7: Three Kicks
Enka handed Aira her own pen refill case.
“If you don’t mind using mine, please take it.”
“Thanks. You’re a lifesaver.”
“You’re welcome. But from now on, you can’t threaten people to get what you want, okay? Understand?”
“Yes, yes. I got it.”
Aira replied unusually obediently, while Mai, who had been threatened, was still cowering. Enka spoke gently to her as well.
“Mai-san, I’m sorry.”
“N-no… It’s not Enka-chan’s fault.”
“Yes, I’m sorry.”
When she whispered in that angelic voice that brought comfort, anyone would trust her. If she had the substance to match, she would be a mother goddess.
“Makoto-kun, Koki-kun, and you too, Tanuki-kun.”
Enka looked at us with dissatisfaction, making it clear that she was angry.
“You shouldn’t resort to violence so quickly. You have to talk it out first. If you do things that leave grudges, you’ll be the one to regret it.”
She was right.
Even if I fought Makoto here and now, I didn’t know what Aira would do to me out of spite. It would only satisfy my own frustration.
Makoto didn’t say a word, but he seemed to be listening. He nodded slightly, showing that he was at least responding.
Only Koki glared at her.
“Solve it through discussion, huh? You think you can do that?”
“I’m trying my best to be able to get along with various people, mediate, and help those in need… I thought you were the same type of person as me.”
“Yeah, we’re the same. But I don’t like the way you talk.”
“Why?”
“You should know why.”
Ryugo grabbed his shoulder, irritated by Koji’s hostile tone.
“Hey! Why are you picking on Enka like that?”
“Whew… Well…”
Ryugo felt uneasy with his vague answer, but Enka herself didn’t seem to mind at all.
“It’s okay. I understand that there are people like that. But I want you to remember what I said.”
Her tolerance seemed deeper than the Mariana Trench. She was so composed even after being hit with such rude words.
As Koji’s friend, Ryugo felt he should apologize.
“Sorry, Enka.”
“W-why are you apologizing, Raccoon-kun?”
He bowed his head to her bewildered expression.
“He’s my friend. I’m also responsible.”
“It’s okay! Right? H-hey, s-stop… I didn’t mean to make Raccoon-kun apologize…”
Despite the commotion, the day ended without further incident.
Ryugo thought it was just a fight.
A page in their youth that would be forgotten with time.
But a few days later.
On a rainy day.
Koji was found dying in the cleaning equipment storage room.
He was discovered by a security guard, stripped naked and tied up. He was immediately taken to the hospital by ambulance.
He was severely dehydrated and had bruises, indicating that he had been beaten. Fortunately, his life was not in danger, but he would have certainly died if he had not been found.
It didn’t take long to find the culprit.
“No, I heard him was hospitalized.”
He could hear Aira talking in a vulgarly loud voice. She was looking at her phone, laughing hysterically.
“Yesterday, I called Ma-kun and some others to beat him up. And then we threw him in the cleaning locker. Stripped him naked and smashed his glasses. I mean, is he still alive? He should be dead. hahahahaha!”
Ryugo’s boiling point was reached by her laughter, as if it were someone else’s business.
The rage turned his thoughts into a sea of fire.
Unforgivable.
“YOuuu!!”
Aira and the others flinched at his roar, which seemed to tear his throat apart.
“Wh-what… what the…?”
“You tried to kill someone, and you’re laughing about it!?”
Ryugo glared at the despicable scum with eyes full of anger.
Attempted murder.
It was not a crime that could be dismissed with a cheap comment like “insufferable,” as Ryugo had thought of them before.
The criminals were clearly criminals, and it would be virtually impossible to wash away their guilt.
“Hey, Ma-kun.”
“Shut that thing up,” Ai said in a sweet, fake voice.
Her voice suddenly turned as sharp as an icicle.
“Ah, uh…”
Seito slowly stood up, clearly reluctant.
Even while they were talking earlier, his gaze had been darting around as if he had something on his mind. The fact that he had almost killed someone seemed to have done a fair amount of psychological damage to this piece of trash.
Still, he didn’t resist. He followed orders and fawned because evil was ingrained in his very being.
“Hey, you’ve got some guts talking back to us without your partner.”
“It’s for my partner’s sake. These damn bastards…”
“Then next time, we’ll beat you half to death.”
“You’ll regret it if you don’t apologize to her.”
“Like hell I’ll apologize!”
Ryugo dodged Seito’s wild swing and kicked him in the groin with the tip of his toe.
“Oraa!!”
“aaagh! aaagh! aaagh!”
Ryugo spoke to Seito, who was writhing on the ground with his eyes rolled back in his head.
“You’ll regret it if you don’t apologize to her.”
“Wh-who the hell’s apologizing!?”
Ryugo dodged Seito’s wild swing and kicked him in the groin with the tip of his toe.
“Oraa!!”
“aaagh! aaagh! aaagh! aaagh!”
Ryugo spoke to Seito, who was writhing on the ground with his eyes rolled back in his head.
“You’ll regret it if you don’t apologize to her.”
“Wh-wh-who the hell’s apologizing!?”
Ryugo dodged Seito’s wild swing and kicked him in the groin with the tip of his toe.
“Oraa!!”
