it'd be important to tell you this..."

The man leans close whispering to Sakamoto with a charismatic smile hiding the insipid tone of malice in his voice.

"I'm the king of this castle... Don't think you can grow a big head after that stunt."

Sakamoto scoffs and shoves him aside to continue into the building. He does listen to the disapproving onlookers.

"That's Sakamoto, right? He punched out that serial killer!"

"I can totally see how... He's got a terrible attitude."

"Kamoshida-sensei was probably checking on him. He's a really nice teacher!"

"Who do you think would win in a fight?"

"Don't put them together like they're Shonen characters! Kamoshida-sensei is an Olympic Gold Medalist! So he'd totally win."

He tunes them out. Today would be just another day for him to waste until after school. Then he notices everyone changing into gym uniforms. A volleyball game is scheduled between the students and teachers. A sneer stretches on his face before he goes to get changed.

Yuuki Mishima is by all accounts, unimpressive and generic, quite literally the last person you would think of for anything outside of a background character. There is the universal law, not a philosophy but a harsh reality, that the world is governed and inhabited by two categories of any living creature. From the smallest gamete that races towards the egg for a chance of life, to the celestial bodies we've yet to discover in the vastness of space, there is the winner and the loser. We have several titles, synonyms , to fit these categories to numerous situations throughout history. Predator and prey. Top and bottom. First and last. In the hearts of those twisted enough, even good and evil.

With this in mind, his whole life he has been at the bottom, the prey of predatory bullying, never athletic enough to be exceptional and was often last chosen in games if he was allowed to play at all. Such has been his life even today, despite being on the esteemed volleyball coached by Kamoshida, it's little more than to be said adult's plaything. That and for his technological aptitude to find dirt on students. He used these weaselly means get into Kamoshida's good wishes, but soon he learned sucha thing was worthless, as like many of the volleyball team he is constantly abused...

Today is a public shaming to remind him and the others in their place. As the school watches, completely unaware of the horrid intention of Kamoshida as he spikes a ball into an unassuming student's leg. He falls over and gets up with the help of his team while the teacher's celebrate Kamoshida's play. Another grueling round, another game of barely meeting the ball, only for it to end with the coach spiking the ball into Mishima's face.

He can't even react in time.

His sore eyes weakly open to a shadow standing over him. Sakamoto picks him up by the collar of his shirt.

"Yo. You dead?"

Mishima groans as a response. Sakamoto drags him to the bleachers before taking a spot on the student side of the team. One of the students call out.

"Hey! Volleyball team only, dude!"

Sakamoto barks back as he looks to Kamoshida.

"This is about school morale right?! I just wanna show my school spirit is all!"

Kamoshido snarls in his head, but that rage at this boy's impudence subsides as he sees an opportunity, a lesson that this upstart should learn rather early.

"Now, now, we have to respect someone with a little initiative. C'mon, Sakamoto-kun, I expect the best out of you!"

"Be careful what you ask for..."

The teacher serves and the student team for the first time begins to bounce back. Sakamoto alone acts as the team's defense, giving openings for the others to score, the one way match finally beginning to turn around. Of course, several watching attribute the comeback to the coach.

"Wow! About time they started showing off!"

"Kamoshida wasn't holding back from the start, was he? It looked like the volleyball team was getting pummeled."

"I bet they just want Sakamoto off the court so they're giving it their all."

A blonde student watches simply shaking her head to their oblivious perspective. She could see clearly what's happening before her. She wants to know why a delinquent like Sakamoto would go out of his way to make a rather mediocre team look good.

And then she saw it. The whole school did. The ball flew high into the air from the student's side. Kamoshida stands ready to defend but in a split moment everything slows down as the volleyball flies past his arms before movement. It feels like a ball of iron had slammed into his nose. Before all goes black he can feel his feet lift from the ground. This miserable bleached hair menace had used his own tactic against him...

Sakamoto sneers as the teachers run to Kamoshida's side. The sight of his broken nose gives him a sense of superiority that would've been the coach's had he not interfered. One of the students, among several, give him grievance for his action.

"Dude! What the hell!? Where'd you learn to play!?"

"Here. I never played before so I was following his example. I thought he'd block it since he's some champion."

Another student shouts at him.

"Kamoshida-sensei is an Olympic Gold Medalist! He was going easy on us and you went and knocked him out! Aren't you ashamed?!"

"Why would I be ashamed if he didn't block right? I was aiming for the ground but his face got in the way."

A teacher scoffs at him with disapproval in her voice.

"What a poor excuse...! You clearly targeted him there!"

"I said I was following his example. He's the one that showed me you can knock out your opponent. After all, you all have him a pass when he knocked out that boy over there."

Sakamoto points to Mishima, who had witnessed everything, speechless to what this delinquent was doing. Not many would see it as they preferred their own perspective than face the truth, but this menacing boy attempted to show the whole school Kamoshida's own nature through their hypocrisy.

The entire volleyball team came to this conclusion.

The teacher refutes this having the perspective that Sakamoto is nothing more than a violent thug making excuses. However, she opens her mouth to only stammer a moment caught in the slight conundrum.

"T-That's different. Kamoshida-san did that on accident."

"So a man who went to the Olympics, got the gold medal, but is clumsy enough to knock out a kid who clearly isn't built for sports to begin with?"

"A-Accidents happen..."

"And the well-being of students is apparently not a priority for the staff apparently. Making excuses for him but not calling out the spike? Get the fuck out of my face."

Sakamoto clicks his tongue and leaves the gym. He's met with Haru, who had ran after him, grabbing his wrist to stop him.

"Sakamoto-kun, wait! Why did you do that?"

He looks back at her with a daunting glare which has her release him.

"He's an asshole. A weakling who was picking on another weakling to feel strong. That isn't strength, it's cowardice."

"H-How can you be so sure that move was deliberate?"

His idle smile falls into a glowering scowl as he hisses.

"Cause I lived my whole life getting my ass kicked by people like that guy... You see those players on the side all mummified in gauze? Volleyball's a taxing sport, Okumura, but it's no American Football."

"You're accusing Kamoshida-sensei of abusing his own team...?"

"I don't need to accuse him when the evidence is right there."

Both are unaware of Makoto spying on them. She narrows her eyes, not at them, but at the idea of a teacher overstepping his boundaries. She leaves the duo to their own activities to investigate herself. In terms of a definitive answer, there isn't one, however each student of the volleyball team made her own suspicions grow more with each interview. Some even began to bite back at her with snide remarks.

Despite that it was clear that they were hiding something. Something she needed to expose for their own sake.