“aaagh! aaagh! aaagh! aaagh! aaagh! aaagh!”
Seito didn’t seem to have the energy to stand anymore. He just crouched there, clutching his groin and sweating profusely.
“You… you bastard… All you do is go for the nuts…”
“Haven’t you heard the famous saying, ‘If you get kicked in the right nut, offer up the left one too’?”
“You’re all wrong… Ugh…”
He looked like he was in a lot of pain, but I didn’t care. If heaven won’t punish these guys, then I will.
Haruyoshi ran over to Seito and asked, “Hey, are you okay!?”
But Ai stopped him. “Wait.”
“Don’t lose to a raccoon, Ma-kun~”
“Ugh…”
“You can stand, right? It’s just a kick in the groin, right?”
It wasn’t ‘just’ anything, but I guess a woman wouldn’t understand.
Seito shakily stood up after hearing her dubious encouragement. His narrowed eyes still held some spirit, burning with anger. His lips were trembling, but he bared his sharp canines, and a grinding sound echoed from between his teeth.
“Racoonnn…”
His clenched fist, his stance, and his gaze were devoid of the weakness he had shown earlier.
“I’ll kill you!!”
Ryugo was helpless against Makoto, who was lunging at him with genuine intent.
Of course he was.
He was just a high school student.
His opponent was likely a seasoned delinquent used to fighting.
It was only natural that there would be a significant difference in their raw strength.
Fists pounded all over his body.
Face. Throat. Chest. Stomach. Sides. Legs. Groin.
A relentless barrage of blows was unleashed on him as if to repay him tenfold for his earlier frustration.
Ryugo curled up on the floor like an armadillo, desperately trying to defend himself.
“Ugh… gah… cough…!!”
“Die!! You loser!! Asshole!!”
He couldn’t match his opponent’s individual strength. That was the first thing that had been beaten into his body. No matter how hard he struggled, he was always outmatched.
He had trained his body to fight back, but the gap had barely narrowed in such a short time. Even if he gained muscle, it would only slightly reduce the pain of being used as a punching bag. It was pointless if he couldn’t win a fight.
He had been defeated by his own weakness and had half-given up on life.
–But now, I have a way.
◆
Present.
Lunch break.
Next to him, an arrogant beauty was rubbing her voluptuous body against him, her face flushed with excitement as if she might say something like, “I’m so happy to be with you, I could die.”
He felt ashamed.
Not of Ira, but of himself.
Using something like a hypnosis app to manipulate others and have them direct empty affection toward him was pathetic.
Ryugo and the others were in the same deserted stairwell of a different school building as before.
They had bought bread from the cafeteria at a different time to avoid being seen as much as possible and were sitting side by side on the stairs.
“Watanabe-kun, is there anything you’ve been into lately?”
Ira tilted her body to the side in an exaggerated manner.
Her cherry blossom-colored hair cascaded down.
He had told her to stop calling him “Watanabe-kun,” but she showed no signs of doing so. Was she the type who would never obey, even the person she was in love with?
The problem was what would happen after the hypnosis wore off. If she kept calling him “Watanabe-kun,” it would definitely raise suspicions.
“Ira wants to know~ Because Ira wants to hang out with Watanabe-kun. Come on~”
“I don’t want to hang out.”
“Why are you being so mean~!? Ira’s gonna cry~…”
“You seem like the type who would complain about everything.”
“Ira wouldn’t do that. So you don’t have any hobbies?”
From Noble mtl dot com
“…Saunas.”
“Huh? Saunas? The ones where you get all steamy?”
“Yeah. But it’s not just about getting steamy. Sweating is good for your skin, and the cold bath and fresh air afterward clear your head and relieve stress. When you sit on a chair and let the wind hit you, your head gets all fuzzy and it feels nice. It improves your metabolism and helps with poor circulation in the winter. Saunas are very common in cold countries, and in Finland, they’re more popular than cars. I heard that almost every household has a sauna. That’s how ingrained saunas are in the culture there, and people use them on a daily basis.”
“Wait, wait, wait a minute! What’s gotten into you? Don’t just suddenly unleash a flood of words on me.”
“The first thing I want you to know as basic knowledge is that when you pour water on the hot sauna stones in the sauna room to create steam, it’s called löyly. When you use a fan to blow the hot air around, it’s called aufguss , and the person who does that is called an aufguss master–“
“First of all, what you should remember as basic knowledge is that while you are in the sauna room, pouring water over the heated sauna stones to produce steam is called rouryu.When you blow hot air by fanning yourself with a fan, it is called aufguss. , The person who does this is called a heat wave master (Aufgusser)…”
“I understand, I understand! I totally understand!”
“Lauryu is a Finnish word, while aufguss is a German word.Some people refer to these two countries as the two sauna powers.If you go to a sauna facility, be sure to try Aroma Louryu. As the steam rises, a nice aroma spreads throughout the room.The aroma permeates your body and stays with you all day long, so it’s also recommended when you want to change your mood.There are many different types of aromas.”
“Stop! Stop!! Stop!!”
“Nmogomogomugumogonmumogomogomugumogomogomogogomogomogomogomogomumaggggomomugu.”
“Even if you cover your mouth with your hand, you’re still talking!? What kind of obsession!?”